Birds of Prey
by
Kirby Sattler
Hunt when you must,
Rest in between.
Share your Affection,
Voice your Feelings,
Wolf Credo Respect the Elders,
Teach the Young,
Cooperate with the Pack.
Play when you can,
Leave your Mark
--Anonymous |
EAGLEHEART
by Bev Doolittle |
Remain close to the Great Spirit
Show Great respect for your fellow beings
Give assistance and kindness wherever needed
Be truthful and honest at all times
Do what you know to be right
Look after the wellbeing of mind and body
Treat eh earth and all that dwell thereon with respect
Take full responsibility for your actions
Dedicate a share of your efforts to the greater good
Work together for the benefit of all mankind
The Plains Indians have always had a great spiritual
connection with all of nature. Their belief was, and still is,
that their lives and nature are all interconnected.
The eagle was one of the central spiritual animals for most
tribes. It was commonly referred to as Thunderbird in stories and legends.
It was considered to be a messenger from God to some tribes. The Lakota called it 'Wambli' (a reference to the eagle spirit responsible for hunting and wars).
As eagles were a central spiritual animal figure for some tribes, their feathers were used in many ceremonies and given as "rewards" for acts of bravery, and heroic deeds.
When they reached adulthood, young men would receive an eagle feather and the elders of the tribe would pass on knowledge and advice.
Eagle feathers were a symbol of goodness, they were also given to individuals when they performed an act of bravery or an heroic deed. The feathers would be worn as medals or awards and placed in head-dresses.
EAGLE MOON
by Roy H. Vickers
A Southern Alberta historical site:
Campfire Native American Page
I would highly recommend the following website to everyone who is interested in tracing their Native ancestry. Grey Eagle also has many Indian and Eagle links. I am proud to be on his list of links. Thank you Grey Eagle.
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"Being Indian is mainly in your heart. It's a way of walking with
the earth instead of upon it. A lot of the history books talk about us
Indians in the past tense, but we don't plan on going anywhere... We have
lost so much, but the thing that holds us together is that we all belong to
and are protectors of the earth; that's the reason for us being here.
Mother Earth is not a resource, she is an heirloom."
David Ipinia, Yurok Artist, Sacramento, CA
"The strength of our future, lies in the protecting of our past."
Seminole Elder
"The Earth was created by the assistance of the sun, and it should be left
as it was. The country was made with no lines of demarcation, and it's no man's
business to divide it. I see the whites all over the country gaining wealth, and I see the desire to give us lands which are worthless.
The Earth and myself are of one mind. Perhaps you think the Creator sent
you here to dispose of us as you see fit. If I thought you were sent by the
creator, I might he induced to think you had a right to dispose of me.
Do not misunderstand me; but understand me fully with reference to my
affection for the land. I never said the land was mine to do with as I choose. The one who has a right to dispose of it is the one who created it. I claim a right to live
on my land, and accord you the privilege to return to yours.
Brother, we have listened to your talk coming from our father, the Great
White Chief in Washington, and my people have called upon me to reply to
you.
The winds which pass through these aged pines we hear the moaning of
departed ghosts, and if the voice of our people could have been heard, that
act would never have been done. But alas though they stood around they could neither be seen nor heard. Their tears fell like drops of rain.
I hear my voice in the depths of the forest but no answering voice comes
back to me. All is silent around me. My words must therefore be few. I can
now say no more. He is silent for he has nothing to answer when the sun
goes down."
Thunder Rolling in the Mountains-Chief Joseph, Nez Perce
"Our fathers gave us many laws which they had learned from their fathers.
They told us to treat all men as they treated us. That we should never be
the first to break a bargain. That it was a disgrace to tell a lie. That we
should speak only the truth. We were taught to believe that the Great
Spirit sees and hears everything and that he never forgets. This I believe
and all my people believe the same."
Thunder Rolling in the Mountains-Chief Joseph, Nez Perce
"Wars are fought to see who owns the land, but in the end it possesses man.
Who dares say he owns it- is he not buried beneath it?"
