We have had the pleasure of hosting Minnewaska Area Elementary School students this week. Today we have Mrs. Hoffman’s kindergarten class and yesterday we had Mrs. Hoven’s class. They have been studying Native Americans, and came to see our model encampment and the Cleora Helbing collection of Native American Arts and Crafts.

One of the kids’ favorite artifacts is the Creek turtle shell leggings. The leather straps have small turtle shells attached. The turtle shells contain small rocks that rattle when they move. They are worn by women during the “Stomp Dance” as part of the annual Green Corn Festival. The straps are tied to the legs of the dancers to make music.

The kids like the idea of wearing an instrument while dancing, and also think that baby turtle shells are cool.

Thanks for coming kids! Come back and see us soon!

This morning I was reading a news story about President Obama’s proclamation of Thanksgiving…here’s an excerpt:

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim Thursday, November 26, 2009, as a National Day of Thanksgiving. I encourage all the people of the United States to come together, whether in our homes, places of worship, community centers, or any place where family, friends and neighbors may gather, with gratitude for all we have received in the past year; to express appreciation to those whose lives enrich our own; and to share our bounty with others.

I think that certainly sets an appropriate intention for the day, focusing on gratitude and service.  A few days back I wrote about Pilgrims and Puritans and I am mindful about the true roots of this holiday.  So today, in preparation for tomorrow’s American holiday of Thanksgiving I’ll simply offer this Sioux prayer for the harvest:

You, O God, are the Lord of the mountains and valleys. You are my mother and my father. You have given rain to make the corn grow, and sunshine to ripen it. Now in your strength the harvest begins.

I offer you the first morsels of the harvest. I know it is almost nothing compared with the abundance of the crop. But since you have provided the harvest, my gift to you is only a sign of what you have given to me.

You alone know how many suns and moons it will take to finish reaping. You alone know how heavy the crop will be. If I work too hard and too fast I forget about you, who gave me the harvest. So I will work steadily and slowly, remembering that each ear of corn is a priceless gift from you.

CONCHO, Okla. – The staff of outgoing Cheyenne and Arapaho Governor Darrell Flyingman showed up for work Nov.

17 to find padlocks on all the doors and a group of protestors, Bureau of Indian Affairs law enforcement and tribal police officers at the administration’s offices.

“We were told there was a meeting Saturday and that Flyingman was no longer governor and you are all fired,” Lina Gilliland, the governor’s spokeswoman, said.

Flyingman’s staff members were escorted through the group of protesters to their offices by a BIA officer and were left with a security guard, Gilliland said.

She and four other women shut themselves in the main office while protestors occupied the reception area and refused to leave.

“They pounded on the door; they changed our accounts; cut off our Internet and turned off the power,” she said.

BIA officers told the women they could not interfere unless one of the women received “bodily harm.”

The next day, the staff was locked out again.
Flyingman was due back in the office Nov. 19 but was advised by Pat Ragsdale, deputy director for the BIA Office of Justice Services, it would not be in his personal interest or the public’s for him to show up at the tribal headquarters.

According to the Associated Press, about two dozen people showed up Nov. 19 to keep Flyingman from entering the tribal offices.
The governor was out of town Nov. 13 when members of the tribal legislature filed a document with the Department of Justice, the Department of Interior and the BIA invoking traditional law to immediately remove Flyingman from office and naming Lt. Gov. Teresa Dorsett as governor.

“We have laws that are older than the Constitution,” Chester Whiteman, Sergeant of Arms for the Tribal Council, said. “We are tired of this corruption. Darrell Flyingman made a statement a couple of years ago that if the people didn’t want him then he would leave. Well, we don’t want him.”

In a meeting Nov. 16, legislators proclaimed a state of emergency for the tribe and declared the tribe’s judicial branch corrupt and in collusion with the governor, stating the tribe’s Supreme Court has overturned valid recalls of Flyingman and twice restored him to office after his removal by the people. Dorsett, acting as governor, submitted nominations for positions in the Cheyenne and Arapaho Supreme Court the same day.

Later in the week, Council Speaker Patrick Spottedwolf accused Flyingman of being responsible for the theft of millions of dollars in tribal elder care and other funds.
Flyingman said he is innocent.

“All programs have been extensively audited by NIGC (National Indian Gaming Commission) and no wrongdoing has been found on my part. In fact, it was several legislatures which were found to have embezzled money from our tribes,” he said in an official statement.

BIA Office of Justice Services spokeswoman Nedra Darling said demonstrators returned to Concho Nov. 20, but they were peaceful. Flyingman had given his staff administrative leave through the end of the week and, as of press time, was planning on going to work himself Nov. 23.

Ragsdale said he asked the governor to help avoid conflict by not returning to the tribal headquarters while tempers were high, but he recognized that Flyingman had work to do.
“BIA law enforcement is currently on the premises to see to the fact that all tribal employees are able to complete their jobs on a day to day basis without being hindered or intimidated by the current protestors,” Flyingman said.

