BellaOnline Forums Travel and Culture Native American The Campfire Circle

Hello everyone,

I thank you for keeping the fires lit in my absence. Your words light up my heart, as the campfire lights up our souls...

It was a long three day fast, with very few answers given, but time put into meditation is always worthwhile. I now know the reason behind a few things that are going on in our world, and have found the direction I need to take for my future lessons to come about. This is all one could ask for.

I am seriously concerned with the state of Mother Earth's health at this time. It seems that earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and floods are all increasing, trying to make us all aware of how much damage we have caused. We can no longer ignore the global warming warnings, for it is upon us already. I'm strange because I feel that instead of fighting for more oil, or destroying more land for it, we should instead find other alternatives, and spend our resources in that direction. It saddens me that we still have coal-fired power plants, as well as nuclear ones, up and running, while they continue to destroy the Earth. Sometimes I think we need to just stop, take a days break, turn everything off, and find a way to start over. This is some of what I was contemplating in the Silence.

From one who has visions of our future possibilities, I am seriously concerned. I'll not share my nightmares, they are mine alone. However, I will say that without major change immediately, we are looking at a very grim future, and a terrible legacy to leave for the 7th Generation.

'Nuff said. Thanks for listening. Moving on now to brighter subjects and happier topics...

I want to thank everyone who has joined us at the campfire, feel free to share anything here that you feel comfortable sharing. We are all here to listen, learn, and to teach.

I have been seeing a lot of critters lately, in unusual circumstances. A dragonfly was trapped in our house the other night, and I went to let it outside before going to bed. It landed on my finger, and didn't want to leave. Yesterday, a hummingbird hovered outside my window, trying to get my attention. My mother I associate with the dragonfly, and my aunt who recently passed, with the hummingbird. I feel these are signs that they are there, watching over me, and sending their love. I think this moon is bringing the Spiritual World closer to ours. Has anyone else had any similar experiences in the last few days? Another odd occurrence was the Buddhist chanting I heard late last night.

Tomorrow, Sunday, is the full Thunder moon, at 8:48pm EDT. The veil between worlds thins, bringing the spiritual world closer to us. Connect with the Ancestors, Elders, or your loved ones on the Other Side during this time, you'll be glad you did! And know that they are always around us, it is us who doesn't notice...

I'll be back soon with another story to share. In the meantime, everyone have a wonderful Saturday!

DawnEagle....I've so been looking forward to your return. yes, these kinds of things are happening to me, too. My David says that pretty soon Mother will shake herself off, like a dog shaking off fleas....I think he's right. A few months ago, the crows started talking to me. I listened and an important thing happened. Weds night, an Elder that I've just begun spending time with (she is Raven medicine) emailed me to tell me she'll be at Serpent Mound (an earthworks very close to here....there was an enormous crop circle in the field next to it a couple of years ago....) and to meet her there if I cared to. On the way to work the next morning, the crows were back....hundreds of them in farmers fields....flying.....everywhere;so I started paying attention. When I arrived at work and went to my office you'll never guess what I found. One of the ladies at work found a crow's wing pointer feathers by her back door the evening before. They'd been moulted at the same time and dropped where she'd find them. She brought them to me and left a little note. Said she'd always heard it was good luck to find a feather and the first thing she thought of was 'these belong to Conni' so she brought them to me and layed them on my desk to find. I told her she couldn't have given me a more precious gift. I was contemplating not going to the mound tonight, but the feathers validated my need to go. I feel that since both feathers came to me is very significant and the fact that they are both pointers is VERY significant. I understand that crow watches over creation (at least in some traditions). Can you tell me your opinion of this?

I'm so glad you're back. I tried PM'ing you but I couldn't get it to work. How can I contact you privately?

Blessings of peace and love to you and all around this circle
Conni

yaateeh connidee,

You had asked how the lovely "Lakota" page came to be. It will please me to explain to you and all my friends here around the campfire. And does it not burn brightly with all adding their "sticks" to the fire?

Marlene had a made a beautiful page of "Amazing Grace" being sung in a native tongue. I had complimented her on it and she told me that if I sent her a song, she would make a page for me.
I sent her many songs, saying that "Lakota" was a favorite. And thus the page was born! *grin* Of course, I was thrilled!

And now, I must share with everyone the link for "Amazing Grace" for it is simply beautiful...
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Hello everyone,

I had problems getting into the forum Saturday night, did anyone else?

Well, I'm here now, let's answer some questions!

