in the Beginning of our lives...

Father and child 

Black motherhood. If white women are as strong as they say, they'd answer the question snickered behind their backs. "Why did our grandmothers take care of their mother's babies?" - Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories 10/19/17 

Father's spirit to his son's spirit.

WOLF TALK

white Wolf talking.

"How does a white wolf survive in a color system designed to make him stand out? It is a sensible reaction. Surely, the white wolf knows his color. . ." - Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories 

She Wolf.

"Since the wolf is my shepherd,
why put up with the pretensions of the shepherd?
What abandon! What drunkenness!
You hold the cup in your hand.
Blessed is the place you are,
and glorious to the eye of the heart.
Each atom, by your grace, is a universe,
each drop of water a soul."

RUMI





photo: Ryan McGinly


Where does the one begin and the other end? Examining this woman's naked body either the transformation from either species to the other was difficult, or the woman's scars are from battles with other wolves, or women envious of whatever she possesses and loves. Where does the truth of a person become menacing to the disclaimers of truth to power in the womb, or the heart? Whenever a meeting occurs between a shape shifter and a witness to her transformation fear from the spectator settles into the exchange, and the wolf focuses attention on the threat of the person full of fears, and acts accordingly.  - Alowan Chanteh Inyan Wichasha 11.5.13

A Hidden Story

Acheria, The Fox: a Basque story

ONE day a fox was hungry. He did not know what to think. He saw a shepherd pass every day with his flock, and he said to himself that he ought to steal his milk and his cheese, and to have a good feast; but he needed some one to help him in order to effect anything. So he goes off to find a wolf, and he says to him,

"Wolf, wolf! we ought to have a feast with such a shepherd's milk and cheese. You, you shall go to where the flocks are feeding, and from a distance you must howl, 'Uhur, uhur, uhur.' The man, after having milked his sheep, drives them into the field, with his dog, very early in the morning, and he stops at home to do his work, and then he makes his cheese; and, when you have begun to howl 'Uhur, uhur,' and the dog to bark, the shepherd will leave everything else, and will go off full speed. During this time I will steal the milk, and we will share it when you come to me."

The wolf agreed to have a feast, and set out. He did just what the fox had told him. The dog began to bark when the wolf approached. And when the man heard that he went off, leaving everything, and our fox goes and steals the vessel in which the curdled milk was. What does he do then, before the arrival of the wolf? He gently, gently takes off the cream, thinly, thinly, and he eats all the contents of the jug. After he has eaten all, he fills it up with dirt, and puts back the cream on the top, and he awaits the wolf at the place where he had told him. The fox says to him, since it is he who is to make the division, that as the top is much better than the underneath part, the one who should choose that should have only that, and the other all the rest. "Choose now which you would like."

The wolf says to him,

"I will not have the top; I prefer what is at the bottom."

The fox then takes the top, and gives the poor wolf the vessel full of dirt. 1 When he saw that, the wolf got angry; but the fox said to him,

"It is not my fault. Apparently the shepherd makes it like that."

And the fox goes off well filled.

Another day he was again very hungry, and did not know what to contrive. Every day he saw a boy pass by on the road with his father's dinner. He says to a blackbird,

"Blackbird, you don't know what we ought to do? We ought to have a good dinner. A boy will pass by here directly. You will go in front of him, and when the boy goes to catch you, you will go on a little farther, limping, and when you shall have done that a little while the boy will get impatient, and he will put down his basket in order to catch you quicker. I will take the basket, and will go to such a spot, and we will share it, and will make a good dinner."

The blackbird says to him, "Yes."

When the boy passes, the blackbird goes in front of the boy, limping, limping. When the boy stoops (to catch him), the blackbird escapes a little further on. At last the boy, getting impatient, puts his basket on the ground, in order to go quicker after the blackbird. The fox, who kept watching to get hold of the basket, goes off with it, not to the place agreed upon, but to his hole, and there he stuffs himself, eating the blackbird's share as well as his own.

Then he says to himself,

"I shall do no good stopping here. The wolf is my enemy, and the blackbird, too. Something will happen to me if I stay here. I must go off to the other side of the water."

He goes and stands at the water's edge. A boatman happened to pass, and he said to him:

"Ho! man, ho! Will you, then, cross me over this water? I will tell you three truths."

The man said to him, "Yes."

The fox jumps (into the boat), and he begins to say:

"People say that maize bread is as good as wheaten bread. That is a falsehood. Wheaten bread is better. That is one truth."

When he was in the middle of the river, he said:

"People say, too, 'What a fine night; it is just as clear as the day!' That's a lie. The day is always clearer. That is the second truth."

And he told him the third as they were getting near the bank.

"Oh! man, man, you have a bad pair of trousers on, and they will get much worse, if you do not pass over people who pay you more than I."

"That's very true," said the man; and the fox leapt ashore.

Then I was by the side of the river, and I learnt these three truths, and I have never forgotten them since.

