Smoke Signal Newsletter

If you want to participate, send us a brief message to PeaceGifts@manataka.org saying what you plan to make and how many of each item.

In Our Own Homes:

Natural Ant Control

Submitted by Liora Leah

Spring is coming to many parts of the country and natural ant control will be important information -- especially against the notorious fire ant that can cause illness and even death and is growing more resistant to toxic chemicals that need not ever be used around the home.

Natural Ant Control
1)     Ants hate chalk. They won't cross it. If I have a flurry of ants that would like to enter the house, I just draw a line of chalk around the entry point. They butt up against the chalk and back off. For an area like a tree......perhaps you could scribble a thick chalk line around the trunk, or get some of that bulk chalk for athletic fields, and sprinkle a line of it on the ground around the tree. I'd say scribble some chalk on the trunk, see if you notice the ants avoiding that spot, and then continue chalking around the trunk.

2)     Around Trees: Paint "tanglefoot" around the trunk to stop the ants from climbing the tree. It's a very sticky goo that the ants can't cross. I have heard that tightly wrapping the trunk of the tree with strong paper -- then putting some sticky goo on the paper (not the tree). I would guess you can get the goo at a gardening center. The ants crawling up the tree get stuck in the goo.

http://www.tanglefoot.com/products/barrier.htm

3)     Also spraying the trunk and leaves with a mixture of juiced lemon (citrus) repels insects.

4)      Mix up a little tea tree oil and grapefruit seed extract with water and put in a spray bottle. Occasionally spray around the trunk of the tree so they don't cross that line.

5) Dr. Myles M. Bader, The Buggy Professor, from his book: "Club the Bugs & Scare the Critters"

If bugs and pests are flying, crawling, burrowing, or sneaking in your household Dr. Myles Bader has non-toxic, safe, all natural solutions that are safe for your kids and pets without the use of pesticides.

How can you keep ants from attacking your plants?
Place any cooking oil around the base of plant

How can I get rid of an ant colony, naturally?
Place instant grits near the entrance, they bloat up

What can I do to keep ants off my kitchen counter?
Solution of 50:50 vinegar and water

6)     Try peppermint essential oil on your plants. It works great on mine. Purification oil works great too. Put the oil in a mister bottle with water and spray on your plants.

7)    Meditate and communicate with them and invite them to leave...to a better alternative.. Worth a try.

"Talk" to them and suggest, respectfully, that they go elsewhere. You might even leave them a daily feast of some kind somewhere away from your trees.

(Liora's Note: similar to what I do with cockroaches--I catch them in a cup, walk down the street for a block while I talk to them and tell them I'm going to give them their lives and their freedom in exchange for their promise for them and their progeny to stay away from my house! Then I let them go. I have a lot fewer roaches in the house this year than last!)

8)     I am guessing that a type of moat around the base of the tree might help. Ants are famous for avoiding water, people would put the table legs in bowls of water to keep them off the table. Hose off the tree then put a plastic lined little moat. But then you will
have mosquitoes to contend with! Maybe just hosing down your tree often may help.

9)     Divert them with this Ant Bait:

Mix 3 cups water with 1 cup sugar and 4 teaspoons technical boric acid formulated for pest control.

Wrap 3 or 4 jam jars with masking tape. Pour a half cup of so of bait into each of the jars, which have been loosely packed with absorbent cotton. If there are kids of pets, screw lids tightly onto the jars and seal with adhesive tape. Pierce the lids, making two or three small holes, and smear the outside of the jars with some of the baited syrup.

If no kids or pets, leave jars open where the ants are foraging. It may take a few hours or days, but the ants will eventually swarm to the jars. (I put little twigs inside the jars so the ants can easily climb down onto the cotton balls.)

10)     Mint is also an ant repellant.

11)    If you grow things like garlic, that may help because most bugs don't like the smell.

12)    Liora's ant control: I leave the ants outside alone. I figure it's their domain. When they come in the house in droves, I look for the entry point; if it's a crack or small hole in window frame or wall base, I take some putty and patch the hole. I also draw a line along their route with dishwashing soap (I use biodegradable, unscented/nontoxic Seventh Generation brand). Most of the ants are wise and avoid crossing the soap line. For the adventurers that get stuck in the soap and die, I leave their little carcasses stuck in the soap for a day or two. I swear I can smell dead ants--they smell like, well, dead ants--and I'm sure the live ants can smell them, too. This acts as a deterrent for the ants to come in that route, and usually the ant trail has disappeared in a day or two.

