"They say we have been here for 60,000 years, but it is much longer. We have been here since the time before time begin. We have come directly out of the Dreamtime of the Creative Ancestors. We have lived and kept the earth as it was on the First Day."

Anonymous Aboriginal Tribal Elder.

 Thunderbird has taken a variety of ancient teachings communicated to her over the years by many Elders and Traditional Teachers and off them in the language and rhythm of the modern world.

The Following Themes and Stories, among many others, are amplified in Teya Peya's Workshops and Speeches.   

WHAT DOES PEACE AND HARMONY REALLY MEAN?

Peace and harmony that rule the non-human world are the only laws capable of producing the same results in the human world. Law does not come from humans, it comes from nature. Have humans been ‘taught’ to behave in a way that is antithetical to their natural instincts, natural rhythms and feelings about their place in the world? Certainly Native people have been jarred loose from the way it was for sixty thousand years. Could there be an argument that this disconnect has extended to all humans? To what extent do all our adversarial and competitive institutions require us to act in this contrary way?

Sometimes situations, world events, occur that are not our choice, or so it seems -- that we have been victimized by a situation beyond our immediate control, something that is far beyond us. How do we reconcile the mind, body, emotions and spirit with the painful involvement in such unasked for manifestations. But, then, the Old Ones would answer that by say it was asked for in some manner and therefore we must deal with it. See below.

BLACK ELK SPEAKS

"So I dressed myself in a sacred manner, and I went among the people who were standing around the withered tree. Good thunder, who was a relative of my father and later married my mother, put his arms around me...and... he offered up a prayer for me.  He said: "Father, great Spirit, behold this boy! Your ways he shall see!" Then be began to cry....I raised my face up to keep them [the tears] back, but they came out just the same.  I cried with my whole heart, and while I cried I thought of my people in despair.  I thought of  my vision and how it was promised me that my people would have a place on this earth where they could be happy every day.  I thought of them on the wrong road now, but maybe they could be brought back into the hoop again and to the good road....

I danced....By now I was crazy to kill, and I said to Protector: "Help me on my horse! Let me go over there.  It is a good day to die, so I will go over there!" But Protector said: "No....Your people need you. There may be a better day to die"."

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU ASK FOR! Some Elders suggest that all that has manifested itself in world history was asked for at some level.  Those of us who are walking our earth walk, during such events must walk with strength, courage and wisdom, because we are needed as a counterbalance to that which is invading our world. 

No one is on this Earth who is not needed at this time. Our children need us; our families and other loved ones and our communities and nations need us. Here are some teachings that go back to the ancient brains of Thunderbird's Indigenous Ancestors:

• Speak what you know; Share what you know

• Share what you have, after-all it is only stuff, and you can always get more stuff

• Care about what you know and what you do and say;

• Raise your arms to the Universe and count to ten before you raise your voice in anger

• Do not shame: Do not blame

• Listen, really listen

• Take responsibility for your place in the world;

• Take ownership of your feelings and actions/reactions  

• Hug your family, Hug your friends and co-workers 

• Help the poor 

• Do not trivialize the normal tasks of everyday life for they are the sacred threads that hold us together

• Elevate the world. (See Respect below

• There is work to be done. There will be another time to find a better day to die

ANGER MUST NOT BE SHOWN 

After all it was considered your own. Your reaction to any situation was your responsibility. The minute anger was imposed on another person the receiver was being interfered with. In the time of the Ancestors, showing restraint regarding displays of anger was a survival tactic in that it facilitated a cohesion of spirit and good will in tribes and clans. This was very important because people lived within such close quarters, it was vital that anger and other negative behavior remain outside the group. 

Without the burden of anger, it became easier and possible to accept what was rather than what ought to be (that came later). Such conditions as blame, gossip, so-called statements of fact (actually judgmental assumptions) about someone were discouraged as they caused others to assume responsibility for someone else's feelings.  To comment on someone's behaviour was considered a gross breach of etiquette.

TALKING CIRCLE: Within a circle, and in the presence of the Talking Stick, the indulgence of personal hostility towards others threatened the viability and harmony of the circle and was actively discouraged. After all, the intent of a circular-based spirituality as manifested in a Talking Circle was not to have it dissolve into an adversarial, blaming/shaming debating society. It would defeat the whole purpose.

Back in the time of the tribes, the Ancestors did not interfere in any way with the rights, privileges, and activities of another person. Non-interference quite simply meant that we are not our sister's keeper; thus if someone was on the verge of making a mistake, or acting irresponsibly no action was taken unless the person was too young to understand, and then discipline was exacted in the form of a gentle story.  

