Native Writings For Your Enjoyment

Elder's Meditation of the Day

 "People and nations who understand the Natural Law are self-governing, following the principles of love and respect that insure freedom and peace."
  Traditional Circle of Elders, NAVAJO-HOPI Joint Use Area

 The Natural Laws work hand-in-hand with the circle. Each part of a circle will look to the center and will see something different. For example, if you put an irregular shaped object in the center of a circle and you have people standing in a circle around the object, each one will describe it differently. Everyone in the circle will be right. Only by honoring and respecting everyone's input, can the truth about the object be revealed. We need to learn to honor differences.
 My Creator, let me honor all differences.
 Don Coyhis

Elder's Meditation of the Day

 "It's the most precious thing...to know absolutely where you belong. There's a whole emotional wrapping-around-of-you here. You see the same rock, tree, road, clouds, sun -- you develop a nice kind of intimacy with the world around you. To be intimate is to grow, to learn...it is absolutely fulfilling. Intimacy, that's my magic word for why I live here."
 --Tessie Maranjo, SANTA CLARA PUEBLO

 Every human being, to be mentally healthy, must have the feeling of belonging. When we have a sense of belonging we can be intimate. We can feel. We can connect. If we cannot develop this feeling of belonging, then we will feel lost of disconnected. To be disconnected from life is like walking around during the day not knowing the Sun exists. To have the feelings of intimacy is warm, glowy, joyful, loving, and connected. The feeling this Elder is talking about is available to everyone.
 Great Spirit, let me be intimate.
Don Coyhis

Children Are The Future 
Children are gifts of the Creator and of ourselves. By raising them to the best of our ability, we are reciprocating that gift and showing our thankfulness for life and for the blessings of the Great Spirit. This requires much time, love, forgiveness, and understanding on the part of the parents and grandparents-- but the rewards for the child (and for the community as a whole) are immeasurable.
 
Also, it is not enough to raise your own children and grandchildren. You should bestow what you can to all
 children of the earth.
 
It is strictly believed and understood by the Sioux that a child is the greatest gift from Wakan Tanka in response to
 many devout prayers, sacrifices, and promises. Therefore the child is consid-ered "sent by Wakan Tanka" through some element--namely the element of human nature.
 -ROBERT HIGHEAGLE TETON SIOUX, EARLY 20TH CENTURY

Elder's Meditation of the Day

 "Language is a vehicle for carrying spirit, life, and family. Language, religion, and land base are three things that characterize culture."
 Edmund Ladd, ZUNI PUEBLO

 The Elders say we need to know the answers to three questions in order for us to be connected; the Earth, the Sky, the East, the West, the South, and the North.

The three questions are:

1. Why are we?

2. Who are we?

3. Where are we going?

If we know the language, if we have our spirituality, and if we can pray on sacred spots, then we are able to seek the answer to the questions.

We must protect the language, religion, and land so our future generations can stay connected.

 Great Spirit, help us maintain our language, spirit, family, religion and our Mother Earth.
By: Don Coyhis

 

 

Buffalo and Eagle Wing

 A long time ago there were no stones on the earth. The mountains, hills, and valleys were not rough, and it was easy to walk on the ground swiftly. There were no small trees at that time either. All the bushes and trees were tall and straight and were at equal distances. So a man could travel through a
 forest without having to make a path.
 
At that time, a large buffalo roamed over the land. From the water, he had obtained his spirit power--the power to change anything into some other form. He would have that power as long as he only drank from a certain pool.
 
In his wanderings, Buffalo often traveled across a high mountain. He liked this mountain so much that one day he asked it, "Would you like to be changed into something else?"
 "Yes," replied the mountain. "I would like to be changed into something nobody would want to climb over."
 
"All right," said Buffalo. "I will change you into something hard that I will call 'stone.' You will be so hard that no one will want to break you and so smooth that no one will want to climb you."
 
So Buffalo changed the mountain into a large stone. "And I give you the power to change yourself into anything else as long as you do not break yourself."
 
Only buffaloes lived in this part of the land. No people lived here. On the other side of the mountain lived men who were cruel and killed animals. The  buffaloes knew about them and stayed as far away from them as possible.

But one day Buffalo thought he would like to see these men. He hoped to make friends with them and persuade them not to kill buffaloes.
 
So he went over the mountain and traveled along a stream until he came to  lodge. There lived an old woman and her grandson.

The little boy liked Buffalo, and Buffalo liked the little boy and his grandmother. He said to them, "I have the power to change you into any form you wish. What would you like most to be?"
 
"I want always to be with my grandson. I want to be changed into anything that will make it possible for me to be with him, wherever he goes."
 
"I will take you to the home of the buffaloes," said their guest. "I will ask them to teach the boy to become a swift runner. I will ask the water to change the grandmother into something, so that you two can always be together."
 
So Buffalo, the grandmother, and the little boy went over the mountain to the land of the buffalo.
 
"We will teach you to run swiftly," they told the boy, "if you will promise to keep your people from hunting and killing buffalo."
 "I promise," said the boy.

 The buffaloes taught him to run so fast that not one of them could keep up with him. The old grandmother could follow him wherever he went, for she had been changed into Wind.
 
The boy stayed with the buffaloes until he became a man. Then they let him go back to his people, reminding him of his promise. Because he was such a swift runner, he became a leader of the hunters. They called him Eagle Wing.
 
One day the chief called Eagle Wing to him and said to him, "My son, I want you to take the hunters to the buffalo country.
We have never been able to kill buffaloes because they run so very fast. But you too can run fast. If you will kill some buffaloes and bring home the meat and the skins, I will
 adopt you as my son. And when I die, you will become chief of the tribe."
 
Eagle Wing wanted so much to become chief that he pushed from his mind his promise to the buffaloes. He started out with the hunters, but he climbed the mountain so fast that they were soon left far behind. On the other side of the mountain, he saw a herd of buffaloes. They started to run in fright, but Eagle Wing followed them and killed most of them.
 
Buffalo, the great one who got his power from the water, was away from home at the time of the hunt. On his way back he grew so thirsty that he drank from some water on the other side of the mountain not from his special pool.
 
When he reached home and saw what the hunter had done, he became very angry.
 He tried to turn the men into grass, but he could not. Because he had drunk from another pool, he had lost his power to transform.
 
Buffalo went to the big stone that had once been a mountain.
 "What can you do to punish the hunter for what he has done?" he asked Stone.
 "I will ask the trees to tangle themselves so that it will be difficult for men to travel through them," answered Stone. "I will break myself into many pieces and scatter myself all over the land. Then the swift runner and his followers cannot run over me without hurting their feet."
 "That will punish them," agreed Buffalo.
 
So Stone broke itself into many pieces and scattered itself all over the land. Whenever the swift runner, Eagle Wing, and his followers tried to run over the mountain, stones cut their feet.

Bushes scratched and bruised their bodies.
 
That is how Eagle Wing was punished for not keeping his promise to Buffalo.

Elder's Meditation of the Day

 "Abuse and repression have no place in a traditional family."
  Haida Gwaii, Traditional Circle of Elders

 Traditional families guided by their culture were taught how to live. The were taught about relationships, respect, and spirituality. Only since alcohol was introduced to Indians have we seen physical abuse, sexual abuse and verbal abuse.

These behaviors have no room in traditional families. The cycle of abuse must be broken during this generation. We do this by asking for help to quit drinking and abusing and return to our traditional culture and spirituality.

 Creator, plant inside of me the knowledge of the traditional family.
 By: Don Coyhis

 

 

Elder's Meditation of the Day

 "You could study the ancestors, but without a deep feeling of communication with them it would be surface learning and surface talking. Once you have gone into yourself and have learned very deeply, appreciate it, and relate to it very well, everything will come very easily."
 -- Ellen White, NANAIMO

 Inside of every human being are our ancestors, and these ancestors still live. Today, the white man calls this DNA, but there is more than DNA. We have the ability to go inside of ourselves and learn from the ancestors. The ancestor teachings reside in the place of the center. The ancestors are waiting for us to come there so they can share the ancient teachings. It is said, "Be still and know".
 Great Spirit, let me walk in the stillness.
 By: Don Coyhis


 

Uplifting Person of the Day | Waitress Who Paid for Customers' Lunch Gets Surprise of Her Life - See more at: http://www.uptv.com/blog/uplifting-person-of-the-day-waitress-pays-for-customers-lunch#sthash.m7cgmugI.dpuf

 

This is the power of Karma at its best. What we do to others always returns to our lives. Blessings.

 

 

Cherokee Morning Song With Lyrics. Please listen.

American Holocaust of Native American Indians (FULL Documentary) Please watch.

Chief Dan Evehema's Message to Mankind

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am very glad to have this time to send a message to you. We are celebrating a time in our history which is both filled with joy and sadness.

I am very glad that our Hindu brothers have given us this opportunity to share these feelings with you because we know many of you are having the same troubles.
 
We Hopi believe that the human race has passed through three different worlds and life ways since the beginning.  At the end of each prior world, human life has been purified or punished by the Great Spirit "Massauu" due mainly to corruption, greed and turning away from the Great Spirit's teachings.  

