Council Fire

The Atotarho Belt

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The Atotarho Wampum Belt by Darren Bonaparte

To you Atotarho, the Onondaga cousin Lords, I and the other Confederate Lords
have entrusted the caretaking and the watching of the Five Nations Council Fire.

When there is any business to be transacted and the Confederate Council is not in session, a messenger shall be dispatched either to Atotarho, Hononwierentonh or Skanawatih, Fire Keepers, or to their War Chiefs with a full statement of the case desired to be considered.

Then shall Atotarho call his cousin (associate) Lords together and consider whether or not the case is of sufficient importance to demand the attention of the Confederate Council. If so, Atotarho shall dispatch messengers to summon all the Confederate Lords to assemble beneath the Tree of the Long Leaves.

When the Lords are assembled the Council Fire shall be kindled, but not with chestnut wood,and Atotarhoh shall formally open the Council.

Then shall Atodarto and his cousin Lords, the Fire Keepers, announce the subject for discussion.

The Smoke of the Confederate Council Fire shall ever ascend and pierce the sky
so that other nations who may be allies may see the Council Fire of the Great Peace.

Atotarho and his cousin Lords are entrusted with the Keeping of the Council Fire.

You, Atotarho, and your thirteen cousin Lords, shall faithfully keep the space about the Council Fire
clean and you shall allow neither dust nor dirt to accumulate. I lay a Long Wing before you as a broom.
As a weapon against a crawling creature I lay a staff with you so that you may thrust it away from the Council Fire.
If you fail to cast it out then call the rest of the United Lords to your aid.

Sacred Council Fires (Elders)
The path that lead away from the Red Road.

For thousands of years indigenous people have held council fires. The
Sacred Fire's are kept from one generation to another the wisdom
passed on to our children and grandchildren. Our Elders, who spoke
the wisdom, were revered and cared for as they were the heart of the
people. If the Elders were not here to share the wisdom then our
people and there ways will be forgotten as many Nations now are.

In times before the coming of the boat people we sat in peace,
listening, to our Elders speak. The "words that come before all
things" were held by the Keepers of the Wisdom. Great respect was
given when the elders shared the sacred ways of life. Even down to
the smallest child they learned to listen when the elders spoke.

This spoke wisdom was the Great Law that we all lived by, one of
simplicity, honesty, and respect. All was in balance and all in
peace within our land and our lives.

Soon this all changed and our ears were taken by the monster of ego
and greed.

The selling of the land began; we turned our ears away from the
Elders' voices. We followed the White mans religion and ways.

Now we see the same thing happening in the world of the Fat Takers
they too are suffering from the same things our people have endured.
The wars and greed of their leaders is taking them from the ways of
wisdom. The greed has reduced their own children to drugs and
drinking. The spirit of those people now suffers from the same
disease they once spread over the land that they continue to destroy.

As we who remember, now return to the council fire, but our elders
are not there, because they were not honored. During this time the
prayers were forgotten, and the time of great sadness started to
cover the Earth Mother. Many children were scattered from the Nation
and walked the stone streets. The addictions of drinking from the
bottle and taking drugs that destroy the mind, body and soul, took
many of them home to spirit. They no longer spoke the language of the
stones and the trees. What little that remained was sold by plastic
medicine people and distorted in writings.

The gourd of ashes, that held the council fires of long ago, was put
away and not added too, or taken from. All things ceased to flow in a
balanced way. Our disconnection from the Tree of Life had started.
Time saw our people starving, and beaten into submission, the women
were bartered like cattle. Women and children were sold for whisky
and guns. Sacred bundles were taken by or sold to the Fat Takers,
some to this day lay in museums in far away places. This medicine
was lost to the ones who could work with the medicine and understand
the meaning it held.

The sickness spread into our lodges and continued to eat out our
hearts.

The raven came and spoke to the people in a harsh loud voice asking
them to listen to the voice of Creator.

There have been many messengers that have come to share and warn the
people to return to the Sacred Fires. Many of the peoples ears had
grown closed to even the voice of the birds. The signs of
destruction in our family and our Nation were seen in the faces of
our children. Many are born with birth defects from the drugs,
drinking, and poor food that to this day claims many unborn and new
born babies.