Crow, the left-handed guardian, is a master shapeshifter. He is also the holder of the Creator's Divine Laws. Divine Law is different that the law of the land. It is about morals and integrity that we must live up to, in order to be the person we were meant to be in this lifetime. I've always associated Crows with something significant that is about to happen, they will appear to give you a warning to pay attention.

Conni, I hope you went to Serpent Mounds...I think that was your message. I bet it was a magical experience!

Lot's to get accomplished today, so I am going to stop for now, and try to do some work. Such a gorgeous day, it might be difficult! I pray you all a wonderful and blessed day...

DawnEagle

I'll be back this evening with a bedtime story.

DawnEagle,
I went to the mound. My David went, too. The Elder we met there had requested just a few people be present to witness the buryiing of the serpent 'peace' pipe her husband made prior to it's birthing. It will come out of the ground next Saturday and be birthed at that time. Unfortunately, we won't be able to attend as we have a Drumming commitment. I don't know the inspiration of this pipe...only that it is for the People; she said hopefully all over the world...I suspect it will travel...and that it will be used to pray for peace. I need to know more and will email her later this evening. I will describe it to you all after it's birthing next week. It is truly a thing of beauty.

I'm only just learning about crow medicine. Yes, each time they've come to me something HAS happened. The 2 feathers are lying atop my bundle....I'm not sure what to do with them or why I have them.

Thank you for the information; waitin' for the story....got my cocoa mug ready. Will fill it with ice tea...too hot for cocoa. This humidity is a real bummer.

Peace to all,
Conni

I know I'm a little late for a bedtime story in most areas, but it's only 9:30 here... Hope you get to read this one tonight Conni - I know you were waiting on it! Get the cocoa ready, and somebody bring a snack to go with it...heehee! Here's your story, it's a good one, but I gotta warn you, tears may be involved... It's raining here and has been all evening, so cocoa sounds good to me about now...

Black Corn
A Lakota Legend

There once was a woman called Black Corn. She lived in a village surrounded by incredible beauty. There was beauty in the forest, in the plains, in the sky above and the earth below. Black Corn was very tall, taller than all of the other women of her village, indeed, taller than most of the men as well. Strong of limb she was and fair to see. Yet deep within were hidden deeper waters, roiling with discontent and..... Well, no one really knew what else, not even she.

Black Corn was very unhappy, she had so much love to give, yet could not seem to find the one to give it to. All she wanted to do is love someone and have someone love her. She loved her People dearly and did all she could for them, even to the point of sacrificing her own wants to help her People.

Many Gifts she had been given by Wakan Tanka, but could not seem to find them when she needed them the most. She was taunted by many for things she could not understand, she began believing, at first resistantly, then willingly that the lies and the actions were deserved. When she would gaze upon her image in the still waters of the pond, she would think "you are too direct, too tall, too strong, too much... well, too much everything! You have too much passion, too much love, too much... well, too much everything, and no one wants what you have to give!"

Yet the love she held inside for all the People was full to bursting within her breast and all she wanted was someone who would accept her love. All she wanted was for the People to accept her love and what she could give them. Down and down she went with no one to love, no People who wanted her love, or so she thought.

Then, one day, after a particularly difficult incident, she awakened as if from a dream and thought to herself "Why is it this way? What did I do that was so awful that I should be treated in this manner?" Deep inside herself she looked for an answer to these questions. Deeply, beyond all of the hurt, all of the pain that had been put upon her, behind the men who had used her without her consent, and eventually, as her self-respect dwindled, with her consent. So many judgments had been passed on her but none so harsh as what she had passed upon herself.

The deeper she looked, the uglier it became, and the faster the anger rose until it was full-blown rage. White hot the rage burned and coursed through her body. Blindingly it raged, but this too was another illusion. Yes, the rage was a deception, a shield to protect her from what laid beneath.

Finally she could hide no longer behind the rage and the sorrow that she had desperately tried to hide over the years. It came at her like a tidal wave and she stood defenseless in its path. She no longer had the strength to fight; nothing left to stem the flood, so she stood helpless in its path, no shield to protect her any longer.

Out she ran into the forest, hearing the tiny voice inside screaming in agony, dying, dying, dying, screaming NNNNNOOOOOOOOoooooooo... and she just knew that all she had ever thought that she was slowly dying a painful death. Finally, she could help herself no more and cried out in anguish, clutching at the pain in her breast, feeling herself slipping away. She cried out, in full voice, which held all of the pain and agony, begging, at her most pitiful for Wakan Tanka to take her away from this pain.

