We have seen many people wrestling with different aspects of their identity over the past two generations, especially in the Native community – which is the only ethnic group on the planet required to show our bloodline and cultural identity through government documented evidence.
In this particular facet of earth society, if you don’t meet the governments standards for breed identification, you are eliminated from your own ancestral pool (on the record), denied services and opportunities available to the “government approved” Indians, denied existence in census reports and the opportunity to participate in the politics of your own people. Denied cultural, social, and economic opportunities available to your own relatives who have that seal of approval.
Denied.
This is a direct result of the centuries old assault on the Indigenous people of all Four Sacred Directions. These attacks began with the old beliefs and traditions of the people of the heaths and hills of the UK and Europe, spread through trade routes like the Silk Road to China and India – where British Empire building had a terrible effect on those countries and people around the world.
And all of this evil, suffering, and cultural genocide (that has been launched against ALL non-Elite people on this planet over centuries) is being shown to us through the Indigenous communities that remain.
In the Turtle Island Native community, there rages a fight between “status” people who have fallen off the good Red Road, and are attacking those who are either not “status,” or are just beginning to learn their family and cultural roots as descendants of the Original people of this land.
The Ancestors have spoken repeatedly through our great prophets – our Medicine Men, Visionaries, and Leaders – and have told us this is the time of gathering. The gathering of the descendants of the original people who will build the New Earth.
We cannot come together to build a New Earth as long as people who enjoy status only by virtue of a government card are attacking those who are unrecognized by the colonizers.
This is the perpetration and continuation of colonialism by Native people against their own and it drives people away. We cannot have people complaining that Native populations are dwindling on one hand while driving away their relatives with arbitrary blood quantum and status demands on the other.
Our Native leaders are telling us that the time is here for the Rainbow warriors to rise, and this means truly following the guidance of our Ancestors and Elders. The Great Medicine Man, Chief Black Elk taught that if you have one drop of Indigenous blood – one Ancestor – then you have a responsibility to stand up for our Mother Earth and join together with your brothers and sisters of all colours, all races, cultures, creeds and faith traditions to learn and help teach our ways, to learn and use and teach the medicine of this land. And to plant the seeds for the young ones to come.
This is no longer about the right to identify another person – but about honoring the wishes of those who have gone before us and coming together as one to build a New Earth.
It’s time to stop the fight over “who’s an Indian” (and if it’s okay to say that word). It’s time to grow a pair, put on our big kid undies, and get to work.
But – remember. You can’t do your best work if you don’t know and accept who you are and why you came here . . . at this particularly weird and wonderful time on Planet Earth.
So many times in our lives we hear, “know thyself,” “be yourself,” “be your authentic self.”
So – if we’re operating with the innocent mind of a child, we believe that we’re being encouraged to seek around, explore and connect with the path and people we need to accompany us and love and teach us along the way.
But, unfortunately in the human world, these innocent explorations often bring down wrath and criticism. Jealousy and fear and rage because we believed the lie.
We wanted to be who we came to be.
And it reminds those around us who have not done their work that they are failing to live up to their full potential.
My Medicine Woman, Geraldine Standup teaches that, while we’re in the Spirit World, we each write our own stories before we come to our lives here on Mother Earth.
We make all the decisions about what kind of work we will do here, and who will be our helpers, who we will help. This is why healing and spiritual practice are so important to help us know ourselves.
In our Elders’ days, this exploration and our stories were pretty limited to our tribes and villages where there was a very well constructed social and economic order. Little girls and boys would dream of being warriors, medicine women and men, mothers and fathers, gardeners, and protectors, butchers and bakers and candlestick makers – based on their clans.
But since the 1950s, thanks to the invention called TeeVee (Programming), many little girls and boys have been called to seek the path of Lightworkers – Spiritual leaders, explorers and truth-tellers thanks to George Jetson, Tang, Spacefood Sticks – and the explosion of the Global Spiritual Movement.
Of course with the role models and heroes we started to see on television, who could blame 7th Generation children (and now their own kids) for believing in our dream time understanding of who we are: Pleiadian Queens, Warriors of Cydonia, Medicine people, Spiritual Leaders, Healers, and many other New Earth Roles.
