Lest We Forget....

C D B? (Old joke).....I'm trying to be "Amusing".

 So, then as I see it, we are in the position 

that we need to speak for those who are

unable to be heard.  I say this because I once

mistakenly thought that our non-two-legged

relatives were "those who are unable

to speak for themselves"....but see that's not

true, they can, will and do speak for themselves, 

but us two-leggeds are making so much noise that we are usually unable/unwilling to hear/listen to what they are telling us.  I know for myself, personally, I still hear them & I listen and I do my best to be of service to them. 

I basically don't give a fig for the two-leggeds, our heads are so stuck that I'm thinking it might be too late for us...the greed, the self-absorption, the active ignorance (call it stoopidity), the short sightedness/tunnel vision....The MEMEs. and refusal to take responsibility for anything that does not self gratify.

I mean just look at the trash on the roads, in the parking lots...even @ the Library I work in (an Upper Class Neighborhood)...there is trash all over.  Look at the abandoned animals, children, adults....  Look at the poisons we happily, willingly, purposely consume.....it's no wonder we are sick.

Example..... kidney & liver disease but you Never drink water.....you only ever drink Diet Soda & coffee....so what do you think is going on there?  Is your body trying to tell you something?   You're obese & have diabetes but you insist on Diet Soda (for breakfast even), and you live on junk & fast foods....so what the Hell do you think?  

Come on folks...these things are "non-brainers".....You don't have to be a super model in a high fashion magazine, or a celebrity, or in People magazine to be happy.  You need to find balance, get over your childhood (it's called Therapy),  be One with Creator & assimilate into a more natural (Green/Healthy) lifestyle.

Yeah...that's the ticket!   Get a healthy, balanced life or your gonna end up getting off the planet sooner than you expected (which could be a good thing).

So...here's something more to ponder on:

Elder's Meditation of the Day - June 29

"We forget so we consider ourselves superior. But we are, after all, a mere part of the creation and we must consider to understand where we are and we stand somewhere between the mountain and the Ant. Somewhere and only there is a part and parcel of the creation."

--Chief Oren Lyons, ONONDAGA

Every human being gathers information from the center of a circle. If we are not careful, we soon think we are the center of all things. Therefore, it is easy to become self centered. Once we become self centered we start to think we are above all things and therefore superior. But we are really only one part of a great whole. The universe is all connected. Each part is here to do something special and according to its design. We are here to honor and respect the job of each part. We are neither above nor below anything. We need not be ruler over anything, we need only to live in honor and harmony with the system.  Elder's Meditation of the Day - June 2 "The Natural Law is the final and absolute authority governing E Te No Ha, the earth we call our Mother." --Traditional Circle of Elders There is no power greater than the Natural Laws. These powers were set up by the Great Spirit in such a way that the human being has no access to it, except by obeying. If we choose not to follow the Natural Laws, our live will be filled with confusion, tension, anxiety and stress. If we poison the Earth, we poison ourselves. If we poison the Water of the Earth, we poison ourselves. As we do to the Earth, we do to ourselves and our children, even the children unborn. May we think about this today and ask ourselves, "Are we holding and acting toward the Mother Earth in a good way?" Great Spirit, teach me the Natural Laws that govern the Earth

Little Monsters Are ONLY Cute on Halloween

I know many people refer to their children as "Little Monsters", but that is only cute for Halloween. When children throw temper tantrums or scream & yell until bloody blue in the face and are ignored by their parents...I (and many other people) just want to pull that parent aside and shake the shit out of them!

I am so tired of all the insolent, rude, spoiled, unmanageable, misbehaved, screaming children there are in today's society...I see them most everyday, especially where I work. It is totally inappropriate for children to be allowed to misbehave, especially in public. It's pathetic that today's parents have not a clue how to properly raise children.

I'll tell you, if I or any of my friends had ever pulled a hissey fit in public (like so many children do now)...our momma's dropped whatever they were doing/shopping for, pulled us outside, put us in the car, took us home and punished our misbehaving asses.

You want to know who is responsible for teaching children manners, right thinking, & good behavior? Well for sure it's not: Gandma/Gandpa, Nanny, teacher, principle, Auntie/Uncle...it's the person who gave birth to the child as well as the seed donor, in other words...IT IS YOU MOM & DAD...You Are Responsible.

