Today is about Snake Medicine and learning to balance it within our lives. So what does that mean to us as human? Well for today to speaks to making our way through the day by depending on all our senses and understanding that this movement is part of our human experience. To make sure we use our time wisely and not waste it on frivolous negativity. Things happen for a reason and it is up to each of us to decide how it impacts and imprints on our lives. So will you be bale to make lemonade out of lemons today, or instead will you taste the bitterness from it and allow it to sour your day? (Sorry no puns intended, lol don’t shoot the messenger. Spirit says what Spirit says) It is up to each of us to decide. Personally I prefer a good cold glass of lemonade… Cheers!
Snake Is a difficult teacher at times, and one that is not easy to master. Lessons that Snake brings with it are of life cycles and change, remembering as we grow we shed and transform into new energies and new experiences. Snake also teaches us about poison and that we need to be able to rid ourselves of the toxins can be placed within our Sacred Hoops. Don’t let the poisons kill us
Snake can be a hard teacher. His lessons involve a transmutation of the cycle of life, death and rebirth. Snake symbolizes this cycle with the shedding of his skin. We learn to the whole energy of life, the cosmic consciousness and have the willingness to experience anything without resistance. It is also about the poisons that we might take in. Those poisons can be eaten or ingested in some way but they also may be integrated into our lives. The goal is to not let the poisons taint our body or spirit.
Since Snakes can shed they teach us about the levels of our human, of our spirituality, our experiences. It is time to seek our inner knowledge before moving ahead with decisions. It is time to coil and go within to make sure we are well prepared before we strike out.
Snake also reminds us as it makes its way across the Great Mother Earth, to ground ourselves, to use our energy wisely and not to rely on primal instincts of lashing out. For at times it is more empowering to hold back and use that knowledge that energy in wise ways. At other times it is best to strike and seize the moment with a precision and quickness. Snakes often retreat long before biting defensively because they sense that it may cause consequences/damage to others and drain you of healing energy.
Snake is also very old and powerful healing medicine. Once harnessed, Snake will help you to position yourself carefully so that you will trust your gut when making important decisions.
“I am Dedicated to Educating and sharing culture with the World. It is not enough merely to teach the ways of our Elders. We must honor those traditions by sharing and educating the World. Inspiring others …Inspiring our Youth. Through the Music… the Arts…the stories…” Mitakuye O’yasin ~bear Medicinewalker
“Wake the Dragon” Dragon Ritual Drummers available at I tunes
A fitting card that is turned this day, for the worlds turmoil to begin to heal. For all Humankind to accept each others differences without fear, Violence or hate…
I call to the Winged Ones… carry our words to Creator to be heard upon this day of Sorrow…
Today we send our wants, needs, wishes upon Your wings to be shared and manifested. Ride the fierce winds to soar with the Ancestors in the great above within the grasp of Father Sky. Allow the up winds of energy we send to you to swirl through your feathers, enabling You to soar ever closer to the Creator’s Breath.
You are Sacred, You are revered, You are all that we send with you in honor and gratitude, our Messenger to the above and beyond. We are blessed by your offering of service, of insight and wisdom’s on this day and all days. We thank you for all that you bring to share with our souls as they resonate with yours. Blessed be on this and all days to come.
We ask as we stand humbly upon the Great Mother, that you assist us in allowing our tears to wash away the pain and heartaches of this world. That you escort our loved ones who have passed so that they arrive safely to the next part of their journeys and bask in the acceptance and greetings of the Ancestors. We kneel in debt to you for being our confident and keeper of all that is in our hearts.
AHO
As we walk through our days, if we take that moment to stop and open our eyes… we will see the Winged Ones. Always fluttering about, ready and willing to take our deepest thoughts and carry them to the Creator’s ears to be heard. They share with us a deep knowledge of the Great Mother Earth and all that walks her surface and flies within Father Sky’s grasp. They are Sacred, so much so that many tribes and clans have taken them as their guides. From the Woodpeckers, the Buzzards, to the Egrets, Hawks and the Majestic Eagles… all play a role in teaching us things we need to understand and embrace as we walk the Human.
