Otipemsiwak
by Robert Ghost Wolf
This is a story of the Metis/Mestizo People, sometimes called the Rainbow Nation. There are many titles that have been given to the mixed-blood children born in America since the mid-20th Century, but it remains a story in the Americas at least of the Metis or Mestizo People, who are the Ghost Children who walk between two worlds…for we are living through a process that will be known as The Awakening and we are entering new dimensions, birthing a new world with a new consciousness, one without borders, without limits… and without FEAR…So, welcome to a new paradigm… one we could call the Metis World.
As I enter middle life, I wish those out there who have known me and touched me through ceremony and in our personal walks together to know that I remain true to what I have always been and always shared with you. There are many of you, perhaps thousands, with whom I have been privileged to share for nearly 30 years now. I can’t even remember all of your names, but the memory of all of your spirits, as well as your faces remains close to me.
What I was, I am no longer in the face of new knowledge. I find that I am changing and openly becoming more of what I have always been. Also, I am becoming something new as what I have learned and realized leaves me with new and expanded perceptions of this life. Along with the coming of age comes a new boldness about who and what we are… You could say we get to own it. We realize also that it is not necessary that we receive the approval and acceptance of all we meet and come into contact with. Nor can we hope to find agreement with all with whom we interact either; that is not what the path is about. The magic of the world is the blending and results of the opinions, and spiritual voices of multiple individuals… It is the challenge of life, after all, to be a part of, and yet remain the individual, allowing others their dreams as well. This is part of the golden rules for Personal Sovereignty as we progress along the path as the Spiritual warrior, about which I teach.. I call it Our 4-D Reality: Discernment, Discretion, Detachment and Desire. Our journey here is about personal growth and awareness of who we are as individuals… and learning to stand for our beliefs and change those that no longer fit into the bigger picture of who we become, as we grow.
I have never stopped growing or interacting with people of many nations and walks of life…This is a small part of my story, my truth…the truth of a Metis-Mestizo.
Who are the Metis or Mestizo People?
We are…...Otipemsiwack …….. those who own themselves
There are literally tens of millions of mixed-blood people in the contemporary, western hemisphere. We are beginning to refer to ourselves with pride and honor as Metis or Mestizo, a term which is now universal through out North America and South America. Until recently we did not even have a name we could identify with; we were simply the Ghost Children, those who were caught between two worlds, and depending upon your degree of expanded consciousness, perhaps more. Until the last Century the term “Metis” was a term used only for and by those who had “Native American” blood and another type of cultural heritage, i.e., European, Asian, African. Today, however, as we meet the new millennium, the term Metis encompasses a much broader area of our population, which includes all mixed-blood peoples of this land. Even the term “Native American” must be looked at with new eyes, for America of its own evolution has become a melting pot, a cosmic soup of multi-cultural, and multi–racial peoples.
Metis is not a new term either….. its origins coming from the French -Indian roots at the formation of the Hudson's Bay Company, back in the early 16th century when Scottish, then French, then English fur traders pioneered this new world, creating the now legendary Hudson’s Bay Trading Company and established settlements throughout Canada along the Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence River and down the riverways that were used by the ancient Celts, as their evidence would attest. Thus we find a strong presence of Metis in Minnesota, North Dakota, and the Pacific Northwest, comprising Washington, Idaho and Montana, as well as all along the Mississippi River Valley and South to Louisiana. And, all along the way we find the evidences of another nation of mixed bloods that came before us, the Ancient Celts. The truth about the origins of the true, First Americans seems to now take on a entirely new character. The truth of the origins of culture in the Western hemisphere is about to take the consciousness of the world by storm, and I am grateful that I am alive at this time, and able to contribute to, and to be a part of this incredible transformation process…
The conditions and evidence supporting what I speak of one can easily find and discover for themselves, if they travel and experience this great land for themselves. Similarly, centuries of colonization of the global societies by the Western Industrial world and throughout much of this present contemporary global society were dominated by European cultures (which were changed by a system of Religious and political government, that I refer to as Churchianity). This has had its effects which are of themselves bringing about the demise of the old paradigm. We The People, who make up the Population of the world today, are the children of the Seventh and now Eighth generation as the elders spoke about during the 20th Century, and it is established as a reality that we represent greater than 70% of the population of the Earth, and that we are also a decoupage of cultural and racial ancestries and genetics.
We have become a Metis World, a Rainbow World…if you will.
Dare we even venture far into the outback of the remote regions of the Himalayans, and the Andes Mountains, throughout South America, and the Caribbean, or go as far west as New Zealand, or the South Pacific, we will, with a little effort, see the hard evidence of what I speak. No matter where one looks, People with each passing generation are becoming a cross-cultural expression of the oneness. The world itself is becoming a Metis World by nature’s own design, and this may even be God’s secret plan for one world. There exists an inevitability for the mixed-blood children who represent the larger portion of today’s population, that as a natural process of evolution, we will one day express the oneness of being, and we will be known throughout the Universe as the Earth People. Aho Mitakyue Oyasin… all my relations… we are all one.