I am so sick and tired of having my dinner ruined in a restaurant by some screaming spoiled brat and Igmo parent. It's no better in a store, mall, Library, park, visiting a friend's home, or being at home and having to listen to the neighbor's kids scream bloody hell & murder because they are not getting their way and are being ignored by the parental unit.

Once you become pregnant, then have a child...life as you (Mom & Dad) once knew it IS OVER! It is No Longer about You. It's No Longer about having fun & freedom...it's about Growing up and taking responsibility for Someone Else, and this little Someone Else needs love, care, & guidance 24-7-365! You, as Mom & Dad...don't get to ignore this child... You, Mom & Dad are the ones to set the Example of how to: behave in a socially acceptable manner, treat others, give respect to All Other Living Beings, care for belongings, eat healthy, be a contributing member of society, and walk in balance.

Babies Are Not Puppies...they do Not Give Unconditional Love...they Need Unconditional Love as well as your undivided attention. Ignoring a screaming baby or poorly behaved child is a subtle form of Child Abuse. Plopping a child in front of a television, gameboy, Wii, computer is NOT an acceptable way of raising a child. Those techno machines Are NOT Babysitters. Children, for the most part, are not able to discern what is Real and what is Not from techno machines.... Techno machines teach a skewed form of virtual reality, which has nothing to do with Real Life. Not to mention the fact that the techno machines alter active brainwaves....disabling cognizant thought process in young children.

Food also plays an important part in a child's behavior & health. When I was growing up (back in the Dark Ages) it was not a common practice to take children to the dentist unless they had a severely damaged a tooth! Now with all the sugar in their diets...not only are children's baby teeth rotting & falling out early, but their health is deteriorating. Over abundance of sugar attacks the immune system, it leaves a child open to diabetes and other disease. Obesity Is a Disease....and a chubby baby may be "cute", but an obese child is a very unhealthy child. Sugar also is a culprit in behavioral problems.....highs & lows.....crankiness from coming down off a sugar high is nasty.

So many parents ask: "What is wrong with my child?" I have new for them: They Are What is Wrong With their child.....the way they raised their child is obviously suspect. Raising children is NOT a democratic process......although babies start off as MeMeMeMe and are in need of constant gratification of their basic needs...they grow into children who are capable of cognizant thought process via interaction with other human beings (Mom & Dad) and need guidance and healthy examples of good behavior in their home life.

Not only do your examples set the course for your child's future as an adult...it can keep them out of prison as well as clean & sober. Don't you know: children who are allowed to run amok and behave like Little Monsters (except for when they are sleeping), pretty much grow up to be Assholes, a detriment to themselves and pretty much a menace to society.

So get a clue Mom & Dad...it's time to pay attention to what you are doing to your child and start teaching your children how to be capable, respectful, and healthy human beings.

Mi Takuye Oyacin

Elder's Meditation of the Day - August 17

"If a child hasn't been given spiritual values within the family setting, they have no familiarity with the values that are necessary for the just and peaceful functioning in society."
--Eunice Baumann-Nelson, Ph.D, PENOBSCOT
When we are born, we start with a beautiful empty mind ready to be given our beliefs, attitudes, habits and expectations. Most of our true learning comes from watching the actions of others. As we watch our family or relatives, whatever their actions and values are, so will be the children's values and acts. If we see our families living a just and peaceful way of life, so then will the children. If we see our family shouting, arguing, and hateful, so will it be for the children. The cycle of life - baby, youth, adult and Elder is all connected. If the older ones have good values, it will be connected to the children.

Oh my Creator, if there are values I have missed, it is not too late. I can get them from You. Teach me today Your spiritual values. Respect, trust, giving, honesty, wisdom - teach me these

At the risk of peeving many people I am going to speak out on what I see going on these days:

Many women whine and ask "What is wrong with my child?"... well don't you know, the way they allow their child to behave is what is "wrong" with their child!

Raising children is NOT a democracy. Children are "MEMEME" beings, egocentric creatures and they have not a clue of what is good for them or how to behave unless YOU, their parent teaches them! It is up to parents to raise children to be capable adults!

You as the parent are responsible for teaching that child right from wrong, good from bad, appropriate manners, spiritual beliefs...... And believe you me, just yelling at them isn't gonna make one single bit of difference....it's interaction, like one-on-one time. Making yourself the living breathing example of what it means to be a good person....showing them. Parents teach by example. There is no "Do as I say, not as I do!" That's a cop-out.