Footnotes: 

44:1 Cf. Campbell's tale, "The Keg of Butter," Vol. III., 98, where the fox cheats the wolf by giving him, the bottoms of the oats and the tops of the potatoes. See also the references there given.

From the archives of Blue Panther


http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/basque/bl/bl17.htm

HEALING IN THE DARKNESS???

Native American dancer by Raymond Haddad

"There will be no place to heal while the killing continues." – Scott Royder

Kill the wolves in idaho

The deep fears of our European relatives have run amok long years, and understanding them is still a great and compelling mysterious force in the world. How does the ice melt from the heart and mind? How can any assist in our own healings? There are a great many questions to connect us to each other's grief and expressions of pain. Perhaps it is a sense of isolation our white relatives feel? In this century our closeness with and to each other should have revealed the answers to the questions posed.

Perhaps it is as Scott Royder said, “There will be no place to heal while the killing continues."

 

Perhaps not. Even killing grounds can be made into sacred space. But, Sacred space is not part of the modern agenda as many of the things we need to become whole people are not in place... - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 4.26.13

Kill the wolves in idaho

the Hunter's log

First Note 

There is an answer, a solution to the imbalance of Nature. If you, or I, or a society has distorted balance restore the balance within self first, and with that done clarity comes to teach or show how to restore balance in the world. The problem is in the thinking of the masses, and what the masses accept as the norm, or necessary to have.

First Story

Feral dogs don't have the long and noble history wolves have. Feral dogs are castaways. Thrown away by people the first generation of wild dogs have severe heartache from rejection. Life on their own is hard as Nature weeds out the weak leaving the strongest to struggle to survive and mate. The next generations become hard and have not absorbed their parent's and grandparents' initial pain and none of the memories of association with people into their core. That is their danger to man and domestic beasts. The smell of weakness and dependency in domestic animals inflames wild dogs who do not live with deep and old relations with tribes of people.

I learned this from the wild dogs I hunted alone a long time ago as a young man. - Gregory E. Woods, 12.26.13

BLUE WOLF

the Blue wolf: 

the story of the beginning of the mongol Hun Turkick people

Shuurgan traced his finger through the fireside dust and sidled closer to the embers. At his back, from within the canvas tent faintly lit with its own sacred fire, came the muffled grunts and moans of the young wife in her labor. He was relieved that these mountain people had their own idugan, and that he was not expected to assist with this female work. A lifetime as shaman still had not inured him to the fearsome power of a woman giving birth. It was dangerous for a man to be nearby at such a time, when the portals between the worlds opened to allow the incoming soul to settle into its new form. He had told Saikhan so. Stay outside! Your male force will be ungrounded by such intense female powers whirling around the birth bed.But Saikhan had stayed with his woman.


Shuurgan knew already that the child would be male. The bones had foretold it on the very night that the woman now squatting over the birth bed had revealed that she carried Saikhan's child. He ran his thick fingers through shaggy, black hair, shot through with grey, and gazed northward. It seemed a lifetime ago that he had followed Saikhan across the vast distance between here and the Sayan Nuruu. They had led their small band of young warriors away from their their fathers and mothers and the security of their northern homeland to seek adventure in a new land, and had found more than they had expected here in the Kunlun Nuruu. Soon after Saikhan and his comrades had come upon the smoking ruins of the village here nearly three years ago, the young chieftain had made it his personal quest to wage war on the Khyatad--the accursed Chinese--who had committed the massacre. Saikhan had transformed, and was now as if born of these mountain people, who called themselves Khangbaa, even taking a survivor as his wife. And now he was about to reap the fruit of that unusual marriage. What sort of man will be born of such a foreign union, Shuurgan wondered.


The shaman sighed quietly. Sometimes he missed his old home. But he knew his place was at Saikhan's side. He waited now for the moment that the fresh cry would split the silence of the dark morning hours. He would throw the bones again to foretell the forces at work in this boy's life. He glanced back at the glowing tent, and watched Saikhan's silhouette weave slightly in the dun light as he wearily pressed his back against the canvas wall.


Suddenly, Saikhan's shadow jerked upright, and a drawn out wail from the mother bled from the smoke hole. Then silence. It seemed to Shuurgan that his heart stopped for that moment. And then, with a warm rush of blood from deep in his breast to his throat, he welcomed the squalling breaths of the chieftain's first son.


 As the newborn cried, the shaman threw the bones onto the flat stone he had laid before the fire. A chill scuttled over his back. For an instant, as bones struck hearth, the sky seemed to bend close and flare an unearthly blue. He flinched, looked up, and saw nothing but the stars. And then, from the north end of the canyon, came a low howl. It rose slowly into the night, and was joined by others. The wolves seemed to answer the infant's wail. The shaman shivered and drew his heavy fur closer around him, then turned his face downward to read the bones.

