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Chief
Arvol Looking Horse
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I, Chief Arvol Looking Horse, of the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota
Nations, ask you to understand an Indigenous perspective on what
has happened in America, what we call "Turtle Island."
My words seek to unite the global community through a message from
our sacred ceremonies to unite spiritually, each in our own ways
of beliefs in the Creator.
We have been warned from ancient prophecies of these times we
live in today, but have also been given a very important message
about a solution to turn these terrible times.
To understand the depth of this message you must recognize the
importance of Sacred Sites and realize the interconnectedness of
what is happening today, in reflection of the continued massacres
that are occurring on other lands and our own Americas.
I have been learning about these important issues since the
age of 12 when I received the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe Bundle
and its teachings. Our people have strived to protect Sacred Sites
from the beginning of time. These places have been violated for
centuries and have brought us to the predicament that we are in
at the global level.
Look
around you. Our Mother Earth is very ill from these violations,
and we are on the brink of destroying the possibility of a healthy
and nurturing survival for generations to come, our children's children.
Our ancestors have been trying to protect our Sacred Site called
the Sacred Black Hills in South Dakota, "Heart of Everything
That Is," from continued violations. Our ancestors never saw
a satellite view of this site, but now that those pictures are available,
we see that it is in the shape of a heart and, when fast-forwarded,
it looks like a heart pumping.
The Diné have been protecting Big Mountain, calling it
the liver of the earth, and we are suffering and going to suffer
more from the extraction of the coal there and the poisoning processes
used in doing so.
The Aborigines have warned of the contaminating effects of global
warming on the Coral Reefs, which they see as Mother Earth's blood
purifier.
The indigenous people of the rainforest say that the rainforests
are the lungs of the planet and need protection.
The Gwich'in Nation in Alaska has had to face oil drilling in
the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge coastal plain, also known to
the Gwich'in as "Where life begins."
The coastal plain is the birthplace of many life forms of the
animal nations. The death of these animal nations will destroy indigenous
nations in this territory.
As these destructive developments continue all over the world,
we will witness many more extinct animal, plant, and human nations,
because of mankind's misuse of power and their lack of understanding
of the "balance of life."
The Indigenous people warn that these destructive developments
will cause havoc globally. There are many, many more indigenous
teachings and knowledge about Mother Earth's Sacred Sites, her chakras,
and connections to our spirit that will surely affect our future
generations.
There needs to be a fast move toward other forms of energy that
are safe for all nations upon Mother Earth. We need to understand
the types of minds that are continuing to destroy the spirit of
our whole global community. Unless we do this, the powers of destruction
will overwhelm us.
Our Ancestors foretold that water would someday be for sale.
Back then this was hard to believe, since the water was so plentiful,
so pure, and so full of energy, nutrition and spirit. Today we have
to buy pure water, and even then the nutritional minerals have been
taken out; it's just empty liquid. Someday water will be like gold,
too expensive to afford.
Not everyone will have the right to drink safe water. We fail
to appreciate and honor our Sacred Sites, ripping out the minerals
and gifts that lay underneath them as if Mother Earth were simply
a resource, instead of the source of life itself.
Attacking nations and using more resources to carry out destruction
in the name of peace is not the answer! We need to understand how
all these decisions affect the global nation; we will not be immune
to its repercussions. Allowing continual contamination of our food
and land is affecting the way we think.
A "disease of the mind" has set in world leaders and
many members of our global community, with their belief that a solution
of retaliation and destruction of peoples will bring peace.
In our prophecies it is told that we are now at the crossroads:
Either unite spiritually as a global nation, or be faced with chaos,
disasters, diseases, and tears from our relatives' eyes.
We are the only species that is destroying the source of life,
meaning Mother Earth, in the name of power, mineral resources, and
ownership of land. Using chemicals and methods of warfare that are
doing irreversible damage, as Mother Earth is becoming tired and
cannot sustain any more impacts of war.
I ask you to join me on this endeavor. Our vision is for the
peoples of all continents, regardless of their beliefs in the Creator,
to come together as one at their Sacred Sites to pray and meditate
and commune with one another, thus promoting an energy shift to
heal our Mother Earth and achieve a universal consciousness toward
attaining Peace.
As each day passes, I ask all nations to begin a global effort,
and remember to give thanks for the sacred food that has been gifted
to us by our Mother Earth, so the nutritional energy of medicine
can be guided to heal our minds and spirits.
This new millennium will usher in an age of harmony or it will
bring the end of life as we know it. Starvation, war, and toxic
waste have been the hallmark of the great myth of progress and development
that ruled the last millennium.
To us, as caretakers of the heart of Mother Earth, falls the
responsibility of turning back the powers of destruction. You yourself
are the one who must decide.
You alone and only you can make this crucial choice,
to walk in honor or to dishonor your relatives. On your decision
depends the fate of the entire World.
Each of us is put here in this time and this place to personally
decide the future of humankind.
Did you think the Creator would create unnecessary people in
a time of such terrible danger?
Know that you yourself are essential to this world. Understand
both the blessing and the burden of that. You yourself are desperately
needed to save the soul of this world. Did you think you were put
here for something less? In a Sacred Hoop of Life, there is no beginning
and no ending.
Chief Arvol Looking Horse is the author of White Buffalo Teachings.
A tireless advocate of maintaining traditional spiritual practices,
Chief Looking Horse is a member of Big Foot Riders, which memorializes
the massacre of Big Foot's band at Wounded Knee.
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