The consciousness of our world is already here, the new children already having been born; see it as such. It is the Media, always reporting about the past and playing catch up with new realities, which has to learn now to deal with the factual reality that we, the Metis, are the new global beings. Somehow, in the twinkling of an eye, we are the dominant species. Remember history or his-story is about what happened, not about what is happening, that is mythology or my- story. Metis People represent the true Earth Being; within our Peoples can be found the entire gene pool and consciousness of the whole. We are the bridges into the future world, and our destiny knows no borders, even unto the universe itself. For that we are children of the stars is an eminent fact and not a fantasy of lesser gods.
Metis or me-tis (me-tes or me- tay) 1. any person of mixed ancestry. 2.(cap) (in Canada) the offspring of an American Indian and a white person esp. One of French ancestry.
Metisse (me-tez) 1. A woman of mixed ancestry. 2.(cap) (in Canada)
a woman of white, esp. French , and American Indian parentage.
“Thus I say to all of you Metis-Mestizo who are out there…We who are the Metis-Mestizo people represent the new emerging reality, the new paradigm. The elders spoke about us in the prophecies thousands of years ago as the “New Manu” or the new race and thusly we can and must be proud of who and what we are. We must learn to always honor all sides of our heritage and the different bloods that may run through our veins. As well, we must stand firm in the understanding and owning of our multiple-cultural backgrounds, which afford us a vast understanding of Spiritual realties and the natural ability to walk between many cultures, as Children of the New World.
It is our obligation and cosmic duty to preserve the qualities of these expressions of Spirituality, in impeccability, and with most pure mind, for we are the bridge to the future upon which all of humanity shall and must cross. It is estimated conservatively that there are some 30 million Metis-Mestizo Peoples in America alone, if we take into consideration those in Canada, and South America those numbers would increase considerably.”
There are many, many who have asked to hear from me. I cannot even attempt to count the E-mails and letters that have come my way, and I apologize for not getting back to all of you. Many of you are asking what has happened to me. There are even stories out there that I have died. Well, be assured, I haven’t. You could say I went on Holiday and did some long and introspective re-thinking about my journey here on the Earth plane.
A lot of you who have written me tell me that there are rumors flying around out there on the Internet that I need to address. So, out of respect to you, and there were many of you, I am posting some new additions to my website. There are a lot of other rumors out there, rumors and gossip about a lot of people. Why people read this kind of nonsense is beyond me. I have seen that there are even some individuals out there who obviously don’t have lives of their own, who have taken their time put up websites about me. It is amazing how much “Bull” can be posted by people who do not even know you. It appears that I am as loved, feared and hated as Geronimo, himself, and the exacerbations of my deeds seem to equal his as well. I decided I had better speak up. I have sat in silence, and watched; it is time for me to come out of my self-imposed seclusion.
I want you all to know that I have been working on myself, and my understandings of many things that have been brought to me from my personal quest in this life, by Mystery. None of us, if we truly desire to know and increase our knowledge and are brave enough to embark on a road less often traveled, when we have that wish answered, can remain the same. Sometimes the changes that result from receiving the gift of knowledge are bigger and have a deeper impact on our being than at other times. I am aware of the slanderous lies about me out there on the internet, but they are mostly lies and exaggerated truths of circumstance; they are not the real stories. If they were I would challenge anyone to bring them to a courtroom and prove the substance of their claims, or we could sit and talk face-to-face, like human beings. I don’t engage combat with shadows or the jackals hiding in those shadows; theirs’ is the cowards’ way.
That I am a warrior, is known; that I am not afraid to fight or take a stand for what I believe in is known; that sometimes, in the course of being a warrior and dealing with the real world we wind up in trouble, is little surprise to anyone who lives in the real world, I would think. That I am one who is not afraid of confrontation is known; and that I have had the courage to speak and perform my truth before the whole of the world is also known. One cannot be a mouse and take on the City of Miami and State of Florida as well as the Teamsters, to save a hole in the ground, as I did in the case of the Miami Circle (Richard Hoagland Letter) and expect to win, when the odds are against you. I guess you could say that I am not a person who lives a low-profile lifestyle. Truth being, I have never made claims that I was an immaculate conception or the Messiah. There are already too many of those running around. I am a man who has lived, and it seems, continues to live a very full and interesting life. I have seen all sides of the human drama, and I have chosen the path of the spiritual warrior. If this makes me a criminal, I guess I am in good company.
I walk this world respecting the gift of life that the holy Mother-Father God has placed on me that burns like a flame before me. This sacred fire also lights that way for all that are upon the Earth. I walk in the manner of my Grandfathers who also walked this land before me, as Native –Americans and as Celts and I have pieced together my own heritage from the ravages of time and social and spiritual decadence. Although I am strong, I also have learned to Walk softly upon this Earth, and leave no tracks…I know too well that with each step I take I walk upon the dust that contains that which made up all my ancestors; they and the Earth are alive and one. Spiritually, I am rich beyond measure because of this. In knowing this I have learned to live lightly, like a bird, to be silent like the cat, and unseen like the wolf, always leaving all things when I go, better than when I found them, whenever I can. As they say in Canada, and Minnesota amongst the Algonquin Speaking People, we are Otipemsiwack, we are those who own themselves.