The last great destruction was the flood which destroyed all but a few faithful ones who asked and received a permission from the Great Spirit to live with Him in this new land.

The Great Spirit said, "It is up to you, if you are willing to live my poor, humble and simple life way. It is hard but if you agree to live according to my teachings and instructions, if you never lose faith in the life I shall give you, you may come and live with me."

The Hopi and all who were saved from the great flood made a sacred covenant with the Great Spirit at that time. We Hopi made an oath that we will never turn away from Him.

For us the Creators laws never change or break down. To the Hopi the Great Spirit is all powerful. He appeared to the first people as a man and talked with them in the beginning of this creation world.

He taught us how to live, to worship, where to go and what food to carry, gave us seeds to plant and harvest. He gave us a set of sacred stone tablets into which He breathed all teachings in order to safeguard his land and life.  

In these stone tablets were made, instructions and prophecies and warnings. This was done with the help of a Spider woman and Her two grandsons.

They were wise and powerful helpers of the Great Spirit. Before the Great Spirit went into hiding, He and Spider woman put before the leaders of the different groups of people many colors and sized of corn for them to choose their food in this world.  

The Hopi was the last to pick and then choose their food in this world. The Hopi then choose the smallest ear of corn.  

Then Massauu said, "You have shown me you are wise and humble for this reason you will be called Hopi (people of peace) and I will place in your authority all land and life to guard, protect and hold trust for Me until I return to you in later days for I am the First and the Last."

This why when a Hopi is ordained into the higher religious order, the earth and all living things are placed upon his hands.  He becomes a parent to all life on earth.

He is entitled to advise and correct his children in whatever peaceful way he can. So we can never give up knowing that our message of peace will reach our children.

Then it is together with the other spiritual leaders the destiny of our future children is placed. We are instructed to hold this world in balance within the land and the many universes with special prayers and ritual which continue to this day.

It was to the Spider woman's two grandsons the sacred stone tablets were given. These two brothers were then instructed to carry them to a place the Great Spirit had instructed them.

The older brother was to go immediately to the east, to the rising sun and upon reaching his destination was instructed to immediately start to look for his younger brother who shall remain in the land of the Great Spirit.

The Older brothers mission when he returned was to help his younger brother (Hopi) bring obout peace, brotherhood and everlasting life on his return. Hopi, the younger brother, was instructed to cover all land and mark it well with footprints and sacred markings to claim this land for the Creator and peace on earth.

We established our ceremonials and sacred shrines to hold this world in balance in accordance with our first promise to the Creator. This is how our migration story goes, until we meet the Creator at Old Oribe (place that solidifies) over 1000 years ago.

It was at that meeting when he gave to us these prophecies to give to you now at this closing of the Fourth World of destruction and the beginning of the Fifth World of peace.  

He gave us many prophecies to pass on to you and all have come to pass. This is how we know the timing is now to reveal the last warnings and instructions to mankind. 

We were told to settle permanently here in Hopi land where we met the Great Spirit and wait for Older Brother who went east to return to us.

 When he returns to this land he will place his stone tablets side by side to show all the world that they are our true brothers.  When the road in the sky has been fulfilled and when the inventing of something, in Hopi means, gourd of ashes, a gourd that when drops upon the earth will boil everything within a large space and nothing will grow for a very long time.  

When the leaders turned to evil ways instead of the Great Spirit we were told there would be many ways this life may be destroyed. If human kind does not heed our prophecy and return to ones original spiritual instructions.

We were told of three helpers who were commissioned by the Great Spirit to help Hopi bring about the peaceful life on earth would appear to help us and we should not change our homes, our ceremonials, our hair, because the true helpers might not recognize us as the true Hopi.

So we have been waiting all these years. It is known that our True White Brother, when he comes, will be all powerful and will wear a red cap or red cloak.

He will be large in population, belong to no religion but his very own. He will bring with him the sacred stone tablets.  With him there will be two great ones both very wise and powerful.

One will have a symbol or sign of swastika which represents purity and is Female, a producer of life.  The third one or the second one of the two helpers to our True White Brother will have a sign of a symbol of the sun.

He, too, will be many people and very wise and powerful. We have in our sacred Kachina ceremonies a gourd rattle which is still in use today with these symbols of these powerful helpers of our True Brother.

It is also prophesied that if these three fail to fulfill their mission then the one from the west will come like a big storm. He will be many, in numbers and unmerciful. When he comes he will cover the land like the red ants and over take this land in one day.

If the three helpers chosen by the Creator fulfill their sacred mission and even if there are only one, two or three of the true Hopi remaining holding fast to the last ancient teaching and instructions the Great Spirit, Massauu will appear before all and our would will be saved.

The three will lay our a new life plan which leads to everlasting life and peace. The earth will become new as it was from the beginning. Flowers will bloom again, wild games will return to barren lands and there will be abundance of food for all.

Those who are saved will share everything equally and they all will recognize Great Spirit and speak one language. We are now faced with great problems, not only here but throughout the land. Ancient cultures are being annihilated.

Our people's lands are being taken from them, leaving them no place to call their own. Why is this happening?  It is happening because many have given up or manipulated their original spiritual teachings.

The way of life which the Great Spirit has given to all its people of the world, whatever your original instructions are not being honored.  It is because of this great sickness-called greed, which infects every land and country that simple people are losing what they have kept for thousands of years.

Now we are at the very end of our trail. Many people no longer recognize the true path of the Great Spirit. They have, in fact, no respect for the Great Spirit or for our precious Mother Earth, who gives us all life.

We are instructed in our ancient prophecy that this would occur. We were told that someone would try to go up to the moon: that they would bring something back from the moon; and that after that, nature would show signs of losing its balance. Now we see that coming about.

All over the world there are now many signs that nature is no longer in balance. Floods, drought, earthquakes, and great storms are occurring and causing much suffering.

We do not want this to occur in our country and we pray to the Great Spirit to save us from such things. But there are now signs that this very same thing might happen very soon on our own land. Now we must look upon each other as brothers and sisters. There is no more time for divisions between people.

Today I call upon all of us, from right here at home, Hotevilla, where we to are guilty of gossiping and causing divisions even among our own families; out to the entire world where thievery, war and lying goes on every day.

These divisions will not be our salvation. Wars only bring more wars never peace. Only by joining together in a Spiritual Peace with love in our hearts for one another, love in our hearts for the Great Spirit and Mother Earth, shall we be saved from the terrible Purification Day which is just ahead.

There are many of you in this world who are honest people. We know you spiritually for we are the "Men's Society Grandfathers" who have been charged to pray for you and all life on earth never forgetting anything or any one in our ceremonials.

Our prayer is to have a good happy life, plenty of soft gentle rain for abundant crops. We pray for balance on earth to live in peace and leave a beautiful world to the children yet to come. We know you have good hearts but good hearts are not enough to help us out with these great problems.

In the past some of you have tried to help us Hopis, and we will always be thankful for you efforts. But now we need your help in the worst way. We want the people of the world to know the truth of our situation.

This land which people call the Land of the Freedom celebrates many days reminding people of the world of these things. Yet in well over 200 years the original Americans have not seen a free day.  We are suffering the final insult. Our people are now losing the one thing which give life and meaning of life--our ceremonial land, which is being taken away from us.

Hotevilla is the last holy consecrated, undisturbed traditional Native American sacred shrine to the Creator.  As the prophecy says, this sacred shrine must keep its spiritual pathways open.

This village is the spiritual vortex for the Hopi to guide the many awakening Native Americans and other true hearts home to their own unique culture.  Hotevilla was established by the last remaining spiritual elders to maintain peace and balance on this continent from the tip of South America up to Alaska.

Many of our friends say Hotevilla is a sacred shrine, a national and world treasure and must be preserved. We need your help. Where is the freedom which you all fight for and sacrifice your children for?

Is it only the Indian people who have lost or are all Americans losing the very thing which you original came here to find?  We don't share the freedom of the press because what gets into the papers is what the government wants people to believe, not what is really happening.

We have no freedom of speech, because we are persecuted by our own people for speaking our beliefs. We are at the final stages now and there is a last force that is about to take away our remaining homeland.

We are still being denied many things including the rite to be Hopis and to make our living in accordance with our religious teachings.  The Hopi leaders have warned leaders in the White House and the leaders in the Glass House but they do not listen.

So as our prophecy says then it must be up to the people with good pure hearts that will not be afraid to help us to fulfill our destiny in peace for this world.

We now stand at a cross road whether to lead ourselves in everlasting life or total destruction. We believe that human beings spiritual power through prayer is so strong it decides life on earth.So many people have come to Hopiland to meet with us. Some of you we have met on your lands.

Many times people have asked how they can help us. Now I hope and pray that your help will come.  If you have a way to spread the truth, through the newspapers, radio, books, thought meeting with powerful people, tell the truth!

Tell them what you know to be true. Tell them what you have seen here; what you have heard us say; what you have seen with your own eyes.  In this way, if we do fall, let it be said that we tried, right up to the end, to hold fast to the path of peace as we were originally instructed to do by the Great Spirit.

