Thursday, March 29, 2012

SLEEP

I don't have anything to add to this discussion. Medication is not something I know in depth. I understand the unnatural relationships people hold, and practice in modern life as a cause of disease. Sleep is a sacred ritual. It has always been a treasured part of the day. It belongs to the simple ritual that holds lives together. Fitting such a 'nuisance' to the fast pace of modern life sleep has become a cast away. As a castaway the talk about, and around sleep is awkward, and unnatural. It has been removed from its function, and no longer holds a sacred place of dreams, revival, and power. The mysterious joys of sleeping and entering into the magical realms of healing, other realms of being a created being, and deep rest are lost in a culture of acquisition where speed is a virtue, and exhaustion is an admirable trait leading people to their deaths prematurely.


Carmen Chaplin's tattooed body by Cindy Marler !!!!
I don’t live in an ivory tower. I worked too many hours as a young father here and there in those years. It led to exhaustion, and near fatal accidents. I remember falling asleep driving on the highway four times. Once I drove several miles asleep on the beltway. When I reached breaking points I walked into the forest and would sleep deeply nestled within a stick and mud home I had built. Those sleeps would break up 17-hour shifts, and settle my body into its natural form. I don’t work like that anymore. American life is too shallow a state of being to forfeit so precious a thing like sleep. I turned my driver’s license in to the state, and began a new life.” – Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

LIFE: bare down to the bone...


Anne V & Adam Levine on red carpet of 2012 Grammys !!!!



Life is about learning how to die, how to let go, and to hold on to what is really important.” – Patti Davis, President Reagan’s daughter’s reflection about her father’s debilitating disease, and eventual death.


Asian woman volleyball player dives for a ball
 

Monday, March 26, 2012

PREGNANT at BIRTH: Keri Russell

pregnant actress Keri Russell with 2nd child in 2011

Actress Keri Russell


It is a wonder women can still extol the freedoms, and fun of their pregnancies with the torrential downpour of ridicule of motherhood, and the arguments justifying abortion by denying or measuring the life of a child in the womb. How many laws began with dark emotions heated by anger at something in someone’s past? Looking at the picture of actress Keri Russell pregnant with her marriage’s extension into the future her words, “I just feel like birth is one of the most powerful things that can happen to a woman, and it's nice to be reminded that you are built to do this..." springs forward with light into the raging controversy within women’s movements in a man's world. – Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories


Sunday, March 25, 2012

FAITH

Whoopi Goldberg host of 62nd Tony Awards
Standing on the logical side of faith without being immersed and balanced within the energies, and the elements that composed the song of one’s religion, I discovered faith is not enough. Often the weakness of adherents to any faith is their lack of grounding in the depth of the tenets, the history, and spirit of their progenitor texts. Physically, in plain English, what one believes is stronger than their religion. Not understanding this is the root of so many problems.” - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories


woman with red hair by Albert Herter
FAITH



The ease of living is in the breath. If you can breath from one moment to the next changes will be felt differently... Faith? As I get older faith, my faith is linked to my ability to live in the present appreciating what I have within me, and what I have eaten amongst other things basic to living out one's Sacred Dream.– Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories

SACRED STORY: Betty Page as Catwoman

Betty Page
"... The divinity of a moment of intimacy can expand life or plunge it deeply into the mysteries of beginnings." - Dawn Wolf

Friday, March 23, 2012

PREGNANT at BIRTH: Pink

pregnant singer Pink & her husband Carey Hart had a daughter Willow June 1, 2011

I was stirred by Pink’s raw energy onstage whenever I saw her, and thought long about women I’d known over the years who turned me on making me wonder what life would be like if we hooked up, married or had a child together. I engaged a lot of self-analysis because my inclinations were daring; they were bold and dangerous at times. There was a wild spell I felt the pain of the realization that deep relationships with women were passé, and sent calls out for a woman raw, pink or brown who was really dangerous, sexy, passionate who would and could attach herself to me for the ride of a lifetime without the covenant ceremonies I was skilled at initiating. Incredible sex, adventure and the freedom of wander with or without her would have been ideal for me at the time.