The sweet voices of our women singing has been silenced into
darkness. Our children where taken and shipped off to schools that
abused them and took their spirits. The women were mocked and spit
on in public, a great shame passed over the Nation once so proud.
The laughter died and our children went hungry for food and for
wisdom. The language dried up and was sifted into dust on the land.
The Sacred Ways were held only by a few who risk their lives to
continue the prayers. Water no longer flowed with the sweetness that
our Grandparents had tasted. The bitter roots of disease and greed
grew where the once tall and proud Nation stood.

One by one the Elders stood and pulled their blankets around
themselves. The Elders then turned their backs on the fire and
walked away from the people. No one noticed, they no longer
listened to the "Old Ways", for them it was not good to listen in
this way to the Elders.

Many were too busy ripping the land up and selling the precious
minerals and water that lay under it. The legacy of our children was
sold for material gains.

The Ego of a few, was fed on the sorrow of many, with the disease of
the Fat Takers. Brother and Sisters turned upon each other and the
disease of the soul stealers had started.

The Fat Takers bought some voices of the people to continue the
process of destruction. Little by little this selling of the land
began to wage a war of the souls. The Government GOONS were at work
destroying their very own families and Sacred Ways.

Voices that dared to speak out against this were attacked by the
followers of the ones who had taken their ears. Soon the monsters
had many chains of ears around their necks; each person who added
their ears supported and helped the sickness to grow.

The truth could not be heard or seen in all the confusion as they
ripped the heart from the people. Lies to steal the water were made
now the most precious water that would feed the people for years,
fills the swimming pools of the Fat Takers.

Sickness followed into the lodges, creating anger, jealousy and
greed. The Sacred Hoop of life that connected us all to the Sacred
Tree was shattered. The rope the held the wisdom was stretched thin
and held many knots.

Now the gourd is taken out of hiding and the fires are rekindled. We
sit in the circle waiting for the wisdom to return. Hollow words and
anger pour out into the circle of our people. All this finger
pointing, and separation serving some self-appointed need to revenge
ourselves on each other. The cancer of the spirit eats at the heart
of the people and they build Casino’s to gain more money; yet the
wisdom does not come with that gain.

The snake now catches its own tail and proceeds to devour the very
wisdom it seeks to protect. Will we manage to destroy the only thing
we have left of our culture? Will we, in our own need to heal the
hurting, close ourselves away from the light of wisdom? Will the
children who have been mixed with many bloods be turned away from the
fire, just because they do not meet the Government quantum law for
tribal recognition?

I sit and watch this and listen with ears that are trying hard to
hear the truth and the justice of the words. I see much, and hear
much, but the words that come before all things are yet to be
spoken. The Elders stand in the distance with their blankets wrapped
around them, shadows in the darkness, watching and waiting to return
to the Council Fire.

When the wisdom returns to the Sacred Council Fire, when the words
that come before all else are spoken, then will the Elders who still
keep the wisdom of the Sacred Words return and sit with us. I wait
for you to return, I make a place ready for you to sit, I will
prepare the food for you to eat. My heart cry's out for the words
that are waiting to be spoken, with the old truth that will return
reason to our people. I am listening, my Grandfathers and
Grandmothers, for your voices to Speak. I sit with my ears, and
heart, open for your healing wisdom.

I watch as the old ones with tattered blankets turn to the fire where
only a few who remember sit waiting. It is time to open the Sacred
Hoop and return the children to their home. Only with the true
sharing of the old ways will the peace and harmony return to the hoop
and heal the people. We must place the words that come before all
else in our hearts and live them every day. When our leaders are
walking in a good way the children will see the truth and learn once
again to respect the elders.

For many years now we have walked our pain and suffering into Mother
Earth. Now she too is feeling the need to shift and cleanse the land
of pollution and disease. Instead of sleeping in her soft white
winter robes she is still awake. The land is bare of snow and the
water is rising fast to cover the scared land.

Today I place my pouch of ashes that was handed to me by my Grand
Mother in the Sacred Council Fire. With the corn, sweet grass, sage,
and tobacco I feed the fire. With my breath, and the branch of the
cedar tree, I send life so that the flames will grow and be a light
to those who wonder in the wilderness. Truth burns the brightest and
those who speak the truth will return the wisdom to the people and
their ears will once again hear the opened. From the tiny roots of
the Tree of Life I see green growth appear and once again heal the
people.

Waynonaha, (one who remembers that she is a human being.)
~By Waynonaha, 2007
All Rights Reserved