Should you really succeed, we will all realize our mistakes of the past and return to the true path-living in harmony as brothers and sisters, sharing our mother, the earth with all other living creatures.  In this way we could bring about a new world.

A world which would be led by the great Spirit and our mother will provide plenty and happiness for all. God bless you, each one of you and know our prayers for peace meet yours as the sun rises and sets.

May the Great Spirit guide you safely into the path of love, peace freedom and God on this Earth Mother.  May the holy ancestors of love and light keep you safe in your land and homes.

Pray for God to give you something important to do in this great work which lies ahead of us all to bring peace on earth.  We the Hopi still hold the sacred stone tablets and now await the coming of our True White Brother and others seriously ready to work for the Creator's peace on earth.

Be well, my children, and think good thoughts of peace and togetherness. Peace for all life on earth and peace with one another in our homes, families and countries. We are not so different in the Creator's eyes.  

The same great Father Sun shines his love on each of us daily just as Mother Earth prepares the sustance for our table, do they not? We are one after all.

Chief Dan Evehema, (105) Spiritual leader, Eldest Elder Greeswood / Roadrunner Clan Society Father / Snake Priest / Kachina Father.
From Hotevilla, Arizona, Hopi Sovereign Nation.

 

True Origins Of Thanksgiving Video... Please Watch

Is This What The Spirit World Hears When Crickets Sing?

 

http://enpundit.com/someone-recorded-crickets-slowed-track-sounds-like-humans-singing/

 

 

 

Is "squaw" an obscene insult?

  Dear Cecil: 

 

Here in Maine, the state legislature is taking up a bill to ban the use of the word squaw in place names. Native Americans contend that it is a vulgarity, meaning prostitute or c*** rather than woman. Was this a general word that was used in many languages, or was it specific to one or two?

 

Are there any old Native American songs or poems that might use this word in a more ordinary sense, revealing that it is not as degrading as they might contend, or is it absent from N.A. literature, indicating that it is indeed vulgar? If it is found in the literature, are other "vulgar" words used as well?

 

— Paul Mattor, Hollis, Maine

 

Let's cut the pretense of scholarship, Paul. What you really want to know is, DOES SQUAW MEAN C***, OR WHAT?

 

Answer: No. I'm not saying it's not an insult. It's just not an obscene insult.

 

The idea that squaw means vagina (to use the polite term) first found its way into print in a polemical 1973 book, Literature of the American Indian, by Thomas E. Sanders and Walter W. Peek. Sanders and Peek, without offering evidence, advanced the theory that squaw derived from the Mohawk word ojiskwa' (sources vary on spelling), meaning vagina.

 

This notion appealed to a certain mind-set and was circulated widely in the activist community. In 1992 it was revealed to the world at large on Oprah by Native American spokesperson Suzan Harjo: "The word squaw is an Algonquin [sic] Indian word meaning vagina, and that'll give you an idea of what the French and British fur trappers were calling all Indian women, and I hope no one ever uses that term again."

 

This marked the beginning of organized efforts to remove the word squaw from place names, a campaign that continues today, so far with mixed success.

 

Hey, free country. Except that squaw doesn't mean vagina. "It is as certain as any historical fact can be that the word squaw that the English settlers in Massachusetts used for 'Indian woman' in the early 1600s was adopted by them from the word squa that their Massachusett-speaking neighbors used in their own language to mean 'female, younger woman,' and not from Mohawk ojiskwa', 'vagina,' which has the wrong shape [sound], the wrong meaning, and was used by people with whom they then had no contact.

 

The resemblance that might be perceived between squaw and the last syllable of the Mohawk word is coincidental." This comes to us from Ives Goddard, a specialist in linguistics and curator at the Smithsonian Institution, writing in News From Indian Country, mid-April 1997.

 

Massachusett (no s), one of the Algonquian family of languages, was spoken by Native Americans in eastern Massachusetts. As is common with "first contact" languages, Massachusett and its Algonquian cousins contributed many terms, including papoose, sachem, skunk, opossum, and raccoon, that thereafter became standard English words, even in parts of North America where Algonquian languages weren't spoken. The first recorded use of squaw in English dates from 1622, and it had been adopted into the language by 1634.

 

The Mohawks were 200 miles away, spoke a completely different language (Mohawk is part of the Iroquoian family of languages, not Algonquian, Harjo's statement notwithstanding), and were hostile to the Massachusett Indians.

 

Having deep-sixed . . . hmm, not the best choice of terms. Having dispatched the squaw = c*** angle, let's turn to the more general issue: is squaw considered an insult by Native American women? Lots of them sure think it is, although to what extent that's due to misinformation about the term's origin is debatable. "Documented uses of the word squaw in clearly derogatory senses are in fact hard to find," writes University of Colorado linguistics expert William Bright in a forthcoming article.

 

One early example: "the crafty 'squaw' . . . the squalid and withered person of this hag," from James Fenimore Cooper's Last of the Mohicans. (Squaw, squalid--you can see a problem right there.) On the other hand, tribes such as the Navajo use terms like squaw dance to this day.

 

One doesn't want to get overly PC about it, but the protesters have a point when they say special terms for minority women are inherently demeaning. Think about it. Negress. Jewess. Sixty years ago these terms were in common use. Now they make your flesh creep.

 

Next picture some pot-bellied slob in a cowboy hat: "Why, if it ain't a injun and his squaw." In 1967, 143 place names containing the word nigger were changed to Negro by order of the U.S. Board on Geographic Names. Squaw Valley may not be in the same league as Nigger Lake on the offensiveness scale. But it's up there with Pickaninny Creek.

 

— Cecil Adams

The Truth About Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving: The whole concept of thanksgiving derived from the English Colonialist on July 30, 1621. Governor William Bradford, issued a proclamation calling... for a Thanksgiving celebration feast, to commemorate the gathering of the first harvest, which lasted three days.

 

The Most High condemns anyone who celebrates Thanksgiving, or goes to a Thanksgiving Day parade, or eats a Thanksgiving dinner in the name of the Most High. Thanksgiving was a prelude to the massacre and slaughter of the North American Indians (Tribe of Gad). Infants were torn from their mother’s breast and hacked to pieces.

 

The victory seemed a sweet sacrifice and they gave praise to their ('their god').

 

The ‘pilgrims’ didn’t want religious freedom they wanted wealth.

 

The ‘pilgrims’ were murderers, rapists, thieves, child molesters, homosexuals, whores, prostitutes, drunks, and insane lowlifes, who brought syphilis, gonorrhea, tuberculosis, small pox, etc. They infected the North American Indians with these diseases and killed millions of them.

 

These ‘pilgrims’ who are white Europeans. In conclusion to all of this the pilgrims (so-called white man) came to steal their land, kill and to destroy the The North American Indians and they celebrate it with Thanksgiving. John 10:10 The thief cometh not but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. Precepts John 10:10: Matthew 7:15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Acts 20:29 For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. 2 Peter 2:1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.

 

You must also remember that in the autumn of 1621 when Plymouth governor William Bradford invited neighboring Indians to join the Pilgrims for a three-day festival of recreation and feasting and that's when they the ‘pilgrims’ had instead murdered, tortured, butchered, and enslaved them. The "pilgrims" used words like "we come in peace" and "we love you" to fool the Indians. It was all a lie.

 

The "pilgrims" (so-called white man) stole their land.) Take a look at what John 10:10 says. Micah 2:1-2 Woe to them that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds! when the morning is light, they practise it, because it is in the power of their hand. 2 And they covet fields, and take them by violence; and houses, and take them away: so they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage. Devise - To contrive, plan, or elaborate; invent from existing principles or ideas. Iniquity -

 

A grossly immoral act; a sin. (In verse 1 it mentioned the words devise and iniquity and that's exactly what the pilgrims did to the North American Indians. And in verse 2 it reads "and take them by violence; and houses, and take them away, and it goes on to say even a man and his heritage.

 

Admin note: It is interesting how their own writings condemn such actions and yet this is exactly what these same people did to an innocent race who befriended them.

Dedicated To Child Protection Workers The World Over. Please Watch

 

 

Prophecy....

Prophecy....

The Seventh Prophet that came to the people long ago was said to be different from the other prophets. This prophet was described as "young and had a strange light in his eyes" and said:

“ In the time of the Seventh Fire New People will emerge. They will retrace their steps to find what was left by the trail. Their steps will take them to the Elders who they will ask to guide them on their journey. But many of the Elders will have fallen asleep. They will awaken to this new time with nothing to offer. Some of the Elders will be silent because no one will ask anything of them. The New People will have to be careful in how they approach the Elders. The task of the New
People will not be easy.
 
If the New People will remain strong in their quest the Water Drum of the Midewiwin Lodge will again sound its voice. There will be a rebirth of the Anishinabe Nation and a rekindling of old flames. The Sacred Fire will again be lit.
 
It is this time that the light skinned race will be given a choice between two roads. If they choose the right road, then the Seventh Fire will light the Eighth and final Fire, an eternal fire of peace, love brotherhood and sisterhood. If the light skinned race makes the wrong choice of the roads, then the destruction which they brought with them in coming to this country will come back at them and cause much suffering and death to all the Earth's people.