Saving dignity and face was all important in Native cultures.  Removing oneself from interfering in another's life allowed each person to remain truthful, and forgiveness (which was acceptance of deeds and thoughts) became possible.  Thus the best way of raising children was by example, and by allowing children to make decisions at an early age. A mistake made became the child's responsibility and she would either learn from it or not.  It was her decision.  

In a circle, all members honoured and listened without comment or interruption to the story of each speaker. The speaker took all the time she needed. When the Talking Stick was passed to the next person, that person would never comment on the previous story, but speak only from her own truth. In other words, non-interference was practiced as each story was accepted and honoured as a teaching and a truth from the individual speaker. Each person, in other words, had the right to stand in her own truth in an atmosphere of sacredness and safety without risk of criticism, shame and judgment from others. 

This is the ethic of thoughtful consideration and consultation before a situation was acted upon. In other words, thoroughly thinking things through before any action was taken. This is the East on the Medicine Wheel, the Mental realm. Most tribes believe that a calm, thoughtful, consultative and measured approach to all things including crises was considered the wisest method.Ill-considered or hasty responses could end in someone being hurt or even dying.  

Therefore, there was an intentional slowing down, a conservation of energy in order to conserve physical, spiritual, emotional and physical energy, and to carefully consider all aspects of the situation.  More often than not, this was done in the form of speeches that contained only facts, not opinions. As the conversation went round and round, the repetitiveness of certain facts started to emerge and eventually become the consensus.  

Important: Consensus did not mean that most participants had to agree; It was not the end result that was important, but more the fact that everyone had had an opportunity to be involved in the process.  This method required enormous patience, respect and acute listening skills.

First Nations people did not generally fall all over themselves giving praise and thanks for good deeds done. In the time of the Ancestors, the highest form of praise was to simply ask that the doer continue on their present path. This was another one of those instances, where those who did not understand this type of interaction thought that Native people were unemotional, and therefore unappreciative of gifts or actions meant to elevate their lives. Not so. 

Native Culture was based on a history where moderation, balance and harmony were the keys to survival of the tribes. Thus, if one indulged in overt displays of praise and gratitude, then by definition, one had to engage in overt displays of disapproval or lack of appreciation, and these would be acts of interference. The overriding belief was that each person was respected for her talents and contributions to the overall well-being of the tribe.  There was no such person designated as the tribes "Praise-Giver" lest day-to-day tribal life end up being one very bad reality TV show?

When all the variables came together to provide the best result, then action was taken, for the time was right to do so. In the tribes, it was believed that each person needed to be prepared, emotionally, spiritually, mentally and physically for a successful conclusion of the action.  In other words, any action was not undertaken until there was total conviction that it could be performed successfully (hunt, raids).

There is a funny saying credited to Woody Allen:  "If you want to give God a good laugh, tell God your plans." In other words, it was understood by the Ancestors that the element of correct timing rested with the Great Mystery and not with each individual. 

So, often as Thunderbird has laid out her plans for short and long-term activities, The Great Mystery has intervened and asked, "Excuse me, did we have a discussion about this?" which was usually followed with, "I don’t think so. My world, My Rules, Your role is to listen and act." It would seem if humans came into this world knowing how little control there was on their overall stay here, they would be much better off. But, then, that is the journey isn’t it? 

To move around your personal medicine wheel, gathering knowledge and experience as you go, and when the time is right applying what you know, hopefully for the greater good of yourself, family, friends, ancestors, communities, Nations.

STORY
There were two fish with adjoining nests on the ocean floor. When one intruded into the other’s space, it was driven back. Over and over the two fish repelled one another until they floated motionless staring at one another across the new boundary that had been established between their territories. On the surface it appeared they were fighting over territory – but they did not actually engage in physical fighting! It was more a matter of each fish exercising its right to its own space. It was not the stronger dominating the weaker. In the end there was a tacit agreement to co-exist. It worked this way in the tribes, as each group established its territory. More often than not, there would be a lot of war whooping, threatening gestures, and charging forward and charging back, but no actual hand-to-hand combat took place. It was more a matter of demonstrating that they were strong enough to repel if forced.

RESPECT

In the world of Indigenous People, respect meant to feel or show honour or esteem for someone or something; to consider the well-being of, or to treat someone or something with deference or courtesy, never interfering with their right to walk their earth walk in the manner they so chose.

