1st blog Sunday, Nov 30th, 2008

MITAKAYE OYASIN

This is an ancient Lakota greeting, for all non Lakota it basically means all my relations. A very simple greeting that is normally used when you enter a inipi or sweat lodge, as well in many other Lakota ceremonies. It meaning is that all of the thing the great mystery has created are related to us. This at first seems pretty simplistic , but only now are Physicists and Scientist coming to truly understand how correct that phrase is . As Carl Sagan once commented " we are all made of star stuff" this is another way of saying mitakaye oyasin. It is a way of understanding that things created by the great mystery or God if you prefer are all related and kin one to another. So with this understanding , perhaps you can understand that when we do something to one part of the earth God created it causes an unbalance in the other.

Years back ranchers wanted all wolves dead, and with a bounty on the ears and tongues of wolves, humans set out and wiped them out of most areas of the United States. It wasn't until years later Biologist discovered that without wolves , mice ( who were at the top of the wolves main course) population ran wild thus creating many additional diseases that effect both man and animals If Man toys with one side of something God has created it creates a unbalance on the other. This simplistic view is at the core of most first Americans Spirital beliefs , as well as many other people who lived off the earth, the understanding that all things are related to each other and to take more than you need is not only waste full but stupid as well. Yet in our day in time the world is full of many people who do not purely understand that what you need is enough. This web site as well as this store , that has been in business for over thirty years, is named for a man who had a great understanding of the true meaning of mitakyaye oyasin. It is a name that was passed to me as a responsibility for me to follow, and to fulfill this very understanding of spirit , and what it means to walk the red road, for after all no matter what your back ground , where you come from we are related . Many of my american indian friends believe that the old teachings are to be kept only amoung the indians themselves and I greaty understand and respect why this is believed and I give my blessings ,but the way I was taught, this goes against the meaning of mitakaye oyasin . So if you are one of my many american indian friends I hope this site does not offend you in any way, for it is for all of Gods creatures that I am here. I do understand the reluctance of many of my brothers not to share the old ways of the Lakota or any other tribes. I myself have seen the abuse and misuse of tribal ceremonies and placed on a show as if they were meant for the entertainment of the others, So I love and pray for the way of each and everyone of all my Indian brothers, but at last my path is already drawn, and it is a way I must follow to be true to the great mystery , my grandfather and grandmother and all my relative who walked this way many years before i stumbled along this wonderful pathway.

It is my intent week in and week out to place upon this computer things that we must all do together in these tough times that are ahead of us, many of you all know that what I speak about, while there are others who only have a since for or feel it. This store is made to help explain and to help all people understand the great love of a great people . In giving answers and perspective and perhaps an understanding of how the sacred ways can help us all in our days to come. If you have a question for me or if there is an explanation that I might be able to give to help you understand your own paths please feel free to email me your questions. I do not ask for nor do I seek your money, so please if you want to make a contribution to the work Eaglebears does among the young of both American indian and the youth of other cultures, simply purchace something we have for sale. Not only will you enjoy the authentic piece of work but I am sure you will place it in a place of honour prodly in your home as manuy of our customers in the thirty years we have been in business . Also I would like for you all to know ,I do not take any money nor do any of the others who help me , From the proceeds of our sales, it is not needed as the creator has made it possible for me to be extremely bless and more than well cared for. However each purchase you make means an american indian can make another piece of art to sell and can take care of their family and loved ones without asking for a hand out. This is the way the creator intended each of us to be.

I would also like to make clear, I am no one special. No great medicine man, no great holy man. I am just an ordinary many who seeks the same path many of you also seek, The path of a chance to be enlighten and to make small differences to those that come in touch with me along the way. I would like to thank each and every one of you who stopped by the web site , and tell each of you how special each and everyone of you are. Whether you would like to buy something or even if you can't buy anything, I would hope you would leave this web site with something you can take with you. For if it is but one person that goes out and gives a smile to just one other person, it would make me happy to know there is one more smile in the world , and who knows what one more smile might just do to change this world . Ho mitakaye oyasin

The White Buffalo Calf Woman

The story of the White Buffalo Calf Woman “ Pte San Wi “ according to my grandmother, has been told from generation to generation for as long as the Lakota people remember. Pte San We brought to the people, seven ceremonies that was to keep the people close to “ Wakan Tanka “ the great mystery. I will talk from time to time about the ceremonies but will not talk about them in specifics because it truly doesn’t matter. I keep some things to myself, because it is the way I was taught, but I promise you. I will not keep anything that matters from you. It is my promise to you, and my promise is kept with a ceremony that is seal with a covenant with the creator.
Again I begin not as a holy man who is teaching another, but as one traveler who is traveling with others. If you walk by me, we are on the same road.
The story begins with two hunters out looking to feed their families and some of the old ones. They come across a hill and in the distance is a white glow that is so bright they at first think another sun was rising. Both amazed walk with a quickness in their pace to see if they could come closer to the spot it was located. As they came close they both were amazed to see a beautiful young maiden , neither of them had ever seen this thing that was so beautiful. One fell on his knees because he knew he was in the presents of something sacred, while the other immediately had sexual thoughts about her, and what he could do because she was all alone.
I would like to stop here for in my heart I know there is much to talk about at this spot. How many of this , in this day and time already see an importance here. Some might say “ Ah the old struggle of good against evil “ . Perhaps even though it is simple this might be the easiest way to look at things, but I see some much deeper thoughts happen here. What is it , that we see when we look at things? One man saw something beyond holy, while the other see opportunity. I think we all feel we closely connect with the man who saw holy but I
disagree , I think most of us see things the way we like to see them.
For example, how many of us might say. “ There is no such thing as an angel, or anything that is whole so therefore she is human just as me.” I think most people simple would not see her as holy at all. Perhaps we would still see her as just someone in the distance who is lost, or perhaps we don’t even have sexual thoughts but just she her as just a normal person and not even pretty. How would we treat her? “ Hello could I help you?” might go the conversation. Lets say she smiles at us and says “ No, I am here to help you and your people. It is important you listen to me and remember my words and share them with your tribe.
We might look at each other with a knowing look of , “ Yeah right” would this be a more likely outcome of you and me. Perhaps your another woman and you just look and say “ great another pretty young woman for me to compete with” perhaps these would be more the likely actions we would be guilty of. The point is: How many would respond like the one young man who feel to his knees and knew instantly how sacred this person was.
How would you actually act, or myself , I am not better. I think the average white man doesn’t realize when acts of wonder and miracle show themselves. How many American Indians of today would miss the same.
I was raised in ways most of the white people who read what I have written, would never know about. I have seen things that most people have never seen. This does not make me a better or more worthy person, it makes me more responsible. I do not have an excuse for ignorance.
I have an adopted Arapaho son. I have not heard from him in a long time but I think of him still everyday, and I hold a love for him that will never go away. I helped him through his first year of Sundance , not that this is important it is not but I tried my best to show him how to walk in a good path. I do not think I did a good job,I wish I could have done better. How do you prepare another human to confront something that might be very difficult to understand let alone go through. He did do a great job I heard later from others, but I did not do my job.
I don’t bring this up because I feel sorry for myself, just that I am trying to show each of you. No matter how hard you try to because sacred and holy, you will make mistakes. The mistakes are not the thing that messes you up , it is what you do with the mistake.
The second warrior made the mistake of having bad thoughts of this young woman, but this was not his fatal mistake.
God expects us to mess up, what we do with it, this is what he cares about. Are we humble enough to catch the first and early mistakes. So for me “Karma “ are what ever you choose to call it. This is Gods gentle lesson until we discover the mistake.

