Imagine sitting quietly around a campfire. Deep throated Native drums are playing softly in the distance and somehow remind you of the beat of your mother's heart. A Native flute echoes in the wind from tree to tree, and an uncommon peace begins to settle over you. A sage old Native Warrior, in the full wisdom of his years, is sitting with you . . . and begins to speak . . . and you close your eyes to listen. He speaks of the old ways, he speaks of the old honors, and he speaks of his love for his people and their devotion to the balance in Nature. His heart and his words are kind and gentle . . . but the space between those words is filled with foreboding. He offers hope, but . . . . . "This is the way I would begin describe my waking vision . . . a solo journey of four days and three nights alone, into the wilderness . . . a Lakota style "vision quest" with no food and no water. It was a trail that would lead deep into the heart, and the mind, and the body, and the Spirit" . . . . . . . . . Robin Miller
Songs Of The Shaman
The Path of the FeatherBy Red Moon HombreAuthorHouse
Copyright © 2010 Red Moon Hombre
All right reserved.ISBN: 978-1-4520-2113-3 Contents
Foreword.....................................................viiIntroduction.................................................ixChapter 1 Songs of the Shaman................................1Chapter 2 Sacred Hoop........................................7Chapter 3 Reflections on the Lake............................13Chapter 4 Seasons of Life....................................19Chapter 5 Path of the Feather................................25Chapter 6 The Way ... Forgotten..............................31Chapter 7 How Far - To Tomorrow?.............................37Chapter 8 Mist at First Light................................43Chapter 9 Miracle of the Light...............................49Chapter 10 Koyaanisqatsi.....................................55Chapter 11 Journey of the Soul...............................61Chapter 12 Source of Life....................................67Chapter 13 Visions ... Without Words.........................73Chapter 14 Seventh Fire......................................79Chapter 15 Songs of Power....................................85Chapter 16 Revisiting the Garden.............................91Chapter 17 Eagle Boy (Wanble Hoksila)........................97Chapter 18 Falling Waters....................................103Chapter 19 A New Look at the Old Village.....................109Chapter 20 The Path Back.....................................115Chapter 21 Tree Spirit.......................................121Chapter 22 Prayer Feather....................................127Chapter 23 Laguna Pueblo Prayer..............................133
Chapter One
Songs of the Shaman
Verse One
1.1 Come ... sit with me ... and we will speak of many things.
1.2 I have been listening to your Spirit Songs for some time now.
1.3 I first heard them whispering in the cattails along the lake ... and I knew you were coming.
1.4 I have seen your shadows too ... in the flash of fireflies at the edge of the woods.
1.5 You have been lingering like the smoke from a campfire; transparent, yet floating all around me.
1.6 It feels as if you have been waiting for just the right moment ... to draw near. And now we have met, you and I.
1.7 Together, let us sit and listen to the songs of the flutes and the rhythms of the drums.
1.8 Listen ... then find that place in your heart where the call of these sounds resonates ... and your Spirit will soar like the hawk!
1.9 The flutes and the drums are to remind us of Nature's songs ... and she sings to us everyday in countless ways.
1.10 Her voices emerge as the calls of Earth's many creatures ... her heartbeat, is the rhythms of everyday events.
1.11 These vibrations of life ... these songs ... are the universal dialogue all things use to communicate.
1.12 It is the only true language! And the songs of Nature are everywhere; resonating from every material object.
1.13 They are called the Mystery Songs ... and they are referred to, like that ... because they know things!
1.14 Our elders taught us about the wisdoms embedded in Nature's songs. They saw that path clearly ... with birth following the beating of a heart.
1.15 But before the beating of that heart ... there came our singing of the Earth Songs ... those sacred chants ... full of courage ... full of intent.
1.16 Yet before our singing of the Earth Songs ... we first had to pass into dreamtime. Ho Hecetu Welo! (It is so!)
Verse Two
2.1 There was a time ... when The Master of life spoke to us exclusively through the Mystery Songs ... of the plants, and the animals, and the seasons.
2.2 The First Peoples knew these songs well ... for the wisdoms in all songs were shared freely ... throughout all creation.
2.3 Those people were the grandfathers of the grandfathers ... who in some long forgotten past ... taught the fathers of our fathers.
2.4 Yet, today, no one knows ... what ... of those original teachings may still remain.
2.5 We had learned to be patient observers ... from the owl.
2.6 We had learned to build the lake of our dreams ... from the beaver.
2.7 The oak taught us courage ... to stand alone against the storm, if we must ... arms raised in prayer, yet still offering the shelter of our branches to those in need.
2.8 The bear taught us the use of power and agility.
2.9 The buffalo taught us the skills of the hunt ... to take only what we need ... and nothing more!
3.10 The coyote taught us to be crafty and gave us our sense of humor, too.
2.11 The wolf became our guardian ... the hawk, our eyes in the sky.
2.12 And Eagle ... Eagle taught us to soar ... in our hearts, and our minds, and our bodies, and our spirits.
2.13 And these teachings ... these offerings ... these songs ... became the nourishment for our souls.
2.14 And we were humbled by the fact that the very ground where we laid our blankets to rest ...
2.15 Was made from the dust, and the blood, and the bones ... of every grandmother and every grandfather that passed before us.
2.16 That soil made rich ... through their final act of giving. Soil that ... to this very day ... is still sacred to all Native Peoples!
Verse Three
3.1 This whole thought process is contained in the words "Mitakuye O'Yasin" ... literally meaning "All My Relations".
3.2 But this is not a reference to "blood relatives" alone! These two simple words are actually meant to encompass every element of the Sacred Hoop.
3.3 For the earth is not a system where new elements are introduced every day. Instead, it is a system that recycles what it has ... over and over.
3.4 Therefore, by inclusion alone ... everything is braided together, interdependent ... related ... embedded in its Source.
3.5 The Sacred Hoop is that source ... it is that whole family of related objects... it is our Earth Family. It is, "Mitakuye O'Yasin"!
3.6 So, in this way, we have come to recognize that there is intelligence, and purpose ... hidden in the formation of every leaf and rock.
3.7 That when the wind whispers from tree to tree ... its songs have been mentored by the wisdoms of the forest.
3.8 That when the crickets sing their night songs ... peace has settled among the prairie grasses.
3.9 Spirit-Songs express that formation of the "everything" surrounding us ... and every song is a sacred reading from The Book of Life.
3.10 Every song is the sharing of a few of Earth's secrets ... some great and some small ... but all, worth knowing.
3.11 It is the glow of the enlightened spirit ... that flame that already burns in every heart.
3.12 It is the wisdoms ... still emanating from the dawn of our first knowing ... and the markers for our many transitions.
3.13 And every transition has its thunder ... that point where the contrasts between opposites sing the loudest.
3.14 And the child of that thunder is known as ... CRISIS ... who names the paths we may choose for the next leg of our journey.
3.15 This is where choices...
