Blue Thunder Boise Earth Healings 2007 Boise Earth Healings 2008 Spoken Truth
Niyawehnsie Peacemaker Teachings Thanksgiving Address Crystal Mountain 2008
Earth Mother Crying Prophecy Earth Wisdom Crystal Mountain Medicine Wheel 2009
Statement Regarding Sedona Sweat
Lodge Deaths in October, 2009
by Chief Arvol Looking Horse
19th Generation Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe Bundle
As Keeper of our Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe Bundle, I am concerned for
the 2 deaths and illnesses of the many people that participated in a sweat
lodge in Sedona, Arizona that brought our sacred rite under fire in the
news. I would like to clarify that this lodge and many others, are not our
ceremonial way of life, because of the way they are being conducted. My
prayers go out for their families and loved ones for their loss.
Our ceremonies are about life and healing, from the time this ancient
ceremonial rite was given to our people, never has death been a part of our
inikag a (life within) when conducted properly. Today the rite is
interpreted as a sweat lodge, it is much more then that. So the term does
not fit our real meaning of purification.
Inikag¹a is the oldest ceremony brought to us by Wakan Tanka (Great Spirit).
19 generations ago, the Lakota/Dakota/Nakota Oyate (people), were given
seven sacred rites of healing by a Spirit Woman Pte San Win (White Buffalo
Calf Woman). She brought these rites along with our sacred C¹anupa (pipe) to
our People, when our ancestors were suffering from a difficult time. It was
also brought for the future to help us for much more difficult times to
come. They were brought to help us stay connected to who we are as a
traditional cultural People. The values of conduct are very strict in any
of these ceremonies, because we work with spirit. The way the Creator,
Wakan Tanka told us; that if we stay humble and sincere, we will keep that
connection with the inyan oyate (the stone people), who we call the
Grandfathers, to be able to heal our selves and loved ones. We have a
³gift² of prayer and healing and have to stay humble with our Unc¹i Maka
(Grandmother Earth) and with one another. The inikag¹a is used in all of the
seven sacred rites to prepare and finish the ceremonies, along with the
sacred eagle feather. The feather represents the sacred knowledge of our
ancestors.
Our First Nations People have to earn the right to pour the mini wic¹oni
(water of life) upon the inyan oyate (the stone people) in creating Inikag¹a
- by going on the vision quest for four years and four years Sundance. Then
you are put through a ceremony to be painted - to recognize that you have
now earned that right to take care of someone¹s life through purification.
They should also be able to understand our sacred language, to be able to
understand the messages from the Grandfathers, because they are ancient,
they are our spirit ancestors. They walk and teach the values of our
culture; in being humble, wise, caring and compassionate.
What has happened in the news with the make shift sauna called the sweat
lodge is not our ceremonial way of life!
When you do ceremony - you can not have money on your mind. We deal with the
pure sincere energy to create healing that comes from everyone in that
circle of ceremony. The heart and mind must be connected. When you involve
money, it changes the energy of healing. The person wants to get what they
paid for; the Spirit Grandfathers will not be there, our way of life is now
being exploited! You do more damage then good. No² mention² of monetary
energy should exist in healing, not even with a can of love donations. When
that energy exists, they will not even come. Only Œafter¹ the ceremony,
between the person that is being healed and the Intercessor who has helped
connect with the Great Spirit, the energy of money can be given out of
appreciation. That exchange of energy is from the heart; it is private and
does not involve the Grandfathers! Whatever gift of appreciation the person
who received the help, can now give the Intercessor what ever they feel
their healing is worth.
In our Prophesy of the White Buffalo Calf Woman, she told us that she would
return and stand upon the earth when we are having a hard time. In 1994 this
began to happen with the birth of the white buffalo, not only their nation,
but many animal nations began to show their sacred color, which is white.
She predicted that at this time there would be many changes upon Grandmother
Earth. There would be things that we never experienced or heard of before;
climate changes, earth changes, diseases, disrespect for life and one
another would be shocking and there would be also many false prophets!