Discipline is NOT abuse.......it's Love, it's Caring. Get off your dead butts....don't let your Momma & Poppa raise your child...don't let your Auntie or a Nanny raise your child....you will lose their respect. Hell, if you don't care enough to be there for them, you think that child isn't going to know that? You think they are gonna respect you? You think, what that just because you gave birth (or seed) they are going to be "connected" to you? Well, you better think again!

How is/was your relationship with your parents? So, then...do you want the same thing for your child? If not, then you better change the pattern.... You need to be there for that child, not just hand them off to the closest relative while you go out and live your life.

I've sad news for you...a baby/child is FOREVER...and once you give birth your very own personal fun loving life is OVER...you now have 100% full-time responsibility for another living two-legged being. A child is NOT a pet, that when you get tired of you can send to the shelter!

If you don't want a baby.....well then take precautions! So many young, lonely girls have babies in order to have someone that will love them. Babies are not equipped to give love...they are for giving love to, 24/7/365!

You want a warm snugly thing to love you, that takes relatively little care in comparison to a baby? Then get a Dog....one from the Humane Shelter will do good. All you have to do is give them food & water...and clean-up...they will be there when you are done running the streets and happy to see you and ready to love you...unlike a baby!

You and you Alone are responsible for how that child turns out......You show your child by example what it means to be a fully functional (or dysfunctional) adult, as the case may be.

Wake up people....the time is now. If you shirk your responsibility to your child, then you have absolutely no cause to complain what type of person your child turns out to be.

And that is the Creator's Honest Truth.

More Native Chat Site Hatred: April 25, 2009

"YOU MUST BE LOOKING IN THE MIRROR YOU FAKE WANNABE NATIVE!! MT SQUIRREL HAS MORE NATIVE BLOOD THAN YOU DO. YOU ARE A FAKE AND YOU KNOW IT! SO GO TELL SOMEONE WHO REALLY CARES BECAUSE LITTLE WANNABE I DON'T.....YOU MUST HAVE WORE YOU THIMBLE SIZE BRAIN SEARCHING THE INTERNET LOOKING FOR A PUBLIC STATEMENT.JUST REMEMBER YOU ARE WRONG FOR STEALING WHITE BISON'S WORDS AND PRETENDING THEY ARE YOURS SO YOU CAN LOOK LIKE SOME WISE NATIVE.. YOU'RE JUST A FAKE..WAHKONTAH 2009-04-18 #169291 Apachu"


Then there was more from someone who calls herself mvskokeLady(lady is hardly an accurate term, in fact Totally misleading) # 59358 who is 1/2 & 1/2 ......about being "white woman who pays for ceremony and has no tradition of her own.....needs to stop stealing from Natives" " I wonder what makes a white woman sit on here and pretend to be one of us when she has her own culture to celebrate and to rejoice in and to seek out....."




This is my response:

Re: Elders' Meditation #161182 Incante Sica Winyan - Ok, RQ...here goes.......>>>

As for my beliefs......Ceremony is for 'prayer' and ceremony is Free! I have the right to pray as I see fit..and for me a church is just an empty building (except on Sunday)...My God (Creator) is Not Dead and is Everywhere!

I am not a 'christian', I Don't Have to Be! Jesus was Jewish, a Rabbi even, and so were his followers. I do not ever believe what they do nor do I condone their part in the genocide of those in the World that were/are non-christians, that is not what the Creator I believe in stands for.

I believe that we are here to take care of all the living beings on the planet, that we are responsible for life here on Mother Earth as we know it. There is One (1) Creator...We Are ALL Children of 'God'.

There is also something called the First Amendment, it Includes Freedom of Religion, and I choose to believe the Native Teachings (which does not include Hatred that I know of).....>>>

Would you prefer that as a 'white woman' that I condemn you for being 1/2 and 1/2 (a Tribal Card is just another piece of paper to keep track of you)?

Would you prefer I taunt you and make fun of your heritage (as you have said your family has)?

Would you prefer that I call you an 'Ignorant Red Savage'?

Would you prefer I condemn you for; speaking English, wearing non-hide clothing, using electricity, cooking on a stove, driving a car, having a telephone and cell phone, using a computer?

Would you prefer I call you Barbie? Would you prefer I call you that 'P.N'. word that I loath?

Would you prefer that I tell you 'You are going to Hell for being a Heathen and for not believing in Jesus'?

