stages of life:
a) The child and all his characteristics, experience and dreams to
the age of twenty-five years old. The child is represented by the
White Buffalo.
b) The grown man and his experiences, dreams and realities of life and
what can he do about it. These are the ages between twenty-five to
fifty. Represented by the Yellow Eagle.
c) The trail of the grown man to the age of fifty, and how he gets to be
a member of a community, his experiences and dreams, some of
which are realized and some of which are shattered along the way.
The important position he takes in the community and the work he
does there. The learned humility and the strength of community
members working together. Ages fifty to seventy-five. Represented
by the Little Green Mouse.
d) On becoming this age, the ability to look back on your life and pass
your experience onto the younger generations in a good way. Ages
seventy-five to one hundred years old. Represented by the Black
Bear.
2) Teachings of the Eagle Feather.
The Red Road is up the center of the Eagle Feather, and replaces the pith of the Feather.
As in life, the road is always straight to the Great Spirit, but as usual there are many detours
and obstacles in our life which divert us. When a man decides that he is going to commit
suicide, he has finally made a decision to find a solution to get him out of the mess he is in.
Once that decision is made and he takes the first step to the place where he will commit the
act a spirit is also on his way to meet him and teach him and this is who he meets and sees
just before the final act. I am sure he feels a sense of awe because it is not every day we
meet the spirit but he is always with us trying to guide us back on to the life road again and
towards our final destination. There are many obstacles on our road every day and if we are
not scared and meet the challenge head on, we always learn something. That is the nature
of the situation. There is an old saying that says "When the student is ready the teacher will
appear". How much luckier we are if we can learn before the teacher appears? Sometimes
the damage is already done and its too late, but still we learn anyway. And for every act we
do, there the spirit is and is always willing to teach us if we want to learn (some good
examples are failing an exam in school. What is the solution in this case? Study harder! The
solution to end gosssip is to pity the person who gossips and don't hang around them. The
solution to a person who lies is to not hang around or listen to them. And the list goes on).
There is no shortage of topics, nor is there a shortage of spirits with the answers.
3) Seven Hills of Life.
From the time we are born to the time we die there are seven given hills we must cross over. These hills are emotions, psychological, thinking, character traits, responsibility (or lack of), education, and culture. As a baby, we start to see, hear, feel, smell, and taste. We learn to associate and differentiate everything we come in contact with. We slowly begin our walk through life, and each one of us will climb the seven hills before we leave this Earth. Some will get stuck on a hill (at the age of fourteen, for example) and remain there for the next thirty years. The idea then is do the best you can at each hill, accept the outcome and move on. A CD is also available on this story.
4) Treaties between Mankind and Nature.
In the beginning after the Earth was finished, the Creator called everyone to him and said, "Today I have finished creating the Earth and all of you. Now I want you to tell me what gifts you want to have while on the Earth and how you want to use them". Grandfather Dog came forward first and said, "I want to serve Mankind". Everyone was happy for Grandfather Dog that he had asked for such a noble gift. "You shall serve Mankind", the Creator said, "but many times Mankind will yell at you and slap your face for nothing and not feed you properly or give you a proper house to sleep in. If you can withstand the punishment Mankind gives you then there will be a place in the hereafter for you." And so this went on all day with everybody taking their turn to ask for their gift. All the plants and animals and birds, water, air and earth, each took their turn until finally they were finished and everyone had recieved the particular gift he had asked for. "From this day forward", the Creator said, "all your progeny will have these gifts to use, so use them then to the best of your ability". Mankind listened, and was touched and he knew that he was special and he thought to do his best to honor what everyone had received. As everyone was about to leave suddenly they heard a voice on the prairies,"What about me? I haven't asked for anything yet". They all turned to look and there was Grandfather Rock. "What do you want", the Creator asked him. And Grandfather Rock responded: "I want to translate for Mankind". And to this day, we use the pipe when we pray and the wood and the tobacco and the fire work together to send our prayers to the Creator focusing on what we truly ask for. Everyone is connected and we all work together to help each other use the gifts to the best of our ability.
A CD is also available on this story as well.
5) Dreams.
Long ago, the old people used to ask for dreams in their prayers. There was the case of an old man who had a dream that someone fell off their horse and hit his head on a rock and died. He told his dream to the chief who then forbid anyone to go on their horse that day. Of course there is one in every crowd and one of the young men rode his horse, fell off and hit his head on a rock and died. Today we still dream and often can't interpret the meaning of the dream. It is wise to listen to our dreams and act accordingly. As we get older we learn how to interpret our dreams and distinguish them and classify them. It is good to have someone in your life that knows how to interpret dreams as it comes in handy. It is good if you ask the Creator to give you the gift to interpret your own dreams at least.
A CD on dreams and their interpretation is also available.
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