My Grandmother that passed the bundle to me said I would be the last Keeper
if the Oyate (people) do not straighten up. The assaults upon Grandmother
Earth are horrendous, the assaults toward one another was not in our
culture, the assaults against our People (Oyate) have been termed as
genocide, and now we are experiencing spiritual genocide!
Because of the problems that began to arise with our rebirth of being able
to do our ceremonies in the open since the Freedom of Religion Act of 1978,
our Elders began talking to me about the abuses they seen in our ceremonial
way of life, which was once very strict. After many years of witnessing
their warnings, we held a meeting to address this very issue of lack of
protocol in our ceremonies. After reaching an agreement of addressing the
misconduct of our ceremonies and reminding of the proper protocols, a
statement was made in March 2003. Every effort was made to insure our way
of life of who we are as traditional cultural People was made, because these
ways are for our future and all life upon the Grandmother Earth (Mitakuye
Oyasin All my relations), so that they may have good health. Because these
atrocities are being mocked and practiced all over the world, there was even
a film we made called ³Spirits for Sale².
The non-native people have a right to seek help from our ³First Nation
Intercessors² for good health and well-being, it is up to that Intercessor.
That is a privilege for all People that we gift for being able to have good
health and understand that their protocol is to have respect and appreciate
what we have to share. The First Nations Intercessor has to earn that right
to our ceremonial way of life in the ways I have explained.
At this time, I would like to ask all Nations upon Grandmother Earth to
please respect our sacred ceremonial way of life and stop the exploitation
of our Tunka Oyate (Spiritual Grandfathers).
In a Sacred Hoop of Life, where there is no ending and no beginning!
Namah u yo (hear my words),
Chief Arvol Looking Horse, 19th Generation Keeper of the Sacred White
Buffalo Calf Pipe Bundle.
A
Message From Chief Arvol Looking Horse
October 2006
The Gwich'in Nation has had to face oil drilling in
the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge coastal plain, also known to the Gwich'in as "Where life begins!"
The coastal plain is the birthplace of many life forms of the Animal
Nations. The death of these Animal Nations will destroy Indigenous Nations
in this territory.
As these destructive developments continue all over the world, we will
witness many more extinct Human Nations, because of mankind's misuse of
power and their lack of understanding of the "balance of life."
The Indigenous people warn that these destructive developments will cause
havoc globally. There are many, many more Indigenous awarenesses and
knowledge about Mother Earth's Sacred Sites, her Chakras, connections to our
spirit that will surely affect our future generations.
There needs to be a fast move toward other forms of energy that are safe
for all Nations upon Mother Earth. We need to understand the types of minds
that are continuing to destroy the spirit of our whole global community.
Unless we do this, the powers of destruction will overwhelm us. Our
Ancestors foretold that water would someday be for sale. Back then, this was
hard to believe, since the water was so plentiful, so pure, and so full of
energy, nutrition, and spirit.
Today we have to buy pure water, and even then the nutritional minerals have
been taken out; it's just empty liquid. Someday water will be like gold, too
expensive to afford.
Not everyone will have the right to drink safe water. We fail to appreciate
and honor our Sacred Sites, ripping out the minerals and gifts that lay
underneath them as if Mother Earth were simply a resource, instead of the
Source of Life itself.
Attacking Nations and having to utilize more resources to carry out
destruction in the name of peace is not the answer! We need to understand
how all these decisions affect the Global Nation; we will not be immune to
its repercussions. Allowing continual contamination of our food and land is
affecting the way we think.
A "disease of the mind" has set in world leaders and many members of our
global community, with their belief that a solution of retaliation and
destruction of peoples will bring Peace.
In our Prophecies it is told that we are now at the crossroads: Either unite
spiritually as a Global Nation, or be faced with chaos, disasters, diseases,
and tears from our relatives' eyes.
We are the only species that is destroying the Source of Life, meaning
Mother Earth, in the name of power, mineral resources, and ownership of
land, using chemicals and methods of warfare that are doing irreversible
damage, as Mother Earth is becoming tired and cannot sustain any more
impacts of war.