It was the Chinese Year of the Black Water Tiger, the Roman year A.D. 462 that his voice speared its promise through the pre-dawn stillness between the frozen canyon walls. As the idugan drummed and chanted her song of welcome and protection the midwife swayed with the rhythm, smiled and massaged the wailing infant with a hot, wet chamois, washing the last of his mother's enveloping protection from his new skin.


 "Listen to him howl!" she chuckled. She glanced up at the sweaty, red face of the woman who now gazed in flushed amazement at her firstborn. "Already he commands us!"


 She held up the boy, and at the sight of him, the mother slumped against the furs. Her voice returned in exhausted, sobbing gasps, but she smiled. She watched the midwife's assistant take away the bloody bedding and afterbirth so that all surrounding mother and son would be softness and warmth. She held out her arms. The midwife, at last taking a moment to tuck her disheveled tufts of grey hair behind her ear, crooned softly to the child, sidled over on her knees and handed the baby to his mother.


 Close to the doorway, quiet in the shadows away from the fire the young chieftain stood, at once terrified and fascinated to be so close at the birth of his son. None would know from watching how his insides quavered at each scream, how he held his breath each time she bore down and strained to release the child. Now, in the peace following the birth, he wondered if his knees might buckle. The Guardian of Great Tree of the Underworld had sent a new spirit to live in his son. He called up his strength and straightened so that none would know how deeply moved he was. He pushed himself away from the wall and approached his new family.


 His smile was steady masking his relief as he watched their child quieted at his mothers' breast. Tentatively he reached out, touched the head and bent to look into the red, temporarily misshapen face. The baby's thick tuft of downy hair was as black as his mother's, and showed no sign of the rusty sheen that colored Saikhan's own dark mane. His son's eyes were lighter than the deep brown of his mother's, but not so pale as the blue-green of his own. It was too soon yet to see what they would be.


 Saikhan glanced at the sword lying above his wife's head. The weapon, shining and unused, was a replica of his own. By my side, my son, thought Saikhan, you will carry this blade, forged like my own. Together we will drive the Khyatad before us and destroy them.


 Outside, haunches to the stone at the edge of his sacred fire, Shuurgan waited. He began to drum. His voice rose, softly at first, chanting the ancient birth rite and blessing until his nasal voice rang high, as clear and strong as those of the wolves in the distance. He felt their attention turn to him, the bright-eyed watchers, and as the trance raised him above the rock and snow to look down upon himself, he joined them.


 Inside, the young mother sighed and relinquished the child to her husband. She watched as Saikhan walked to the tent flap, gingerly cradling the child. He was tall, and had to stoop to leave the warmth of the fire lit dwelling. His broad shoulders touched the edges of the door as he passed through.


 Cloudy green flickers of eye shine met him, and for an instant, the form of an enormous, blue-grey wolf flashed at the edge of the firelight. Saikhan dared not speak or threaten the silent, watching shadows. Though the shaman's body continued to drum and sing, his spirit might be among them.


 "We bring his name." Shuurgan's voice was distant, strangely deep and gravelly. "We sing his name." And his words trailed off to become a low, long howl. The wolves danced and growled at the edge of the firelight, their flanks flashing orange before they were off, racing back up the canyon. A moment later, their howls answered Shuurgan's.


 The shaman raised his arms slowly towards the father and child, and it was not without trepidation that Saikhan handed him the baby. Callused hands lifted the naked boy high overhead showing him to the ancestors and to the Kunlun Nuruu. The whitish birth caul on the baby's skin shone pale blue in the starlight. Saikhan's gaze followed the rise of the great peaks. So high, he thought, that the feet of the Khans of the Overworld must tread upon them.

Look down, Great Ones. Bless and protect my son.


 "Khokh Chono," chanted Shuurgan, "Sayan Chono. Blue Wolf, Sage Wolf. The 7 Suns flashed for your coming, Chono. I give you the name of those who sing for you. And also will you be called Sayan, for the ancient mountains, the sage mountains of your father's homeland. If ever you are lost, the Sayan will call you home."


 Saikhan's deep bass voice joined Shuurgan's, thrumming against the stone canyon as they chanted the name together so that the mountains and stars would hear and remember it. This boy would be chieftain someday. They must bind him to these stones and to the sky under which he was given his name, bind him to Tenger Etseg, Gazar Eej, to his own ancestors, and to the tenger, spirits, that crowded close at his birth.


 The child raised his voice in protest as the cold bit him. The shaman lowered his arms, pressed him against the fur at his belly and rocked him. Slowly, his chanting softened and stopped. He stared, glassy-eyed at the boy he held, then slowly raised his face to Saikhan.


 "An iron seed will come from these loins," murmured Shuurgan. "700 times will the winter come again, 700 years will our people struggle and die. Yet 700 springs will bloom when the Iron Son of the Blue Wolf of Saikhan will deliver them and be Khagan of the World."


