As it was shared to me I now share with you…The Cherokee Rose
More than 100 years ago, the Cherokee people were driven from their home mountains when the white men discovered gold in the mountains of Tears. Some of the people came across Marengo County in West Alabama. It seems that after they had left the mountains, they came this far south so not have to climb more mountains.
It was early summer and very hot, and most of the time the people had to walk. Tempers were short and many times the soldiers were more like animal drivers than guides for the people. The men were so frustrated with the treatment of their women and children, and the soldiers were so harsh and frustrated that bad things often happened. When two men get angry they fight and once in a while men were killed on the trip. Many people died of much hardship. Much of the time the trip was hard and sad and the women wept for losing their homes and their dignity. The old men knew that they must do something to help the women not to lose their strength in weeping. They knew the women would have to be very strong if they were to help the children survive.
So one night after they had made camp along the Trail of Tears, the old men sitting around the dying campfire called up to the Creator in Galunati (heaven) to help the people in their trouble. They told Him that the people were suffering and feared that the little ones would not survive to rebuild the Cherokee Nation.
The Creator replied to them, “Yes, I have seen the sorrows of the women and I can help them to keep their strength to help the children. Tell the women in the morning to look back where their tears have fallen to the ground. I will cause to grow quickly a plant. They will see a little green plant at first with a stem growing up. It will grow up and up and fall back down to touch the ground where another stem will begin to grow. I’ll make the plant grow so fast at first that by afternoon they’ll see a white rose, a beautiful blossom with five petals. In the center of the rose, I will put a pile of gold to remind them of the gold which the white man wanted when his greed drove the Cherokee from their ancestral home.”
The Creator continued to explain that the green leaves would have seven leaflets, one for each of the seven clans of the Cherokee. The plant would then begin to spread out all over the land for like the people the plant would be strong and resilient. It would grow into large and almost bush like taking back and rooting into some of the land that they had lost. It will have stickers on every stem to protect it from anything that tries to move it away.
The next morning the old men told the women to look back for the sign from the Great One. The women saw the plant beginning as a tiny shoot and growing up and up until it spread out over the land. They watched as a blossom formed, so beautiful they forgot to weep and they felt beautiful and strong. By the afternoon they saw many white blossoms as far as they could see. The women began to think about their strength given them to bring up their children as the new Cherokee Nation. They knew the plant marked the path of the brutal Trail of Tears. The Cherokee women saw that the Cherokee Rose was strong enough to take back much of the land of their people.
We need to open to the possibilities, expand our views into not what is comfortable but what is necessary and needed! yes change can be scary, but when that little voice inside is pushing and encouraging you to step outside of the box and take a different approach, perhaps that is an indicator that we need to learn and experience new things. That little voice we are hearing is the echo from our own soul telling us how amazing life can be if we let it.
Swan shows up when it is time for your intuitive self to open to the world. Swan will teach us how to not only do that, but to accomplish it with grace and precision. It tells us to listen to that inner voice, to trust your gut and follow how it guides you. It is all about how you need to allow yourself to move with life around you by coexisting with all that is Sacred.
Swan tells you to breathe it all in and become one with the world we live in. Become one with it so that we may gain access to the knowledge that each part of it shares with us at every moment.
It gives us lessons that at times we need to allow ourselves to look in the mirror deep into our souls and be kind and gentle. To accept that beauty comes in many forms and we as individuals are beautiful beings that are an important part of this crazy place we live in. Positives, we all have the ability to view it if we let ourselves. Be comfortable in who you are, accepting who you are, loving who you are.
Swan shows us how to heal self and others, for we hold the key to transform pain and heartbreak into something beautiful… Share your story with others, set the example for people to follow. Embrace the good in all and nurture the young spirit that resides in each of us.
Creator was looking to find a place for All of the Spirit Nations to dwell that would become inhabitants of the Great Mother Earth, when there was heard a sound that resonated like rolling Thunder across the skies. The Creator listened closer puzzled at what would make such a noise with out his supreme knowledge and permission, yet the the sound kept coming closer and closer. Creator was pleased and amused, but still puzzled. Then as sudden as it began it was right within the Creator’s presence.