Throughout the Americas, as well as the world. One does not have to look too far while traveling this great planet we live on to notice the fact that a vast amount of the people you meet, and I would safely say, the majority, are mixed blood. If you go through the U.S and visit upon the reservations of the lower 48, up to the wilderness in Alaska, and even the tribal regions of South America this is an immutable fact. As well, everywhere are the evidence and the legends of the bearded People who would one day return to rekindle the greatness of the cultures that existed here in the western hemisphere prior to the destructive cycles of the last 500 years.
In my Grandparents time, during the 20th Century, there was so much prejudice against Native People, and antagonism against having any affiliation by ancestry to anyone other than “white Anglo-Europeans”. It was the unspoken code of survival, that if you had “Cherokee or Oneida” in your bloodline you went out of your way to hide it. You never spoke of it to your children, cause dad might lose his job, or worse…. So Grandma did not speak of this even with her passing. Nor did Grandfather or uncle Joe, nor did their friends. The situation was even worse if you were a single mother; women until just recently had few rights, if any at all, in our society which was constructed and built upon the principles if patriarchal madness. Until just a few years ago a single or divorced woman could not even qualify for a loan from a conventional bank. She would not be issued a mortgage, or even be paid on an equal scale with males doing the same job.
A lot of us, during the 20th Century, lost our links to our ancestral heritage. This was a global situation, not limited to just isolated areas. That the 20th Century was the most destructive time in the history of the human race is perhaps an understatement... We can follow family trees only to a point, and then only some; many no longer exist. In this avenue of pursuit, we must deal with name changes, or just no records whatsoever not even birth records. There were and continue to be many home births, as millions are born at home in natural childbirth. Just as a point observation, President John Kennedy went to Ireland in the sixties. I do not recall the People of Ireland saying that he was not Irish and getting angry with him when he claimed his Irish heritage or criticizing him for celebrating St. Patrick's Day. Likewise, when someone changes their nationality, or their name, their faith, or in today’s world even their gender… once the act is done and embraced, and blessed, does it not make them such? This is after all the 21st Century and paradigms are falling down all around us.
In this 21st Century, mixed cultural and racial marriages are a commonplace reality, especially throughout America and Canada. It was not just an activity restricted to the "Indian” People alone. The wars and degree of destruction of the last Century, as well as the nature of the times themselves, left quite literally tens of millions of people with the circumstance of having to move to and assimilate in lands other than their place birth, and, the number of mixed racial marriages that resulted cannot be counted.. Did not the whole of the world cry for John Lennon’s little son Sean, when his father was murdered? I do not recall people saying, “Oh, that little mixed-blood kid. What a shame.” No, the tragedy of that event took hold of all of us by the heart strings, and we all cried together.
Many people, as a result of their multicultural and racial genetics, suffer still at the hands of the residue of ignorance from our past, and we should be aware that politically sanctioned genocide is not a thing of yesterday, quite yet. Racial bigotry and hate still lives and breathes like a cancer in our social consciousness. It is too often glossed over and ignored by the media, which is controlled by the powers higher up, who are well adept at keeping their faces hidden in the shadows; nonetheless, their intent lies like the smoldering coals left behind from a forest fire, waiting to be rekindled.
Our emerging society today is mostly the result of television education and absentee parenthood. The common People see the world the way the media represents it to be…. not necessarily the way it is. We have been taught, or programmed, how to seem nice on the outside in our society. Appearances are very important… just watch the “cool” presentation of our slick politicians and the behavior of our materially minded television ministries that spend untold millions to keep the people “under the ethers”, as it is called in the trade. But truth is that too many of the third world people, (and that includes many of today’s youth) have experienced the system first hand, the contemporary version of civilized European consciousness of the industrialized culture which in actuality represents a mere 10% of the world, that remains rotten to the core. The image of how we should be, what is “socially acceptable” is being marketed throughout the western civilized world, and it is propaganda at its best.
There are no other opinions or realities being presented to oppose the viewpoint of the chosen ones, with the rare exception of free radio, where we still find the very few individuals who have the courage to speak out against the outrage and the madness of it all. Then they must do so in fear and paranoia for their livelihood and very survival is always at peril. It is our sad heritage in the western European culture that we are fond of killing our prophets, and history proves that as fact. Is it therefore any wonder why the aliens, if they exist, would be afraid to make contact with this barbarous and heartless people who presently dominate the planet.
In our society it was and in some places remains a severe concern if you had African ancestry, or Caribbean, Chinese, East Indian, Pakistani, Arabic, or even if you were Italian or Irish and if you were Polish, well…. What about how the Japanese Americans and German Americans were treated prior to and during WWII… Racism was running rampant, we had to endure the McCarthy era in the 50’s, and that is a big part of why the Sixties and Seventies during the Twentieth Century were so hard on us. We were paradigm busters, and some of us were on that mountain with Martin Luther King and still share in that vision….For the record, there was a lot more going on than psychedelics. In my opinion, there are more drugs in today's society than there were in the counterculture of the 60’s and 70’s of the last century. And if the music I am listening to lately on the radio rock stations is any clue to public pulse, then we are not fostering very good cultural and spiritual attitudes. Society seems to be slipping backwards.