 Saikhan stared open-mouthed at Shuurgan's faraway eyes unable to speak. Heat seared across the top of his scalp, and he knew that though the words had come from the shaman's lips, they had been spoken by the gods of the Overworld who saw past and future as if they were one.


 Shuurgan blinked slowly, and the lines of his face relaxed. His eyes became his own again. He drew a long breath and gave a great, uncontrolled shudder. "Take him," he said, lifting the child to his father. "She will be able to feed him soon. You will come back here. I will read you the bones."


 Saikhan turned to the warmth of the tent, looked down in wonder at the lustily screaming boy in his arms. Wild joy flooded his heart.


"Great things will come of you, Sayan Chono," he whispered. "The Voice of the Third World has said it will be so. Tonight, it begins."


shared by Layla Riverside

http://hare.bio.miami.edu/hun/

The Story of Shan Yu - The Blue Wolf of Mongolia

NEZ PERCE story about Coyote

Coyote the Interloper - Nez Perce 

Coyote [itsaya' ya] and his daughter dwelt nearby. Coyote became ill. He said to his daughter, "Daughter-child, go search for bones, even bleached ones, with which to make me broth." And she went out to search for bones. It was wintertime. She would break up the bones and boil the little pieces. In this way she made broth for Coyote. 

One day she happened to find a whole limb that had been gnawed clean. Wolves had eaten the flesh and left the good bones. She thought, "Poor father will eat heartily of this." Then another day she found a salmon that had been only slightly eaten. "I will make broth of this for my poor father." She said to Coyote, "I found this salmon." 

But he exclaimed, "Foul [Rotten]! Daughter-child, it is winter salmon!" In truth, however, Coyote did not want any of the Otters' catch because he had no desire that his daughter should be taken in marriage by the Otters. This was the consideration which prompted him to find the salmon revolting, to lie to his daughter about winter salmon, and to command her, "Throw it away!" But Coyote liked the five Wolf brothers, and he thought, "It would be much better if she went to them." Thus he ate their leftover deer bones with much gusto. 

Coyote's daughter now threw away the salmon and went out to look for food again. She came upon a great antlered buck lying completely untouched, uneaten. Oh, such meat she took home. She laid the venison out to dry. Then she went out again, and this time she found a large bunch of salmon all strung together for carrying. "Ah, such good salmon." They were large ones and not even touched. "I will take these home." She took them to Coyote and said to him, "I found these very, very good salmon. Someone had gone away and left them, and here I've brought them home." 

"No, daughter-child, no! They are winter salmon and not at all good. Throw them away!" She threw them away. Coyote got well in the course of time, and the Wolves took his daughter for their wife. They took her away with them. 

Now the Otters [q laszya' ya] became indignant. They said, "Let us go to set the Wolves afire; let us encircle them with fire." Thereupon they went and set fire clear around the conical lodge and burned the Wolves to death. 

Then the dead Wolves began to prepare for their death departure when Coyote's daughter decided, "I must go to Coyote and have him burn all my things. Then I can go on from there to the death world." Thus she went to her fathers lodge. 

Coyote heard her coming. She came along laughing loudly, and Coyote recognize her. "I wonder why daughter-child comes to me at this time of the night? She is a doer of strange things, and now she comes along laughing." 

From outside she said to Coyote, "Father, we are on our way now. You will burn all of my things." 

"Such valuable things, daughter-child!" Coyote replied. 

"You will cause the Otters to become indignant! They set us afire, and now we are dead. Hurry, toss my things into the fire. The others are leaving me behind already. Hurry! 

"No, daughter-child! What shall I do here? I shall pine, daughter-child. Do not go." 

"There is no way I can remain. But you will stay here." 

"No, daughter-child. Then I, too, will follow along." 

"You cannot follow. You are alive." 

"Let me follow along anyhow. I shall do very pitifully if I stay here. Now I, too, am going. 

"Then if you must be so insistent, you will throw yourself into the fire; in that way you too, will be ready to go." 

"Yes daughter-child, I will throw myself into the fire." Here Coyote flung himself into the fire There was a sudden and noisy sizzle of burning hair ["ts' ox"], and he jumped out. He tried again and again. He would hurl himself into the flames; there would be a sizzle, burning hair, and out he would jump again. Then he said to his daughter, "I can't in any manner burn myself, daughter-child. Let me go just as I am, daughter-child. I will follow along, daughter-child, alive just as I am." 

"Then get yourself ready quickly. The others have left me far behind already." 

Now Coyote prepared himself, and they went. He could not see the others, but he could hear their voices and, guided thereby, he followed along. Dawn came. 

Coyote's daughter said to him, "It dawns for us when to you night falls, and your night is our daytime. Now night has fallen, and we are camping over. Though it is dawn to you, you are to stay right here. Do not go anywhere. Sit the day through here. When it is dusk for you, it will again be time for us to go on." 

Coyote spent the whole day there. Now the shadows fell; evening came. He began to hear them as if they were talking in whispers ["tsaw, tsaw"]. It grew dark, and now he heard them clearly, talking and laughing. In the wake of their voices again he followed them They traveled in this manner. Five times they camped overnight. 