In the time of the Ancestors, every person, from the tiniest child to the oldest Elder was treated with respect at all times, with special honour given to Elders, Parents, Teachers and Community Elders. (See Tribal Hierarchies)

No person was shamed or 'put down'. People never spoke of others in a negative way for this interfered with their lives, and diminished the tribe.  The Anishinabe people believed that every thought and action that went out into the world, affected the next seven generations of family!!!

"Everyday people are straying from the Church 
and going back to God."
(Lenny Bruce, Comedian)

"No man with any sense of humour ever founded a religion."
 (Robert G. Ingersoll, Prose-Poems and Selections)

WHEN WE LOSE SOMETHING

When something precious is lost if affects all aspects of the earth walks. Native people almost lost their culture. This included:  Children being taken away to residential schools which resulted in virtual slavery, imprisonment and numerous types of emotional and sexual assaults at the hands of priests and nuns; the appropriation of ancestral land; loss of fishing and hunting rights; ceremonies; songs; food; regalia were outlawed.

There was a grieving process in all of this. Anger replaced the loss which was then expressed in two ways. External: individuals lash out at themselves, other people and things; Internal: Individuals could not speak out for one reason or another and the anger mounted - alcoholism, and other self-destructive substance abuse problems were an inevitable result when those living in fear and who did not have a voice to speak of their internal despair because they felt de-valued. Once rejected, depression takes over and results in hopelessness. What emerged was a 'fight or flight' attitude.  It is this sense of despair and hopelessness that Native people fight everyday.

Starting in 1850 and ending around 1880 close to 90 million buffalo were killed.  It was an effective way to bring the Plains First Nations to their knees.

Native people are currently in a stage of revitalization working hard to modify some of these destructive behaviour and return to a state of MENE-DOH (Ojibway): Spirit, air, food, water, safety, protection, rest, activity, sexuality, reproduction. 

It is important that all Free People of the World Find Ways, by Working, Loving and Staying Together to Return to a State of Mene-Doh

PEACE OF WILD THINGS

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound, in
fear of what my life and my children's lives may be.

I go and lie down where the wood drake rests
in his beauty on the water, and the great
heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things who do
not tax their lives with forethought of grief.
I come into the presence of still water and I
feel above me the day blind stars with their
light for a time.

 I rest in the grace of the world,
and  I am free.

(Wendall Berry)

A WORLD IN BALANCE

 A very abridged version of a Tsimshian Story about when all living things were in balance and harmony:

Long, long ago when the mountains grew tall and put on their dignity, they thought they were people.....

Long, long ago, when the fish swam in the rivers, and the birds flew in the sky among the stars bringing messages from The Creator, and animals roamed the great forests, they thought they were people....

Long, long ago, there were women and there were men and they thought they were people.
Long Long ago...

MEMORY AND THE POWERFUL SONG OF
DIVINE DISCONTENT

"'I did this’ says my memory, ‘I cannot have done this’, says my pride. Eventually the memory yields." (Nietzsche)

Within all of us is the constant struggle that occurs among the ego, guilt and a need for spiritual peace.  The 'G-word' - Guilt, that insatiable mischief-maker who sits at the source of our sense of unworthiness and with great glee often rewrites personal histories and memories until we believe the new world-view we have created for ourselves. 

The late humorist, Irma Bombeck once remarked that "Guilt is the gift that keeps on giving." Lack of self-worth causes the door to the truth to remain padlocked. The ego cries for peace, yet remains firmly entrenched in familiar patterns of self-deprivation and self-hate. The ego seeks and probes but insidious little voices whisper, "You are safe here in my dark heart, why change, it's what you know"; You are comfortable here and know your predictable responses"; "Do you really want to go into uncharted territory?"' "Stay with me, stay with me."  And so we do and remain within our perceived safe but illusory world.

When we honour our memories, we are hearing the truth of our existence. We are acknowledging the words of the Ancestors, we are respecting them - it is disrespectful to ignore the teachings from the Spirit World for it holds our memories, our personal history.

Each day we walk in the real world we remember our Ancestors and their lives which created our memories. It takes courage to do this because often the memories are things we want buried in the mists of time never to be brought into the light. However, if we continue to define ourselves by that which we do not want to see, we give it life and control and we become a walking, living bad dream in our illusory world.

But, when, we turn to that which frightens us and welcome and honour it as an integral part of our existence, after all, both good and bad memories have defined who we are at this moment in time, then we reclaim our lives, and the memory(s) no longer has the power to control our present reality. Our heads come up, we step forward with confidence and stride towards our endless personal horizons.