 

Living With Ourselves

In response to Prime Minister Harper concerning Native rights.

 

Shawn Brant For Chief 2013

Native veterans to meet and march for Aboriginal Veterans Day on November 8

by Carlito Pablo on Nov 6, 2013

This year’s celebration of Aboriginal Veterans Day comes with special significance for Métis man Richard Blackwolf.

 

The 73-year-old served in the navy through the 1960s and 1970s, and he’s currently president of the Canadian Aboriginal Veterans and Serving Members Association.

“We just finished celebrating 200 years of defending the country, starting back in 1812,” Blackwolf told the Straight by phone from his association’s office in Victoria.

He’s proud that Natives stood with the British in the War of 1812 against the Americans, a defining moment in Canada’s history as a nation. “It made the difference of us, this country, not being the U.S. right now,” Blackwolf said. “That’s where it starts.”

From the 19th-century Boer Wars in today’s South Africa to the two world wars that followed, the Korean conflict in the 1950s, and the Gulf War of the 1990s, thousands of aboriginals served in the Canadian military.

It’s a tradition that continues today. As of April 2013, according to federal government figures, First Nations, Inuit, and Métis people make up more than two percent of the combined regular and reserve Canadian Armed Forces. At least 2,000 Natives are in the military.

It wasn’t until 1960 that Natives were granted the right to vote.

Many who came back from the first and second world wars and the Korean War found out that they had to fight some more, this time for benefits that were given to non-Native soldiers but were denied First Nations people.

In 2003, the federal government delivered a compensation package to rectify this injustice, but it’s one that Blackwolf said is incomplete because the Métis were not included in the reparation.

“The Métis weren’t recognized at all, so in most cases, they didn’t receive anything,” Blackwolf said.
In Vancouver, Aboriginal Veterans Day observances start on Friday (November 8) at 9 a.m. at the Carnegie Community Centre (401 Main Street). A march to the Victory Square war memorial follows, with a wreath-laying at the cenotaph.

The celebration comes three days ahead of Remembrance Day on November 11.

 

Videos about Natives Lives

 

 

Theme From Practical Magic..... Please Listen

Métis and non-status Indians defend victory in court

The Federal Court of Appeal is being asked to overturn a historic victory that had granted Métis and non-status Indians the right to be treated as "Indians" under the Constitution Act.

After 12 years of legal wrangling, the case finally went to trial in May 2011. It took the Federal Court judge a year and a half to release his ruling that approximately 600,000 Métis and non-status Indians fall under federal jurisdiction. The decision meant they could negotiate access to federal programs and services long denied to them.

But this past spring, the federal government appealed. It said the decision to do so was not taken lightly and came after careful consideration. The appeal is being heard this week.

"What they're doing is putting off the inevitable," said Ron Swain, the national vice-chief of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, or CAP, in an interview with CBC News. "We won the very first time. We're going to win in appeal. We'll win all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada. Eventually our government has to sit down and negotiate."

Métis and non-status Indians have argued that because neither the provinces nor Ottawa would accept jurisdiction, they fell through the cracks.

"It's very hard to make progress when you don't have proper schooling, when you don't have proper health care," said Joseph Magnet, the lead lawyer representing CAP at the hearing. "And we're very hopeful that the court will agree with us about that and that this will provide the stimulus needed for change."

The trial judge highlighted, in his 175-page judgment, the real effects of a lack of status, when he quoted an internal government document on the matter: "The Métis and non-status Indian people, lacking even the protection of the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, are far more exposed to discrimination and other social disabilities. It is true today that in the absence of federal initiative in this field they are the most disadvantaged of all Canadian citizens."

The federal government lawyers, however, in submissions at the hearing Tuesday, argued that the trial judge erred in his judgment and that the framers of the Constitution did not intend Métis to be part of Section 91(24) of the act, which spells out that "Indians" are the exclusive jurisdiction of the federal government.

The case dates back to 1999 when well-known Métis ​leader Harry Daniels, along with several non-status Indians, took the federal government to court, alleging they were being discriminated against because they were not considered "Indians" under the Constitution. Daniels has since died, but the case continued and many believe it will end up at the Supreme Court.

"There's not a one-size-fits-all solution. It requires some fortitude, some imagination, some resources, some goodwill and some hard work," lawyer Magnet said. "And apparently the government needs also a court to tell it to get started."

Native Sayings Of Wisdom

Let's hope the one thing we learn is to observe the creatures that the Great One has sent here, so we can learn to survive as a tribe...maybe, as the Cherokee and the Hopi believe, we are the people of the stars and the Sun...maybe our destiny is short here on Mother Earth as we learn to adapt to another world.

Surely, our future depends on our acceptance of the Old Wisdom in learning to live in harmony and balance, in the way of the Sun and Moon.

Meditations with the Cherokee

We Indians love to come into sympathy and spiritual communion with our brother and sisters of the animal Kingdom, whose inarticulate souls hold for us something of the sinless purity that we attribute to the innocent and irresponsible child. We have a faith in their instincts, as in a mysterious wisdom given from above; and while we humbly accept the sacrifice of their bodies to preserve our own, we pay homage to their spirits in prescribed prayers and offerings...~?
Wisdom of the Native Americans

Often I went to the mountains; there My lonliness did not depress me...there I felt freedom...there I was not alone; there were the mountains, and they "understood" me, and I knew their harsk customs ~ and their great beauty...all who lived in the mountains knew the "rules of the Spirit" and respected Him. They respected also plants growing over precipices, birds hatching their young, animals hunting there. I too respected all of them, respected their freedom, their right to life, and even the right of a puma, for example, to try to take my life...and they also respected me.
Native American Spirituality with Linda Barrios, Sky Apache

"This is the time to relearn how to live with the Earth. It is a time to honoe Spirit..it is a time to listen to the Mother. It is a time to reawaken our feminine emotional awareness so we can communicate with the higher octaves of reality, as we did once long ago when we were all living free upon this sacred egg we call Earth...It is time once again to feel the wind upon your face, to smell the Earth after the newly fallen rain, to learn the power of living in the cold without freezing, because what you think with your body is what you create.
Last Cry, Native American Prophecies

Go to where the trees are very old. They are the lungs of this Earth and they purify the air. Go to where these standing people take the poisons fro the breath of the Dragon. They can change it by breathing, and they give the clean sir back to you, so that you may live.
Last Cry, Native American Prophecies
Walking the Red Road

The lands of the planet call to humankind for redemption. But it is a redemption of sanity, not a supernatural reclamation project at the end of history. The planet itself calls to the other species for relief...religion cannot be kept within the bounds of sermons and scriptures. It is a force in and of itself and calls for the integration of lands and people in harmonious unity. The land waits for those who can discern their rhythms. The peculiar genius of each continent, each river valley, the rugged mountains, the placid lakes, all call for relief from the constant burden of exploration.
Vine Deloria Jr. Lakota, 1973
Wohpe, also known as "White Buffalo Calf Woman"

A spirit of the diety of the Lakota Tribe, Wohpe is also known as "White Buffalo Calf Woman"..Her myth tells us she was the daughter of the sky, and her role was to meditate between mankind and the spirit world.
She entered the material world as a falling star; once landed, she appeared to other human beings as a beautiful woman, and met with "Tate" who was wind personified. His sons were winds, too, but it was Wohpe who organized them and accorded them their directions.
As White Buffalo Calf Woman, Wohpe brought the pipe and the smoking ritual to mankind, enabling them to communicate to the world of the Spirits.

Every Step is a Prayer

One of our old, old holy men said, "Every step you take upon the earth should be a prayer. The power of a pure and good soul is planted as a seed in every person's heart, and will grow as you walk in a sacred manner." And if every step you take is a prayer, then you will always be walking in a ...sacred manner.
Sacred Texts: Native American Wisdom, Charmaine White Face

We recognized the spirit in all creation, and believe that we draw spiritual power from it...our repsect for the mortal parts of our brothers and sisters, the animals, often leads us so far to lay out the body of any game we catch and decorate the head with symbolic paint or feathers. We then stand before it in an attitude of prayer, holding up the pipe that contains our sacred tobacco, as a gesture that we have freed with honor the spirit of our brother or sister, whose body we were compelled to take to sustain our own life.
The Soul of the Indian

The Indian's symbol is the circle, the hoop. Nature wants things to be round...the bodies of human beings and animals have no corners. With us the circle stands for the togetherness of people who sit with one another around the campfire, relatives and friends united in peace, while the Pipe passes from hand to hand....the camp in which every tipi had its place was also in a ring. The tipi was a ring in which people sat in a circle, and all the families in the village were in turn circles, within a larger circle... part of the larger hoop which was the seven campfires of the Sioux, representing one Nation. The Nation was only part of the Universe, in itself circular and made of the earth, which is round, of the stars, which are round...the moon. the horizon, the rainbow, circles within circles, with no beginning...and no end.
John Lame Deer, Meditation with the Lakota