Another very natural ant control for the house is spiders. I have a good relationship with the Daddy-Long-Legs spiders in my home. They are very intelligent spiders and make their webs along the ant entry points, usually near the front door and the bathroom window. I let the spiders do their job. It's amazing how many little sucked-dry ant carcasses I find piled up under the spider webs over a period of a couple of days. I wipe up the dead ants but leave the spider webs until they get too dusty, then I wipe the webs up, catch the fleeing spiders and put them outside. In a day or so the spiders are back, with nice, new, clean webs. I love spiders!

Remember to think globally, act locally, and what can be more local than In Our Own Homes? Be in Good Health!

Liora Leah

Resource: Grapevine San Diego: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GrapevineSanDiego/

Dance to Heal the Earth
Whenever you dance, wherever you dance, dance to heal the earth!

Now there's a big dance coming, a dance to heal the earth. If you're reading this, you're probably part of it. You take part whenever you do whatever you do to help heal the earth. When you recycle. When you choose to show love, to fight for justice, to bring healing, to bring out what is good in others. When you avoid cruelty and dishonesty and waste. When you are outraged. When you speak out. When you give.

When you consider the generations to come. When you protest to the oppressors and encourage those who feel the cutting edge of injustice. And, of course, when you dance. There is a tree that all the prophets see, and whenever you let your love show, you make the flowers grow.

Soon this dance will be done in a big way, in the old way, on sacred ground. All living things will take part. If you want to, you can take part. No one is twisting your arm. You can stop any time you need to, and start up again whenever you're ready. If you've read this far, you probably know what I'm talking about. You've probably been doing it in one way or another for a good while. Soon will be the time to make no bones about it! Cut loose!

Anytime you dance, anywhere, whether at a party or in church, dance to heal the earth! Let your feet beat a healing rhythm into the earth. Let your feet beat a strengthening rhythm for those who struggle the hardest. Let your feet beat a life-giving rhythm for all peoples, regardless of race or national boundary, regardless of whether we're human or whether we're the trees, the air, the fish, the birds, the buffalo, the bear, the crow. We come out of hiding, we come back from the dead, and we dance, and our dance is a prayer, and our songs and our rhythms and our breath give life.

Is the music they're playing some mindless jingle? Never mind, as long as it's not bad music, and you can dance to the beat! Make your own words, and make the words a prayer. A prayer for the end of exploitation, a prayer for the end of lies, a prayer for healing, for justice, for life. Remember your prayer-song, feed it and let it get strong and pass it along. Dance and pray, whenever you dance, dance to
heal the earth.

Have you seen anything? Wear it out! Make it so that all can see what you see! Take a white T-shirt and mark it with your dreams. Is there anything you'd like to tell the world? Take your shirt and mark it with your song! This is the way it has been done, so you can do it too. Use any color except black (there are reasons for that that will become clearer later), and you'll probably find that a loose, pure cotton T is most comfortable for dancing in. Cos this is an actual dance, you dance hard, you sing and breathe hard and sweat. Wear it when you plan to go out dancing, to dance to heal the earth.

Some people do this dance while fasting, and dance for several days straight. But even a few minutes of dancing helps, and joins with all the other dancing going on, everywhere on Earth. Not everyone can fast these days. Besides, you never know when you're gonna dance, and you have to eat sometimes! But if you plan to dance, hold off eating till later, or just have a little. It's easier to dance if you don't have a hotdog weighing you down.

Some people say, do not do sacred things where people are drinking and partying. But all the universe is a sacred place. It really doesn't matter what others are doing, you can make a place sacred wherever you are, with your intention and your prayers. Some people use smoke to make a place sacred; a cigarette or incense stick will do fine. You can dance to heal the earth anywhere, even a party or a bar! The earth is everywhere, so you can dance anywhere to heal her. Only one thing. Please hold off drinking or using any other intoxicants till you're done. It works better that way.

The Lie has gone far enough. It spreads and makes everyone sick. Now is the time for this dance to begin. It, too, will spread, and it will bring healing to all. In the beginning, they say, God put a rainbow in the sky, to let us know that Spirit never forgets. Now is the time for us to put a rainbow across the earth, to let God know that we, too, remember.

Dance to heal the earth. Not just when you're dancing, but always. Live the dance, whenever you move, in all you do, dance to heal the earth.

