Wolf Clan

 

CLAN AND FAMILY STRUCTURE

The Iroquois tribes were organized into eight clans, which were grouped in two moieties: Wolf, Bear, Beaver, and Turtle; and Deer, Snipe, Heron, and Hawk. In ancient times, intermarriage was not allowed within each four-clan group, but eventually intermarriage was only forbidden within each clan. Tribal affiliation did not affect clan membership; for example, all Wolf clan members were considered to be blood relatives, regardless of whether they were members of the Mohawk, Seneca, or other Iroquois tribes. At birth, each person became a member of the clan of his or her mother.
Within a tribe, each clan was led by the clan mother, who was usually the oldest woman in the group. In consultation with the other women, the clan mother chose one or more men to serve as clan chiefs. Each chief was appointed for life but the clan mother and her advisors could remove him from office for poor behavior or dereliction of duty.

Read more: Iroquois Confederacy - History, Relations with non-native americans, Key issues, Acculturation and assimilation, Traditional culture http://www.everyculture.com/multi/Ha-La/Iroquois-Confederacy.html#ixzz0qRji4GpR

Sovereign North American Citizens

The Iroquois see themselves as a sovereign nation, not as merely another ethnic group within the United States population, and gaining further recognition of that status is a major objective. They have asserted their position in interesting ways. For example, when the United States declared war on Germany in 1917, the

Iroquois Confederacy issued its own independent declaration and claimed status as an allied nation in the war effort. In 1949 a Haudenosaunee delegation attended groundbreaking ceremonies for the United Nations building in New York City. Iroquois statesmen and athlete suse Haudenosaunee passports as they travel around the world.
Protecting the land is another priority. Since the 1940s, the Haudenosaunee have been involved in land issues involving projects as varied as the Kenzua Dam project, the St. Lawrence Seaway, and the Niagara Power Plant. After New York state attempted to condemn a portion of the Seneca's land for use in building a highway, a federal court ruled in the 1970s

Read more: Iroquois Confederacy - History, Relations with non-native americans, Key issues, Acculturation and assimilation, Traditional culture http://www.everyculture.com/multi/Ha-La/Iroquois-Confederacy.html#ixzz0qMe9sn00

Spiritual Happiness

"It is not enough that man be just happy in the flesh, but he must also be happy and joyous in spirit. For without spiritual happiness and rapture, life is shallow. Without seeking the things of the Spirit, life is half lived and empty. And by spiritual life I do not mean just setting aside one hour of one day of one week for worship, but to seek the things of the spirit every moment of every day. I ask you, then: What did these people do to seek spiritual enlightenment and rapture? Did they just give in to a life that was little more than work? They were given a choice every day of their lives-as you will be given a choice to seek the rapture of the Spirit or to resign yourselves to a life of meaningless work. The end result is always the same: forgotten graves and forgotten dreams of forgotten people. It is not important that anyone notice or remember, but that you work to touch God and affect in a positive way the consciousness of the Spirit-that-moves-in-all-things, thus bringing the consciousness of man closer to the Creator." - Grandfather

Crazy Horse

 

Crazy Horse
We Hear what you say
One earth one mother
One does not sell the earth
The people walk upon
We are the land
How do we sell our mother
How do we sell the stars
How do we sell the air
Crazy Horse
We hear what you say

Too many people
Standing their ground
Standing the wrong ground
Predators face he possessed a race
Possession a war that doesn't end
Children of god feed on children of earth
Days people don't care for people
These days are the hardest
Material fields material harvest
decoration on chains that binds
Mirrors gold the people lose their minds
Crazy Horse
We Hear what you say
One earth one mother
One does not sell the earth
The people walk upon
We are the land
Today is now and then
Dream smokes touch the clouds
On a day when death didn't die
Real world time tricks shadows lie
Red white perception deception
Predator tries civilising us
But the tribes will not go without return
Genetic light from the other side
A song from the heart our hearts to give
The wild days the glory days live