Negative aspects of ethnic comedy have also been ingrained in us for generations. Just watch Saturday Night Live. Even though in poor taste, it is blatantly obvious. During the last century the Benedito's changed their names to Bennet, as well as the Chichganewa to Nichols. I met a Japanese farmer once in Sacramento. CA. whose last name was Brown. Now, that is a bit English, is it not? And I remember an African American whose name was King. I do not think he was related to the Kings in New Mexico and Texas ...and their vast cattle ranches. To say the least, the violent transition of the 20th Century beyond any reasonable question was a painful growing period for many of us in our history as humanity. There was a lot of racial sickness in our world, not to mention a lot of Spiritual bigotry, and there still is today. The residue of ignorance has not been washed away from our past. Who can deny that we still live in a world where…. Fear Rules… and as a result… we have learned that anything can happen here..
If you do not agree with what I am saying, well, that is OK. You have the right to continue sleeping, but just remember the Awakening will be sudden, and is emerging quickly. It is already moving with stealth, yet lightning speed However, if the noise of what is really going on outside your windows should happen to wake you up one day, I suggest that you go out to the streets of your cities and take a walk around one evening. Then again, you could have a talk to your own children, if you are still communicating with them. Children are very good barometers to the pulse of social consciousness. But be strong hearted because you might not like what you will find out. Truth hurts, especially when it has been hidden from us for so long. We have become, my friends, little more than slaves to the economic system, living under the illusion that we are free. In fact it is a undeniable reality that “We are all on the reservation now” as my Grandpa Black Elk would say as we were approaching the millennium.
It is not easy being Metis or Mestizo, not by any means. As Metis, we have to deal every day of our lives with the internal war of genetics that goes on within us. Fighting the insanity of the destroyers, and trying to balance out our inner visions of the innate love for nature and the Spirit that swells up from unknown resources. The anxiety of the millennium children, which is what we are, far surpasses anything we might have experienced in the sixties and seventies. We are all now learning a new way, which may not be so new after all. I seem to remember the words from a song from that era…
"
Ripple in still water,
when there is no pebble tossed
Nor wind to blow,
Reach
out your hand if your cup be empty,
If your cup is full may it be again…
Let it be known there is a fountain
That was not made by the hands of man …
There
is a road, no simple highway,
between the dawn and the darkness of night,
and if you go no one may follow,
That path is for your steps alone…”
…by
Garcia-Hunter
As Metis we are connected to our ancestors and we all too often perceive the world we live in through their ancient eyes. We hear their songs in the wind, and they come to us in dreams. We enjoy the application of our ancient heritage and the right to express our Spirituality through ceremonies, whether they are the Innipi or sweat lodges of the Native American or the utiseta, or "sitting out” lodges of the Celts. In many instances, it is the mixed-blood children who have become the bridges between the old and the new world. Metis are often to be found at the cutting edge of evolutionary change and expression of the new Hu-manity accomplished through our art as well as our technology and we are very outspoken about our need to develop human compassion and the combining of spirituality along with our work ethics…It is intrinsic in us; the memory of the old ways has somehow been rekindled in the mixing of the blood, and a new emerging strength of character is afoot… One that bridges the racial and cultural gap left behind in the slave mentality of the Industrial Age.
By nature, we are paradigm breakers and at the same time traditional believers in the Sacredness of our Earth Mother. Consider, if you are American, that for the last 30 years of the 20th Century it was Metis people who dominated the country music charts, both as song writers and performers. As well, Metis-Mestizo artists played a large part in the Rock N Roll Music scene and many of our contemporary motion picture stars are Metis-Mestizo. We are the Children of one Mother and one Father, for we represent all the cultures in one embodiment. We are ordinary People… People with a deep and special courage to live at the sometimes lonely edge of society’s limited thinking. The light distracters are many and those who support our efforts are often less then few.
We as Metis-Mestizo people seek spiritual unity while learning to find truth where it no longer seemingly exists to the naked eye and the allowing of the freedom of self-exploration and expression through a cross-section of inherited spiritual practices. We are prospectors looking for lost truth, and what we are finding is changing the way that people think. When we look around at what we inherited as incarnated beings in this dreamscape, we find ourselves too often at the abyss… the very chasm of change. For many like myself in North America there is only the Red Road before us; we are Celtic, and we are the Redhearts; we are Latinos who are remembering and putting into application the heritage of our ancestors in a new way and as it appears now, there is no end in sight. It is a narrow path but it is also a pathway of the Heart, and it is the only pathway to forever. We know one thing for certain, and that is that we cannot go back for there is no place to go back to.
None of us is particularly happy about living in this age of self-destruction, but we have to deal with the reality we have inherited….We embrace it or become the causes and voices of social change remembering the law of Seven Generations…. Nor in our awakening can we allow the limited present consciousness to perpetuate. For we hold within us the voice of all the children of mankind crying for a vision and a return to a natural way of living in harmony with our Mother Earth. The way of harmony and goodness will rise again. It is a way where Spirit walks within the flesh, as God -man, God-womyn realized, aware of who we are, and why we are here.
The way will not be the same for everyone, as the elders have told us about this time. If as a humanity we choose not to turn around from the direction we are presently headed, we will all perish and all life forms upon this Earth along with us. There are many, perhaps at times it can seem that there are too many, People who stand idly by criticizing, not participating in the effort to remedy the pain and suffering. But fortunately there are those who have made the choice to correct the commonly accepted paradigm of greed, living in pollution, overpopulation and diseasement and corrupt social environment….There are those who have made the conscious choice to correct our environmental and social imbalances. Fortunately there are enough of us who have said we can live the dream; as well, we can perpetuate the nightmare….it is a matter of choice.