Would you prefer I treat you in the manner you treat me, or speak to you in the same manner, call you names?

I think not. That's not how I was raised, that's not what I believe (but I do know all the words)!

I was raised by parents who were victims of genocide...and get this..they are of Middle Eastern Tribal People...and genocide has been in my family since the Pharaohs...400 BC (Before Christ, Before Colombo, whichever).

However, my family has chosen to forgive, make peace and go beyond, to not only make a better life for themselves and their family, but to make this Mother Earth a better place to live for Everyone.

I feel sorry for you, your rage and hatred...believe me when I say...If being 'Native' is being like you, I'd rather be nothing.

Stop making a fool of yourself, because you have the potential to be of service to the people...right now there is only one person you are hurting.... Mi Takuye Oyacin 2009-04-20 #161182 (Incante Sica Winyan 161182 on 2009-04-20)

More Petty B.S. Games @ the Library: April 22, 2009

Today is a fine example of the "professionalism" I have to deal with on a daily basis:

We have had a calendar up on the outside wall of a cubicle, which faces 5 other people's desk & for the staff for over NINE [9] Years. This calendar has all the legal holidays marked on it as well as the due dates of our timesheets, reference survey dates, and paydays...etc.

Last week the calendar went missing.....I found it stashed away in the supply closet and put it back up.

It was gone again on Friday and I put it back up....

It was gone again today....and some stupid poster on the Latina Bridal Show (that has received some disparaging remarks) was there instead.....

So I'm looking for the calendar,, and it's on the back wall behind my desk, where no one can see it!

My "acting-manager" tells me..."well he doesn't want it on the wall" To which I respond; "But it's on the Outside of the wall (where he can not see it) and we all use it and it's been there for NINE Years"

She says: "well it's his wall." So, I move the calendar to an adjacent wall, so everyone can still see it.

An hour later I come back......and I notice the Bridal Poster is gone and the wall is blank! Then he starts kissing up and asking for my help with a huge project he's working on!

Just fucking amazing and petty! This passive aggressive game playing has been going on against me since this kid got there. He's 30 yrs old, I'm 54! I have been at this job longer than he has been alive, and I have the same MLIS degree that he has + a CA Teachers' Credential.

So like what is going on here...this isn't the only game he's gone behind me on. Two weeks past he took more than 25 books out of the Mystery collection (that I oversee), ripped off the stickers and added them to the Fiction collection (that he oversees) in order to "bump up the collection". He didn't tell anyone, didn't even ask the "acting manager"...just did it.

One week before that, he tried to hold my budget for Books on CD hostage, and tried to take it over! He was called down on that, and when he came in on Monday...was being really phony sweet...and I called him on it...he apologized and said I was "right" and he had his own funds to spend....etc.

So, I have to go to work everyday and deal with immature, non-professional, passive aggressive, controlling, back-stabbing, women-hating behavior (which is why he was transferred to this library to begin with)! I'm doing all I can to keep my mouth shut....but I'll tell you, I'm praying for him to be happy & far away from me.

Love: Elders' Meditation: April 18, 2009

"Women know more about love than men do...Love is taking. Love is sharing. Love is learning things about each other."

--Mary Leitka, HOH

The Elders say Mother Earth shares Her special gifts of love with the Women. The Women know about bringing forth life and nurturing their offspring. Through this gift of love the Earth really makes the Woman special. Men should look upon the Woman with a Sacred Eye. She should be respected. The Woman is a role model for love. When the Woman talks, we should listen; when she shares, we should be grateful. We should all learn about each other.

Grandmother, teach me to love with the power of the Woman.


I like today's meditation. Mostly because it points out the true nature of women, and what we are capable of. What, maybe is forgotten about us...

I find, that are certain people that when I'm around that I really want to love...I really reach out to...Those that just being around causes my heart to open. I don't always know what to do with that, because there is that fear & knowing that once I leave...everything will go back to as it was before; the silence, the isolation, the feeling of being forgotten about, & the unfulfilled desire. And for sure that is anti-love and totally crazy-making.... hopefully one day very soon, we will find ourselves back in the arms of those that truly and deeply love & comfort us and for whom we feel the same.

No Respect for the Dead: January 28, 2009

Dogs enjoy their freedom at Cemetery Memorial Park, which riles some Ventura residents, especially those with ancestors among the 3,000 dead still buried there. In the mid-1960s, the city removed all of the grave markers and transformed the space into a park. It has since installed a few new grave markers at families' request.