“Who are you?” asked Creator.
“I am the spirit of the drum” was the reply. I have come here to ask you to allow me to take part in this wonderful world you are creating.”
“How do you plan on taking part?” Creator questioned.
” I would like to accompany the singing of the people. When they sing from their hearts, I will to sing as though I was the heartbeat of Mother Earth. In that way, all creation will sing in harmony. It will be as We Are All Related.”
Creator agreed and granted the request, from that moment forward the drum accompanied the people’s voices, celebrations and prayers.
Today within all of the Native peoples of the world, the drum is the center of all songs. It is the heart beat of the Great Mother Earth, it calls out to all Souls that walked before, now and in the afterworld. it assists our prayers, our dreams to be lifted through song rising up to the Creator, the Ancestors and the Spirit world to be heard and answered. The sound of the drum brings completeness, awe, excitement, strength, courage, and fulfillment to the songs, to our prayers, to our thankfulness for all that we hold as sacred. It is the sound of the Great Mother’s heartbeat giving her approval to those living upon her. It sings to our Brother and Sister Eagles and draws them to it asking them to carry our the messages to be heard.
Many of us have been taking big hits to the core of who we are, in a way we are being tested. Tested often to our very limits of our beliefs, our traditions, values, ideologies all the way to our very souls. well it is the tide that we have to learn to roll with right now, roll with but not loose ourselves to it.
Society has gone so far off balance that we are loosing sight of the human, our very abilities to communicate with each other, to understand that we all have imperfections, faults and that is okay for that is what gives us our life experiences, it is how we grow. So today’s card is very fitting indeed, for what dropped is a true keeper of knowledge. one that has seen much over lifetimes and has learned to weather the storms of life as the world around them has changed drastically and yet have survived through it all…the Crocodile.
The Crocodile is one of the oldest creatures and has been around for ions. The wisdom and survival skill it has taken for them to live through centuries of change is something we should look closely at as they are here to teach us as human as well. Crocodile teaches us sometimes we need to reach deep within to our primal energy, things that are instinctive to move through our paths. It speaks to us of our breathing patterns to take time to take that deep breath in order to bring balance to our minds and bodies.
Crocodile is a protector and keeper of All Knowledge. So it is time to tap into what it is we need in order to inspire, manifest and walk our dreams and ambitions. Remember patience and to allow yourself time to adapt to change that may show up in your life at this time. It is a time of growth and regeneration. It is time to expand and use what you instinctively know for emotional healing, for self and perhaps even to those that you may encounter in your days.
Crocodile speaks to knowing when to roll with what life throws at us, when to show patience, when to dig deep and when it is time to wallow in mud to allow healing and regeneration, transformation to bring about healing and a new part to our journeys.
Honor your soul’s journey, from other lifetimes into our current path and continuing on as we gather energies and knowledge moving forward in positives to experience life in many forms.
Mitakuye O`yasin
bear Medicinewalker
“Dancin’ in the Light” from Wind Dreamer by Jan Michael Looking Wolf available on Itunes and at http://www.lookingwolf.com/
There is so much violence in the world that often people find themselves caught up in it and in this process they loose themselves. By that I mean they get lost deep inside, pushed their by fear and loss of self worth. The lesson of self Love is a tough one for victims of abuse, assault but part of the process and in order to allow healing to begin, we often have to release and find self acceptance again. To learn to Love self, one of the hardest lessons many of us have to learn.
The following is a story I was told long ago, and the lesson within is strong. I hope that all those that need to read and understand the lesson do, and understand there is no judgement involved in our own lives that is harsher than self judgement. Love begins with Self….