I ask you to join me on this endeavor. Our vision is for the Peoples of all
continents, regardless of their beliefs in the Creator, to come together as
one at their Sacred Sites to pray and meditate and commune with one another
thus promoting an energy shift to heal our Mother Earth and achieve a
universal consciousness toward attaining Peace.
As each day passes, I ask all Nations to begin a global effort, and remember
to give thanks for the Sacred Food that has been gifted to us by our Mother
Earth, so the nutritional energy of medicine can be guided to heal our
minds and spirits.
This new millennium will usher in an age of harmony or it will bring the end
of life as we know it. Starvation, war, and toxic waste have been the
hallmark of the Great Myth of Progress and Development that ruled the last
millennium.
To us, as caretakers of the heart of Mother Earth, falls the responsibility
of turning back the powers of destruction. You yourself are the one who
must decide.
You alone - and only you - can make this crucial choice, to walk in honor or
to dishonor your relatives. On your decision depends the fate of the entire
World.
Each of us is put here in this time and this place to personally decide the
future of humankind.
Did you think the Creator would create unnecessary people in a time of such
terrible danger?
Know that you yourself are essential to this World.
Believe that!
Understand both the blessing and the burden of that.
You yourself are desperately needed to save the soul of this World.
Did you think you were put here for something less?
In a Sacred Hoop of Life, there is no beginning and
no ending!
Chief Arvol Looking Horse
How the Lakota People Received the Pipe
from "Black Elk Speaks"
Standing High Hollow Horn, leader of the people, sent two young Lakota men on foot to hunt. The men were returning empty-handed when they climbed a high hill to scan the whole country. In the distance they saw a beautiful young woman who floated as she walked toward them. She was very beautiful, her long hair hanging down, and she wore a fine white buckskin dress. She was so beautiful, that one young man desired her and said so. The other hunter said that he should not talk so as this was a Wakan woman, a Holy woman,
As the woman arrived she knew their thoughts and she beckoned the Evil minded young man to come to her where a cloud overcame them. When the cloud lifted, she stood alone and at her feet were a pile of bones with horrible snakes crawling over them.
She then told the man with the Good mind to return to his people and tell them she was coming. When she arrived, the woman carried a sacred bundle that was wrapped in sage. She gave to the people seven sacred rites, among them the rite of the sacred pipe which she carried in the sacred bundle. She gave this to the people and taught them how to use it.
"With this holy pipe, you will walk the Earth; for the Earth is your Grandmother and Mother, and she is sacred. Every step that is taken upon her should be like a living prayer," she said.
"The bowl of the pipe was made of the red stone. It represents the earth that bears and feeds us. On one side was carved a bison calf which represents the four legged on the earth..
The stem of the pipe is wood and represents all that grows upon the earth.
These twelve Eagle feathers hanging from the stem mean the sky and the twelve moons. The feathers are for the Spotted Golden Eagle and represents the winged peoples in the air. All these peoples and all the things of the universe are joined to you who smoke this pipe--all send their voices to the Great Spirit."
" This Earth which He has given to you is red, and the two-legged who live upon the Earth are red; and the Great Spirit has also given to you a red day, and red road. All this is sacred, so do not forget! Every dawn as it comes is a holy event, and every day is holy, for the light comes from your Father Wakan-Takan; and also you must always remember that the two-legged and all the other peoples who stand upon this earth are sacred and should be treated as such.…… Wakan-Takan has given you seven days to send your voices to Him."
The woman also told the Sioux about the value of buffalo, women and children. "You are from the Mother Earth," she told the women. " And like the Mother, women bring forth the continuance of life. What you are doing is as great as what the warriors do."