But many of us, and the young ones who are coming already so gifted and equipped for their missions, have been ridiculed and shamed for stepping outside the culturally approved concept of what their lives should be.
We see clear evidence of this in the “cancel culture” of the radical left, which demands everyone conform to one belief about every single issue, to the group’s idea of who they are and what they do. What is good and what is bad. And if you don’t conform, you are attacked and your life is destroyed.
This is the path of death, and as we have seen in the Residential School and many Reserve systems, this indoctrination is brought through government institutions, school systems and media that encourage children to always be outwardly focused – to be “empathetic” toward others (no matter how strange, unwell, or terrifying their behavior) before learning who they are and learning that compassion starts with knowing and loving one’s self first.
Many have been exiled from their families for not conforming to the co-dependent role assignment their dysfunctional, unhealed parents have assigned to them.
And sometimes this is good. Because sometimes we must walk far from the ones we love the most in order to learn to know and love ourselves – to heal ourselves so we can be of service to others.
Some of us walk for many years trying to find the place where we fit in, and are left wandering. . .
And those of us who have chosen a healing path, a Medicine Walk eventually begin to understand that if we don’t fit in anyplace, that means we’re here to create our own community.
The Spiritual path helps us clear our hearts and bones so that we may become hollow and more in alignment with the truth of the Creator for our lives. We begin to remember our missions.
My mission began to become clear for me when I was led to the Medicine People at Anishnawbe Health Toronto where I discovered that for this lifetime, I have chosen to be a messenger of the Bird Clan – which in the Cherokee (and most other) Indigenous systems are the messengers to and from the Great Spirit, the teachers, and the plant growers and medicine people.
The process of laying down Tobacco (prayer walks) and working with my Ojibwe Medicine Man showed me how everything I have done in my life is Bird Clan work – from serving in the church beginning at age 7 to a career in broadcasting and communications – to seminary and finally the Medicine Path.
As I gained a greater understanding of myself through the aspects of my own cultural identity that makes the most sense for me (that of my Native Turtle Island and Celtic Ancestors), I began to receive visions for the purpose of my life.
Projects and organizations that could challenge me to use all my gifts, talents, education, skills and experience in service to the people.
And, once aligned with my mission, doors began to open – and the right people are now showing up.
It is more important than ever that we learn our family history and the ways and knowledge of our Ancestors – beginning with our parents and especially our Grandmothers and Grandfathers. They will lead you to your healing.
If you are on the good healing path, or just starting to think about “Who am I and what the heck am I doing here,” – it helps to think about, write, paint, draw, sing these questions:
- What is the guiding force in my life right now?
- What was my favorite thing to do when I was five years old?
- Where do I see myself in 10 years? 5 years? Next year?
- What is my motivation? Sex? Money? Power? Fame? Service? Love? Truth? Freedom?
- What are my dreams of my greatest success in this life and my fears of my greatest failure?
- What do I need to do, have, change to get where I need to be?
- Who are the people offering me healthy friendship, love and support and who do I need to walk far from right now to help me focus and reach my goals?
- Am I really doing the hard work to find the truth or am I being lazy and just going along with the crowd?
These are just a few of the questions that we ask ourselves when we begin the walk toward consciousness – conscious creation of our lives. This is a much better way than allowing ourselves to be tossed around by the random events of our surroundings.
This is the path to self-identity.
And, when we have done this hard work – we develop the internal strength to stand against anyone who tries to tell us that THEY know and are the arbiters of our identity – whether personal, cultural, or professional.
We know who we are and don’t need validation or permission from the mob to be that perfect, beautiful, gifted Creation of the Great Spirit who has, incidentally, gifted us with our own mob, our own cheerleading section –>> headed up by Jesus himself, our totems and guides . . . and if we stay faithful and continue doing our work, the ones who understand our messages, who resonate with our vibe will join us.
Grandmother Standup’s beautiful Mohawk teaching also reminds us that every single one of us know each other in the Spirit World and all have agreed to come here and meet together for this Sacred Work.
So Chi Miigwetch for being here with me at this time. So grateful for you all.
It is my honour to be your messenger.
Bird Clan Messenger 