Native Science: Natural Laws of Interdependence (Paperback)

by Gregory Cajete Ph.D.(Author),

Leroy Little Bear (Foreword)

Native Science: Natural Laws of Interdependence

Gregory Cajete, Ph.D., a Tewa Indian from Santa Clara Pueblo, is Assistant Professor at the University of New Mexico College of Education and former chair of Cultural Studies and Dean of the Center for Research and Cultural Exchange at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe.

          He is the editor of a People's Ecology: Explorations in Sustainable Living.

          Author of Look to the Mountain: An Ecology of Indigenous Education and Ignite the Sparkle: An Indigenous Science Education Model.

In fact, I have ordered four more of the same book, not my habit to go beyond one and uncommon for me to share. However, due to usage my pages are falling out of my original book copy. Professor Cajete's is rich in data, which fits into life events in unique ways; and why my first book I am taking apart and subdividing it, in a notebook. I wonder if we were writing side-by-side this the WOW Book of the century.

Review included testing against my four-lifetimes equal to more than three-hundred years of experiences and rediscovery of vast arrays of knowledge and sacred knowledge received and learned from elders. Each person life cycle normally equals 360 degrees in one physical form. Nevertheless, some of us live two to four life cycles during ones sacred life journey in ones physical form.

Many young children chosen to become sacred elders are born old and they begin living several life cycles, required of them to become sacred elders. Then not all originally chosen to learn from the Sacred Elders are found worthy, when they get of age. Then others like my Grandmother M were found sacred and worthy to be honored with great sacred saintly respect and when found as worthy as she was they receive sacred wisdom of the ages and abilities, which then makes them ageless. Grandmother M the Sacred Father found worthy to learn from the sacred ageless elders, in my life I was lucky enough to meet one such Sacred and Blessed Pueblo Elder, who was as blessed as Grandmother M, then I learned some of their sacred medicine teachers were the same teachers. Lifetime of experiences, knowledge, countless journeys, rich lessons, designed to enhance many lifetime circle timelines and add to cycles. That is the reason some people can life one to four 360 degrees in one physical form. 

Within these pages are some of the very same shared foundation knowledge, which is the reason, I am also going to give away a couple of copies to close friends, but I will not be giving my two copies away. As you can tell this book has impressed me in a way, very few books impress me, to such a degree. No I have not come across any book I feel this strong about.

In truth, I can go on and on about this book, but this book supports all of my background, knowledge, teachings, theories, and life adventures. Nevertheless, this is the first I have found I feel so much akin to and one first book I can highly recommend without any reservation. On a scale of one to ten, I would have to give this author a ten on knowing his subject matter and presenting it in a very honest and thoughtful manner.

Maybe I should also explain he is one who has stayed true to his Indigenous Native personality. So many I have come across claim to be but are more of an apple instead of a red ripe tomato. Even more strange, to discovered one in the education field, who has not sold his soul or the Native people out and has tackles all things life, from experience and a truly traditional point of view. I bow to him out of honest respect.

In my library house of books, considering books have almost taken over the entire house. . . front room, two bedrooms, storage area, closets, and our garage. (Native Science: Natural Laws of Interdependence (by Gregory Cajete (Author)) has to be great for me to highly recommend, especially since I have studied Sociology, Theology, Psychology, and Metaphysics, all I had opposition to for a number of reasons. Most were destructive and not constructive or they were clueless when it came to the lifestyle and mentality of Indigenous Peoples.

You will have to read the book to understand the following:

[Most indigenous research and teaching in the past Western, Angelo-Saxon, or Eurasian mentalities geared data towards life and based on their knowledge. Thus creating a wider gap in the understanding of native sciences, learning patterns, research, physics, philosophy, astrology, environment based on spiritual connection to the oneness of life, earth and the universe as a whole, incorporating nature, and the values of sacred spiritual oneness. Problem started from beginning, which insured the finished produce would continue to lacks awareness of Indigenous Natives, nevertheless I think a few of the excerpts from the book will help you to understand why I recommend this book.]

Photo copies of pages 64 through 78, and three-select paragraphs from page 79 and 80. The rest of the book too hard to copy due and/or I prefer to keep, the side notes, highlighting, marks, and underscores . . . get your own copy. The ISBN details are at the bottom. 

64             NATIVE SCIENCE

Tenets of Native Philosophy

Native philosophy has always been broad-based. It is not based on rational thought alone but incorporates to the fullest degree all aspects of interac­tions of "human in and of nature;' that is, the knowledge and truth gained from interaction of body, mind, soul, and spirit with all aspects of nature. In process, reflection, and practice, Native science embodies the natural system characteristics of diversity, optimization, cooperation, self-regula­tion, change, creativity, connectedness, and niche. As Robert Yazzie, chief justice of the Navajo Nation (1996), explains:

Navajo philosophy is not a philosophy in the Western sense of the word; it is the lived practices of cultural forms that embody the Navajo understanding of their connectivity in the worlds of spirits of nature, humans, animals, plants, minerals, and other natural phenomena. However, explained in terms of Western thought it may be viewed as the practice of an epistemology in which the mind embodies itself in a particular relationship with all other aspects of the world. For me as a Navajo, these other aspects are my relations. I have a duty toward them as they have a duty as a relative toward me.

Unfortunately, many people today have grown up with the Western culturally conditioned notion that only one science and one philosophy exist. But philosophies are culturally relative, founded on the worldview of the culture from which they come and which they were created to serve. A list of the guiding thoughts of Native science might include the following:

[PHILOSOPHY OF NATIVE SCIENCE     65]

·         Native science integrates a spiritual orientation.

·         Dynamic multidimensional harmony is a perpetual state of the universe.

·         All human knowledge is related to the creation of the world and the emergence of humans; therefore, human knowledge is based on human cosmology.

·         Humanity has an important role in the perpetuation of the natural processes of the world.

·               Every ((thing" is animate and has spirit.

·              There is significance to each natural place because each place reflects the whole order of nature.

·              The history of relationship must be respected with regard to places, plants, animals, and natural phenomena.

·              Technology should be appropriate and reflect balanced relation­ships to the natural world.

·               There are basic relationships, patterns, and cycles in the world that

need to be understood; this is the proper role of mathematics.

·               There are stages of initiation to knowledge.

·               Elders are relied upon as the keepers of essential knowledge.

·              Acting in the world must be sanctioned through ritual and ceremony.

·               Properly fashioned artifacts contain the energy of the thoughts, materials, and contexts in which they are fashioned and there­fore become symbols of those thoughts, entities, or processes.

·              Dreams are consider gateways to creative possibilities if used wisely and practically.

Native science operates according to cognitive and linguistic ((maps" that chart both collective and individual wisdom. How something is related and the nature of causality in a given natural context are foci of deep reflection. The ways in which aspects of nature are transformed through time and space and the nature of proper orientation to ((sacred space" demand the observation of subtle details that are the foundation of knowledge. Ritual and ceremony can be personal or communal ((tech­nologies" for accessing knowledge, and symbols are used to remember key understandings of the natural world. Native science is a process for understanding in all aspects of Native tradition.

The ((coming to know" of Native science revolves around the natural creative process of human learning. Intervention in a natural process is taken on only with great care and much consideration. Continual emphasis is placed on "being of nature" or working with its natural flow; listening and looking closely are consistently practiced. Teachers act always as facilitators.

[66        NATIVE SCIENCE]

Knowledge is presented in "high contexts;' in which many levels of information are shared at many levels of communication. True knowing is based on experiencing nature directly. "Doing" and playing are integral parts of Native learning; apprenticeship is a form of directed learning. Meditation or silence and reflection also playa role in internalizing the lessons of nature.

Elders provide guidance and facilitate learning, often through story along with artifacts and manifestations of traditions, but it is the indi­vidual's responsibility to learn. An individual's dreams and visions prop­erly prepared for and properly received may bring true knowing. Even the "trickster" (chaos) may facilitate creative understanding, and this role in whatever form it is played is highly respected.

Process of Native Science

The perspective of Native science goes beyond objective measurement, honoring the primacy of direct experience, interconnectedness, relation­ship, holism, quality, and value. Its definition is based on its own merits, conceptual framework, and practice and orientation in the tribal contexts in which it is expressed. Concerned with the processes and energies within the universe, it continually deals in systems of relationships and their application to the life of the community. Science cannot divide its application into departments; it is integrated into the whole of life and being and provides a basic schema and basis for action.