Red is the east; it is where the daybreak star, the star of knowledge appears. Red is the rising su, bringing us a new day, new experiences, we thank you, Great Spirit, for each new day that we are allowed to live upon Our Mother Earth. From knowledge springs wisdom and goodness, and we are thankful, oh Wakan Tanka. For the morning star that rises in the east. Knowledge shall become the beginning, for ultimate peace throughout this world.
Indian Prayer for the East

We must learn the lessons of life through all things and then pass the gifts of life to those that follow in our footsteps...for they will need them even more, as Mother Earth and and Father Sky continue to be darkened by the progress of the Nothing...so goes the Circle of life, and in its simplicity, contains all the vastness of the Universe....Oneia..(Forever)
Chief Dan George

If you ask, "What are the fruits of silence?" we will answer, "They are self control, true courage or endurance, patience, dignity, and reverence...silence is the cornerstone of character."...
.."Guard your tongue in youth," said the old chief, Wabasha, "and in age you may mature a thought that will be of service to your people.".
The Soul of an Indian
The Power Of Silence

We first Americans mingle with our pride an exceptional humility. Spiritual arrogance is foreign to our nature and teaching. We believe profoundly in silence ~ silence is the absolute poise or balance of body, mind, and spirit...those who can preserve their selfhood ever calm and unshaken by the storms of existence ~ not a leaf, as it were, astir on a tree; not a ripple upon the shining pool ~ those, in the mind of the person of nature, possess the ideal attitude and conduct of life....
...if you ask us, "What is silence?" we will answer, "It is the
Great Mystery, the holy silence is...God's voice."
The Soul of an Indian

Native Americans understood the critical balance of the Universal Circle with Mother Earth, the animals, fish, birds, plants, insects, and trees, and the ecosystem itself. All living things were considered interdependent within the Universal Circle. There was a true appreciation and respect for the interdependence for life as everything existing in harmony and balance...as an Elder said "We are kin to all things, and all things are kin to us...that's why we are the keepers of Mother Earth and protectors of all living things."
Medicine of the Cherokee

"Most people do not remember this, but there was a test of endurance and vision, said the Elder...the plants and animals were given a chance to test their endurance in staying awake while praying to the Great One during the long evenings. All the animals fell asleep, with the exception of the owl and the panther...so, they were given the power to see in the dark and to continue their prayers so others could sleep at night. Of the plants, only the nightshade plants and the trees of cedar, pine, holly, and laurel were still awake...so, they were given the special color to always be green and have powerful medicine.
Medicine of the Cherokee
Narragansett Tribe

Miantonomi....brothers, we must be one as the English are, or we will be destroyed. You know our fathers had plenty of deer and skins and our plains were full of game and turkeys, and our coves and rivers were full of fish. But, brothers, since these Englishmen have seized our country, they have cut down the grass with scythes, and trees with axes. Their cows and horses eat up the grass, and their hogs spoil our bed of clams; and finally we shall starve to death; therefore, I ask you, resolve and act like me.
Native American Customs

Will you ever begin to understand the meaning of the very soil beneath your feet? From a grain of sand to a great mountain, all is sacred...yesterday and tomorrow exist eternally upon this continent. We natives are gaurdians of this sacred place.
Peter Blue Cloud

"May serenity circle on silent wings, and catch the whisper of the wind."
Cheewa James"

The generations unborn, our heirs, will curse our generation, if we do not seriously heed these first rumbling, ominous warnings. Regardless of philosophical, religious, or theological persuation, we must begin immediately to meet on some common ground to slow down and eventually halt the polluting and unbalancing causes.
Mother Earth Spirituality, Native American

"We sing our songs, say our prayers, because they have been transmitted to us by our ancestors...and they knew more than we what is good."
Secret Native American Pathways
The Ways Of The Spirit
 
The Soul of an Indian
Again and again we have proved our worth as citizens of this country by our consistency in the face of hardship and death. Prejudice and racial injustice have been no excuse for our breaking our word. this simplicity and fairness has cost us dear...it has cost us our land, and our freedom, and even the extinction of our race as a separate and unique people.....
....but, as an ideal, we live and will live, not only in the splendor of our past, the poetry of our legends and art, not only in the interfusion of our blood with yours, and in faithful adherence to the ideals of American citizenship, but in the living heart of a nation.
The Soul of an Indian, Charles Eastman, Ohiyesa, 1915

The Soul of an Indian
...indeed, our contribution to our nation and the world is not to be measured in the material realm. Our greatest contribution has been spiritual and philosophical. Silently, by example only, we have held stoutly to our native vision of personal faithfulness to duty and devotion to a trust...we have not advertised our faithfulness nor made capital of our honor.
The Soul of an Indian, by Charles Eastman

I am an Indian; and while I have learned much from civilization, I have never lost my Indian sense of right justice. Is there not something worthy of perpetuation in our Indian spirit of democracy, where Earth, our Mother, was free to all, and no one sought to impoverish or enslave his neighbor? Where the good things of Earth were not ours to hold against our brothers and sisters, but were ours to use and enjoy together with them, and with whom it was our privilege to share.
The Soul of the Indian

Growth comes with the increasing awareness of and respect for the Great Mystery in all people and things, with an awareness that this force of mystery is at work in all events. Growth comes through tolerance for the infinite variety of ways in which the Great Spirit, the Infinite, may express itself in this universe.
Rainbow Tribe

As we sat in a circle together at the Indian Friendship Centre', the thunder and darkness seemed to set the scene, the grief center had heard this story all to often, but each time it touched the heart even more...as the two sisters shared their story of how their brother took his own life because of not knowing how to cope with life, the tears and fears swelled in their eyes an trembling in their words of the uncertain future, which might reach them, and their children. They asked for a traditional healing so that their walk in life would be easier and be able to let the spiritual memories of their brother be released into the spirt world and not in the dreams as nightmares...as I shared what Grandfather Spirit had said many years before " that life has its experiences and the brothers and sisietrs we meet along the way must be cherished, because every moment is part of the spiritual journey the Great Spirit gives us as a present for one another to help those in need...grieving is the gift a fallen spirit has left behind, and sometimes who hurts more, the person who takes their own life, or the people who are left along this tragic act of emotional pain. The lesson sometimes takes a long time to deal, and to heal from". Lifting the rattle and calling the ancestors to aid in the release of the fallen brother's spirit and bidding it travel from the sister's and unto the spirit world for reunion with the ancestors...a wind spirit flowed into the room from the open window, gently touching the suffering sisters, lifting the fallen brother's spirit from their hearts and carried him outward to join the ancestors, as silence settled into the room..., turning one last time from a mountain trail giving them one last wave as he disappeared into the mist.



Each part of a "Drum" is symbolic of the living spirits that come together from the spirit world...Grandfather spirit shares why the drum has such powerful medicine.
The Wood from Grandmother tree unites Mother Earth and Father Sky, pointing the way to our ultimate destiny after our lessons are learned...the frame of wood teaches about the stability we need to stand with pride to face challenges in life.The Animal Hide gave it's life so the drum could carry messages from the ancestors. In respect for the animal spirits we must always respect and honor the environment where the animal spirits live on this earth...the animal spirits teach us how precious and fragile the gift of life is and how we need to take care of that gift.
The lacing binds together the missing parts of life that seem incomplete like family union, community togetherness and separation of the Nations of Mother Earth. By bringing back to us teachings of the ancestors through the songs that travel on the drums, the lifeline is held together and everything in creation is reunited and brought together in harmony like in the great traditions of our ancestors.
This symbolizes holding onto the experiences and the memories. These are the teachings that the soul learns during this lifetime and that we take with us when we travel into the afterlife. The bones teach us lessons from the ancestors of all the cultures who share Mother Earth along with the traditional stories and teachings that have carved the way for who we are today.
Color brings a special sense of accomplishment to the painter. When a drum is painted it is given a personal signature, and the artist who paints the drum shares his spirit with the nations and joins in the songs.
When the first drum is made it is tradition to give it away as a gift to someone that has had an important influence in our life...this is because the gift of drum making can never be taken from the spirit.

There is a special magic and holiness about the girl and woman...they are the bringers of life to the people and the teachers of little children.
Sweet Medicine, Cheyenne

If Fox is your power animal the slyness that was born as a way of surviving significant trauma in your earliest years has evolved into a wily instinctual intelligence and very sharpened senses that work in your favor, giving you great confidence in dealing with worldly affairs, although you're already a night person, you'll likely become even more nocturnal you're an astute observer, undetected by others, who hears whats being said, and see what isn't being seen. This gift allows you to be one step ahead of everyone else.
Not only do you blend in with your environment to the point of being invisible, but you can also shape-shift into different identities by adjusting your body language and vocal characteristics so that even people that know you at not recognize you at first.
Power Animals

Heal the Women...then they can heal themselves..."Once the womwn have been healed, then they can heal the men. With strong hearts they can help heal the fear that has consumed men, which is what happens when you lose contact with your spirit. When the men are healed, then we can dream the new dream for this Earth and use the Ghost Dance Medicine that Mahto has given us. Then we will be dance with Sitting Bull and the Porcupine once again...then we wiil return to the ways of the "Great Peace", Kia neri Kowa.
Last Cry, Native American Prophecies
The Morning Water Woman

The Morning Water Woman takes the same place as Mother Earth in the traditional Lakota Spirituality. She has an emotional appeal and touches the hearts of all those who have gone through a long night of praying and singing.
Meditations with The Lakota

From birth to death we Indians are enfolded in symbols, as in a blanket. An infant's cradleboard is covered in designs, to ensure a happy, healthy life for the child. The moccasins of the dead have their soles beaded in a certain way to ease their journey to the hereafter. For the same reason most of us have tatoos on our wrists ~ just a name, a few letters, a design.