Darling said the BIA recognizes Flyingman as governor and tribal officers would be on hand to ensure public safety.

Flyingman lost a Nov. 3 election to Janice Boswell. Boswell and her running mate, Leslie Wandrie, will be sworn into office Jan. 1, 2010.

http://www.nativetimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2687:bia-tribal-police-dispatched-to-cheyenne-arapaho-complex&catid=52&Itemid=28

On the evenings of Wednesday, November 25 and Thursday, November 26, a series of film and still images will be projected onto Coit Tower to mark the 40th anniversary of the occupation of Alacatraz Island by a coalition of Native American activists. The project, called “Indigenous Renewal: Alcatraz Occupation Remembrance + Ohlone Presence Celebrated,”  represents a collaboration of San Francisco-based artists Ben Wood and David Mark. Wood and Mark developed the work in concert with a wide network of supporters, including local Ohlone and other Native people. In conjunction with the projection on Coit Tower, a running commentary about the images will be broadcast on KPOO San Francisco 89.5 FM.

On November 20, 1969, a coalition of Native Americans - many of them college students – took over Alacatraz Island in San Francisco Bay in an unarmed occupation that would last until June 10, 1971. At its height on Thanksgiving, 1969, as many as approximately 400 Native activists occupied the island. Alcatraz had been abandoned as a federal prison facility since 1963, and although the U.S. Coast Guard established a blockade of the island at the beginning of the occupation and the FBI were poised to land, the federal government withheld action until the numbers of activists dwindled to about 15 in 1971. The inital occupying party, calling itself Indians of All Tribes, demanded that Alcatraz be developed as a Native cultural center, including programs such as a museum and a center for Native studies. More broadly, the activists drew attention to a wide range of Native issues related to sovereignty, repatriation and civil rights.

Ben Wood described to me the variety of sources from which he selected footage and images that will be projected on Coit Tower. These include images of the occupation that archivist Alex Cherian of the San Francisco State University Special Collections & Archives helped Wood to find. Eric Blind, Presidio Trust Archaeologist, provided imagery related to his work in repatriating Native artifacts. Andrew Galvan, the curator at the Mission Dolores and himself an Ohlone, made it possible for Wood to shoot footage of the 1790s Ohlone mural hidden behind the reredos in the Mission.  In addition to these cultural heritage professionals, Wood has built relationships with a wide net of Ohlone and other Native people and their allies throughout the Bay Area, and has been grateful for the opportunity to reproduce images from their collections that will be part of the projection on Coit Tower this week.

“Indigenous Renweal” will take place on Wednesday, November 25 and again on Thanksgiving, Thursday, November 26, from dusk until the following morning. Wood and Mark have recommended Fisherman’s Wharf, Pier 31, and Washington Square as locations from which the images can be seen. Running commentary about the images from Ohlone and other Native participants in the project will be able to be heard on KPOO San Francisco 89.5 FM. For more information about the project and the artists, please go to Coit Live.

Outstanding Athelete and Haskell Student AJ Longsolider dies.

Allen John (AJ) Longsolider an outstanding athlete from Harlem, Montana had returned home from Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Ks to attend his grandfather’s funeral.

He was booked on an outstanding warrant for contempt of court and later died in the all adult jail in Harve, Montana.

He died hours later while in custody, his family unaware that he was even in jail.

So what happened?

Why was an 18 year old kid (yes, legally classified as an adult) thrown in with an all adult male population? Hours later he is dead.

Did the jailers even bother in check in on him?

A.J. was not only a great basketball player he was a son, grandson, nephew, Haskell student and friend, our prayers go out to all the many lives he touched.

haskellnews

Do you know your ancestory? Many of us are of mixed blood. It seems like when I talk to most people, especially younger people, they really don’t know. I really enjoy meeting a full blood of any race. It fascinates me in a way. No branches, no confusion or conflict in my mind. I am Chinese. I am Swedish. I am Cree. I was at a spiritual retreat this fall and the speaker asked how many generations back people could name their Grandfathers. Most could only go to their Grandfather. One or two cold name Great Grandfather. My former Father in law can trace his Swedish heritage and that of his wife’s so far back it would make your head spin !. I think we lose alot when we don’t know that. Native peoples keep their relatives alive in constant stories, about when he or she did this or that. Handing down beliefs and traditions. Handing down mental and verbal images of that person. Western culture is more inclined to say ” well, he was born here in about 1831 and I think dies about 1888 somewhere out west”. That’s about all you can get. Maybe new technology will help change that. To think that my Grandchildren, Great and Great great Grandchildren can have really good video, pictures, my words in song and blogs to learn about me is fascinating. It’s not that I’m so important or have so much to say, but that we are in the same line. A family continuum. To know where you are going it helps to know where you came from.

