Are We Ready To Bring Balance
To The Earth? To Ourselves?
A Message From The Hopi Elders
By Jim PathFinder Ewing (Nvnehi Awatisgi)
In April, I received a message from the Hopi Elders. It is powerful and
should be shared with the world.
As soon as I received it, I recognized the power of the words and sent it right
out to as many people as I could as quickly as possible, so that others might
share in the wisdom. Let me interject here that the message is much stronger
than the words tell. Merely holding it in my hands told me there was greater
power in these words than could meet the eye.
As soon as I sent out the message, Spirit told me that I must go to the Bear Lodge and purify myself, and that I must take the message with me. Since I always do what Spirit tells me to do, I complied. I’m glad I did.
I went to do the sweat (Inipi/Asi) knowing it was impossible to meet the requirements Spirit laid down. Spirit was explicit in that I should take the message to the Lodge and pray on it, and that I must be home before dark. I knew this was impossible since it was afternoon already and it takes eight hours to light the fire in a sacred manner, allow the Grandfathers (stones) to heat, and do the sweat, which alone usually lasts two hours. So, being a little of a Doubting Thomas, I took a lantern. (Not doubting Spirit, but my own ability to follow Spirit.) It wasn’t needed.
In Mississippi, we do not have the Seven Sacred Woods of the Cherokee (Tsalagi) for the Sacred Fire, but I did the best I could and laid out willow, oak, pine, ash and lightning-struck cedar (itself sacred as ancestor to the Cherokee and touched by Spirit). I couldn’t believe my eyes, when touched by a match it roared into life, the Fire Spirits crackling and talking excitedly, the Standing Ones going up in flames like a rocket. Shaking my head, I muttered, yes, Osda, Spirit is with this fire. Maybe I will make it home before dark after all.
Once the fire was settled, I sat and pulled out the Hopi Message. I knew it had to be uttered out loud, with feeling and understanding, so the whole Earth and all beings could hear it ... read aloud to the Sacred Fire, to the Spirits, to the Guardians of the Four Directions, to the Earthly Mother ...
And so I began reading it out loud, to the Sacred Fire and all directions.
Immediately, clouds came over the sun; it became dark and still while I read. The birds and all animals stilled their songs and rust-lings. It was as if every ear, including many hidden ones, were straining to listen, and to comprehend these words.
Let me tell you, if you do this, if you read the words out loud, and understand the concepts behind and between the words, the Earth and all beings will listen to your voice; and if you lack understanding, they will reflect it back to you, so you may understand.
I took my time reading the message. But it was odd. Whenever I would stop, if my thoughts strayed or became lost in musing over a word or paragraph, the silence of the moment would get restless and awaken me from my reveries. The World wanted to hear these words, without my foolish interruptions. So, I continued on.
When I was through reading, the sun came back out again; the clouds dissipated into blue skies, the birds began to chirp and sing, an owl hooted from the tree above me. Hello, Brother! And I even saw a tiny, green frog hopping onto the roof of the lodge. The creatures of the Earth and spirits had to hear the message that the Earth will bloom again, if the people walk in Spirit. And they were happy once the message was given to them.
And then, miracle of miracles, the Grandfathers were hot, the Lodge was ready for purification. Since I was alone, I went as I was born into this world, only me in the Earthly Mother’s womb, with the Spirit of Creation the only light. The Grandfathers were so hot, they crumbled giving their all. The Spirit of the water passed through me; no human could hold so much water, mixing with my tears, crying to the Creator. Inside her womb were all people, and they wept bitter tears for the pain and love of their Mother. It was an eagle sweat. It blistered my skin, but my soul was cleansed, my heart made full by emptying it. So it was, I did make it home with the sun just below the horizon, still light.
And, today, this message is in my heart.
The Hopi Elders speak for the Hopi Elders. Some of what they say has to do only with the Hopi, their traditions and beliefs. But much of what they say involves all Beings. In the ancient teachings of all peoples, it was to each portion of the Earth, people were given guardianship — not dominion, but peaceful coexistence, to take no more than was needed, to thank each being for its sacrifice, to use the perceptions and directions Creator gave humans to help keep the world in balance.