Crazy Horse
We Hear what you say
One earth one mother
One does not sell the earth
The people walk upon
We are the land
How do we sell our mother
How do we sell the stars
How do we sell the air

Crazy Horse
We hear what you say
Crazy Horse
We hear what you say
We are the seventh generation
We are the seventh generation

- John Trudell

American Indian Athlete

"Here and there, there are some people who are supremely endowed. My memory goes back to Jim Thorpe. He never practiced in his life, and he could do anything better than any other football player I ever saw." - Dwight Eisenhower

The History of Storytelling

Because we are old, it may be thought that the memory of things may be lost with us, who have not, like you, the art of preserving it by committing all transactions to writing.

We nevertheless have methods of transmitting from father to son an account of all these things. You will find the remembrance of them is faithfully preserved, and our succeeding generations are made acquainted with what has passed, that it may not be forgot as long as the earth remains.

Kanickhungo - Treaty negotiations with Six Nations

Grandfather, Aba, Great Spirit, Yahweh, Creator, God, Johovah...

Grandfather, Great Spirit, once more behold me on earth and lean to hear my feeble voice. You lived first, and you are older than all need, older than all prayer. All things belong to you — the two-leggeds, the four-leggeds, the wings of the air and all green things that live. You have set the powers of the four quarters to cross each other. The good road and the road of difficulties you have made to cross; and where they cross, the place is holy. Day in and day out, forever, you are the life of things. - Black Elk, Oglala Lakota Holy Man

True Peace

The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness, with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the universe dwells Wakan-Tanka , and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us. This is the real peace, and the others are but reflections of this. The second peace is that which is made between two individuals, and the third is that which is made between two nations. But above all you should understand that there can never be peace between nations until there is known that true peace, which, as I have often said, is within the souls of men. - Black Elk, Holy Man, Oglala Lakota

Walking the Talk

                    It is said that those who walk in oneness with Creator are people of few words.  We understand that we have nothing to prove and are not living in a state of lack.  Creator provides all its children with everything we need.  These needs are being fulfilled even before we have the presence of mind to ask.  Nothing exists beyond the realm of Creator or Great Mystery.   This is why in the Seneca Tradition; all ceremonies are based first and foremost on thanksgiving.  Walking in thankfulness is a way of being; a way if understanding the great love Creator has for all of us.  It is an essential part of this tradition to remember our oneness with Creator.  

  If we forget, our Elders remind us for they have had many life experiences that have guided them home to this Sacred Unity Within.  There is no separation between Creator and ourselves, only the one we imagine is there.  The truth is that all creature beings, we included, are equally as valuable and important in the eyes of Creator.  This is why we speak of them as our family.  We say that they are all our relations and we give thanks for their wisdom.  It is only humankind that has forgotten our true identity.  When we bring our questions to Creator and ask for guidance, or the best way to live every day, we are walking as one with Creator.  When we follow our inner guidance through our unity with Creator, our actions become blessed with wisdom.  Our thoughts, words and actions become infused with truth.  Each action is carefully laid out, step by step, for the health and well being of the next seven generations.  In this way we walk our talk and fulfill Creators’ Dream of Peace. 

Published in Koraal Magazine, a Journal of Indian Shamanism, Vol. 5, First Quarter 2000 Pg12 DA NA HO Lee Nitsch

Spiritual Belief

  

Some years ago, a good man...came to us.  He talked me out of my old faith; and after a while, thinking that he must know more of these matters than an ignorant Indian, I joined his church and became a Methodist.  After a while, he went away, another man came and talked, and I became a Baptist; then another came and talked and I became a Presbyterian. 