The Owl Woman who guards the road to the spirit lodges look at these tatoos and lets us pass...they are like a passport. Some Indians believe that if you don't have these signs of your body,Ghost Woman will throw you over a cliff, and you will have to roam the earth endlessly...as a ghost.

John Lame Deer, of Meditations with The Lakota

We have come to a time when we should be together...there should not be divisions amongst people, there should be peace among men...in saying this, I would pray Great Spirit blesses anyone who hears these words and open their heart to the truth."
Last Cry, Native American Prophecies

There are many clans and many nations, we are a sovereign people. But always, as the Hopi say, "Under it all, every blanket is made from the wool of sheep." So we are made from the same stuff, we just look different on the outside. That is our individual culture expression. But we are woven together just like that blanket. We are one family, born to Mother and to Father. We are one tribe - we are called Human Beings.
Last Cry, Native American Prophecies

We return thanks to the moon and stars, which have been given to us their light when ti sun was gone. We return thanks to the sun, that has looked upon the earth with a beneficial eye. Lastly, we return thanks to the Great Spirit, in whom is embodied all goodness, and who directs all things for the good of her children.
Iroquois

The Life of an Indian is like the wings of the air, that is why you notice the hawk knows how to get his prey. The Indian is like that. The hawk swoops down on its prey; so does the Indian. In his lament he is like an animal...for instance, the coyote is sly; so is the Indian...the eagle is the same. That is why the Indian is always feathered up....he is a relative to the wings of the air.
Black Elk

The American Indian is of the soil, whether it be the region of the forests, plains, pueblos, or mesas...he fits into the landscape, for the hand that fashioned the continent also fashioned the man for his surroundings. He once grew as naturally as the wild sunflowers; he belongs just as the buffalo belonged.
Chief Luther Standing Bear

Dreaming that you are an animal or possibly part animal, it's a sign that the characteristics of this particular animal are important to you. If you dream you are the same animal on a number of occasions, it's an indication that this animal may be your totem animal.
Spirit & Dream Animals

We Indians live in a world of symbols and images, where the spiritual and the commonplace are one. To the white man symbols are just words, written in a book. To us they are a part of nature, part of ourselves - the earth, the sun, the wind and the rain, stones, trees, animals, even little insects, like ants and grasshoppers. We try to understand them, not with the head, but with the heart...and we need no more than a hint to give us the meaning.
John Lame Deer

Spiritual Food becomes a sacramental sign when it is offered on behalf of the spirits of the deceased. It is called spiritual food because it has a purpose beyond feeding our bodies...through this symbolic offering one brings blessings to deceased relatives and friends.
Meditations with the Lakota

Relationship to the Earth and the Spirit World, Lakota Spirituality relates one both to the world of visible creation and to the world of spirits...it is a centering of ourselves in creation through a relationship to the four directions, the foundations of the universe, and the place where the spirits dwell. Through this spirituality we learn to live in harmony with all the creatures, it also puts us at ease with the spirits through accepting their presence and through the offering of spiritual food.
Meditations with the Lakota
Your Animal Totems

We must take the lessons of life that are written upon the Whispers of the wind, and learn from them so that we may walk and grow in harmony with the Great One. We must learn to love all things, deny ourselves, and serve others so the Master will hear the greatness of our humbleness, as He walks in the Garden of Life. We must love our Earth partners, not in words, but in deeds and show that our spirit desires to be likened upon the Great Spirit.

We must gain the courage to pray through all things and worship even when we feel that we have nothing to offer.

Through trials, we will find our Wind Spirit will grow and either rise upon the currents or sink into the valleys if left unfed....we must learn the lessons of life through all things and then pass the gifts of life to those that follow in our footsteps, for they will need them even more, as Mother Earth and Father Sky continues to be darkened by the progress of the Nothing.

So goes the Circle Of Life and in it's simplicity, contains all the vastness of the Universe.
ONEIA (forever)
Chief Dan George

I stood looking at a world that is exactly as other eyes have seen it millenniums ago...I wondered what they must have thought as they received their visions of potential future events. They stood there as I I now do trying to understand the visions of a very bazaar future reality...did they think themselves mad?
I stood there naked in the moonlight, having made it through the other side of a labyrinth. I found myself struggling to make my new eyes see, to allow my consciousness to touch and comprehend a new reality...I was struggling to see through veils of illusion, painfully tearing through the bondage of cultural and genetic programming that leaves one blind to what is illusion and what is truly real, and at times it is very difficult to differentiate between dream states. There are no borders in the dream time, as there is no space between ones thoughts.
The Hopi Prophecy keeps coming to mind.."in that time man will find that he lives in two worlds...", our lives have certainly become a testament to that.
Last Cry, Native American Prophecies

There is no need to go out and find your spirit animal...they may find you, in fact you already have an idea as to who it might be. If you collect miniture elephants, for instance, your subconscious mind is telling you that your spirit animal is probably an elephant. Perhaps you have always been fascinated with foxes, or owls, or turtles...this could well indicate your spirit animal. (any animal you have an affinity with, or dream about, or have a curiosity about, is probably your spirit animal, we can have several, and they can also change as our needs change...you can also ASK different spirit animals to help you in situations that seem out of your control, because different animals have different gifts, I have three, and have had two most of my life...Melody..)
Spirit and Dream Animals
Shape shifting

There is a number of ways to look at animal spirits, you might decide, like the Aborigines with their "Dreamtime", there are real spiritual beings who exist to help you whenever necessary. You might choose to think of them as animal archetypess created by your subconscious mind.

No matter how you can view these animal spirits, you can become so close to them that you will be able to sense, feel, touch, and smell them...you may be able to temporarily become the animal...this is known as "SHAPESHIFTING"...once you accept spirit animals into your life, you will be able to make use of the animal wisdom that will come to you through your dreams.
Spirit and Dream Animals

Red Cloud, Oglala Sioux, Nebraska, 1822-1909 was a medicine man who became an important warrior chief.

"When the white man comes to my country, he leaves a trail of blood behind him."

We realize that we cannot survive or live without our "relations". We also realize that they cannot live without us...evidence of this belief system can be found in Native myths, legends and stories. Here we can find reference to the animals and birds as "people".

The Bear is our Grandfather, Rattlesnake our aunt,Beaver our cousin, Eagle our uncle, Deer our sister, and Buffalo our brother.

They are not only our "relations" but are also our teachers, protectors, guardians, supernatural aids, and sources of power and knowledge.
Earth Spirit, Native American

When the first Europeans came to this country, they saw us praying to the Sun, moon, Stars, Rivers, and Lakes; to the Trees, and Plants; to the Wind, Lightening, and Thunder; and even to the Birds, Animals, Fish, Snakes, and Rocks....they called us pagans, heathens, and savages.

For some strange reason they developed the idea that we did not believe in God, although in many different tribal languages there were references to a Great Spirit, the Great Creator, the Maker, the Great Mystery, or the Great Invisible One...the truth is that not only did the American Indians worship God, but they also respected and communicated with that which God had created.
Spirits of the Earth, Native American

Black Kettle, Cheyenne, South Dakota, 1803-1868 narrowly escaped death at the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864, took part in discussions at the Medicine Lodge Council of 1867, and died a year later in battle.
I once thought that I was the only man that perservered to be a friend to the white man, but since they have come and cleaned out our lodges, horses, and everything else, it is hard for me to believe white men any more...(Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee, by Dee Brown, Holt, Rinehart & Winston 1971)

There are many misconceptions about the Indian ways...we do not worship beasts and we do not worship stones. We honor them, and we honor the consciousness that is within them...because we are all "Mitakyue oyasin" - we are one with all things, even unto the Universe.

We are connected to all life by a web of light, this light is invisible to most. But the medicine people can see it, if their medicine is real. We see it in everything - all of life is connected.

We are all brothers and sisters with the Eagle, the Rabbitt, the Tree people, even the stones. Everything is alive, and that aliveness is the Creator, that is in all things.
Last Cry, Native American Prophecies

Go and learn how they see Spirit and Creator. Then you can help them (the People) heal their minds, and that they might heal their own hearts...in your time a new world will be born. You will see many strange things. Judge no one for their ways of expressing spirit, for the Creator allows all beings to express in their own way.
Another part of your journey will be that somehow you are to help reconnect the people of the Condor with the people of the Eagle...if you and others succeed, then this land and its people may become one again. Many secrets will open that have been closed.
Last Cry, Native American Prophecies
Bear's Message for you

"Be strong...know what and where your boundaries are. You can love others, still disagree with their opnions, and say no to their requests. You don't have to justify your your refusals...my power is making a stand is unparalleled, and you must also stand up for what you believe in, and who you are.