When apportioned between all peoples in this way, with the world shaped in the colors of the directions — Red, White, Black, Yellow — one for each race, the division of labor was in balance in the four corners of the world, if each walked in Spirit and kept the laws written in their hearts holy.
Within this Sacred Hoop of Life, each part upheld by men and women, in balance, each performing the function that suited them best, the world and all beings could live in harmony.
The Hopi, as the message tells, have kept the law holy in their hearts — or, rather, some have. It’s hard to believe that such a seemingly barren land as the Hopi inhabit could be so vital to the health and balance of the Earth. But it is vital for the holy work there continues, even as it continues in other small, discrete places, such as the Tibetan highlands, in the Amazon, and other places where European sensibilities of “worth” have not intruded.
A great Cherokee teacher and medicine woman, Dhyani Ywa-hoo, speaks to this in her book, “Voices of Our Ancestors: Cherokee Teachings from the Wisdom Fire.” Each of these last remaining indigenous peoples are acting as anchors to the Earth, speaking to one portion of the Earth to which they were assigned.
But I’ll let you in on one medicine secret. It is the little holes in the ground made by ants that allow the Earth to breathe. Around the globe, these little tunnels act as once voice, connecting Her to the Sky. If you want your voice, your prayer, to be heard around the world, speak into an ant hole. One is connected to all; when you speak, if your heart is pure, the vibration right, your voice goes to Earth and Sky with our Earthly Mother’s breathing.
If even one “righteous man,” as the Hopi say, or woman, is doing the work Creator intended, the “worth” of that one human being can hold the Earth together.
Think what would happen if each and every one of us walked in Spirit, dropped the blinders from our eyes, and did as our hearts spoke, not as our minds screech — echoed in myriad ways by government, media, society, culture, “expectation.”
What if we each only tended to our own plot of “worthless” soil? Our minds, our hearts, our lives, our world? It would be Eden again.
But, as the Hopi Elders say, our world has lost its balance. Our marriage of Earth and Sky, man and woman, human and all beings, all relations, are askew, and our Earthly Mother reflects this imbalance, as we are of the Earth, as she is of and by us through our thoughts, intents and imaginings, our Dream of The World.
We are interconnected, inseparable, in thought and deed. And if we, or the majority of us, are out of balance, our world is out of balance.
It is time, as the Hopi Elders say, for the people to walk in Spirit. To return to our hearts and away from the divisions and diversions of mind, to become as The Great Mind saw it, not the small mind of humankind in its pomp, divisiveness, and ego.
A Great Truth which the people today seem to have forgotten, one that is promulgated by the Western mind, that indigenous people have always known, needs to be reaffirmed today.
Throughout Western history, “civilized” man has always sought God, or rejected God. He/She has felt separated from God, or had God “with” something or against something, always as an outside Force, sometimes fickle, sometimes aloof, too often an angry God, and though wished and revered as such, sometimes a loving God.
But wherever Western “civilized” societies tried to force God on Native peoples, or have them accept God, or to see God, and punished them for not doing so, often on pain of death and even genocide, Native peoples were utterly baffled, incredulous.
Native peoples in their cultures have never been separated from God.
For Creator, Great Spirit, Great Mystery, is within every “thing,” including every human. To be apart from God is to be dead. And even then, that’s only with God in another place, the body left behind to be one with the Earthly Mother again.
In Native way, all things are a part of God, not “apart” from God. That is how we are “all our relations” — the words in Lakota as a prayer, Mitakuye Oyasin, or Gus dii dada dv ni in Cherokee. All beings, including rocks, insects, birds, things that creep and crawl and swim and fly, are children of the Earthly Mother and Heavenly Father. All are “of” God.
All are related by God within. It — God — is shared with every being of this Earth, including the Earth itself.
