A warrior who had more than he needed would make a feast. He went around and invited the old and needy. . . The man who could thank the food—some worthy old medicine man or warrior—said, ". . . . look to the old, they are worthy of old age; they have seen their days and proven themselves. With the help of the Great Spirit, they have attained a ripe old age. At this age the old can predict or give knowledge or wisdom, whatever it is; it is so. At the end is a cane. You and your family shall get to where the cane is." 

 Black Elk, Oglala Sioux holy man

It is the general belief of the Indians that after a man dies his spirit is somewhere on the earth or in the sky, we do not know exactly where, but we are sure that his spirit still lives. . . . So it is with Wakantanka. We believe that he is everywhere, yet he is to us as the spirits of our friends, whose voices we can not hear. 

 Chased-by-Bears, Santee-Yanktonai Sioux

Conversation was never begun at once, nor in a hurried manner. No one was quick with a question, no matter how important, and no one was pressed for an answer. A pause giving time for thought was the truly courteous way of beginning and conducting a conversation. Silence was meaningful with the Lakota, and his granting a space of silence to the speech-maker and his own moment of silence before talking was done in the practice of true politeness and regard for the rule that "thought comes before speech." 

Luther Standing Bear, Oglala Sioux Chief

"It ended...
His body changed to light,
A star that burns forever in the sky."

Aztec-American Indian

everything on the earth has a purpose, every disease an herb to cure it, and every person a mission. This is the Indian theory of existence. 

Mourning Dove (Christine Quintasket), Salish

Why not teach school children more of the wholesome proverbs and legends of our people?  That we killed game only for food, not for fun... Tell your children of the friendly acts of the Indians to the white people who first settled here.  Tell them of our leaders and heroes and their deeds... Put in your history books the Indian's part in the World War. Tell how the Indian fought for a country of which he was not a citizen, for a flag to which he had no claim, and for a people who treated him unjustly.  We ask this, Chief, to keep sacred the memory of our people. 

     Grand Council Fire of American Indians to the Mayor of Chicago, 1927

Ancient Indian Proverb Native American Quotes

Time discovered truth. 

Seneca

 

"When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced.
 Live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice."

Cherokee Expression

 

Trouble no more about their religion;
respect others in their view,
and demand that they respect yours.

Chief Tecumseh

"One does not sell the land people walk on." ... 

Crazy Horse, Sept. 23, 1875

Native American Proverbs From Different Indian Cultures

It is less of a problem to be poor, than to be dishonest.
 Anishinabe

Those who have one foot in the canoe and one foot in the boat are
going to fall into the river.
 Tuscarora

We will be known forever by the tracks we leave.
 Dakota

Beware of the man who does not talk, and the dog that does not bark.
Cheyenne

It is easy to be brave from a distance.
 Omaha

A rocky vineyard does not need a prayer, but a pick ax. 
Navajo

Those that lie down with dogs, get up with fleas. 
Blackfoot

Each person is his own judge.
 Shawnee

"Treat the earth well: it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children. We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children."

"A SOUIX PRAYER"

Grand father---Great Spirit-
All over the world,
the faces of the people are alike-
with tenderness, they-
have come-
out out of the ground-
Look upon your children-
that they may face the winds-
and walk the good road-
to the days of quiet-
Grand father---Great Spirit-
fill us with the light-
give us the strength-
to understand-
and the eyes to see-
teach us to walk the soft earth-
as relatives-
to all that live.

"LIKE A BROTHER"

I will draw thorns from your feet-
We will walk the white path of life together-
like a brother of my own blood-
I will love you-
I will wipe tears from your eyes-
I will put your aching heart to rest

Tipi Etiquette

* If the door is open, a friend may enter the tipi directly. But if it is closed, he should announce his presence and wait for the owner to invite him to come in.
* A male enters to the right and waits for the host to invite him to sit to the left of the owner at the rear. Be hospitable.
* Always assume your guest is tired, cold, and hungry.
* Always give your guest the place of honor in the lodge and at the feast, and serve him in reasonable ways.
* Invited guests are expected to bring their own bowls and spoons.
* Never sit while your guests stand.
* Woman never sit cross-legged like men. They can sit on their heels or with their legs to one side.
* If your guests refuses certain foods, say nothing. He may be under vow.
* Protect your guest as one of the family.
* Do not trouble your guest with many questions about himself. He will tell you what he wants to know.
* In another man’s lodge, follow his customs-not your own.
* Never worry your host with your troubles.
* Always repay calls of courtesy. Do not delay.
* Give your host a little present upon leaving. Little presents are little courtesies and never offend.
* Say "thank you" for every gift, however small.
* Compliment, even if you strain the facts to do so.
* Never walk between persons talking.
* Never interrupt persons talking.
* Always give place to your seniors in entering or leaving the lodge, or anywhere.
* Never sit while your seniors stand.
* Never force your conversations on anyone.
* Speak softly, especially before your elders, or in the presence of strangers.
* Never come between anyone and the fire.
* Do not stare at strangers. Drop your eyes if they stare hard at you; above all for women.
* The woman of the lodge are the keepers of the fire, but the men should help with the heavier sticks.
* Be kind
* Show respect to all men and women, but grovel to none.
* Let silence be your motto, until duty bids you to speak.
* Thank the Great Spirit for every meal.

