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(From 'Earth People' Volume 2 Number 2)

Now Playing: 'To All My Relations'
By: Cody Sunbear Blackbird
from his CD: 'Raven Speaks'
Contact Sitting Owl for a copy

From: ‘Touch the Earth – A Self-Portrait of Indian Existence’ Compiled By: T.C. McLuhan.

Tatanka–Ohitika, or Brave Buffalo, a Sioux [Lakota] Indian, was a prominent medicine man of the Standing Rock Reservation, as had been his father. Tatanka-Ohitika was born near the present site of Pollock, North Dakota, and at the age of 73, in 1911, he described his dream of the sacred stone.

“When I was ten years of age I looked at the land and the rivers, the sky above, and the animals around me and could not fail to realise that they were made by some great power. I was so anxious to understand this power that I questioned the trees and the bushes. It seemed as though the flowers were staring at me, and I wanted to ask them “Who made you?” I looked at the moss-covered stones; some of them seemed to have the features of a man, but they could not answer me. Then I had a dream, and in my dream one of these small round stones appeared to me and told me that the maker of all was Wakan Tanka, and that in order to honour him I must honour his works in nature. The stone said that by my search I had shown myself worthy of supernatural help. It said that if I were curing a sick person I might ask its assistance, and that all the forces of nature would help me work a cure.

"It is significant that certain stones are not found buried in the earth, but are on top of high butts. They are round, like the sun and moon, and we know that all things, which are round, are related to each other. Things, which are alike in their nature, grow to look like each other, and these stones have lain there a long time, looking at the sun. Many pebbles and stones have been shaped in the current of a stream, but these stones were found far from the water and have been exposed only to the sun and the wind. The earth contains many thousand such stones hidden beneath its surface. The thunderbird is said to be related to these stones, and when a man or an animal is to be punished, the thunderbird strikes the person, and if it were possible to follow the course of the lightning, one of these stones would be found embedded in the earth. Some believe that these stones descended with the lightning, but I believe they are on the ground and are projected downward by the bolt. In all my life I have been faithful to the sacred stones. I have lived according to their requirements, and they have helped me in all my troubles. I have tried to qualify myself as well as possible to handle these sacred stones, yet I know that I am not worthy to speak to Wakan Tanka. I make my request of the stones and they are my intercessors."

Regarding crystals, Thomas E. Mails in dialogue with Fools Crow, in his book; ‘Fools Crow – Wisdom and Power’ says this:

“The only crystal Fools Crow used, and even then it was used sparingly, was a plain quartz crystal that was medium-sized and not especially pretty. He did not use coloured stones as many of the New Age people do. On one occasion when a friend of mine brought him a dazzling array of coloured crystals in a magnificent wooden box, Fools Crow stared at them as though he couldn’t imagine why anyone would bother to assemble such a collection. My friend was greatly dismayed, and shortly after that found a buyer for the stones…

“I returned to the subject of sun, fire, and crystals, and asked Fools Crow what all three together meant to him… Fools Crow says that sun, fire, and crystals are Wakan Tanka’s way of coming closer and closer to us, and even touching us… “Tell people, in your book, to remember and to think about the closeness of Wakan Tanka. If they live in this wisdom it will give them endless strength and hope.”

Fools Crow, talking about a single message all the stones give him, says:

“The stones stand for eternity and eternal truth, we also realise that when a stone speaks, we are being told at the same time that with Wakan Tanka and The Helpers, everything is possible. If a stone person can speak, it is proof that there is life in all things.”

Brooke Medicine Eagle was once asked to speak at a Crystal Congress. So in preparation she asked the crystals what they would like to have expressed for them. From her book; ‘Buffalo Woman Comes Singing’, she says:

“They replied that two things are of utmost importance. First, people must know that crystals are torn away from their natural home and from their cluster families so that we might have them. Many of the means used to mine them are violent and shattering. Thus, when a crystal comes to us, it is vitally important that we do a healing ceremony, to ease the distress of the crystal, And that we do a ceremony of adoption as well, so the crystal is once more part of a family.

"Secondly, remembering that these crystals have made enormous sacrifices in order for us to have them, we must pledge that we will use them in service of All Our Relations [all things]. Too often, the crystals reminded me, people have them for show, or to be groovy, or to simply decorate themselves with ‘jewels'. The crystals objected mightily to this kind of use, after all they have gone through, and considering what they are capable of… The wishes of the crystals are not being honoured."

Crystals have a similar energy pattern as water, and since we, humans, are mostly water, the energy of the human body is crystalline. On this basis, Brooke says:

“The lesson of crystals is a lesson for us all in owning and developing the abilities we possess within ourselves. It echoes the teaching of White Buffalo Calf Pipe Woman as she urges us to claim our own holiness, to awaken the limitless spirit that lives within each of us, just as it lives in the stone people and in All Our Relations. Sometimes I think we have invented such things as computers, with their amazing abilities, in order to remind ourselves that the brain is an even finer tool. Our challenge is to not get lost in objects outside ourselves, but to use them as reminders to explore and expand our knowledge of what Spirit gave us that we may not yet have developed. We can then begin to see ourselves as the *Hologram I believe we are. Not only the challenges, but the joys and powers of life, can be owned in a good way, as we come to know this greater oneness and unity of all life."

*The Hologram is the picture of the universe, where every tiny part of the picture is also a miniature picture of the whole universe. It is referred to by the Western Upanishad Indians as the ‘Net of Gems’, where each gem reflects all the other gems, indicating that every being is part of, and therefore responsible for all other beings. The following pictures from the Mandelbrot set is a good example.

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