a full cycle of seasons has come and passed into the great vastness we call time. future-possible has become present-past and the section of our library grows with guideposts showing the way to -hopefully- present-possible and fulfilled. during the solcycle since my last note, my path has been increasingly guided by our Mother's rhythms. to prepare for the cycle which begins on the vernal equinox, we gathered red willow to be smoked during the coming year's ceremonies of renewal and sustenance. we welcomed the thunders, bringers of rain, from the highest peak in the black hills, the area i now find myself inhabiting. i am beginning to catch a glimpse of the real connection and flow of energy between the beat of my footsteps and the beat of the our Mother's heart. as i begin to know this connection, i see a time, perhaps, when each of us who were raised with concrete under our feet and taught a mechanical model of life, can nurture and sustain that beat with conscious intention.
One of the oral histories handed down to me is called "Six Who Went to England." It is the telling of one member of this Native American delegation, his view of their experiences on the Atlantic and in England.
Once arrived, they were led through a myriad of "wonders," which they did not find impressive. One day, the narrator -- who was a physician -- saw a man lying on the cobbled pavement. Even from such a distance he could see the man was ill -- something was wrong with his liver.
Before he reached the man, a housewife came out of her door verbally excoriating the unconscious man. She ended her diatribe by pouring a chamber pot over him.
The physician was horrified! He understood at last an attitude common in Europe at that time, but unknown among Native Americans. People as refuse, to which he gave the name "Throwaway People."
Furious that they would not let him help, he finally turned his guides and said, "Show me no more palaces! Show me instead how you treat these, the least among you. For it is by this I will judge you!"
The jury is still out.
--Paula Underwood, Creation and Organization:
A Native American Looks at Economics