Contents:
Announcement:		Open Attendance at Manataka Gatherings
History:		Exemplar of Liberty: Chapter VII - Mohawks, Axes and Taxes
Grandfather Hawk Speaks Speaks: Grandfather King Coke Speaks:		Children: The Future of this planet and our people Healing With Love Part 1
Feature Story:		The Cherokee Coin
Elder's Meditations:		Larry P. Aitken, Chippewa
Women's Circle:		Ellen Moves Camp - Hero of Wounded Knee
Food & Nutrition:		How to Can Berries
Book Reviews:		Martin Prechtel's Four Books
Poetry Circle:		Farewell by Degrees; Wolves in Dreamtime
Healing Prayer Basket:		Crossing Over, Sickness, and Memorials
Manataka Business:		Meetings, Protocols, Events

THE HAWK SPEAKS

By Hawk With Seven Eyes Hoffman

Children: The Future of this planet and of our people

Do not think I know or assume to know everything about children. I can only speak from my experiences while growing up and being taught right from wrong by my elders, my parents and grandparents.

As our children grow, they become more self-conscious, especially about their appearance. Some children seem be more secretive and wish to have more and more privacy. Often they prefer to spend time with children their own age rather then with their parents. It is good for our children to spend some time with those their own age but caution is advised. In the more modern world we find ourselves in, often times children are targets for bad association.

We as parents, grandparents and in my case great grandparents have a responsibility to set things right when we see a child headed in the wrong direction.

There is a multitude of public information written in books by professional people showing parents how to correct such matters. However sometimes the information comes too late, after the damage has already occurred.

I am considered a ‘Protector Of The Children’ within the Native American Indian Community where I live. Many parents come to me asking for advice when something has happened involving one of their children. I have even gone so far as to correct other elders (in private) after observing them mistreating one of the little ones.

The children always listen to what I tell them so I make sure that what I say is true and as accurate as it can be. Many of the children that were in school where I visited many years ago still remember me today. Some have told me that they heard me speak as long as 20 years ago at their school. Children are gifts from the creator and most of the time a blessing to the older ones as time goes by. Be blessed and may the Creator watch over all of us.

Daniel Hawk With Seven Eyes Hoffman is a founding member of the Taylorville Black Horse Powwow, Inc,' a nonprofit 501(c)(3) charitable and educational organization. He has given presentations at schools in Central Illinois area on the history, culture and religious beliefs of the Native American people for over 27 years. Hawk and members of his group present dance demonstrations for children who along with their teachers are invited to dance. Hawk believes children are the future.

Grandfather Speaks

Healing With Love Part 1

~By Robert Gray Hawk, August 2008

Some few years ago, a Master invited me to join him and a few selected other students in a lengthy workshop. The workshop was excellent and the Master taught us several life lessons. The main theme this Saturday dealt with the love we must show all humans and all our relatives on Mother Earth.

Throughout my life at certain tragic events, I would leave with emptiness in my heart, a feeling of incompleteness. This I mostly felt while in the military service. When after a mission, one of the team members would not return alive, we would get together for a quick little ceremony before he would be flown home the last time. At any tragic event, there would be an emptiness left in my heart that I could not explain.

When I lost my parents, the emptiness was not as great as when I was in the service. This really bothered me, as I did not understand why I felt less empty about my parents.

The Cherokee Coin

The Cherokee coin is called "Adela", pronounced phonetically as "ah-day-la" which means money in the Cherokee language, since there is no word in Cherokee for dollar. This word is accepted to mean dollar in Cherokee, this could be said to be a Cherokee dollar in English.

The front of the Cherokee coin has a likeness of John Ross inside the seven pointed star, the greatest and longest seated Chief of the Cherokee Nation, he served from 1827 till his death in 1866 , the star represents the seven clans of the Cherokee People, the words written in the Cherokee syllabary between the points are the seven clans of the Cherokee.

The Coin is stamped on the top edge above Ross's head 99.9% Silver, on the bottom edge is stamped the number of the coin in the sequence of the total minting, weighing one troy ounce, and is the exact same size as a U.S. Silver dollar.

The apparent English D on the face of the coin is actually a character from the Cherokee syllabary and is the first character in the word Adela pronounced "ah", in the center of the character D is 1 signifying one Adela, the English numeral "1" was used because there is no single character representing one in the Cherokee language, the phonetic spelling and pronunciation of one is "as-wu". Therefore a Cherokee speaker would say "as-wu-ah-de-la" and would be understood to mean one dollar or one Adela if that be the conversation topic.