For instance, the traditional Yupiaq people based their philosophy and lifeways on maintaining and sustaining relationships among human, natural, and spiritual worlds. The balance of nature, or ecolog­ical perspective, was of utmost importance to the Yupiaq. To understand the Yupiaq worldview it is necessary to understand the multiple meaning of a word that epitomizes Yupiaq philosophy. This word is "ella," which is a base word that can be modified to change its meaning by adding a suffix or suffixes. Examples include "Qaill' ella auqa?" (How is the weather?); "Qaill' ell an auqa?" (How are you feeling?); "Ellapak nunii" (The world's land); "Ellagpiim yua" (Spirit of the Universe); "Ellapak" (Universe); and "Ella amigligtuq" (The sky is cloudy).

[PHILOSOPHY OF NATIVE SCIENCE        67]

Varia­tions of this one root word can be made to refer to weather, awareness, world, creative force or god, universe, and the sky. The key word here is awareness or consciousness. Consciousness is the highest attainment of the human being; the human being must be able to make sense out of values and traditions as juxtaposed with the "objects" of the universe. As a manifestation of their "ella;' the Yupiaq developed a body of values and traditions that would enable them to maintain and sustain their ecolog­ical worldview (Kawagley 1994: 15).

Native science stems from a deeply held philosophy of proper rela­tionship with the natural world that is transferred through direct experience with a landscape, and through social and ceremonial situa­tions that help members of a tribe learn the key relationships through participation and their "ella," as the Yupiaq would say. Methodological elements and tools of Native science that have traditionally facilitated such learning included:

Observation: Careful observations of plants, animals, weather, celes­tial events, healing processes, the structures of natural entities, and the ecologies of nature.

Experiment: In Native science, there is no deliberate attempt to distort a natural event beyond observation. Native peoples have tradi­tionally applied practical experimentation at all times to find efficient ways to live in their various environments, and ingenious and ecologi­cally appropriate technologies were developed.

Meaning and understanding: These were the priorities of Native science, rather than a need to predict and control. Meaningful relation­ship and an understanding of one's responsibilities to those entities in nature that people depended on were the reasons for a Native science, which invited a desired result through entering into specific relationships with the energies of the natural world.

Objectivity: Native science reflects the understanding that objec­tivity is founded on subjectivity. There is a stress on direct subjective experience, predicated on a personal and collective closeness to nature, which will lead to an understanding of the subtle qualities of nature.

[68    NATIVE SCIENCE ]

Unity: Native science stresses order and harmony but also acknowl­edges and honors diversity and chaos as creators of reality. "Relationships and renewable alliances take the place of fixed laws, and Indigenous science accepts the possibility that chance and the unexpected can enter and disturb any scheme. Thus, the circle is left open and chance as repre­sented by the clown, the trickster, and gambling games, occupies an important role" (Peat 1994:257).

This plate is representative of ancient Anasazi design motifs that symbolize the four directions and other elements of nature (chaos), along with the fundamental order of the universe in the center. Photograph © Marcia Keegan.

Models. Native science also has models. Teaching revolves around high context models in which information is communicated at many levels, and which are highly representational and elicit higher order thinking and understanding. An example of such a ritual process model is the Plains Sun Dance, which may include symbols such as the circle, numbers, geometric shapes, special objects, art forms, songs, dances, stories, proverbs, or metaphors, all of which unify experience with meaning and facilitate the mind's conscious process of connecting with the energies and animating power of nature. Native symbols go beyond simple archetypes when they represent the universe itself, as with a cere­monial structure such as the Navajo Hogan.

            [PHILOSOPHY OF NATIVE SCIENCE        69]

Causality. Native science reflects a belief in causes that affect and go beyond the physical, principles such as synchronicity and the action of natural energies and entities. Other such principles include the transfor­mation of energy to other forms and resonance with the order of the universe, as reflected in the adage, "as above so below."

Instrumentation. Native science relies on preparation of the mind, body, and spirit of each person as the primary vehicle of "coming to know." The mind and body can be used for careful, disciplined, and repeatable experimentation and observation. Knowledge is gathered through the body, mind, and heart in altered states of being, in songs and dance, in meditation and reflection, and in dreams and visions.

Appropriate technology: Because social value [is] gained by honoring mutual reciprocal relationships, spin-offs of Native science in technol­ogy are carefully applied. Adoption of technology is conservative and based on intrinsic need, and care is taken to ensure that technologies adopted and applied do not disrupt a particular ecology. Such care is grounded in the belief that it is possible to live well through adhering to a cosmology and philosophy honoring balance, harmony, and ecologi­cally sustainable relationships.

Spirit: Native science incorporates spiritual process: no division exists between science and spirituality. Every act, element, plant, animal, and natural process is considered to have a moving spirit with which humans continually communicate.

Interpretation: Native science bases its interpretation of natural phenomena on context. Therefore, meaning is based the context of the events and reflection of Native philosophy.

Explanation: Native science works with a multiplicity of metaphoric stories, symbols, and images to explain events in nature.

Authority: Native science gains its authority partly through the society, elders, direct experience, and dream or vision, and on the sanctity of the relationship established over time with particular environments. ''Authority, if we are to use that word at all in the context of Native science, resides in individuals and their direct experience rather than some social establishment" (Peat 1994:265).

[70        NATIVE SCIENCE]

Place: Particular places are endowed with special energy that may be used but must be protected. This sentiment extends from the notion of sacred space and the understanding that the Earth itself is sacred. The role of people is to respect and maintain the inherent order and harmony of the land.

Initiation: There are both formal and informal pathways to certain levels of Native science. For instance, in the Midewiwin Society of the Ojibwe, there are four stages of initiation, each involving extensive train­ing, learning of songs, ceremonies, stories, interpretation of special scrolls, and petroglyphs (Peat 1994:267-68).

Cosmology: All philosophies are founded on an elemental idea of how the universe was created along with humankind's emergence into the world, and Native science is connected to the origins and migrations of people through the American landscape and to notions of time-space, sacred cycles, astronomy, art, myth, ritual, and dance. Cosmology is reflected in the cycles of community celebrations, rites of renewal, and stories, and serves the important function of validating Native peoples' way of life, core values, and social ecology.

Representations: Signs and formulas of thought appear in many forms, records in stone, clay, birch bark, hides, structures, and hundreds of other forms. These representations record key thoughts, understand­ings, and stories important to remembering aspects of Native science.

Humans: People play a key role in facilitating knowledge about the natural world in conscious thinking and tool making. Given this role, humans have special responsibilities to the natural world and to other living things. Native science is the study of learning and carrying out these responsibilities. Native science is about stewardship and the prac­tice of deep ecology.

Ceremony: Ceremony is both a context for transferring knowledge and a way to remember the responsibility we have to our relationships with life. Native ceremony is associated with maintaining and restoring balance, renewal, cultivating relationship, and creative participation with nature.

Elders: Elders are respected as carriers of Native knowledge, wisdom, and experience. Therefore, they are utilized as the first line of teachers, facilitators, and guides in the learning of Native science.

[PHILOSOPHY OF NATIVE SCIENCE      71]

Life energy: Life energy is acknowledged throughout the expressions of knowledge, understanding, and application. All things have life force. A natural energy moves all things, which we be understand [must be understood] and respected.

Dreams and visions: Dreams and visions are a natural means for accessing knowledge and establishing relationship to the world. They are encouraged and facilitated.

Paths: Predetermined systematic activities of learning are viewed as ways to search for and find knowledge. All of nature has these inherent patterns of trajectories, "right paths," which reflect the unfolding of natural pathways through which it may be understood. The "Good Red Road," "Dream- Time Path;' "Earth Walk," and "Pipe Way" are some of the ways Native peoples have referred to the directed path in the quest for knowledge, meaning, and understanding.

Native Science Practice

Native science practice attempts to connect the "in-scape"-our human intelligence, a microcosm of the intelligence of the Earth and the universe-with the heart and mind. Art and language, through story, song, and symbolic dance are used simultaneously to explore relation­ships to the in-scape and the land.