I have listen to people all my life complain about , How could God allow this? I have watched people that shake a fist at creator with one hand while pouring poison in our rivers with the others saying “ How can God allow children to die?”. How is this fair? I think it is time for man to look at what he does to contribute to suffering, and how much do we do to alleviate it?
The creator has sent many great people to help teach us, and even help us understand ourselves, but in order to do this. We have to examine ourselves, to find truth is to reveal the things we are ignorant about our own behavior. This is one of the best ways for us to start. This is a very difficult way to start each and everyday, but I will share a ceremony that my grandfather did each and every morning that was help for him. I suggest you find a way, any way that can help you find a humility that will lead you to discover the things you are ignorant .
Every morning my grandfather would take his pendleton blanket out to the hill. He liked to do it at sunrise but i am sure anytime would work. He would take a basket that he would carry sage and cedar and some sweetgrass and other things from time to time. He would sit and be still for sometime, until he would get this huge smile on his face, and you would then see him start to pick things out of him , things that you could not see but he would remove it ( these were all things he had already discover about himself that cause him to make mistakes ), he would continue do remove these things until he felt they were all gone.
Then with his palms open as he were receiving gifts, he would continue his smile and sit until he felt the creator has given him his recharge for the day. Then he would start picking at his heart as if he were grabbing energy out of it, and he would start passing it out for all who were around him, he said it was sharing the gifts the creator shared with him. Then when he was done , he would hold his basket high about his head so he couldn’t see in the basket and stir things around and then he would grab something out of the basket, and what he received was a gift from the creator. I saw time after time when he would do this he would pull things that were never in the basket before he went out. He would get anything from feathers, to rattles , and once he took out some moccasins that he would wear to dance in.
How ever you might choose to pay attention to mistake in your thinking, it will be a insightful journey that will change the person you are. More about the “Pte San Wi” in the next blog.

THE DARK SIDE OF LIFE

I think the importance of the white buffalo calf woman's story, has far much more value than just what people might think is a myth. We Lakota know it is true, and know of the pipe she brought to the people, they understand how and where it is to be kept. While many Lakota people especial those who went through the government “ relocation plan., like my father, might have lost track of the pipe and the seven ceremonies, there are a few who still try to keep them alive for our people. I hope you understand this is why so many believe that, no white person should be trained or told of these ways, because for the most part, the whites have shown that they are not to be trusted. This however is where I feel the mistake is made, it matters not the true color of skin but that thing which is in the heart. There are many whites that have participated in many of these sacred ceremony, and have done so for years. Many have done so without any problems.
The problem perhaps lies in some of the current day ceremonies, an example, the last Sundance I participated in, after many days of fasting and dancing, upon the fourth day. I had what my grandfather would have called a blue day. As I gazed into the sun, through the limbs of the cotton wood tree. I saw a grandfather come on the branch and then he approached me. He had tears in his eyes and he was pleading with me. Speaking in the old Dakota dialect ( that many of the old song are still sung in). While I understood what he was saying I didn’t understand what he wanted. I went home disturbed about the old grandfather. I sweated many times asking him to return and teach me, the things he was so upset about. Then one night while in my dream, he came and when I woke up in the morning I understood.
What is important here is no, the message but to understand why I didn’t understand when he first came to me? Perhaps many of us suffer from what my problem was. I didn’t understand what he was telling me because I wasn’t humble enough to understand.
You see, when the one hunter fell to his knees, and knew instantly he was among the “wakan” the sacred, it was because of his humility, who’s utter faith in the things he knew to be true and not the brain talking him into what he believed it couldn’t be. How many of us listen to that doubting voice, that voice that tells us not to believe, no sacred lives are has ever lived.
Scientist even state when you ask when we die where does the energy go, for energy can never be taken from the universe. The scientist reply the energy is the heat that is dissipated by the body, hense the law still is intact.
In the world of science, the world of logic, there is an answer to everything that shows there was never a creator, explanations for everything many would say.
From the big bang, to the expanding universe science believed they had the answer to everything, until they discover the universe was expanding and not just expanding but faster than at the time of the big bang, the answer How could this be is still be asked, and part of the answer Dark energy is not understood at all. This is our problem man believes he has the answer to everything, but we do not. We have mathematics in the form of “String Theory” trying to explain why at the quantum level of the world, our physics doesn’t seem to work. Man still searching for the apple that teaches him what the creator only knows.
What I tell you here is a message for us all from the grandfather “ There are not rules for spirit but only heart” Once you see that truly there are not rules but only truth, and truth only lies in the simplicity of our heart. You see at least now in the world of the Lakota, there are so many sundances, some are not run by the old grandfathers but by families. Each year I have noticed that at every Sundance, and sweat-lodges increasingly rules were being applied. In fact the last Sundance I attended I remember thinking how this was becoming like an organized religion with few old ones running the ceremonies and more and rules being discussed. Don’t touch this with the right hand, don’t wear this here. On and on. The most noticeable of everything was fewer and fewer grandfathers running the Sundance. They were being run by men in their forties and fifties. My grandfather lived to be almost 100, almost all of my ceremonies were run by him or someone close to his age. I had to earn every right that I was given, the way I urned that right, by learning humility and to pay attention to the blessing I was given. I have found for the most part, laws and rules are applied by man to have control, it is not just Christianity that applies these but now almost all religions. This is what is keeping us from spirit, the heart is the journey and where the spirit learns, and there the only rule that need apply is love. Love is the only thing that organized religion always leaves out, oh speaking of love is in, but the real love of something does not call for control or guilt. It is simply to allow with both patients and kindness.
Every answer to all questions about the creator lies in a very simple solution “ The creator is love, pure and true love.”
All the questions that people want to understand about spirit lies in the understanding of what “ Love is. If you can truly understand unselfish love, that contains patients, understanding, and tolerance then you are starting to enter into the true kingdom of the creator.
I do not fault the people who are trying to follow the way the anyone tries to follow a path to truth. I am telling you beware many peoples path to what they call “Spirit” is a trap for control and a way for those who are leading the religion to get something out of it, manipulate to get what they want. A true leader wants you to find that what is good for you, and they would not want to be in the way.
The second warrior, is a lot more like us all. The second warrior is like the ones who claim they have all the answers, the ones making people feel guilty to get your money or some other thing that is wanted. It is far easier to find this kind of warrior but we run into them every day, To make matters worse, it has become a normal everyday occurrence. It has come to the day where many times these are our leaders, both in religion and in government. What happens to the second warrior who sees the thing he wants out of the vision. The white buffalo calf woman walked up to him, and offered an embrace, and when the embrace was over, the second warrior was nothing but bones with snakes crawling through the bones.
To me, if we do not carefully evaluate our motives and our deeds, then it matters not what or how our ceremonies are run. In any bad situation a person with a good heart, and love in his or her thoughts spirit will prevail. In any organized religion no matter how corrupt it might be, it would not stop a good person from finding love, and what is more important to allow love to flow through all of our hearts, even in regions where love has never been known. To allow God who is love flow through all of our hearts without any return to us, this is the first warrior, the one who knew he was in the presents of “wakan” and knew there was an immense amount of love being brought from “pte san wi” love to teach the people how to leave in and with love.

