Fran Dancing Feather

The Cherokee have a saying; “Listen! Or your tongue will make you deaf.”

Listening is a ceremony, only when we listen with our whole attention. It is a time for gathering seeds of wisdom. We can go out in nature where the wilderness is pristine, to the quietest place we can find. We can sit there and listen to the quiet until it becomes filled with the secret sounds of Creation. Listen until the business in our head becomes less busy. Listen to the tiny sounds of the earth. A bird in the distance or tiny creatures moving through the woodlands can capture our senses if we become quiet enough. If we listen deeply we can hear our own breathing and feel the beat of our own heart. This is meditation. There may be water nearby or a breeze in the leaves or pine needles or the sound of footfalls on bark as a squirrel scampers towards the treetop. Read the rest of this entry »

Community means people working together for the highest good of all concerned. I was taught that I am related to all members of my community—all the people, animals, botanicals and minerals. All natural things of the planet are all my relations. I was at a Tribal community meeting one summer evening and an elder named Katherine was speaking to the youth. She was telling them not to paint graffiti on the “stone people” because they are our oldest living relations. They are the ancients among us. We do not paint gang symbols on the ancients because it is disrespectful. She talked a long time about the stone people and how they help us and support us in our lives. She talked about the beauty of the large stones and boulders around the reservation who live among us and the wisdom inside them. I had heard before that the stones are alive but never really gave it much thought until I heard Katherine tell her stories. I have developed a greater love for the great and small stones of the earth since hearing her speak. A good storyteller holds the attention of his or her audience. When they speak there is love in their words and they make eye contact with their listeners. Katherine’s name bears mentioning because she passed away recently. Even though we moved away several years ago, I felt bad when another elder called to tell me about Katherine’s passing. The other elder wondered how the community would get along without her. She said she didn’t think anyone else could ever take her place in the community. It’s true that none of us will ever be Katherine but we did hear her stories and it’s our responsibility to pass them on to others. Read the rest of this entry »

Bear is the sacred dreamer. Things change when Bear comes into our lives. As the largest land mammal Bear is at the top of the food chain and so safe from other predators yet not a killer by nature. Bear is omnivorous with a varied diet that includes plants and small animals. Bears are mostly loners with the exception of courting times or when females are raising their young. They are excellent climbers and swimmers and mostly active during the daytime. They can run as fast as thirty miles per hour and have an extraordinary sense of smell. Some bears forage during the autumn on fermented fruit which affects their behavior, as they eat huge amounts of vegetation in preparation for the lazy winter, where they remain in caves or burrows most of the time. Because of human encroachment, bears are becoming an endangered species. Read the rest of this entry »

The quickest way to overcome the dark thoughts that can plague us in recovery, is to serve others. When we begin to serve others in an altruistic lifestyle, we gain the wisdom that everything can change. Each moment, hour, day, night, week, month, year and even our entire lives become renewed with hope and the knowledge that we can find happiness and fulfillment. The quality of this physical life is based on how and where we focus our attention. If we focus on the solutions we get the solutions we need and desire. How can we best serve ourselves and others? When people talk about the pains of living we offer the tools of recovery. The twelve steps are the supernatural path out of the darkness and into the light of healing every part of the body, mind and spirit of ourselves and those around us. It is suggested that the fellowship is found in the meetings-before-the-meetings and the meetings-after-the-meetings, when everyone just hangs around waiting for the meeting to start and after it’s over. If we give ourselves and others that extra half hour before and after, we are given the opportunity to observe, suggest, help and love one another beyond our ability during the actual structured meeting. Fellowship is vital to our need to serve. Read the rest of this entry »

Like the mighty fists of Creation, great huge earthen wedges of every shape and size, grace the mother earth. From the highest peaks of the Andes to the gentlest slopes beneath the deepest waters of the planet, mountains shape the landscape. One Creation story tells of the powerful wing feathers of the great eagle who formed and shaped the muddy ground of the newly formed earth with his strong power feathers while banked in flight. The pointed feathers cut the canyons and dragged moist ground over itself to form the highest peaks and towering buttes and precipices of our land. From the sacred mountain of the Seneca, to Bear Butte in South Dakota, The Sangre de Cristo in New Mexico and all the way to the Big Bear mountain in southern California, we native peoples all have our mountains which we claim are sacred. Perhaps all great and beautiful mountains are sacred after all. Read the rest of this entry »