When I was a child the only book I can ever remember reading was a book on Geronimo. For reasons now known to me, I understand why I had a connection. My Maternal side is English/ Chezkloslovakian and my Paternal side is English, and Native American, both Cherokee and Muscogee Creek. I had heard stuff through the years about Creek blood, but it took until I was 21 or so to drag it out of my Grandmother. For you see, when she was growing up people didn’t want to claim their Native heritage. It was considered a very negative thing. I don’t know how they hid it because her family started and ran the Chavers-Kennedy Indian School in Wildfork, Al.

I think we can tap into our bloods, maybe each of us has DNA characteristics that are closer to one heritage than the next. What do you think about your lineage? Is it important to you? Does it make any difference? Does it ground you or do you take pride in any of it? I have a lot of relatives that just don’t care. A lot that still, here in 2009, dismiss Native blood, despite legal documents proving otherwise. If I wasn’t into this and then tomorrow I woke up and said I’m going to connect with my heritage more, it wouldn’t change my outward life, but I believe it would ground me more.

Knowing my past helps me know where to go. To me it honors those that came before. It fascinates me. They were just as important as current generations. They lived and struggled. Loved and lost. They were excited and filled with hope for the young ones and saddened when they buried the elders. So the circles keep going, generations come and go, love and life keep right on happening with God on the middle of it all. You may look English, Native American, or Chinese, but you have a line and that line goes forward as well as into the past. I urge you to check that out. It may surprise you and it may shed some light on why you are the way you are.

Using research originally developed by Harvard psychologist Dr. Howard Gardner about multiple intelligences which was made popular by Dr. Thomas Armstrong, author Nikola-Lisa chooses 12 achievers to show how they were each ’smart’ in different, important ways. “Here are eight basic ways people can be smart,” Nikola-Lisa writes in his introduction using Armstrong’s terms: body smart, logic smart, music smart, nature smart, people smart, picture smart, self smart, and word smart.

Each eye-catching double-page spread begins with a quote from the subject, a poem that highlights his or her accomplishments, and ends with a short biography. Parents: sharing this title with your younger readers is highly recommended – you might find yourself amazed at how much history we missed (or had missed for us) given most of our Eurocentric educational pasts!

From Spanish Irish physicist Luis Alvarez to Native American Scotch Irish prima ballerina Maria Tallchief to Japanese American Congresswoman Patsy Takemoto Mink to African American explorer Matthew Henson to Mexican American botanist Ynés Mexía, Nikola-Lisa admirably chooses a variety of backgrounds both professionally and culturally to illustrate the very diversity of how “each person [is] an individual blend of several intelligences.”

And since the title is How We Art Smart, Nikola-Lisa finds ways in which the young reader can get involved: “Now it’s time for you to think / about the ways we are smart …” Activities, further reading, a myriad of resources provide ample opportunities for further exploration and discussion … every book should have such a rich and continuous afterlife!

Readers: Children

Published: 2006, 2009 (paperback re-issue)

As you sit down with your family for this Thanksgiving holiday to enjoy turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing, potatoes, or for those Vegans out there your tofurkey feast, keep one thing in mind. The history of this country is a history of genocide and oppression. The Thanksgiving holiday celebrates a holiday that for generations of Native Americans represents everything that is wrong with the US. But we must be clear on one thing – what drove the genocide.

It was not a sentiment that claims that all Native Americans were savages; this by any means is only a justification. If you read the early journals of Christopher Columbus you will hear a tone that seems to direct us towards this reasoning. But why did Columbus come here? What was the nature of the trip?

The maiden voyage in 1492 was in search of riches, gold, and treasures to seek a shorter trade route to Asia to bring more money for the Spanish crown. What Columbus saw when he reached the Caribbean, after he figured out that his estimates were totally off, were people he could exploit for riches. Columbus, guided by that goal, led himself that the inhabitants must all be savages and that they must then be disposable in the search for riches.

Columbus’ logic was created out of a necessity to rationalize the subsequent exploitation, a path also followed to legitimize slavery. In order to feel fine with brutalizing and murdering the indigenous people, Columbus qualified them as savages. In his mind, and in the mind of other since him, this legitimized his seizure of their wealth in order to put it in the hands of “civilized society”.

But how civilized was this society and what made it civilized in the first place? Was Europe a model of civility? Europe was in the process of beginning colonial expansion. It is no mistake that the word used for this process is rooted in the Portuguese translation of Christopher Columbus (Cristobal Colon). This process made the European nations the largest perpetrators of genocide, human trafficking, slavery, as well as an untold list of other egregious crimes all in the search for greater riches. European Colonialism was fueled by burgeoning capitalism, which was beginning to take hold throughout that time.

European colonization and imperialism in the search for wealth fueled the growth of the United States and feed into the manifest destiny logic that exploited Native Americans and took away their homes. This logic has its roots in that of Columbus and of the West’s rationalization for slavery. This logic was also used to facilitate slavery, which was essential during the rise of American Imperialism and for many continues to this day. These events came out of the rise of capitalism, the expansion into new markets, and the search for expropriate the wealth of people into the hands of the few.