There once was a woman called Black Corn. She lived in a village that was surrounded by amazing beauty. It was plain to see everywhere, in the forest, in the plains, in the sky above and upon the earth below. Black Corn herself was extremely tall, in fact she was taller than all of the other women of her village, and truth be told she was taller than most of the men as well. She was very strong yet fair to see. however within her was hidden deeper darker emotions that were filled with discontent, doubt, anger and more than is healthy for people to live with day to day.
Black Corn was very unhappy. Her heart was filled with love yet could not seem to find the one to give it to. All she wanted was to love someone and have someone love her in return. She loved her family and people of the village dearly and did all she could for them, even to the point of sacrificing her own wants to help others. Many Gifts she had been given by Creator, but could not seem to find them when she needed them the most. Others laughed at her for things she did not understand and in turn began believing in what was being said about her. At first with doubt, then willingly that the lies and the actions were deserved.
When she looked upon her reflection in the surface of the water, she would think about all the negatives that had been spoken to her, “you are too direct, too tall, too strong, you show too much passion, too much love, too much everything, and no one wants what you have to give!” Yet the love she held inside for all the People was full to bursting within her heart and all she wanted was someone who would accept her love, for the People to accept her and love her for who she was.
Despair and heartache filled her until one day she awoke as if in a dream, “Why is it this way? What did I do that was so awful that I should be treated in this manner?” She sat looking deep inside for an answer to these questions. She went beyond all of the hurt, all of the pain that had been put upon her, past the men who had used her without her consent breaking her spirit. So many judgments had been passed on her but none so harsh as what she had passed upon herself. The deeper she looked, the uglier it became until it rose to rage! But soon she realized that this too was illusion. The anger, the rage was all self deception, a shield she had put in place in order to protect herself from what laid within.
Soon she decided that no longer would she hide behind the rage and the sorrow that she had held onto over the years and it washed over her like a tidal wave as she stood defenseless in its path. She no longer had the strength to fight it, no shield to protect her any longer. Out she ran into the forest, hearing the tiny voice inside screaming in agony, dying, dying, dying, wanting to scream out loud, knowing that all she had ever felt she was that she was slowly dying a painful death. Finally she cried out clutching at the pain in her chest, willing herself to slip away. She screamed out in pain and agony, begging for Creator to take her away from this pain.
“Creator, please I can not bear this life, this pain any more for it is simply too much, Please, please, take me home, please let me have peace!” And when she had finished crying out these words and prayers all of the ugliness that was inside her had been given voice, a sound so awful to hear that not even the creatures made a sound out of respect for her pain. She laid down on the forest floor allowing it to wrap around her body as her very soul felt as though it had been ripped open lying before the Creator. It was at that moment she finally saw the truth.
It began when she was 7 summers old; she would go into the forest to play and one day a strange man came upon her and began to speak with her. His words were intriguing and he spoke of grown-up things that she liked to hear about. Eventually this stranger seduced her as a child, and as a child, not knowing any better, had allowed it. Many years would pass before Black Corn realized what had been done to her, and when she did realize, she issued a judgment so severe upon herself that she began to believe that she was unworthy of love. She lost all respect for herself and, indeed, this is what she projected unknowingly to everyone she came into contact with. The voices of the others that would taunt her were really reflections of her own voice within that she could not, until now, listen to.
In that moment laying on the forest floor, she began to see with clarity what was that made the People treat her as they were, and with that knowing, she began to cry, heart wrenching cries that tore at the very fabric of her soul and thus began the cleansing process from within. She found that while she had forgiven that strange man his trespass against her, placing blame on herself and creating in a fantasy in her mind that she had been the victim, all the while feeling the guilt of the participant. There had been one other who had used her in this fashion, a relative, who did not know of the first stranger. But by then, the damage to her soul had been done and, while not realizing why it was so, she allowed herself to be degraded even more by this second man. After that, there was no room for self-respect or self love, feeling as she did that she was unworthy for the things she had done.