ON RECLAIMING PERSONAL POWER

FOUR THINGS STOPPING US FROM PERSONAL POWER
1. We are moving into a time of instantaneous creation; we will have a thought and feeling and our physical reality will instantly change (Internet/Web). We are aware of this already when we imagine future events taking a specific course and they do, or we think about someone and they call on the phone. All of us have seen examples of this type of creation in our everyday lives. We are starting to know what's going to happen before it does. This can be scary.

2. Most of us are hesitant to fully take our power is that we are not clear about how our lives would change. Fear of the unknown. Can we handle it? What if right now you were a thousand times more powerful? How would you be? How would that feel? What would you do with such power? Would you be safe? Would others be safe?

3. We don't realize we can create our own reality all by ourselves!! If we choose to we also have the ability to create with others. Most of us were taught and believe we must co-create with others. If we do not realize we are all creators, each of us on our own perfect life journey will tend to judge the creations of others based on how we believe they should create. Only when we first become responsible creators, aware of what we create in our own lives, can we truly co-create with another person.

4. We choose to ignore our First Impressions. If an answer comes, Do it or Don't do it, Yes or No comes in that flash of instant enlightenment we elect not to trust it. The answer came to fast, and like good Canadians (and Americans) we work hard to talk ourselves out of it. What we failed to recognize was in that instant, that light bulb moment it was Great Mystery Speaking!

We can have a relationship with ourselves and the wider world without others telling us how to do it.  We are each born with a 'perfect essential self', yet slowly over time we talk ourselves out of it as we buy into the dominant opinions and beliefs that surround us.  This conditioning starts at birth. As children we have not yet learned to cognitively think for ourselves and as a result we look to those around us for opinions and feelings from parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles. As we walk the earth walk this early conditioning can dominate our lives. It is the responsibility of each of us to keep our hearts open, and our eyes and ears sharp so that we can dance the individual dance, sing the songs and speak the words that will elevate our lives and those around us and yet still meld with the greater good.

With the gift of personal power comes responsibility and accountablity.  How we walk in the world reflects on ourselves and our communities.  How we conduct ourselves creates a positive or negative world view. 

Each person already has everything she needs to walk the earth walk. There will come the 'right' time when each person will align with the twin elements of Wisdom and Courage to tap into all these gifts.  Wisdom to know that a change needs to be made, and the Courage to execute the change(s). 

QUIETING THE MIND
Loving yourself, being compassionate, and creating are the most important reasons for being here on Earth. Never create when you are troubled. If you have a busy mind, get physical. The more physically active you are, the quieter and calmer your mind becomes. Another good way of quieting a busy mind is to look straight ahead and focus on something in the room. While keeping your head level, look up at the ceiling. This will immediately calm your emotions and quiet your mind. When you are calmer speak the following ALOUD.

This too shall pass
If I can endure for this minute whatever is happening to me
No matter how heavy my heart is or how dark the moment might be...
If I can but keep on believing what I know in my heart to be true,
That darkness will fade with morning and that this will pass away, too...
Then nothing can ever disturb me or fill me with uncertain fear,
For as sure as night brings dawning, my morning is bound to appear
Anonymous

Wisdom (East on the Medicine Wheel) is understanding the interconnectedness of all things. For women, the image of the one who cares for both future generations and the ancestors begins to emerge during menopause. The wisdom, no matter what path you are walking, is to pray for the world to wake up and acknowledge that we are one very large family.

Having wisdom is different from having information. Information comes in pieces; wisdom sees the pattern that connects the pieces, the great rounds of birth and death and rebirth. Information is from the mind and from the mind; wisdom is from and for the heart and soul. For example, for women, acknowledging menopause as an important rite of passage affirms the extraordinary changes a woman undergoes at this time. 

For more on Women's Health

SPIRIT AND SOUL
The spirit was meant to pour through  the soul and all matter, like water. The soul is boundless and not trapped in the body. The campfires of our Ancestors are the stars (the nearer stars are the new ancestors; distant stars are the old ancestors). 

Our spirits go back before time was measured. Each of us possesses an ancient brain filled with knowledge and wisdom that will enhance our lives today.

 Look to the endless sky and see the dream time.  Call your ancestors with a rattle.  They will come and be with you in time of plenty and in time of need for they are the mirrors to your past, present and to your future.  