Residents clash over returning a park to its past life as a cemetery.

By Catherine Saillant
January 26, 2009

On a recent rainy day, dozens of dogs ran, jumped and occasionally relieved themselves on the grassy expanse of Cemetery Memorial Park, one of downtown Ventura's most scenic vistas.

It's a common sort of scene in any city, except that in this seaside town the seven-acre knoll is the final resting place of more than 3,000 of the city's most influential pioneers.

• 

  Ventura cemetery

• 

  Ventura cemetery

Descendants of the people who ran its newspapers, planned its highways and built its civic institutions are not at all pleased that dogs have free reign over what they see as sacred ground.

William Dewey Hobson, the "father of Ventura County," who lobbied hard to see the area become its own county in 1873, is buried there. So is Brig. Gen. William Vandever, who commanded troops in the Civil War and was a two-term congressman. The city's first lawyers, doctors, teachers and civic leaders are all buried there.

In the mid-1960s, city leaders unceremoniously removed all of the grave markers and transformed the cemetery into a city park.

That was a terrible mistake, descendants say, and they believe it's past time to make amends.

"Every city has a cowboy cemetery," said Steve Schleder, one of the most vocal supporters of returning the park to a fenced-off cemetery, complete with headstones. "But in Ventura, they pulled off all the gravestones, threw them away and turned it into a park. How did they get away with that?"

City officials say the 45-year-old decision to transform the cemetery was done legally and that it would be impractical to return it to its former status. Dozens of people use the park every day to exercise their pets or just sit quietly and enjoy a picnic lunch.

Many of the grave markers have gone missing, and the city destroyed others. And officials aren't even sure where, exactly, each coffin lies below the surface of the seven-acre park.

"It's maintained as a park, and we currently treat it as if it's a city park," said Bill Fulton, a deputy mayor and planning expert. "But we have to find ways to acknowledge that it is also a cemetery."

The city's Parks and Recreation Commission is recommending a $4-million improvement plan that attempts to bridge the divide between purists on both sides of the debate. That vision, which goes before the City Council next month, calls for a memorial to honor those buried in the cemetery, as well as for refurbished landscaping and a veterans memorial walk.

Schleder has no ancestors buried in the park and moved to Ventura only seven years ago. But the city's actions deeply offend him. "A man's grave is something that should be respected. It's holy ground," he said. "And when they turned it into a dog toilet -- that really gets under my skin."

Schleder is one of a growing number -- including dozens whose ancestors lie beneath the grounds -- who say the city's plan does not go far enough. People buried there paid for their plots, and nothing short of complete restoration of the cemetery would right the decades-old wrong done to them, said Schleder, who operates a website, www.restorestmarys.org "> www.restorestmarys.org , dedicated to his cause.

"This is a cemetery," he said, "and it can only be a cemetery unless the city exhumes the 3,000 graves and moves them somewhere else."

City leaders say the laws on converting cemeteries is murky and that the history surrounding the city's acquisition of the land and its subsequent conversion to a park are even murkier.

It opened as St. Mary's Cemetery in 1862 when friars at San Buenaventura Mission were looking for more spacious burial grounds. For years, it was owned and operated by the Catholic Church.

By 1943, the cemetery was nearly full and had fallen into disrepair. Weeds overtook family plots that once had been carefully tended, and vandals carried off old grave markers.

The city banned any more burials there in 1944. By then, the city had assumed control of portions of the cemetery reserved for Presbyterians, Jews and Chinese, and a decade later the city bought 1.12 acres to build a recreation center.

Years of talk about turning the burial ground into a park took shape in 1963, when the city began removing headstones and crypts without any apparent controversy. The hefty markers were stored in a city-owned canyon north of Ventura, and relatives were sent letters requesting that they claim them.

Unclaimed markers stayed in Hall Canyon for seven years. In 1972, about 500 that remained were hauled to Olivas Park Golf Course, where they were broken up and used as rubble for a levee.

There were occasional reports of errant tombstones found in creeks and canyons downstream of the city yard.

The oddest came in 1993, when a smooth granite stone bearing the name of "Mother Ida May Shively" emerged from the rocky shore off Surfers Point in Ventura. Shively was buried at St. Mary's in 1901, a week after giving birth to a daughter. The heavy stone was retrieved by that daughter, then 91.