  Now another one has come, and wants me to be an Episcopalian... All these people tell different stories, and each wants me to believe that his special way is the only way to be good and save my soul.  I have about made up my mind that either they all lie, or that they don't know any more about it than I did at the first.  I have always believed in the Great Spirit, and worshipped  him in my own way.  These people don't seem to want to change my belief in the Great Spirit, but to change my way of talking to him. - Chief Lewis Downing, Cherokee

Picket Fences

"I learned in school there were no indians; they were visages of the historical past who rode painted ponies and attacked wagon trains...we were expected to identify with white American images of Dick and Jane and Spot and Puff and homes with white picket fences."
  - Simon Ortiz, Acoma Pueblo, New Mexico

We are what we imagine.

The native vision, the gift of seeing truly, with wonder and delight into the natural world, is informed by a certain attitude of reverence and respect. It is a matter of extrasensory as well as sensory perception. In addition to the eye, it involves the intelligence, the instinct, and the imagination. It is the perception not only of objects and forms but also of essences and ideals.- Contemporary American Indian Leaders, by Marion Gridley, Dodd Mead, 1972
 Once in his life a man ought to concentrate his mind upon the remembered earth, I believe. He ought to give himself up to a particular landscape in his experience, to look at it from as many angles as he can, to wonder about it, to dwell upon it. He ought to imagine that he touches it with his hands at every season and listens to the sounds that are made upon it. He ought to imagine the creatures there and all the faintest motions of the wind. He ought to recollect the glare of the moon and all the colors of the dawn and dusk. - The Way to Rainy Mountain, University of New Mexico Press, 1976

Responsiblity & Freedom

In a matrilineal society, when I married, my last name would change, not my wife's. Indigenous people the world over, specifically in the western hemisphere, never gave a new-born child the name of someone else, because that would not respect that someone else, and because you want that child, who just came into this earth, to have their own personality and individuality, their own freedom. It's respecting the individual. This country was based on the clan system. The United States of America doesn't have founding fathers. That's an insult to our ancestors. This country, the United States of America, has founding mothers, and they were primitive ones at that. The Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy used to be called at that time the Five Nations. The men didn't have the right to vote. It was the women who picked the leaders and removed them if necessary. It continues today among those people. That's the basis of this country. If the white man was really telling the truth, he would talk about the founding mothers. But women had no rights when this country was founded, black people were counted as three-fifths of a human being, and we weren't considered human beings. - Russell Means, lecture at Navajo Community College, 1995

Cultural Stereotypes

 

Creating Positive Cultural Images: Thoughts for Teaching about American Indians.

Excerpt by Gerry D. Haukoos , Archie B. Beauvais, Childhood Education Journal, Vol. 73, 1996  
  