Native people, when following the path of Spirit, the Good Red Road, walk with every step as a prayer. There is no clasping of hands and singing one day of the week, to be set aside til next Sunday. Every day, every moment is Sunday, for God is always there, and no thing is hidden; it’s all there, all the time, no separation, no distinction. And we are all of this Sacred Hoop of Life whether we want to be or accept it or reject it — no matter what we think.
When we separate ourselves from God, it is we who are apart. Not God. We choose to not BE in God. And so we go out of balance, out of reverence, out of Spirit. And that is how the Earth is out of balance; out of the spirit of men’s (and women’s) minds. Out of the great Mind of God and in the small mind of humankind, separate and alone from all things by choice.
By separating ourselves from God, in thought, deed, word and action, we make lifeless things of everything, including each other.
We often treat human beings as strangers, fear them, even kill them, because they are separate from us, separate from God, separate from all things. And, in doing so, we kill ourselves and kill our world. We become as lifeless as we think this world and all others are, as soulless as “that man over there,” that “enemy,” that person who, ultimately, is in the mirror.
By recognizing God within every human being, we practice the Sanskrit word Namaste — meaning, literally, the Divinity in me greets the Divinity in you. In Cherokee, we call it, seeing nuwati (nuh-wat-ee): the Good Medicine that is in all things, including people, plants, animals, every thing, every being.
This is the balance that is so lacking in our Earth. This is the balance that is so lacking in ourselves. We must recognize that we each can hold balance within ourselves — men and woman each having male and female energies within them — and must bring the balance of female energy back to the Earth, the Divine Feminine, to bring balance to all things, including our societies, that has been lost in our patriarchal, hierarchical “modern” way of being.
To lines of division, we must being the circle of oneness, inclusiveness, all beings as one family, in Spirit. That is the Medicine Wheel of life.
In this, it is our prayer to walk in peace, to walk in balance, to walk in harmony, from our hearts and not our minds. We do this by recognizing the sacredness of all things, including ourselves.
It is inescapable. If we will only open our eyes, our ears, our hearts to it. God, Creator, Great Spirit is everywhere. It is up to us to allow Creator to live in our sight within all things, and thereby in ourselves, in our world, as one.
Aho. Hayv.
This message is meant in a good way; pray it is received as intended.
Mitakuye Oyasin. Gus dii dada dv ni.
Jim PathFinder Ewing (Nvnehi Awatisgi), 52, is an enrolled member of the
Southern Cherokee Tribe and Associated Bands in Texas, an Elder of the Manataka
American Indian Council (Hot Springs, Ark.), a member of the Bear Clan Medicine
Society (Russelville, Ark), a Bear Dancer (Yona Galisgisgia) and Water Pourer
with training in Shamanism, Reiki and other forms of energy medicine. He
alternates living in Buffalo, Texas, at the tribe’s Ceremonial Grounds, and
Lena, Miss., where he practices, teaches, and holds Bear Lodge (Asi/Inipi) and
leads a monthly Drum Circle, a prayer ceremony honoring the Native American
Medicine Wheel.
A Registered Karuna Reiki® Master Teacher, Usui/Tibetan Rei-ki Master Teacher
and sponsor of workshops by The Foundation For Shamanic Studies, he writes a
monthly newsletter (“Keeping In Touch ...”) with subscribers across the U.S. and
several for-eign countries. For more informa-tion, write P.O. Box 387, Lena, MS
39094; (601) 654-3301; e-mail:
blueskywaters@att.net . See web-site: Healing The Earth/Ourselves:
www.blueskywaters.com.