From the Archives of Blue Panther
blue_panther@mindspring.com

By Mary Zanoni, Ph.D. (Cornell), J.D. (Yale), Executive Director of Farm for Life

For several years, the USDA has been working with the largest-scale animal industry organizations (for example, the National Pork Producers, Monsanto Company, and Cargill Meat) to develop a mandatory "National Animal Identification System" ("NAIS").

However, most small-scale livestock producers, people who raise animals for their own food, and people who keep horses or livestock as companion animals, do not know about the USDA's plans.

The NAIS will drive small producers out of the market, will make people abandon raising animals for their own food, will invade Americans' personal privacy to a degree never before tolerated, will violate the religious freedom of Americans whose beliefs make it impossible for them to comply, and will erase the last vestiges of animal welfare from the production of animal foods.

On April 25, 2005, the USDA released "Draft Program Standards" ("St.") and a "Draft Strategic Plan" ("Plan") concerning the NAI8. If you think the description below sounds too bizarre to be true, please go to usda.gov/nais, read the Standards and Plan, and check the citations.

By January 1, 2008, the NAIS will be mandatory. (Plan, pp. 2, 10, 17.) Every person who owns even one horse, cow, pig, chicken, sheep, pigeon, or virtually any livestock animal, will be forced to register their home, including owner's name, address, and telephone number, and be keyed to Global Positioning System coordinates for satellite monitoring, in a giant federal database under a 7 -digit "premises 10 number." (St., pp. 3-4, 10-12; Plan, p. 5.) Every animal will have to be assigned a 15-digit 10 number, also to be kept in a giant federal database.

The form of 10 will most likely be a tag or microchip containing a Radio Frequency Identification Device, designed to be read from a distance. (Plan, p. 10; St., pp. 6, 12, 20, 27-28.) The plan may also include collecting the DNA of every animal and/or a retinal scan of every animal. (Plan, p.13.)

The owner will be required to report: the birth date of an animal, the application of every animal's 10 tag, every time an animal leaves or enters the property, every time an animal loses a tag, every time a tag is replaced, the slaughter or death of an animal, or if any animal is missing. Such events must be reported within 24 hours. (St., pp. 12-13, 17-21.)

Third parties, such as veterinarians or county assessors, will be required to report "sightings" of animals. (St., p. 25.) In other words, if you call a vet to your property to treat your horse, cow, or any other animal, and the vet finds any animal without the mandatory 15digit computer-readable 10, the vet may be required to report you.

If you do not comply, the USDA will exercise "enforcement" against you. (St., p. 7; Plan, p. 17.) The USDA has not yet specified the nature of "enforcement," but presumably it will include imposing fines and/or seizing your animals or other property.

There are no exceptions under the USDA plan, you will be forced to register and report even if you raise animals only for your own food, or keep horses for draft or for transportation.

The Negative Effects Eradication of Small Farms People with just a few meat animals or 40-cow dairies are already living on the edge financially. The USDA plan will force many of them to give up farming. Loss of the True Security of Organic and Local Foods - The NAIS is touted by the USDA and agri-corporations as a way to make our food supply "secure" against diseases or terrorism. However, most people instinctively understand that real food security comes from raising food yourself or buying from a local farmer you actually know.

The USDA plan will only kill off more local sources of production and further promote the giant industrial methods which cause many food safety and disease problems;

Extreme Damage to Personal Privacy - Legally, livestock animals are a form of personal property. It is unprecedented for the United States government to conduct large-scale computer aided surveillance of its citizens simply because they own a common type of property. (The only exceptions are registration of motor vehicles and guns, due to their clear inherent dangers but they are registered at the state level, not by the federal government.) The NAIS would actually subject the owner of a chicken to far more surveillance than the owner of a gun. Surveillance of small-scale livestock owners is like the government subjecting people to surveillance for owning a couch, a tv, a lawn-mower.

Will the government next want to register all cats, dogs, and parakeets, and demand the' global positioning coordinates of their owners' houses and apartments?

The NAIS is the ultimate objectification of higher, sensitive living creatures, treating individual animals as if they were cans of peas with a bar code. Many people who raise their own animals or buy from small, local producers do so because they are very troubled by industrial-scale production of chickens, cattle,' and pigs. These people will be forced either to sacrifice their personal privacy to government surveillance, or to stop raising their own food by humane standards.

Many adherents of plain (and other) faiths raise their own food animals and use animals in farming and transportation because their beliefs require them to live this way. Such people obviously cannot comply with the USDA's computerized, technology-dependent system. The NAIS will force these people to violate their religious beliefs.