BAD MEDICINE/GOOD MEDICINE

Gossip, Jealousy, Suspicion, Resentment are the most destructive ways that we look at each other; such negativity only serves to fracture our personal power.  The  'Power-over' mentality, that is, attempting to power oneself another in order to achieve personal validation at their expense only serves to limit one's own personal horizon instead of expanding it.  Each person is part of an harmonious world, a world of our own making.  It is up to each person to do something to change the world and make it a caring/sharing place. 

If we do not endeavour to raise the collective consciousness of Mother Earth then we are reduced to the full-time job of constantly looking for victims from which to suck the blood of their personal power to try and maintain our own.  It is exhausting and destructive to become 'Vampires of the souls of others' because it only reinforces our personal fears and renders us unable to find our own way. We need only look inward and find vast resources of spiritual nectar with which to build and grow.

Humans were meant to sit in circles and look each other in the eyes, to share stories in a non-intrusive and respectful manner. Singing with the Spirits sounds better with a Chorus of voices singing in harmony, or unison, but always together!

TO BE A HEALER

One does not have to climb mountains, fast for 40 days and nights, and have a near death experience in order to receive spiritual enlightenment or a vision. If a person drinks for 20 years and then quits, it requires tremendous discipline to change this 'near death' experience and embark on a new path.  In other words, whereas it took someone 4 or 8 days to receive a message, it took the alcoholic 20 years - time is relative because it is The Creator's business and The Creator's time. 

WATER

Water has a spirit. Water as it floods around the boat or around you as you swim or float, is speaking to you.  Water cleanses the physical body, the mind and the spirit.  Bathe in it, drink lots of it, do not take it for granted.  

To heal with water

All My Relations

HEALING - WEST COAST STYLE
The disease or problem becomes objectified in a symbolic fashion. It becomes an image, an animal or insect. To the Tsimshian these symbols are called CHARMS. A Spiritual Doctor would blow into a person's head to strengthen a weak soul and then fan the disease away with eagle feathers. Spirit Doctor's would also squirt cold water from her/h mouth onto diseased parts while Praying, drumming, singing, rattling.

THE CREE HAVE A HANDLE ON HEALING
 

Illness or any form of adversity is a predator. The bigger the predator (adversity), the
greater the reward.  Face the challenge and in so doing, reap the reward. Heya ho.

SINS OF THE SPIRIT STARTING WITH THE FOUR A'S AND OTHER THINGS

ACEDIA: Means inertia, cynicism, refusal to begin new things. The Soul closes down through tiredness. The opposite of this is ZEAL - energy, intense experience resting in the beauty of things. Falling in love with everything, life, earth, trees, land, water, sky.

ARROGANCE: (Not pride which is a good thing!) shows itself in racism, sexism, colonialism. "I am better than you because....." Rituals are needed to detox our arrogance. Racism has not been washed away at the level of the soul. After all, a soul with a superiority complex is a very small soul.

AVARICE: Greed for gain; knows no limits and extends to infinity. Infinity i.e. Spirit (Thomas Aquinas). Heart must be fed by the mind in order to love everyday. Mind, heart, and imagination instead of stocks, bonds and power is the path to the spirit. Love lasts -- stocks, well, you saw what happened to powerful corporations in the united States when ambition and greed overtook a more reasoned approach!!

ADDICTION: When lust takes over, such power holds the soul in a vise-like grip and narrows our personal horizons. Joy expands the heart. Without it there is no zeal, energy. There must a return of the fire to be Warriors of Peace.

DESPAIR: Lose hope and often self-destruction and violence towards self and others are the inevitable result.

FEAR: Carries us away from our path; it can be wielded to control other people, but at the same time, fear locks us into a box. "Those in great fear pay no attention to the suffering of others". (Thomas Aquinas) "Fear is the building of walls around the heart so love cannot enter." (Lakota Elder), "Very little can be accomplished under the specter of fear." (Florence Nightingale).

FALL OF THE GODDESS: Mothers quelled their daughters' passion in order to save their lives. 300 years later the winners have rewritten history. To change requires 'will' and 'cooperation'. However, anything is possible when you own and honour the possibility. In other words, if you own what you know, then time and space does not matter. Western minds militate against the possibility of getting well. However, one does not have to be cured to be healed.

FIVE NATIVE BELIEFS

EACH INDIVIDUAL IS A GOOD PERSON - "How do you know you are a good person?" "What are the attributes of a good person?" (Universal respect (non-judgemental); Fairness to all; compassion/love; honesty; trustworthy; integrity; consciousness; accountability; sharing; courage; wisdom; honour, able to listen in an unbiased manner, supportive, generosity).

