We, the elders, have done our best to represent our Red Nation as Ojibwa, Cree, and Dakota. We present this story knowing it is an attempt to capture the richness and beauty of the Red Nation-a people of the heart and the land. We are an oral people. We

THE JOURNEY OF THE SPIRIT OF THE RED MAN

A MESSAGE FROM THE ELDERSBy Harry Bone Sherry Copenace Dave Courchene William Easter Robert Greene Henry Skywater

Trafford Publishing

Copyright © 2012 Turtle Lodge
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4669-3798-7

Contents

1. INTRODUCTION.....................................................................32. THE GREAT BEGINNING..............................................................6• Before the Creator...........................................................6• The Creation Story...........................................................73. JOURNEY OF THE HUMAN SPIRIT......................................................12• The Four Elements of Nature..................................................12Earth...............................................................................12Air.................................................................................13Water...............................................................................14Fire................................................................................14• The Four Elements of the Human Being.........................................15• The Four Stages of Life......................................................16• The Duties and Responsibilities of the Women and the Men.....................184. SACRED LAWS......................................................................19• Laws of Creator..............................................................20The Great Binding Law...............................................................20The Seven Teachings.................................................................21• Laws of the Land.............................................................28• Laws of the People...........................................................31Language............................................................................31Way of Life.........................................................................33Teachings...........................................................................33Ceremonies..........................................................................345. GIFTS OF THE RED PEOPLE..........................................................36Pipe................................................................................36Rattle..............................................................................37Drum................................................................................376. PROPHECIES.......................................................................38• The 8th Fire Prophecy........................................................38• Warriors of the Rainbow Prophecy.............................................39• Crazy Horse's Prophecy.......................................................42• Black Elk's Prophecy.........................................................437. HUMANITY – 4 RACES COMING TOGETHER.........................................448. Image Index......................................................................469. ABOUT THE AUTHORS................................................................48

Chapter One

INTRODUCTION

We, the Elders, have done our best to represent our Red Nation as Ojibway, Cree and Dakota. We take full responsibility for what we have shared and written in the following pages. We present this story knowing it is an attempt to capture the fullness, richness and beauty of the Red Nation.

We have attempted to share our understanding as the Red People. We acknowledge the fact that we could never transfer our way of life through written words alone. We are an oral people. Sacred law cannot be written. It must be spoken and heard. Our way of life is meant to be lived and experienced. Our words are meant to inspire and guide our fellow human beings to follow the path of the heart.

We believe that the Creator has always been within our reach and that we have to connect to the Earth to be guided to our true purpose.

We believe that the spirit of the original Red Man was lowered to Mother Earth and our spirit chose to be born on Turtle Island. In all our languages, the Red People are referred to as the People of the Heart and the Land.

We do not own the Earth. How can anyone own their Mother? We owe our existence to Mother Earth.

This story tells of our human life and journey until our return back to the spirit world.

We believe that the Creator has always been within our reach and that we have to return to the Earth to be guided to our true purpose.

There are many Creation stories. We are told that every Creation story is true. How do we know this? We know this because the Creator told us this. The Creator comes to us through our dreams and our visions, and through the actual voice of the Earth itself. The trees speak to us, the animals speak to us. For us as the Red People, we regard nature as the voice and face of the Creator.

This book has been written by those of us residing very close to the geographical centre of the continent of Turtle Island (North America). At the very centre lies a very ancient sacred site, Manito Api, which the Red People of this area refer to as "Where the Creator Sits." It is located in the Whiteshell Provincial Park at Bannock Point, Manitoba, Canada.

Since time immemorial our nations have gathered on our sacred sites. They gathered to share knowledge, ceremonies, prophecies and dreams, dreams that affected all peoples.

"Where the Creator Sits" is a very significant sacred site of pilgrimage where the people had gathered to stay connected to the spirit and the land. When we activate the sacred site through our prayers and connection, we activate our own spirit as we connect to the spirit of the Creator in the land.

Our prophecies tell of a time when all four races of humanity will reunite in the centre, and led by the Red People, return to the sacred ways that were given to us by the Creator. All four races of humanity will bring forward the gifts that each was given by the Creator to bring a higher understanding of what it means to be human and our purpose on this Earth.

Where the Creator sits is in the heart of all humanity. The heart is the centre of our being and the Creator sits in each of us. In the centre of the continent, we connect with our own centre, our heart, to the Creator who sits in the centre of our spirit.

Situated very close to the sacred site of "Where the Creator Sits", in the city of Winnipeg in Manitoba, lies what is known as the Forks. The meeting place of two rivers – the Red River and the Assiniboine, the Forks has been a very significant meeting place for the Red People for thousands and thousands of years. The Red Nations used to use the river systems to travel and meet at the Forks before making their journey of pilgrimage to the sacred site of "Where the Creator Sits" at the centre of the continent, located nearby.

The Forks also represents that in present time we have reached a time of decision. Do we continue to walk only a material life, or do we choose to build a world that has a spiritual foundation, a foundation that the Red People are willing to share, that is inclusive to all people?

Through ceremony, the Elders have been given the symbol of the Grandmother Turtle to be the one that will bring the story of the journey of the Red People. Our Creation Story tells us that the back of the turtle – Turtle Island – arose out of the water that...