Neither do you need to fear criticism or defend yourself when it is offered.

Treat others with respect, and demand the same from them.

Trust your creative hunches - those urges to make music, write poetry, sculpt, or engage in any other forms of creative expression...turn inward to the loving darkness of your soul's den to find inspiration to birth such projects...let them blossom in the cave of your creative mind and manifest as your heart's desire.
Power Animals

There is only the way of the people. We the people are the dream of the Earth, we are her gift to the Universe.
Learn to listen to your own heart, if you learn that, you will know the wisdom of the ages.

Learn to speak your own words, and sing your own songs, while you learn to allow others to enjoy the same state of being.
We must learn to respect all life - respect the planet, respect the insect, respect the rattlesnake, as well as the eagle, the rock, and the tree...we are all related, just different expressions of divine intelligence. It is all the song of creation...and the song is made up of many notes.
Last Cry, Native American Prophecies

Never let anyone tell you who you are...that is between you and the Creator. For the truth of what and who we are and our long journey to this present expression is something few remember...when we come to own ourselves, we first loose the images of what they expected us to be...and learn to follow our inner feelings of who we really are.
No matter what you have been, or what you have done, Creator sits evenly with all of us on that day of passing. All that matters is that you did, that you lived it all and drank from the cup of life...and danced to your own drumbeat.
Ghost Wolf of Last Cry

When the light from the heart of the eagle shines forth, it will illuminate the world, the heart knows how to feel. Allow your heart to be connected with the elements of nature - the air, the water, the earth...when you feel the connection, you are close to the Creator.
I thought of all the times I'd found feathers; always in nature, always bringing me a feeling of blessing fro the invisible spirit world that I know exists, because in those moments of connection "I feel it"...Let each place and each moment be sacred..."Simplemente sentir"...simply let yourself feel.
Sacred Messengers
By Shiju
The Sacred Sound of Water

What is it about the sound of water that attracts us, part of its magic lies in its relentless rhythm, the kind of sound that soothes and perhaps returns us to our pre-birth experience...we continue to love the sounds of water...the waterfalls trickling down hillsides, or roaring down hillsides, or the whooshing sounds 0f geysers erupting in Yellowstone National park.

The almost silent sound of underground pools making their way through the depths; the whisper of creeks and rivers meandering through mountain meadows.
When I'm near the sound of water, I always pause and give thanks for something that calls me to a sacred sense of self...something that creates a connection with the...all of life.
Sacred Messengers, Native American

Spirits, ghosts, and interaction with them are seen by Indian people as a normal part of life on this earth...all things, living or nit, have a spirit that may manifest itself in the living, including insects, wolves, deer, eagles, even rock spirits.

Helper spirits often manifest themselves in an object...to the Lakota, small round rocks may be charged with great power and attach themselves to a living person, returning to them even when discarded.

These rocks belong to a class of spirits known as the "rock nation".It is the little pebbles found on anthills that aid the Yuwi'pi practitioners in their ceremony.
Walking in the Sacred Manner

Dreams form a large spiritual complex and are looked to for important insights about oneself, and other living people, often relatives. They are also seen as a source of contact and communication for those relatives now in the spirit world who may have help, advice, or warning to impart to the living. Dreams may then provide motivation for changing one's life.
Walking in the Sacred Manner

Black Kettle, Cheyenne, South Dakota, 1803?-1868 was a Cheyenne leader who tried to make peace with the white man...he narrowly escaped death at the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864, took part in discussions at the Medicine Lodge Council of 1867, and died in battle a year later.
"I want you to give all the chiefs of the soldiers here to understand that we are for peace, and that we have made peace, that we may not be mistaken by them for enemies [ Address to Colonel John Chivington at Camp Weld, Colorado, September 28, 1864; two months later, Chivington would wipe out( murder) nearly half of Black Kettle's band at Sand Creek..The Sand Creek Massacre, by Stan Hoig]

When did time begin...what is time. How can we attempt description of the Creator of such mystery when we realize that "It" is too vast to describe...we are truthful people, we cannot be liars to ourselves and to those around us...the term "Great Mystery" leaves adequate latitude to avoid argument.
Growth comes with an increasing awareness of and respect for the Great Mystery in all people, and things, with an awareness that this force of mystery is at work in all events...growth comes through tolerance for the infinite variety of ways in which Great Spirit, the Infinite, may express itself in the Universe.
Rainbow Tribe

Ho. Ina Maka, Mother Earth...it is you who feed us, shelter us, heal us...and like unthinking children we squander your riches, taking without thought for the future. Mother we are ashamed of our ignorance and our greed...it is our wish to live in a holy way, in harmony with you and with all our relations. We commit ourselves to a new reverence for life, for you, and for ourselves and our place in the Universe...Mother, most of all, have pity on us that the people may live...for without you, we are nothung...Mitakuye oyasin..Ho. Hetch etu aloh.
Mother Earth Spirituality, Native American



Ho..."Wiyoheyapa ouye, power of the rising sun of the east...from you come wisdom and understanding, to you we sand a voice.

You are the power of the red dawn and the home of the morning star...we call on you to bring forth new knowledge and understanding among the people that the earth and all our relations may live.

It is a time of new ways, and we ask that those ways be right and holy...with each new day we pray to you for wisdom. And we know that with this gift comes the obligation to use it for good of all our relations...Mitakuye oyasin...Ho. Hetch etu aloh.Mother Earth Spirituality, Native American

Entering, I place my blanket on the ground and build a smudge as an offering of smoke for the spirits...in my heart I reach out to them and share my willingness to take on their lessons and carry them forward.

Many of these spirits are suffering for other people, and they need to find someone to take on this suffering, so they can move on...I reach out an embrace this suffering, offering to share the lessons with the people who have no food, those who are desolate in life...I will do this with much love and honour inside myself, and when I am done, I will take these lessons of the spirits with me, and pass it on to those who need to learn these lessons.
On The Red Road
A Star Whisper, by Leonard Crow Dog

I had a vision, it came from the morning star, a star whisper. I heard this voice saying, any understanding you ask from the morning star shall be granted to you, but ask with the sacred things, the drum, the sacred tobacco, the sacred sweet grass, and, above all, with the sacred pipe.

Our dead sleep not...they tell me what I want to know. I have the power to see through things...I have only limited vision with the eyes I have in my head, but with my spiritual eyes I can see across oceans.

The pipe is here to unite us, to remove fences people put up against one another...putting up fences is the white man's way.

He invented the barbed wire of the heart. The pipe s a fence remover...sitting in a circle, smoking it the right way, all barriers disappear...walls crumble.
Leonard Crow Dog (Kangi Shunka Manitou)
[Born in 1942, Leonard Crow Dog was spiritual leader of AIM (The American Indian Movement)..he published his family autobiography in 1995, in collaboration with writer Richard Erdoes.]

The Butterfly

The Butterfly is a very spiritual bug and represents the presence of good spirits. Butterflies signal change, metamorphisis, balance, harmony, grace, peace, beauty, and spirituality...they are a good sing.

Butterfly's Message To You

Everyone of us emerges from the darkness and gestation, in which we enter as one self and come out as another...throughout each stage of this transformation process, I remain aware and fully present, so must you when you spread your wings and float into your new life - know that you are safe and that this is part of a natural movement.
You may not know exactly what's going on at any particular stage, but have faith...after a period of exertion your soul will find it's way through the darkness, count on it...then you will emerge into the next expression of "you" throughout these cycles, faith, share the love, and set crystal clear intentions...you have absolutely nothing to fear.
Sacred Messengers

Behold my brothers, the spring has come, the earth has received the embraces of the sun and we shall soon see the results of that love...every seed is awakened and has all animal life, it is through this mysterious power that we too have our being and we therefore yield to our neighbors, even our animal neighbors, the same right as ourselves...to inhabit this land.
Sitting Bull, Tatanka Yotanka, Hunkpapa Sioux
Sitting Bull, war chief and holy man was born in 1831, and assassinated on December 1890...he made this speech at a Powder River council in 1877.

The highest form of respect for another person is respecting their right to be self-determining...this means not interfering with another person's ability to choose, every experience holds a valuable lesson - even in death...there is a valuable learning that the spirit carries forth.

