This wisdom have I seen also under the sun,
And it was great.
There was a small village and only a few warriors in it.
One day a great chief came against it, and surrounded it, and he built a great army against it.
Now in the small village there was a poor wise man,
And he by his wisdom saved the village.
But no one ever remembered that poor man.
Wisdom is better than strength.
However the poor man’s wisdom is looked down on,
And his words are not heard.
“The words of wise men are heard in quiet, more than the cry of he who rules among fools.”
Ga Ha’ Halftown
Seneca Mohawk Nation
Native wisdom
Return to the ways of purity
In every tribe or nation there are stories and prophecies. When winter comes it is always a time to slow down and tell these stories. Grandmothers pass their knowledge to the grandchildren. With the men, they pass their wisdom along to the boys.
Cheyenne man from Oklahoma told me his story that I now pass along.
When he was a young boy his father passed. His uncle would teach him as if he was his own son. At the gatherings his uncle would tell him to sit outside the tent of the elders and listen to the songs and stories so he can remember and pass them along.
Each gathering his uncle would take him. He would sit and listen learning as his uncle had directed him.
When he became a man, life was much different than when he was a child. They didn’t gather as they once did.
The Cheyenne man had a son, but his life was cut short passing while still in his teens so his legacy never passed to the next generations.
This man became a Christian and was told he had to put everything Indian away. He was never shown how the Hebrew Torah scriptures and many of the Indigenous ways intertwined.
He never danced at a powwow only at the gourd dance fund raisers they had each month in their small rural Oklahoma town.
The stories and songs he had learned as a young boy were lost with him.
I always enjoyed my time with my Cheyenne brother, knowing his story and how so much changes and so much of knowledge of life is lost.
Many of the traditions that people carried forward have lost their true meanings.
People put up sweat lodges, but not with the same medicines and purity as years ago.
The tribes have begun to adopt traditions that were not theirs.
This is his story, but this story can be said for many of the nations of this land. Each nation had their traditions and stories to teach of the ceremonies and how to live.
All having differences yet all the same core belief, to remain pure in life and in honor of the one Creator.
Each nation, because of the difference languages called Him by a different name.
A name so sacred it wouldn’t be spoken unless within true reverence.
Many prophecies tell of when the time will become short and a choice that must be made. The choice will be to return to the original ways of worship or follow the way of another.
How can one follow the old ways unless they have been taught?
How can they be taught unless remembered?
How can they be truly remembered unless we once again live a pure humble life?
When we humble ourselves and turn from the ways of man we begin to live by the spirit.
This is a sacred path and one must be careful because there are deceiving spirits which will take one in the wrong direction away from the truth.
As the story of the Buffalo Calf Woman of the western nations. There are many stores of the nation’s changing their traditions from evil to purity.
It is time the people of the nation’s turn from the evil ways that have been adapted as tradition and return to the pure ways of the Giver of Breath.
Lvmhe Ayo
Muscogee (Creek) Nation
Walking the circle
I will always cherish my time on the Pine Ridge reservation. Sitting around the stove in the winter at Wounded Knee talking with the elders as we held a giveaway.
In the summer I would sit with one of the elders at his Sun Dance grounds. It was always an honor to listen to his wisdom.
What sadden me was the selling of Tradition. Outsiders would pay to be a part of the Sun Dance.
I would see men who carried the drum drinking before the ceremonies.
This is supposed to be a time of purity, seeking a vision for the people. It is not just the pledge who is supposed to be pure, everyone gathering should hold the same attribute.
Like many of the Nations, people have chosen the ceremonies they consider as important and have left the rest behind. Yet, even the one they have chosen is not held in the same honor and respect of worship as it once was. Now people do the ceremonies because it is a part of tradition, they are considered as gatherings and have lost the true worship meanings. In many times it is more like a party than worship.
It the Sun Dance, along with the other sacred ceremonies around yearly travel circle, if it isn’t done as originally directed it becomes an abomination.
Christians doing cross cultural witnessing have used the aspects of the Sun Dance to show worship for the Son, Jesus the Creator who is writer within the New Testament. Is this truly what it is about or something else?
The directions given were to walk the circle. Each season had a sacred place to hold a different ceremony. No one ceremony was more important than another.
People have used the medicine wheel as a symbol. We must be careful of the origins of symbols. We may wish to adapt them to our beliefs, but if the origins and original meaning give spirits of darkness their power we are not to use them.
The medicine wheel dates back originating as the sun cross during the Bronze Age for sun god worship. We must be careful not to incorporate things that the watchers used to make themselves as gods over or replacing the ways of the Creator of all.
The sun marks our days with the seventh day, Saturday as being holy. We can see even with the naming of the days is of sun god worship.
The moon marks our months with the new moon marking the beginning of each month.
The stars mark our seasons.
Some tribes only show three seasons in their ceremonies while others have four. With the four they are divided, to where eight ceremonies are marked.
The wheel was used to mark the stars in order to keep track of when it was time to move or hold a ceremony. Each wheel is made in accordance to the earth and stars for these seasons.
Everyone in life is intertwined. It is the perfectly woven pattern we must understand.
These are the directions given to us by the true Creator.
The watchers spirits have made an alternative which leads to evil.
This is why for each nation, a guide was sent to bring the people back to purity.
We have lost those messages and are once again traveling the road of evil.
We have forgotten the meaning of our ceremonies. We have allowed ourselves to place honor in things which are not honorable. We have forgotten the ways of purity.
Lvmhe Ayo
Muscogee (Creek) Nation
Warriors Motorcycle Club 