Do not participate in any ''voluntary" state or federal program to register your farm or animals-the USDA is using corporate farmers' supposed willingness to enter a ''voluntary'' program as a justification for making the program mandatory. (See Plan, "Executive Summary" and pp. 7-8.) Help Inform and Organize other concerned citizens. The USDA presently does not plan to finalize its rules for mandatory ID until the summer of 2006. There is still time to oppose this plan!

[Could the bureaucrats actually be trying to control the entire food supply of this country in preparation of a time of total economic collapse? Are they so frightened of the potential for mass anarchy that they would actually plan the genocide of millions of Americans? The FDA recently temporarily withdrew plans for full-scale, national implementation of the forced animal ID system until 2008. We have so little time left. - Editor]

HISTORY.... Repatriation

Skull for sale discovered to be part of Indian history
By SUE LINDSEY, Associated Press Writer

ROANOKE, Va. -- Steven Mendola thought he would help out the medical profession when he put a human skull up for sale on eBay as a teaching tool. Instead, he's done a service to Virginia's Monacan Indians by returning one of their own.

Sorting through a closet after he took over the Staten Island, N.Y., office of a chiropractor who had died, Mendola found the old skull. He had no idea it was an artifact that would be treasured several hundred miles away.

The chief of Virginia's Monacan Indians, Kenneth Branham of Amherst, believes the skull could have been among remains of at least 180 American Indians exhumed in western Virginia in 1901.

Mendola decided to sell the skull because he had a newer one that he could use for explanations to patients.

"Doctors are always looking for authentic skulls and bones to study from," he said. "I really didn't need it."

The chiropractor checked with New York authorities to make sure he wouldn't be selling someone's long-lost relative. The skull had a sticker on it labeled "Suponi," which he assumed was an Italian name. No one with that name was missing, he was told.

The sticker also said "Roanoke, Va.," which he thought might be where the skull was purchased. A second sticker said "1671-1701," which he figured meant it was more than 300 years old.

The online auction house eBay was the logical place to sell the skull, and Mendola put it on last February with an asking price of $199.

He got offers of $150 and $152.50, but a query from a news reporter in Roanoke put a stop to the bidding. Mendola hadn't put the sticker name on the eBay listing, but when he gave it to Dan Reany, then with WSLS-TV, the reporter discovered it was more likely "Saponi."

That's a Siouan tribe related to the Monacans in Virginia. The sale was off--it's a federal crime to sell American Indian remains.

That was fine with Mendola. As soon as he spoke to the Monacan chief, Mendola said he realized that the skull could hold much more meaning than as a teaching tool.

Mendola overnighted the now-precious cargo to Virginia, and it was examined by Joanna Wilson, an archaeologist with the state Department of Historic Resources in September.

"It was in very, very good condition," she said.

Wilson was able to determine that it was American Indian by the shape of some of the bones. It belonged to an older man, probably at least 50, who had lost all his teeth, she said.

There was no evidence of disease, she said, but bony growths in his ear canal meant he could have been hard of hearing.

Wilson said she could not determine the age of the skull or its tribe.

Branham said he's "99 percent sure" the skull is of a Saponi that was found in the Roanoke area.

"That is our region," Branham said, so the Monacans are claiming the skull and plan a reburial service, probably in the spring, on their land on Bear Mountain in Amherst County.

The skull has been smudged to purify it and wrapped in a red cloth with items that his ancestors traditionally buried with bodies. Corn or squash were included to represent food, Branham said, as well as tobacco as a sacred plant and personal items such as wood beads or pottery.

While there's no way to say for certain, the chief believes the skull could have been among the remains from the early 1700s that were dug up in Rockbridge County in 1901. Antiquarian E.P. Valentine exhumed the remains and put them on display in his family's museum in Richmond,
according to an article in Archaeology magazine.

The remains of more than 100 of the Indians were returned to the Monacans in 1999, after being held by the state for a decade before federal officials approved their release to the tribe.

Branham said he was upset when he heard the skull was for sale online, and said he would have gotten the federal government involved if necessary to get it returned to Virginia.

"We had fought so hard to get remains back before," he said.

However, Mendola was eager to return the skull once he learned where it belonged.

"It has a home," he said. "It has to go back."

[MAIC maintains a Grave Repatriation and Preservation Committee headed by Jim PathFinder Ewing as part of the Ceremonial Elder duties. If you would like to volunteer to participate please send us a note. Manataka@sbcglobal.net

Smiling Fox
by Albert GrayEagle

This is a story about the placing of the soul told to me a long time ago as a child. I do not know it's origin. I believe it is of Lakota origin. The story of Smiling Fox will teach us a lesson we need to know. We sometimes just need to be reminded there is more to life than trying to get what we don't have. It is what we do have ourselves.

