think on the simpler, more basic and pure way of The People...a way to balance and the light...listen and learn...
for only by hearing with our spirit can we hope to heal the broken Web of Life...
Please be patient while loading.
This page is graphic intensive.
Thank you.
MITAKUYE OYASIN
© 26 May 2003
Fallen Brother
Music: The Theme from "Dances With Wolves"
I believe....
I am not of The People...my spirit has connected with the simple, basic natural beliefs taught down through the ages. I am of Celtic origins, those ancients who also revered the earth and our connection to it. Through the teachings of mentors and special friends, I have come to know that it is this ancient strain in my blood which calls out and leaves my spirit embracing the light.
I watched. I listened...not just with my ears, but with my heart, my spirit. I learned. I grew. And still I thirst for more...
For those of you unfamiliar with the teachings of the Old Ones, the Old Ways, they are very simple...To the People, every new day-every bird, beast, and insect-every flower, tree, and rock-every stream and river--are related. All are creations of the same great power and are brothers in the Circle of Life. There is nothing that can be seen or touched, living or inanimate, that does not have a spirit.
Whether you call this great power Orenda, A'wonawil'ones, Tirawa, Allah, The Creator, The Big Holy, Wakan Tanka, Sila, or simply God, it is the same. The difference lies in your perception of it and your ability to truly connect to that power.
The words of Luther Standing Bear (below) touched a chord deep within my spirit and helped show me my beliefs were not odd...that I DO belong. My God is not a vengeful God. He does not seek to control me through fear and retribution. I do not need the civilized trappings of great buildings to see His work. I see that in the faces of my grandchildren...in the warmth of those who care...in the simpleness of a bloom...in the rushing whispers of a waterfall...in the glory of a mountainside view...in the song Brother Wind sings as he moves through the arms of The Standing People.
This is my connection to The People. This is the energy I have found, and through it, I have found a measure of peace. I do not seek to portray myself as a Native American. I only seek to embrace the dream of all mankind...that Mother Earth be healed and that mankind will come together to know a better way, for mankind is the weakest link in this Circle of Life. Only we can stop the destruction...
In the borrowed words again I say,
MITAKUYE OYASIN...
Cimbri
I have lost the name of the author of this painting. If you know to whom it belongs, please let me know, so that I can give them the proper respect.
Chief Seattle
Only after the last tree has been cut down,
only after the last river has been polluted,
only after the last fish has been caught,
only then will you find that money cannot be eaten.
Cree prophecy
Purification will come
and grandma will cradle us
in her arms
and wipe away our tears
and grandpa will walk among us.
It will be this generation
you people
will make it reality
and the hoop
will come together again.
Wallace Black Elk, contemporary Lakota wicasa wakan
Learn how to withhold judgment
Learn to listen
Get in touch with your own inner self
Look at life with joy
Don't ever cry over something that cannot cry over you.
--Cheewa James, Modoc
"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 the Great Spirit, and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us."
--Black Elk
"...peoples need to change ways. They got bad medicine ways. They gonna need to live better. They need to see how they be always connected to Earth Mother's birthcord, to sky, to stars, an' to each other even. Peoples gonna need to live inside hoop with all spirits of life. They need to go back an' live the Earthway once again."
---No Eyes, Native American (Chippewa) visionary, as told to Mary Summer Rain---Earthway
Blackfoot. Sioux. Ojibway. Crow
The tribes are scattered like red leaves.
The thunder of the buffalo is heard no more.
The sacred trust is a splintered bow.
But the eagle remembers.
And the wolf and the bear.
You called us brother; we are brothers still.
You run with us. You always will.
---Elise Maclay
"...From birth to death, (the Indian) revered his surroundings. He considered himself born in the luxurious lap of Mother Earth, and no place was to him humble. There was nothing between him and Wakan Tanka. The contact was immediate and personal, and the blessings of Wakan Tanka flowed over the Indian like rain showered from the sky. Wakan Tanka was not aloof, apart, and ever-seeking to quell evil forces. He did not punish the animals and the birds, and likewise, he did not punish man. He was not a punishing god. There was never a question as to the supremacy of an evil power over and above the power of Good. There was but one ruling power, and that WAS Good."
---Luther Standing Bear, Oglala Sioux
"The first lesson that we should learn is that religion is a man-made institution, but Spirituality is given to us by The Creator. The People of Turtle Island chose to live in the way of the spiritual teachings and not in man-made laws designed to work best for those who control the religious institutions."
--Wa'Na'Nee'Che'--Native American Spirituality
"We did not think of the great open plains, the beautiful rolling hills, and winding streams with tangled growth, as wild. Only to the white man was nature a wilderness, and only to him was the land infested with wild animals and savage people.
To us it was tame. Earth was bountiful and we were surrounded with the blessings of the great mystery. Not until the hairy man from the east came and with brutal frenzy heaped injustices upon us and upon the families we loved was it wild for us.
When the very animals of the forest began fleeing from his approach, then it was that for us the wild west began."
--Chief Luther Standing Bear, Oglala Sioux
"You have noticed that everything an Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the Power of the World always works in circles, and everything tries to be round.
In the old days all our power came to us from the sacred hoop of the nation and so long as the hoop was unbroken the people flourished. The flowering tree was the living center of the hoop, and the circle of the four quarters nourished it. The east gave peace and light, the south gave warmth, the west gave rain and the north with its cold and mighty wind gave strength and endurance.
This knowledge came to us from the outer world with our religion. Everything the power of the world does is done in a circle. The sky is round and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball and so are all the stars.
The wind, in its greatest power, whirls. Birds make their nests in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours. The sun comes forth and goes down again in a circle. The moon does the same and both are round. Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing and always come back again to where they were.
The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves. Our teepees were round like the nests of birds, and these were always set in a circle, the nation's hoop, a nest of many nests, where the Great Spirit meant for us to hatch our children."
--Black Elk, Oglala Sioux 1863-1950
Red Jacket on the Religion of White Men
Legend of the White Buffalo
Speech by Chief Seattle - 1854Who owns the land?
Coyote ThunderA strong spirit working for The People...
His heart sings for the healing of The Circle of Life...
The Medicine Wheel
Bearded Wolf
Sun Bear's Unofficial Homepage
Thunder RollsIncredible art!