| It is important that although the prophecy is grim, the people hold
a vision, too, for “The men with ambitious minds will decrease, while
the people of good hearts, who live in harmony with the earth, will
increase until the earth is rid of evil. If the Hopi are right, this
will be accomplished and the earth will bloom again.“ In Tsalagi (Cherokee) way, it is said that now is the time for the people and their descendents, to gather in Traditional way: du yu ka du a tli gi lo ga (true time it is approaching). For all the people, we are all one Tribe, the five-fingered Tribe, it is time to hear our hearts and walk the path of Spirit. Read it. Read it aloud, so all beings may hear you. The time of this message has come. Hopi Ark of Prophecies Perhaps there is still time for this land to live under the laws of the Great Spirit and our Great Creator (God). These are the things we pray for and desire. We are very sad for our life of today, it is heading down the direction persons of modern authority have created for us; the tide is gathering and the high tide which sweeps us away may not be far off. We wish to present here the Hopi Spiritual Truths in our hum-ble Hopi Way, passed on from the Dawn of time from father to son, mother to daughter, Priest to Priest, Holy Ones to Holy Ones, who have spoken in these truths from the beginnings. The Old Ones tell us the best things in life can not be shared, only experienced, the second and third best can be shown and realized. The fourth is our verbal communication. So here we stand with the humble and lowly fifth way of communication of the Truth of the Hopi Spiritual Elders; we hope it inspires you to learn something of the first 4 ways. The prophecies that follow are organized into a time sequence, and into three categories: Those that have been fulfilled We will put these together with the signs the Hopis watch for that tell them
when something important is about to happen. Prophecies Already Fulfilled The new government order will be established on our land, our own people with
short hair will take positions in this government disguised as the ear and mouth
for our Nation. They will also be the tools influenced by the Bahanna’s kingdom.
They will, together with the Cross, help fulfill the desire of the Bahanna to
take over our land by diluting and dissolving our beliefs and traditional
culture. The Hopiland will be their last target, the test of survival for the
Natives of this land is staged in HOPILAND. If we weaken and fall, the
extermination will be completed by the Bahanna’s kingdom. We, the Hopi, have a prophecy which foretold that one day a house built of mica
(the United Nations) would appear on the eastern shore of our land. There the
Hopi would visit the great world leaders within. The Hopi delegation would bring
forth a message of their dangerous situations, that their way of life is
threatened and may be demolished by lingering foreign encroachment. Four
attempts must be made to reach these world leaders for this will be the test of
the prophecy. At the end of that time, if the door fails to open, they were to
throw their case behind them, toward the setting sun. Just what are the Hopi prophetic instructions regarding the United Nations? Please understand the common misconception. The Hopi are not charged with just another appeal for peace, nor do they request membership in the United Nations. One more voice added to the course of those calling for peace would add little compared to the true significance of what Hopi traditional has to offer the modern world through this calamity . . . The communication effort of the Hopi and developments that led to the existence of the United Nations are parallel responses to the invention of the Atomic Bomb. From the Hopi perspective, these two efforts ought to enhance each other for the benefit of the entire world. Two monumental cultural factors have prevented European immigrants from recognizing this process of widespread unification. The presumption of racial superiority and the need to conquer and convert. Also a recent tendency to discredit all knowledge which does not stand the test of scientific thought. The Hopi insist that the coming of the light-skinned race, the invention of the atomic bomb and the developments of the UN are anticipated by their ancestral prophetic instructions to be fulfilled by the HOPI; they must make four attempts to gain a genuine hearing. The basic premise is that humans can not simply make their own laws and enforce
them with weapons without regard to Natural order and Natural Law. Therefore we have come to the conclusion that world peace is becoming hopeless. During this time we received no response from official members of the UN. Since this situation lies within the guidelines Hopi received from Maasaw, we gave this our careful attention. We completed four trips there to speak to the General Assembly, All Failures. On reaching this point we became aware there is little hope we will ever fulfill the prophecy concerning the UN. So the religious leaders decided that what they have to do to fulfill the prophecy, actually the final instruction, is to throw their case behind them and release information to the True Hearts of the World. Hopefully these actions will help us in reaching our goal. From here on the Hopi will rely on three people behind them, the Creator and natural forces. One of these could complete the purification according to His plan. Before the Hopi migrations began, Maasaw let it be known that whoever would find him first would be the leader at Oraibi, which became the Mother village for the other villages established later on Third Mesa. One day Hopi will encounter people of other races with ways that are different
than the Hopis’. They will erect their own kingdom on Hopiland. They will
multiply like ants. Human beings have many evil ambitions in their hearts that they will pursue
throughout their lives. Then He pointed out a path, a way to travel, that was like a narrow edge of a
knife. Along the way, he said, we would face many evil obstacles, obstacles