  Most children enjoy stories and school lessons about American Indians. They often find something inspirational about the lives of Chief Joseph, Crazy Horse, Geronimo and other great American Indian leaders. Although it is important to learn about these great American leaders, it is even more important for children to construct positive images of present-day Native people to prevent racial or cultural stereotypes from becoming part of their beliefs. 
  American Indian people are among the many different peoples and cultures that live on the American continent. While we all are much more alike than different, it is the differences that too often compel us to erect barriers of misunderstanding. Consequently, we must learn more about each other. Educators especially require knowledge of other cultures, races and ethnicities. Otherwise, they may unknowingly spread their misunderstandings as stereotypes to students. 
  Two decades ago, Heinrich (1977) addressed Native and non-Native interracial issues when she published a list of "what not to teach about American Indians." Its purpose was to help elementary school teachers correct common errors. Although the Indian Nations at Risk Task Force (1994) found significant change in Native education since the mid-1970s, many of Heinrich's recommendations are as relevant today as when she first proposed them. This paper will revisit those suggestions, and then encourage teachers to rethink how they portray American Indian people. 
  The authors hope to advance classroom teachers' understanding by providing current explanations and viewpoints from the Native community. Restructuring the Knowledge Base 
* Teach children that American Indian people prefer to be identified by their nation name. The name "Indian" was a white man's invention and still remains largely a white image, if not a stereotype. It was first used by members of Christopher Columbus's party when, upon landing in the Americas, they erroneously believed they had landed in India. Most Europeans, however, called Indian peoples "Americans" until immigrants from Europe appropriated that name (Sando, 1972). The term "Native American" also was derived from non-Natives, originally used by the United States Government to designate all Native peoples of the continent.  Today, by most accounts, it includes American Indians, Alaska Natives and all Native peoples from the United States's territories and possessions - American Samoa, Baker Island, Howland Island, Guam, Jarvis Island, Kingman Reef, Palmyra Atoll, Johnston Atoll, Midway Islands, Navassa Island, Northern Mariana Islands, Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Wake Island. 
  These appellations, however, do not distinguish Apache from Inuit or Samoans from Mohawks. As a result, federal dollars typically budgeted for American Indians and Alaska Natives have now been reallocated to all peoples who declare themselves to be Native American. This interpretation increased competition for federal dollars and, in some cases, reduced treatied funds for those peoples originally identified as Native Americans. Most American Indian and Alaska Native groups have therefore moved away from calling themselves Native Americans, and instead use the names of their original nations (e.g., Navajo Nation, Menominee Nation, Seneca Nation). Most electronic databases and publications edited by Native scholars now use the term American Indian (e.g., Journal of American Indian Education, American Indian Quarterly, American Indian Culture and Research Journal) when referring to Native peoples as a collective group. 
  Although use of "American Indian" may suggest a return to the old image, those who choose American Indian terminology believe it more clearly identifies Native people 'of America as uniquely indigenous to the continent. 
* Teach children that American Indian people do not live in tribes. Although the United States Government has used the term "tribe" as an official designation for identifying different populations of American Indian people, most Native people prefer to be recognized as belonging to a particular nation of people rather than a tribe. 
  While "tribe" or "tribal society" may be acceptable to some Native people, others believe the words suggest primitive or nomadic peoples - a classification most modern populations would find offensive. 
  When the term "tribe" is used in anthropology, it generally refers to a kin-based society (Winthrop, 1991). Seymour-Smith (1986) defined it as ". . . a group which possesses social institutions but not political ones" (p. 281).
   A nation, on the other hand, is defined as having political organization and a differentiated administrative structure (Berndt, 1959; Winthrop, 1991). Although kin-based social units are common in most Native communities, American Indian societies today are nations that have been organized around democratic authority..."Teaching Children Accurately

Government Run Amuck

True, the white man brought great change. But the varied fruits of his civilization, though highly colored and inviting, are sickening and deadening. And if it be the part of civilization to maim, rob, and thwart, then what is progress?
          I am going to venture that the man who sat on the ground in his tipi meditating on life and its meaning, accepting the kinship of all creatures, and acknowledging unity with the universe of things, was infusing into his being the true essence of civilization.Chief Luther Standing Bear, 1933, From the Land of the Spotted Eagle, p.515

Fear, Unhappiness & Loneliness

 

"The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quite alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature. As longs as this exists, and it certainly always will, I know that then there will always be comfort for every sorrow, whatever the circumstances may be. And I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles."  - Anne Frank, The diary of a young girl

Livin' Like A Dog

When loved ones come home, always run to greet them.
Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joyride.
Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure ecstasy.
When it's in your best interest, practice obedience.
Let others know when they've invaded your territory. 

Take naps.
Stretch before rising.
Run, romp, and play daily.
Thrive on attention and let people touch you.
Avoid biting when a simple growl will do.
On warm days, stop to lie on your back in the grass. On hot days, drink lots of water and lie under a shady tree. When you're happy, dance around and wag your entire body. No matter how often you're scolded, don't buy into the guilt thing and pout ... Run right back and make friends. Delight in the simple joy of a long walk. Eat with gusto and enthusiasm. Stop when you have had enough. Be loyal. Never pretend to be something you're not. If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it. When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by and nuzzle them gently.

