Tobacco Smoke as a Sacrament: Elder's Meditation of the Day - March 10, 2009

"I know Grandpa told me that to smoke is wakan (holy). The smoke you inhale represents the spirits of everything you put into the pipe. When you breathe in the smoke, you are asking to become one with everything or to become whole."
--Dr. A.C. Ross (Enhanamani), LAKOTA
The smoke allows us to go from the Seen World to the Spirit World. It is in the Spirit World where we are all connected. In this way, we can become one with all things. Our pipe is sacred. We need to be respectful of our medicine. When we smoke the pipe, we need to have good thoughts because these thoughts are shared with the Spirit World. The pipe, the smoke, the spirits, our thoughts-these things are Wakan.

Great Spirit, today, let my thoughts be Wakan.

So, see it's like that, which is on these 3 nights of full moon and 3 nights of new moon, I roll a smoke and go out in the moonlight and sit and pray for wicosin ni wioki mi takuye oyacin (Health & Help for All My Relations). Why I talk to Creator, the Spirit Keepers of the Four (6) Directions and give thanks for: my life; life on this Unci Maka; peace on earth; food, clothing & shelter for everyone; for healling the heart of my loved one(s); healing the abuse that both the vicitims & the perpetrators have suffered...and on & on & on like that.

I want it all to be balanced...to be good, to be healthy...to be at love & peace w/ Creator and for all the non-two legged realatives of ours as well.

I guess you can say I Want It ALL....and I believe that it can be so, which is why I'll Never Give Up...why each & every day I'll continue to give thanks and talk to Creator on behalf of All My Relations.

Mi Takuye Oyacin

360: Tobacco Offerings: July 27, 2007

This is why, when I go out to the land, I put down tobacco. I know my
prayers are heard, for all involved. For the land, the Spirits of the land,
the crops (pumpkins & gourds), for the one who care takes that land & crops, and for myself.

I believe putting down tobacco (and cedar) really does make a difference,
and the love & caring (even though not evident) it is there and on a soul's
level can be felt...and even the most wee bit of love can be felt....
Whether we choose to allow that wee bit of love into our hearts (to mend our
bruised ego and comfort us) is something else.

When kind words and loving actions fail....I rely on the tobacco and Creator
to let my heart be revealed. For that is all that remains to be done.

Elder's Meditation of the Day - July 29

"When we want to talk to Him we burn tobacco and it takes our prayers all
the way up to the Sky World."
--Louis Farmer, ONONDAGA


Our herbs and our medicines are all here for the purpose of serving.
Offering tobacco as a gift to the Creator is proper use of our medicine. In
this way, we are able to communicate from the physical world to the
spiritual world. Sometimes we have a hard time coming up with the right
words when we pray especially if we are really mixed up. The tobacco and the
sage will take the intent to the spirit world. The meaning behind the words
are more important the the words. The Creator always knows our intent. The
tobacco helps us get to the Sky World.


Today, my Creator, I offer You this tobacco. I want to thank You for being
in my life. I want to tell You how much I appreciate the honor of being here
to serve You. Tell me this morning what I can do for You. You are the reason
I live.

360: Wondering Aloud: July 26, 2007

I was sitting in a "traditional" Inipi (sweat lodge) last Saturday, once again wondering what happened to the offerings of tobacco robes and ties we once made when we sat before those Tonka Oyate and the Tunkashilas. I mean I make my 14, 25, 50+ "Thank-you" ties and hang them above me, but I'm talking about the ones for the lodge itself. Then I got to wondering about the lack of Canunpa on the altar.....

I remember, back maybe 8-10 years past, when I would sit in lodge and the people would put up the robes and ties as thanksgiving offerings in every lodge that took place as well as having a filled Canunpa on the altar.

I remember my Grandpa Wallace teaching us, that these are offerings to the Spirits to thank them for coming and sitting with us, for hearing and answering our prayers....like that. That the Spirits come in the Initi (lodge) and see the robes & ties and pass through them and around them (dance around them is Grandpa's term), and they are happy with those offerings we made.

That the Canunpa is what takes our prayers to Creator... for as it sits on that altar between the Initi and the Peta (Fire), that those Spirits pass through it, around it...like that and pay attention to the prayers that go into it.

So then, as I think about those things....I wonder what the Spirits think, now that we are neglecting to make those offerings of thanksgiving... Will there come a day, when the Spirits begin to feel neglected and unappreciated? Will there come a day, when the Spirits decide not to come when we call?

I don't know...just wondering aloud.

Mi Takuye Oyacin