I think it is fair to say that capitalism was a forward step from feudalism, in some terms, but for many the rise of capitalism and the imperialist ventures necessitated by it destroyed their family, their society, and their culture. The same system that saw slavery as an opportunity for growth saw Native Americans as roadblocks to seize massive swaths of land. Long before there were ideas of kidnapping and shipping people from Africa to work as slaves, settlers had tried with using natives. This didn’t work out as Native Americans escaped easily and knew the land much better than the new settlers.

The exploitation of the Native Americans comes from the same source as the exploitation of all people of color. Native Americans, African-Americans, Latin Americans, and all people of color to this day are an underclass in American Society. With no attempt to rectify the underclass that has existed since the founding of this nation, people of color have been made to suffer from the worst effects of capitalism.

This thanksgiving as you sit down to eat your feast we need to be thankful. Be thankful for the slaves who resisted slavery, those who fought back. Be thankful for the John Browns, the Nat Turners. Be thankful for the Native Americans who fought for their land. Be thankful for our brothers and sisters who fought at Wounded Knee, who took over Alcatraz, and who continue to fight for freedom today. Our struggles are different struggles against the same system, a system that takes and takes without saying thanks. Happy ThanksTaking.

First, this audit should begin with indepth interviews with previous Haskell finance department employees (Barnette, Rameriez, Battise, well, the list goes on). These employees would not be afraid to provide specific incidents and dates of “odd” accounting practices.

Second, we would propose interviews with current bank manager. She could clear up the missing $40K from Creek Nation that still sits untouched in the Student Bank, because we would like to know why the money has been sitting there for nearly FIVE years.

As an accountant or business manager, if you know that the specific project (like delivery of distance education courses to the Creek Nation) has not been completed and if you, as a Board of Regent President George Tiger, told Haskell Indian Nations University to “just keep in the bank” in case we need it for something…..well, is that standard accounting practices?

If you were the Creek Nation wouldn’t you expect the recipient of your grant to either use it in the intended way or return it (as directed by the now absent Haskell Indian Nations University President Dr. Linda Sue Warner).

If you have a grant from anyone else and you can not complete it in this length of time, you would return the money. Keeping it implies you intend to try to do something else with it, you’re just hoping the Creek Nation forgets and the administration forgets and then you can move it into….well, who knows.

In fact, it would be worth it for David Tahlewemptewa to look now and see if that money is still there and maybe he can tell us why it hasn’t ever been spent on the intended project, or why Mike Lewis wants to keep it in his piggy bank.

In private employment and if an accountant did this for one account, the employer would fire him before even looking to see how many other “odd” practices were at work.

Any other University would dismiss an accountant who ignored the wishes of a funding agency and just kept the money….but since Mr. Lewis is such close personal friends with Stephanie Birdwell-Bighorn, you have to believe she sanctions this type of accounting practice.

The real question is, does OBM and Larry Echohawk also sanction this type of accounting practice

Dr.Venida Chenault wants us to send a special congratulations to Dr. Dan Wildcat who recently won a teaching award typically designated for elementary teachers in Lawrence.

With qualifications that include self-proclaimed expertise in climate change (most people have a degree before they claim this, or a science background, or even subject matter expertise as a traditional person) and card carrying member of a non-federally recognized tribe, Haskell Indian Nations University is lucky to have Dan Wildcat because most Universities have academically qualified people working on climate change and most BIA/BIE institutions are required to hire people who can prove they have tribal membership and most other applicants for this particular award actually TEACH classes.

Haskell Indian Nations University continues to break new frontiers under Stephanie Birdwell-Bighorn’s management-from-her-bed style. Look for breaking news soon on how she got her Senior Executive Service (SES) $150K a year job and why she can keep it now that her husband (Spike Bighorn) who likely supervised the members of the rating panel as Chief of Staff (before Larry Echohawk) bailed and is now refereeing full-time elsewhere.

Next thing we know, Dr. Dan Wildcat will be asking us to congratulate Dr. Venida Chenault on her “Student Conduct Management” award; Mike Lewis will be up for the “penny, penny, who’s got the penny award”; and Mike Tosee will be handed another $30K or so for his “I’m in it for the kids award” from the Mellon Foundation. Just how many of those awards can you get for doing the exact same thing? Even his own tribe is tired of paying for nothing now that his uncle can’t write a check.

Guess I will write A*CF and Mellon Foundation and find out the answer to that one. I will post when they respond. Oh yes, I will post my response from The Internal Revenue Service and the Kansas State Attorney General too.

Acting (some days, most days, frequently and occasionally) President Dan Wildcat is off campus this week but is steering Haskell’s climate change initiative over the phone with frequent updates to Mrs. Birdwell-Bighorn and Mr. Mike Lewis.

It is too bad that no one at Haskell has taken a look at the whole concept of “research” because in mainstream institutions, there are research protocols to follow, including getting the leader of the team or the Principal Investigator to actually have credentials of some sort.