And never trust anyone until you have sniffed their butt.

Imperfect Men

It has been said that trees are imperfect men, and seem to bemoan their imprisonment rooted in the ground. But they never seem so to me. I never saw a discontented tree. They grip the ground as though they liked it, and though fast rooted they travel about as far as we do. They go wandering forth in all directions with every wind, going and coming like ourselves, traveling with us around the sun two million miles a day, and through space heaven knows how fast and far! - John Muir

One Love

We all flow from one fountain— Soul. All are expressions of one love. God does not appear, and flow out, only from narrow chinks and round bored wells here and there in favored races and places, but He flows in grand undivided currents, shoreless and boundless over creeds and forms and all kinds of civilizations and peoples and beasts, saturating all and fountainizing all. 

- John Muir

"In the beginning the world was covered with darkness. There was no sun, no day. The perpetual night had no moon or stars.
There were, however, all manner of beasts and birds. Among the beasts were many hideous, nameless monsters, as well as dragons, lions, tigers, wolves, foxes, beavers, rabbits, squirrels, rats, mice, and all manner of creeping things such as lizards and serpents. Mankind could not prosper under such conditions, for the beasts and serpents destroyed all human offspring.
All creatures had the power of speech and were gifted with reason." - Geronimo

Hiking to Nirvana

Walk away quietly in any direction and taste the freedom of the mountaineer. Camp out among the grasses and gentians of glacial meadows, in craggy garden nooks full of nature's darlings. Climb the mountains and get their good tidings, Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves. As age comes on, one source of enjoyment after another is closed, but nature's sources never fail. - John Muir, Our National Parks, 1901

True Path Walkers

To bring back the natural harmony that humans once enjoyed.
To save the planet from present practices of destruction.
To find and re-employ real truth.
To promote true balance between both genders.
To share and be less materialistic.
To become rid of prejudice.
To learn to be related.
To be kind to animals and take no more than we need.
To play with one's children and love each equally and fairly.
To be brave and courageous, enough so,
to take a stand and make a commitment.
To understand what Generations Unborn really means.
To accept the Great Mystery
in order to end foolish argument over religion.

The Sioux at Prayer

 

As quietly as little rabbit's feet,
The morning glory sun arrives to greet
The Red Man as he worships in his way.
For this he asks the Spirit every day;
Before I judge my friend, O let me wear
His moccasins for two long weeks, and share
The path that he would take in wearing them;
Then, I shall understand and not condemn.

- Peggy Windsor Garnett

Mohawk Prayer

Oh Great Spirit, Creator of all things;              
Human Beings, trees, grass, berries.
Help us, be kind to us.
Let us be happy on earth.
Let us lead our children
To a good life and old age.
These our people; give them good minds
To love one another.
Oh Great Spirit,
Be kind to us
Give these people the favor
To see green trees,
Green grass, flowers, and berries
This next spring;
So we all meet again
Oh Great Spirit,
We ask of you.

True Love

Obeying the Lord and His Word brings health to our being -- spirit, soul and body. Knowing God brings peace to our mind, in spite of what might be going on around us. None of us really know true love until we experience the love of God, and we really cannot love one another purely without Christ's love in our hearts. We are all basically selfish until we ask Christ into our hearts. His Spirit then changes us so that we can love one another with the love of God.

Thunder Beings

"When a vision comes from the thunder beings of the West, it comes with terror like a thunder storm; but when the storm of vision has passed, the world is greener and happier; for wherever the truth of vision comes upon the world, it is like a rain. The world, you see, is happier after the terror of the storm. ... you have noticed that truth comes into this world with two faces. One is sad with suffering, and the other laughs; but it is the same face, laughing or weeping. ... as lightning illuminates the dark, for it is the power of lightning that heyokas have." - Black Elk Speaks

Inspiration for Avatar?