One day Sheila told me about her wild Panamanian cousin in the Carolinas or Florida who was a skilled and professional thief. I saw her picture and looked at the danger in her eyes and said, “That’s it. She’s the one, Sheila! Hook us up!” Even Chandler agreed. He’d counseled me on the subject at a restaurant once. We’ll it never happened. On the way up to Maryland to meet Sheila the Feds arrested her and she began serving hard time…


Now here is that singer, Pink, a wife, and mother. I guess wildness and motherhood co-habit within one body. I thought of these things and more reading Pink’s words, "My life was once whiskey, tears and cigarettes. Now it's snot tears and the color of poop. I do miss the whiskey, though!" - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories

Read more:

Pink in blue ( read her arm tattoo)

 

Thursday, March 22, 2012

PREGNANT: Natalie Portman

pregnant actress Natalie Portman & her fiance Benjamin Millapied welcomed Aleph in June of 2011

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

SERENA WILLIAMS: commitment to excellence

Serena Williams turned tennis professional at the age of 14 and has since won four grand slam titles in the singles division: The US Open, the French Open, Wimbledon and the Australian Open. Along with her sister, tennis star Venus Williams, Serena has brought excitement, stylish flair and a new fashion vibe to the tennis courts.
http://swimsuits.lovetoknow.com/Serena_Williams_Swimsuits 

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

PREGNANT at BIRTH

pregnant in a lake

Pregnancies are prophecies. They are stories of people and events to come. Pregnancies announce change and rivalries depending upon the nature of the house, the union of man and wife. Pregnancy exposes the true character of a variety of people and the houses of knowledge and being they come from. In the Western world the number of heterosexual and homosexual men who express and act out their disgust for the sight of pregnant women and the vagina are hidden in the open, but their perception and their presence in the world creates storms and shifts the earth elements beneath the waters violently. I’ve learned, as a Keeper of Stories, how to listen to these men and the unseen elements of birth after calling them out into the light. Some of the Christian men finding shelter and solace in my sacred space speak of the contempt for the sight of a pregnant woman, and others plot ways to ‘fuck’ (their words) other women until their expectant wives are able to reciprocate their passion. The homosexual men I’ve talked to and seen on television who speak of their contempt for the sight and the thought of a woman’s vagina get excused from public outrage during this era of Gay activism. Why? I am not clear on why, but I focus upon the one’s in my presence and to date haven’t had the conversation that opened the wounds, the source of their black emotion.



But as Life moves on the necessity for sacred union between man and woman lives on relevant to the past, the future and the present. The complex relationship that produces lives buzzes with excitement each time a woman knows Life has sparked within her by the sound of Life she hears and recognizes. That sound harmonized with her joy, her worry, her hopes and concern for the pain of birth is carried by breath. Central to the core of being alive her breath moves in and out in the patterns that sustain Life, birth Life, give Life and take Life. She, the Mother Earth, breaths as any mother does, and the way and how those song stories, and rhythms relate to each other and dance with rhythms of all that sustains Life in the Womb is the radiance of expectation. These were the creative workings within Beyoncé Knowles when she announced her pregnancy during the MTV VMA show in August of 2011.


"Feel the love that's growing inside of me," she exclaimed during an incredible performance. – Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories

Read more: http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-moms/pictures/best-of-2011-pregnancies-of-the-year-20111412/19347#ixzz1l2qnZBOr


Beyoncé Knowles pregnant in 2011




 

AFTER A CEREMONY

Dawn Wolf & her son Jonah at Rejuvenation retreat at Abrams Creek in West Virginia



Monday, March 19, 2012

Helen Mirren Vents About Old Interview & Questions About Her Breasts

Helen Mirren, actress

Helen Mirren is still sore about a 30-year-old TV interview, during which she was quizzed about her body and the nude scenes she showed it off in.


Helen Mirren in a role
The Queen star's 1975 meeting with beloved British TV personality Michael Parkinson was one of her first chat show appearances - and his line of questioning left her shaken and upset. But instead of showing the host how she felt, she turned the interview on him and made it a very awkward encounter. And when Parkinson quizzed her about her "physical attributes" - referring to her breasts - the actress help up her hands and asked, "My fingers?" 

Recalling the TV moment in the new issue of feminism publication Bust, Mirren says, "It was enraging but it was par for the course to a certain extent. It was fairly common, that kind of attitude. Looking back, I think I handled it really well.

