Ice SHELVES Have Fallen Into The Ocean

Hanh mitakuyapi. Hello my relatives.
If there are still skeptics "out there", yesterday's online headlines stated that an ice shelf the size of Massachusetts has fallen into the Arctic Ocean.
This redefines "scary" for any thinking person. For this horse-Indn ITI, it's scarier, because I am the woman who Dances The Four Winds - a prayer from Lakota Traditional spirituality to heal the Sacred Hoop of the world.
Everyone is a part of this hoop, as is every kind of People - the Standing Nation (plants, e.g.), the Rock Nation, the Water Nation, the Winged People, the Unktechhi (little monsters that live in warm, wet, dark places and make you very ill), the 2-Leggeds (humans), the 4-Leggeds, the no-Leggeds; - our Holy Mother the Earth and all we who live together on Her.
I Danced my obaghi (sacred commitment) twice, as the spirits directed me; giving flesh twice, overcame all the obstacles that tried to stop me, so far as I know. As in anything, I gave it my best shot, and pray it was good enough. The Elders said I did a good job. I trust them to know better than I, since when I'm in the ceremonial way, I'm between this world and the spirit world, so my perspective is different, to say the least.
So when I read that this huge block of incredibly ancient ice and snow has separated from the land it has been stuck to for thousands of years, I become very uncomfortable.
I realized when I made the obaghi that the world would still go through some radical changes. My prayer includes that no species becomes extinct as a result of these changes. But when confronted with a change as huge as an ice shelf the size of Massachusetts falling into the Arctic Ocean, I pray my prayer more often and with greater intensity than I have in the past.
This storehouse of data on the earth's history can't be put back, after all. Once it melts, all of that information will be lost forever.
You who read this are welcome to join me in praying for the healing of the Sacred Hoop of the world, since you, too, are a part of it. In the long run, after all, it's your skin you're praying to save & to keep from suffering unduly due to radical climate change, too.
Mitakuye oiasin.

Abstinence and You

Hanh mitakuyapi.
Republican VP nominee Palin is a big backer of the concept that the only viable sex-ed teaching is "abstinence only", and that it is the only "moral" way to teach our young about the facts of life. As we've seen in the case of her daughter (and thousands of other people), it doesn't work unless people abstain from fun in the sack, which just is not likely.
Until Sara Palin's daughter became pregnant, I have no doubt that Sara carried on to anyone who would listen about how her daughter would "never" do such a disgusting, immoral thing as play in the sack with a male before she was duly married. HAH!
Why Sara Palin would believe that her children are any more 'moral' than any others is beyond me, but to me, it says "Sara Palin, like everyone else of her ilk, lies about many things." 'Morality' in particular.
I thoroughly dislike this woman who is so irresponsible as to have 5 children in today's grossly over-populated world; who pontificates about her 'morality' and her "Christianity" and how she is a maverick. Methinks the lady doth proclaim too much - & at too high a level - about herself.
As for her daughter - How many 17-year-olds do you know of who are likely to abstain from this particular experimenting, given the number of periodicals dedicated to teenagers and how to "get/catch/trap a guy"? For that matter, how many people of any age? Not a large number, I expect.
What makes me laugh is how the "Christian wrong" crowd suddenly are "fully behind Sara & the daughter" in this matter - where just full breaths ago, they were ranting about 'morality' and 'immorality' and 'sex outside of marriage'. Notice how they refer to it as 'sex'?
They say, "I had sex" the same way you would say, "I had a sandwich". On rye, a hoagie, a bagel? Hm.
Long time ago I was a passenger in a car crash. The lead attorney for the insurance company was a woman of about 60. She had rubies & diamonds on all of her fingers & thumbs & kept twiddling them at me, the subliminal message being, "I have power over you".
This annoyed me, since we both knew she didn't, and I truly enjoy leading pompous arrogant people down the garden path - & watching them fall into a tiger pit. Really cracks me up.
This attorney finally asked me what kinds of things could I no longer do due to my injuries from the crash, compared to before it. I said, "I can no longer hike like I did, hunt like I did, ride horse like I did, and bed-sports aren't nearly as comfortable now."
She squinted her eyes, peered at me, then said in a dry, dusty voice, "Bed-sports. I don't think I know what that is."
I looked her slowly up & down & then said slowly, "I can believe that.."
The 6 male attorneys & the judge all caught it immediately & had a terrific time trying to squelch snorts & gurgles & laughter. She caught it about a minute later, & was she ever mad! I just smirked at her.
She snarled softly, "You think you're so0o smart; don't you!"
I replied, "Smart enough to know you're trying to play a mind game about who has more power, with your twiddling your fingers full of rubies and diamonds. And to show you plainly that your game isn't working on me."
The male attornies gasped. The judge arched his eyebrows & got a very thoughtful look on his face. She just sat there with smoke coming off her head. Someone later told me that this attorney was just not used to anyone talking back to her. She was a bully & most people suckered for her bullying. Luckily, I'm not most people, and neither are you.
Whether we're talking about Sara Palin or the female attorney, the orientation is the same. Both are unrealistic in their approach to romance, education about basic human "urges", and the expression of love that takes place in various places, but probably most often in beds. The "abstinence only" teaching does much to underscore the fact that accidents make people. But it doesn't work; & anyone who insists it does is lying to herself and to the rest of the world.
She won't get my vote.