To the center of the world you have taken me and showed the goodness and the beauty and the strangeness of the greening earth, the only mother — and there the spirit shapes of things, as they should be, you have shown to me and I have seen. At the center of this sacred hoop, you have said that I should make the tree to bloom.
With tears running, O Great Spirit , Great Spirit, my Grandfather — with running tears I must say now that the tree has never bloomed. A pitiful old man, you see me here, and I have fallen away and have done nothing. Here at the center of the world, where you took me when I was young and taught me; here, old, I stand, and the tree is withered, Grandfather, my Grandfather!
Again, and maybe the last time on this earth, I recall the great vision you sent me. It may be that some little root of the sacred tree still lives. Nourish it then, that it may leaf and bloom and fill with singing birds. Hear me, not for myself, but for my people; I am old. Hear me that they may once more go back into the sacred hoop and find the good red road, the shielding tree! - Black Elk Speaks

Giving Thanks

My grandfather is the fire
My grandmother is the wind
The Earth is my mother
The Great Spirit is my father
The World stopped at my birth
and laid itself at my feet
And I shall swallow the Earth whole
when I die
and the Earth and I will be one
Hail The Great Spirit, my father
without him no one could exist
because there would be no will to live
Hail The Earth, my mother
without which no food could be grown
and so cause the will to live to starve
Hail the wind, my grandmother
for she brings loving, lifegiving rain
nourishing us as she nourishes our crops
Hail the fire, my grandfather
for the light, the warmth, the comfort he brings
without which we be animals, not men
Hail my parent and grandparents
without which
not I
nor you
nor anyone else
could have existed
Life gives life
which gives unto itself
a promise of new life
Hail the Great Spirit, The Earth, the wind, the fire
praise my parents loudly
for they are your parents, too
Oh, Great Spirit, giver of my life
please accept this humble offering of prayer
this offering of praise
this honest reverence of my love for you.
- H.Kent Craig

Perfect Love

We come to love not by finding a perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly. - Sam Keen

Fear of the Light

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God.
Your playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine, as children do.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
-- Marianne Williamson

Friendship's Nest

When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand.  The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares.  ~Henri Nouwen

The Song of Hiawatha

You shall hear how Hiawatha prayed
and fasted in the forest,
Not for greater skill in hunting,
Not for greater craft in fishing,
Not for triumphs in the battle,
And renown among the warriors,
But for profit of the people,
For advantage of the nations.

                                    "The Song of Hiawatha" - H.W.Longfellow, 1855

My Indian Boyhood

"The home of my tribe, the Western Sioux, was all that territory which is now called North and South Dakota, and all this land once belonged to my people. It was a beautiful country.In the springtime and early summer the plains, as far as the eye could see, were covered with velvety green grass. Even the rolling hills were green, and here there was a pretty stream. Over the hills roamed the buffalo and in the woods that bordered the streams were luscious fruits that were ours for the picking. In the winter everything was covered with snow, but we always had plenty of food to last through the winter until spring came again. Life was full of happiness and contentment for my people." - Luther Standing Bear from My Indian Boyhood, 1931

"I was not born in America, it was born on my land."

"The Great Spirit raised both the white man and the Indian. I think he raised the Indian first. He raised me in this land, it belongs to me. The white man was raised over the great waters, and his land is over there. Since they crossed the sea, I have given them room. There are now white people all about me. I have but a small spot of land left. The Great Spirit told me to keep it."

Chief Red Cloud - Sioux

Gulf Oil Spill Call to Consciousness

“Human beings are abusing one another as well as the planet they live on. The destruction of the natural world is a clear indication of mankind’s spiritual poverty...Hundreds of species of birds and animals have been utterly destroyed since the Europeans arrived in America...The forests have been leveled, the waters polluted, the native peoples subjected to genocide...Western technology and the people who have employed it have been the most amazingly destructive forces in all of human history....
Call to Consciousness

Code of Handsome Lake

When their poverty is urged as an argument against their religion and social system they assert that the true follower of the prophet will be poor and suffer much in this world but that his condition in the "new world above the sky" will be in direct contrast. They therefore esteem poverty, lowly surroundings and sickness as a sure indication of a rich heavenly reward and point to the better material surroundings and wealth of their brethren of the white man's way as an evidence that the devil has bought them.