After the sobbing had subsided, Black Corn began to feel differently, having accepted everything that was ugly inside of her, she began to heal. Finally, after all of these years it was released. It took a long time, but finally she was able to understand and began to love herself as well as forgive those who took her unfairly and in bad faith, took her innocence and made something ugly out of it. With all that was released there was now room for love to enter and fill her soul. All of the love she wanted to give the People was the love that she had been denying herself. Once she could learn to love herself and accept herself, she could also love the People much more than she ever thought possible, and the People rejoiced! For they had always loved Black Corn, but because she did not love herself she could not see this and probably never would have if she had not asked herself “why am I being treated this way?”
The answer was within her all the time….Love…Love of Self. This was Creator’s answer to her prayers.
I offer prayer for all those that are victims of abuse and violence, that they too shall find Love in the souls for themselves and that the shame, the unforgiving emotions that they place upon themselves are released and replaced with the knowing that they too are loved and worthy of love. Enabling them to move to more positive places within their lives.
Empowerment through Awareness! Time to open our eyes and take a good look at our lives and what we have brought into them. Time to rid ourselves of negatives and strengthen the core of our positives. It is all about the balance, it is all about releasing fear and things that truly have no place in our lives any longer. In order to grow as humans, we need to respect that change is always occurring, even down to the smallest cellular level and truly we can not stop it, it is part of the life experience.
So why not embrace it and ride the currents of life in a positive way. Kind of like viewing the glass half full, instead of half empty. Sure we are going to have moments that are not so great, or bad days here and there…but if we look to the lessons that are hidden within those moments, those days. we are less apt to repeat those lessons and not repeating them in that vicious cycle we often create of negativity and drama. I don’t know about ya’ll, but I learned long ago that the kind of negativity and drama as humans we invite in or manipulate does not win us any awards…so set yourself up for positives and success instead.
Red Tail Hawk shows up to help us understand the meaning in ordinary experiences if open and become aware of our surroundings. The Red Tail Hawk is awakening our souls so that we may begin the journey of our spirituality, preparing us for those Life Lessons that will soon show up.
Red Tail Hawks are messengers of the between, sharing insights and knowledge extended to us from the Ancestors and the world of Spirit. They speak to us of looking from a different vantage point and thus giving us a broader view of any given situation, helping us to not only be aware that a message awaits us, but also helping us to understand those messages.
Red Tailed Hawks are sacred and as they enter our presence, we must honor them by opening our minds and keeping them sharp while we look for wisdom and answers as we walk the human.
The Red Tailed Hawk’s red tail feathers distinguish it from other hawks, and remember that it does not receive their red feathers until at a later point in life after it has matured and experienced life around it. These feathers must be earned. The color Red represents Power and Energy that will lie dormant until it is awakened by our Souls as they walk and journey life and honor its own Sacred Hoop.
To start the week off remember and honor all things Sacred…. within and outside of our Sacred Hoops. It should not be something that we have to make time for, or schedule in our days…it should be the way we walk, live and breathe each moment we are here walking the human. For when we do this, and it becomes part of who we are… our lives find balance.
White Buffalo shares with us that it is time to honor all that is sacred in and around us. It is about the power of Prayer. It is time to feed our souls, our spirituality. That in order to allow abundance into our lives we must walk the Sacred Path, but also be open to the fact that all life, all that has been shared with us no matter how small …how large, is Sacred.
The White Buffalo is connected to the teachings of the original people, the things that often are forgotten by us in this modern day world that is filled with material and greed. The White Buffalo warns us and gently nudges to remind us that we must not forget to be grateful, thankful, and take care of our Sacred Hoops.
To talk to the Universe and God Creator often, to share with others the simple positive things such as prayer, ritual, ceremony, traditions. To slow down so that we do not forget the lessons of old and where it is we come from. When we honor that process we will assist in manifesting our dreams, our goals in a more positive light. White buffalo will help to keep us grounded and on the right walk, allowing us to realize that when we are walking correctly the path is much easier to move upon.
Honor Self, Honor Creator, Honor All Life as Sacred.
Mitakuye O`yasin
~ bear Medicinewalker
Buffalo Thunder by Big City Indians and available thru bigcityindians.com
