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The Story of The Teachings
It has been told that
Flys Crow, a priestess of the Mayan People, led her people across the
great gulf waters in a time of upheaval in the land of the Maya. At the
mouth of the great river now called the Mississippi, she and her people
founded a new community based on the teachings of Quetzacoatl.
Over time, from
this base, the way of the mound builders flowed out, touching tribes to
the east and the west. The old glyphs became the teaching wheels that
are reflected in many tribal designs and in the teaching belts that
were carried by the Medicine people.
These wheels and designs were part
of an oral tradition that was carried by many tribes, and flowered in
numerous forms always keeping alive the relationship of respect for
Grandmother Earth and the life that emanated from her.
In 1879, when the
people were subjected to a final onslaught from the new culture that
had its roots in the lands across the great waters, a council of the
many tribes was held in Oklahoma. At this council it was seen that the
teaching of the way of the wheels was in peril.
There remained only
thirty-seven of these teaching belts from the hundreds that had been
before, due to wars of oppression and displacement.
It was decided to give
these remaining belts into the hands of thirty- seven medicine women in
the hope to keep the culture of the wheels alive, for the men were
under threat of extinction.
One of these grandmothers was a woman named Tomasiasah, a Cree Indian from the north of the great lakes.
Tomasiasah traveled back to the lands of the Cree, and over time had a
number of apprentices who traveled and learned from her.
One of these
she taught was a Cheyenne woman named Eschimah who had come to her when
she was young and afflicted with illness. Eschimah was healed by
Tomasiasah, and she grew to be a medicine teacher that carried the belt
and had her own apprentices.
In Eschimah's
latter years she had a young metis who carried the name Mountain River
as an apprentice. By the time of Eschimah's passing to the Great Round
in 1969, she had passed the teachings called 'The Delicate Lodge' to
Mountain River. This belt carried over 100 wheels of the knowledge from
the oral tradition.
In time this belt was passed to the founders of Ehama Institute, RainbowHawk and WindEagle.
As a part of the journey
of these teachings through time, this body of human wisdom became known
as "The Origin Teachings of the Delicate Lodge", which is another story.
Many of the people that
WindEagle and RainbowHawk have trained over the years proudly carry the
words given to them by the chiefs, "Breathe these teachings into the
world. It is time and maybe some good will come of this."
WE share this
story with you with respect for those ancestors who have walked before,
and with love and honor for the Mother Earth, who knows all the
stories.
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