Native Elders Upset By Activists' "Spiritual Trespass" Native elders allege G8 protesters may have upset the spiritual balance of aboriginal lands when they burned leaves and sprinkled water on the main road leading to the G8 Summit. The ritual -- by witches, wiccans and native protesters from British Columbia -- was conducted on Wednesday evening when a caravan of about 350 G8 protesters tried to drive to the G8 site. Halted at the first security checkpoint, the protesters burned some smelly leaves in the middle of the road. "I told them what they are doing here is spiritual and cultural trespass," said Peter Wesley, a media spokesman for the Bearspaw Nation, one of three bands from the Stoney Nakoda Nation that regard the Kananaskis region as tribal lands of sacred significance. The 3,700-member Iyarhe Nakoda, or "people of the mountains," live on a 600-square-kilometre reserve on the edge of Kananaskis, which they call Ozade, the mountain area west of Calgary where G8 leaders ended two days of meetings yesterday. Mr. Wesley said 12 Nakoda holy men conducted a spiritual ceremony at the G8 site on June 6 to sanctify the area for the purpose of keeping it safe for world leaders and to ensure the land remains environmentally pristine. Now, the holy men may have to go back and have another ceremony to repurify the site and undo the influences of the protester's ritual, Mr. Wesley said. "I told them [the protesters] we had already done this. They can't bring different religious things there because their idea of sanctifying the land might not be the same as ours."

via Witchvox