As an American Indian journalist for longer than the last twenty years, I have experienced both cultural resentment and spiritual awakening. Journalists have been called, “The Watchdogs of Society”. Some of us feel the responsibility to uncover and reveal deceptions often glossed over by the media, the hiding and justifying of those in power. For centuries native peoples have been portrayed inaccurately throughout American history. Early history painted the savage wars between the European settlers and the indigenous people, continuously justifying the actions of the settlers by blaming Indians for every atrocity of war. Those lasting historical records were written not by the victims of genocide and terrorist takeover, but by the conquerors themselves so they were naturally aimed at justifying the actions of only those who wanted to take the land for their own interests. As native people became assimilated, learned English and have been educated alongside the immigrants from Europe, we have learned together to present a more accurate portrayal of our common history and uncommon spirituality. Read the rest of this entry »

I own nothing! Everything belongs to my Creator as I understand Him. This sets me free from trying to control the outcome of having turned it all over to the Great Creator. Stewardship has everything to do with the way we use the things we believe we own. Money changed hands and we “bought this land” and built this house for the divine purpose of a certain quality of life. Good stewardship calls me to care for and protect the place we inhabit. It calls me to serve others according to the gifts I am given in this life. Stewardship asks of me to not take more than I need and to share. The Big Book tells us about an “altruistic” lifestyle where giving and taking provides us with lasting recovery. We take what we need from the gifts of our Creator and give what we can. It is OK to enjoy prosperity as long as we do not greedily hoard it away. Some religions believe in generously sharing our “time, talent and treasure” proportionately with others. We may not have a lot of money but perhaps we have time to listen to others. Or we may not have a lot of time but are rich in talent of some kind, like mechanical, artistic or care-giver skills that can be offered to those in need. We earn what we need and give away the extra. If we are wealthy perhaps we donate money to charities that feed, clothe or shelter the poor. It’s all about sharing. Read the rest of this entry »

The sound came from the ivy hedge that grows from the ground all the way to the roof, providing a complete shade screen on the north side of the house over a large front deck. In some places near the ground, the ivy is three or four feet deep and tightly networked with very thick old growth like an ancient grapevine, completely impenetrable by neither man nor large beast. Birds nest in the upper corners of the ivy every Spring and feral kittens are sometimes seen climbing nearly to the top. The old ivy hedge has become it’s own small ecosystem and playground for some of the local wildlife. One morning the pitiful cry of a tiny newborn kitten could be heard from deep within the hedge. It was a solitary and despairing sound that was capable of piercing the soul. I hoped the mama cat would find her baby and carry him or her to safety. Perhaps the tiny creature had somehow wondered off from a feral kitten nest, which was hopefully within earshot of Mama Cat. The next morning the same heart-piercing cry continued but fainter as the kitten had either moved further away from the deck or was loosing physical strength. Both mornings we had searched the hedge but found nothing and the crying finally stopped. Read the rest of this entry »

Solidarity is a “solid” concept, usually referring to unity among a group or community of people based on common interests, objectives and standards. Our whole self-perception or identity is based on a solidarity that is either strongly intact or haphazardly scattered. Who am I? The answer to this question has much to define about our own personal solidarity and self-esteem. At this time of advanced worldwide communication and social networking our personal solidarity can influence positive change one day at a time. Most native peoples share within our own communities, a sense of Tribal solidarity. Members of various churches, clubs and recovery groups share a common solidarity. If we follow a set of organized principles outlined by any culture, tradition, country, genealogy or geography there is a sense of solidarity within us. If we live in the United States we share the common solidarity of being known as “Americans”, even though we may differ radically on ideas of politics, personal values, religion or national origin. However we perceive, judge or evaluate ourselves defines our personal solidarity. Do we see ourselves as victims or do we feel confident and strong? Are we powerless or powerful, young and strong or old and weak? Or are we older and stronger then ever? Perhaps we are young and filled with hope and enthusiasm as we face an exciting future. Read the rest of this entry »

The human heart is the most miraculous and powerful pump in all the world. The heart’s natural pacemaker is a small football-shaped cluster of cells nestled in the upper right chamber of the heart. This cluster is called the sinus node and it sends out electrical impulses, causing the heart muscle to contract anywhere from sixty to one hundred times each minute under normal circumstances. Exercise causes the heart to beat faster and send nourishing oxygenated blood outward to every part of the body. The used blood returns to the heart to receive more oxygen in order to begin the ancient supernatural ritual again and again for all the years from the first moment of our lives until the very last. What an extraordinary instrument is the human heart! The most important nutrient we consume is oxygen, without which there is no life. Read the rest of this entry »