Cochise, Chiricahua Apache
"When you are a person who belongs to a community, you have to know who you
are. You have to know who your relatives are, and as a tribe we have to
know where we came from..."
Charlotte Black Elk, Oglala Sioux
"Marriage among my people was like traveling in a canoe. The man sat in front
and paddled the canoe. The woman sat in the stern but she steered."
Anonymous
"A Nation is not conquered until the hearts of its women are on the ground.
Then it is done, no matter how brave its warriors nor how strong its
weapons."
Cheyenne
"Have patience. All things change in due time. Wishing cannot bring autumn
glory or cause winter to cease."
Ginaly-li, Cherokee
"Lose your temper and you lose a friend; lie and you lose yourself."
Hopi
"With all things and in all things, we are relatives."
Sioux
"Kinship with all creatures of the earth, sky and water was a real and
active principle. And so close did some of the Lakotas come to their
feathered and furred friends that in true brotherhood they spoke a common
tongue.
The animals had rights...
the right of man's protection,
the right to live,
the right to multiply,
the right to freedom, and
the right to man's indebtedness."
Luther Standing Bear, Teton Sioux
"We who are clay blended by the Master Potter, come from the kiln of
Creation in many hues. How can people say one skin is colored, when each
has its own coloration? What should it matter that one bowl is dark and the
other pale, if each is of good design and serves its purpose well."
Polingaysi Qoyawayma, Hopi
"Walk on a rainbow trail, walk on a trail of song, and all about you will be
beauty. There is a way out of every dark mist, over a rainbow trail."
Navajo Song
"What is life?
It is the flash of a firefly in the night.
It is the breath of a buffalo in the winter time.
It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the
sunset."
Crowfoot, Blackfoot
"Hold on to what is good even if it is a handful of earth.
Hold on to what you believe even if it is a tree which stands by itself.
Hold on to what you must do even if it is a long way from here.
Hold on to life even when it is easier letting go.
Hold on to my hand even when I have gone away from you."
Pueblo Blessing
Will Rogers, the world famous humorist born in Claremore, Oklahoma, was 1/4
Cherokee. When asked to respond to the question, "But you are an American
citizen?", Will had a quick reply. "Well", he drawled, "I think I am. My folks were Indian. Both my mother and father had Cherokee blood in them. (I
was) born and raised in Indian Territory. 'Course we're not the Americans
whose ancestors came over on the Mayflower, but we met them at the boat
when they landed."
"There is no such thing as 'part-Cherokee.' Either you're Cherokee or you’re
not.
It isn't the quantity of Cherokee blood in your veins that is important, but the quality of it . . . your pride in it. I have seen full-bloods who have virtually no idea of the great legacy entrusted to their care. Yet, I have seen people with as little as 1/500th blood quantum who inspire the spirits of their ancestors because they make being Cherokee a proud part of a their everyday life."
Jim Pell: Principal Chief of the North Alabama Cherokee Tribe
"They had an ancient lost reverence for the earth and its web of
life. They had what the world has lost. The world must have it back lest it
die."
John Collier
Former Commissioner of Indian Affairs
"I think the Spirit, is the one thing we have to rely on. It has been handed
to us as a live and precious coal. And each generation has to make that
decision whether they want to blow on that coal to keep it alive or throw
it away... Our language, our histories and culture are like a big
ceremonial fire that's been kicked and stomped and scattered...Out in the
darkness we can see those coals glowing. But our generation, whether in
tribal government or wherever we find ourselves--Choctaw, Cherokee,
Chickasaw, Creek, Seminole--are coal gatherers. We bring the coals back,
assemble them and breathe on them again, so we can spark a flame around
which we might warm ourselves."
Gary White Deer, Chickasaw
1994
"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
1996
"When the last red man shall have become a myth among the white men, when
your children' s children think themselves alone in the field, upon the
highway or in the silence of the pathless 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 are silent, they will throng with the returning
hosts that once filled them and still love this beautiful land. The white
man will never be alone."
Chief Seattle, Suquamish/Duwamish
1790-1866
"You have noticed that everything an Indian does 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