Revered as bringers of messages and symbols of change, we await your insights that will allow us to walk in a more positive, balanced and healthy way. for you are closest to the Creator’s ear, Messengers of our Ancestors and Relatives passed to the other world our souls thrive and continue to grow in. Creator is within all things, so help us to open our eyes and souls to be and do what we are meant to, what we have all agreed to when we entered this space. Know what is clearly in our Soul’s intent and assist us in awakening it, re igniting it on order to be the mighty Warriors of Peace you have asked us to be.
Soar to the heavens our beautiful Winged Sisters and Brothers… soar and be blessed as you carry our burdens to be released to the Creator and Universe allowing us to begin to heal and move forward in positives.
Aho
“I am Dedicated to Educating and sharing the Native culture with the World. It is not enough merely to teach the ways of our Elders. We must honor those traditions by sharing and educating the World. Inspiring others …Inspiring our Youth. Through the Music… the Arts…the stories…” Mitakuye O’yasin ~bear Medicinewalker
“Pray to the Lord” Fawn Wood & Dallas from cd Blessings available at http://www.canyonrecords.com
Looking back on what was written last year …I felt the message should once again be put forth …so with you all I share…
I sat wrote on this Memorial Day Weekend 2015, I was guided to write something a little different from the norm. First however I will begin with the traditional and share what Memorial Day is and how it all began.
Originally called Decoration Day and the idea was established in 1868 and born due to the horrific death tolls resulting from the Civil War and a desire to honor our dead.
“The 30th of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land.” ~ General John Logan, National Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic. The date of Decoration Day, as he called it, was chosen because it was NOT an anniversary of any particular battle.
So it became a day of observance for those who lost their lives here in a country that lay divided and torn from a war, a war that pitted family against family, a war that drenched the soil with the blood of many.
Today it is observed in almost every state on the last Monday in May ensuring a three day weekend for Federal holidays, though several southern states have an additional separate day for honoring the Confederate war dead: January 19th in Texas; April 26th in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi; May 10th in South Carolina; and June 3rd (Jefferson Davis’ birthday) in Louisiana and Tennessee, the stain remaining in a split that remains still, North and South, the United States.
I honor all those that have fought for this country and what it is supposed to stand for, Freedom and Honor, Unity and Grace. But I take it a step further and honor those that walked before us and fought many battles on the soil we all now stand on, build our homes, our lives and communities, our Ancestors from all nations that helped to build this country. Ancestors that without their sacrifices we would not be here today.
I honor the immigrants that came through Ellis Island bringing with them the skills that built our country. Brick layers, wood carvers, creative people, the thinkers, the entrepreneurs, the men, women and children that did the hard work, work that most of us today would not even dream of having to do. That fought battles of violence every day just to survive. The Irish, the Polish, The Italian, the German and oh so many more, leaving their own families and homelands due to discrimination and war, to the many that were killed, the fact you were treated less than human, I remember and honor them all.
I honor my Ancestors, the Original People, the Native People that honored our lands and lived in balance until they too were ravaged by wars and violence. To the many that were killed, the fact they were treated less than human, I remember and honor them all. I honor them more for pushing us to be better in the world today, to honor where we came from and to never forget the people that are one with the Great Mother Earth, their teachings and keeping that as the foundation for life.
I honor the Chinese mine workers who came and worked the mines out in the western states and became a forgotten story in history. The violence they endured because they did not speak English, because their skin was a different color, their sacrifice in order to help forge this country into its future. To the many that were killed, the fact they were treated less than human, I remember and honor them all
I honor the Africans that were taken from their homelands and their families brought to this soil as slaves and also to be treated less than human. Many names lost in history their lives unable to be recognized individually, to the many that were killed, the fact they were treated less than human, I remember and honor them all.