The story about the placing of the soul, is a story I was told a long time ago as a child. I do not know it's origin. I believe it is of Lakota origin. I thought it would help with the story of Smiling Fox and teach us a lesson we all know. We sometimes just need to be reminded there is more to life than trying to get what we don't have. It is what we do have ourselves.

There was a young couple that had been wed for two summers. They had everything going well for them. Food was plentiful and the young husband was always fortunate in hunting.

The young wife gathered berries and roots. They would sit in their lodge eating, even while all the other people counseled and prayed. They forgot about their Creator and prayed no longer or gave thanks for their good fortune.

The young man's father was troubled by this, for he thought he had raised his son in a better way than the way he was living. He prepared for prayer, then cleansed himself in a good sweat, then prepared for a vision. He told his wife he would be gone as long as it took, until the Creator listened to his prayers and gave him a vision. He wanted to pray, for his son and himself, for strength that neither had.

He was gone two days before he came back. His body was weak from hunger. His wife asked him about his vision. He told her they were going to be grandparents and the child will be great, for a little one, and will teach all in the village, and especially himself, the value of life. He saddened and said no more about his vision. It showed a lot of pain that he had a hard time thinking about.

The vision of a child in pain and himself learning the last thing he would learn. This child would be his connection to the circle of life and he would see the pureness and energy of innocence and knowledge. The center of the medicine wheel will be where the child stands at in his moment of truth. He didn't quite understand what this meant.

In the month of the hard faced moon (January), the young couple came to his lodge and gave them the good news of them becoming grandparents. The man knew his vision was going to become true. It would be a little girl conceived during the hard faced moon and born during a thunderstorm around the time of the cool moon (September).

It came to pass that the cool moon came and the storm that startled the woman enough to give birth early. The new grandfather paced outside the lodge with his son, while his son spoke of how a great warrior his new son would be. He told his son of his vision of the girl child that would be great amongst her people and her name will be Smiling Fox. The young man smiled and said that would be good also. As the thunder sound was off at a distance the sound of a baby crying made them jump for joy.

The young father ran inside while his father waited outside. The son brought his daughter out and told his father, "Here is your granddaughter, Smiling Fox". When the grandfather looked into her eyes he could see why creator called her this name, for her eyes smiled and danced like prairie grass in the wind. Then a sad look came unto his face as he looked into his vision. His son asked him what was wrong and, of course, he said nothing and smiled.

As the child grew the more curious she got and the more she wanted to know. She was so close to her grandfather and he fed her with knowledge. They would spend their days talking. She was about four summer seasons old when she started to get ill. No one could cure her. The medicines did not help. She coughed very badly and her bones would ache so bad that she limped. She moved in back and forth motions, just like a fox does and her grandfather noticed this.

Her mother and father knew she was very ill and they wondered why the creator would do this to them and why they had to listen to people talk about the child and tease her. It was very hard to take. Everything was going good for them until Smiling Fox was born.

The grandfather saw his son one evening outside by the fire as the sparks went up in the air watching them disappear feeling sorry for himself. He said, "Son, what is wrong?" His son asked him, "What did I do wrong,father?" The father replied, "I think, you forgot where your spirit is, son. The path you took a while back was not a good one. Watch your daughter and learn. She is ill but, yet, here for a reason. His son stared at him and said, "I think your vision was superstitious foolishness!", and stormed into his lodge.

Smiling Fox came outside, smiled and sat next to her grandfather. Just about then, one of the children's parents came out and shouted she had fry bread left over for who ever wanted it. All the children rushed at her and took it all. When Smiling Fox got there, she had to turn her away. There wasn't anymore left.

Smiling Fox told her that was okay and smiled as she walked back towards her grandfather. All the kids started teasing her. They called her "walks-with-a-limp" and "slow-like-a-turtle" and all she did was look back at them and smile as they ate their fry bread.

She could hardly walk anywhere. Her lungs would burn with pain. She would cough and her grandfather's eyes would fill with tears. He knew she would not live much longer and his heart grew heavy. He asked her, "Nepevomohtahe?", (are you feeling well) and she smiled and said, "Napevomohta", (I am fine) and sat down next to him. He knew she was going to start talking and asking questions because she was a very curious child.