"Consciousness dictates the nature of reality……The future is being affected by each moment and how we elect to live in that moment. The Earth Changes are inevitable… they are already occurring.
The intensity of those changes? Well, that is entirely up to you. Look more closely at the moment, and the emotional storms, then to the clouds in the heavens - for here is where you make your destiny….”
Quote from Last Cry-Native American Prophecies and Tales of the End Times…
by Robert Ghost Wolf
The Metis-Mestizo People are the Rainbow Nation, Wigmunke Oyate, as the Lakota call us, and we remember through our newly awakened Spirituality only too well our connections to Ogwa wahannee… the winged beings from the stars. We are here and we are not going away. Nothing in this world can change the circumstance of our existence as spiritual beings having a human experience; we are tomorrow’s humanity.. We are the People, for the People and by the People. As Metis, we have already altered the consciousness of this planet to the extent that no longer can the gifts of the wisdom of natural Earth-based Spirituality be ignored, neither can our understandings be claimed by any secular group, for we represent the world. We are the voice of one Mother and one Father speaking through their children. And it has often been said that through the mouths of babes the truth shall be known.
Our ancient wisdoms which have stood for thousands of years, through all manner of civilizations who have danced upon this Earth, remains with us today alive in the memory of our heritage. This memory will work its medicine, where ever and whenever we are needed and called upon by our Mother. The Earth Mother herself is directing us, Gaia, our sacred Mother, is alive, and not an object or a thing that can be long abused without consequence. She is a living consciousness and we are an intricate part of her dream.. The Father himself is calling us now to The Awakening. As Metis, we know we have been here before in many expressions and playing out many roles in this Hu-man drama we call life. We know beyond question that almighty God is living man. For in every culture, the fibers of our Light touch all that we have been as they stretch to the potentiality of all that we can and will become. We are in every level of life, from hobos to blue-collar workers to those in positions of political and financial power, to the heads of new technology programs. We are starving upon the reservation encampments, in your city streets; and we are writing the music and the books; we are the voice that spills forth from the airwaves of the radio in the middle of the night….Can you feel us?
We are all about you.
We have standards living in this natural way. We are to be drug free; we abstain from or touch little strong drink. We do not abuse our families and never our children. We are a sovereign People who accept no handouts from the governments… that would only proliferate the weakness of the human condition by doing so. We are strong in our understanding of our Spirituality, however different from others and hold a basic social code consisting of Honor, Integrity and Love. This is an old code, a simple one that most seem to have forgotten. We who remember it ….walk the beauty path, even though at times it appears that we are walking through the burning ashes of a dying world and stepping over the bodies of those who refused to allow the change to occur and continue to deny the Quickening with their dying breath...
We do our ceremonies that the grandfathers and grandmothers themselves taught us so that the ways of the People would continue into forever. We hold the highest regard for our ceremonies, and through them find the deeper connection to all of life through touching the whole of life around us through our rituals. We hold a sacred perspective of life and our connection to all of the cosmos, for we understand the meaning that is in the words we are all one.. Aho Mitakyue Oyasin…And many of us are remembering who we are and where we came from.
Earth Mother has acknowledged us many times through ceremony giving us direction and answers where there appeared no logical way of continuing the struggle against ignorance and corruption. We have seen the miracle occur, and understand the words of the prophet “that with God, all things are possible..” Through ceremony we have seen some strong warnings, and all along that path the Prophecies left to us by our ancestors have proven themselves time and time again.
We are a People who often practice mixed modalities of Celtic, Native American, Buddhism, Mayan, African and Tibetan spirituality… It goes on, for we are a cosmic blending of genetics. But one thing we possess unilaterally is a common root belief that all the Earth is Sacred, all she created is Sacred, and life itself is a dream that is Sacred. It is time to end the separations between us; it is time for the children of one mother and father to come together. Our technologies as well as our Spiritual strength are needed in this time to turn around the cycle of self-destruction that we have been born into. The amount of courage it takes to face tomorrow with optimism and seeing the beauty cannot be measured. Evil is not a myth, mankind has created it as a reality, and it is to be found in the hearts of mankind themselves. It is a beast that lives within our shadow self. It has been birthed by fear-based ignorance and thrives upon our separation and conflict.
It is a fact acknowledged by both our world leaders and our scientists that change must occur or we are doomed as a species. It is our methodology which differs from those of scientific background. The challenge we face as a humanity, and the task before us, and how we deal with it must be Spirit-based. The solution must come from within; it cannot be conjured from the illusion without. It must be done with the understanding that we are creating a world where we will exist without fear, for we are forever.
In many ways by saying The Awakening, we mean that we are in a new Renaissance. The answer to the quest for Freedom and Spiritual fulfillment is nature based, and we are awakening to our ancient truths and wisdoms. There is a new pulse to the Mothers heartbeat. It is now moving forward and it is Quickening as it realigns itself with Source. The Promise of the eternal Mother and Father of us all shines as a beacon before us as we struggle to bring our crippled fleet home. And we, like migratory birds, are following the frequency of Source back home and it is a Great Mystery as to how this Great Miracle is unfolding. For some things are still beyond words…Are they not?