I honor the Japanese Americans that were outcast during the war and sent to camps, their lives torn apart and destroyed. All because they came to America to build a better life for themselves and their families, to the many that were killed, the fact you were treated less than human, I remember and honor them all.
To all the People that have come here and sacrificed to build this country in order to make a better life , to the many that were killed, the fact they too were treated less than human, I remember and honor them all.
So today, I ask that you all take a moment from your day as you remember loved ones that have fallen in conflict, that you take another moment to add to it all the countless other people that have done the same here on our own lands, in our own country. While you are doing that add prayer that we all learn from what history shows us all…that no matter what color our skin is, it took Warriors of the Rainbow to get us to this place we stand today in our own lives, countless sacrifices that go far back in this country’s history.
And if we do nothing else today… honor that … think of that…and be thankful for what it has allowed us to be, have and live today. Then take it a step further and realize that each of us has the ability to bring about change… to set aside hate, bigotry, racial discrimination, and judgment. To become better people, better humans, to honor what has been provided to us by our Ancestors. Make their sacrifices count… for if they were alive today, I feel many would shed tears that many things still have not changed.
“I am Dedicated to Educating and sharing the Native culture with the World. It is not enough merely to teach the ways of our Elders. We must honor those traditions by sharing and educating the World. Inspiring others …Inspiring our Youth. Through the Music… the Arts…the stories…” Mitakuye O’yasin ~bear Medicinewalker
“Join Me as I continue the Sacred Hoop Project into this Year 2016…the year of Truths!”
James Horner and the Boys choir of Harlem Closing song from “Glory” available on Itunes
Today some very strong medicine jumps out at us… the Medicine Wheel speaks to us about the keeping and care of the Sacred Hoop. Both our personal one and the one of the World that surrounds us all. It is a universal symbol, that shares with us the natural order of things, not only the cycles that we travel through as we walk the human, but the way all things change and evolve along side us.
Whether it be the Winged Ones, the Four Leggeds, the Plant People, the Crystal and Rock Keepers, the Swimmers or Creepers we all evolve together in the harmony that we were born to. The four lines in the Wheel speak to us of the four directions, the four colors to the cultures and the four parts of our human, the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual being. To understand the Medicine Wheel is to understand self.
This is what we need to understand, that the strengths, the creative, the spiritual, the faults, the imperfections all lie with in each of us. They are all part of who we are, constantly evolving. As a wheel is circular and continues in a constant state of birth to death constantly moving through change, so are we. To understand that about ourselves is how we are to attain balance.
To understand that we are All Connected, that we All Imprint on the world, the energy that we exist in is to understand the nature of how things co-exist. That there has to be opposites for balance…light and dark. rain and heat, night and day, birth and death… All a intricate part of the Human experience.
Ask yourself what is it that you need to day to add to the positives in your own life, what is it you need in order to set your mind to in order to keep the negative at bay? So today, look to yourself and think about how each word, each action, each breath you take is part of a bigger Hoop, then think what it is You need to do to put your own Sacred Hoop into a place of balance with all that is Sacred honoring who you are meant to be.
“I am Dedicated to Educating and sharing Culture with the World. It is not enough merely to teach the ways of our Elders. We must honor those traditions by sharing and educating the World. Inspiring others …Inspiring our Youth. Through the Music… the Arts…the stories…” Blessings ~bear Medicinewalker
“Join Me as I continue the Sacred Hoop Project into this Year 2016…the year of Truths!”
Today we are reminded to hold our own Medicine as Sacred! Do Not allow anyone to make you feel that you are less than… or that you can not accomplish, or are not worthy and in return do the same with others. Give people the benefit of the doubt, not jumping to conclusions and accusation. Today is about stepping into your own power, your own medicine and owning it! This doesn’t mean that you are better than, it simply means that we all are an important part of the world, we all imprint and spark changes. So today ignite life’s positives. Perhaps remember a teaching of long ago and review it to make sure you are still using it wisely. Make sure that your footprints are gentle as you walk your paths. Stand strong, share the unconditional with others that cross upon your journey today and days ahead. Be the teacher that we are all meant to be…the human that is experiencing life and it’s many miracles.