Sign Language 

Form a circle, do what I do and say what I say

MAY THE GREAT SPIRIT
use the scout sign on the forehead, and as the words are spoken, fingers make small circles upward as though smoke is going into the sky.
BRING SUNSHINE
make sign for the sun - index finger and thumb form circle while arm is being held out to the right.
INTO MY HEART
bring hand over to heart.
NOW
both hands down along sides, with palms facing forward.
AND FOREVER MORE
bring hands up from sides with palms up.
IN GREAT MEASURE.
bring palms together and then apart as if measuring something.

Cherokee

May the warm winds of heaven blow softly on this house and the Great Spirit bless all who enter here.
Oh Great spirit, grant that I may never find fault with my neighbor until I have walked the trail of life in his moccasins.

Apache Wedding Prayer

Now you will feel no rain,
For each of you will be shelter to the other.
Now you will feel no cold,
For each of you will be warmth to the other.
Now there is no more loneliness,
For each of you will be companion to the other.
Now you are two bodies,
But there is only one life before you.
Go now to your dwelling place
To enter into the days of your togetherness
And may your days be good and long upon the
earth.

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Native Wisdom

"Only After the last tree has been cut down,
Only after the last river has been poisoned,
Only after the last fish has been caught,
Only then will you find that
money cannot be eaten."

Navajo

In beauty may I walk;
With beauty before me, may I walk;
With beauty above me, may I walk;
With beauty below me, may I walk;
With beauty all around me, may I walk;
In beauty, may my walk be finished;
In beauty, may my walk be finished.

Earth Prayer

Earth Prayer

"Grandfather, Great Spirit, once more behold me on earth and lean to hear my feeble voice. You lived first, and you are older than all need, older than all prayer. All things belong to you -- the two-legged, the four-legged, the wings of the air, and all green things that live.

"You have set the powers of the four quarters of the earth to cross each other. You have made me cross the good road and road of difficulties, and where they cross, the place is holy. Day in, day out, forevermore, you are the life of things."

Hey! Lean to hear my feeble voice.
At the center of the sacred hoop
You have said that I should make the tree to bloom.

With tears running, O Great Spirit, my Grandfather,
With running eyes I must say
The tree has never bloomed

Here I stand, and the tree is withered.
Again, I recall the great vision you gave me.

It may be that some little root of the sacred tree still lives.
Nourish it then
That it may leaf
And bloom
And fill with singing birds!

Hear me, that the people may once again
Find the good road
And the shielding tree.

In the beginning of all things,
wisdom and knowledge were with the animals,
for Tirawa, the One Above, did not speak
directly to man. He sent certain animals
to tell men that he showed himself
through the beast, and that from them,
and from the stars and the sun and moon
should man learn.. all things tell of
Tirawa. All things in the world are two.
In our minds we are two, good and evil.
With our eyes we see two things, things
that are fair and things that are ugly....
We have the right hand that strikes and
makes for evil, and we have the left
hand full of kindness, near the heart.
One foot may lead us to an evil way,
the other foot may lead us to a good.
So are all things two, all two.
Eagle Chief(Letakos-Lesa) Pawnee

Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect. Chief Seattle

Unknown

An American Indian elder described his own inner struggles this way: "Inside of me there two dogs. One of the dogs is mean and evil. The other dog is good. The mean dog fights the good dog all the time." When asked which dog wins, he reflected for a moment and replied, "The one I feed the most."

