Tahlequah, Cherokee Nation—When I was living in Tahlequah,
my friend Dawn Caldwell (Sauk & Fox/Quapaw) gave me a copy
of a Cheyenne story titled Coyote Who Wanted to Dance with the
Stars. Dawn is a scholar of Native American Studies who grew
up dancing on PowWow Highway, the partly mythical, mostly real
string of PowWows that winds through Indian Country. I learned
a lot from her generous sharing of Indian Way.
Coyote sat down on Earth and watched the
stars spinning across the night sky. He wanted to be up high
with the stars, spinning and dancing. So Coyote flew up to
the stars, spinning across the sky higher and higher, faster
and faster, until he went so fast that his arms and legs flew
off and he crashed to the ground. Coyote’s desire for
that high, fast, spinning star dance was so great he didn’t
learn the first time he crashed, or the second time. The third
time he went so fast, and so high, that his head flew off,
all his arms and legs fell off, and his whole body flew to
pieces and he was scattered all over the Earth. It took him
a long, long time to find all the pieces of himself and put
himself back together again.
I didn’t get it the first time I read it. About a week
later, it hit me. This was my story. I think this is the story
for a lot of us.When we want to be something we aren’t,
when we go too fast, too high, try to achieve an ideal life,
or an ideal relationship, or an ideal career that is humanly
impossible, sooner or later our bodies fall apart, our identities
crash, and it takes a long time to find all the pieces and
put ourselves back together.
That’s why sometimes I think of my smoke mix as the
Spinning Coyote Smoke Mix. It reminds me to slow down and
enjoy myself as a mere mortal here on Earth.
Excerpt from
Smoke Plants of North America, A Journey of Discovery by M.R.Ross
182 pp.
paperback
5 1/4 X 7 1/4
published by MultiCultural Educational Publishing Co.
P.O.Box 1054, Jerome, AZ 86331
www.smokeplants.com
MULLEIN RECIPES
* Excerpt from A
City Herbal by Maida Silverman
MULLEIN-FLOWER
TEA
Pour I cup of boiling water over I heaping tablespoon of Mullein
flowers. Let steep10 minutes, strain, and sweeten with honey
if desired.
MULLEIN FLOWERS IN MILK
This is a pleasant, nutritious drink that, taken at bedtime,
soothes irritated bronchial passages and relieves coughing.
Modern herbalists also recommend this drink to relieve diarrhea
in adults.
Combine 2 tablespoons of mullein flowers (or you may substitute
chopped fresh mullen leaves if you wish) with 1 pint of milk.
Heat to the scalding point and let stand until warm. Strain
and sweeten with honey.
Note: Mullein drinks should be strained through coffee filter
paper, to remove the fine hairs that cover the entire plant.
These are irritating to the mouth and throat.
* Excerpt from A
City Herbal by Maida Silverman
The Song Still Sings in Our Hearts
by Phyllis Crawford (Whisper)
I come here into this life grandchild of those who have lost
it all
you raise me in another's world where my heart's song whimpers
I walk their road like a traveler and not a true countryman
their life is not mine, their ways are not mine, I am isolated
once in a while I hear the echos of the old ones songs
sometimes I hear the truth from voices of those brave ones
ones with courage in their hearts - I call them the planters
they walk through this world to plant a memory seed
the love song of the ancient ones who dreamed and knew
their song whispers across my heart from time to time
and yes the joy of their dance sometimes comes to me
in a remembering of those who knew no fear nor doubt
I see the many hoops shape into the ancient love storeis
they show me it all, the Earth Mother, the Bear, the others
the Butterfly, the Eagle and so many more who taught
their spirits come alive with the rhythms of the drums
they rise up and dance with the hoops and dancers
I laugh as I see them return to dance and share
they call out in their spirit song "listen and watch"
we will recall our songs for you as you dream awake
the tears begin to flow and I begin to know it is me
a grandchild of the ones for whom this land was created
I know now it is me who is the countryman of this walk
and they, the strangers I live among, are but travelers
they come for a short while what seems like in time
they have taken what seems all that once was to us
yet they have taken nothing, we are still here in this walk
and the song of our people still sings in our hearts