Noninterference means caring in a respectful way of "right relationship". Each person living being on Mother Earth, has their own Medicine that should not be disrupted or changed without that person choosing it....this is part of the learning what moves the Circle is choice, and what keeps the circle is kindness and respect for the natural flow of life-energies.
Medicine of the Cherokee

If someone dreams of a feather, it could be associated to a spirit...feathers can be a symbol of that which carries us into the imaginal world, of the spiritual world. They can be a means of finding one's fantasies...they can be a sign of that which is created "out of the blue", whereby an idea is given a form, a symbol.
The ancient Egyptians had a belief that, at the moment of death, the soul was weighed on a balance scale with a feather on the other side, the feather representing truth.
Sacred Messengers

Throughout history, feathers have symbolized different things in different cultures...many feather colors have been seen to have near-universal meanings.
Red Feathers bring vitality and health, red was the preferred color of tribal royalty.
Blue Feathers bring peace, protection, a sense of well being...blue jay feathers can also bring warnings of trouble ahead.
Yellow Feathers symbolize cheerfulness, mental alertness, and prosperity.
Green Feathers are a symbol of renewal, new directions and new growth.
Brown with black strips or bars symbolize balance between the physical and spiritual.
Black Feathers are a symbol of mystical wisdom from spiritual initiation; also seen as a warning sign of ill health or impending death, physical, spiritual, or emotional, or of an important transition immediately ahead.
Iridescent (flashes of shiny color) signs of mystical insight, wholeness, spiritual transcendence; peacock feathers can also be a warning against false pride.
White Feathers are a symbol of purification, love, innocence, and new life.
Sacred Messengers

As I held the large black feather, a sense of joy and gratitude filled me...this beautiful black messenger from the sky had answered my black thoughts about being in an empty universe...feathers are a sign of mystical wisdom received from spiritual initiations. Such feathers, from Crows, Raves, or Starlings, are often worn by shaman figures.

From the moment I received my first feather they have become signs of reassurance for me, knowing that, indeed, I am not alone, that my spirit guides, messengers, and allies in the unseen realms of reality to know that the love of a bountiful universe is available....each time I hold the feather, its powerful message comes through, telling me, "You are not alone...we are with you; all of life is part of you...fly with the wind.
Sacred Messengers

Traditional teachings relate to us how important it is that we move through our lives with courage, humility, respect, and kindness in our heart...all these things signify a deep respect for the gift that we have been given...in the breath of life, as well as a respect for all life..."All that moves is sacred, only by understanding this can you realize the rhythm of the Earth, and thereby know how to place your feet.
Medicine of the Cherokee

Spirits, ghosts, and interaction with them are seen by the Indian people as a normal part of life on this earth...all things, living or not, have a spirit that may manifest itself in the living, including insects, deer, eagles, even rock spirits.

Helper spirits often manifest themselves in an object...to the Lakota, small, round rocks may be charged with great power and attach themselves to a living person, returning to them even when discarded.

These rocks belong to a class of spirits known as the "rock nation"...it is the little pebbles found on anthills that aid the Yuwi'pi practitioners in their ceremony.
Walking in the Sacred Manner

Dreams form a large intellectual and spiritual complex and are looked to for important insights about oneself and other living people, often relatives...they are also seen as a source of contact and communication for those relatives now in the spirit world, who may have help or advice, or warning to impart to the living. Dreams may then provide motivation for changing one's life. Any dream that lingers upon waking is worth considering, pondering over, because to Indian people, that dream is a means of the most essential communication...that with the spirit world.
Walking in the Sacred Manner

In the ideal outcome, the spirit travels on a long path, taking it over the "Wana'gi Ta'canku", which is literally "spirit road" but refers to the Milky Way...in one Lakota version, the soul is met by an old woman who looks to see if the soul has a blue dot, or tattoo, identifying it as one of The People...if not, the soul may be pushed off the road... sent back.
If the soul passes inspection it is sent on an even longer journey, but how long that "Wana' giya', or spirit journey may take is unknown...because it is in spirit time.

At the end of the journey the spirit sees a tipi, in the tipi is an old man (Wakan Tanka) who will ask "How was your journey? ~ meaning the journey through life....if the soul answers properly it will receive safe passage and go on forever in the happy mirror world of this one, the "Wana'gitomakoce (World of Spirits) if not, if it complains about its recent life, it may be sent back to live on eartg again...to learn more.
Walking in the Sacred Manner

Ozuya Cikala (Little Warrior) had been one of the last living survivors of the Little Big Horn Battle..in his adult years he had been one of the most powerful medicine men of the reservation, he successfully treated Black Elk for a stroke. Little Warrior died in the mid 1950's..this is a story told by his greatgrandaughter "Tilda" and her memories of "when" a relative had told us that when Little Warrior was living, he would invite people over to feast, and to dance.

We loved going over to his house, he was kind and generous and loved to laugh...people would come from all over and camp for a few days.
We all lived in one room, around the walls were a dresser, bed, dresser, bed...there were ten of us, including Grandma. I remember the summer heat, when we would eat our evening meals outside where Grandma would place a piece of canvas there for all us to sit on.
In the summers she baked bread outside over an open fire, she would cook the soup indoors over a propane stove that sat next to our wood stove.

 (This reminds me of my grandmother)...when all was ready we would sit and eat "Indian style"..this was a happy time of day when people would talk and laugh and catch up on the news of the day....the conversations were always in Lakota at night, especially in the long howling darkness of a plains winter, there were stories to be told as wood crackled in the wood stove and shadows danced in the lamplight...a time of reflection...a time of truth.
Walking in the Sacred Manner
Bears message to you

"Be Strong...know what and where your boundaries are. You can love others, still disagree with their opinions, and say no to their requests.

You don't have to justify your refusals. My power is unparalleled, and you must also stand up for what you believe in and who you are...treat others with respect, and demand the same from them.

Trust your creative hunches - those urges to make music, write poetry, sculpt, or engage in any other forms of creative expressions...turn inward to the loving darkness of your soul's den to find the inspiration to birth such projects.

Let them blossom in the cave of your creative mind and manifest to your heart's desire.
Power Animals

If you remember on waking that you have dreamed about things from a great distance...it is because your eyes have actually been there while you were asleep...Inuit.
Earth Spirits, Native American

We cannot be a prejudiced people, because all men and women are brothers and sisters and because we all have the same mother-Mother Earth.



One who is prejudices, who hates another because of that person's color, hates what the Great Spirit has put here...such a one hates that which is holy and will be punished, even during this lifetime, as humanity will be punished for violating Mother Earth.
Mother Earth Spirituality, Native AmericanFrom the north will come the white winter snow that will cleanse Mother Earth and put her to sleep, so that she may rest and store up energy to provide the beauty and bounty of springtime...we will prepare for aging by learning to create, through our arts and crafts, during the long winter season.

Truth, honesty, strength, endurance, and courage also represented by the white of the north...truth and honesty in our relationships bring forth harmony.
Mother Earth Spirituality, Native American

We, the American Indian, had a way of living that enabled us to live within the great, complete beauty that only the natural environment can provide.

The Indian tribes had a commonality of religion, without religious animosity, that preserved that great beauty that the two-leggeds definitely need.

Our four commandments from the Great Spirit are:
1~ respect for Mother Earth
2~ respect for the Great Spirit
3~ respect for our fellow man and woman
4~ respect for individual freedom (provided that individual freedom does not threaten the tribe, or the people or Mother Earth).
Mother Earth Spirituality, Native American

Today the buffalo is gone...you say "ecology"...we think the words "Mother Earth" have a deeper meaning. If we wish to survive, we must respect her, it is very late, but there is still time to revive and discover the old American Indian value of respect for Mother Earth.

She is very beautiful, and already she is showing signs that she may punish us for not respecting her. Also, we must remember she has been placed in this universe by the one who is the All Powerful, the Great Spirit Above, or Wakan Tanka - God.
Mother Earth Spirituality, Native American

This morning at breakfast we took from Mother Earth to live, as we have done every day of our lives...but did we thank her for giving us the means to live? The old Indian did. When he drove his horse close to a buffalo running at full speed across the prairie, he drew his bowstring back and said as he did so, "Forgive me, brother, but my people must live." After he butchered the buffalo, he took the skull and faced it toward the setting sun as a thanksgiving and an acknowledgement that all things come from Mother Earth...he brought the meat back to cap, and gave it first to the old, the widowed...and the weak.
Mother Earth Spirituality, Native American

Mitakuye Oyasin: We are all related.
The plight of the non-Indian world is that it has lost respect for Mother Earth, from whom and where we all come.
We start out in this world as tiny seed - no different from our animal brothers and sisters, the deer, the bear, the buffalo, or the trees, the flowers, the winged people.

Mother Earth is our real mother, because every bit of us truly comes from her, and daily she takes care of us.

The tiny seed takes on the minerals and the waters of Mother Earth...it is fueled by "Wiyo", the sun, and given a spirit by Wakan Tanka.
Mother Earth Spirituality, Native American
North: Direction of Sharing

The deer is considered sacred by the Cherokee...its skin is used to wrap sacred objects, such as the crystal that is kept for seeing ahead and for protecting us from other energies and influences. The deer was a favorite meal of the Cherokee.

Deer hunters knew how to proprly offer prayers and make preparations before hunting the deer. Sacred ceremonies followed the killing of a deer, in which the hunters gave thanks and asked for "clearing" or forgiveness. if this was not done, the hunter would have rheumatism for the rest of his life, as warned by the elders.
Meditations with the Cherokee

Even the spirit, which belongs to the Great Mystery, returns to its source...some of our people say this journey takes place on a path of stars, others describe the spirit's return to the Great Mystery as a drop of water falling into the ocean.

It becomes a part of everything again as the light of a candle becomes one with the fire of the sun. That's why we can sometimes feel our loved ones in the warm air, or hear them in a bird's song...or even sense them in the...wind.
The Native American Book of Wisdom