The number 2000, is the year minted, the background behind Ross's head, signifies rising sun, the bird signifies rising phoenix. This is what a group of Cherokee call a project they are involved in, the reviving of the Cherokee Nation Government with in the bounds of the 1839 Constitution of the Cherokee. The bird is called in Cherokee the Coowescoowee bird which means the great white bird, which was John Ross's Cherokee Name!!

The Back of the coin has a likeness of the original 1839 Cherokee Nation Seal, which is different than the one the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma (CNO), The United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee in Oklahoma (UKB), or the Eastern Band of Cherokee (EBC) of North Carolina uses.

Back in the 1980's Chief Wilma Mankiller commissioned a Navajo artist to redo the symbol used as the official seal, on letterheads and the (CNO) flag just about anywhere you see anything of the CNO you will see their seal.

The likeness of the Seal on this Coin which is also the official Seal of the United Cherokee Nation is correct, as our ancestors designed it, one single point of the 7 pointed star points upward, and is a very important part of Cherokee culture, it points to the "CREATOR" above, the two points pointing downward signifies the creator's way, it takes two of all, for the perpetuation of creation.

The Coin has the correct Cherokee writing for Cherokee Nation, as close as can be spoken or written in Cherokee anyway, because there is no word for Nation. The garland image on the back of the coin is of oak leaves, which has a very significant meaning in the Cherokee culture, for life and strength.

The CNO seal has Laurel leaves insignificant in Cherokee culture. This Cherokee coin was designed by a Cherokee, the presently seated Chief of the United Cherokee Nation, Robin Mayes, who is the great-great-grandson of Chief John Ross.

At Work, you must carry a security card and open all the doors yourself.

At Prison, you can watch TV and play games

At Work, You could get fired for watching TV and playing games

At Prison, you get your own toilet

At Work, you have to share the toilet with people who pee on the seat

At Prison, they allow your family and friends to visit

At Work, you aren't even supposed to speak to your family

At Prison, all expenses are paid by the taxpayers with no work required

At Work, you must pay all your expenses to go to work, and they deduct taxes from

your salary to pay for prisoners

At Prison, you spend most of your life inside bars wanting to get out

At Work, you spend most of your time wanting to get out and go inside bars

At Prison, you must deal with sadistic wardens

At Work, they are called 'managers'

There is something wrong with with this picture.

We call it the 'sacred' red road because it is the road that will lead us to living the good life, an honest and healthy life." -Larry P. Aitken, Chippewa

The Red Road is the path we walk on when we want a direct relationship with the Great Spirit. This requires sacrifice. This requires us to have our beliefs tested. To walk this path is really an honor. The returns for doing so are exciting, not only for ourselves but for the effect that will be felt for three generations. This means your children will see the benefits as well as your grandchildren. Do I want to walk this sacred road?

Great Spirit,

guide myself

and my family

on the Red Road.

Ellen Moves Camp

Hero of Wounded Knee

By Stephanie Hedgecoke

Photo: Anne Pearse Hocker

Ellen Moves Camp, known along with Gladys Bissonnette as the “Grandmas of the American Indian Movement (AIM),” passed April 5 at the age of 77 on Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Moves Camp and Bissonnette played key roles before, during and after the 1973 occupation of Wounded Knee, which moved the Indigenous struggle into the view of the whole world.

The struggles of Indigenous people globally are illustrated in the story of Ellen Moves Camp and Wounded Knee.

The Lakota Nation’s title to most of South Dakota and parts of Montana and Nebraska, including the Black Hills (Paha Sapa), was recognized in the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty. George Armstrong Custer took miners to the Black Hills to find gold and the U.S. broke the treaty and stole 34 million acres of land, leaving the Lakota divided among separate reservations. Over time that land base was further eroded as the Oglala Lakota were forced to lease their land to ranchers for pennies.

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Fruit - fresh blueberries - any quantity - the crunch down some, so you'll need about 1 and 1/4 pints raw per pint jar finished.

Lemon juice - either fresh squeezed or bottled. Alternatively, Citric acid (brand name, fruit fresh).

Sugar - About 3 cups of dry, granulated (table) sugar. See step 6. It is possible to make low-sugar, fruit juice-sweetened, or Splenda-sweetened fig jam; I'll point out the differences below.