• 

  Ventura cemetery

• 

  Ventura cemetery

Fulton, the deputy mayor, called the city's past actions "shameful." He said it was folly to think the park could be fully restored as a cemetery but acknowledged that residents who have grown used to running their pets there must accept that it can't be a dog park, either.

Fulton believes the city should place small, flat grave markers at each burial site, a position the Parks and Recreation Commission did not recommend. Already, at least 50 small markers have been placed at grave sites by the city at the request of families.

But Fulton believes there should be a marker for every person buried there. A survey to locate each grave would have to be completed, working with records that are inconsistent.

"It's counted on our maps as a park," he said. "But those bodies are still there."

Robin Blanchard counts dozens of ancestors at the cemetery, including the "40 Cousins," a loose connection of civic activists interrelated by marriage.

"It makes me angry more than anything," said Blanchard as she watched dogs romping. "I used to push my grandfather here in a wheelchair, picking flowers along the way. We'd put them on the graves of our family members. Now, there are dogs off leash running all over them."

As Blanchard looked for markers, a pit bull puppy ran headlong into her, leaving a bruise on her leg.

"You see what I mean?" she said. "This shouldn't be happening."

But residents who use the park every day are just as adamant.

"It would be really hard to recover what they lost," said Greg Sherman, a software project manager who brings his chocolate Labrador, Nickie, every day. "We all like the idea of building a memorial. But we want to keep it open as a park."

catherine.saillant@

latimes.com

360: Ego: June 29, 2008

Elder's Meditation June 29, 2008

"We forget so we consider ourselves superior. But we are, after all, a mere part of the creation and we must consider to understand where we are and we stand somewhere between the mountain and the Ant. Somewhere and only there is a part and parcel of the creation."

--Chief Oren Lyons, ONONDAGA

Every human being gathers information from the center of a circle. If we are not careful, we soon think we are the center of all things. Therefore, it is easy to become self centered. Once we become self centered we start to think we are above all things and therefore superior. But we are really only one part of a great whole. The universe is all connected. Each part is here to do something special and according to its design. We are here to honor and respect the job of each part. We are neither above nor below anything. We need not be ruler over anything, we need only to live in honor and harmony with the system.

My Creator, help me to view and conduct myself in a manner of respect, dignity and honor to all creation. Let me see You in all things.

360: Song-Elders' Meditation: June 17, 2008

"Your power comes from the songs."

--Ethel Wilson, COWICHAN

If you do not know any of the songs, ask an Elder to teach you. Get yourself a drum. When you sing a song and play the drum, you'll be surprised how your mind, body, and spirit will react. Everything becomes calm and joyful. Our bodies love the songs. The songs allow us to touch the hand of the Creator. When we sing and touch the Great Spirit's hand, He gives us power. Songs are another way to pray.

My Grandfather, teach me a song today.

...we know this is so......

Why is it then, when we go into a "traditional" Inipi, very few of the designated singers know the Traditional Inipi songs?

Why are so many of our Brothers changing the songs, adding syllables that come from the Peyote Ceremony?

Adding "hey ya yo" at the end of a line makes so we are changing the original words to those prayer songs, therefore changing the meanings to those song!

Why are we mixing medicines, does not each particular ceremony have its own prayer songs?

We are not singing to Old MacDonald, we are singing to the Spirits, we are offering them specific prayers, the same prayers that our Ancestors offered up.

There are tapes out there of the original Traditional Inipi songs, recorded by our Ancestors. I say, let's get back on track, do the work to find them...and learn from them.

Mi Takuye Oyacin

360: Elders' Meditation: June 13, 2008

"Today, what is important for us is to realize that the old sacred ways are correct, and that if we do not follow them we will be lost and without a guide."
--Thomas Yellowtail, CROW
A long time ago the Creator gave to the people all the knowledge on how we should live and conduct ourselves. The Native people have been influenced be outside "tribes" who don't know about the Sacred Way. Our Elders still know about the old sacred ways. We need to consult and talk to them before it's too late. Every family needs to seriously evaluate whether they are living according to the old knowledge. If we are faultfinding, putting one another down, being selfish, being violent to our spouses or children, if we are cheating and being dishonest, then we are not living the old Sacred Way. The old way is about respect, love, forgiveness and sharing.

Great Spirt, today, teach me the old Sacred Way you taught my ancestors.