Then Coyote's daughter said to him, "We have been traveling for five days. Tomorrow we shall arrive." 

"Let it be so." They traveled on, and at last they arrived. 

Coyote heard another coyote somewhere up front making formal announcements. [It was some coyote that had died long before.] "The Wolves arrive, five brothers; they bring Coyote's daughter with them. And Coyote, the interloper, arrives," was announced. Oh, there were many people, and Coyote could see them plainly now for the first time. He began to recognize various persons, and he enjoyed himself to the utmost. He saw various comrades who had died. 

His daughter said to him, "It is getting dark now, but to you it is coming dawn. In a little while you will not see anyone or hear anyone talking. But you must remain right here throughout the day. Do not go anywhere, even a short distance, because you will get lost and never find us again. In the evening you will see us all again." 

"Yes, daughter-child. Where could I go?" Now Coyote spent the day on the open prairie. In the evening he saw the people, and again he enjoyed himself. He stayed six days. 

One night his daughter came to him and said, "You are to go home now. You cannot remain here indefinitely like this. Even though you are enjoying yourself, you must go home tomorrow." 

"Yes, daughter-child, but I am having such a good time here. Why should I go home? I'm staying here."

"No. You will do very poorly here. You must go. You cause me to worry constantly. You must go home. I will make a lunch for you." 

Even though Coyote was most unwilling to go, he replied, "Yes, I will go then." 

His daughter continued, "When it has dawned for you, you will go." Now she brought for him a little package in buckskin wrapping. "You will take this with you, packed on your back. There are five mountains you must cross. Never look back of you. Do not even think, 'Let me look back from the summit.' You must go straight along and do nothing foolish. You may get tired, and you can rest. But above all you must never look behind you. You may hear things back of you, or recognize somebody by his voice. Still, you must not look behind you." 

"Yes, daughter-child, thus I will do. I will heed your words." 

Now she handed him the buckskin package which contained something and said, 'You may find this very heavy, but you will rest yourself. Do not look back ever." 

"Yes, daughter-child. How could I find this heavy?" 

In the morning he put his package on his back and started while his daughter instructed him for the last time. "You are to cross over five mountains. When you have crossed all five and have descended from the fifth, you may look behind you, but not until then." 

"Yes, daughter-child." Coyote went. He walked along fast, carrying on his back the little package wrapped in buckskin. He crossed one mountain, two, and then the third. "And she said of this, 'You will get tired.'" But now on the fourth mountain he began to feel a little bit fatigued. "The pack seems to be getting heavier." He climbed, and he began to tire. He barely crossed over and descended. He felt thoroughly exhausted now as he started up the fifth mountain. He was scarcely able to walk, and he felt the pack growing very, very heavy. He continued the ascent, just barely moving along. He reached the half way point, and he looked up. The summit appeared to be very far away. He kept going, just dragging one foot after another, and slowly ascended. He was tired, completely exhausted but he saw the top of the mountain only a short distance away now. Here his strength deserted him. He would take one step, and then he would have to rest. "Daughter-child spoke the truth when she told me, 'You will find the pack heavy.' " He continued slowly as he saw the summit close by. But suddenly his pack pulled him backwards into a sitting position. He fell backwards, and, suddenly, he turned his head and looked behind him. Coyote saw the five Wolf brothers and his daughter stand up suddenly from the pack he had been carrying them all along. 

His daughter said to him, "I told you, 'Do not look back until you have crossed the five mountain.' Now you have caused us to return by your having looked behind you." 

"No, daughter-child. Let me pack you again. Do not return!" 

"No," she said to Coyote. "The coming of the human race is only a short time away and the returning of the dead could have become an established thing. You, yourself would have brought this about had you taken us over the mountain top there. But now you have made death a permanent condition, and people will never return from death." 

Now they disappeared and left Coyote there to weep. He called after them, "Then let me follow you back, and I will bring you again." No. They had left him. At this Coyote hiked off sulkily somewhere.

Taken from Tales of the Nez Perce by Donald M. Hines, Ye Galleon Press; Fairfield, Washington, 1999 [gathered from other source books dated between 1912 and 1949] 

from archives of BLUE PANTHER

CONNECT HEALING TO HEALTH

One thing to note about EarthFire is that they have rescued animals from horrible conditions; wolves, coyotes, bears, buffalo, lynxes, cougars, mountain lions, Foxes. All these rescues came from places like homes that could no longer take care of an exotic pet or were forced to get rid of it, and rather than kill it, EarthFire took them on. Other rescues came from circuses and other type of carnival type atmospheres that were just horrible and the animals were treat with total disregard. EarthFire is building acres and acres of land for all these animals to roam free. They need financial help.  http://earthfireinstitute.org/

Colette Baron-Reid

spiritual teacher & advisor  Colette Baron-Reid
holding a squirrel she returned life to in 2010

spiritual teacher & advisor Colette Baron-Reid
with a rescued wolf
27sept2010

a WOLF story. . .