Equipment

Jar grabber (to pick up the hot jars)- WalMart carries it sometimes. It's a tremendously useful to put cars in the canner and take the hot jars out (without scalding yourself!).
1 large pot; I prefer 16 to 20 quart Teflon lined pots for easy cleanup.
Large spoons and ladles
1 Canner (a huge pot to sterilize the jars after filling (about $30 to $35 at mall kitchen stores, sometimes at WalMart (seasonal item).
Ball jars (Publix, WalMart carry then - about $7.50 per dozen pint ounce jars including the lids and rings)
Jar funnel ($2 at WalMart, Target, and sometimes at grocery stores) or order it as part of the kit with the jar grabber.
Lids - thin, flat, round metal lids with a gum binder that seals them against the top of the jar. They may only be used once.
Rings - metal bands that secure the lids to the jars. They may be reused many times.

BOOK REVIEWS

Martin Prechtel is a shaman, artist, author,

and teacher living in New Mexico

by Lauren Zack

Martin Prechtel is a half-European, half-Huron (Canadian First Nation) man who grew up on a Pueblo reservation in New Mexico. In the 1970's, at age 20, he wandered for a year in Mexico, having many adventures and misadventures before finding his way to Santiago Atitlan, a large village of Tzutujil Mayans in the highlands of Guatemala. Newly arrived, he was met by an elder who berated him for being late! So began Martin's apprenticeship to Nicolas Chiviliu Taxaxoy, renowned Tzutujil shaman. Martin eventually served the Tzutujil Mayan population as a shaman and a full village member, marrying a Tzutujil woman and having three sons. Martin also rose to the spiritual office of Nabey Mam, first chief, where he was responsible for instructing young people in living out the meanings of the ancient stories through the rituals of adult rites of passage. After 13 years of village life, Martin was forced to make an arduous return to the United States with his young family because of the extreme violence of Guatemala's civil war.

Martin currently resides in New Mexico, where he teaches "at his international school, 'Bolad's Kitchen.' Through story, music, ritual, and writing, Martin helps people of many lands to retain their diversity while remembering their own sense of place in the daily sacred through the search for the Indigenous Soul."

I highly recommend reading all of Martin Prechtel's books! I've been stewing in them for the past month; I've never read anything like them. Martin uses language in a way I've never read before. Martin chronicles his life in Santiago Atitlan in his three books "Secrets of the Talking Jaguar", "Long Life, Honey in the Heart," and "Stealing Benefacio's Roses".

These books are more than mere memoirs, however...they are full of magical language that takes you to a place in your heart and soul that the mind can not always fathom. I shed tears throughout, for the beauty of Martin's words and the images those words invoked, and for the stirring of a deep yearning to connect with some unfathomable part of myself that I've lost and forgotten. Martin refers to this yearning as the desire of our Indigenous Souls to emerge from under the oppressive boot of our own rationalistic minds.

Martin's fourth book, "The Disobedience of the Daughter of the Sun, A Mayan Tale of Ecstasy, Time, and Finding One's True Form," is a retelling of a centuries old Tzutujil Mayan story. Martin presents the story, then in the style of learning of the village in which he lived, encourages the reader to delve into the hidden five layers of meaning.

For more information about Martin Prechtel, his school Bolad's Kitchen, and his books, go to: http://www.floweringmountain.com


	Voice of the Hawk Elder

Click on the book of your choice

POETRY CIRCLE...

Farewell by Degrees

When saying farewell by degrees,

you wave to each small component of a person as it takes its leave,

and sadness draws out like a protracted opera.

It holds that drama, too..

they're likely gone forever from this life.

So you drink in the presence of remainders,

the continuity of things that do not change --

the laugh, the smile,

the nose, the scent,

the peculiar inflection of a spoken word, the sentient embrace of that beloved life-force.

You watch as familiar attributes take flight like fledgling birds leaving the nest, feeling anxious and hopeful about their fate, and wondering how many you never met.

This rationed farewell is both kind and cruel. It metes out portions

of loss and appreciation to savor…

here punishment, there favor.

And these momentous small farewells

pave the way for hundreds more,

as the last goodbye waits to say hello

just outside the door.

Wolves of Dreamtime

When the wolves first came to me in dreamtime, I knew they were my guardians. Three sniffing noses familiar with my scent,

allies from before my birth.

Their scent, new to me and welcome, filled me like manna in the desert. They envelop me like garments; they move like water around rocks.

They emerged to guide me to the worlds, keeping watch at the numinous portals

to lead me home again.

Now they live in the triad of trees

that grace the front of my home,

sacred arboreal temples.