The writer of this sketch has no complaint against the simple folk who have long been his friends. For a greater portion of his lifetime he has mingled with them, lived in their homes and received many honors from them. He has attended their ceremonies, heard their instructors and learned much of the old-time lore. Never has he been more royally entertained than by them, never was hospitality so genuine, never was gratitude more earnest, never were friends more sincere. There is virtue in their hearts and a sincerity and frankness that is refreshing. If only there were no engulfing "new way" and no modern rush, no need for progress, there could scarcely be a better devised system than theirs. It was almost perfectly fitted for the conditions which it was designed to meet, but now the new way has surrounded them, everything which they have and use in the line of material things, save a few simple maize foods and their ceremonial paraphernalia, is the product of the white man's hand and brain. The social and economic and moral order all about them is the white man's, not theirs. How long can they oppose their way to the overwhelming forces of the modern world and exist? How long will they seek to meet these overwhelming forces with those their ancestors devised but devised not with a knowledge of what the future would require? My Indian friends will answer, "Of these things we know nothing; we know only that the Great Ruler will care for us as long as we are faithful." Asked about the clothes they wear, the houses they live in, the long house they worship in, they reply, "All these things may be made of the white man's material but they are outside things. Our religion is not one of paint or feathers; it is a thing of the heart." That is the answer; it is a thing of the heart--who can change it?

A Host of Ghosts

“And when the last Red Man shall have perished, and his MEMORY among white men shall have become a MYTH, these shores will swarm with the invisible dead of my tribe and when your children’s children shall think themselves alone in the field, the store, the shop, upon highway, or in the silence of the woods, they will not be alone. In all the earth there is no place dedicated to solitude.

At night when the streets of your cities and villages shall be silent and you think them deserted, they will throng with the returning hosts that once filled and still love this Beautiful land.

The White Man will never be alone. Let him be just and deal kindly with my people, for the dead are not powerless.” - Chief Seath'tl, 1854 address to Gov, Stevens

Majestic Cathedral

There were no temples or shrines among us save those of nature. Being a natural man, the Indian was intensely poetical. He would deem it sacrilege to build a house for Him who may be met face to face in the mysterious, shadowy aisles of the primeval forest, or on the sunlit bosom of virgin prairies, upon dizzy spires and pinnacles of naked rock, and yonder in the jeweled vault of the night sky! He who enrobes Himself in filmy veils of cloud, there on the rim of the visible world where our Great-Grandfather Sun kindles his evening camp-fire, He who rides upon the rigorous wind of the north, or breathes forth His spirit upon aromatic southern airs, whose war-canoe is launched upon majestic rivers and inland seas -- He needs no lesser cathedral! - Charles A. Eastman, Santee Sioux, 1911

Indigenous Spirituality

The Soul of the Indian

 I have attempted to paint the religious life of the typical American Indian as it was before he knew the white man. I have long wished to do this, because I cannot find that it has ever been seriously, adequately, and sincerely done. The religion of the Indian is the last thing about him that the man of another race will ever understand.- Charles A. Eastman, 1911

Indian Blues

Crazy Horse

Prayer of the Day

Dear Heavenly Father,I am thankful that You are an "all seeing" and "all hearing" God, as this brings me great comfort to know You are watching over me at all times, and that You hear every word and prayer that I pray. You are a wonderful Father who not only loves me, but You love the whole world. I thank You that You are concerned about all the little things that concern me, as well as the things that I perceive as big things. Lord, to You, my concerns are never too small to miss Your attention, nor are they too big that You can not take care of them because You are sizeless!!