360: Elders' Meditation: June 14, 2008

"The basis of knowledge is the fire, rock, water, and green. But when that power was given to man, he used it to twist his own mind. Tunkashila gave man just one drop of that wisdom."
--Wallace Black Elk, LAKOTA
All of Nature has the wisdom to follow the Natural Laws. All of Nature knows how to live in harmony and use this wisdom in a good way, with exception of the human being. Often we misuse this wisdom. Wisdom always remains with those who use it in the proper way. Nature has used this wisdom well, so now we need to go to Her so we humans can relearn and change our lives. May we start doing this today, before it is too late.

Creator, let me be open to the lessons that Nature can teach me.

360: Bikers for Bear Butte: May 3, 2008

Bikers for Bear Butte

Bikers for Bear Butte! This is for bikers that support our cause and stand behind us in the protection of Bear Butte, just outside Sturgis, SD We KNOW YOU respect Bear Butte and will stand by our side, in this struggle! We ask our biker brothers and sisters to help us PROTECT our SACRED MOUNTAIN. We are asking that all "BIKERS FOR BEAR BUTTE" come together with Indian people to help us enact a buffer zone around Bear Butte and to help us inform all your brother and sister Bikers of the issue.

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Message to "Bikers for Bear Butte"

This letter is to all those well-meaning bikers who participate in the Sturgis Bike Rally in South Dakota, in August. We believe that the majority of you are not aware of the destruction the rally is causing to one of Indian peoples' most sacred sites, Bear Butte. Very few non-Indians know that for many centuries all the Tribes of the Great Plains worshipped and conducted sacred ceremonies at Bear Butte. It is a place for quiet prayers of thanksgiving and for seeking spiritual guidance with ancient ceremonies.

The spring and summer months through August, is when the Tribes travel to Bear Butte to conduct their annual ceremonies. These prayers and ceremonies do not stop simply because the rally has started. For the past few years there has been a continual encroachment of bars and venues heading towards the sacred mountain. Since the arrival of Sturgis County Line and other venues next to Bear Butte, traditional people are forced to pray with loud music from bars, mufflers and flashing strobe lights over the mountain, instead of praying in peace. In April 2008, Sturgis County Line announced they will be opening year-round and hosting many events throughout the summer. This will make it virtually impossible to pray in peace all summer long.

Most of you are probably unaware that returning Indian veterans of wars since before World War 1, have made their way to the sacred mountain to pray, fast and give thanks for their safe return. Most veterans wouldn't know that the Cheyenne Nation conducted ceremonies on Bear Butte during WW1, WW2, Korea and Viet Nam to insure the victory for American forces. Bear Butte is where our young men and women go to fast, to learn and to test themselves for adulthood. Bear Butte is where our holy men and women have gone to seek spiritual knowledge for as long as our tribal memories can see into the past. Even today in this new millennium, Bear Butte continues to be central to the spiritual and ceremonial lives of over thirty Indian Nations.

Indian people are becoming desperate to preserve even small portions of our once peaceful and remote, sacred places across America.

We ARE NOT trying to close or stop the Sturgis Bike Rally, or even interfere with all the various things that go on there. We are asking that the Federal, State and Local governments enact and enforce a buffer zone around Bear Butte, to restrict the sale of booze within the zone, make sure concerts and other extraneous noise, are kept away from the Mountain. To us that seems very minimal and reasonable, but our words have fallen on deaf ears once again and the county and state are allowing more and more destruction to happen--always closer to Bear Butte. It must be stopped.

It is now our hope that we can turn to the customers of the bike rally, the bikers themselves, to ask that they help us in our efforts. We ask all bikers to help us make attendees of the Sturgis Bike Rally, aware of our request and to help us encourage all the booze and concert venues too close to Bear Butte, to close down and move away. We are asking that all bikers boycott the "Broken Spoke Saloons" until they withdraw their bar away from Bear Butte!

We are asking that all "BIKERS FOR BEAR BUTTE" come together with Indian people to help us enact a buffer zone around Bear Butte and to help us inform all your brother and sister Bikers of the issue.

We pray there, we receive healing and learn our ancient ways of life there. We KNOW YOU respect Bear Butte and will stand by our side, in this struggle! We ask our biker brothers and sisters to help us PROTECT our SACRED MOUNTAIN.