Exploring the in-scape may be considered a "first step" in Native science practice. This is another way of saying . . . that the practice of Native science begins with setting forth specific intentions; to seek knowledge from participation with the natural world; and then exploring intuition and creative imagination.

These are foundations of the metaphoric mind-the mind without or before words-a natural tendency all people intuitively exhibit when confronted with new learning and knowledge. Native science builds on and encourages this creative and instinctual way of learning. In traditional Native societies, exploring the in-scape is something that children are encouraged to do and continue to do throughout their lives.

72        NATIVE SCIENCE

The ability to transform and metamorphose, to think metaphorically, comes with practice, and the development of meaning and understanding comes with increasing knowledge. Language is more than a code; it is a' way of participating with each other and the natural world. At one level language is a symbolic code for representing the world that we perceive with our senses. At the deeper psychological level, language is sensuous, evocative, filled with emotion, meaning, and spirit. Meanings are not solely connected to intellectual definition but to the life of the body and spirit of the speaker. In its holistic and natural sense, language is animate and animating, it expresses our living spirit through sound and the emotion with which we speak. In the Native perspective, language exem­plifies our communion with nature rather than our separation from it.

The world of nature is in constant flux; therefore, Native science does not attempt to categorize firmly within the domains of ideas, concepts, or laws formed only through an analysis bent on a specific discovery, as is the case with Western scientific analysis. Rather, Native science attempts to understand the nature or essence of things. This does not mean that Native science excludes rational thought, but rather that it includes heart and being with rational perception to move beyond the surface under­standing of a thing to a relationship that includes all aspects of one's self.

In Native science, sanction of knowledge through appropriate ritual and tribal society acknowledgment is important, because knowledge of the natural world and how best to relate to it is not just a matter of individual understanding but is gained and shared for the benefit and perpetuation of the community. An example is the undertaking of a pledge to Sun Dance in Plains Indian traditions. Commitment to gain and share knowledge is an important aspect of Native science since deep knowledge of nature brings with it responsibilities in its application and sharing. It is a "given" in Native traditions that deep knowledge is not easily gained and requires time and dedication to attain. Sanction and commitment are also connected to ethics, or the care and attitude in which important knowledge is gained and shared. In this way, sanction and commitment act as foun­dational safeguards for both individual and tribe and form a kind of check and balance for important knowledge.

  Native Science: Natural Laws of Interdependence  . . . Part Two

[PHILOSOPHY OF NATIVE SCIENCE      73]

The maintenance of dynamic balance and harmony with all relation-, ships to nature is the foundational paradigm of Native science. Reality is based on mutual reciprocity, the rule of "paying back" what has been received from nature. The world operates on a constant flow of give-and-­take relationships. In traditional Native hunting, when a hunter takes a deer, an offering is made and thanks given to the spirit family of the deer and, in some traditions, to the "mother of game" who is another mythic manifestation of the Earth Mother. Hunting rituals are performed before, during and after traditional Native hunting to acknowledge the transfor­mation of the deer's life, spirit, and flesh into that of the human. The Native hunter and community know well that this gift from Nature and the game spirits will have to be "paid back" at some time in the future by humans in the universal cycle of death, birth, and rebirth.

This transformation of energy is also exemplified in the continual transformation of energy to matter and back again. Electrons continually borrow energy from the universe to transform themselves into different kinds of atoms. However, what has been borrowed from the universe must eventually be paid back, and this happens when an electron "dies" back to the field of energy from which it came to provide energy for the creation of new electrons and atoms.

Native science applies the principle that we humans bring our reality into being; hence, the focus of Native traditions on prayer to bring about and perpetuate life. It must be emphasized that what we think and believe and how we act in the world impacts on literally everything. We bring our reality into being by our thoughts, actions and intentions. Native science is about creating the inner sensibilities of humans, or the inner ear, which hears the subtle voice of nature. The structures and symbols of Native science serve as bridges between realities. In archaic Plains Indian tradi­tions, the medicine wheel was a structure that brought inner and outer realities of nature together. Many Native symbols are representations of the non-human realities of nature, such as the "abiding stone" or dream time.

In Australia the Aboriginal peoples speak of The Dreaming, a reality in which the Ancestors walked on the land and special resting points created certain features. Some Ancestors turned into rocks. But this does not mean that the Ancestors stopped Being and metamorphosed into animate rock. Rather, the Ancestor still exists, for Dream Time is different from our linear arrow of time, in which the past is gone forever. Dream Time coexists and interpenetrates the here and now-the Ancestor and the rock enfold one another (Peat 1994:287).

74        NATIVE SCIENCE

Native practices and ceremonies that specifically help people to remember and act on their responsibilities to the natural world and help perpetuate the harmony of the universe include world renewal ceremonies such as the Yurok White Deer Skin Dance, ceremonial complexes such as the various forms of Plains Indian Sun Dance, and seasonal ceremonies such as the various Green Corn Dances among Southeast Indian tribes. Native science applies the principle of being true to all of one's relationships, which means keeping true to all our primal responsibilities, compacts, and alliances with the natural world. All of these reflections of relationships require our constant attention and participation.

GUIDING STORIES

Native science is a story, an explanation of the ways of nature and sources of life, embedded in the guiding stories of a people and the language and way of life that convey their stories. Indigenous people are people of place, and the nature of place is embedded in their language. The physi­cal, cognitive, and emotional orientation of a people is a kind of map they carry in their heads and transfer from generation to generation. This map is multidimensional and reflects the spiritual as well as the mythic geography of a people.

Knowing the origins of their people, their place, and the all-impor­tant things the place contains is considered essential orientation for a tribal person. A people's origin story maps and integrates the key relationships with all aspects of the landscape. Hence, the origin stories of a people are presented via symbolic language, story, art, song, and ritual.

[PHILOSOPHY OF NATIVE SCIENCE      75]

Essential elements of stories are passed on through societies, art forms, ceremonial complexes, forms of technology, and the everyday activities of life and work. The adoption or adaptation of knowledge usually has a lineage in the origin story of a people. For example, in many Indigenous stories of emergence and migration, the places a people stopped and where important events happened are mentioned. These are actual places marked and named in the map that Native people carry in their stories and in their minds. In brief, Native stories relate the evolu­tion of the people through time, space, and place.

When the Western scientific story meets that of Native origins, a clash of paradigms occurs, because cultural stories of origin are creative interpretations of the experience of a people in participation with places. Literal fact is woven with metaphoric meaning. The ethnocentric notion that only the Western scientific story is accurate prevents any dialogue regarding the participatory meaning of Native origin stories and their orientation to a people's homeland.

GUIDING THOUGHTS

The guiding thoughts of Native science are simple yet profound, and subtle yet encompassing. Everything is considered to be "alive" or animate and imbued with "spirit" or energy. A stone has its own form of animation and unique energy. Everything is related, that is, connected in dynamic, interactive, and mutually reciprocal relationships. All things, events, and forms of energy unfold and enfold themselves in a contextual field of the micro and macro universe.

In the practice of Native science, the more humans know about themselves-that is, their connections with everything around them ­the greater the celebration of life, the greater the comfort of knowing, and the greater the joy of being. This relationship to space and time, and between living and nonliving things, is not just physical, but psychologi­cal and spiritual, in that it involves dreams, visions, knowing, and under­standing beyond the simple objectified knowledge of something. In other words, it is inclusive of all the ways that humans are capable of knowing and understanding the world.

[76       NATIVE SCIENCE]

Native people were interested in finding the proper, ethical, and moral paths upon which human beings should walk. As co-creators with nature, everything we do and experience has importance to the rest of the world. We cannot miss-experience anything; we can only misinterpret what we experience. The information gained through experience is considered in interpreting relationship with the natural world, thereby pointing to the kind of "story" that might contain and convey that infor­mation. Concerned about the ethical aspects of knowledge, environmen­tal observation, and understanding received from visions, ceremonies, and spirits, Native scientific philosophy reflects an inclusive and moral universe. No body of knowledge exists for its own sake outside the moral framework of understanding.

The tribal universe is a circle of learning, life, and relationship that is inclusive of all-important information needed to make life deci­sions. The Plains Indian medicine wheel is an example of the circle of learning by orienting to perceived qualities of the sacred directions these people recognized.