Where Have I Been?!?!

Hanh mitakuyapi. I've been gone from this site since July. Have been striving to stay alive - literally. Between lousy income due to high fuel prices resulting in lots less hiring of my skills, and allergies that strike me out of the blue & flatten me, and trying to make a new means of income happen, I haven't had time to be here.
With luck, this will soon change for the better. I will try harder to update this oftener.. Thanks for your patience. It is much appreciated, more than words can show. Mitakuye oiasin.

Lessons from Fairy Tales

When I was a child, my Elders taught me European fairy tales - which used to be used to teach social value and life lessons to European children - in addition to our own D/Lakota legends. I grew up multi-cultural. Not merely "bi-"cultural - we lived on the non-Indn side of the Rez line, and there were a number of races and nationalities in the tiny town(s) I grew up in.
Some of those tales focussed on what happens when people toy with 'the system', and the chaos that invariably results. We are in the midst of at least 4 "crisis situations" in the U.S. right now - the ongoing attacks on the Constitution and Bill of Rights, the one regarding oil prices, the mortgage mess, and the ethics mess - especially as concerns equal enforcement of laws and behavior of "leaders", also called "people in authority".
The so-called patriot Act is not in the least patriotic. It is a deep-diving, dedicated effort by people who manipulated facts and situations to get - or allow - the September 11th, 2001 attacks to happen so crazy people in high offices could undermine - even eliminate - the Bill of Rights, at least for the main run of the U.S. population. If the people who pulled this off were not in high offices, they would be in mental wards, I firmly believe. Recently, a revised version of FISA was passed by Congress, and it is as un-Constitutional a piece of legislation as I have ever seen or heard of. And the mass of "the American people" haven't said 'boo' against it.
If this had happened 20-30 years ago, there would have been riots in the streets. As there should be.
Recently, someone wondered out loud, why there has been so little outrage at this. My reply was, "Drugs; particularly marijuana. After all, it is the drug of choice for euthanizing elderlies in China, because it destroys a person's will to compete and drive to win. It makes them complacent. And since any kind of second-hand smoke has been proven to be at least as dangerous as first-hand smoke, not merely smoke from tobacco, the children of dope users have grown up without the normal drive to compete and will to win."
Think about that, readers.. Between drugs like marijuana and the great push by pharmaceutical companies to get huge numbers of hcildren on sedatives and tranquilizers, at least one generation has grown up with a decreased competitive spirit and will to win. Of course this carries over into the rest of a person's life.
The oil-price mess and the mortgage mess are both the product of irresponsible people toying with the system - proving that one person can have a big effect.. as well as appealing to these people's egos, while causing chaos. Isn't it odd to you that people who obviously don't have the credit history (not 'score') or income to carry a huge mortgage are just handed them? Bankers don't hand out money; why would they hand out huge mortgages? Unless of course, they were simply behaving in a childish fashion, focussing on 'making' money without ethical considerations, or consideration of the domino effect.. Nothing is truly isolated from anything else in the universe, after all.. Even less so then in a country.
The ethics scandals that have popped up virtually weekly in every segment of the U.S. are part of this ugly scenario. They stem from improper socialization and a deep lack of the elders having taught the children to consider more than just themselves.
The result is chaos, and a major flirtation with major recession and the toppling of the economic stability everyone craves.
Once again, we has met the enemy and s/he is us, takoszja. Now we need to put our heads together and figure out creative ways to pull things back into alignment. The first of which, I believe, is to ditch the 'me first' attitude that has been so prevalent for so long, and do major studies of and committment to the concept of "co-operation".
No one really does anything major alone, after all..