A Medicine Bag ( also called a Medicine Pouch) is traditionally a small pouch filled with talismans such as stones, herbs, found objects, personal memorabilia and its purpose is protection, to remind us of our human and All that is Sacred and to assist us in healing and keeping our Sacred Hoops in balance. Native Americans have carried these bags for centuries, but in recent years, they’ve also become popular in our modern day culture but most are unaware of the intent/purpose of them.
Traditionally a medicine bag or bundle contains something from the plant, animal and mineral kingdoms and from the life of a person. Meant to be kept close to your person so that the spiritual power surrounds you and becomes one with your energy. In a sense it becomes one with who you are. What goes onto the bag is your personal medicine, things you draw “power” from that will aid you as you walk your paths. If you receive one as a gift, the maker or person gifting it should add something of their own to help you on your journey.
Understand that a traditional Medicine Pouch is Sacred. The bag should not be opened by anyone else. It is up to the individual whose bag it is if they choose to take items out in order to share with others the story behind them, or to use them for healing purposes. Each item is considered Sacred and is meant to assist its owner with power and spirituality while they walk the Human. Allowing others to access the bag and it’s contents, ‘steals’ the power and lessons its intent for the owner.
“I am Dedicated to Educating and sharing the Native culture with the World. It is not enough merely to teach the ways of our Elders. We must honor those traditions by sharing and educating the World. Inspiring others …Inspiring our Youth. Through the Music… the Arts…the stories…” Mitakuye O’yasin ~bear Medicinewalker
“Join Me as I continue the Sacred Hoop Project into this Year 2016…the year of Truths!”
“Pathways” from Pathway to Destiny: Songs of Healing and Contemplation by Louie Gonnie. Available at http://canyonrecords.com/shop/
Most of the Peoples Nations have stories about the ‘Sacred Pipe’, many of you may think of it as a Peace Pipe. Hollywood has glamorized the pipe through old western movies, yet those stories told an outside culture could not be farther from the truth. The Sacred Pipe is to the Native American People as the cross would be to Christian cultures.
The pipe, in varied forms is often prevalent in most tribal cultures all around the world. All Nations have used the pipe in some form of ritual and have passed the stories of where the pipe came from. One of the more well known Native American lore is the Lakota story of the White Buffalo Woman bringing and sharing the pipe and wisdom’s to them.
There are a lot of stories on just how the pipe first arrived, and who it was brought to first, yet what is most important is that the pipe is revered as a sacred item and was a gift handed to us by The Creator. The Sacred Pipe was brought to all people of this world, for we all must share this world, as one race …the Human race This story is the story I was told and it tells of the importance of the Pipe as means to Prayer, Balance and Heal. The following is a story that was shared with me, and of course it has a bear, “Yona” in it so it has always been remembered with fondness…
At a time when the world was new, a tribe of red skinned people came to live on the lands around The Blue Smoke Mountains. This is a time animals of the world still spoke to all of us teaching us how to live and care for the land. These people were called “Ani Yun Wiya” or the One True People. In this tribe lived a brave warrior woman.
She was called ‘Arrow Woman’. As a young woman she was taught to use the bow, the spear and the knife. Even though it was a man’s job to hunt and fight, Arrow Woman could shoot straighter with the bow than any man. She could throw the knife so as split a branch no bigger than your thumb and she could throw the spear into eye of a hawk in flight. Because of all this, no one would tell her to act like a woman should within the tribe.
