Comment

Comment by Angel~a on August 20, 2010 at 3:57am

Elder's Meditation of the Day - August 19

"If we keep everything in balance, we are in harmony with ourselves and are at peace."

--Fools Crow, LAKOTA

As within, as without, our present thought determines our future. If we want peace outside ourselves, we must first have peace inside ourselves. It's not what is going on but how we are looking at what is going on. We need to keep ourselves in balance. We must be careful to not get too hungry, angry, lonely. or tired. We must know the times - time to work, time to rest, time to play, time to sleep, time to pray, time to lighten up, time to laugh, time to eat, time to exercise. There is a saying "The honor of one is the honor of all." This means when we work with all, we need to also work on one. We need to take care of ourselves. You cannot give away what you don't have.

Great Spirit, let me walk in balance today. Remove from me resentment, self pity, and self seeking motives. Let me love myself so I can love my neighbors

Comment by Joni on August 20, 2010 at 3:53am

Comment by Joni on August 20, 2010 at 3:53am

Mythology of the Phoenix
The oasis has afforded you a night of respite from the heat of the Arabian desert. You awake in the predawn glow, feeling the cool stones of the well press against your back.

Before you can hear it, the breath of flapping wings ruffles by you in a dazzling rush of brilliant gold and scarlet feathers. A fabulous bird the size of an eagle lights on the well brim. It flutters into the water and bathes itself. Its song is so sweet you are mesmerized. Even the sun god, Re, pulling the new day behind him in his sky-borne chariot, stops to listen.


In all your journeys you never dared believe you would see such a wondrous sight, the Phoenix, bird of myth and legend. But here it is, the only one of its kind. Despite its size, the Phoenix crushes nothing it touches and is quite gentle. It feeds only on dewdrops and is wise with the accumulation of its 500 years.

But today you will see more than you imagined. The Phoenix knows its time is coming to an end. You watch as it fashions a nest made of fragrant myrrh and cinnamon at the top of a palm tree. Aghast, you see the Phoenix on its nest, burst into flames! But look, a miracle! From the ashes a new and radiant Phoenix rises! The young Phoenix now moulds a hollow egg made of myrrh and carefully deposits the ashes of the ancient Phoenix inside. Gently carrying its precious offering, the Phoenix flies to the temple of the Egyptian sun god and places the egg on the altar.

The young Phoenix, symbol of self-renewal and immortality, will also live to the ripe age of 500 before it repeats the scene you have just witnessed. Only one Phoenix lives at a time, sweetly greeting each new day in the same way as its predecessor and gathering wisdom to match its feathered brilliance.

Your travels however, do not end here. The Phoenix, while the only one of its kind, is not alone in the world of mythical birds. You’ve heard the legends of other lands and your wanderlust pulls you to a magical garden in the kingdom known as Russia.

It is midnight and velvety dark in the garden. You wait under the tree of golden apples favored by the Firebird for they are the source of its youth, beauty and immortality. Arriving like a comet out of the sky, the magnificent Firebird illuminates the night as brightly and warmly as a hundred torches. Its eyes glitter like crystals. When it sings, pearls fall from its beak. The song of the Firebird is said to heal the sick and give sight to the blind. A feather gently floats to the ground in front of you. You pick up the silvery gold plume. Shining like the sun, it lights your path from the garden onto the road east. Arriving in China, you find the mysterious bird born of the sun known as Feng-Huang. With radiant feathers of black, white, red, green and yellow, it too sings an enchanted song. In some areas of China it appears with a large bill, a snake’s neck, a tortoise back and a fish tail! In others, it shows itself with the head and comb of a pheasant and the tail feathers of a peacock. The Feng-Huang either carries two scrolls in its bill or a square box containing sacred books. Only the empress is allowed to wear its symbol of virtue, grace and power. You turn your attention in a southerly direction and continue your trek.

In India and Nepal, the Garuda drives the chariot of the sun god, Surya, on its daily path. You can’t believe your eyes! The bird’s shimmering emerald body is human with an eagle’s beak, golden wings and four arms. Two arms are folded in prayer, one holds an umbrella and the fourth carries the elixir of immortality. It is dawn and the Garuda motions to you to climb aboard the chariot and accompany him on his day’s journey. You fly across the ocean towards your next destination.

When the enchanted chariot delivers you to the American Prairie, the Native Americans share their reverence for the Thunderbird with you. The beating of its wings creates thunder and you are there the very moment this majestic and powerful bird shoots lightning from its beak! You will stay awhile to hear the magical stories of the Thunderbird.

This, then, is where our paths separate. If you choose to continue your travels in search of the magical birds of myth and legend, you are sure to make wondrous discoveries. There are so many lands yet to visit….

Comment by Joni on August 20, 2010 at 3:52am

Comment by Joni on August 20, 2010 at 3:51am

The Midnight Thunderbird symbolized by the Midnight Lightning over a beautiful Lake Michigan Bay.