The oaks welcome them like lost progeny, cradle them in arms that have swayed with wind

well over a hundred years.

Sometimes in waking hours,

I sense the wolves near,

air fragrant with the scent of untamed forces, beings unmolested and free,

beyond reach of hunters and starvation.

Coarse gray fur sweeps my hand,

six warm gold eyes observe,

panting breath stirs my heart.

Canis lupus spiritus,

steady sentinel presence,

their majesty, unapproachable in concept, my gratitude, paltry in its shadow.

Juli Maltagliati

EDUCATIONAL MESSAGE

Will Branham. 26, Huntington, VA. Dancer and drummer at Monacan homecomings, was a police officer who passed from lung cancer. Father of two small girls, son to Birdie. We was a loving husband and a very brave man. ~Chief Bernard H. Belvin 05-01-08

George E. Haverkamp Jr., 66, (Evergreen, Colorado) husband of Marva Black Elk (Wallace Black Elk's eldest daughter), unexpectedly crossed over on Friday, April 25, 2008 from cardiac arrest. Services and Internment will be at Evergreen Memorial Park, Evergreen, CO. A traditional Wake will be held starting at 3:00pm on Thursday, May 1, 2008, in The Barn Chapel at Evergreen Memorial Park. It will run all night. Burial will be at 10:00am on Friday, May 2, 2008. Chief Leonard Crow Dog and Wesley Black Elk will be officiating. Jennifer Black Elk - 720-628-6532.

Prayers Answered for Sarah Sorensen, Utah. Sarah has regained her health. She is cancer free! Our family is thankful for the prayers that have been sent her way. Sincere appreciation. Ah, the miracle of prayer. ~ Her mother 08-02-08

Timothy Spabel, 44, Lakeland, FL. Disabled vet with benign tumor near the right ear. Nephew of Henrietta Eagle Star Devereau 07-20-08

Pastor Frank Sayford, 64, Philadelphia, PA. In St. Mary Medical Center for arterial fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia. He is in good hands. Ask God to watch over my father. ~Kim Summer Moon Sayford-Wilson 07-01-08

Anna Marie Patrick, 34, WV. My Granddaughter is recovering at home after the brain surgery in VA She returned back to West Virginia about 3 weeks ago

~Red Wing Vinson 07-01-08

Cyril Taylor. A long time rights activists and representative of the United Confederation of Taino People in Washington DC, Grandfather Cyril has been admitted into the hospital and is in guarded condition. Send him your good wishes at cyrilt@comcast.net. Join the Bohio de Attabey Women's Circle and others in prayer for the well-being of Grandfather Cyril, his wife Marie and their family at 8pm this evening. ~Roberto Mukaro Borrero 06-14-08

Billy David Beecham, Nashville, TN. Husband of TNNAC secretary, Patty Beecham. Heart surgery. Please pray for Billy. Red Wing 06-12-08

Graham Osceola Waters, Darwin, Australia. Valiantly fighting cancer. Osceloa is of Muskogee American Indian descent. He is a great artist and walks in beauty with his tireless efforts to benefit the Henbury School in the Northwest Territory. All of Manataka is praying for this wonderful man. We are doing healing work and ask for your prayers. Lynn Smith-Guy, 06-09-08

From Kalaloch Lodge, Pacific Ocean near Forks, WA. Anita, who works here in the office has asked for prayer for her mother who has cancer. Linda’s mom has very low blood pressure and may need to have her pacemaker replaced soon. John’s beloved cousin, Glendine, who lives in Arkansas has a newly diagnosed cancer for which she is taken treatment. Highland Presbyterian Church in Hot Springs, AR; Boueff Presbyterian Church in Gerald, MO; Marback Christian Church, San Antonio, TX; Inman Christian Center in San Antonio, TX; First Baptist Church, Fairview Heights, IL; and, the Mid-America Indian Fellowship in MO, KS and AR. Linda and John James 06-09-08

Prayers Answer for Shannon Crossbear Red Lake Reservation, MN. She writes: "What a difference a day makes. I am sitting here going crazy. My granddaughter, Brianna is missing. She disappeared sometime between last night and early this morning from her home. She is nine years old. The police are at her house, doing a ground search and what ever else for the Amber Alert. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers." Dance, drum, smoke, smudge, pray. ~'Night Sky Watcher Leach 06-04-08 Brianna was found

Ellen Moves Camp - Hero of Wounded Knee

Ellen Moves Camp

Hero of Wounded Knee

Photo: Anne Pearse Hocker

Ingredients