The Lakota wheel is probably best known as the medicine wheel. The four directions, each one symbolizing the relationship of certain qualities to the whole, make up the wheel. .... [E]ach direction is represented by a word that stands for the quality of that direction. In this wheel, an animal also represents each direction. East is illumination, and it is signified by the eagle. The mouse represents South, or innocence. West is intro­spection and has the bear as its symbol, and north, which is wisdom, is depicted by the buffalo. . . . The Lakota used this wheel to teach people how to bring balance into their lives. They believed that people were born with a certain energy .... [A] person's task, then, would be to ... balance with the qualities of the other three directions (Nelson 1994:18).

[PHILOSOPHY OF NATIVE SCIENCE      77]

The following could be described as foundational premises or reali­ties of the Native worldview, and consequently, of Native science as well:

Natural democracy must prevail. The Earth is alive and nurtures all things of her body and all have intelligence and a right to exist. This is the essence of the Native concept of "natural democracy." Democracy, or the concept that all are equal and have a say in how their lives will be lived or affected, is a principle of social ecology.

Everything is related. This premise is based on acute observation of the entire web of life in order to gain insight into the relationships among all living things. Such observation was used in making a living that was unobtrusive and life enhancing.

All relationships have a natural history. People have a history in a place and a history of relationship to each other. People have a history with regard to plants, animals, nature, and all things in nature.

Native science orients itself to a "space and a place." Native peoples' places are sacred and bounded, and their science is used to understand, explain, and honor the life they are tied to in the greater circle of physi­cal life. Sacred sites are mapped in the space of tribal memory to acknowledge forces that keep things in order and moving. The people learn to respect the life in the places they live, and thereby to preserve and perpetuate the ecology.

Everything has a time and an evolutionary path. This is the under­standing of natural evolution through cycles. "In some undetermined manner, the universe had a direction to it: every entity had a part to play in the creation of the future, and human beings had a special vocation in that they initiated, at the proper time, new relationships and new events" (Peat 1994:43).

NATIVE SCIENCE PARADIGM

What is the Native science paradigm? Western scientists believe that science is a Western invention, but as discussed previously, Western science has its own specific history and is a particular kind of expression of Western culture. Given this cultural disposition, card-carrying Western scientists believe that non - Western societies relate to nature only

in ways categorized anthropologically as folk tales or cultural technology, and that these ways are not science in their experience of the term.

78        NATIVE SCIENCE

The word "science" has only recently been used to depict systems of knowledge that refer to the multidimensional world of nature and people's ways or traditions of relationship with the world. Use of "science" by Native peoples contains this type of understanding. This use to describe the experience and traditions of Native peoples remains controversial given the biases and scientism of some Western scientists.

In the introduction to the winter 1996 issue of ReVision, Jurgen Kremer writes, "Indigenous consciousness defines itself in the experi­ence of personality, the ego as agent, separate and simultaneously connected and previous to other egos, to the land, the seasonal cycles, to spirit, the world of transcendence, dreams and ancestry." Therein lies the difference between Western and Indigenous paradigms. The issue is a matter of perspective. Indigenous consciousness has always included, along with the practical relationships of the natural world, aspects such as the direct relationship of communities of people with the spirit of the place in which they have lived and the places they have come to know and understand.

Herbert Read, pioneer arts educator, wrote, "Science is the explana­tion, and art is the expression of the same reality" (1945:7). That defini­tion has important ramifications for Native science. Within Indigenous consciousness, science is also an art form, which incorporates both an objective explanation of how things happen in the natural world and a way of "looking." The idea that science and art are two sides of the same coin is what Indigenous people have always tried to convey, and this is also in the margin of Western philosophical thinking, as philosophers, artists, humanists, and religious leaders insist that science is a part of the greater whole of human expression.

In Western society, conflict about the definition of science has been underway since the time of Galileo when science was separated from reli­gion. Religion became the antithesis of science-although some would describe science as a kind of religion. These controversies continue to characterize Western philosophical traditions.

The following are short excepts from pages 79 thru 82  I have marked the pages up to the point they can not be copied . . .

Page 79 Paragraph 2:

[Native science reflects a celebration of renewal. The ultimate aim is not explaining an objective universe, but rather learning about an understanding responsibility, relationship and celebrating those that humans establish with the world. Native science is also about mutual reciprocity, which   presupposes a responsibility to care for sustain and respect the rights of other living things, plants, animals and the in which one lives.]

Page 80 Paragraph 1:

[Ultimately, science is storytelling for understanding of the natural world. Indigenous science is also a process of understanding, a way of coming to know rightful relationships to the natural world that yields life.]

Page 80 Paragraph 3:

["Coming-to-know" is the best translation for the education in Native traditions. There is no word for education, or science, or art in most indigenous languages. But a coming-to-know, a coming to understand, metaphorically entails a journey, a process, a quest for knowledge and understanding. There is them a visionary traditions involved with these understandings that encompasses harmony, compassion, hunting, planting, technology, spirit, song, dance, color, number, cycle, balance, death, and renewal.

In truth, I can go on and on about this book, but this book supports all of my knowledge, teachings, theories, and life teachings. This is the first I have found I feel so much akin to and the first book I highly recommend. On a scale of one to ten, I would have to give this author a ten on knowing his subject matter and presenting it in a very honest and thoughtful manner.

·                     Paperback: 256/311 pages

·                     Publisher: Clear Light Books (November 1999)               You might have to contact the Publisher for the book

·                     Language: English

·                     ISBN-10: 1574160419

·                     ISBN-13: 978-1574160413

Native Science: Natural Laws of Interdependence (Paperback)

by Gregory Cajete Ph.D.(Author), Gregory Cajete, Ph.D., a Tewa Indian from Santa Clara Pueblo

Leroy Little Bear (Foreword)

Chapter 15 a: Revised and Extended to share more of Visual/Spiritual/Physical in form of Grandfather EagleHawk to share more of the rare slice of adventure

I have left the original chapter, 15 . . .

but I realized I cheated you by not giving your the wonderful in-depth hearts of those rare moments, I have now added.  

Chapter 15a:  Grandfather EagleHawk

I greet you Sacred Little Mother of the people

Looking up at the mountains cooler tree line, and preparing my mindset, for the area over a mile high and thinking, how we could come to love that area. Then the caravan slows a good mile below the tree line, and SunHawk turns left onto the desert road, time forgot, even reservation roads I have discovered in better condition, than this washboard road. Nothing like a good all-shock-up massages, along with several roller coaster experiences and weightless highs, hidden in the midst of cactus, rattlesnakes, chaparral, coyotes, juniper, lizards, fireweed, and bottlebrush along with numerous other high-desert life I was yet to identify or encounter.

Lived in the city too long, never in underdeveloped high desert, and now I would have to face a new reality check: what a way to recognize I had become numb and desensitized to nature's life. Okay, I agree I lost my connection with the unseen universe of nature, but why is it so important to rip me away from everything I have know and return me to 1950 in Gravel Switch. I definitely have no knowledge of where, why and what the purpose is for this journey. Yes, I know I should have taken more time to explore and learn about other areas. Yes, I spent too much time avoiding, but . . . still?

Yes, I have on a number of occasions, carried on these strange one-way communications, which began before I had power over words. Guardian conversations happen, away from other human forms, and not influenced my stray thoughts or while doing things that required medium level concentration. Today, they were giving me some strange sensations of spiritual scolding.

Dogs bouncing airborne and/or hopping around in the back area of the station wagon, they seem to enjoy the wild ride. Truth, it was humorous going over all of these crazy road conditions and watching their behavior. My teeth . . . well not so happy, and me without a bra, but they appeared to enjoy the crazy ride over this old dry-creek bed of a washed out, washboard dirt road. I can't explain it but there is something in their behavior, which tells me they know more than I do about where we are going on this unique ride. They are too happy for one of our normal drive about, they enjoy their journeys, but this one their happiness is a good fifty-present more than one of our normal rides.

We traveled on for what felt close to a good hour across this dry creek road, (it was twenty-three minutes) before we came to a turn that extended up into the tree line in the mountains. SunHawk stops at the gate to let me know this switchback turn, is the turn up to our new place. "Damn, SunHawk, how can anyone make it up this road, I would say the last time anyone actually used this road was during the horse and buggy era."