We follow not patriarchal hierarchies that have led us down this road of suffering under the tyranny of those who surrendered their souls for temporal material comforts and false social status. For we acknowledge the God within all beings, not the altered God born of the altered ego. Oppression of Hu-man Spirit and the enslavement of the Hu-man race is a policy that has seen its time. Separatism has seen its final hour and we are emerging from the age of darkness. Racism and separatism are beasts from the past that hold no place in the world that is emerging. Spirit and our communication with the Creator belongs to NO “ONE”… The big secret that the priests have been keeping from you all these years is that it belongs to EVERYONE. We are all children of one Mother-Father God.
Papa Fools Crow
"…..these powers and ways are given to us to be passed on to others. To think or do anything else is pure selfishness. We only keep them and get more by giving them away, and if we do not give them away we lose them.'
Chief Frank Fools Crow. Lakota Sioux
Chief Frank Fools Crow remains as one of the greatest of the Sioux Holy men and was a man-of-peace, who resurrected the Native Spirituality of the Lakota, Sioux in the 20th Century. . It was this man who first passed me my Sacred Pipe, my Chanupa, and blessed my path as a mixed-blood spiritual warrior. He was responsible for the rebirth of the Sun Dance, and the awakening to our Spiritual ways and along with those elders who assisted him and he never excluded anyone from ceremony because of their faith, their color, or their bloodline. Frank Fools Crow was gifted beyond reproach by Creator as evidenced by his Spirit calling abilities. He could sit before the stones in the Inipi (sweat lodge) and breathe into the stones the fire of life; they would glow red hot with heat and no physical fire was necessary. Often Fools Crow would travel many miles to hold ceremony for Natives and non-natives…. whoever so sought his counsel with good heart.
Fools Crow was, and remains a Spiritual Grandfather to all Metis…….and in so many ways he helped awaken the then sleeping Rainbow Nation, the Wigmunke Oyate. He, as well as the great men that stood by him such as Eagle Feathers, and the many Grandmothers who stood behind them, worked arduously and without self-compromise for the unity and co-operation of all Peoples.
Today we are finding the courage to cast off old fears and we are once again stepping out and catalyzing the advancement of the new consciousness which our children shall inherit as we enter the new millennium. In many places upon our Mother where once there was a vacuum, the energies of ceremony are awakening. Once again Mother is feeling the feet of her children dancing upon her. She is awakening to the sounds of their songs as they sing their spirit out to the universe, as once was done in the Good Old Days.
We are Metis-Mestizo People. As such, we are the Rainbow Nation, the Wigmunke Oyate. We are learning what Earth Mother has to say; she is teaching us what she desires; she is teaching us how she can be revered and protected. She is telling us what she needs and how to administer the cures for her and her children and the new life that is emerging upon this sacred place. We are listening to the Father and realizing there truly are many mansions in our Fathr’s house.. We are Starseed and as such the hope of tomorrow.
There are those who oppose us for we represent Change. It is not us they fear, it is the inevitability of Change confronting them with that with which they cannot deal. There are those who are stuck in old realities of separatism and racist madness, still following the patriarchal regimes of tyranny and fear created solely for the enslavement of the People.. To them I would say this: The consciousness we are passing out of was an imposed reality… it was synthetic… it was not a natural state of being, which is why it is falling away. It was built upon lies and twisted information taking from, rather than nurturing the People. Humanity has existed and been fed since the time of Constantine on false doctrines for the purposes of enslavement of a planet by tyrants, and this is their last waltz. We, the Metis-Mestizo People, are here to stay, for we are the Earth, we are Hu-man, and we know that Living God… is living man. Learn to expand your realities…Learn the oneness of it all ,or like the dinosaur you will only be spoken about in the classrooms of our children. ….
The 20th Century Poet Bob Dylan once said “..get out of the new world if you can’t lend a hand, your old road is rapidly aging,”…and as my Grandfather Black Elk would say, “Hanta Yo….clear the way! The day of God is coming!”
Grandmother’s message about the Pathway to Power….
When I was a in my teenage years Grandfather Jack took me under his wing. I was basically on my own since I was 15, and he loved me like a lost puppy. Over the years he taught me many things and opened my Shaman’s eye. Grandfather Jack was not an educated man, but he was one of the wisest males I have ever known. He believed in guiding children in the direction of their natural abilities, and felt that the Tunkashilas already had a plan in mind for each of us, even a tumble- weed like me. It was after being under his tutorage for some three years, that Grandfather Jack would bring me to meet a Sioux grandmother. Grandmother would then spend years trying to teach me what she knew about the old knowledge…. The knowledge of the old ones she called it. “The knowledge that the People have not shared yet openly with the world…We have been waiting for the right time.”
She would say. "It will not be commonly accepted. Most people, if they hear you know about this knowledge, will become frightened because truth is not a thing People accept easily these days. They prefer to hide in the shadows of knowledge, learning only the parts that feel comfortable and they can apply to their identities. People are so filled with what they think they are that there is no room for them to grow and realize what they really are…”.