TRIP TO THE LIGHT SIDE

After the white buffalo calf woman embraced the second warrior into a pile of bones, she then walked to a kneeling warrior , asked him to rise and go and tell the people to be prepared for her to come to the village and teach them about the seven ceremonies that would help them keep close to the creator. The lakota were told about hard times to come, and things that would be in the future, and in what manor the Lakota people could always stay close, even in a time to come when we would not be in control of our own lives. When the buffalo calf woman left she dropped and rolled changing a different color for each of the four colors of the medicine wheel and told she would return at a special time. Some believe this is that special time. There has been several coming of the white buffalo calfs who, over time have changed colors. Going through the same color changes when she left the village.
Whether we are in such a time or not, I think is just not important. I like my grandfather and my father have studied the Bible, I think in many ways it also is like many of the old Lakota stories, they all have much value in them. I have listened to the people who doubt the bible and the ones that think it is the word of God. For me the importance is like the heart, its value is what you take , if you learn about love then it comes from the creator.
Once while I spent many hours study with people from the Church of the Latter Day Saint, one of the young men asked me. Do you believe that these words were given to Joseph Smith? I answered much the same as I have answered people that asked the same about the bible. I have no reason to doubt him, or the bible. For me weather it is true or not is not the important issue. The important issue is: is there something I can learn from this, can what is being said here make me a better person. Does this teach me about how to give. After all for me to be a better person this is the thing the creator sees when he listens to you. He sees not only what you feel but how you put it into action when you are faced in many different situations. For the true test of the metal of a person lies in what they do in circumstances. What do I do when the white buffalo calf woman shows in my life? When I am alone and no one know what I do. When someone accidentally give me too much change, or if a lie means i keep that much more money. Is it a lie that means I get to cheat someone, or make more money off of them. We are confronted with the moral issues of what is fair to the person you love, or one of your children. Even when we spoil them it is choices not to see the bad in them that might just lives also in you. When your children are mirrored images of yourself. Perhaps when we walk away from time that needs to be spent but we just aren’t willing to give that time because it means we don’t get to do what we want to do.
Many this is why we choose to say things like: Well Jesus never lived, or these are just made up stories so that we will do what people want us to do. If we do live with a few of these beliefs we walk away from having to confront their truths. How many times have you seen what we love to call hypocrites in church who said one thing on Sunday and then say another on Tuesday.
We all search for Spirit but it seems when we find it we don’t have the stomach to live in the right way. Perhaps this is why people are leaving organized religions by the handful
It may be while perhaps we have extremist on all sides who are willed to kill people just to believe that what they are doing is not full of hate, but full of love. I certainly understand why another human can hate another. After all I watched people treat my relatives like they were not as good as other humans. Called humiliating names by people who didn’t have a clue of who are what they were talking to. I do know one thing one of the creators laws is most simple. Love the creator with all your might and your neighbor as yourself. I do understand this requires us to do one things that I believe the whole world has one of the greatest problems with: that is to really love themselves and to love others. What is it to love yourself? It is not to spoil yourself or believe you are entitled to thing others are not. To love yourself means to love who you are, the person no matter how goofy you might feel you are. If you can manage to love who you are there is no need for you to take anything your neighbor has and you want. You don’t need attention, or more money or anything that your neighbor has.
The ancient ones, who lived in the deserts of the Southwest, we refer to them as ancient ones. My relatives who are the Muquai people known to the white as Hopi, they consider themselves relatives of these ancient ones. One of the oldest friends of my grandfather and relative of mine taught me some of the oldest stories of the Muquai. One of those believes is that they would never allow electricity to enter into their villages. In fact it broke their covenant with the creator to allow this. One of the stories that always fascinated me was the story in which the Hopi people were placed in Jail because they would not let their children go to the white boarding schools. My father and I both were subject to this, but many of the Hopi elders refused and would not allow the children to go to these school. Many of their best leaders were sent to Alcatraz prison in San Francisco for just this reason. Later some of the same leaders moved their base city when some of the old city were allowed to acquire electricity.
My point here is, it is so hard to take a stand for people, especially when there are high cost for those who do not make the choice that the law makers want people to make
Is this not the whole story of Jesus? I grew up a great with a great admiration for Jesus, and he certainly was a role model that I wanted to be the most like, but I have always fallen so short of his role. The way Jesus lived has been a role for us all to live. My grandfather would not have ever said he was a perfect person but he didn’t believe he had lived a very holy life, and indeed he had. I have mentioned before he died at the age of 99, he felt this was most important for his living such a long life. He felt how he had lived his early life had helped him to live a long life, for as he said many times it taught him how not to worry about so many things. As long as you had lived in the right way you have done your best. Many times he has said “ live your life the way I have lived my life and you can do the things that I could do” and those that knew him always knew he could do some very fantastic things.
I have spent some time trying to research the family history on my non native side of my family. It is amazing how people can trace some of their ancestors back over hundreds of years, but it causes me to think of something about the span of a life. How short the human life is, what a brief period of time are we here on this earth plane. Our lives are less than a foot to the giant redwood trees inner tree rings. Not more than several inches of ice drilled from a Glacier core. You would need a microscope to see how much of the rock has been removed, by the power of moving water.
Man has been part of the earth since its inception for only a blink of time, and the universe , even shorter. 14 and one half billion years ago is the latest date of the time of the big bang. How insignificant we are in the overall truth of things, and yet we put ourselves at the top of the creators list of favorite things. More than just a bit remarkable with our ability to choose the things that we believe. and to make ourselves more significant that what we could possible ever become.
If you deal with truth, for example the truth of the rock, that has been around for millions of years, and the overall importance of man to the earth .I think you start to see some of the truth I speak of. The world and all that is in it does just fine, in fact better if we are not around.
It is for this reason the old ones, my relatives walked in humility. They understood they were lucky just to be part of something so great. They never saw themselves as anything but students from all things the rocks and the trees, the crawling and the winged and the four legged, not only are we brothers but we are their students. They teach us how to live in this world, we learn from everything the creator has made, and it is lucky if we only pay attention for they teach us the truth of life, and the truth of spirit, The one real truth and this is what we all seek.
For real truth comes only to those who seek it, and learn to walk in humility and not believe their footsteps are important to anything except the connection it gives them to all things. Those who can find themselves by connecting with rocks or trees . Water or sky, with all that is and ever was. Those who know they are connected to the everything in the universe These are the truth seekers who knows nothing is an accident and investigates all things with a eye to his or hers own shortcoming. These are the people who find small truths in everything, and after a period of time have simple truths to live by, all shaped and formed from not a need but from love and understanding. These people will seek truth at any cost, not to predict the outcome but to love it and try to understand it and will find a connection to it . These are the wisdom keepers.