Unless the scientific academy has taken on new ethics and now includes the Sunflower Teacher of the Year award as comparable to well, let’s say a Ph.D. from Harvard in microbiology, then we wonder why the scientists who teach in the environmental studies program at Haskell aren’t involved in this Echohawk project. Maybe Mrs. Birdwell-Bighorn can think of yet another way to highlight the underqualified faculty on a national level. This makes her social work credentials look better too.

For that matter, we wonder why the students in that program (and others) end up taking remedial coursework when they transfer into University courses elsewhere—KU included. Why is there a need for such thing as a bridge program….apparently there isn’t enough science in the science courses on this campus to allow a student to transfer seamlessly.

Unless they transfer into the Native Studies program at KU which has close ties to Dr. Wildcat even though he doesn’t have a degree in Native Studies either. He can posture about climate change and colonization, but even most of the purists in that Native Studies won’t get a degree from a mainstream university such as UMKC(the colonizer).

Purists, like Julia Goodfox and Mike Tsoee, don’t want a degree from the colonizer because that would mean you yourself were turned into the “apple” they criticize. I am pretty sure each one of them took money from the colonizer, but that’s a different blog.

The personnel shuffle begins in time for the holidays.

Stephanie Birdwell-Bighorn is working from home now,we bet plenty of other young mothers would have loved to be able to get full SES salary to lay in bed at home and write an occasional e-mail.

Spike Bighorn has gone off to referee non-government games so his wife Stephanie can keep her job.

Still no new director of Bureau of Indian Education, but a new chief of staff and even Chris Redman’s GS5 secretary is acting Director of Post Secondary next month.

Stephanie Birdwell-Bighorn is saying to the world that anyone with a high school dipolma can run her office…that must be why Stephanie is immently qualified with a social work degree.

She’s gone now, but her spirit most definitely shines on…  and so does her blog, which is a great repository of perspective on Native American activism, culture, and goings-on.  Thank you, Cassandra Yazzie-Hotchkiss.

Click the pic…

“Lucy Harmer’s shamanic astrology book is truly amazing. I use it in my work every day as a therapist to help people understand their personality and find their pathway through life.”
–Jean-Francois Beltrami, counselor and kinesiologist

Welcome to Lucy Harmer’s Shamanic Astrology monthly forecast for the Northern Hemisphere! Each month Lucy shares inspiration and ideas for the coming weeks from her book Shamanic Astrology: Understanding Your Spirit Animal Sign.

Shamanic Astrology is based on the study of the movement of the sun and the moon during the different seasons of the year. There are twelve astrological ‘”signs” which are represented by twelve different spirit animals. To find out your own personal spirit animal sign (the sign you were born under), please check the table of spirit animals at the end of this article. Shamanic Astrology teaches us that inner power derives from knowing the properties, characteristics, and qualities of each spirit animal (known as their “medicine”), and applying this in our own lives.

Each month I will focus on the spirit animal for that month, and describe the “energy” of the month itself and also the influence of the moon. I will also indicate which other spirit animal signs will find this month to be particularly beneficial, and why.

November 22-December 21: OWL

Month of Hibernation and Long Nights

Spirit Animal Sign of the Month:
Owl is the spirit animal which corresponds to November 22 – December 21 (in the northern hemisphere). If you were born at this time, your spirit animal sign is Owl and you share Owl’s strengths of being fair, honest, wise, philosophical, idealistic, optimistic, and independent. You are someone who enjoys the good life! You may also share some of Owl’s weaknesses and can have a tendency to be restless, negligent, intolerant, proud, irresponsible, tactless, superficial and excessively optimistic.

Medicine: Owl’s medicine is the ability to seek out truth and justice in all
circumstances. This can be used in any ambiguous or unclear situation, to find the path to follow and to restore order.
Element: Fire
Stone: Obsidian
Color: Gold
Plant: Mistletoe

Energy of the season:
Owl’s month, which ends with the winter solstice, is that of hibernation and long nights. The sun is at its lowest in the sky and the nights are at their longest. This is a period for introspection, spiritual seeking, visions, plans and preparation for the future. Everything undertaken during this month will need a greater dose of enthusiasm, spontaneity, and optimism than at other times and will have to be on a sound ethical basis. Projects conceived now are often highly ambitious.

Energy of the moon:
Owl’s new moon started on Nov 16th and the full moon is on December 2nd 2009. The period from November 22nd until December 2nd is the ideal time for conceiving or launching projects. These will have a high rate of success, as long as they have a sound ethical foundation. After the full moon, from December 3rd until 15th December, time is best used for introspection and deep spiritual growth. This is a time for learning from the past and for setting new goals for the future. December 16th brings the new moon in Snow Goose; this is a time for putting new structures in place for the year to come, with much determination.

This month is particularly favorable for the following signs:

Owl:
If your sign is Owl the energy of this month is very favorable because it corresponds to the month and the moon of your birth. A new cycle is about to start in your life and this is the best time to start planting seeds. Use the sun’s energy to take stock and head off in a new direction.