which would lessen our spiritual energies and the will to go on, causing us to
stray off the path. But, if we reached the end of the path without weakening, we
would be rewarded with a good, peaceful and everlasting life. Then Maasaw would
be our leader for He is the first and will be the last. This is the path our
village, Hotevilla, the last remnant of traditional Hopi, has chosen to follow
to this day. Prophecies Today Prophecies to Be Fulfilled So the time will come when we will experience late springs and early frosts, this will be the sign of the returning Ice Age. Today, once again, the world is facing a new crisis. This is a war of retaliation against terrorism. A war to save the innocent and to punish the guilty. But who is innocent and who is guilty? Well, this depends on how you look at it. Life would be good if all men were innocent. Let us focus on minorities and figure who is guilty. Minorities such as the Native people of both North and South America and elsewhere. We believe militarism is born out of injustice, poverty and ignorance where absolute governments refuse to hear the grievances of minorities or to help in resolving problems. So the people resort to violence, demonstrations and even terrorism or other recourse when they see no other way to be heard. What can we do when our world leaders and the people are acting like fools in attempts to solve the problems confronting us? Once again we will quote the prophecy of our elders. We hope it will interest you so that you will be more aware of it as it has been happening for some time. According to prophecy, the day will come when people in high places will be hunted, and vice-versa, the lowly hunters will be hunted. This will get out of control. The hunting will gather strength and spread far and wide. This situation might even erupt on our land. Finally, this will lead us to the Biblical version of Armageddon (the Hopi version is closely related). A final decisive battle between good and evil. This will occur under one God or Chief. They dare say (the prophets) we will speak one language and that this will happen in Hopiland, in the village of Oraibi. This will be where the new life plan will be drawn, in the pattern and cycle of religion. Here also a final decision will be made for the wicked. They will be beheaded and speak no more. If this does not materialize there will be a total destruction through the acts of man or nature. Then new life will begin from a girl and a boy. This is a frightening prophecy and will not be supported by many. It is in the prophecies of the Hopi that in a case like this the Navajo may help our cause. Also the Bahannas or the Piute Tribe may help. We doubt that the U.S. Government will easily concede our sovereignty. If possible both Hopi and Navajo traditional would like separation from those who want to be assimilated. Both tribes could thereby retain their identity and lay the foundation for a self-respecting community. There are two water serpents, one at each pole with a warrior sitting on his head and tail. These command nature to warn us by her activities that time is getting short and we must correct ourselves. If we refuse to heed these warnings, the warriors will let go of the serpents, they will rise up, and all will perish. We are much concerned about the climate. No one seems to be able to predict the weather accurately from day to day. However, we know according to our time markers that it is past due for certain seeds to be planted at their proper time. This spring we are reluctant to plant due to the late snow and cold weather. Once more maybe our ancient prophecy is right, that one day we will plant wearing finger sacks (gloves) clearing away snow with our feet before planting. The summers will become shorter for maturing the corn for harvesting. The result is anybody’s guess. The question is, will this occur the world over?? This would depend on the geographical areas. In the regions with different climates, things will happen in different ways. For instance, tropical land could become a land of ice, and the Arctic region could become Tropical. This may occur during a pole shift according to Bahannas concept. But this need
not happen if we, the people, get our leaders to do something about the harmful
things being done to the environment. Our white brother might come and find we have forsaken the sacred laws and
instructions. Then he will whip us without mercy. Either this, or nature herself
will take over. Industrialized nations will become careless in getting more of the resources they need out of the earth, oil, coal, etc.... Believing all these things will last forever. Soon natural resources will be depleted. Fuel shortages will occur, industrial machinery will come to a standstill. The machinery used for planting, harvesting and transport will become useless. Supermarket shelves will become empty of farm produce. The farmers and those who grow their own food will not sell their produce. Money will become worthless. The white man (Bahanna) with all his intelligence and technology will not be able to repair the damage. Now let us review our knowledge briefly, the centuries-old prophecies which warn us what would happen when we forget the principles of right and wrong in our behavior. We will see extraordinary events in Nature and Earth, including mankind: Modern man looks upon old wisdom and knowledge as dead, useless and no longer respected. Modern man depends on the money system and no longer on Mother Earth for food. According to prophecy, when this happens Mother Earth will hide the nourishment which she provides because of the view that ancient food is poor man’s food. When all food disappears modern man will try to correct his mistake, the conditions he caused upon the earth through his inventions. He will try to achieve some kind of method to heal the wound, but this will not be possible when we reach the point of no return. Only through peace the survival of mankind and our planet Earth is possible.