"Red Sun, this is our new home and you will just have to get use to it. Now, listen up, you are going to have to put your pedal to the metal to get up and stay on the road. It is about five miles up and if you fail to keep the speed, you could end-up in trouble. The sand it worse than driving in snow, the road it narrow, with switchback, potholes, and roller coasters dips hiding large boulders. The closer to the top the more dangerous it gets so make sure you are ready to drive and not ride the brakes or you could go off into a small gully."

"What you are saying, the only way to maneuver such unforgiving wild, narrow, twisty, hard washboard roller coaster roads, switchback, filled with many surprises, requires one placing ones petal to the metal and travel with a pray in ones heart, so one can stay on the road. Even with the vehicles I should expect airborne, fishtails, bunny hops of backend up and frontend down. What you are telling me it could be hours of problems, if one goes out in the soft desert sands or hit one of the many large boulders along the way."

"That is about the size of it, why don't I, go first so you can see where the road is at."

"Lead on, I don't see any thing but desert and very little road."

After we traveled for what felt more than a lifetime, of hard-knock, narrow, wagon trail road, we end up in a canyon at the top of a dead-end road, the canyon I certainly considered dead-end. SunHawk, Ken, Robert, and Glen greet me, and to my surprise, I learned Glen and his wife moved in with Robert and his family. SunHawk and the double-talk males left their portion of characters in their trucks. I know SunHawk was afraid to hear what I was going to say when I got my first look at the place and he confirmed it later. "Red Sun, my ears began burning before I got back to Riverside and they are still burning when you pulled up out front, please know this is only temporary."

          You darn right, with that much of a junk pile this close to the house, makes me wonder what type of and how many critters I going to find inside that questionable, which one of these dumps are ours to sleep in. That junk pile is dangerous, and who is going to get stuck with the job, clearing it out of here, I could see it coming, it was going to be me, if I wanted it done. That junk pile is only an invitation to dangerous illnesses, critters, and snakes. All the anger SunHawk expected and felt in the pit of his stomach, I was cutting lose on him, but trying to hold back to prevent making him sick, what I have been known to do to people when they make me real mad.

He knew the only way to take some of the sting out of the Scorpion's tail, meant change my focus to a different subject, for as long as possible. He was hoping to put it off, until he could figure out a way to calm down the warrior side of my personality, because hiding would not do any good. However, he was not ready to face my flash point temper over a major trash junk pile of garbage less than a hundred feet outside the front door. Example of my flash point temper boiling point: drop a good size piece of dry ice into one bowl of water, fire is out of control, along with a few dozen huge skyrockets going off in all directions. My temper covered a number of things; but the junk pile was the finally straw, compounded by the twisted-half-truth tongues.

"Never, had I been on the receiving end of one of the biggest of all fish tell stories, half-baked, half-truths, from you Sir, in all the years we have been together. SunHawk, you, and your friends have earned the Big Hook Award, plus you have earned the top double-talk storyteller award.

Remember, I told you about all the times, I would find an excuse to sneak over and listen to the men sitting on the front pouch of the Penn's General Store, in Gravel Switch, Kentucky. I heard some whoppers, but none earned the dishonorable Big Hook Award, or the top double-talk storyteller award, but all you men have definitely earned the greatest of all dishonorable awards of all times. Glen I bet you are behind the disgraceful lies since you are good at them.

SunHawk, Robert, Ken, and never mind . . . What do you do, when you know you dug yourself a big hole and you were going to fall in it any second; this is where SunHawk and the rest of you stand in my eyes, on the edge of a deep pit. Inasmuch as SunHawk promised, he would never lie to me. He might not answer when it came to career concerns, but he would never lie, and he realized his double talk equaled a gigantic lie. Why did he want to take a chance of feeling the full straight on force of my energy, especially after I refused to give him a kiss?"

 "Red Sun, Sweetheart, we're here, smell that sweet mountain air. That reminds me after four hours on the road, its time to offload the first eight out of the pick-up, get them situated then we can talk."

"SunHawk, may that is a good idea, offloading that is, right now I am going to take them all for a walk, to calm down, BECAUSE YOU REALLY DON"T WANT TO KNOW WHAT ELSE I AM THINKING, OR DO YOU. I wondered by the Cheshire cat smiles not only on your face, but on your posse's faces. Interesting how no one will look we straight in my eyes, by hiding your; which tells me, you all and I mean ALL YOU, took part conjuring up this lie. Truth, you are all poor storytellers and each of you has dug yourself a deep hole."

SunHawk had opened the popup window on the back of the pickup, hoping to keep them in the pickup, until he could get them untied. He was trying to get the young characters out of the back of the pickup, while every second I was getting more upset and the longer I watched him fumble with the leads I got madder.

"Give me the dogs and get out of my face while you let the three out of my wagon, SunHawk, do you think you can let them out without making up lies, while I untie the pups."

Nikkei and Niute looked to be in a state of bliss, the sparkle in their eyes, smile on their faces and the way they jumped around told me they were beyond happy, helped to soften my angry at everything a touch.

"SunHawk, you knew I was going to be angry, then why did you have to compound the problem by you words. What did you expect me to do, or say, once you brought me to this isolated cabin, on the edge of the mountains? Your words and behavior tells me you already expected me to be mad and you know our rule about lies and liars."

My pain not projected at them, but meant to slap SunHawk created all sorts of mental anguish boomerang into the pickup, along with destructive influences on the gang. All they wanted was to get out, and get out of the way of my anger. Then I couldn't blame them, seeing this great open area with so many places to hunt, and trees to enjoy watering. Maybe if we did not have mental communication with each other I would not have had such an impact.

For months we have continue to enhance our wolves' sensory perception, which we have made strong real connection with Nikkei and Niute our great teachers. Thus, they helped enhanced our spiritual awareness connection and all had become excellent mind readers, and they knew . . . . They also realized the extreme anguish and impact of SunHawk's lies had on us. It destroyed any chance of accepting this new adventures and experience in positive ways. Eight characters jumping over, under, across, and between, making it close to impossible to untangle and keep untangle leads to get them out for a walk.

"Hold still I know you are excited, but if you want to go out to walk, calm down. Hey guys, I am mad enough to leave you here so you can piss on Dad, if you don't give me time to untie and untangle you"

SunHawk, shoot why, I know you know the truth, and the distant between here and the Big Bear Mountain range, which by my estimate is at least fifty miles in the northeasterly direction from here. Now can you explain, which outhouse are we going to live in, or should I say which one is livable?

"Right over there, pointing at a small house A-Frame cabin, "that is where we are going to live-in. The big house is not livable. I can't believe this you started jumping bad, about all the junk and you were not sure where we were going to live. . . . "

"What that post depression era A-frame outhouse? Tell me Sir! What was so hard about telling me the truth, or assembly of truth? You still remember our promise of not telling each other lies? Some form of truth, so I could be more prepared, unless you wanted to start an all out fight, which is what you have done."

SunHawk grabbed several of the leads. Growl, grrrrow, bared my wolf-mother personality of snapping teeth, and claws at SunHawk.

"Get out of my way." grabbing for the leads. . . . Temper raging, "Give me those leads and GET OUT OF MY WAY. Look at this crap; this is not even close what, your double-talk implied."

SunHawk and I learned when we were young, not to display our anger when we were at the crown of anger, but give ourselves—time and space—to calm down and think things over. SunHawk and Red Sun both possessed Indian tempers and had strong mental powers, and when we became anger, we used ever ounce of it, most of the time supportive of each other and a strange battle when we attack each other.

We both knew what happens, when this Indian woman turns, I move into warrior wolf-bear woman personality, and on occasion with superhuman persona, and we both know where that goes. SunHawk, do we really need to go there right now? Just get out of my face and let me calm down. SunHawk trying to put his arm around my waist and kiss my neck:

"But we can't complain the community is willing to accept all of us."

Taking in a real deep breathe, to calm my anger, before emotions went in too many directions at one time, and cause damage. Wow! This fresh mountain air awakens within an invisible, invincible superhuman persona, all 150 lbs. since early childhood. Mountains either invoke a false perception of self or awaken ones spirit-heart to life experiences.