He is a great sacred legend in his own rite
He is many but they are only one.
He is the Great One Eyed Bird Who Rides on the Clouds of the Storm
Whose Voice is Thunder and a Glance of his Eye is Lightning.
He is the Great Winged Power From the Place Where the Sun Goes Down.

THE LEGEND GOES ON

The lightning of a midnight storm has sculptured a Great Bird in the night sky over a beautiful bay on Northern Lake Michigan.

It was claimed this mystical bird was the connecting link between the Indian People and the Great Spirit.

The Thunderbird for the Indian people was the great protector, and showed himself upon their landscape, their waters, and their great natural cathedral.

The Thunderbird was claimed as the great winged power, riding upon the clouds, whose voice is thunder, and a glance of his eye is lightning, making the axis joining heaven and earth.

Jim captured these Thunderbird images in July l995 during a devastating storm, and after much study he now believes it is documentation to Indian religious ideals of truth.

Jim's work perfectly represents the phrase "The honesty of Nature comes only from the Wild", they are paintings by Nature, Mother Earth and Father Sky, and cannot be improved upon.

Comment by Joni on August 20, 2010 at 3:50am

ok this posted twice sorry...i dont know why but this site is so difficult for me.
blessings to u all

Comment by Joni on August 20, 2010 at 3:47am

Most all Nations have stories about the 'Sacred Pipe'. What many people refer to it as The Peace Pipe. Which is an incorrect Hollywood thought shown in the old west movies and cartoons. The Sacred pipe is to the Native Americans as the cross is to christian cultures.

The pipe, in one form or another, has come to most cultures around the world. Every group has used the pipe in one way or another and has stories of how they came to have it. The Lakota tell the story of the White Buffalo woman and how she first brought the pipe to them.
Just as the Tsalagi have this story.

It is not important how the pipe first arrived. Or who it came to first as all nations see themselves as the first to have this gift from creator. What is important is that the pipe is revered as a sacred item and also important is that it did come from The Creator. What is most important is that pipe was brought to all men of this world, for we all must share this world.
Long ago, but not long after the world was new, a tribe of red skinned people came to live on the lands which are around The Blue Smoke Mountains.

At this time, the animals of the world still talked to men and taught them how to live on 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'. Arrow Woman 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 man would tell her to be like a woman.

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 she followed. Soon she came to a place that she did not know. It was in this place, a place known only to the animals that she finally saw Yona the bear. He had a deep cut in his side and she saw him bowing 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 dive into the water. After a time he emerged from the water, his side was completely healed. Yona then saw Arrow Woman and walked to her. Yona told her, "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 man creature to see the sacred lake.
You must never tell your kind of it's location for it is the home of 'The Great Uktena'. With these words Yona the Bear turned and walked into the woods and disappeared.

Arrow Woman was tired after following Yona all day so she decided to rest a while by this lake. She built a small fire and sat down to eat a meal that she had brought with her. She took a drink of the water from the lake and felt instantly refreshed. She was amazed, she felt strong as Yan'si the Buffalo. She felt as if she run faster than Coga the Raven could fly.

The woods were quiet, Unole the wind was sleeping, Nvda the sun was shinning bright but was not hot, the surface of the lake was completely calm, Arrow Woman began to get sleepy.

It was at this time that she saw 'Uktena', she had been told of him when she was a child but 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, his mouth was larger than a man was tall and full of teeth longer than man's forearm. He spoke to the brave woman on the bank of his lake. To her he said, "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. Uktena 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 Great Uktena began to teach. He said,"This that I have laid before you is the Sacred Pipe of The Creator." He then told her to 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 (tsula) 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."

Uktena 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 tsula into the pipe and with an ember from the fire lit the tsula so it burned slightly. He told her this, "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 Ani Yun Wiya have used the sacred pipe and never again has any man seen the sacred lake of Uktena.


The pipe is not a symbol of things that are sacred. The pipe itself 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 even to the Earth Mother.

The pipe bearer does not 'own' the pipe he carries. He simply carries the pipe until the time comes for him 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, neglect his duties when asked, or become deceitful, the pipe would 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.
I leave it to you to decide if these words are truly said.
This is the way that I have learned.

as told by a Cherokee Elder

Most all Nations have stories about the 'Sacred Pipe'. What many people refer to it as The Peace Pipe. Which is an incorrect Hollywood thought shown in the old west movies and cartoons. The Sacred pipe is to the Native Americans as the cross is to christian cultures.

The pipe, in one form or another, has come to most cultures around the world. Every group has used the pipe in one way or another and has stories of how they came to have it. The Lakota tell the story of the White Buffalo woman and how she first brought the pipe to them.
Just as the Tsalagi have this story.

It is not important how the pipe first arrived. Or who it came to first as all nations see themselves as the first to have this gift from creator. What is important is that the pipe is revered as a sacred item and also important is that it did come from The Creator. What is most important is that pipe was brought to all men of this world, for we all must share this world.
Long ago, but not long after the world was new, a tribe of red skinned people came to live on the lands which are around The Blue Smoke Mountains.

At this time, the animals of the world still talked to men and taught them how to live on 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'. Arrow Woman 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 man would tell her to be like a woman.