About Custer and Independence

On June 25, 1876, a thug commissioned in the U.S. Army and 200-some goons under his command attacked yet another peaceful Indn camp - but this time, instead of slaughtering The People, these hired goons got what they deserved. Today, we ITI commemorate this as the Battle of the Greasy Grass. White people commemorate this as the Battle of the Little Bighorn or Custer's Last Stand. We won the battle, but because our ITI cultures were not oriented to annihilation and the Euro-'American' culture was, we didn't win the war.
The war isn't over, however. It's still going on.
There is a myth promoted in the majority culture that we ITI are "conquered". There used to be a myth-conception that we ITI were going to become extinct. We've pretty well gotten rid of that one. Not entirely - but almost. We're working on it.
But so long as we ITI - Indigenous Turtle Islanders - refuse to be 'acculturated' and/or 'assimilated' - which would be a giant step down and backward from our Traditional Ways - the war will continue.
So long as we ITI have to continue to sue to get our Treatys both recognized and adhered to by the U.S. government - which never intended to adhere to them initially, according to the official historic record - the war will continue.
Supreme Court Justices have written of their distress at the raw deal we have gotten from the U.S. government. It has made a dent in the wall of abuse handed out to us by officialdumb. In a few spots, we have made pinholes.
But so long as we ITI have to 'justify' our desire for such things as eagle feathers, which are central to our spiritual practices, to officials of the U.S. government while no other group has to justify anything to any officials of the U.S. government, we are not "full" citizens of the U.S. despite the words of the Snyder Act of 1924. So long as we have to guard our sweat lodges against destruction by racists, particularly when we have them off of our Reservations, which are 'countries', and so on a par with the U.S., the war continues.
So long as we are forced to welfare-as-lifestyle, particularly in those states with a large Indn population, the "Custer Effect" is still in effect, and the war continues.
So long as officials in any part of government - at any level, not just federal - try to keep us from accessing our full Constitutional Rights, the war continues.
And eventually, we will win it. It does strike this Indn as sad, though, that in the Age of Enlightenment, with so much accurate information available at the touch of a button, some humans - supposedly the only animals that think - continue to resist the fact that we are human beings with equal rights throughout this land - which is technically still ours, since the Treatys were broken first in every one of the 389 cases we know as Treatys by the U.S. government.
Tomorrow the whites of this country will celebrate "Independence" Day. The reality is, however, that so long as any part of the majority culture tries to subjugate another, so long as the U.S. government tries to restrict Indigenous Peoples' religious / spirituality - Freedoms guaranteed to us all by the Constitution and Bill of Rights (not of priviledges) - people here are not independent of anything except a form of government.
Bigots are prisoners of their dedication to ignorance and all that attends it. And that continues the Indian Wars. To me and many other Traditionals - it's just a day with pretty fireworks displays at night. We had independence; the majority culture which so busily celebrates its illusions is the one that doesn't really believe in them, yet, and so doesn't have them or want anyone else to have them, either.
I shall continue to pray for their enlightenment, and ask you to do so, too.