THE HOLEST OF HOLIES

There are those American Indians who believe only registered Indians can be pipe holders, or pipe carriers. That is because it was Whope ( the falling star woman) the daughter of Taku Skan Skan ( the holy motion) who is the Great Mystery. Came as the Pte San Win, the white buffalo calf woman, brought it to the Lakota people along with the sacred ceremonies. This was to help the Lakota people with peace and harmony and live as one with all things.

This was the truth my grandmother gave me and it made me very sad for while my grandmother and father would be considered Lakota, my mother was white, and many believed that because of this I was not Lakota. It was not everyone but there were enough to make me doubt my rights. While I was raised mostly by my grandmother I did spend many time around my own parents who lived in the white world, and did not really believe in the Lakota world. My father was a victim of a word called “ Relocation, those old enough know the realities of this, and I will not go into it. If you do not know, it isn’t something you should worry about. It can be another story for another day.

As I said this was a source of great disappointment to me, for I wanted to be like my grandmother and my grandfather. I wanted to be Lakota and a pipe carrier just like my grandfather. I wanted to pray in the holy place. I remember as a child using a special fat my grandmother cooked with and rubbing it in the clay and making red paint the old fashioned way called wasa. I would put it on my face to make it red so that no one could tell I was Iyeska ( mixed blood or white talker, although most know except my grandmother and grandfather were white talkers). My grandmother told me with or without the wasa I had a different path I had to follow it was why I was here. It was a path only I could take, and the creator made it just for me. To follow the destinies of others was to ignore the obligations that were made for me alone.

She told me that, there may not be many obligations but it was necessary for you to make your obligations and leave them with only your footsteps. That to find what your obligations were you had to maintain your connection with all things that are love ,for all things that are love are, the creator. The place you had to find to get the information was a place called the holies of holies.

The next question was the one that we might all have. Where can you possibly find such a place?

My grandmothers answer I remember thinking about for years, because I thought it was a catch 22, an endless loop that lead no where. This is what she told me:

“ You must first take what you think your obligation is and fertilize it with love, allow it to grow in you. and as time passes as your love strengthens, your desire to do the right thing will increase, and it will reveal itself through your own actions. The more right things you do, the more you will see what the obligation is. There is something I must warn you about love and it is important that you never forget what I tell you here.”
“Love” she continued “ is the connection to all things that ever were and always will be. Love is the unity which connects you to all things.” The look on her face is the thing I remember the most about what she said, she was glowing. “ Love also ' she continued “ Is true light, that is sent by The Great Mystery, and it is sent in great quantities. Love she smiled “ does not come in colors or even shades, and can be touch by anyone who seeks it.”

“Where we live now, is an in-between world, a world where the reality of the science of what we know, becomes the only reality that most believe. The science mistakes this truth as a fact and is the only truth. This world is a place that people tend to place all of their beliefs. I will tell you why.”

“In all the in-between world there is no sacred place. There is only one sacred place, and it is located inside your heart, the place where all the seeds of love are planted. It is here” she pointed to her chest “ This is where you speak with Wakan Tanka, here he hears only the words of your heart and the actions of your deeds. It is where love grows. This is the sacred place and the holy of holies Do not loose touch with it.”

“ For is you lose touch with it, you disconnect from the one, the things that were and always will be. Then you will begin to loose disconnection with all others. When you start to loose that connection, whatever peace you do have, will be lost and start to be destroyed. Then relationships start to rely on not love but the compassion that one might feel for the other. If there is no compassion then relationships become judged with what ever feelings or emotions that you have at the time you have them. Then you will start not to have feelings or emotions and without any feelings are emotion the world becomes determined by Greed, once Greed is the rule, there is no place for a uniqueness of a person, then the world will want everyone to be the same. When this happens the people of this world will be removed from the one, and it will no longer be.” As she was finishing she added “ these are not things predicted that might come but things that have already come.”

There was the wisdom of the ages, the truths of anyone who has ears to hear or eyes that see. This is the truth of the holy of holies, While it might be hard to grasp these things, if you do understand them then you can start to see how all things mold together. You will find that when you break one of these laws you can trace it to another that might just give you insight into what might be going on. For example, in a relationship or an event you might react in anger. If you pause and see this is an emotion, was it given with compassion and understanding for that person . Or did you speak in anger that did not have compassion. If you didn’t then you know you were working against your obligations and your purpose. If the emotion that came ,had compassion with it, then you probably did what you had to do, then you need to gage did the action have love for the person it was directed to, if it didn’t perhaps you need to correct the action. The more you live with one or the other the stronger the one you feed becomes. If you want something and it breaks down to greed, then perhaps you need to see what your true feelings are about, what it is you think you want. Normally, you can trace it back to love that you “ are seeking, and I say to you. If it is love you seek, the more love you give, the more things you do in the name of love then you will receive back more than you can ever imagine, and what you will discover is that love you receive will always long out do the love you have given. This it is the nature of The Great Mystery.

This is why we were given the rules are still in effect for today. There should be a great respect for human individualism, we should encourage our children that not only is it good they are different but they should embrace the responsibility of this difference. We should have compassion for all beings, no matter what they have done to us, or what we might fear they will do. You must continue to live the life that was handed you. This was the hard lesson for Crazy Horse to learn, he could have continued to live out his years alone far away from those who would want to hurt him. He had an obligation to his people, to see that they lived even if it was no longer free to roam the plain they would be alive to keep the connection with the great mystery and his people.

When people choose the right path, it often leads to pain and suffering, but do not blame the creator for this. He gives all his people a choice, and those who choose greed and material things over the things of love will be there, and they will inflict their pain on all who they perceive to stand between themselves and the materials they want. This will happen no matter what your color, no matter what your race or your religion. There is but one true path and this is what I like to call the Red Road, but it really doesn’t matter what you call it. What matters is the love you use to connect with it. So no matter how different you might be, whatever your blood mix is. this does not define who you are, it doesn’t even limit what you can do, no matter how you view your situation as a handicap or just plain unfair. You are who you are in our heart This is the holy of holiest places, with the one who gives connection to us all. Allow your actions to make the definition for others, for we are only judge by one, and the good news there is, the creator what ever you wish to call him, is pure love.