"Let neither cold, hunger, nor pain, nor the fear of them, neither the bristling teeth of danger nor the very jaws of death itself, prevent you from doing a good deed......" (Dr Charles Alexander Eastman, in 1911, Born Ohiyesa (The Winner) of the Santee Sioux, in 1858, a great speaker and one of the first Native Americans to received a PhD)

EACH PERSON IS GOOD ENOUGH - that each person’s value is for their existence and not, basically, for what they have, what they do and what they do not do. The circular-based nature of Native spirituality shows that all people were created equal; that each had a special and unique gift that was respected and celebrated. The tribe hummed because all those gifts were brought to the daily dance of survival. 

"Learn how to withhold judgment Learn to listen Get in touch with your own inner self Look at life with joy Don't ever cry over something that cannot cry over you."
(Elder, Cheewa James, Modoc)

EACH PERSON IS LOVABLE AND LOVED - each person is unique - There is only one person in the world with your name and face; it makes each person unique in the universe. In the tribes everyone was loved, everyone was supported; the children were gently raised and loved madly. As a result, the support system was such that the need for validation, compliments, public recognition, accolades were not things that were seen as necessary to the enhancement of a person’s life. 

"Whenever the white man treats the Indian as they treat each other we will have no more wars.  We shall all be alike -- brothers of one father and one mother, with one sky above us and one country around us, and on government for all."
(Chief Joseph, 1840-1904)

EACH PERSON BELONGS - Native people have trouble with this because they are mired in a dominant non-Native society. The advantage of being tribal is that not only do they have a tribe, but they have have a band (or house). Thunderbird is not only Coast Tsimshian, she has her band (Giluts’aaw) and her house (Niis-gumiik) - it creates for her a sense of belonging. This is the essential importance of basic cultural beliefs. When these were taken away, Native people found themselves adrift in an uncertain sea of outside influences not of their own making. A sense of rootedness in a world gone awry is something that all people seek - a need to say, "this is my place, this is where I belong. This is where I feel safe."

"The Indian loved to come into sympathy and spiritual communion with his brothers of the animal kingdom, whose inarticulate souls had for him something of the sinless purity that we attribute to the innocent and irresponsible child. He had faith in their instincts, as in a mysterious wisdom given from above; and while he humbly accepted the supposedly voluntary sacrifice of their bodies to preserve his own, he paid homage to their spirits in prescribed prayers and offerings." (Eastman)

EACH PERSON IS CONNECTED TO THE UNIVERSE - Most humans do not have a sense or feeling of being connected to the universe. But the Universe is Breath, we breathe, therefore we are connected. New air is in the lungs all the time; where was that breath two months ago? Was it in a penguin on the South Pole? A zebra in Africa? A panda in China or a polar bear at the North Pole? Was it in an elk or a hawk or a salmon or a porpoise? Where was it? We're all connected by breath, we're all one within each other, and that breath comes from the Great Mystery. That breath brings us to our home within our heart. Breath is the connection and the relation to each other; we are relatives with the winged, the finned, the shelled, the crawlers, the four and two-leggeds. It is comforting to know that we are not alone.

"... I have seen that in any great undertaking it is not enough for a man to depend simply upon himself."
(Lone Man (Isna-la-wica) Teton Lakhota)

FOR TEACHINGS ON THE DRUM    WORLD OF THE SUPERNATURAL  

FOR SACRED SYMBOLS AND MEANINGS  

DREAM TIME: REMEMBERING YOUR DAY AND NIGHT DREAMS

• Visualize an old stone well
  • You rest beside Well, say the following:
  • “This is the well of (say your name) unconscious”
  • Relax
  • Imagine pen and paper and start writing:
  • I, (Say Your Name) release whatever I need to release and accept whatever I need to accept to remember my dreams now.
  • In your mind, sign and date the note
  • Fold the note into small square
  • Drop it into the well of your unconscious
  
  • Watch the note as it floats down, getting smaller and smaller until it disappears.
  • Imagine you are in bed sleeping (if you are daydreaming).
  • It is a peaceful and restful night
  • Imagine yourself beginning to experience a dream
  • Make it a simple dream
  • Be acutely aware of the details
  • Imagine waking up and being excited at remembering it
  • Imagine recording the dream
  • Feel the sense of pride
  • Let the feeling flow through you
  • then allow yourself to drift off to a dream-filled sleep.
   

WORLD OF THE SUPERNATURAL 

WORLD OF THE INDIGENOUS STORYTELLING   

PROPHECIES AND TEACHINGS

First Nations Symbols and Their Meanings  

Tribal Spirituality

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