The closest I came to a wolf was at the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial in Washington DC. I took a long time to muster up nerve and walk through the hard emotions attached to that war, and walking down Constitution Avenue one day I felt compelled to walk across the grass to the memorial. 


There were, of course, a lot of people in various emotional states, and a make shift market of sorts people. People with off the wall personalities were selling this and that related to the war, or handing out fliers, and papers with information about health, MIAs, mental health care, and such. As I waded through the crowd I suddenly felt an aloneness; an urgency to place myself somewhere specific. I relaxed into it and guided found myself standing next to a table in the market. Not a few feet away was a wolf.


The owner was gaunt the way Appalachian folk are. He was warily regarding me. What he thought about me for a brief instant was apparent. It didn't matter because stranger than I was something circular and daring the two of us to speak to the other. He and the wolf were partners, and the man had become more wolf. The wolf insisted on remaining who he was. The animal's legs were long and thin, but nothing about him was not fear inspiring.


How did I know he was a wolf? I felt him within me. The Appalachian man accepted that. He understood it, and explained the animal was half wolf, and half dog. "The wolf comes out. It is the strongest part."


Beyond this I cannot express the way the wolf pressed upon and within me the core, the essence of his being. It is the way of the Wolf. I felt, saw it, read about it, and have heard tale of it. This story is mine I share with you. - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories

AMERICAN PASTIME: denial

The deep and long legacy of fears the Europeans carried with them to the Americas needs more attention than causes. Causes are worthwhile, but the strange nature of Western causes exacerbates the problems. The resistance to do what I call 'root work' supports the frantic efforts to undo established structures of thought centuries old to save animals, and habitat from the unchecked ravages of a beast that knows no bounds, respects nothing feminine, nor understands sacredness of land, or the language of animals and plants or the Earth, our Mother. Causes do not know how to bridge the gaps between four aspects of human beings. Causes are intellectual endeavors fueled by emotions, but ungoverned by spirit. The body of truth about dysfunctional relationships with all of Creation is the best way to describe funded causes to save this and to save that. It is a spiritual problem of disconnection, contempt, fears, and belief. - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories

Cherokee story of the Broken Arrows

Many years ago in the time when The Way was the only way and our People were strong and lived the life of the Caretakers they were meant to be a boy was born unto the warrior clan of the Wolf. His Elisi (Grandmother) called him Little Groundhog, because he peaked out and cried to be put back in like a Groundhog does at the coming of winter.


As Little Groundhog grew older, many knew his name. His name was spoken with words like bravery and hunter. By the age of manhood he had become known as one of the greatest arrow makers ever born to the People. His arrows were the strongest, sharpest and flew the most true of any arrows made. He was also known as a boy with very bad temper. Because of these things his name was changed to Angry Broken Arrow.

Broken Arrow reached the age when he would take a wife, but all the women feared his temper and none would take him into the home of their Mothers. Broken Arrow became very angry and went off into the woods. He had been in the woods for four days and three nights. On the fourth night without food, his fire blazed high and though he had gone to water at sunrise and at sunset each day the fire of his temper had not cooled. As he sat there, he looked up into the flames and saw a great White Wolf coming out of the fire. Broken Arrow was afraid, but knew the teachings of his ancestors and so did not run away. The Wolf told Broken Arrow that he must go back to his People. That he must get rid of this great anger that boiled inside of him like bad meat. Wolf told Broken Arrow that every time he got angry he must break his very best arrow. Then he must save the broken arrow for a time when it would be needed.

That very night, Broken Arrow returned to his home and his People. The next morning, Broken Arrow went to his Elisi (Grandmother) and told her what he had seen and what Wolf had told him. He asked her to help him, because he knew his Grandmother was respected and counseled by the Wolf. Each day more arrows were broken and taken to the growing pile in the clearing behind his home. It seemed the more arrows he had to break the greater his anger became. After seven moons had passed Broken Arrow went to the Elisi. He told her that he had a great pile of arrows in back of his home and that he had not time to make more before he lost his temper and had to break them. He told her his family was becoming hungry and still he could not hunt because he had no arrows. The Elisi told Broken Arrow to wait four more days and she would seek council with the White Wolf.

After this time had passed Elisi came to Broken Arrow. He was sitting in front of his home with fresh deer stew cooking over the fire and he was smiling. Elisi told him she was proud that he was winning his battle with this beast. Broken Arrow had been able to control his temper long enough to keep 4 arrows and hunt food for his family. Elisi told him that in seven days there would be a great celebration. On the evening of the seventh day the whole clan was very excited and People had come from other Clans to celebrate Broken Arrows great victory. The People gathered around the pile of broken arrows and staring at it with great respect. The pile reached almost to the tops of the great fir trees. The Elisi held a fire stick in her hand and she spoke to Broken Arrow.