Oh, how he loved his Smiling Fox and talking with her. He stood up and walked to a tree and sat under the shade, then told her, "Nanaestse" (come here), "Hamestooestse" (sit down). She sat down and said, "I hear you and the old ones talk about our spirit and Creator. Where is our spirit, grandfather, and will it help me get better?"

Her grandfather said to her, "Let me tell you a story and then you figure it out. Along time ago, our Creator created all the stars, the sun the moon, the rivers and all living things. Then our Creator created the most favorite thing he had always wanted. The human being. He made them of different colors, big and small, and all spoke different words. Then creator wanted to give the human being the greatest gift that could be given, and it was called a spirit. This spirit would live on forever, just like Creator. If a human being could find where it is no matter if the body died."

Smiling Fox interrupted and asked, "Memeehe (grandfather), "Tosaa" (where)? Grandfather said, "Hekotooestse" (be quiet) "Otaha" (listen), and he continued with his story.

Creator thought of where to put this gift. Creator thought and thought of many places but thought they were too easy to
find and not good places to put the spirit. Creator said to himself, "I know, I will ask earth mother. She is wise and she nourishes all the earth." So Creator spoke to earth mother and said, "I decided to give the human being a spirit. Where do you think I should put this gift I am giving them? It will be a measure of good and bad, right or wrong, and who ever finds it will be deserving to live on forever."

Earth mother thought a little while. "I know", she said, "Put the spirits under my earth and rock." Creator thought and said, "No, they will dig unto you and scar you up and find other things and then end up on a bad path and make you ill." She thought a little while longer and said, "What if you put the spirits under my waters. They will not easily find them there." Creator said, "No, they will there also. They will learn to swim and breath like the fish people and poison your life giving blood." Well, earth mother thought even longer and said, "I know, put the spirits on the moon. They surely won't find them there!" The Creator looked far ahead and told earth mother, "No, they will go there also. I created the human being very smart and very curious. They will go there also."

"Well, I don't know then", said earth mother, "But, I think, I know who does." So Earth Mother brings Grandmother Mole out of the earth and said to the Creator, "This is the wisest creature you have created. She has no eyes but she sees all with her heart." Creator said, "Do you have a place in mind where I can put this gift Grandmother Mole?"

Grandmother Mole thought about it and said, "If you want these human beings to be truly deserving of their spirits, make the easiest place you can put them. Put the spirit inside themselves. They truly won't look there, unless they truly deserve it."

Creator thought for awhile and spoke, "It is done."

Smiling Fox's grandfather said, "That is where the spirit is.

Now that you know where it is, listen to it." Grandfather smiled at her. She got up and walked away, limping, and he knew she was thinking very hard. He thought about her, as he watched her walk away, and his heart grew very heavy. He looked into his vision and thought to himself, "Maybe my vision of Smiling Fox is wrong. Maybe it is another grandchild. This one is suffering more than my vision showed me." He found himself like the girl's parent's, feeling sorry for her.

They stayed away from her because of the hurt and feeling sorry for her, yet he could not stay away from her. Oh, how he loved her so much. As he saw her sitting in front of the lodge, he didn't know he planted a seed in the child's mind. One that would make her wiser than any of them had ever seen for her age. As she got older, she could not keep up with the children anymore, so she walked with the elders as they walked slowly also.

She learned more and more by doing this.

She learned of the plants and herbs and she became knowledgeable of medicines and healing. Yet the more the children laughed and teased her, the more she smiled. She started seeing things differently. The older she got the wiser she was.

One day, when she was about eight summers old, her grandfather and her were sitting near the edge of the crooked forest. Her grandfather thought of how close they were and he got tears in his eyes. He tells her, "I am sorry this life has been bad to you Smiling Fox", and he cried. She held him and said, "Memeehe neveeaxaame napevomohta", (Don't cry, grandfather. I am okay). She tells him to look at the trees. If they were all perfect, it would not be a beautiful forest. The same is not good for all. If some of the trees would not take the wind and snow, the others would not make it. "I like it the way things are", Smiling Fox said.

The grandfather smiled at her sadly. A few days later a sickness came and no one knew what to do. All the children were getting ill. Smiling Fox went out and picked plants and roots and, along with the elders, helped cure the children. The children came and thanked her when they felt better and when fry bread was being given out, they made sure she got some first. Her grandparents and parents were becoming proud of Smiling Fox.

One night a big storm bigger than anyone had ever seen was coming and Smiling Fox felt with her heart it was going to be very bad. She went out and moved the horses where they would be safe as the storm became worse. She could hardly breath as her lungs were filled with pain yet she managed to wake up all the people so they could take shelter.