One day while on a hunt, Arrow Woman came upon the tracks of “Yona” the bear. She saw blood on the ground and knew him to be wounded, so she followed his tracks high into the mountains. Soon she came to a place that she did not know. It was at this place, a place known only to the animals that she finally saw “Yona” the bear. He had a deep gash in his side. As she watched him, he bowed down in prayer. She saw him bowing toward a large field of tall grass and speaking words that she had not heard before. Suddenly, the grass shimmered and became a lake. Arrow Woman saw “Yona” the bear, dive into the water. After a time he emerged from the water, his side was completely healed.
“Yona” the bear looked up and saw Arrow Woman walking towards her he spoke, “This is the sacred lake of the animals. It is called, ‘Atagahi’ and it’s location is known only to the animals. It is where we come for healing and strength. You are the first human to see the Sacred Lake. You must never tell your kind of it’s location for it is the home of ‘The Great Uktena’. After speaking to her “Yona” the Bear turned and walked into the woods and disappeared.
Arrow Woman sat and contemplated all that had occurred. Yet she was tired from following “Yona” the Bear all day and needed to rest a while. So she built a small fire next to the lake, and sitting down she began to prepare a meal that she had brought with her. She reached over and took a drink of the water from the lake as she did Arrow Woman felt instantly refreshed. Amazed, she felt strong as Yan’si the Buffalo, and as if she could run faster than Coga the Raven could fly. The woods were quiet, the Sacred Winds where sleeping, Father Sun was shining bright, the surface upon the lake was completely calm, Arrow Woman began to get sleepy.
It was at this time that ‘Uktena’ appeared to her. As a child she had been told of him yet no one in her tribe ever claimed to have seen him. High above the water he raised his great serpent’s head, the jewel in his forehead glistening. He began to move toward her. Arrow Woman grabbed up her spear and stood up to face the great creature coming to her, standing proud, showing no fear, the way any warrior should. She raised her spear and prepared to strike the huge beast.
Uktena stopped a short distance from her. He smiled at her, showing his fierce rows of teeth he began speaking to the brave woman on the bank of his lake, “Put down your weapons for I mean you no harm. I come only to teach.” Arrow Woman laid down her spear and began to relax, somehow knowing Uktena spoke truly.
Uktena told her to sit and to listen. He then dipped his head below the surface and came back up a moment later. In his mouth he had a strangely crooked stick and a leather pouch. These things he laid on the ground in front of Arrow Woman. Then the teaching began.
“This that I have laid before you is the Sacred Pipe of The Creator. Pick up the pipe. The bowl is of the same red clay The Creator used to make your kind. The red clay is Woman kind and is from the Earth. Just as a woman bears the children and brings forth life, the bowl bears the sacred tobacco and brings forth smoke. The stem is Man. Rigid and strong the stem is from the plant kingdom and like a man it supports the bowl just as man supports his family.”
He then showed Arrow Woman how to join the bowl to the stem saying, ” Just as a man and a woman remain separate until joined in marriage so too are the bowl and stem separate. Never to be joined unless the pipe is used.” Uktena then showed her how place the sacred tobacco into the pipe and with an ember from the fire lit it so it burned slightly. He then spoke these words, “The smoke is the breath of The Creator, When you draw the smoke into your body, you will be cleansed and made whole. When the smoke leaves your mouth, it will rise to The Creator. Your prayers, your dreams, your hopes and desires will be taken to Him in the smoke. Also the truth in your soul will be shown to Him when you smoke the pipe. If you are not true, do not smoke the pipe. If your spirit is bad and you seek to deceive, do not smoke the pipe.”
Uktena continued his lesson well into the night teaching Arrow Woman all of the prayers used with the pipe and all of the reasons for using the pipe. He finished just as the moon was beginning her nightly journey across the sky in search of her true love. He told Arrow Woman to wrap the pipe in cloth, keeping the parts separate. With this done He told her that she would never again be able to find this place but to remember all that she had learned. Uktena then returned to depths of the lake. Arrow Woman saw the water shimmer and become again the field of grass. She left, taking with her the pipe and her lessons and a wondrous tale. Ever since that time, The Peoples have used the sacred pipe and never again has any man seen the sacred lake of Uktena.