"As you light this fire, son of my daughter, the smoke will rise to the stars and mingle with the smoke of the fires of our ancestors...with the smoke will rise the last of your anger. When this fire burns no more...your temper will burn no more and you will be a man. You will be called Arrow Maker. Broken Arrow will be no more."

And as the Elisi spoke so it was.

The fire burned for four days. On the evening of the fourth day the fire burned no more and Broken Arrow became Arrow Maker and his children and the children of their children will tell this story and I have told you and we will all remember.

And said the Storyteller...These are my words. {from archives of Brother to HORSE}

DARK MYSTERIES: spiritual women

Amanda Seyfried, actress, nailed a role in the movie Red Riding Hood. I went to see it in the theatre, and I've seen it a few times on cable because the storyteller draws an intense storyline about the closeness of women's intuition in a man's world, and her deep spiritual connections to elements that terrified European men... - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 

BEAR, WOLVERENE, AND WOLF STORY: Yukaghir / Lamut

Bear, Wolverine, and Wolf, being brothers, lived side by side. The youngest brother paid suit to the daughter of the middle one. "No," said the middle one, "How is it that you ask me for my daughter? We cannot join. You are born from the snow, and I am born from the earth." 1 Wolf grew angry and made complaint to Bear. Bear bore judgment and ordered, "If that is so, you must part." He said to Wolf, "Your temper is worst of all, you shall bring forth not more than two or three children." Wolf departed sorrowfully. Bear said to Wolverine, "You have a daughter, and refuse her to suitors, so you must not bring forth more than one, child." He blamed Wolverine, and said, "If you had given your daughter in marriage, our people would be more numerous, so you must meet your fate in the wooden thing." 2



Wolverine also grew angry, and retorted, "And you must meet your fate underground." 3 Wolverine laid a curse upon Bear: "You must sleep throughout the winter, and your fate will come to you while you are insensible to it."


So the Bear's word caused young wolves to be born by two's and three's, and wolverines singly. The Wolverine’s word caused the Bear to sleep throughout the winter, so that hunters kill him in his sleep.

Told by Ulashkan, a Lamut man, on the Molonda River, in the Kolyma country, summer of 1895.

Footnotes
34:1 The polar wolf is of light gray color, sometimes almost dirty white. The wolverine is brown.
34:2 Deadfall made of logs.
34:3 In the bear-lair when sleeping in winter, and tracked by the hunters
Tales of Yukaghir, Lamut, and Russianized Natives of Eastern Siberia
by Waldemar Bogoras
[1918]

WHITE WOLF MEDICINE

"This medicine is different from his relatives in other parts of the worlds for one simple reason: they all live in relationship with different energies, and agreements dictated by the land they struggle to live upon on our Mother, the Earth." - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories

BLACK FAMILY VAUES & WAY OF LIFE PART 4

Fourth, and finally, Siksika learning theory posits that the final step towards grasping the meaning and significance of a particular concept or practice is to try to teach it to others. Such would be the case for the Siksika initiate charged with transmitting a particular item of information to other. At this point learners will probably be more mature adults, and will likely be dealing with spiritual subject matter and procedures of a more sacred nature. No doubt they will have stamped indelibly into their hearts the sacredness of what they are about to do and they will be adequately prepared to undertake the task. The slogan, “learning by doing” will have special meaning in this scenario. - Tiger Lilli Sakima
 

Names, among the Blackfoot, are highly esteemed and each family name has a story of its origin behind it. The tradition of name-giving is based on recognizing a special characteristic unique to an individual and then assigning a particular name to him or her. Individuals also have the right to change their names during their lifetime, and individuals might do so based on their unique experiences or accomplishments. When the Europeans arrived some changed their names because the newcomers could not pronounce their traditional names. Many families also took surnames for much the same reason.

Much of Siksika society life emphasizes the process of transfer, the Horn Society being one of several primary vehicles for this kind of activity. Horn elders always transfer teepee designs, family names, or medicine bundles according to strict protocols and philosophies, and in turn further transfers have to be made in exactly the same way that the last transfer was made. Today elders caution their younger relatives to accept any knowledge given by elders either formally or through family socializing moments and continue to pass along those teachings to future generations in order to protect Blackfoot history. Gifts of knowledge come in many forms, so listeners are cautioned to be aware of movements, language, stories, geography and anything related to community history. Once something has been appropriated, the cycle of teaching it to others is expected.

Traditionally, family relatives—uncles, aunties, and even older cousins—freely take part in child discipline and surprisingly to outsiders, this still happens today. In the words of one young one, “There are lots of times when someone is called on to talk to a person about his or her actions. This helps in my life right now as I am comfortable talking to anyone who is doing wrong or being just plain disrespectful. An example of this would be my friend’s son and how he talked to his mother. If things did not go his way he called his mother names. His mother did not want to yell at him or worse, strike him, so she generally put up with his behavior. One day I took him aside and talked to him about this. After a few days I pulled him aside and asked how he felt about the situation. He said he knew I was right and he should not have talked to his mother that way. To this day he is respectful to his mother. This event did not make my relationship with his mother any less friendly; she was actually glad that someone cared enough to talk to her child. I expect this same sort of action from my friends and family when dealing with my children.