Everything Has Limits

Hanh mitakuyapi.
I was reading a back issue of National Geographic this morning as I ate breakfast and there were several articles on decimation of species, both land and sea.
It occurs to me that the tone of National Geographic's articles has changed in the past roughly 10 years, from reporting on how marvelous various places and/or species are to how endangered. Have you noticed this, or are you just a passive watcher, but not a wonderer?
There are only 3 kinds of people, after all.. those who watch what happens, those who make things happen, and those who wonder "what happened?!?!". With luck, I'm generally in the first 2 categories, and I strive to stay out of the 3rd one. Still, when I find myself in that 3rd category, I use failure analysis to try to determine what went wrong, why it went wrong, and with luck, how I can prevent recurrences in the future. I learned it long ago from an article on a major glass maker; I figure if it was good enough for them, it's certainly good enough for me.
Throughout history, and until recently, everything I've read about the oceans and the "New" world (i.e., Turtle Island, my Peoples' home) stated how "limitless" they are. The prairies, the buffalo, the passenger pigeons, the virgin forests, the fish, the water, the air, the sky. What a gigantic lie!
Just as there ain't no free ride, there ain't no such thing as "limitless", at least within the bubble we live in - the biosphere surrounding and including our Holy Mother the Earth. And if you notice, every entity I listed above as considered "limitless" is now either extinct or in danger of extinction.
The only tall grass prairie left is the Flint Hills in Kansas. The buffalo have been brought back from near extinction - there were fewer than 500 left when someone decided to save them.. The passenger pigeon is gone. Saving virgin forests from loggers is a constant battle, and there aren't many patches of them left - certainly nothing like the thousands of square miles that were here when the enviornmental rapists began invading from Europe. Fish? Over 90% of the oceans' fish stocks are gone due to over-fishing. Over-fishing, of course, is due to 2 things - gross human over-population and waste of caught species not intended to be caught. Water pollution is an ongoing battle; and recently there was a spate of articles on contaminants found in every water sample tested, from every part of the land. Air pollution is rampant - witnessed by smog, often called 'the price of progress' by enviro-rapists.. If that's progress, I'll take regress gladly, although the fact is, much 'progress' can be had without pollution - it is simple greed that makes the enviro-rapists fight so hard against doing things in a responsible fashion, and showing respect for our Holy Mother the earth and our place in the web of life. But then, such people don't respect anything - including themselves - thus they fight having to show that they don't know what respect is, and that they don't know how to show it.. As for the skies - satellites, airplanes, rockets crowd the skies. It's nearly impossible to go anywhere on earth - no matter how isolated, and not see one of more of them, or evidence thereof..
Once again, we has met the enemy, and he is us, takoszja. Humans. Not the "mightiest" species on earth save in one way - the potential to cause utter devastation by means of irresponsible treatment of the many resources available to us from Her bounty. Humans made the problem, other humans can turn the mess around - provided enough of us 'other' humans get busy and act.. The time is now. Actually, it was decades ago. Catch-up is never a fun game. Pity we 'other' humans have allowed this mess to develop.. My prayer is that it's not too late. The spiritual responsibility for the devastation that has occurred rides in varying degree on every one who has treated the biosphere with disrespect.
So what have you done today to help heal the Sacred Hoop of the world, of which you, too, are a part?

On Motivation

Hanh mitakuyapi. Motivation is an interesting thing. It comes from attitude, some sage has said, and is "everything" when it comes to whatever results one produces. I'm not entirely sure this is always true. Motivation comes from many sources, in my mind; some of them downright funny.