The winds came and knocked trees down on lodges and lightening started big fires. Many of the lodges were washed away with the rain. When the storm passed they all talked about how Smiling Fox had saved them. The courage of the young woman was great. All of the people were proud of Smiling Fox.

The next evening, some of the elders got together in council. They wanted to have a name giving ceremony. The grandfather of Smiling Fox stood and told the elders of the vision he had years before. He told them not to change the child's name and that he felt honored that they felt this much for his granddaughter. He was very proud. Then a cold stir came upon him. He remembered in his vision that the child born would come with a storm and would leave this world with a storm.

He walked back to Smiling Fox's lodge to check on her. His son was sitting outside by the big fire with his head in his hands and he said, "Father, the storm was bad on her. She is very ill." The grandfather looked at him and thought the worst. It was his precious Smiling Fox. He ran inside the lodge and the girl was on her death bed. He started weeping so loudly that all the others came from their lodges.

Smiling Fox told her grandfather, "Memeehe neveexaame napevomohta", (Don't cry, grandfather. I am fine.) His tears were like rivers coming down a mountain in the spring. He saw Smiling Fox looking at him and then she said, "Grandfather, I have found my spirit", as her eyes closed and then she died.

Grandfather ran out of the lodge and, by the fire, took his knife and cut his hair, throwing it into the fire as he was cutting it. The sparks from the fire went up into the sky and his cries with them. His son came and stood next to him and did the same as he said, "Father, all is for nothing. I know why she came." He cried, "And it all came to be of the vision you spoke. I know what you meant."

Two summer's later, the grandfather grew ill himself. Many say from the loneliness of not having Smiling Fox. He was on a mountain one day and knew it was the time for his vision to be fulfilled. He was old and it was time.As he grew weak, he looked at the sun and into the crooked forest where Smiling Fox and he sat along time ago. He saw a fox running towards him, limping, and it looked as if the fox had a smile on its face. Now he himself has found his spirit. She has come to greet him and now he can be with The Spirit of Smiling Fox.

Albert Grayeagle © 24 April, 1999

MUSKRAT Dec 22- Jan 19:
You are always saving junk and dragging things around the yard. You are basically a pack rat. There has never been a tidy Muskrat from your Band. You should quit stealing other people's garbage.

PTARMIGAN Jan 20-Feb 18:
You haven't the foggiest idea who you are and you've stayed stupid for too long. You are a natural liar. On the other hand, you are compelled to the dinner table where, you make loud sucking noises, as you devour the last six pork chops. Everyone thinks your Indian name should be Pork Chop. You should stop going to bingo. (For those of you who do not know: A Ptarmigan is a close relatives of forest and prairie grouse, live in alpine and arctic tundras throughout the northern hemisphere.)

WEASEL Feb 19-Mar 20:
You have no imagination and you always think INAC or Social Services are following you. You have influence over welfare administrators and friends think you're a weasel. You lack perseverance and are generally a chicken yet possess exceptional dancing skills. You should wear moccasins.

OWL Mar 21- Apr 19:
You are an old stiff and this is reflected in everything you do. You are always whining over nothing and think everyone is out to rob you of something. You should start using Sweet Grass and start being the one on top.

WOLVERINE Apr20- May 20:
You like to work like hell and you are a genuine Jack of all trades. Most people think you are just getting in their way. You are stubborn and persistent. You should get on welfare immediately and quit passing out after your done.

WOLF May 20- June 21:
You are very intelligent on your feet but lose all credibility when drunk. People like you because you know how where to get a bootleg at 3 in the morning. This means you're a con artist. Wolves are notorious for their flirting and pimping. You should stop drinking on weekdays.

LYNX June 22- July 22:
You are sympathetic and understanding to other peoples' problems. Friends think you are a sponge and you are always misplacing your Sweet Grass. That is why you will always drive a Ford and have a mate who fools around. You should give up your driver's license (since it expired 2 years ago anyways).

BEAR July 23-Aug 22:
You consider yourself a warrior, others think you're a macho egotistical creature of habit. Most Bears like to pick on little people. You have no ambition and will forever live in your mind. Bear people are scared of the cops but yet always walk out of the > bar with a drink in their hand after closing. You should start playing bingo.

TROUT Aug 23- Sep 22:
You like to have things in perfect order and will nit pick all day. Your sex life has become well known, due to your meticulous nature. Friends think you're an example of institutionalization and would make a model inmate. You need to buy more underwear.