THE SOUL WHISPERER

What is it to be a prophet, is it to tell people what the future holds. How their lives will turn out, who you should marry. Will their be someone I can really love, and who will love me. I can tell you the answer to all of those questions and many more, but I am no prophet. How your life will turn out can depend on a lot of different things. The stars, as Nostradamus studied, perhaps was his way. The use of mystic realms are used by some, and perhaps all of them can be right. I can do a reading using the way I was taught by my grandmother and grandfather and I am sure I could impress you with what I might just know, but that does not tell you everything you need to understand. Not if you truly want to understand what your life is all about.
If I can tell you what the future holds for our country, and the people does that make me a prophet, perhaps that would depend how accurate I am. I know I could be pretty exact, missing only a few things. Does this make me a physic? No, and I am not a physic or a prophet or even a holy man, I am an ordinary person who has only the skills the creator has given for me to use.
I have been asked do you speak to the dead? My answer is not really, however I do understand feelings and I see pictures, as in dreams. I also dream, and a good portion of my dreams are exact. Does this make me special? The answer is no, I don’t do anything all of us do. I have just taught myself the rules, the understandings, and the truth of the creator.
People say “ If there is a God, why does he allow bad things to happen to good people.” I can perhaps help you understand why this thing you call bad, might be something completely different than what you might call it. Some of my friends have called me the “people whisperer”, not that I read their minds but I understand their souls, and I can see damages done to souls. I guess in reality I am a “soul whisperer” if I have to be classified.
Many people have come into my store and received gifts from the creator through information that I have shared, the only thing I did was to have enough courage to let people think of me what they will. I tell them time and again please I am not a physic and can only give what is needed for the soul. I do get this info from a lot of different sources. I can’t explain the things the creator give me but I can tell you, I do nothing you could not do if you made a choice to live in this manner.
People will say something like “ What a good person you are to give so much to so many people.” To which I respond no, this is not true. I do what is expected of me, what is my obligation, what creator has in mind for me. While I appreciate it, I do not need a pat on the back, in fact I would just as soon no one knows what all I do. The truth is most people never know it is me that has helped, and this is what the creator asked of me, to be the kind of a person I was always suppose to be. I try to be the person the creator had in mind when he allowed me the opportunity
The question I get the most is: What does God intend for me to do? The answer if you need it , is in your soul. The real question is: How much attention do you pay to find out about your soul?
How much time do you spend in meditation or prayer or whatever you would like to call it. How important is it to you to be like all of your friends, or be willing to be different, to not care what others think, and to only do what you think is important. There are many people in this world, that already do this, and if they do this for the right reasons, then it releases the soul from the earthly bounds, and you find a happiness that is very hard to find.
To understand Free will, is to have a firm understanding of Love. What is Love?
Lets first look at what love is not:

Love is not being selfish, cruel, or unthoughtful.
Love is not something for yourself but something given to others, without a catch.
Love is caring enough about others that you do not harm them.
Love means allowing yourself to face conciseness of your deeds, and correcting them whenever it is possible.
Love is letting the person you love do what they need to find a path they can believe in even if it is away from where you are.
Love is giving of yourself and not just giving of things that are easy to give.
Love is being patient even when you are out of it.
Love is catching your mistakes and correcting them as fast as you can.
Love is allowing those you love the most to hurt themselves even if you know the outcome, when the one you love will no longer listen to you and only believe they have the answer.
Love is believing in that same person, even when they are lost.
Love is never quitting when quitting is the wrong thing to do , and learning to quit when it is the right thing to do.
Love is not helping that same person continue to make the same mistake.
Love is standing firm when you know you are right, and changing when you know your wrong.
love is an apology, and never being ashamed to make an apology.
Love is not just an apology but the actual correction of it.
Love is being kind not only when it is easy but when it is hard as well.
Love is to give up the things you want, for the things that are best for the ones you love.
Love is giving up everything because when you leave this world you don’t take anything with you except all the things you have given away.
Love is not controlling, or manipulative, it is the purest of gifts.
Love is teaching when you really don’t feel like it.
Love is the hardest thing you can ever do.
Love is the thing that makes your soul the happiest.