I was out at my initipi - sweat lodge - recently, working in the river it sits next to. I was wearing chest-high neoprene waders I had borrowed from a friend, as I thought the water would be too cold to wade in this time of year. Since I had had fibromyalgia since before the condition had a name, I avoid becoming cold and wet whenever possible, as I 'rust' and stiffen like the tin woodsman if I don't.

The day was alternately darkly cloudy - sometimes spitting rain - and partly cloudy - partly sunny. Beautiful day no matter, with scudding clouds, light breeze, and warm temperatures.

Anyway, when I waded into the river to plant sweet grass (wah-CHAHNH-gha) along the banks, I found that the muck close to the bank was half-way to my knees, making movement difficult; and that the water was actually quite warm. It felt like bath water, in fact.

Since my friend's waders have size 12 boots and they came up under my armpits, I decided not to wriggle my way back out of them, and just go on. Besides, the muck would ruin the only shoes I had with me, and I didn't want to do that, either. I looked pretty cute, you can be sure. So? I don't care.. I was there to do holy work, not be in a fashion show.

I shplucked my way slowly along the bank, the muck suuucking on the boots and trying to pull them off my feet with every step, making holes & inserting plugs of sweet grass,, then scooping water up and mudding the plugs in. Sweet grass is a marsh plant and loves being wet. It should be ecstatically happy where I put it. That's my hope and prayer..

Suddenly, the light dimmed enough suddenly enough to make me look up. Dark charcoal grey clouds were racing in from the northwest. Then the breeze picked up considerably. It was going to rain again, and it didn't look like it would just be mist this time.

Since the lodge site's entry road is difficult to get up or down in dry times, I didn't really want to get stuck there should we have a gully-washer rain. The Plains is notorious for gully-washers, and I would be camping there for a day or two if I got stuck. It wouldn't be a big problem, but it would inconvenient. I thought I would put in another plug of sweet grass and then head to the pickup, get out of the waders, and leave. Apparently the Spirits had another idea.

Suddenly less than a minute later, there was an earth-shaking CRACK! of thunder behind me on the ridge above the river! Thunder comes from lightning. Any water attracts lightning, certainly a river does.. And the charge travels up and down the river some distance from the strike, if the lightning hits the water. Neoprene waders or not, the Spirits were telling me I needed to leave the river "Right now!" This last thought occurred to me in a flash as I hauled myself up the bank and my size 12 boots out of the muck at a speed admirable in athletes, which I no longer am. (Most of the time, I walk with a pronounced limp from a number of old injuries.) Muck or no muck, oversize boots or no, I literally leaped up out of the river like SuperWoman and landed on the bank, scrambling for higher ground. Truly a video camera moment, and of course, no camera.

(a) There's never a video camera handy when these sights occur, and (b) cameras are not allowed at holy sights such as sweat lodges. Yes, takoszja, it is about 'capturing the spirit of the moment'. Thus no cameras are allowed to be used.

I clomped to the pickup, where the dog was at the end of his cable, panting to get back in the truck, and put him in. Then I did a really fancy wriggling dance to get out of the waders and put them away while jamming on shoes. Through all of this, the drumming of thunder, rising in intensity, but no rain. Insistent, the spirits are, sometimes..

I started the pickup and trundled up the access road out of the valley and as I got to the top of the hill, lightning began to dance along the ridges on both sides of the river. The cell phone can see a tower from up there, so I called my friend who lives further up the road & told her where I was and that I was going to wait out the rain and the lightning before coming by for a visit, since there are gates to open and close, and lightning likes to run along fence wire almost as much as it likes to play in water. She thought that was a super idea.

Forty-five minutes or so later, the rain, lightning, and thunder had passed by. I had some beautiful pictures of the greening ridges around the river. The lightnings did not come to shake my hand at any time. And the sweet grass was well mudded-in - a good omen, even if my leaving the river lacked grace and dignity.