Falcon/Salmon:
If your sign is Falcon or Salmon, this is a very lucky month for you, with lots of harmony because you are in your own fire element. A multitude of opportunities will open up for you in this period and this is the best time to give destiny a helping hand!

Raven/Otter:
For Raven and Otter people, this is a very dynamic month, full of energy which favors the conception and birth of new projects. You will feel new motivation and a renewal of your energy at this time.

Table of Spirit Animal Signs:

To find your spirit animal sign, just locate your birthday from the dates below, according to your place of birth. If you were born north of the equator (eg; USA, Canada, Europe), then look for your date of birth in the column headed “Northern Hemisphere.” If you were born south of the equator (eg; Australia, New Zealand, South Africa), then look for your date of birth in the column headed “Southern Hemisphere.”

© Copyright 2009 Lucy Harmer

Shamanic Astrology is available for purchase directly through NorthAtlanticBooks.com, as well as major book stores and online retailers.

CLICK HERE to learn more about courses, seminars and workshops offered by Lucy Harmer.

CLICK HERE to learn more about Shamanic Astrology.

CLICK HERE to learn more about Discovering Your Spirit Animal.

It’s Monday and time for some “tasty” links.  One of my favorite picks this week is Slow: Life In A Tuscan Town. The book is a reminder of the  potential that photos have when put in the hands of a creative story teller. My thanks to APH colleague Marcy Davis for alerting me to this story.

• Slow: Life In A Tuscan Town. “[Author Douglas Gayeton] came from a fast town, Los Angeles, to the slow village of Pistoia, Italy ten years ago and there he fell under the spell of “slow” living. He came to photograph the farmers, spent days with the mushroom hunters, and then, spent days putting together dozens of photographs (called flat film) into one photograph on which he wrote his notes, reminding himself of what he learned that day…There’s so much wisdom in this book from the people of Pistoia that makes us slow down and take stock in a way that we might not normally do in our fast food lives.”

• ‘Notes Left Behind’ Inspired by 5-Year-Old. “Young Girl Left Notes for Her Family to Find as She Died of Cancer. After 5-year-old Elena Desserich was diagnosed with an inoperable kind of cancer, she managed to spread a message of hope and healing.”

• Over 1.8 Million Native American Records Released on Footnote.com. “November 19, 2009 – Footnote.com announced today the release of their latest interactive collection of historical records: the Native American collection. Working together with the National Archives and Allen County Library, Footnote.com has created a unique collection that will help people discover new details about Native American history.”

• RootsMagic Releases Free Genealogy and Family Tree Software. “SPRINGVILLE, Utah, Nov. 19 /PRNewswire/ — RootsMagic, Inc. announced the immediate availability of RootsMagic Essentials, free desktop genealogy software based on their award-winning RootsMagic 4 system. RootsMagic Essentials contains many core features found in its namesake that allow the public to easily start tracing their family trees.”

• Editors Pick: Family Tree Legacies. “Family Tree Magazine editor Allison Stacy and I talked about everything we’d want in one of those “record your family history” books, and Family Tree Legacies: Preserving Memories Throughout Time is the result. We’re a little biased, but we love how well-organized, versatile and pretty it is (and we think it would make a good Christmas or wedding gift).”

• Nurturing the “Grand” in Grandchildren Over the Holidays. “There are at least 56 million grandparents in the country, with the U.S. Census Bureau reporting that more than 4.5 million children live with their grandparents. The report also indicates that African American grandparents are more likely to be their grandchildren’s primary caregivers compared to other ethnic groups.  First 5 California recognizes the important role African American grandparents play in the lives of young children. Below are helpful tips on how grandparents can support their grandchildren in their early years.  Read to your Grandchildren November is Child Literacy Month and a perfect time for grandparents to make reading a priority when spending time with their grandchildren.”

• Voice of Witness. “… a non-profit book series that empowers those most closely affected by contemporary social injustice. Using oral history as a foundation, the series depicts human rights crises around the world through the stories of the men and women who experience them.”

If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email.

Share this post.

Click on Title to view full description

Blogger Rowland Keshena posts up AIMs 20-Point Position Paper on the anniversary of the Native American take-over and reclamation of Alcatraz.  Here is a short excerpt from that paper:

We seek a new American majority – a majority that is not content merely to confirm itself by superiority in numbers, but which by conscience is committed toward prevailing upon the public will in ceasing wrongs and in doing right.  For our part, in words and deeds of coming days, we propose to produce a rational, reasoned manifesto for construction of an Indian future in America.  If America has maintained faith with its original spirit, or may recognize it now, we should not be denied.