All grandmothers traditionally play a very significant role in Siksika culture. One young one recalls growing up in her grandmother’s home and experiencing the deep spirituality the older woman fostered. As a medicine woman, the grandmother awoke early each morning and walked out onto the porch to greet the day. She offered prayers and songs to the Creator, at the same time sending forth in thanksgiving smoke from her pipe as incense. On waking up, her grandchild would quietly make her way onto the porch and silently sit beside her grandmother, trying not to disturb the elder’s time with the Creator "Napi'". The moment comprised a mixture of peace, love, and compassion as the two sat silently together enjoying creation. Today this young woman observes the same daily ritual by rising early, greeting the sun outside her home, and offering early morning prayers and songs to the Creator "Napi'" in her native language.

The custom among Siksika women to grow their hair long. One individual informed us that she had always complied with this custom until her grandmother died. At that point she cut off her hair and placed it in her grandmother’s casket. Among the Blackfoot, this action is viewed as a sacrifice on the part of the woman. Long hair is viewed as a gift from the Creator "Napi'", and if it is discarded in a careless fashion, it is believed that the individual will have bad luck; bad spirits on the other side will take the hair and use it for ghost bullets. It is a scared truth that members of the Buffalo Women Society keep their sheddings when they are in the sacred lodge and place them at the center pole for the next year. They also have a sacred bundle that is part of a ceremony to keep track of gathered hair. However, out of respect, no more will be written about this. Even this brief description is convincing evidence that many oral teachings are being carefully transmitted to succeeding Siksika generations.

Traditional seven sacred societies of the community—Horn, Crow, Black Soldier, Motoki (Buffalo Women), Prairie Chicken, Brave Dog, and Ma’tsiyiiks. Today four of the societies remain, committed to preserving sacred beliefs, rituals, and ceremonies of the Siksika. These are the Horn, Buffalo Women, Brave Dog, and Prairie Chicken societies. The number seven also represents the seven stars of what is now known as the Big Dipper.

"Sharing some things that I have learned"

True of Heart<>Tiger

MANHOOD TEACHING: the Wolf Warrior

"Discipline, focused discipline in play and work mark the warrior's spirit. In battle it always comes out developed or not." ~ Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of the Drum

Lemuel, my son

The Wolf Credo: Respect the elders. Teach the young. Cooperate with the pack. Play when you can. Hunt when you must. Rest in between. Share your affections. Voice your feelings. Leave your mark. -anon

WOLVES & WOMEN

http://users.ap.net/~chenae/women2.html

Biggest and Brightest Full Moon of 2010

Robert Roy Britt
Editorial Director
SPACE.com Robert Roy Britt
editorial Director http://www.space.com/  Fri Jan 29, 7:45 am ET

                                                    

Tonight's full moon will be the biggest and brightest full moon of the year. It offers anyone with clear skies an opportunity to identify easy-to-see features on the moon. This being the first full moon of 2010, it is also known as the wolf moon, a moniker dating back to Native American culture and the notion that hungry wolves howled at the full moon on cold winter nights. Each month brings another full moon name.

But why will this moon be bigger than others? Here's how the moon works: The moon is, on average, 238,855 miles (384,400 km) from Earth. The moon's orbit around Earth – which causes it to go through all its phases once every 29.5 days – is not a perfect circle, but rather an ellipse. One side of the orbit is 31,070 miles (50,000 km) closer than the other.

So in each orbit, the moon reaches this closest point to us, called perigee. Once or twice a year, perigee coincides with a full moon, as it will tonight, making the moon bigger and brighter than any other full moons during the year. continue. . .

"It is 2010 and America writes, thinks, and acts as if the hundreds of sovereign nations within the United States do not exist, and speak in past tense about Indians this and Indians that. Walking home last night the moon called me in a loud distinctive voice. I looked up as I came out of the subway into the face of a large moon waving clouds from her face as she focused her attention on me. I smiled thinking of the number of times I have sat in the forest, alone, in front of a fire comforted by our relationship and the many secrets she has shared with me all the years of my life. The moon teaches from the darkness when she isn’t visible to the eye, and as a young man trying to learn how she set time she taught my spirit guiding my body through the dark forest teeming with wildlife through the veils layering the dark with revelations, and enticing stories that pulled me beyond my fears into the darkest places to sit still, alone.

The moon has relationship with the Indians Americans learn to not see. Our ancestors still dance in the cold nights of this moon. Because Americans cannot hear the dances continue along the circles of original intent to balance the Earth, and her life forms." -Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of the Sacred Medicine Wheel

wolf story