I would ask her “What are we Grandmother?”
She would reply “We are Starseed…grandson.” My Grandmother was Nakota Sioux, and a Sundance Mother for 14 years. Her name was - Dekelshewa….. meaning Dark Corona of the Sun .
Then she would continue…”But because they do not know this, because they have not been taught this for a long time, they cannot be all they can be because they do not know all that they are. But nonetheless, they will be frightened of you and this knowledge. You must be careful; harm could come to you just for the knowing it. So until you are asked, you must keep this knowledge to yourself, and that will be hard also, for you will need great inner strength not to go and want to tell the world about it. You must learn to do and to be silent about how. Then you must become like the wind and become inaccessible. For one who remains inaccessible has no way of being boxed into a corner where they might have to defend their very life for knowing this knowledge. For often in defending we become offensive in the measures we take.
‘When you become discouraged along this journey, take a moment to remember standing naked beneath the stars, before the light of creation and knowing who you are. You will be discouraged many times along the path. You might even think about giving it up. No one is untouchable by their own self-doubt. Remember this, for discouragement will bring along with it fear, and fear can lock us away from our heart. And in the heart is the true perception, the true knowing. But when fear comes into our being, all appears as darkness, for only confusion exists in the reality that has no heart. Look at all your options and find the path with heart. This is the pathway you follow…….always! It is the only path….. it is the road home."
In time Grandmother brought me to other grandmothers… Lakota, Nakota, Cherokee, Apache, Shooshwap, Hopi, Oneida, Tiscarora, Navajo, Paiute, Ojibwa, Nambi, Ttaos .and the other pueblo People of New Mexico, even the Osage. She would get that look in her eyes and after a while I would know that a road trip was coming. It is from this circle that I, Ghost Wolf, was taught of the ancient mysteries of our People, the People of the Turtle Island. This Ancient Circle of Nokomis , the Grandmothers Circle, would over years give to me the understanding of the teachings of the old ones, and the way it used to be…The original teachings that were given to the People long ago, longer than their memories could recall. The ways that were given to us from the Creators…….before there were different People, we were all one people…….different colors, from different places on this Earth, but we were one People…...with one mother and one father.
Once I left the initiation, which was seven years in occurring, I would need to spend intimate time as an apprentice. I would be a spiritual guard for the elders, keeping my knowledge to myself, until I was given permission and told that I was now wise enough to speak of it. Most of my time would be spent in assisting them in silence, wherever, and whenever they needed me…It was decided by the Nokomis, that Dekelshewa….., would be the one to sponsor me. Dekelshewa adopted me Hunka (Making of relatives) in full ceremony. After I had fasted for four days, and had done purification ceremony for four days, they sent me on my vision quest, which lasted another four days, after which I was brought into the Circle and adopted by all of them.
After many years working closely with her and the other grandmothers, and Grandfathers as well, she would come to tell me on her death bed, "If I were a younger woman we would probably have become man and wife, and that would have been a mistake; it is better for both of us that I am your Grandmother. The Creator is wise for that is not the way things were to be so we came her at different times. It is for me to teach you all that I know that I have been holding here inside. In this way we have shared our souls.
"It is your contract with Great Mystery, Ghost Wolf, you agreed before you came into this plane that you would be one of those who would deliver the message of Great Spirit. You would become his word in the living example to help bring about the unity of the People. For it is only his word that can bring the People back into the oneness. For this world as we know it has had its day. We are nearing the end of this dream. We must learn now to create the new dream or there will be no hope for mankind. Everything has become corrupt; there is an evil essence upon the land as well as in the people. Look , Look up to the heavens ...(as she pointed to Ursa Major.)
“You call it the big dipper, but our People knew it as the great bear.” She pointed then to a specific star…."See that one there, that is where your magic comes from. What I have taught you will be of little consequence in the world of Wachitsu…those soulless beings! She murmured to herself, But remember, Wachitsu does not mean cursed white man. It means soulless one. Those who do not know who their mother is.”
She went on… “We have taught you of the Great Mystery, and the Wacoma tete., and his teachings of love, and kindness and compassion for all things, even your enemies. How he came and traveled all over this Turtle Island teaching the People to make newness from the old, to raise their Spiritual powers by walking away from sacrifice and learning the meaning of ritual offering. Growing in the oneness of all beings and the great plan of Mystery.
“The Prophet, the one the Lakota call Wacoma tete, knew what was coming to the people. He told them of the time when the younger brother would return from across the Eastern waters…in great vessels with white wings. He told them of the harshness of these times , and that very few would survive. It would seem to many in these time as though perhaps the whole of the world was swallowed in evil. But he promised us that this time would pass. That this time would turn then into a golden age, where he himself as the Spirit that was within him would return. And it would be as the snow falling , for it could not be stopped. And the Earth and her People would be purified from the evil cloud that was coming.