Something, unexplainable Red Sun summons, Hear us you want me to take a walk and listen to the spirit, before you say or did anything else you will regret. A strong spirit continues to call out; Red Sun hear, us, awaken to the sprit of the mountain. You need to learn and understand the secret, but first you needed to take a walk with the children to understand. Yes, accept you have superhuman strength and you can handle anything. No one, not SunHawk, not the mountain, or anyone can defeat you, which includes the eight hybrids in the back of the pickup. Furthermore fear not for they love you and they will listen to you.'

The three men realized, If such a person was thinking straight, she would not believe, they eight overactive, overexcited, wide eye children in a wonderland for the first time . . . would actually listen when in such an excitable state; filled with so much life energy. Okay, people try not to laugh too hard . . . leave room for the occasional, I laughed so hard I cried laughter. Which was what happened to SunHawk and the other two, they were not sure how or why, but they knew it was going to get better that any comedy show, once SunHawk dropped the tailgate.

Red Sun believes and reacts as this so-called superwoman wraps eight leads around two wrists, and made sure they would not slip. Red Sun the superwoman looks at SunHawk and nods for him to let the tailgate down. Both of us giving each other cold, hard-steel eyes, and not budging or blinking.

SunHawk: Are you sure about . . .

Superwoman: No Problem . . . they love me and they will listen to me, which I can say is better than a certain some one I know.

Stop to think about this . . . .

Stop worrying . . . What can go wrong? . . .

Maybe I should take half, before they dragged you down the mountain.         

What are you talking about? They love me, they’ll listen.

Last chance before I unlock the tailgate, I still think you should reconsider.

Egotistic Red Sun: Don=t WORRY. Look they are climbing over each other, to get out, let them out . . . NOW.@

SunHawk drops the tailgate and jumps back. Eight hit the ground running at full speed, in a race for exploration, after they re-re-entangled themselves to each other and me, before they decided who was going to take what position: which is how the real problems went into high action. Sometimes not even cowboy boots and bulldogging heels can help.

"Stop," tug. . . "Y-o-o-o-o," spin . . . "Ho-o-o-o." jerk . . . "Auss-a-nay" . . . eight in unison make one hard and fast yank. Oh brother, no heels dug into rocky ground, can do much more than experience a rock than sand skid. Somewhere in mid-flight to the ground, Oh, No, I am too tangled-up to let go of the leads, and to late. The energy of excitements of eight drops one Red Sun.

On my way to the ground, life went into slow motion, Oh, sh-e-e- ouch . . . dummy guess what you’re no superwoman. Splat . . . full-frontal belly flop crashing hard to the ground, during the course of which air escapes in all directions. At that instant, I envisioned seeing this Red Sun, in an old Hollywood "B" western movie, being dragged by an out of control runaway team of eight horses and me tangled up in their leads. Visualizing myself in a "B" movie, quickly changes into a struggle for survival, what soon turns into more than a mile of wild flip-flops, drops, and bangs on road and rocks. I am sensing someone if recording this from a distance must be laughing.

SunHawk shouts, "What happened to they love, me and they will listen to me. Have some more popcorn and enjoy the movie, watching Red Sun entangled in ropes, attached to eight fast, runaway horses; this not so smart, but one angry dummy allowed herself to become entangled in too many ropes."  

[We did not have physical battles but we did have verbal battles, which sometimes were fun, but not today, unless you can find humor in it. Now you can laugh, if you think you know what is coming.]

Strong prays, coupled with great strength of determination I will survive, did require sooner than later for one or more spirit-heart of love to develop ears; which would allow one or all to respond to my voice commands and stop the team. They were hearing something, but neither me, nor Niute nor Nikkei running beside them, trying to cut them off. Only difference, between parents and Red Sun, I was eager to discover how the eight pups felt or if any one actually did experience a strong family connection of loyalty and love, and respond to by stopping.

The eight pups ran without it appeared their ears disappeared, because they heard nothing, or sensed nothing. They ran with their spirits caught up in a new enthusiasm: eyes feed spirit as they continued at full speed, their senses appeared absent. Yet, strange they run without any diversion to explore smells or water bushes, they just continue to race along the road for some reason only they know.

IT can be rough enough driving over a washboard road of sand, gravel, rocks, cactus pieces and a few boulders. Not sure, when I began to feel nothing, but the experience of pain or injuries to this body disappeared and I separated from my physical form, ready to accept the fact I was going to be hamburger, if I survived. The elevation of the cabin was over a mile high, and the front gate was just a 2,500 feet above sea level, which added to the logistics condition of driving.

          Then . . . What I could not do with all my vocalizations, physical weight, lets forget superhuman what strength, three notes sung from a place above us, answered my prayer. Three-notes possessed a power of great accomplishment: All stopped instantly with their feet frozen-hard in place. They look skyward only long enough to determine who commands them. It took only four more notes from the one above . . . to reveal to them who it was hovering between the sun and us.

They stopped, or am I stopped? In a state of unsure, reality, trying to get my wits about me, unsure, of is this life or death. Viewing my hands and wrists still entangled in ropes, gave me cause for concern, wondering it they would stand still long enough for me to get untangle. Wait a minute why did they stop, but where are we or should I say where am I?

Never been so low to the ground, except my choice, and now my head and body remains in the same low position on the ground, it was when we stopped. Unsure of current personal condition or physical abilities, but more sure by the second, I was closer to dead than life. Barely able to move except in slow motion or lift head more than a couple of inches above the ground, to examine the environment. Wow, am I dreaming, they are bowing before a Sacred One, I must be dead or just about dead and the guardians are here for me.

That has to be why I am observing all bowing, the wolves sacred bow that offers up their respect and honor to another. Then for a long time I have known how they how wolves show honor and respect to the Sacred Father and Guardians, besides signing their sacred songs of respect and honor, their form of prayers. Hybrids share the same traditional knowledge of how to show sacred honor, respect, as they sacred wolves ancestors. Behavior, I had not seen these characters exhibit before, except Nikkei and the wolves who bowed to me when we meet, somewhere around here. Yes, heads lowered down on the ground, front paws extended out before them with eyes level below their front legs, and they remain motionless, until they receive permission to rise, by the one they are honoring.

Now, all including Nikkei and Niute, bow in a manner that suggest the one before and above them, deserve the highest of sacred honors. This gave me time to releasing the ropes from around wrists, maybe I am alive, although I am moving in slow motion, during the process of taking physical inventory. I hear another, yet different set of sacred notes and I was able to more, which he follows up with a song that commands that commands my full attention.

Thought projection to the one who hovers above us . . . W-w-w-wow I see a beautiful Eagle hovering above and between the sun and us. Amazing, bear the same rare red sun and sunburst on your chest, which continues to glow brighter by the minute, while you stay positioned between the sun and me. I always thought the red sun was nothing more than my personal vision on two or the same extra-extra large eagle(s)?

Mind visualizes both events, side-by-side; I sense a close connection to these events. Hearing the song of an Eagle traveling in a white light, and transforms into a sacred white eagle; which journeys forth, from the sacred four Highest of Most High Sacred Chiefs, who look at us from the heavens during my naming ceremony. Sacred White Eagle: whose chest radiates brightly the light of a red sun? Mind flashes on Sacred White Eagle with the bright red sun light enlightening the area, this one, the one on my lodge, each overlapping and becoming one.

Then I send a question mark wondering if to the eagle linked by a white light to the four Chiefs and the one before me, are in truth linked. Then a second question mark followed by my envisioning his transformation into one of the Scared Chiefs and/or the sacred white eagle.

Wait a minute, if you are only my vision, I must be dead, I feel no pain, and neither my clothes nor my body is dirty or injured, dusty but no damage. Then I receive a Sacred Spirit Bird with great spiritual powers, who is a sacred Grandfather with strong abilities; we only see the persona of an EagleHawk and nothing else, for his is the one of the Highest of the Most High of Sacred Chiefs or maybe the same Sacred White Eagle, a question left unanswered..

The Eagle telepathic connection, The Son of the Sacred White Eagle and no, you are not unconscious or dead. First, he sang his sacred song of the Eagle to let me know his was not by imagination, and the dogs connected to stay in their honoring position. When he finished his song; Red Sun I am not a painting, you are not dead or unconscious, I am here to help you learn, Welcome Little Mother of the People, yes our chosen sacred mother of the people, and for this reason you are here to suffer for the people. YOU are here to learn so you can experience, gain insight, comprehension, and appreciation of our sacred ways, we will help you learn to help the people, it is important you learn how to help the people.