"It was the first time I had ever done a talk show, ever. I'd only done Shakespeare (plays) before, and I was terribly nervous, and I was mortified by the end of it (interview)... but I wasn't taking it." And the Oscar winner is delighted that modern young stars don't have to accept bad behavior from chat show hosts: "At least now young actresses can say, 'F**k off,' and still work again."

Helen Mirren's profound beauty & eloquence of presence






Saturday, March 17, 2012

DEPTHS TO BEAUTY: Helen Mirren, a story

Helen Mirren Hand and Footprint Ceremony at Grauman's Chinese Theatre on March 28, 2011

Grauman's Chinese Theatre

Friday, March 16, 2012

MEDITATE

Katie Capano in meditation august 16, 2009

THE MAGIC WITHIN YOU


“... there is a deep story within a Mother's song and the promise of Life she holds, and the experience of Life within the Beauty structured around and within the clarity occurring within your spirit of purpose.” - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories (jan.22, 2012)


Thursday, March 15, 2012

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Zoe Ventoura

Zoe Ventoura, Australian actress 
Zoe Ventoura

Monday, March 12, 2012

a Celebrity Marriage



actress Olivia Wilde
 Olivia Wilde questions Kim Kardashian’s importance

TRON: Legacy actress Olivia Wilde has spoken out about the recent Kim Kardashian divorce filing from her husband Kris Humphries. Olivia seems to defend Kim but it is really the fact that sometimes relationships do not work, that she is defending. The point Wilde was trying to make, is that there are more important things to be focussing on than Kim Kardashian.

Olivia explained, "Divorce is the hardest thing in the world. People judge you because divorce is seen as failure. Kim took a risk. No-one should be attacking her. Our attention should be focused on things that are truly scandalous." People then criticised Olivia Wilde for defending Kim Kardashian, forcing the actress to take to her official Twitter account to defend herself.

She tweeted, “I've never seen the Kardashian show. My point was that our collective brainpower is wasted on judging her. Let's end wars and feed people.” Olivia Wilde can next be seen on the big screen, when she appears alongside Hugh Jackman, Ashley Greene and Jennifer Garner in the Jim Field Smith comedy Butter, which is released on March 16, 2012.

SPIRITUAL & POLITICAL ACTIVISM

Russell Means & Leonard Crow Dog at Wounded Knee

“Political activism and spirituality are relatives, and for the sake of survival it made no sense to pretend and adopt the white man's ideas and practices of separation to remain sovereign. That would have been a trap, a cultural trap that would have crippled any of our gains. Even though there are many literary pieces interpreting the spiritual and practical outlook of Native peoples Western sense of order and separation keeps most Americans out of relationship with these webs that hold Life together and the dances of each part of Life moving uniquely.


A lot of scorn is heaped upon people, and a People who see activism, and Spirit, church and state, conception and Life, etc. as one. In American culture the circular view of living with everything is absurd and at best cute in a movie like Lion King. The circular view of living with everything is fundamental to the survival of the many sovereign nations. Merging is another survival tool as viable as a Western education, a peyote ceremony, the Pipe, and an economic plan for ones’ nation…” –Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories

Leonard Crow Dog in sweatlodge by Richard Erdoes

Sunday, March 11, 2012

EDUCATION: a discussion

"The United States has mastered the art of under development, and developed a veiled attempt to maintain that policy and approach towards children. Genius hides or reveals itself in youth. Teachers need do only two things for children: stoke the child's fire, and allow them to play. In short, create sacred space where the space dictates the behavior of the teacher, and the spirit of the child reveals itself to the teacher, the community, and the family. Pulling a child out of this safe space is cruel, self serving, and selfish, but it is the state of the American education system. " Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories





Thank you Gregory, but I humbly submit that it is worse, much worse than what you've said. I'm reminded of those famous lines in the "Charge of the Light Brigade":

Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die:
...Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

Western education is a tool of social control that would be the equivalent of a mother Eagle plucking the feathers of her fledglings and then nudging them out of the nest. However, although I loathe the notion, there are good reasons for a booby-trapped educational system: First and foremost, a mind left to its own survival will automatically seek higher levels of consciousness; consequently, the wicked men who sit in the pantheon of the gods understand that they must spoon-feed us a diet of servitude in order to remove the innate inclination to…as the ancient Egyptians said, “Know thyself,” which is, I believe, the most profound quote ever uttered by human lips.

