Deep empath Kai-O-Tee Soldat journeys to be in lands of her grandfather

Having lived much of her life south of 60, Cheryl Soldat — who goes by Kai-O-Tee — identifies as a deep empath. That’s defined as a person who absorbs and feels the emotions, energy, and physical states of others as if they were their own. Not knowing what her gifts really were until in her 40s, Kai-O-Tee first began her journey as a death walker, a person who stays with people as they pass on from this world. This work was a humbling experience that lead her to the work she is pursing now-learning more about her lineage, listening to spirit and the journey to her true self. Below, she’s in conversation with Stacie Arden Smith:

Kai-O-Tee Soldat: “My name’s Kai-O-Tee Soldat. I go by the name of Cheryl, it’s not my real name, though. I’m Dene. My family is from Great Bear Lake, Délı̨nę. I am a deep empath. I see things, I hear things, I feel things, I dream things, and I found out all my gifts come from Délı̨nę, from the Jimmy Soldat side. That was an eye-opening event that happened to my life, I didn’t know before. I thought I was just going crazy. I thought I had taken too many bonks to the head fighting as a kid, but nope.  It was a gift, and in the beginning, I didn’t take it as a gift. I thought it was a curse, but now I truly see it as a different insight. Looking at things, so my mom is a Soldat. Her grandfather was Jimmy Soldat, and there are five of us, and all are gifted in their own ways. That was my little brief intro. Hi, mom!”

CKLB: “Thank you so much. You’re actually on your way up to Délı̨nę for their spiritual gathering, which happens on an annual basis, and you got to go up there last year for the very first time. Tell us how that experience was for you.”

Kai-O-Tee Soldat: “I went to Délı̨nę last year, 2025. I actually went there carrying my broken heart. I separated from my husband, and two days later, I was off to Délı̨nę. It was eye-opening for me. It was my first time going back to my mother’s community. I’ve never been there before. It was soul-opening for me. I was so blown away by being welcomed into the community. I felt loved there, and I had many people who came up to me and reconnect me to my family, my culture. I’ve never been exposed to that before. I’ve been all over Canada and on everybody else’s reserves, and just to go back to my mother’s own people, her language, I was so blown away that I saw my eyes there. I was so blown away that I saw my brothers and sisters’ eyes there. I was so blown away when I had an elderly man come to me there and said to me, “Soldat, this is your grandpa’s home. Welcome home, Soldat.” I wanted to fall into a ditch and cry. I just felt so happy,”

CKLB: “And that probably was just an overwhelming experience in itself. So while you were there, what are some of the other things that you experienced as you are my very first empath that I get to speak with?”

Kai-O-Tee Soldat: “I had a lady there, a very nice. I know she’s a cousin. I told her I’m carrying my broken heart here, she said. “You see that cross far away there? She goes, “Go there and go cry. She goes, “A 1000 angels will listen to you. I walked to the cross, and I cried there, and I felt all my hair stand up. I felt like there was lots of people watching me there. It’s so I feel I felt stuff there. I couldn’t walk out the way I usually do. I had to walk backwards. I don’t know. I’m a contrary.”

CKLB: “In your journey, recognizing what your gifts are. How has it been for you, right from the very beginning? Did you know when you were a small child that you had gifts, or was it more when you became an adult that you recognize and then you embraced?”

Kai-O-Tee Soldat: “I saw things when I was a child. I used to see fireballs, and I saw in the sky, and I saw shadow people. I ignored it. I ignored it for most of my life. And in my 40s, spirit wouldn’t let me ignore it anymore. There’s no way I can ignore it anymore. I would see lights all over the place, orbs, things moving, smoke, smoke and fire is very attracted. I would see stuff there, so it’s not, you know, all elements are introducing itself. I don’t know if that makes any sense.”

CKLB: “It definitely does, and for you, this journey going forward, being here in the Northwest Territories, what is the journey coming here once again for the spiritual gathering?”

Kai-O-Tee Soldat: “For me, this year it would be I’m finding my brother’s resting place, and why not here in Délı̨nę? They have such a beautiful, beautiful cemetery, and where he is, I’m going to take him there, and that is my biggest sense of relief. Just to get him there, like just my struggle just to get here and to be here now, I can’t tell you. I’m overwhelmed, and I’m overwhelmed with spirit with me. I feel like I have my grandfathers and grandmothers with me.”

CKLB: “Oh, let’s get. to be a beautiful resting place for your brother for sure. When you go up to Délı̨nę, are there any repeat individuals that you’re hoping to see while you’re there? People that you got to meet last year?”

Kai-O-Tee Soldat: “Yes, I’m planning to connect with some of the people I really want to meet a couple people there, so I feel like this is my one moment, my one moment to jump in and find my way to them. I’ve already sent a couple messages ahead.”

CKLB: “Perfect, and so I got the opportunity to do an interview with Jenny McPherson. Has done the translation with her mother from Jenny’s grandmother stories from Prophet Aya. Do you expect to go and see the Prophet’s house while you’re there?”

Kai-O-Tee Soldat: “Oh my gosh! That was unreal for me. I met Jenny. We’re cousins. It was very profound to meet her, for our eyes to meet. On Aya, I went to the graveyard, and I was so stunned to see this tree, yeah, I had to take off everything I had, all my jewelry, all my, just to go up to his grave. I felt I felt like I had to lay down everything. It was so profound for me just to go up to that grave, and as soon as I got to his grave, you know, I said thank you for, you know, thank you, Grandpa, for letting me come here. So it was just unreal for me. And when I stepped back and I started putting all my stuff on, there was this guy standing there, yeah, it was just kind of weird how I ended up speaking with him and speaking with others along the way. And going to the prophet’s house, I felt like I stepped into something very, very spiritual, and I couldn’t believe that I was there.”

CKLB: “And I do like to put some interesting questions into my segment. And my interesting question for you is this: If you could have a long conversation with someone from the past to help you in your future, who would it be, and why?”

Kai-O-Tee Soldat: “Okay, that’s an easy one. I would say Jimmy sold that. I hear so many elders tell me stories that he was such a good storyteller and a good speaker. I like to sit down and ask him some questions. One question I would. Like to ask him, did he know that there would be many of us later? I really believe lots of his children were gifted. Me coming here, like right now, I’m seeing it, and it makes me happy.”

CKLB: “Must see. And my last question for you is this: Knowing that moving forward in our generations, these teachings and these gifts are not being trained and identified because we are losing our elders at such a fast pace. What do you have to say to the next generation who are gifted and aren’t quite sure how to harness, how to embrace their gifts?”

Kai-O-Tee Soldat: “I’ve come across many. There are many who are stuck in addictions, also, but there are a few, and I see many that are being thrown into hospitals, or their families are ostracizing them, I always say the same thing. It doesn’t make any sense to anybody else, but it does for me when I when I tell them this. It’s like putting your eyes in the water on top of the water, like when you go into a pool and you’re in a corner. I said, and you watch somebody throw in a big giant rock, and you feel those waves. You don’t always have to feel everybody’s waves. You gotta remember your own waves also.”

CKLB: “Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me. I really appreciate it, and I really hope that once you get up to Deline, you find what it is that you are seeking, that you are given all the gifts by Creator. Thank you. Mahsi.”

Stacie Arden Smith/Native Communications Society of the NWT/Local Journalism Initiative