Only if we, the human race, are willing to change. This prophecy related to the Biblical version of “which may yet come to pass.” This prophecy goes on to say that the time will come when common people will become concerned and frustrated because they no longer can live with their hectic world. They will be particularly against the bloodthirsty policies and deceitfulness of world leaders. The unrest will be worldwide as they foresee that the hope of living in peace has become hopeless. The world over the common man will ban together to fight for world peace. They will realize that their leaders have failed in accomplishing peace. People in high places will be hunted down like animals, perhaps through terrorism. In turn leaders will retaliate and begin hunting each other. This condition will gather strength and spread far and wide. It will get out of control the world over. Revolution could erupt on our land. The liberators will come in from the west with great force. They will drop down from the sky like rain. They will have no mercy. We must not get on the house tops to watch. They will shake us by our ears, like children who have been bad. This will be the final decisive battle between good and evil. This battle will cleanse the heart of people and restore our mother earth from illness and the wicked will be gotten rid of. The prophets dare say a peaceful new world order will be drawn in Hopiland. The
people will live under one God and leader. WE will speak one language, the Hopi.
The earth will bloom again. Eventually a gourd full of ashes would be invented, which if dropped from the
sky would boil the oceans and burn the land causing nothing to grow for many
years. This would be the sign for a certain Hopi to bring out his teachings in
order to warn the world that the third and final event would happen soon. That
it could bring an end to all life unless people correct themselves and their
leaders in time. The reality that it will be very violent is now almost taken for granted among Traditional Hopi, but man still may lessen the violence by correcting his treatment of nature and fellow man. Ancient spiritually-based communities, such as the Hopi, must especially be preserved and not forced to abandon their wise way of life and the natural resources they have vowed to protect. The manmade system now destroying the Hopi is deeply involved in similar violations throughout the world. The devastating reversal predicted in the prophecies is part of the natural order. If those who thrive from that system, its money and its laws, can manage to stop destroying the Hopi, then many may be able to survive the Day of Purification and enter a new age of peace. But if no one is left to continue the Hopi way, the hope for such an age is in vain. How can there be peace? Nowhere is there peace, not even within the Hopi
peaceful society. Bahanna society, every nation on earth from people in high
places down to the lowest caste are not at peace. How can peace be accomplished
when weapons are made to kill??? How can there be peace if people hate, not
love??? Perhaps the only alternative now is “Purification.” The men with ambitious minds will decrease, while the people of good hearts, who live in harmony with the earth, will increase until the earth is rid of evil. If the Hopi are right, this will be accomplished and the earth will bloom again. The spiritual door is open, why not join the righteous people. The Horny toad Woman gave Maasaw a promise that she would help him in time of need, saying she too had a metal helmet. After the Hopi have fulfilled their pattern of life, Maasaw will be the leader, but not before, for He is the first and He shall be the last. At time’s end, a new age will appear. There will be a new dawn of time when the world will bloom into peacefulness.
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