I’m always looking for inspiration for a new article, and I think I’ve discovered it this morning in this article – Know Thyself! This concept is nearly impossible in a society that disrupts our natural rhythm with creation and the universe on every hand: Why do we celebrate “New Year” in the dead of winter? Why is there a daylight savings time, which alters our body's harmony with creation? Why do we continue to celebrate the destruction of the human species with poor diets, poisoned water and air, and a lack of rest? And add to that, a controlled education designed to have one to ride off into the valley of death…Yours is not to reason why, yours is just to do and die.

There is no more wicked a remedy to life’s ills than the offer of suicide, except when the practitioner requires that you build the furnace that you will jump into. In the end, our greatest deception of all will be that we participated in our own destruction.’ – David R. Tolson November 12, 2010

Korean babies

“David, you are making a revolutionary's call to radically change, not society, but self.” –Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories

Saturday, March 10, 2012

PROFANITY


Natalie LaRon in white shirt 3

... I am old enough to share my process without cringing. You remind me of the discovery I made of the powers laying within dark words. First discovered at 18 years of age, and later well into my thirties was a side to my relationship with God, the Creator I had never known existed.


"In the deepest agony of my soul mourning loss, in agony over a sense of not belonging, and finding my heart song out of harmony with the women I loved deeply my soul leaped to places unfamiliar to me. I would walk, sometimes, for miles and miles with tears streaming down my face and beyond my capacity to be articulate, or clear my prayers fell into profanity. Uninhibited by social restraint, or the church teachings I grew up with, or the admonishments of my parents dark profane words spewed out of the core of my being. They were thick like molasses, odious, and hard. They were prayers. They were my why questions. They were the winged creatures of pain my soul unleashed into the atmosphere, and the sphere of sacred space that was wherever I walked.

To discover that God, the Christian God did not kill or condemn me came to my consciousness with a son’s gratitude. The rewards from those traumatic days were literally out of this world. The things I received from the Creator to make me stand upright in my place was the stuff of legend, and myth! Apparently, there is strength and reward in honesty!" - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories

fire cupped in hand - Judith Kusel

Friday, March 9, 2012

EDUCATION

Natalie LaRon
"High expectations mean you want much. Low expectations mean you'll settle for simply anything. No expectation means you don't want anything. Think on this." - Rev. Sinclair Grey III

Thursday, March 8, 2012

GRANDFATHER PEYOTE

Vision quests in which an individual seeks spiritual power are common to many Indian tribes. The peyote plant is often used by the Sioux and Cheyenne in the rituals associated with such quests - the sweat lodge, a solitary vigil, a flesh offering. The plant is often considered to be a human spirit and is a sacrament in the Native American Church, founded by a Comanche chief in the last century. Henry Crow Dog, the father of the man who told this story, was among those who introduced the peyote religion to the Sioux in the 1920s.
**************

This is how Grandfather Peyote came to the Indian people.

Long ago, before the white man, there was a tribe living far south of the Sioux in a land of deserts and mesas. These people were suffering from a sickness, and many died of it. One old woman had a dream that she would find a herb, a root, which would save her people. The woman was old and frail but, taking her little granddaughter, she went on a vision quest to learn how to find this sacred herb. They walked away from the camp until they were lost. Arriving at the top of a lonely hill, the grandmother made a brush shelter for herself and the young one. Without water or food they were weak, and as night fell they huddled together, not knowing what to do. Suddenly they felt the wingbeats of a huge bird, an eagle flying from the east toward the west. The old woman raised her arms and prayed to the eagle for wisdom and power. Toward morning they saw the figure of a man floating in the air about four steps above their heads. The old woman heard a voice: "You want water and food and do not know where to find it. I have a medicine for you. It will help you."

This man's arm was pointing to a spot on the ground about four steps from where the old woman was sitting. She looked and saw a peyote plant - a large Grandfather Peyote Plant with sixteen segments. She did not know what it was, but she took her bone knife and cut the green part off. And there was moisture, the peyote juice, the water of life. The old woman and her granddaughter drank it and were refreshed.

The sun went down again and the second night came. The old woman prayed to the spirit: "I am sacrificing myself for the people. Have pity on me. Help me!" And the figure of a man appeared again, hovering above her as before, and she heard a voice saying: "You are lost now, but you will find your people again and you will save them. When the sun rises two more times, you will find them."