I think you can realize that I could continue with this Love information but if you really understand Love then you understand the soul and you understand God.
God is Love, and he is all of these things and more than what you can even imagine. He is the answer and the question for to know him in his purest form, is to understand everything.
I know it is hard to explain things to people who do not really understand love, but this is why I am a “ a soul whisperer” , I am here to help if needed and I do not charge for it, if you can make a contribution to a children's cause through Eaglebears this is great but I expect nothing for a gift is to be given not sold.
If you have questions , most of the time I have a good answer for you unless you are not ready to hear it, then you can only receive that which you are ready to receive
I have done many hard things in my life, at least they have been hard for me. I have been a dancer in seven sacred pledges to sundances with each taking four years, that is at least 28 Sundances, and many vision quest, and sweat lodges are a daily thing for me. I have meet with several very hard physical events including the White Rock Marathon, the Pikes Peak Marathon, I have run to the summit and back down of many mountains across this country, Sandia Peak , and many others. I have had surgeries that have left me hardly able to move, and currently I have to be on oxygen but I am getting better, and I am recovering again from what many think is the last of me. The last long trip I went on I ended up in Albuquerque hospital for over a week where I couldn’t stop throwing up because of a blocked colon, that finally cleared itself up, because they didn’t think I would live through a surgery. I have survived being run over by a car when I was two, twice once by each front and back tire. I have had the choice to die many times but here I stand.
I do not tell you this to impress you for it was not done for me, but for the spirit that weeps inside me. The soul that feels the pain of the entire world. I do not claim that I have even had a hard life, but I have had many things done to me that should have never been done. I have been locked in closets and beaten when I was way to young to understand that none of it had anything to do with me.
I tell you all of this for one reason and one reason alone, so that you will see that no matter what has happened to you, no matter what cruel or bad thing that has happened to you. Nor whatever sacred path you have taken to get where you are at this moment in time, it is indeed a journey that brings light to you. The light that is given is sacred and can only be found when above all else, you see how important sacred gifts of God are to you. Even if you had to learn everything the hardest way possible, it only matters where you end up, not where you start or what the road was but that you found a road of Love and happiness.
When I was just turning into a man, at that time in my life I would have been just after my crying for a vision, which was the start of the path from a boy to become a man, about the age of twelve. I had a vision that has been with me all my life, On the fourth and last day of the crying for a vision, I had been doing just that crying. My tears however were not for me and how I felt. I felt the pain of the whole world and the world talked to me, the clouds, the rocks, the trees, the wind sand along with my tears, and the world and I weeped together,and soon with the help of the four sacred winds we all sang together.
Because I had spent so much time a the catholic boarding school, I was ashamed of my tears. There among the white priest and the others where I was a mixed blood, and please understand there were a lot of mixed bloods . The problem was most mixed bloods I did not fit with because I was one of the few real traditional children. My grandmother and grandfather had seen to that, they had both managed not to be raised in boarding school and did not suffer the “relocation” disconnection.
At this time the mixed bloods ran most of the reservation and did not believe in a lot of the old traditions, in fact not many of the full bloods did either. The reservation had lost the sundance after the turn of 1900 and it was banned, so many people forgot the ways of the Lakota, my grandfather and Bill Eagle Feather were able to start and teach the young ones the old way. So when I was a young man it was not like it is today with hundreds of different Sundances to go to and even more people dancing.
At least for me it was just only a few, and my grandfather was the Sundance Grandfather in almost all of my dances and events.
When I came down off of the hill and went into the sweat lodge to have my grandfather tell me what my vision was about and what I had to do, I tried to dry my eyes and stop crying. I was afraid because How I was taught was if you had a vision you had to act on it or you would loose it. Visions were gifts from the creator and if you did not use a gift you would loose it. I know this to be true. How could crying for the entire world be of any help to anyone.
When I went into the lodge I had my head down, I was weak, and the melon my grandfather had given me to make the swelling of my lips to go down was making my stomach feel sick. I touch the cool to my lips but I did not dare allow anything to pass my lips into my mouth until my grandfather said I had the right to do this. The smell of the watermelon made me dry heave as I had nothing to vomit. I though I was being punished for crying the whole last day and singing with the winds. I had been given on the hill from the standing people a flute to sing with the wind, and almost the whole time I sang with the wind on the flute that had been given to me in a sacred way. To this day I myself do not play the flute, the wind makes it songs to the world through me. I use the air provided by the Tree and the creators whole world sings the song that touches the soul.
The sound it makes is very haunting and I myself am mesmerized by the sound of it. I can listen to it all the time and while most people would say, that music would put me to sleep, for me it is the tree , and the sacred seven singing to me and reminding me of my purpose. Telling me of the time when I was 12, and my grandfather spoke to me as a man, and told me it was time for me to take responsibilities
I remember that I was very ashamed of myself for crying and doing nothing but singing with the world, I had not been suffering enough my belief for I was a baby for crying in front of all my ancestors , all those who had gone before me and left the way possible for me to find this peace. They had made hard sacrifices and I had made none but tears and songs.
My grandfather without asking me even one question told me about everything that happened to me, to this day I do not know how he knew the things he knew. He knew thing that had only passed through my mind. Grandfather talked to my soul and he told me what the creator had given me for a purpose and what was so unreal I knew to be true because my soul had already know all of these things.
Today, I cannot watch even a sad movie for I will cry and all people around me make fun of me. I feel pain, I feel anger, I feel whatever those around me feel. One of the gifts the creator has me do is to show them to people and try to given them ways to heal the wounds they have suffered. This is why I am a “Soul Whisperer”, I talk to the thing that makes up all of us, and I help people understand how they can reach that part of themselves and make things happen.
In todays Sundances there are hundreds of dancers, many just putting on shows. It is like Paul , when he wrote in the New Testaments , “ If you do not do these things with love in your heart you have done nothing”. I have danced, I have run, I have allowed myself to suffer for the good of others, and if I stand on a stage and pat myself on the back, I have wasted every effort I have ever made. These things are gifts. I do not care how you feel about christianity but I will tell you Jesus was a very holy man, a true son of the creator. He was Lakota in the way he loved, and in his very sacrifices. He laid down a very sacred path for anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear, but it is amazing that even if you call yourself a christian I see so many that do not work to become as much like him as they should or even could.
Today when I do a “reading” or a “soul whisper” I never asked for money for it is never about gain, the moment it becomes about gain, I cannot speak through to him. It has to be about love. The gift the creator gives is a gift and it cannot be what you want to hear but what you need to hear. So many times the session is painful and tears will pass, but it is ok, an infection has to be drained before it can be healed.
Why tell you all of this? Because it is what I am leading to tell you. If some where deep down you feel cut or just not great, please write me, allow me to assist you to find a way to touch the love of God and make your soul whole. This is my vision, and it is not for me to say I have succeeded but there are many people that know I have shard my heart with them and will get the first to tell you, maybe they felt a little bit better. Sometimes it is given through music I make with the world and have placed on a c.d.. I try never to tell people that the c.d. was started by me, because I am only the bringer, not the provider.
Once a lady had driven down from North Dakota because the creator had ask her to come and find me, even when she didn’t know about me or even know where I was. She found me. The creator always allows people to find each other so that they might help each other. I never do a “soul session” that I don’t learn more than what I have given. My vision is sacred and I cannot tell you about it. I have had it many times. It is different most of the time but always the same. I have suffered many times but never has it been a sacrifice, it has always been about saying “ Hoka Hey” if doing this causes my death, it is a good day to die. It is about not being afraid, but allowing your body to endure hardships, this is a way to seek what is holy. For only those who die to the body can ever see the soul.
Life is a gift, and our times cannot be bought by con-men or salesmen. So I encourage you, really more like hope that you will take the time to spend it wisely and do not sacrifice it to thing that might bring you temporary joy at the cost of long term joy, by doing the thing you hear knows as right.
Life is about discovering who it is you truly are, not becoming what you think would make your parents or other loved ones believe will make them happy.
My father was an ordained minister through the United Methodist Church, and he fought that church his whole life. They told him what he had to do to be a minister, and most of the time those where at the whelm of people who often gave the most money to that church. The Bishop of the District was the complaint department. During the sixties my father fought against the segregations of schools, this for many reasons was one of his most important ideas. It cost him the church he started , the congregation asked for him to be transfered away because of his stand on segregation, so much so he ran for the school board and won, just to have his voice heard. The next year we packed out bags and moved, a promotion I am sure the people who offered the job to my father but he was not given a choice. Latter when he stood up for allowing women to be ministers and the acceptance of the people who had a Homosexual life style. Finally he had crossed the line and he was forced out of the Ministry. Something he had loved and worked his whole life to achieve. The good part of that was it was when he came to me and asked me to teach him the Lakota ways of the sweat lodge and other ceremonies I gave him a book about my Grandpa Frank, and he read it and it helped him in many ways.
You see he never stopped being a minister even up until the day he passed away, from suffocation because all he had left was one lung, he had lost the other one when his sister was killed in the head on car accident. It finally took his life.
Even though the Methodist Church took away his livelihood, it did not take away what his soul was called to do. Like his father before him and his grandfather before that: his soul did all he believed he could do to set things right. Even when it was not so popular, and cost you everything that you dearly loved as he did the Methodist
Church. However nothing was taken from him by the church except his ability to work in their name, and as far as I am concerned this was their loss, not his. I never succeeded in helping him believe this.
I have another friend in another denomination who suffered in many of the same ways but his biggest mistake was to not be able to leave a marriage when all hope had passed. What people think about divorced minister is not good. You see my father got a divorce from my mother when I was in my late teens and was the best thing spiritually he could have done. I am not saying quit your marriage and walk away from problems but yes there is a time when this is the path you take for spirit, as we all know. The Indians have known this for thousands of years and all the woman had to do was place the mans things outside the teepee and he was gone. Holy man or not. I am not saying divorce is the answer to many peoples problem but not getting married before you soul is ready , is one of the greatest problems people have.
My point is I know what my father went through in his divorce, another smaller church where he could be hidden away in the south part of Dallas where maybe not much is expected. The organized religions sometimes are not very pretty, it is why so many people leave them and are searching for spirit.
My friend who was a minister and failed to leave his situation, made things worse. I will not say what he did because it really doesn’t matter, what matters is how it was corrected. His wife took full advantage of the mistake and took all he had including his freedom. I am not blaming anyone here but this is what happened. Sometimes we all take advantage of situations when others are down and we can make a profit. I have seen many do this, and even worse. Blame here is not what counts, but healing is something that should count. Far worse than loosing his freedom it cost the whole family who were suffering already for things that had happened before the incident had occurred. This just cause a family splintering into a thousand little pieces. A family as it happened that I loved, one of the daughters had come to be with me long before the incident ever happened. She bore the many scares of the years of battles between her parents, her ability to communicate was at best covered in fear of making things worse between her parents so even though many thought the situation different than fear she ran away with permission from her parents. This after I made her wait several years to see if maybe college would help her find some happiness. Come she did however , I couldn’t stop her, and I have been the lucky recipient of her good heart and her amazing talents.
To her younger brothers it was as if they lost a mother, something I understood to well for I myself had lost my older sister who was much the same for me. Today the family is starting to make amends and I see good things for them all in the future. Perhaps even a family that will forgive each other for all they have done to hurt themselves and the children it effected. I do not blame anyone here, I tell you this because it lets you know that society and even out religious society will abandon the ones who need them the most. This all because divorce is not the way a minister should live. I hate to tell you all this but no matter how holy the person is he is still a person as long as they are attached to the earth.
I also tell you this because her father is still a minister in all ways he ever was even though he is a manager at a restaurant now. His ability to do good is maybe even strong then it ever was, and if he ever were to start writing he could help so many with his great ability to place words together. It is who he is.
We can all work to be like Paul or Crazy Horse, we can be the best of who we are. We will never become Paul or Crazy Horse but we will be better for they could not become us either.
So are we all “ soul whisperers” my answer is yes we all can be, but each within our own ways. We can be the most unique things if only we could see us the way the Great Spirit see us, with the eyes of love, and a heart full of joy and hope. Become who the Great Spirit has in mind for you to become.

