Cherokee Hawk is the lead character in the novel Cherokee Hawk: Her Journey a coming of age story about a young woman coming to her own. Mature content...not recommended for those under 17 or not into cutting edge stories..... ON SALE NOW AT AMAZON.COM
Know who you are and don't worry
about what other people think. Be your own best
friend and resist trouble like wildfire. Be steadfast in
good times and bad, tell fear to get lost and do away
with doubt the way you would turn a hose on a fire.
Never fall into the habit of believing you
are always in the wrong. It can be a sufferer's trap,
like a wastebasket that catches all the trash. Time is
precious and you don't have time to stand in a hole.
Make a difference now by lifting your vision of
yourself. There's no such thing as bad blood when
your heart is right.
French trappers said a great many things to our
fathers, which have been planted in our hearts.
CHIEF JOSEPH
NEZ PERCE
By: Joyce Sequichie Hifler
Tiny moss pads decorate the path to the woods.
Bright green and glistening like pins in a pin-
cushion, they thrive where earlier there seemed to
be no life at all. The same potential rests in us, if we
could only believe.
Springtime feathers the wild plum in a profu-
sion of fragrant blooms, but now it stands in dor-
mant roughness until its season is due. Other trees
are individually lighted with brilliant oranges and
reds, and the sumac lies in groves of burgandy and
crimson.
Each tree and each growing thing stands in its
place and looks like everything else, until its season
comes to stand in the light. The same privilege is
ours if we stand faithfully and eagerly expect our
season to come. Wait for it, and it will surely come.
To make medicine is to engage upon a period of fast-
ing, thanksgiving, prayer, and thanksgiving.
-WOODEN LEG, CHEYENNE
The Empowered Woman, she moves through the world
with a sense of confidence and grace.
Her once reckless spirit now tempered by wisdom.
Quietly, yet firmly, she speaks her truth without doubt or hesitation
and the life she leads is of her own creation.
She now understands what it means to live and let live.
How much to ask for herself and how much to give.
She has a strong, yet generous heart
and the inner beauty she emanates truly sets her apart.
Like the mythical Phoenix,
she has risen from the ashes and soared to a new plane of existence,
unfettered by the things that once that posed such resistance.
Her senses now heightened, she sees everything so clearly.
She hears the wind rustling through the trees;
beckoning her to live the dreams she holds so dearly.
She feels the softness of her hands
and muses at the strength that they possess.
Her needs and desires she has learned to express.
She has tasted the bitter and savored the sweet fruits of life,
overcome adversity and pushed past heartache and strife.
And the one thing she never understood,
she now knows to be true,
it all begins and ends with you.
What are Earth Roots, my daughter asked
when she was just a child,
examining each flower in its home.
Earth Roots are a special connection,
a sacred thread that joins our spirits
to every living thing, I said. Earth Roots
Join me to you, and you to birds and flowers.
In her hand my daughter held a sparrow
with a broken wing. She said:
Can Earth Roots make the sparrow fly again?
The sparrow can become a rose, in time,
just as the rose takes wing, I said.
Earth Roots make all things possible.
My daughter did not understand these things
until she has a daughter of her own.
Then she saw the way Earth Roots join
The sparrow to the rose.
Walk straight and tall, and know there is no
problem you cannot overcome. Find your
footing and then stand up to challenges, insisting
that the barriers give way. Sing when you want to
cry, praise when you want to swear, and walk on
with determination.
Challenges will always come--they are part of
life--but don't make them your god. Never give
worshipful attention to what challenges you. Know
that the challenge is trying to take away your self-
support, your dignity, and your will to overcome.
Face it head on and insist that it be gone. Doing this
is not easy, but with persistence and consistency, one
day you will realize that you have overcome your
challenge. Celebrate that victory--and know that
you can overcome whatever new challenges may
arise.
You are living in a new path.
-SITTING BULL, SIOUX
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
"Everyone got to find the right path. You
can't see it so it's hard to find. No one
can show you. Each person got to find the
path by himself."
-Charlie Knight, UTE
There are certain times in our lives when a
voice whispers to us. The voice doesn't always
talk. Usually we hear it best when we are sick
and tired of being sick and tired. Inside of
every person is the knowledge that a Supreme
Being exists. Sometimes a restlessness occurs
and it makes me feel I need to be doing
something or I need to be going somewhere
or maybe I start wondering who am I? Often
when this happens, I feel lost. Inside of every-
one is the natural, built-in desire to be walk-
ing the Red Road, or to be seeking a relation-
ship with the Creator. No one can force us to
make this journey. We must make this jour-
ney because we want to. This journey is not on
the outside. The path is inside of ourselves. It
is inside that we must begin our search.
Oh Great
Spirit, help me
this day to
look within
myself. If
trouble arises,
let me realize
that it's not
what is going
on but how I
am looking at
what's going
on. Give me
Your power
this day to
conduct myself
according to
Your way of
life.