The grandmother ate some more of the sacred medicine and gave some to the girl. And a power entered them through the herb, bringing them knowledge and understanding and a sacred vision. Experiencing this new power, the old woman and her granddaughter stayed awake all night. Yet in the morning when the sun rose and shone upon the hide bag with the peyote, the old one felt strong. She said: "Granddaughter, pray with this new herb. It has no mouth, but it is telling me many things."

During the third night the spirit came again and taught the old woman how to show her people the proper way to use the medicine. In the morning she got up, thinking: "This one plant won't be enough to save my people. Could it have been the only herb in this world? How can I find more?" Then she heard many small voices calling: "Over here, come over here. I'm the one to pick."

These were peyote plants guiding her to their hiding places among the thorn bushes and chaparral. So the old woman and the girl picked the herbs and filled the hide bag with them. At nightfall once more they saw the spirit man, silhoutted against the setting sun. He pointed out the way to their camp so that they could return quickly. Though they had taken no food or water for four days and nights, the sacred medicine had kept them strong- hearted and strong-minded. When they arrived home, their relatives were happy to have them back, but everybody was still sick and many were dying.

The old woman told the people: "I have brought you a new sacred medicine which will help you."

She showed the men how to use this pejuta, this holy herb. The spirit had taught her the ceremony, and the medicine had given her the knowledge through the mind power which dwells within it. Under her direction the men put up a tipi and made a fire. At that time there was no leader, no roadman to guide them, and the people had to learn how to perform the ceremony step by step, from the ground up.

Everybody, men and women, old and young, ate four buttons of the new medicine. A boy baby was breast nursing, and the peyote power got into him through his mother's milk. He was sucking his hand, and he began to shake it like a gourd rattle. A man sitting next to the tipi entrance got into the power and caught a song just by looking at the baby's arm. A medicine man took a rattle of rawhide and began to shake it. The small stones inside the rattle were the voice of Grandfather Peyote, and everybody understood what it was saying. Another man grabbed a drum and beat it, keeping time with the song and the voice inside the rattle. The drumming was good, but it did not yet have the right sound, because in that first ceremony there was no water in the drum. One woman felt the spirit telling her to look for a cottonwood tree.

After the sun rose, all the people followed her as Grandfather Peyote guided her toward the west. They saw a rabbit jumping out of a hole inside a dried-up tree and knew that this was the sacred cottonwood. They cut down the tree and hollowed out the trunk like a drum where the rabbit hole had been. At the woman's bidding they filled it with fresh spring water - the water of life.

On the way back to camp, a man felt the power telling him to pick up five smooth, round pebbles and to cover the drum with a piece of tanned moose hide. He used the pebbles to make knobs around the rim of the drum so that he could tie the hide to it with a rawhide thong. And when he beat the drum it sounded good, as if a spirit had gotten hold of it.

When night came, the people made a fire inside the tipi and took the medicine again. Guided by peyote power, the old woman looked into the flames and saw a heart, like the heart-shaped leaf of the cottonwood tree. Thus she knew that the Great Spirit, who is also in Grandfather Peyote, wanted to give his heart to the red men of this continent. She told the man tending the fire to form the glowing embers into the shape of a heart, and the people all saw it beat in rhythm with the drum.

A little later, one helper who was under the spirit power saw that the hide rope formed a star at the bottom of the drum. He shaped the glowing coals of the fire into a star and then into a moon, because the power of the star and the spirit of the moon had come into the tipi.

One man sitting opposite the door had a vision in which he was told to ask for water. The old woman brought fresh, cool water in a skin bag, and they all drank and in this way came under the power. Feeling the spirit of the water, the man who was in charge of the fire shaped the embers into the outline of a water bird, and from then on the water bird became the chief symbol of the holy medicine.

Around the fire this man made a half-moon out of earth, and all along the top of it he drew a groove with his finger. Thus he formed a road, the road of life. He said that anybody with the gift of *wacankiyapi*, which means having love and heart for the people, should sit right there.

And from that day on, the man who is running a meeting was called the "roadman".

In this way the people made the first peyote altar, and after they had drunk the water, they thanked the peyote. Looking at the fire in the shape of the sacred water bird, they prayed to the four directions, and someone sprinkled green cedar on the fire.