Mitakaye Oyasin

TATANKA OYATE
The Buffalo People

I am a brother to the Buffalo, it was the way I was brought up. As long as I can remember I have spoken to the Tatanka oyate, just as my grandmother did before me.
I remember as a young boy my grandmother would take me to the paha sapa the black hills and take me to see and speak to my relatives. There on the land that used to belong to the sacred ways of the Lakota is now a national park that is suppose to be for everyone. I am happy if this is the truth, I hope it does belong to all the people. For it would mean my buffalo brother are roaming the way they should be allowed.
The Black Hills are sacred to the Lakota people for many reason, I will not nor cannot get into. My Unci (grandma) would take me to the top of a hill that overlooked where a small herd of Buffalo grazed beneath it, and she would leave me so that I might be able to speak to my relatives.
I know that people of European dissent think all things speak with their mouths, but we all know this is silly and while it has happened to me in my life in a vision, how most things speak is with their bodies, and by listening to the souls of the animals. When you sit and watch the buffalo you can hear them. You can hear the young ones playing among themselves. The young bulls trying to mock the behavior of the old ones, and show how brave they are. Watching the cows pretending to ignore their young while grazing and looking as if they have no idea where the location of the calfs.
Around the heard you find the loan Bulls grazing in small groups according to age, and then seeing the very old standing alone and facing the wind, looking big and strong and wise.
The buffalo are always watchful, and aware of all things going on around them, they teach of kindness and of patients, and of fearsome protectiveness. Whenever the great bulls come to speak to me as I sit in prayer on the hills, I am never afraid but I show the great bull must respect, the kind he deserves. I learned to speak to the buffalo on my very first hambleceya (crying for a vision), and speak to them often.
I was visited by the great bull of the tatanka oyate and he told me the way I should always speak to the buffalo nation.
My first Hambleceya was on Bear Butte, it was one of my grandpa Franks favorite spots. Bear Butte is in the middle of no where on the far northern tip of the Black Hills, some say it is outside the sacred hoop of the black hills but for grandpa it was exactly where he though it should be.
The old story goes Bear Butte was the bear that tried to climb devils tower to get the two small children, and left his claw marks on devils tower (another very sacred spot the the American Indian) and the bear left and died and lay down and became Bear Butte.
The sacred spot was wonderful, it was before all the motorcycle traffic came to the area, and before people knew of the spot. Now for the most part, the only people allowed in the area where my hambleceya normally happened are American Indians with a ceremonial pass, others are suppose to be kept away. A head bust of my grandfather was there the last time I went there, It is a very sacred place.
I remember my first hambleceya as if it were yesterday. Grandpa Frank brought me to Bear Butte with one of his long time friend grandpa James Holy Eagle. I loved grandpa James because he had gone to Indian school with my all time hero, Jim Thorpe.
Grandpa James told me great stories of the feats of Jim Thorpe, his storied were much better than the televisions and movies of today, he made me laugh and he made it so easy to listen, he was such a humble and gentle person.
I was an athlete my whole life, there was no sport I did not play and excel at, in fact it won me a scholarship to college and allowed me to take a different path than the rest of my friends who got caught up in the Viet Nam war, where many of them were killed and came home with drug and drinking problems.
This was a source of great confusion for the best part of my early life, for I believed I was first a warrior and then an athlete but as my grandmother taught me there is a different path for each of us, it is one each of us must follow. Jim Thorpe was a person I believe who had a path that was most difficult for most to understand, but it was indeed amazing what he achieved.
Recently I meet Grandpa James granddaughter, she is an artist in the downtown area of Rapid City. Her store was located right across the street from a place my grandmother used to go to get items she used in beading and sewing.
I did not mention to her my relationship with her grandfather out of respect for her grandfather. I loved her grandpa James and would never do anything to embarrasses his granddaughter. To me this relationship made us relatives, and so I hung out and tried my best to assist her for the day, I did have to leave because I didn’t want her to think I was being forward.
To this day in my room I carry her hand painted drums, in my room over my pipe. I also have on my north wall the wall of the great white giant, her buffalo robe in honor of her grandfather and my hambleceya. It is not my way normally even to speak of such things, but I felt it necessary to write of these. Sometimes I am not sure if anyone really even reads my words, and truthfully if they did not, it would not anger me. I know I am not the best of writers, and sometimes the way I put things together might not make any sense but I know I am called to do just this.
I only hope people can look behind my silly mistakes of the language or spelling and touch the heart that is there. For I am a mistake myself, it is just one of those things that I do sometimes, make mistakes. I never however allow my mistakes to stop me from continuing to do what the creator ask me , things I believe are needed. A mistake is not intended to stop but to give directions was once told that when the great jet planes take off , the navigators have to continue to make corrections to the flight plan in order to land where they want to land.
This is just some of the lessons I have learned from my brothers the buffalo. I cannot tell you about all of my vision but I do have permission to speak about some of the things that happened to me on my first hambleceya
The first morning after my sweat before the start of my hambleceya. I was brought to the top of the hill by my grandpa and many of his friends. Singing the greeting of the morning star and of the sun when it started to rise. The people had just left me on the top of the small mountain. This spot was my first but I was to visit here many times in my life. The have made many trips to this spot for a hanbleceya , the last time I was there. Marvin Helper had some people out on the hill and he was praying for them. I did not go and pray at my spot because I didn’t want to interrupt what was already in place. Marvin, myself and a friend passed the pipe, we gave him hamburger meat for his cause and left them in peace.
A hanbleceya can be from one to four days in length and normal is decided upon by the person you present the pipe , this person will become your intercessor for the hanbleceya. Sometimes the holy person you took your pipe to, would ask you “ how many days do you want?”. This of course was the choice of the holy man. Grandpa Frank always took me for four days. It never was spoken about , it just came to be understood.
When you present the pipe to the holy person , you do this in the sacred way, offering your pipe four times. On the fourth time you give the pipe to the holy man, if the holy man accepts you as a student then he will accept the pipe and will smoke it with you. I never had a hanbleceya for less than four days. You must always have a hanbleceya always before you can do a sundance. Sometimes I would do more than one in a year, but this is another story .
Through the years I have watched many people bring a pipe to Grandpa Frank and have seen him refuse the pipe in many cases, he never refused mine. I often wondered why, but he did tell me later and gave me some insight. In response to the question Grandpa was once asked by a writer of some fame. “How do you decide to accept helping a person or not to help? Grandpa Frank often though people of European dissent asked funny questions. Grandpa would tell them time after time,” You know, there are some people that I can’t help. this is the same with almost all people, we each have our limits to who we can help.”