“He gave us the Ghost Dance, and he appointed Wavoka to be his messenger. Wavoka taught the word of Creator to many, even the Lakota came… Sitting Bull sent them. The Cheyenne sent their best medicine man, Porcupine, and there was a man who came with him who was also know as Sitting Bull who was Arapahoe… This Dance was originally the Buffalo dance, many tribes knew it as that . We would all gather and dance, and in that way we would have a means of touching the Sky, and bringing the Spirit world down to the Earth. It was a dance of gratitude which is why we Danced it with the Buffalo… Usually in a place where the cows would have their calves. And the ceremony was held under the full of the moon…so we would have the Grandmothers’ energies. I was told as a little girl that when they did the Great Ghost Dance, the Prophet Wacoma tete came himself for four days and nights. He came from out of a cloud that came and hid the People from the soldiers who were watching all those who had come to the Dance. The soldiers were afraid any time the people gathered, even if it was just to pray. But they say that Wacoma tete taught us that when one walks in gratitude then all manner of miracles manifest in their path. For when we hold gratitude close to our hearts we own it, and all we touch is blessed.
“ He did not bring easy words and he told them a time was coming where the People would forget their ways; they would forget even their language, like the buffalo they, too, would become scarce…He told them that the struggle would be long, but that one day far in the future there was coming a time that the People, and the Buffalo would return…He told that there would be these beings who would come in that time who would remind the Native People of their great heritage, and make them proud to be who they were. The People would hear the words of these beings and regain their dignity and begin to remember the teachings of the old times. And Great Spirit itself would come down and move through these People, for they would be the messengers. They would be the children of the old ones sent back to awaken us; they would teach us again the power of dreaming. For no thing can exist upon this plane unless we dream it. For this is the place of dreams. It is the place of becoming. Whatsoever we dream is how it shall be. There is no magic in this world because people no longer believe in magic. Therefore it is a no thing. Do you understand.” Her voice was barely a warm shrill by now.
“Great Spirit seems to be gone, but he never left, it only seems that way. for the People no longer dream of Great Spirit. This way you have been taught, I tell you is the key to unlock the doorways of the ancient ones. You must believe, and you must be able to get others to believe by your own example. Only a few will awaken…only a few. Do not let it break your heart. Live amongst the wilderness, and things which grow and live. Come to know the soul of the Earth, or else you will go mad living only inside your head. Remember the words of the Prophet……
“Many will fight your cause, some may even wish you death, for there were those who wished this even upon the Prophet himself. We are not the people we were a thousand years ago, never mind a hundred years ago. The Spirit ….the Tonal as you call it …of the People is broken. They are no longer at one with the breath that breathes through all living things upon this Earth. When this happens to enough of them they will begin to disappear from this plane. For they will not be able to deal with things that are coming. The Awakening will bring about many changes throughout the heavens, never mind the Earth. Life is much more than People allow themselves to see.
“Their hearts are closed to the knowingness. The Pal eOne… the
Prophet -King came to our People, the Sioux, and was called
Wa coma tete, the Lord of the Wind, with his teachings and with him came the glorious Toltec People, who stood almost seven feet tall and shone like the sun in their bronze skin and their garments of gold.
“You must speak truth regardless of consequence or you will lose your powers. Grandmother has chosen a very few and you are one of them that will carry out the message to the People….. You will travel through many worlds . In each one the People will tell you this is the only way. This is the way it is. But you will only get the truth from Grandmother…..She will come to you in dream time, at the store, while you are driving your car, and most of all at ceremony. She will talk with you at the strangest of moments , but only if you keep your heart open and your head clear and keep very quiet inside.
“It will be very hard for all of us in the days that are coming. Be wary for along the path there will be those who will try to intimidate you, and there will be many who will not want you to do these things, especially because you are lueska. You will be challenged every step along the way so you must remember the ways that have been shared with you. They are the ways of the People as we knew and practiced in our lives long ago. Now only a few practice these ways. For we are getting ready to leave this Earth we love so much. We are going to the place where we create the new World, the new Earth.
“You are lyeska. You are of mixed blood. There is another word for this.. it is . that is a French word. It comes all the way from the Grandmother Land. The French lived with us and took many native wives; they were called Metis. They adopted our ways, many times in preference to their own ways. Today there are many lyeska; you are like tumble weeds. Like Wolves. Everyone shoots at you. You must learn the ways of the lyeska, for they will be your people; your People will not be the Lakota even though your heart is.
“It is not so bad a thing to be born lyeska…. many famous people are lyeska. Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Rita Coolidge , Will Rodgers…..there was even a president who was lyeska but I forget his name now. I am getting old. It is Grandfather's plan I guess that your kind shall inherit both wisdoms. It is the lyeska that shall lead the people to the next world. But I am fearful for I do not see an easy road ahead for any of you."
It has not been an easy road. Dekelshewa was right. But it has been a good road. The way of the Metis is not chosen; one is born to into this path. Often we feel as total outsiders… Hated or loved by both realities, but never knowing a real home, thus many of us are called tumble weeds on the Res. Yet there is a gift in being born Metis. It is a gift that comes from Creator. We have no way so we become our own Light, our own compass. Otipemsiwak… we are those that own themselves.
This story is for all the Metis… the Mestizo. Know that we are a great and powerful People. We are the largest tribe in the world…. We are the new race. Throughout the Americas and Canada, the numbers that comprise the Metis are in the tens of millions. We are the largest tribe in the world. And we are not homeless dogs… we have a real heritage and ours is a heritage and a knowing that bridges many worlds.
In the Light………. Robert Ghost Wolf