Spirit Keepers Messages
by Grandmother Waynonaha
Author of Voices: A Collection of Native American Stories
I prayed for the wisdom to know what would help the most. I saw two "Spirit Guides" as I prayed. The first who came to me was standing tall. He held a prayer stick from which hung the feathers of "Hawk" and "Owl". He did not speak to me. He pointed his prayer stick to the direction of the wind and I looked into the wind and saw many of the people who walk the Earth today. They were standing in a muddy place. They were angry at me for sharing the way of the red path.
They said to me that I would be a traitor if I offer words to help any others. The "Spirit Helper" with the prayer stick looked at me, his hard face softened, and he turned away. Another Spirit Helper came to me, with Deer skin over his head, the Spirit Helper drew a large medicine wheel on the ground in front of me. One side pointed to each spirit of the wind and to each element of the Earth.
The Spirit Helper stood in it and walked around slowly, and stopped in each direction and spoke.... In the first direction the Spirit Helper said, truth is the truth, there is nothing else. Truth is not owned by any people. In the second direction, the Spirit Helper said, all people have their own sacred ways to dance, their faith, do not change them or give them your ways. Let each find their own dance for the one truth. In the third direction the Spirit Helper said, what makes people strong is their heart.
A painful heart is not strong. A strong heart is not selfish. In the fourth direction, the Spirit Helper said, each must protect their sacred ways, yet each must share the truth that makes those ways sacred. Then the Spirit Helper stepped into the center of the circle, on good ground, there stood the spirits of all the ancestors. The Spirit Helper with the prayer stick stood there as well but did not speak, just pointed the prayer stick to the Ancestor Spirits.
The Spirit Helper in the circle said, respect your ancestors, and hold what is sacred, close to your heart. In this way you will respect your Ancestors. Respect your Creator, and speak the truth to those who wish to hear it. In this way you will respect the Earth.
The vision was suddenly gone. I sat with the fire, looking where the Spirit Helpers had been, I started feeling Creator speak to me, be a messenger not the message. I offer you this truth that I know.
You may take it as a gift if you wish. As I watched the fire dance with smoke I thought what many people think, that to be spiritual means you have to be sitting some place in a higher state praying to Creator. You can be conscious of yourself and spirit no matter what you are doing.
There is spirit in everything. There is spirit in rock, in roads, in buildings. You name an object and there is spirit in it. There is even spirit in things that are made by man from many other sources of material. All objects have still been made of things from the Earth, so all things have spirits in them.
When you are conscious of yourself, then you can look around and be aware of the spirit in everything around you. Some think that to be spiritual means just to be aware of themselves and their own spirit. You must be aware of everything, because everything has spirit.
We are all part of one spirit. If you focus too much on the part of spirit that has your name on it, you will be missing something. You might not even know that you are missing it until it is too late and you don't have time to find it. The next thing about being spiritual does not mean owning the truth. No one can own truth, it can only be shared, no one can own it.
Like love means nothing, unless there is something or someone you can give it to. To know the truth of the earth and keep it to yourself can never help others to learn and understand their place on the Earth Mother. To hold these truths from others will never grow the corn that we need to live and make the water flow that we need to survive. Honor all that the Creator has blessed us with now and forever.
It is through this sharing and love that we survive here as the care takers of this our Mother Earth. Many blessings in these times of change and challenges. My your spirit know true peace and love
Grandmother Waynonaha
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