The first day of my hanbleceya was very ho , and heat made it most unpleasant for the most part I remember. My prayers and my songs were all that I heard during that part of the day. As evening came and the sun set. I saw clouds building over toward where the sun was setting. I saw a large buffalo first, and then it turned into a bear, and from there it became an eagle and lastly the clouds showed me the shape of a horse.
I remember thinking at the time how much I loved watching and speaking to clouds, and always I have been able to watch the clouds and see messages. I didn’t know this was a clear message to me of things that were about to come.
Later that night the thunder being came and lit the sky up all around me, the wind was blowing hard and thunder sounded like bombs going off. At this time I remember I was starting to get thirsty and thinking about water, praying for it to rain so that my skin would stop hurting so much from the sunburn I had received from the day. Then I heard something that was behind me, I turned and offered my pipe to whatever was there because it was how I was taught. My hear was pounding and I could see this huge object but could not make out what it was. I offered my pipe four time and upon the fourth time, the being spoke.
“I accept the pipe and will smoke the pipe with you but you must light it.” It spoke with a low loud voice. I took a coal from my smudge can and light the pipe, smoked it four times and then turned the pipe toward the big object. “ I am from the tatanka oyate, and I have come to teach you some things about our nation.” The pipe puffed heavily as someone I couldn't see puff on the pipe.” You can only learn these things by watching and paying close attention. So it is up to you toksae(grandson) and if you learn.” With that I could hear the large animal begin to move away from me.
As the wind continued to howl and sing their songs to me, the “wakinyan oyate” flashed about me four times. I was struck by the lighting four times but I remember thinking why didn’t it hurt, but I don’t know what really happened but this is what felt like happened.
I no longer could see anything but the the same voice continued.” Once,the grass was as tall as my waist, the grass would dance with the wind and things mattered not.”
I remembered thinking how cold and thirsty , hungry and weak I was , and my head was spinning and my body was shaking from the cold of the wind.” In these days” the voice continued “ we always ate in circles, putting the young and the weakest in the middle of our circles so they could eat without worry from the wolf or the bear people. This is the way it had always been because the creator gave us plenty and we gave a few in return for our good fortune, but mostly they took only the very young or the very old and things were always in balance.”
The voice continued “ For this reason you are surrounded by the buffalo nation as you sit upon this hill. For while you are weak, cold , thirsty and hungry you are still strong and you will be called upon to do a special thing for the creator, for these things it is important you feed your soul because this is where you are related to all people and all nations. For these reason we will always surround you when you cry for a vision and in other times of danger.”
“I have been through many battle and I have many scared on my head and body from fights with bears and wolves and among the other buffalo. I am stronger because of my scars and my battles. You grandson have already started your life with scars and battles, but these are just the start of them. You too will become strengthened by the scars of your body. Battles are necessary for you to understand strength and above all else endurance. This is a lesson that will become well known to you.” I could hear what sounded like many buffalo all around me.
“ I am your grandfather, and I love you as if you were my own. For these reasons you will always be a brother to all the buffalo. We will give to you everything that you will need and all that we have. You will take my meat anytime you are hungry, you will take my robe for anytime you are cold. You may drink my blood anytime you have thirst this will make our blood mixed. I will teach you our ways and this will make you strong. “
“Turn little one and face the wind.” With that I turned and faced directly into the wind.” Always grandson, face the wind, even in times of hard blows. By facing the problems that are in front of you, you will become stronger for it. You were made to stand and pray facing the wind, facing the problems of your life, you cannot turn your back on these things. Remember you will not be alone in times that are hard for you will be surrounded with your brothers, they will protect you from the evil that might do you harm.”
While I could not see the large animal I heard him as he was leaving but I knew that his people were all around me and I knew i was safe. They taught me a song that I sing to this day. I go and place myself close to the buffalo and they always make me feel at home.
During the rest of the time of that hanbleceya and all other hanbleceya that I have had since then, I have been surrounded by the buffalo nation, they encircle me and protect me
I have learned much from them in my sixty years, I have learned how to eat even when there is no food . To drink and not be thirsty even when there is no water or drink around. I have learned always to be warm even in the hardest of cold blowing north winds. I have learned to be strong even when I did not have the strength the stand on my own. I have learned to face the hard north wind that blows and endure.
The European came and tried to remove the buffalo from the face of the earth, this to control the Indian but they did not succeed. Instead people are starting to learn of the health of their meat of the buffalo. The buffalo indeed are brother to the Indian for as they make their comeback so do the American Indian.
So I share with you part of my vision, so the buffalo might be a brother to you as well. For these are the things the buffalo have taught me.
Face all of your problems and do not turn away from the hard problems. By facing strong into the wind you will have scars, and you will take blows to the face but you will be better for it. The wind can make you lighter, take each of your weakness as well and face them, for to stand facing a weakness is to make it stronger.
There may be things in your life that might seem to want to take you out, to rub you from the face of the earth. Even as you face death, stand and face it, embrace it as part of who you are, you will find there will be those who will stand around you and surround you in a circle and protect you. Those that you love will always be a source of joy in your life. The opposite is also true, stand always for the ones you love, they are worth the battle, encircle them with your love and surround them when they are in danger. Protect them even if it means your death.
Survival, does have to do with life and death, but has more to do with that which you leave behind with your footsteps. For when you pass from this world, all you take with you are the deeds that you preformed during your life. Perhaps even as important is the greatest legacy of the buffalo nation. Endurance the ability to survive all things. The buffalo nation, the nation of the great white north, is to stand facing the hard north wind. Through immense pain, or the hardest of trials. No matter what your test, hunger, thirst, weakness and cold you must endure. The buffalo nation has shown us how to prevail, and to continue.
Through endurance you learn become strong, true strength. The strength that spirituality brings. Strength of faith of your ability to survive, and succeed. Endurance, the thing that pushes you beyond the wall when you are running a marathon. Endurance which tells you to pray harder when the heat of a sweat lodge making you weak. Endurance, to face your own mortality, and learn that only when you are ready to accept that death is a possibility, but does not change your resolve. This is the endurance of the buffalo people. This is facing the hard wind that blows from the north. This is the lesson of the Tatanka Oyate.