YOU ARE GOD!! Lord, may this truth be planted strongly in my spirit and in those that I pray for. Lord, meet the needs  of people who ask us for prayer. Touch them and meet their needs according to Your will. Let each of them know how much You love and care for them. I know You will come and save them from pain and sorrow! I ask this in Your precious son's name. Amen.

Giving Thanks

Western mind has come to believe for centuries that 'civilized' humans are above nature-that nature and its forces are something to be dominated and exploited rather than revered and cared for. And, we do so, violently. Do we consider the Earth a sentient being? Consider, then, the violent act of mining--drilling deeply and forcefully into the body of the earth. Consider, also, the violence when the endless mine shafts collapse, taking the lives of countless workers and devastating family members left behind. Woodlands are demolished in service of providing fortunes for developers who pack countless homes into tidy parcels of land to profit from consumers. Do we think about the bulldozed trees that, for decades, and sometimes for centuries, cleaned our air and maintained our soil, providing habitat for the many birds and squirrels. Do we consider the impact on the animal life disturbed as a result of this so-called progress? Countless animals are killed in the slaughterhouses. Do we think to thank them for the sacrificing of their lives for our sustenance at our table?

Red Jacket's Speech

Red Jacket's Speech Communicated 1822

Wasichu

"my name is wasichu. i know thee, i have found thee, & i will not let thee go."
0949 est, october 11, 2004
barnard, vermont 
 Wasichu The first people who lived on the northern plains of what today is the United States called themselves "Lakota," meaning "the people," a word which provides the semantic basis for Dakota. The first European people to meet the Lakota called them "Sioux," a contraction of Nadowessioux, a now-archaic French-Canadian word meaning "snake" or enemy.
The Lakota also used the metaphor to describe the newcomers. It was Wasi'chu, which means "takes the fat," or "greedy person." Within the modern Indian movement, Wasi'chu has come to mean those corporations and individuals, with their governmental accomplices, which continue to covet Indian lives, land, and resources for private profit.
Wasi'chu does not describe a race; it describes a state of mind.
Wasi'chu is also a human condition based on inhumanity, racism, and exploitation. It is a sickness, a seemingly incurable and contagious disease which begot the ever advancing society of the West. If we do not control it, this disease will surely be the basis for what may be the last of the continuing wars against the Native American people.

...excerpt from Wasi'chu, The Continuing Indian Wars,
Bruce Johansen and Robert Maestas
with an introduction by John Redhouse

Are We Responsible?

The very nature of our Lord is to seek out the poor and help them. As God's children we are commanded to do likewise. When we give to the poor and help them with material assistance, it opens the door so that we might present the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord is interested in every soul. As we reach out to others with His love and compassion, we are able to lead them to salvation. The word salvation in the Greek, takes on a fuller meaning than someone being born again and going to heaven. The Greek word for salvation encompasses the meaning of deliverance from sin, sickness, harm, danger, lack and poverty. Therefore, Jesus came to not only save us from our sin; but to save us from sickness, harm, fear, poverty and every other curse. Poverty comes from the devil, as do the rest of these things. Jesus came to redeem us from our sin, sickness and poverty.

Lawrence Red Feathers sits on his porch at Pine Ridge Reservation, Rapid City, South Dakota, USA. Photograph: Jennifer Brown/Corbis

As God's children, we are promised the blessing of abundance. This does not mean just abundance in material things; but is speaking of spiritual blessings as well, which are really more valuable than all material blessings. The Lord wants to bless us so that we can bless others. If we are poor we are not able to help others. We must learn how to receive our blessings so that we can pass those blessings on. The Bible tells us that when we reach out to help any one who is needy, poor, sick or in prison, it is the same as giving to the Lord Himself and the Lord shall reward us for it. However, the opposite is also true. When we fail to minister to the poor, hungry and sick, we also fail to minister to the Lord and shall be rejected by Him.