In an article back in 2005 Mikey Z. wrote:

Over the course of the occupation, over 5,600 American Indians took part — some for a day, some for the entire 18 months. Twenty-three year-old John Trudell, a Santee Sioux from San Bernardino, California heard about the occupation, packed a sleeping bag, and headed to Frisco. “He became the voice of Radio Free Alcatraz, a pirate station that broadcast from the island with the help of local stations” explains Winton. “When he hit the airwaves, the response was often overwhelming…” For the first time in modern American history, the plight of Native Americans was making headlines.

…

“Despite its chaos and factionalism, the event resulted in major benefits for American Indians,” Winton states. “Years later, Brad Patterson, a top aide to President Richard Nixon, cited at least ten major policy and law shifts.”

Artwork by Josh MacPhee (click on pic to buy poster).

I don’t know if it’s just my strange perception of the world anymore that seems to have taken a more spiritual and somewhat magical slant on reality, but I think I’ve encountered some kind of perception into the past.Okay, so maybe it has to do with energy from the earth because it happens a lot as I’m walking up my country road passed peoples’ houses and fields. A lot of time times if I really am quiet and pay attention to the surroundings, it’s as if something inside me opens to the many layers of the past buried under the hard pavement to a dirt road once travled traveled by Native Americans to their Pow-Wow in town, the long journeys the wagons of old times traveling. Then more recently are hints of families that had once lived in the houses I pass and it’s like I glimpse fragments of their lives, like essences all mixed up. I’m no psychic or anything lik like that but all I can say is these expeirnces xperiences are quite profoudn at times and somewhat unreal, because I know they’re in my mind and yet somehow it’s like I’m seeing preserved moments frozen in time as energy captured by the earth. IT’s very strange.

A more recent event of this funny timeslip experience happened to me about two months ago while I was praying at my church. IT’s a city church, so it’s open all day long and I enjoy going in there alone to be in solitude. Well, autumn had arrived with a cool breeze but no leaveshad fallen just yet. Anyway, it was late afternoon as I was headed for the church and realized that something was hovering around me,a sense of being suspended in another time while simaltaniously existing in the present. I couldn’t place myself as to what time period until I had prayed a while in the church and then after some thought realized it was like I was in the late 1800s. In my mind, I had this strong thought of men and women dressed in suits and dresses lingering outside the church, talking (therewas no sound), as if I were watching a three-dimentional silent film and there was a tall rod iron fence and gate outside the church and many dried leaves under a gray fall sky. That was the sense and picture I gathered from this timeslip and thought it curious. IT didn’t leave me till I walked a block or so away from the church and I haven’t sensed it since.
What was so fascinating about this mental timeslip, if that’s what it was, was that when I researched the historiy of the church, I found it had once indeed had a rod iron fence around it and it was popular with many people attending during the time I’d perceived. Now, I didn’t know any historical background of this church so it wasn’t anything from my unconscious awareness.

So, what could this have been? What is this phenomenon? Has anyone else experienced this? Is time layeredlike the many years of soil or rock? Please let me know.

I was contacted this week by Louise for assistance in climbing her family tree. Louise’s mother was Margaret Hall, daughter of Thomas Hall of Akwesasne and Maryanne McGregor of Kahnawake. Besides daughter Margaret, Thomas and Maryanne had at least three sons: John Hall, Michael Hall and contoversial Mohawk activist and artist Louis Hall. If you’re interested, you can read a biography of Louis Hall which was written by a family member. For different perspectives on his life and actions just google “Louis Hall Caughnawaga” and you’ll find a variety of articles.

Louise wanted to know more about Thomas and Maryanne and offered the following information: ” … I do not know when they married or when they died. I’ve heard stories that they had a total of 10 kids, but only these four survived to adulthood. I do not know anything more about those other six children. Nor do I know anything about my grandparent’s parents. I believe my grandfather used to be a performer at Chief Poking Fire’s …..”

Information 1 – Genealogy Notes

I was unable to find much on these McGregors in the St-Francois-Xavier Church registers or the other usual sources, however I did run into a bit of luck when I found the marriage of Thomas and Maryanne’s son John Hall to Louise Montour, because their marriage record listed his parents’ full names – Thomas Sarenhes Hall and Marieanne Kanerahtakwas McGregor. Using a few primary documents plus the 1891, 1901 and 1911 census, I was able to make a preliminary reconstruction of this lineage. I say preliminary because census data is notoriously unreliable so this should be considered a “draft” until more primary documents are found. Note also that I’ve suppressed some post-1911 data for privacy reasons.

According to St-Francois-Xavier Church registers, Thomas Sarenhes Hall married Marianne Kanerahtakwas McGregor on 20 October 1902 in St-Regis/Akwesasne. Witnesses at their marriage were Ignace Karhus(?) and Alexina Bourget.

Louise’s grandmother Marianne (aka Mary Anne) was born on 9 July 1881. her parents were Charles Kanatase McGregor (b. 24 Jan 1847) and Marie Honwatienni. (b. 8 Dec 1852). According to the 1891 census, Charles and Marie had two children besides Marianne. They were Magdeline McGregor (b. about 1870) and Josephine McGregor (b.1881). According to the St-Francois-Xavier records, Louise’s grandfather Charles died at Montreal Junction on 3 September 1904 following an accident involving a sand-slide. he was only 57 years old at the time. Official witnesses at the funeral were Joseph Vigneault and Gilles Ahertion.

