The Lodge of a Whispering Earth

We live in a time where change is necessary — especially if we are going to survive.

If we become bogged down in the past or refuse to evolve, we will follow the natural chain that leads towards extension.

This is where I feel humanity is at right now … on the brink.

As with many things, if those among men continue to ignore the natural world and how our species has been treating it … things will fall.

If those at the other end of the spectrum who embrace the old ways do not realize we are in an age where we have to evolve … things will fall.

There has to be a middle ground and that means forging new paths into the wilderness that is Creation and the Great Mystery as we seek the balance that restores our harmony with our brothers and sisters of the Natural World.

This is what the People of the Four Winds represent for me … the middle ground … and the time has come for us to push onward into the uncertain future for it is through our evolution that we will steer clear of extinction.

It is easy to grow comfortable and often that comfort becomes an illusion no different than believing the world and universe is no larger than what you see around you.

My ancestors come from the first peoples of Europe and their tribes have been lost to the ages.

I am hesitant to call them extinct as the essence of who they were lives on within me and those like me.

We are scattered to the four winds and without a home … without a community heartbeat for our people.

For me, the People of the Four Winds represents the return of our ancestor’s spirits as we seek those new paths that lead back towards balance.

Our people helped endanger the world so let us come together again as a people to set it back to right.

In the forums of the People of the Four Winds, a friend started a thread that asked about what colors speak to us from the natural world. How does this colors affect us?

I began by saying, “The white of the snow causes me to reflect on purity of spirit. It also brings a sense of peace to me.”

When I see the snow outside my window even now, I feel the coldness of winter as well as the isolation it can represent.

It offers a time of reflection and the chance to look inward and as the light reflects from the snow … to chance to reflect on our lives and journey to better understand who we are as well as the world around us.

It also represents purity of spirit for me as it covers the world of man and brings back the sense of the natural world and all that it is.

It teaches me to strive to become more than I am and to embrace that purity of spirit within myself.

Another friend stated that the color white for him represents the old ways … and it must be remembered that there are no right or wrong answers as what speaks one way to one person speaks another way to another.

For me, the color that represents the old ways is the color gray to grayish brown of the rocks.

When I look at stone, I see the ways of old as well as the timeless and enduring qualities of those ways that tells me that if I seek out these ways, I will find them still.

Yes, I do know they stone and rock comes in rainbows of colors … but for me stone gray represents the foundations of our Earth Mother.

And for me on this day, it is good to remember as it brings me hope in a time when the shadows of the human world seem to be closing in.

I see the rock of the Earth and know it is so much stronger and more enduring than the concrete and steel of the human world.

On a whim, I picked up my drum and simply began to play.

Little Abi joined in as I shared the drum with her and gave her the chance to add her own rhythm and beat to the sounds being produced.

The rhythm was of its own life and by the time we were finished, I felt more centered and balanced than I have in days.

When I awoke this morning, the snow was falling.

It was a peaceful feeling to see this as it was hopeful.

I cannot say exactly why it brought about feelings of hope within me only to say that it did.

Whether outside in it or looking at it through a window, I only found my heart lighter and my spirit lifted.

This has been a good day … a day spent with my daughter and wife as well as a day of rest and even quiet reflection.

Remembering Their Words

November marks Native American heritage month and draws attention to their rich culture.

So let us sit together by the fire and remember some of the words of their ancestors as if spoken today.

“Grandfather, Great Spirit, once more behold me on earth and lean to hear my feeble voice,”says Black Elk, holy man among the Oglala Sioux.

“Now, my friend, let us smoke together so that there may be only good between us,” he also says.

“The color of the skin makes no difference,” says White Shield, an Arikara Chief.

“What is good and just for one is good and just for the other, and the Great Spirit made all men brothers,” he continues.

“It does not require many words to speak the truth,” says Chief Joseph of the Wal-lam-wat-kain band of the Nez Perce.

“Silence was meaningful with the Lakota,” says Chief Luther Standing Bear of the Oglala Sioux, “and his silence before talking was done in the practice of true politeness and regardful of the rule that ‘thought comes before speech.’”

“You must speak straight so that your words may go as sunlight into our hearts,” says Cochise, a chief of the Chokonen band of the Chiricahua Apache.

“The character of the Indian’s emotion left little room in his heart for antagonism toward his fellow creatures,” Chief Luther Standing Bear says.

“For the Lakota, mountains, lakes, rivers, springs, valleys, and the woods were all in finished beauty.”

“There is no quiet place in the white man’s cities, no place to hear the leaves of spring or the rustle of insects’ wings,” says Chief Seattle of the Suqwamish and Duwamish tribes.

“Perhaps it is because I am a savage and do not understand, but the clatter only seems to insult the ears.”

“The Indian prefers the soft sound of the wind darting over the face of the pond, the smell of the wind itself cleansed by a midday rain, or scented with piñon pine,” Seattle continues.

“The air is precious to the red man, for all things share the same breath -– the animals, the trees, the man.”

“When the buffalo went away the hearts of my people fell to the ground, and they could not lift them up again,” says Chief Plenty Coups of the Crow.

“After this, nothing happened,” he continues. “There was little singing anywhere.”

“What is man without the beasts?” asks Chief Seattle.

“If all the beasts were gone, men would die from great loneliness of spirit, for whatever happens to the beasts also happens to man.”

“All things are connected,” he continues. “What befalls the earth befalls the children of the Earth.

– Mike Tripp, photojournalist

Published in The News Leader on Sunday, Nov. 29, 2009.