Know this Little Mother, do not stay mad at your man SunHawk, for he has come here to die, and you are here to learn; learn the sacred truths. You SunHawk, we will soon need him to return home to be with his father. We will teach and awaken much within you, for much a waits the right time of the peoples awakening, too. It is important you learn these sacred ways for without, which many will perish needlessly and many more lost needlessly. Much depends on you, you can save many, you life belongs to the people and their life depends on your deep comprehension of sacred truths, it is important you learn how to help guide and teach the people.

Chapter 15b:  Grandfather EagleHawk

I greet you Sacred Little Mother of the People

Continuation of Conversation between Grandfather EagleHawk and Red Sun

Followed up with an amazing conversation with Nikkei

'Spirit Bird’, Grandfather, Grandfather EagleHawk, why is this that I will have to journey without him, he will not listen and the time will come he is needed here by his father side than there with you, which is another reason you must learn.

You who are here before us in full-living form, we blessed by you who hover ten-feet above us. You are the one who stopped the cubs. . . .Why is it SunHawk and I cannot walk further together and accomplish what is needed side-by-side.

I am sorry, but it cannot be. See the huge Red Sun on my chest growing in strength it appears the sacred red sun gathers it strength from the sun and radiates out from your chest: Grandfather EagleHawk. This is truth, but the sacred fathers need their son home, in time your will understand why.

IT is interesting how you riding the spirit of the sun, surrounded by the golden light of sun illumination, conveying a radiance of sacred spiritual energy. You do not ride the winds but rather the sun, am I to understand you receive your strength from the sacred sun and I receive my strength from you?

In time, you will understand but now it not the time.

Taking visual inventory of the life above us: my sacred life-vision a sacred reality, from tip of head to laws to tail-feathers, from wing tip to wing tip: right down to the same coloration, silhouette, and accentuations of identical red sunburst, we the unseen painted on our tipi. Several questions forming to ask Grandfather EagleHawk when he speaks and answers all not yet, form in thought.

ALittle Mother of the People you have come here to learn. To suffer for the people: if you do not suffer, you will not learn how to help the people. You have come here to learn the ways of Earth Mother and all things around you: so you can return to your people and help them. Know this without you thousands will perish and be lost, needlessly. You will learn much while you are here and we will teach you more than you would be able to learn, through books or talk. We will all be here to guide and teach you, even those beside you

AYour husband has come here to die and for this, we are sorry, but that is what will happen. Through his crossing, you will receive guidance, so you will be able to help the people. I wish it could be another way, but it will not be. You will live here until after his crossing.

AThe people need your help, and in time, you will understand of this we speak. Our love is with you, sacred mother. We will guide you. We will teach you to awaken the sacred spiritual knowledge within you for there is much to within we will awakening. Pay attention for it is time to retrieve and become one with the sacred oneness, you have much ahead of you, and the time is short to learn.@ Once he had finished what he wanted to say he soared up on the rays of the sun, into the light of the sun and disappeared in a different realm.

Before heading up the hill I need to go over the way Grandfather EagleHawk arrived and his spiritual position between the Sun, the Red Sun sunburst on his chest increasing in brightness the same way, my vision presented the sacred light. Neither dream nor imagination, possess the abilities to reach beyond spiritual visions and awakened me to its reality, everyone made fun of the extra large sacred eagle/spirit hawk, framed by the sun. None wanted to accept the enhancement or reflection of the red sun sunburst. Nor how the red sun could also equals a spiritual message on our lodge.

Strange, now I see why Grandfather EagleHawk and Sacred Guardians provided guidance assisted for me to design, today's exact introduction on our lodge. Grandfather EagleHawk, one high level spiritual guardian in my visions has come to greet me. Now I wonder has he been the one in charge of events since . . . . Birth . . . I wonder . . . naming ceremony . . . Yellowstone . . . NO . . . how long Grandfather EagleHawk?

Seeing the answer in my mind's eye, reaches back to the Sacred White Eagle, delivering the sacred red sun, and connecting us. Second, picture opens on the Sacred Mother, holding me in her arms, Grandfather EagleHawk, circling above us, directing Grandmother M to return Red Sun to this world. Standing beside the Sacred Mother, my sacred protector, the one I call Tall Standing Walking White Grizzly Bear. If he had not been guardian protector, prior to the hour, I would not be, but he has been with me before I was capable self-mobility, words and/or speech; it is impossible to count the number of times his protection ensured we would be standing and visiting each other this hour of this day.

None but one who is a High Level Sacred Guardian can behave in the same manner of Grandfather EagleHawk. In all my history, I have not witnessed one hover for many minutes steady in the sky, above anyone without any movement of wings or tail feather. On the lodge, his position above us,  was wings out full, while the total Grandfather EagleHawk, remains absolute motionless, inside the center of the sun's golden halo, which silhouettes him perfectly on all sides. Here . . . there I stood in the exact position below him in my visions, observing him motionless between the sun, and me.

Who will believe the radiant red sun on Grandfather EagleHawk chest, a red sunburst, extending out past the center of each wing, into the dark tip portion of his wings? Amazing how the red sun he wears, centered on his torso, covers maybe three-quarters of his chest. Red Sun sunburst symbolizes sixteen cardinal points of a compass, and the sacred energy reaching out in all directions. Interesting how the four cardinal points, were the longest reaching out into the dark long tips of his wings, down to the dark tips of his tail feathers, and reached upwards into his throat area.

Honestly, who will believe the entire visual activity, of this slice of life experience, of an actually juncture of visions creates reality or reality creates visons, a rare fold in universal time/space continuum, of close to five years. During the experience of the folds, aka visions, I was unsure of the powerful connection and influences between and in combination with Grandfather EagleHawk and Red Sun, our solar sun and the sacred light eternal, whom is our spiritual sun. Then and now I think I am asking the same questions right after our first encounter. The sun supporting Grandfather EagleHawk, also enhances, enriches, and empowers the radiance of the Red Sun, I was unsure during my visions, of the power and connection, until . . . . Today, I experience its life; I am able to observe the sun's sacred enhancement of life. Red Sun receives enlightenment via the connections, the increase in brilliance symbolize the intensification of energy. The connection between us awakens inner-mental/spiritual strength and enhances spiritual/physical/mental courage.

Still, until today, certain details of the visions, I was unsure about, his journey, how he arrived and if he transcended or had a nest. The detail proves a critical clue to his true and most sacred persona . . . . He is a one of the most high-level of sacred ones, who can travel back and forth between material and spiritual universes, at will. What an amazing ability to shape-shift at will, he can appears physical one second, and then transpose into his sacred spiritual form. What a wonderful intellectual comprehension of universal physics on countless levels. I wonder what lessons he has in planned, because of his abilities to handle spiritual medicine skills, "This that I can do you can do and even greater".

Grandmother M told me about the sacred high-level guardians, who possess amazing universal/spiritual oneness and some are on the same level of Archangels. They have such powerful knowledge, they can change environments, move about the universe freely, transform/transmit, interact and communicate will countless life forms. Fluid interactive movement and communication between all the different realms at will; including the ability to control spiritual quantum physics along with the countless forms and avenues of spiritual/universal physics, and environments reaching beyond quantum physics.

Control of mental and spiritual physics, I became aware of when he revealed his presence, which we saw at the same time in different forms, in fact several different forms of appearances to different individuals, within the exact same moments of awareness/communications. Quick flashes of visual thought recalling appearance representation: Whoa aye, appearance varies, it matters not, how, at this second, which means he was not solid, because he several sacred presentations to our characters and a different persona to this Red Sun. He connected with us in sacred, but different ways, they saw and understood him as a sacred guardian but they have had other communication with him, prior to our journey through this desert.