Louise indicated that her grandfather was from Akwesasne. This is confirmed by the 1901 census which has him listed as living in St-Regis. Another bit of information is that Thomas Hall was a widower at that time. There were two children in his household – 13 year old Elizabeth Hall and 11 year old Mary Ann Hall, however they do not appear to be his children as they were listed as boarders.

Louise had mentioned that her grandparents Thomas and Maryanne had 4 children that she knew of (her own mother Margaret and uncles John, Michael and Louis) and apparently as many as 6 others who did not survive childhood. At the time of the 1911 census they had the following children living with them in Kahnawake: Pierre Hall (b.March 1904), Thomas Hall (b.July 1905) and Francois Xavier Hall (b. September 1909). I also found the birth certificate for Louis Karoniatajeh Hall (b. 15 January 1918 – Godfather Louis Tiohahtekwen-D’Ailleboust). I didn’t find John Hall’s birth certificate but we do have his certificate of marriage to Louise Montour.

Information 2 – Origin of the Kahnawake McGregors

The McGregor surname is mentioned in Devine’s 1895 text Historic Caughnawaga

“… In the old registers of Caughnawaga may be seen the records of the baptism of whites, but the family names of those persons are not given. Their origin is indicated by such descriptions as “baptized by the English”, “baptized condition- ally”, or “prisoner of war.” A former missionary of the village, the Right Reverend William Forbes, D.D., now Bishop of Joliette, whose study of the origin of the Indian families of Caughnawaga …..became convinced that it was owing to the reception of captives from the English colonies into the tribe, after hostile raids in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, that Indians at Caughnawaga still retain names like Rice, Tarbell, McGregor, Hill, Williams, Jacobs, and Stacey. The first persons bearing those names were brought to the village as prisoners of war, and yielding to the influence of their surroundings they became both Catholic and Iroquois. Once adopted by the tribe, they enjoyed all the privileges of membership, some of them even being elected to offices of responsibility.”

Related Posts:

The Iroquois of Kahnawake

http://www.ratedcolleges.com/blog/2009/100-amazing-how-to-sites-to-teach-yourself-anything/

An Animal Totem is an important symbolic object used by a person to get in touch with specific qualities found within an animal which the person needs, connects with, or feels a deep affinity toward.

From the time I can first remember I was attracted to Owl’s. Now I realize that Owl has been my personal medicine throughout my life. Everything that Owl symbolizes has been natural to me all of my life. I strongly recommend a book that can help you learn about your animal totem. “Medicine Cards: The Discovery of Power Through the Ways of Animals by Jamie Sams, David Carson, and Angela C. Werneke” you can purchase this through Amazon.com.

Owl medicine is a feminine trait and is symbolically associated with clairvoyance, astral projection, and magic. Since time immemorial, humanity has been afraid of the night, the dark, and the unseen – waiting fearfully for the first crack of morning light. Conversely, night is Owl’s friend. It has great awareness of all that is around it at all times. It has predator vision, which means it sees clearly what it looks at. It has great intuition, and the courage to follow its instincts. It is a meat eater, which means it can be a fierce warrior if challenged, or if something dear to it is threatened.

Owl can see in the dark, and can accurately pinpoint and identify any sound. If you have Owl medicine, these night birds will have a tendency to collect around you, even in the daytime, because they recognize a kinship with you.

In many cultures Owl is a symbol for wisdom. This is because Owl can see that which others cannot, which is the essence of true wisdom. Where others are deceived, Owl sees and knows what is there.

Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, had a companion Owl on her shoulder which revealed unseen truths to her. Owl had the ability to light up Athena’s blind side, enabling her to speak the whole truth, as opposed to only a half truth.

If Owl is your personal medicine, no one can deceive you about what they are doing, no matter how they try to disguise or hid it from you. You may be a little frightening to be around, since so many people have ulterior motives which you see right through. Owl medicine people know more about an individual’s inner life than that person knows about herself or himself. Now you can understand why I’m a psychic.

Owl medicine is wonderful to have. Those who carry it cannot be conned because their vision shows them the truth of the situation.

Chakra – Root, Crown
Essential Oil – Rosemary, Lime, Cinnamon
Chant – Ti mah su
Planet – Pluto

Actions to Take To Heal Your Grief Over The Loss Of Michael Jackson.

Write a letter to a loved one, Michael Jackson or any one you loved, who has passed over or light a candle for them for 7 consecutive days. Look back at some of the “deaths” in your life, how have they helped you to become the person you are today? Join a discussion or support group for death and dying.

Hold a releasing ceremony, symbolically burying or burning anything you no longer want or need in your own life. Make up your own ritual for this and follow your own inner knowing or call upon Owl to help show you the way.