Long road winding began in the stars,

spilled onto the mountain tops,

was carried in the snow to the streams,

to the rivers, to the ocean

It covers Canada, Alaska, America,

Mexico to Guatemala,

and keeps winding around

the indigenous.

~

The Red Road is a circle of people

standing hand in hand,

people in this world, people between

people in the Spirit world.

Star people, animal people, stone people,

river people, tree people

The Sacred Hoop.

~

To walk the Red Road

is to know sacrifice, suffering.

It is to understand humility.

It is the ability to stand naked before

the Creator in all things for your

wrong doings, for your lack of strength,

for your discompassionate way,

for your arrogance - because to walk

the Red Road, you always know

you can do better. And you know,

when you do good things,

it is through the Creator, and you

are grateful.

~

To walk the Red Road

is to know you stand on equal ground

with all living things. It is to know that

because you were born human,

it gives you superiority over nothing.

It is to know that every creation carries

a Spirit, and the river knows more

than you do, the mountains know

more than you do, the stone people

know more than you do,

the trees know more than you do,

the wind is wiser than you are,

and animal people carry wisdom.

You can learn from every one of them,

because they have something you don't:

~

They are void of evil thoughts.

~

They wish vengeance on no one,

they seek Justice.

~

To Walk the Red Road,

you have God given rights,

you have the right to pray,

you have the right to dance,

you have the right to think,

you have the right to protect,

you have the right to know Mother,

you have the right to dream,

you have the right to vision,

you have the right to teach,

you have the right to learn,

you have a right to grieve,

you have a right to happiness,

you have the right to fix the wrongs,

you have the right to truth,

you have a right to the Spirit World.

~

To Walk the Red Road

is to know your Ancestors,

to call to them for assistance

It is to know that there is good medicine,

and there is bad medicine

It is to know that Evil exists,

but is cowardly as it is often in disguise.

It is to know there are evil spirits

who are in constant watch

for a way to gain strength for themselves

at the expense of you.

~

To Walk the Red Road,

you have less fear of being wrong,

because you know that life is a journey,

a continuous circle, a sacred hoop.

Mistakes will be made,

and mistakes can be corrected -

if you will be humble,

for if you cannot be humble,

you will never know

when you have made a mistake.

~

If you walk the Red Road,

you know that every sorrow

leads to a better understanding,

every horror cannot be explained,

but can offer growth.

~

To Walk the Red Road

is to look for beauty in all things.

~

To Walk the Red Road

is to know you will one day

cross to the Spirit World,

and you will not be afraid



Author Unknown

The people came across a great water on logs tied together. They pitched their tents on the shore. Then they thought to make for themselves certain bounds within which they were to live and rules which should govern them. They cleared a space of grass and weeds so they could see each other's faces. They sat down and there was no obstruction between them.

While they were holding a council, an owl hooted in the trees near by. The leader said, "That bird is to take part in our council. He calls to us. He offers us his aid."

Immediately afterward they heard a woodpecker. He knocked against the trees. The leader said, "That bird calls to us. He offers us his aid. He will take part in our council."

Then the chief appointed a man as servant. He said, "Go into the woods and get an ash sapling." The servant came back with a sapling having a rough bark.

"We do not want that," said the leader. "Go again and get a sapling with a smooth bark, bluish in color at the joint where a branch comes." So the servant went out, and came back with a sapling of the kind described.

When the leader took up the sapling, and eagle came and soared about the council which was sitting in the grass. He dropped a downy feather; it fell. It fell in the center of the cleared space. Now this was the white eagle. The chief said, "This is not what we want," so the white eagle passed on.

Then the bald eagle came swooping down, as though attacking its prey. It balanced itself on its wings directly over the cleared space. It uttered fierce cries, and dropped one of its downy feathers, which stood on the ground as the other eagle’s feather had done. The chief said, "This is not what we want." So the bald eagle passed on.

Then came the spotted eagle, and soared over the council, and dropped its feather as a the others had done. The chief said, "This is not what we want," and the spotted eagle passed on.

Then the imperial eagle, the eagle with the fantail, came, and soared over the people. It dropped a downy feather which stood upright in the center of the cleared space. The chief said, "This is what we want."

So the feathers of this eagle were used in making the peace pipes, together with the feathers of the owl and woodpecker, and with other things. These peace pipes were to be used in forming friendly relations with other tribes.

When the peace pipes were made, seven other pipes were made for keeping peace within the tribe. One pipe was to prevent revenge. If one man should kill another, the chief took this pipe to the relatives and offered it to them. If the relatives of the dead man refused to accept it, it was offered again. It was offered four times. If it was refused four times, the chief said, "Well, you must take the consequences. We will do nothing, and you cannot now ask to see the pipes." He meant if they took revenge and any trouble came to them, they could not ask for help or for mercy.

Each band had its own pipe.

Shadows dance on canyon walls, They are shadows from my fire.
And from these walls Ghost Warriors call "Your history is a liar."
"Our sacred lands were stolen and this we can't forget."
"The spirits of our warriors who gave their lives for it."

But the wind whispers to me that the shadows I see are visions of when the west was young.
And the Indian danced around his council fire where prayers to the Great Spirit were sung.
They asked the Great Spirit to guide them in this their troubled time.
For the white man walked upon their land and said "This land is mine."

It was the search for yellow iron that became the red man's curse.
For the white man swarmed upon their land each fighting to be first.
And no amount of prayers could stop the coming flood.
Soon the yellow iron was bathed in Indian blood.

The Great Spirit couldn't help them they had to fight alone.
For the mountains and the desert that had always been their home.
The Indian was defeated and just seemed to fade away.
And his sacred lands were ravished it seemed in but a day.

The mountains were blasted open; the gold ripped from beneath the earth.
The wounded land lies silent now and has but little worth.
The Indian is gone forever from this land that once was his.
And no one seems to want it now not the way it is.

So now that you know their story, will you listen to the whispering wind?
The ghosts of ancient warriors are singing their songs again.
They're singing to the Great Spirit their sad and mournful prayers.
Asking Him to make whole again this land that once was theirs.