The Sacred Pipe is not a symbol of things that are sacred, but it is the Pipe itself that is sacred. Not everyone is called upon to be a pipe bearer. The person who carries the pipe and practices the pipe ceremonies and traditions has a great responsibility to his brothers and sisters, his land and country and to the Great Earth Mother. They, the pipe bearer, does not ‘own’ the pipe that they carry. They simply carry the pipe until the time comes for them to pass it to the next bearer. The pipe bearer is given certain powers of sight from the pipe as well as an ability to heal and purify. Should the bearer fall from grace and become a liar, thief, neglected their duties when asked, or become deceitful, the pipe will repossess these gifts and then the possibility of misfortune for the former bearer may exist.
One should be ready to accept the responsibility of the pipe for it may make demands upon you. It will become your teacher and guide. It can also be your worst enemy if used wrongly. It is an honor for the person to be chosen as a Pipe Holder…it is to be respected and revered. If you are not called to be a Pipe Carrier, the pipe remains sacred, and for many of us we still use it on ceremony and prayer…Honoring those Sacred Traditions.
“I am Dedicated to Educating and sharing the Native culture with the World. It is not enough merely to teach the ways of our Elders. We must honor those traditions by sharing and educating the World. Inspiring others …Inspiring our Youth. Through the Music… the Arts…the stories…” Mitakuye O’yasin ~bear Medicinewalker
“Join Me as I continue the Sacred Hoop Project into this Year 2016…the year of Truths!”
Although Spring has arrived on the calendar it has not quite arrived everywhere on the planet. But none the less, it is time to begin to stick our noses out of our proverbial caves and begin the process of living again, having rested all winter in order to rebirth our physical, mental and spiritual beings for the next part of our journeys. So step into the light of the new day … shake the fog from your minds and the sleep from your eyes… and lets continue the journeys to experience life and the many positives it has to offer!
Today we will need to be like the Polar Bear teaches us, dive into the waters, maneuver the waves and ice flows and adapt to life around us. The air is filled with changes and everything frustrating that life can throw at us today, but that is okay because we have what it takes to breathe deep and roll with it all. We simply have to be aware that not everything is cooperative 100% if the time, and sometimes we are tested to make us stronger, smarter and wiser as to how to handle different things that may happen in our day to day lives. We can do this… we have got this…
The Polar Bear shares that it is time to dig deep within your self and balance your Sacred Hoop. Discard what is no longer needed so that you may move ahead on your path in a positive way. Polar Bears are all about the Winter which relates to nurturing self, taking time to feed your soul and examine what is needed for us to take steps forward to survive and flourish in a healthy manner.
Polar Bear steps in to show us all how strong we can be as we face life’s challenges that are thrown at us from time to time. It is time to stand up and show that strength in the dark corners of our life and take ownership of the light that needs to shine from within. Helping to guide us between our human walk and our connections to spirit.
Polar Bear tells us to clean out our dens of unwanted and unneeded energies that are no longer healthy for us. creating for us in that process a renewal of Spirit and thought and putting us back to balancing our Sacred Hoops. We need to remember we are responsible for self and are the only ones that can set ourselves to that place of balance and positives. In a sense we are the masters of our own Universe… so own that …empower yourself …. and love yourself… if we can understand and attain that we will allow other positives into our life with that alignment.
“I am Dedicated to Educating and sharing the Native culture with the World. It is not enough merely to teach the ways of our Elders. We must honor those traditions by sharing and educating the World. Inspiring others …Inspiring our Youth. Through the Music… the Arts…the stories…” Mitakuye O’yasin ~bear Medicinewalker
“Join Me as I continue the Sacred Hoop Project into this Year 2016…the year of Truths!”