The sacred woman then started to leave the lodge, but turning again to Standing Hollow Horn, she said: "Behold this pipe! Always remember how sacred it is, and treat it as such, for it will take you to the End. Remember, in me is there are four ages. I am leaving now, but I shall look back upon your people in every age, and at the End I shall return. Moving around the lodge in a sun-wise manner, the mysterious woman left, but after walking a short distance she looked back towards the people and sat down. When she rose, the people were amazed to see that she had become a young white buffalo calf, then this calf walked farther, lay down, and rolled, and become a black buffalo, then the calf walked farther, lay down, and rolled, and become a red buffalo, then the calf walked farther, lay down, and rolled, and become a yellow buffalo, then the calf walked farther, lay down, and rolled, and become a white buffalo. This buffalo then walked farther away from the people, stopped, and after bowing to each of the four quarters of the universe, disappeared over the hill.
Through the pipe ceremony, all men would become brothers and peace would exist in them and between them.
Miracle
1994-2004
In 1994, Miracle, the White Buffalo Calf was born. She was heralded as the fulfillment of Prophecy. She was born on the morning of the last day of the Sioux4 Sun Dance. Floyd Hand "Looks for Buffalo" a Spiritual leader of the people had prophesied Her birth. The Lakota had invited the spiritual leaders of many other tribes like the Iroquois and Hopi to join in their Sun Dance.
Soon after Her birth, Miracle began to change colors. An outcry was heard that she was not a true albino and could not be the chosen one. Miracle would eventually change from white to black, red, yellow and back to white.
To best understand this Prophecy, it is best to hear it from the famous Oglala Sioux Holy Man, Black Elk.
"In the great vision which came to me in my youth, when I had known only nine winters, there was something which has seemed to me to be of greater and greater importance as the moons have passed by. It is about our sacred pipe and its importance to our People."
"We have been told by the white men, or at least by those who are Christian, that God sent to men His Son, who would restore Order and Peace upon the Earth: and we have been told that Jesus the Christ was crucified, but that he shall come again at the Last Judgment, the end of the world or cycle. This I understand and know that it is true, but the white men should know that for the red people too, it was the Will of Wakan-Tanka, the Great Spirit, that an animal turn itself into a two-legged person in order to bring the most Holy Pipe to His People; and we too were taught that this White Buffalo Calf Woman, who brought our sacred pipe, will appear again at the end of the "world", a coming which we Indians know is now not very far off…"
"Most people call it a "Peace Pipe," yet now there is no Peace on Earth or even between neighbors, and I have been told that it has been a long time since there has been Peace in the world. There is much talk of Peace among the Christians, yet this is just talk. Perhaps it may be, and this is my prayer that through our Sacred Pipe, Peace may come to those peoples who can understand, an understanding which must be of the heart and not of the head alone. Then they will realize that we Indians know the One True God, and the we pray to Him continually…"
"I have wished to help my people understand the greatness and truth of our own tradition, and also to help in bringing Peace upon the Earth, not only among men, but within men and between the whole of creation. "
"We should understand well that all things are the works of the Great Spirit. We should know that He is within all things; the trees, the grasses, the rivers, the mountains, and all the four-legged animals, and the winged peoples; and even more important, we should understand that He is also above all these things and peoples. When we do understand all this deeply in our hearts, then we will fear, and love, and know the Great Spirit, and then we will be and act and live as He intends."5
1 Red Stone
is known as Calanite. It is found in only one place in the world, in
Pipestone Minn. This valley has been a valley of peace where even bitter
enemies called a truce in order to obtain the sacred stone. The stone is
said to be made of the blood of the people. when the stone is worked the
stone is said to smell of blood. At the quarry, the stone is covered with
earth after some has been removed. They say that when they go back to get
more stone that the stone taken before has been replaced. Because the stone
IS the blood of the people, Traditionalists are adamant against selling it.
2 Floyd Hand in his book "Learning Journey on the Red Road" states that
there are 13 Eagle Feathers and 13 moons. He also states that the White
Buffalo Calf Woman is the Same as Mother Mary.
3 Arvol Looking Horse is 19th generation to be keeper of the Sacred Pipe. He
hosts a Unity Ride and a World Day of Peace on June 21.
4 The word Sioux is used here as a general inclusive reference to the many
divisions of bands know as the Lakota, Dakota, Ogalala, Teton, etc.
5 Excerpt taken from "The Sacred Pipe" by Black Elk written by Joseph Brown.