HOW YOU CAN HELP AS A “BIKER FOR BEAR BUTTE”

• We would like to ask all Bikers for Bear Butte, to NOT patronize the “Sturgis County Line” Broken Spoke Campground, adjacent to Bear Butte!
• Help us spread the word throughout the biker community! Help us support a “buffer zone” around Bear Butte!
• Don’t ride 79! If you must, please be respectful and keep noise to a minimum, drive slowly while passing the area of Bear Butte.

For more information about our struggle, please visit us at
http://bikersforbearbutte.blogspot.com or www.ProtectBearButte.com

360: Elder's Meditation: March 22, 2008

"Everything's so simple, and we make everything so complicated. That's why we're confused."
--Vickie Downey, TEWA/Tesuque Pueblo
The Creator designed a very simple set of Laws for us to follow. If we follow these simple things, we'll be happy. If we don't follow these simple things, our lives become complicated. For example: Respect Mother Earth Love one another Be truthful Give to your brother and sisters Be gentle with each other Be happy Following these simple Laws will have great rewards.

Great Spirit, let me lead a simple life.

360: Healing Unci Maka (Mother Earth): October 23, 2007

ROLLING THUNDER

While working for the Menninger Foundation in 1971, Doug Boyd met Rolling Thunder, a spiritual leader of the Cherokee and Shoshone tribes. About the shaman, Boyd wrote, "Each day it was becoming clearer to me that Rolling Thunder was a teacher who could offer me insights that I could never achieve in the laboratory or discover in the library."

One day during lunch, Rolling Thunder explained the Indian's view of chaos through ecological imbalance.

"When you have pollution in one place, it spreads all over. It spreads just as arthritis or cancer spreads in the body. The earth is sick now because the earth is being mistreated, and some of the problems that may occur, some of the natural disasters that might happen in the near future are only the natural readjustments that have to take place to throw off sickness. A lot of things are on this land that don't belong here. They're foreign objects like viruses or germs. Now, we may not recognize the fact when it happens, but a lot of the things that are going to happen in the future will really be the earth's attempt to throw off some of these sicknesses. This is really going to be like fever or like vomiting, what you might call a physiological adjustment.

"It's very important for people to realize this. The earth is a living organism, the body of a higher individual who has a will and wants to be well, who is at times less healthy or more healthy, physically and mentally. People should treat their own bodies with respect. It's the same thing with the earth. Too many people don't know that when they harm the earth they harm themselves, nor do the realize that when they harm themselves they harm the earth...

"It's not very easy for you people to understand these things because understanding is not knowing the kind of facts that your books and teachers talk about. I can tell you that understanding begins with love and respect. It begins with respect for the Great Spirit, and the Great Spirit is the life that is in all things -- all the creatures and the plants and even the rocks and the minerals. All things -- and I mean all things -- have their own will and their own way, their own purpose; this is what is to be respected.

"Such respect is not a feeling or an attitude only. It's a way of life. Such respect means that we never stop realizing and never neglect to carry out our obligation to ourselves and our environment."

Rolling Thunder offers a philospohical or religious basis for contemporary ecological thought. His view is fundamental to understanding Native American belief systems. Certainly, there are sound scientific reasons supporting the various ecology movements, and for scientific minds that may be enough. However, integrating both views may ultimately prove more reliable and productive than choosing one or the other.


If you have a chance to make life better for others and fail to do so, you are wasting your time on Earth. No matter what our station in life, we are here to serve, even if that sometimes means making the greatest sacrifice of all.

Sooner or later you are going to learn just as I did, that there's a difference between KNOWING the path and WALKING the path.
http://www.theupcn.com/

360: Unci Maka: August 10, 2007

Elder's Meditation of the Day - August 10
"Nature is the storehouse of potential life of future generations and is sacred."
--Audrey Shenandoah, ONONDAGA
We need to honor and respect our Mother Earth. She is the source of all life. The sun shines life to the earth, then the earth produces life in all forms and in a balanced way. Everything is here to serve everything else. If we interrupt the flow in any way, we leave nothing for the future generations. Before every decision is made, we should ask, and answer, a final question, "If we do this, what will be the effects on the seventh generation? What will we cause our children to live with?" We need to have respect and love for all things and for all people. We need to do this for ourselves and for all the children still unborn.

My Creator, let me look at nature today and let me have the highest respect for all the things I see. All the two legged, the four legged, the winged ones, the plants, the water, the air, the Mother Earth. Let me have respect for myself.