"Please, please Wakan Tanka, Tunkasila, I can bear this life, this pain, no more, it is too much, Please, please, take me home, please let me have peace!" And when she had finished crying out these words and prayers, and all of the ugliness that was inside her had been given voice, the sound so awful to hear that not even the animals or birds made a sound out of respect for her pain, she lay herself down on the damp sweet smelling forest floor. Her soul ripped open and flayed a bloody mess before her and before the Creator, she finally saw the truth.

It began when she was 7 summers old; she would go into the forest to play. One day a strange man came upon her and began to speak with her. His words were intriguing and he spoke of grown-up things that she liked to hear about. Eventually this stranger seduced her as a child, and as a child, not knowing any better, had allowed it. Many years would pass before Black Corn realized what had been done to her, and when she did realize, she issued a judgment so severe upon herself that she began to believe that she was unworthy of love. She lost all respect for herself and, indeed, this is what she projected unknowingly to everyone she came into contact with. The voices of the others that would taunt her were really reflections of her own voice within that she could not, until now, listen to.

In that moment of her defeat, laying on the forest floor, she began to see with clarity what was that made the People treat her as they were, and with that knowing, she began to cry, great heart wrenching cries that tore at the very fabric of her soul and thus began the cleansing process from within. She found that while she had forgiven that strange man his trespass against her, she had never forgiven herself for her part in it, she had never taken responsibility for it either, preferring to live in a fantasy in her mind that she had been the victim, all the while feeling the guilt of the participant. There had been one other who had used her in this fashion, a relative, who did not know of the first stranger. But by then, the damage to her soul had been done and, while not realizing why it was so, she allowed herself to be degraded even more by this second man.

After that, there was no room for self-respect or self love, feeling as she did that she was unworthy for the things she had done.

After the sobbing had subsided, Black Corn began to feel differently, having accepted everything that was ugly inside of her, she began to heal. Finally, after all of these years. It took a long time, but finally she was able to forgive herself as well as forgive those who took her unfairly and in bad faith, took her innocence and made something ugly out of it, all the while accepting her own responsibility in it as well. Finally she was able to forgive herself. With that forgiving, there was now room for love; all of the love she wanted to give the People was the love that she had been denying herself. Once she could learn to love herself and accept herself, she could also love the People much more than she ever thought possible, and the People rejoiced!

You see, they had always loved Black Corn, but because she did not love herself, she could not see this, she would not ever have seen it if she had not asked herself "why am I being treated this way". The answer was within her all the time.... This was Wakan Tanka's answer to her prayers; this was his gift to her.

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Good afternoon!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful day, and Grandfather Sun is shining brightly in your life this day.

I am popping in to tell you about what I have been up to while away from the forum.

I have a climate change blog in Yahoo360, that I have been posting to for about a year and a half now, and it is full of all kinds of climate change info, from links to news articles, from natural disasters and disease to hunger and poverty.

I am telling you about it because I have made my last blog post there today, and I want to tell you about the last post. It is called "Stop the World". This is an idea given to me in prayer by the Creator, a plan to Stop the World so that we can realize those things that are not needed in our lives, in order to create a better, more harmonious world, and live more in tune with the natural world. It is an effort to create awareness of climate change, and of our excesses.

To read more about this plan, please go check out the blog at:
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DawnEagle,
I read your blog...now if I can figure out how to send it to all in my email address book, I will send it to everyone I know. My David can help....he's one of those 'puter geeks.

I will try with everything I have to follow the example you've set in your blog. I promise, I will try.

Conni,

You are an angel, and your support with this is greatly appreciated. Anything you can do is wonderful. Thank you

btw, I posted a story for you, hope you didn't miss it above. It's called "Black Corn". Enjoy!

Many Hugs,

I, too, will do all that I can and shall pass the word to all that I know about your "Stop the World", DawnEagle. An idea who's time has come.....

I am pretty sure it was you who mentioned the book "NEITHER WOLF NOR DOG, ON FORGOTTEN ROADS WITH AN INDIAN ELDER", DawnEagle. I have read about half of it. What an Outstanding book! I only wish that all, all wasichu, would be "required" to read this. And oh! how I have cried! But I have laughed, as well. In fact, there are many emotions I have felt.

A line that I shall Never forget: "you have killed us without even taking our lives". Dan is an exceptional man. What a joy to hear his words.

I also have "THE WISDOM OF THE NATIVE AMERICANS" written by Kent Nerburn, as well. I do look forward to reading his other books.

pila mita, DawnEagle.
kimikaya