Interesting how Grandfather EagleHawk can move and transform through vortex and/or portals, which he appears to accomplish, before an eye can blink . . . but once. Mental message: Red Sun think and summarize what you experienced Red Sun, since all of your senses were fully aware; even though you on the ground behind a team of runaway wolves who in unison once they got me in position they did a rapid jerk and dropped me. If that is my theory, it says they had a reason and their race to drag me was no accident. That creates another challenge: When did they experience him, to receive advanced knowledge of their home, which must have been the hour they receive a directive to bring me down the mountain away from everyone? They must had received direction and followed grandfather's direction in dreams, visions, or spiritual visit, because they knew him.

If no accident and they followed directions, it means position of angle to the direction of the sun is also important, to permit proper distance and angle for his rapid arrival and departure transformation, or so it appears. However, this assumption requires further investigation, to determine if current assumption is correct. His sudden entrance and exist appears connected to the sun's position in the sky. His entrance is 180 degrees opposite the sun because he comes into this realm from a position inline with the sun and disappears along the same line, heading into the brilliant light of the sun . . . . Again, that is in keeping with my visions prior to this visit, which has always had a connection to and with the sun. Counting off on my fingers the various sun connections of present:

1. SunHawk
2. Red Sun
3. Sacred Son of the Eternal Light
4. Sun halo around EagleHawk, even today he always appears to position his form with back to the sun facing us and allowing the red sun to shine on us
5. Red sun radiating by the influence of the sun on his chest
6. What is the symbolism of 180 degrees entering from the east and departing in to the west by flying directly into the sun, during vortex transformation?
7. He travels to the west and leaves by way of the sun or is it the Sacred Son, returning to the Sacred Father who is the light eternal?

Nikkei stops and looks at me, and I hear; So what gives you a hint there just be might be some strong interactive sun connection to the Sacred Light Eternal along with a oneness to the sacred universe. We are part of the oneness linked to the knowingness beyond, since we are connection to the Sacred Father. Get the picture we here are connected to the oneness, except for those who refuse listen or accept our oneness. 

Yes, you are right, Nikkei, I sense the strong sacred oneness connection, which has continued to develop since day one, we began our unique spiritual journey together.

The truth relating to the word sacred and what it means us . . . that which is to be honored and respected, for sacred has great universal value that reaches beyond spirit-heart which connects us to the Sacred Father's universe. Our sacred journey together, has been sacred, which is why and we have advanced so much more in the direction of spiritual mental skills.

Interesting how the gift between us has given us the ability to share our sacred spiritual history, many times seeing through each other's eyes, telepathic touch. In so many ways, we connect with ones subconscious and conscious awareness.

Which is how we became acquainted with Grandfather EagleHawk, remember the huge White Spirit Eagle last week after Glen and Susan left. . . I nodded . . . he came in spirit to let us know what lay ahead. Then he has come to us many times, and asked if we wanted other people or stay with you, we chose you.

Understand, wolves are connected to the universal oneness, as well, which is how the relationship between true Native peoples and children of this land developed a spiritual bond of understanding. The same sacred oneness flow in unison with universal oneness; our Sacred Mother and Sacred Father gifted all with to abilities to develop a real understanding of their sacred universe of spiritual oneness, and physics, through sacred cultural traditions.

Red Sun for us it is time to bring forward the sacred truths, values, and wisdom of the past that made the people strong—bring them into the light and current. Truth is truth and sacred wisdom, if one is ready, is ready to teach and guide.

Grandmother M taught me truth never dies and can span 300 to 500 years and remain solid truth, it is the same reality, she learned from elders, and you share with me now. This is good. Past and present life headlines express certain links to this Red Sun, in relationship to the Sacred White Eagle who carried forth the red sun from the Highest of High Council of Sacred Chiefs. Present and I guess future headlines read Grandfather EagleHawk a sacred spirit guardian, arrives bearing a oneness with the sacred Red Sun, which joins his eternal spirit-red sun heart to Red Sun.

Sun's Sacred Halo of Light symbolizes a sacred life connection to the Sacred Father of the Eternal Light of Life, however, without any symbolic explanation to why SunHawk and the Sacred Warrior Hawk. Yet, we were both born of Bear Clans. Born of flesh yet, joined via the Sacred Father in his universe ours became a sacred union of flesh and sacred eternal spirit of eternal life, from which there is no divorce or division for the union signifies the reuniting and bonding of two nations too long separated. SunHawk and Red Sun united across all of realms of the universe and on earth.

Thus, a gut feeling says something about SunHawk crossing from here holds a spiritual reason, maybe. Nevertheless, his crossing is only one reason out of how many, implied, and why this day I rapidly received a boost of spiritual awareness to enhance inner-strength. Guess I have to erase my anger towards SunHawk he was blindsided, too. Darn! What a way to learn SunHawk's time is coming close, but why has he come here to cross. I know he is afraid of telephones, after that strange phone calls and the death of several men in his unit. One-way to learn I am where they want me and why the whispers of what are you going to do when the power was going out. Nevertheless, I have a question about why and where do these characters fit into the total equation? 

Checking out my clothing and bare skin, it is a spiritual blessing of protection, and answer to why I do not have, no place, a scratch on me. Besides a little dust, no real ground in dirt; no nothing to my clothes, are in the exact condition they were, when I got out of the wagon. That reminds me, why hasn't SunHawk and the boys (40 and 50 year old men) come down here to see if I am alright, if I can't see in their direction, I think it is save to see they can't see me. I am beginning to sense something is strange with SunHawk.

Looking down at the four-legged, whose behavior reflected the truth of our experience, as they had remained hard-frozen in a position of respect. Front legs out-stretched, heads and eyes lowered, this non-movement reflects the strength of respect for Grandfather EagleHawk. Around the same millisecond, he transported in the sun and his sang three notes, heard by them, they turned without a word spoken by me and headed towards the cabin—our new home, until Nikkei stopped them, because she and Niute wanted to talk without any of the men around. Grandfather EagleHawk had stopped us a good five-hundred yards from the structures.

Okay characters, if Grandfather EagleHawk and your mother permits let us head for the cabin up there. We started to move up the hill again and I decided to verbalize my thought to them. Okay, children, we received from this hour forth, sacred guardians that project onto our psyche, and quickly revealed they can project any physical appearance they chose . . . four-legged, winged-ones, spirit children of Earth Mother, as well as, on occasion one sacred Spirit-bird Grandfather EagleHawk in conjunction with spirit-guides and/or many other guardians.

On our return trip to the cabin, we playfully walked at a comfortable pace: they took in the sights and me no leads in hand, thank you. About hundred yards from the cabin, I spotted SunHawk leaning against the tailgate, laughing so hard, he was almost on the ground, and the other two were leaning on each other laughing. Still he did not come to see if I was injured.

Once I came close enough, he took full-form visual inventory, but before he could vocalize his thoughts . . . "Stop don’t say anything Mr. SunHawk” turning in a circle “see no pain, cuts, bruises or torn clothes, only slightly dusty and dirty. Okay, Mister, may I ask why you show so little concern, you did not come to see, the extent of my injuries, because I know you could not see me where I was. Oh, if you did not notice Grandfather EagleHawk is real, if not who knows how bad I would have been injuries?"

Mother, father and cubs continued to check out the area, when they heard a car in the area and they quickly took on the wolf persona who sang their song of announcement. Pop announces Grandfather EagleHawk's arrival as he flew over SunHawk’s head on his flight to greet the newcomers at the front gate, who were both friends and sacred elders, they offered to came and bless the house before we entered it. Grandfather EagleHawk circled and escorted them from the gate to the cabin, all the while he given them a show so they would recognize him. Once they arrived, he hovered over our heads singing his song to attract more attention, until they acknowledged Grandfather EagleHawk was not just a painter’s mistake, but in truth a spirit-bird with a sacred purpose. Yet, he took his position of wings spread out, hovering between the sun and us.

Now the lessons and many sacred journeys begin here.

[Over the next several months, people found it interesting how Grandfather EagleHawk always positioned his physical from between the sun and us, whenever he hovered and how he would come out of nowhere. SunHawk and Grandfather EagleHawk, interesting how the red sun shined the brightest when Grandfather EagleHawk positioned his persona between the sun and Red Sun. Three symbolic personas became one, and the only time the red sun vibrated is when Grandfather EagleHawk and Red Sun faced each other with the sun reflecting its light and power on Grandfather EagleHawk.]

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Love is the Expression of Our Sacred Father's Love Shining through Us