The fragrant, sweet-smelling smoke was the breath of Grandfather Peyote, the spirit of all green and growing things. Now the people had everything they needed: the sacred herb, the drum, the gourd, the fire, the water, the cedar. From that moment on, they learned to know themselves. Their sick were cured, and they thanked the old woman and her grandchild for having brought this blessing to them. They were the Comanche nation, and from them the worship of the sacred herb spread to all the tribes throughout the land.

- Told by Leonard Crow Dog at Winner, Rosebud Indian Reservation, South Dakota, 1970

Leonard Crow Dog in 2009


Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Timely Exits

"You will notice even more persons choosing to exit this plane, of especial note are those persons one would not expect to exit due to health or age conditions, however many souls will wisely check certain personalities out of this plane because the personality cannot handle the incoming energies. There are more energies radiating from the Sun which will affect the body/mind/spirit continuum, and if the individual is unprepared by meditation, contemplation, or prayer many souls’ incarnations will not be able to withstand the pressure of these emanations from the Sun."
- Silvia Mamani



Phyllis Hyman by Keithalan

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

CHUMASH CREATION STORY

The Chumash myth tells of a great deluge which engulfed the earth, taking with it all living things save for the Spotted Woodpecker, the nephew of Kaqunupenawa, the Sun God.


Spotted Woodpecker survived the flood by perching itself atop the tallest tree in the world, but as he saw the water rise all the way to his feet, he cried out for his uncle's help. "Save me, I'm drowning! - he cried. The Sun God's daughters heard him and told Kaqunupenawa that his nephew was dying of cold and hunger. The Sun God lowered his torch, the one he used to light the world and create the stars, and he warmed the Spotted Woodpecker with its heat. He then tossed two acorns in the water at his feet, so that he would be able to pick them up and eat them. The Sun God fed more acorns to the Spotted Woodpecker, which now explains why they are its favorite food.

After the flood, the Sun God, Morning Star, the Moon, and Slo'w the Great Eagle were discussing the creation of new people to populate the earth with the Sky Coyote, trying to decide on their appearance. The Great Eagle and the Sky Coyote argued whether the humans should have hands like the the Sky Coyote's, who believed that the new people should be made in his image. He won the argument, and the next day, all gathered around a white rock so that Sky Coyote could press his hand into it to make his hand print, but the Lizard, who had been a silent observer at the proceedings leapt forward and pressed his own hand onto the rock. Lizard escaped the furious Sky Coyote, and the Sun and the Eagle approved of the hand print and this is why human hands are somewhat shaped like the Lizard's.

The first people were created from the seeds planted on Limuw (Santa Cruz Island) by Hutash, the Earth Goddess. Hutash was married to the Sky Snake (The Milky Way), who made lightning with his tongue and gave the people their first fire. The people kept the fire burning to stay warm and cook their food. Since the people were getting more comfortable, their population grew until the Island became too crowded.

They also made so much noise that Hutash could not get any sleep, so she decided it was time to allow some of the people to cross over to the mainland. Hutash made Wishtoyo, a Rainbow Bridge which extended from the tallest peak of the Island to the tallest inland mountain near Carpinteria. She told the people to cross carefully, and to never look down, but some did, and fell off the Rainbow Bridge and into the ocean, where they were turned into dolphins by Hutash to prevent them from drowning. This is why the Chumash Indians consider the dolphins to be their brothers. The Chumash honor Hutash every September with a great Harvest Festival named after her.

Monday, March 5, 2012

FATHERING

Natalie LaRon
Mission:

Parenting as a man



Fathers, like Bear Warrior, have strong voices that seem quiet. The force of thunder can be heard far away and felt in the center of one’s being. The stories of father's who study the craft of fatherhood are stronger than theories, and the timidity of girly men who squander their masculinity with episodes of whoring, and tirades against the weakness of men.