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 she followed. Soon she came to a place that she did not know. It was in this place, a place known only to the animals that she finally saw Yona the bear. He had a deep cut in his side and she saw him bowing 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 dive into the water. After a time he emerged from the water, his side was completely healed. Yona then saw Arrow Woman and walked to her. Yona told her, "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 man creature to see the sacred lake.
You must never tell your kind of it's location for it is the home of 'The Great Uktena'. With these words Yona the Bear turned and walked into the woods and disappeared.

Arrow Woman was tired after following Yona all day so she decided to rest a while by this lake. She built a small fire and sat down to eat a meal that she had brought with her. She took a drink of the water from the lake and felt instantly refreshed. She was amazed, she felt strong as Yan'si the Buffalo. She felt as if she run faster than Coga the Raven could fly.

The woods were quiet, Unole the wind was sleeping, Nvda the sun was shinning bright but was not hot, the surface of the lake was completely calm, Arrow Woman began to get sleepy.

It was at this time that she saw 'Uktena', she had been told of him when she was a child but 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, his mouth was larger than a man was tall and full of teeth longer than man's forearm. He spoke to the brave woman on the bank of his lake. To her he said, "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. Uktena 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 Great Uktena began to teach. He said,"This that I have laid before you is the Sacred Pipe of The Creator." He then told her to 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 (tsula) 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."

Uktena 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 tsula into the pipe and with an ember from the fire lit the tsula so it burned slightly. He told her this, "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 Ani Yun Wiya have used the sacred pipe and never again has any man seen the sacred lake of Uktena.


The pipe is not a symbol of things that are sacred. The pipe itself 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 even to the Earth Mother.

The pipe bearer does not 'own' the pipe he carries. He simply carries the pipe until the time comes for him 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, neglect his duties when asked, or become deceitful, the pipe would 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.
I leave it to you to decide if these words are truly said.
This is the way that I have learned.

as told by a Cherokee Elder

Comment by Joni on August 15, 2010 at 10:39pm

totally shocking and disgusting that this has been happening...i pray that justice is served..

Comment by Cindy on August 15, 2010 at 10:26pm

Hidden From History: The Canadian Holocaust

Urgent Appeal and Breaking News:
RCMP want to question Kevin Annett about his website and writings concerning Missing Women


April 18, 2009
Vancouver, Canada:

On April 14, Cpl. Sabrina Mill of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police's "E" Division Major Crime Section wrote to Rev. Kevin Annett and asked to meet with him regarding evidence Kevin has compiled and published concerning the disappearance of women in Vancouver's downtown eastside and the alleged involvement of RCMP officers in their abduction.

Cpl. Mill also expressed concern about unnamed "postings on your internet site or on sites associated to (sic) you."

In his written response dated April 14, Rev. Annett invited Cpl. Mill to make their discussion public by taking part in an open forum on the issue of police and RCMP complicity in the disappearance and death of aboriginal people, including in the Indian residential school system.

Kevin asked Cpl. Mill, in particular, to respond to the issue of the RCMP's "apparent refusal to investigate suspected crime sites related to the mass burials of children who died in Indian residential schools."

Cpl. Mill has not replied to Kevin's email and invitation.

Since the spring of 2001, Kevin has regularly addressed the evidence of police complicity in crimes against native people over the public airwaves on his radio program Hidden from History on Vancouver's Co-op Radio.

In 2006, Kevin published six statements from eyewitnesses who claim personal knowledge of police, church and government involvement in Vancouver-based pedophile rings, "snuff" films and child pornography. Kevin sent copies of these statements to the police and government and received no response for over three years, until Cpl. Mill's email.

The evidence published by Kevin Annett indicates that mass grave sites for the disposal of murdered women exist all over Vancouver, including at the Musqueam Indian reserve near the University of B.C. Forensically-examined bone remains exhumed at this reserve in 2004 indicate the presence of young females mixed with pig remains: a fact shared with the Vancouver police and RCMP but never acted on.

Last February, when identified crime sites containing the remains of children who died at the former Alberni Indian Residential School began to be unearthed and destroyed, the RCMP refused to stop the destruction or even conduct an investigation into the sites.

Kevin Annett has sent this evidence to international human rights agencies, INTERPOL and European politicians, and has called for an inquiry into the deeper truth of missing aboriginal women in B.C.

Please contact Cpl. Sabrina Mill at the numbers below and urge her to take part in the public forum and debate offered by Kevin Annett, and to answer the charges that the RCMP is complicit in the death of aboriginal women and children.

Cpl. Sabrina Mill
"E" Division Major Crime Section
12992 - 76th Avenue
Surrey, B.C. Canada
V3W 2V6
email: sabrina.mill@rcmp-grc.gc.ca
Office: 604-598-5605
Fax: 604-598-4300

We also urge people to monitor this situation in case Rev. Annett is detained or placed in custody by the RCMP.

Issued 18 April, 2009
by The Friends and Relatives of the Disappeared (Vancouver)

Comment by Myriel RAouine on August 5, 2010 at 8:13pm

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