Encountering the Unconscious

Osho: The Ultimate Alchemy,Volume 1, Chapter 6 exercise to encounter the unconscious. Close the doors of your room and put a big mirror just in front of you. The room must be dark. And then put a small flame by the side of the mirror in such a way that it is not directly reflected in it. Just your face is reflected in the mirror, not the flame. Then constantly stare into your own eyes in the mirror. Do not blink. This is a forty-minute experiment, and within two or three days you will be able to keep your eyes unblinking. Even if tears come, let them come, but persist in not blinking and go on staring constantly into your eyes. Do not change the stare. Go on staring into the eyes, your own, and within two or three days you will become aware of a very strange phenomenon. Your face will begin to take new shapes. You may even be scared. The face in the mirror will begin to change. Sometimes a very different face will be there which you have never known as yours. But, really, all these faces belong to you. Now the subconscious mind is beginning to explode. These faces, these masks, are yours. Sometimes even a face that belongs to a past life may come in. After one week of constant staring for forty minutes, your face will become a flux, just a film-like flux. Many faces will be coming and going constantly. After three weeks, you will not be able to remember which is your face. You will not be able to remember your own face, because you have seen so many faces coming and going. If you continue, then any day, after three weeks, the most strange thing happens: suddenly there is no face in the mirror. The mirror is vacant, you are staring into emptiness. There is no face at all. This is the moment: close your eyes, and encounter the unconscious. When there is no face in the mirror, just close the eyes -- this is the most significant moment -- close the eyes, look inside, and you will face the unconscious. You will be naked -- completely naked, as you are. All deceptions will fall. This is the reality, but the society has created many, many layers in order that you will not be aware of it. Once you know yourself in your nakedness, your total nakedness, you begin to be a different person. Then you cannot deceive yourself. Then you know what you are. And unless you know what you are you can never become transformed, because any transformation becomes possible only in this naked reality: this naked reality is potential for any transformation. No deception can be transformed. Your original face is now here and you can transform it. And, really, just a will to transform it will effect the transformation. But you cannot become transformed! You cannot transform your false faces. You can change them, but you cannot transform them: by "change" I mean you can replace them with another false face. A thief can become a monk, a criminal can become a saint. It is very easy to change, to replace the masks, the faces. These are not transformations at all. Transformation means becoming that which you really are. So the moment you face the unconscious, encounter the unconscious, you are face to face with your reality, with your authentic being. The false societal being is not there, your name is not there, your form is not there, your face is not there. The naked forces of nature are there, and with these naked forces any transformation is possible -- and by just willing it! Nothing is to be done. You just will, and things begin to happen. If you face yourself in this nakedness, just will whatsoever you like and it will be. In the Bible it is said: "God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light." In the Koran it is said: "God said, 'Let there be the world,' and there was the world." Really, these are parables -- parables of the willpower which is hidden in you. When you encounter your naked reality, the basic, elemental forces, you become a creator, a god. Just say, utter a word, and it happens. Say, "Let there be light," and there will be light. Before the encounter, if you are trying to transform darkness into light it is not possible. So this encounter is basic, foundational, for any religious happening.

Native American Poem

A hundred thousand years have passed Yet, I hear the distant beat of my father's drums I hear his drums throughout the land His beat I feel within my heart The drums shall beat, so my heart shall beat, And I shall live a hundred thousand years. ~ Shirley Daniels (Ojibwa), 1969

Thanksgiving to the Wolf

She has cooled my skin on a Summer's day, She has wrapped my body and bones in her healing waters, She has filled my eyes with many wonders, My heart with peace, My soul with love and respect for all waters. Wild and raging at flood time, she is not a "tame" river, Her force and power teach reverence and humility, awe and respect. She is the River of Life to the Nations on her shores She feeds the wild rice beds and sustains the Wild Rice People. Her waters are so clear and clean that Rock and weed, trout and crayfish, and all manner of river mysteries can be seen in her depths. The fishes breathe her sweet essence. The waterbirds and eagles are attracted to her shores. I have been in her stream when she was languid and gently dreaming; I have been in her strong current and the swollen torrent of her at flood stage. Each time I have come to her banks, Each time I have been touched by her waters, She has lifted my life-spirit higher. Just thinking of her or saying her name gives me pleasure. Wolf, Wolf, Wolf..... Great River Force, Healer, Teacher, Heart-Center of Nations, Mother of Many Waters, You continue to be as the Creator intended you to be. I give thanks that yet you continue and pray that generations in the future will likewise offer their thanksgiving.

Season Of Cheer

Season Of Cheer Christmas is called the season of cheer, but for many it still remains anything but that. This is the time of year many celebrate Godís goodness and love to all, but to others.... It reminds them of a time when all that they loved and held dear was torn from them. You.... a people from other lands came to this land searching for freedom and peace. With no means of survival, we became teacher to you. We saw your people.... women, children, and the aged starving, and cold. Food and blankets, we shared with you. What knowledge we had, we shared with you. You learned how to plant, sow, and hunt. We taught you how to survive. You shared with us too, but.... your gifts, we could have better survived without. The gifts you bore were greed, selfishness, and contempt for your fellow man. But those are not the worst of gifts born by you.... the intruders. The one whom you called ìGodî, you brought to us. He was called a God of justice, mercy, love, and peace. With your mouths, you taught He loved everyone, but.... your actions did not reflect the words you spoke. Harshness was returned for kindness... hatred for love... war for peace... and death for life. I know God. We call Him the Great Spirit. He is all the things that you taught that He is. But there is one variation between what I know and what you say you know. I know that I must live what I teach to others before they will believe and embrace it. ìPeace on earth good will toward menî. This is what God offered to all mankind. He sent his only Son for the redemption of all. But have those of you, who call yourselves His children, conducted your lives in a manner of this precious Gift of redemption and peace? I hardly think it so. So very few lived.... or live now as we should. Not just this season.... but all seasons should be treated as He meant for them to be. Now is always the time for caring, helping, loving, and healing. All must do this for there to be true ìPeace On Earth, Good Will Toward Men!

Pearls Of Hope

Within this life awakening The purest of all pearls The soft and gentle beauty New hope of life unfurls Hands that hold so gently Smile so sweet and kind Eyes that glow with radiance Reflecting love combined Heart so overwhelmed now With love emerging bright Opened to the world now This precious little light How radiant this glow That comes from deep within This pearl of life a treasure Each new day now begins Feel the love surround you With heart of love you share The purest of the purest The pearl that is so rare Molded with perfection This gift of love we'll know Fills our life with beauty Life's pearl of God's rainbow.