 Alowan Chanteh Inyan Wichasha (Gregory E. Woods)

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Cherokee Ceremonies, Seven National Festivals

Cherokee ceremonies are held in concert with cycles of Mother Earth. During ceremony, positive attitudes are far more important than rituals. Ceremonies
offer opportunities for community worship, socialization, and bonding.
Ceremonial musical instruments used for dancing and festivals include drums,
gourd rattles, and turtle shell rattles (leg shackles). As part of worship,
stomp dancing is held around the sacred fire and is accompanied by drums,
singing, and leg-shackles worn by women. Other dancing occurred in a
'square', a social area, usually around a center pole or social fire. This
was usually an area near the Council House, or the Long House. Our Cherokee
ancestors tried to make each ceremony unique in some way-they were creative.
Music, dancing, feasting, stickball and storytelling were joyous expressions
of thanksgiving and occasions for Cherokee bonding at all cyclical
ceremonies. A sacred fire containing seven different types of wood, to
represent the seven clans, was prepared and lit prior to ceremony according
to sacred rites. Direction of movement around the sacred fire during
Cherokee ceremony in counter- clockwise. A complete, unbroken circle of "Red
Heart' people around the fire produces powerful energy of Creator's presence
carried by the positive attitudes in the heart of the participants.

1. Great New Moon Ceremony

Celebrated at the first new moon in autumn (October). The Great New Moon
Feast begins a new cycle at the end on nature's previous productive year.
This ceremony gave the Cherokee an opportunity to give thanksgiving to the
Great Spirit and the ancestors for their blessings on us. It was a time to
feast, and give thanks to Creator that the cycle would continue.

2. Propitiation of Cementation Ceremony (Friendship Ceremony)

Celebrated 10 days after the Great New Moon Ceremony. This ceremony
symbolizes the unity between Creator and mankind. Traditionally two men
publicly exchanged clothes, one piece at a time. They were then brothers for
life. A blood adoption ceremony would be appropriate during this ceremony.
Purification rites followed the Cementation Ceremony, removing any
unforeseen barriers that stood between us and Creator.

3. Bouncing Bush Ceremony (Exalting Bush Festival)

This was a joyous ceremony where Cherokee expressed unrestrained joy giving
thanks to the Great Spirit and his helpers, acknowledging them as the source
of our blessings. It followed shortly after the Cementation Ceremony.
Dancing and feasting abound, and thanksgiving was expressed by everyone
tossing an offering of sacred tobacco into the sacred fire.

4. First New Moon of Spring Ceremony

Celebrated in March, at the time the green grass began to grow. Fruits from
the previous fall harvest were brought to ceremony and consumed to remember
the continuation of Creator's care and blessing. All fire were put out, and
fresh fires were started from the new fire, symbolizing fresh beginnings,
and renewal of life from Mother Earth.

5. Green Corn Ceremony

Celebrated in July, or August, when corn is still green but fit to taste. A
thanksgiving ceremony including a sacred fire, dancing, feasting, and story
telling (especially the traditional legends of our wandering, and creation.)
A Priest must make an offering of first fruits of corn to the sacred fire
before corn may be eaten or harvested by others.

6. Ripe Corn Ceremony

Celebrated about 40 to 50 days after the Green Corn Ceremony, when the corn
is matured. This is the end of the national cycle of ceremonies.
Thanksgiving is offered to Creator for the harvest of mature, ripe fruit.

7. The Chief Dance (UKU Ceremony)

Celebrated once every seven years. The Principal Cherokee Chief is carried
into the Sacred Circle of the Sacred Fire, on a white chair, and
acknowledged, as Chief of all the people is each of the clans. This ceremony
reminds us of the one true Chief, the Great Spirit-Creator. Dancing and
feasting follow.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

an old Cherokee story

Two Dogs

Canis Major

There are two dogs (alpha and beta Canis Majori) who guard the path to the
land of souls. To get past the dogs one should bring food. Be warned, if you
give food to the first dog (alpha) he will let you pass, but if you fail to
save some food for the second dog (beta) you will be trapped between them
forever.

Friday, March 2, 2012

MAGIC


One of the ways I motivate myself is by the recollections of my childhood. My childhood was ideal in many ways. My parents, for the most part, kept me in a state of learning by allowing so much time for me to play. In my vast imagination I made up many things, and being a child I could see the other worlds easy enough so I had more things to explore. I ate a lot; never missed a meal. Well once I did when I decided not to come home when the street lights came on so I could keep playing with my new holster and gun set. That was a helluva a whipping Daddy gave me. But for the most part my parents kept me within the confines of the four sacred places of the Child's Medicine Wheel. In that place I ate, slept, played and grew. There is nothing else for a child to do in life except those four things. - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories (1/11)

my four children in 2011

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Healing Symbols

healing symbols of Reiki used by Michelle Sujai