FOX Sep 23- Oct 23:
You want to learn how to make bannock but don't have the time. You want to live the traditional way of life, but would go crazy if you missed an episode of your favorite TV soap. Chances for employment are nil and you'll have to do bead work for the rest of your life. You should start learning how to sew.

CARIBOU Oct 24- Nov 21:
You are a shrewd and conniving . Your land claim cannot be settled because you also want them to throw in others. Your work ethics defy logic but this stems from the fact that you know everything. Most Caribous have thick, moppy hair, yet they don't need to shave. Never work for the Band because relatives will always ask for money.

MOOSE Nov 22- Dec 21:
You are extremely optimistic and have the tendency to rely on Indian Medicine. The majority of Moose carry little bundles of leather and will do weird things suddenly. You should take Centrum Multivitamins, fast once a week, quit the hard stuff and start Drumming (if you're a He) or start Tanning (if you're a She).

~Submitted by Mariah Stevens - RedRoad Drums http://kenny369.tripod.com

Sending you love and peace today...I pray in my thoughts that you have great blessings today and everyday...peace be with you always in your minds, body and spirit for the future depends on working for peace upon Mother Earth.

Mother needs our love and healing of all her creations...she is calling for us to move to action and cleanse her. The past trauma of the history of the America's needs cleansed, including the whole world...using our minds and in sacred vibrations of our drums and songs will cleanse those bad things out of all the elements.

Mother Earth is waiting for us to move forward in love and peace bring harmony...many blessings to us all...we are the people we are waiting for...don't forget we need help to bring peace to our families for the next seven generations, we are all related in nature with the same spirit...the energy called electrical magnetic energy the spirit of all life upon Mother Earth allowing everything to hold consciousness, spirit, we can communicate with every form of rock, tree, air, water, animals, birds, bears, mountain lions, whales, dolphins ect....

"Each soul must meet the morning sun, the new sweet earth and the Great Silence alone!" ~Ohiyesa, (Dr. Charles A. Eastman, Santee Sioux)

The most important thing we can do during the course of the day is pray in the morning. There is a special time in the morning that has great power. This is the exact time the sun is rising. During the rising of the sun, everything on the Earth is waking up. Animals, plants, birds and humans will be blessed at the rising of the sun. This is a special time to help us prepare for the day. During this time we ask the Creator to bless our day. We ask Him to guide us, to protect us and to give us courage to overcome the day's obstacles. Doing this everyday will give us knowledge of God's will for us. Grandfather, Grandmother, guide my path. Let my thinking be guided by You.

Thank you Senator McCain and other distinguished members of this committee for inviting me here today to speak on Senate Bill 480 which is pending before your Committee. The bill, introduced by Senator George Allen is titled the Thomasina E. Jordan Indian Tribes of Virginia Federal Recognition Act of 2005- S.480. A hearing on our Federal Recognition bill was held by this committee on October 09, 2002 ( S. 2694) before Chairman Campbell.

On behalf of the six Tribes named in S 480, the Eastern Chickahominy, the Monacan, the Nansemond, the Upper Mattaponi, the Rappahannock, and my Tribe the Chickahominy, I am requesting that the testimony and evidence from that hearing be submitted into today's record. That evidence included a strong letter of support from our current Governor, Mark Warner, testimony from the Virginia Council of Churches and our anthropologist and many others supporting our Federal Recognition through Congress. Beside me today is Professor Danielle Moretti-Langholtz, from the College of William & Mary, who is a renowned anthropologist specializing in the heritage of the Virginia Tribes, who worked on the petitions we filed with the BIA, and is prepared to assist with any questions you may have about our history.

Senator McCain, I could tell you the much publicized story of the 17th Century Virginia Indians, but you, like most Americans, know our first contact history. Well known is the story of Chief Powhatan and his daughter Pocahontas, her picture being in this very capitol building with her English husband John Rolfe. I often say this country is here today because of the kindness and hospitality of my forebears who helped the English Colonists at Jamestown gain a foothold in a new and strange environment. But what do you know or what does mainstream America know about what happened in those years between the 17th century and May 11. 2005. The fact that we were so prominent in early history and then so callously denied our Indian heritage is the story that most don't want to remember or recognize. I, and those Chiefs here with me, stand on the shoulders of the Paspahegh led by Chief, Wowinchopunk whose wife was captured and taken to Jamestown Fort and "run through" with a sword, whose children were tossed overboad and then their brains were "shot out" as they floundered in the water, and whose few remaining tribal members sought refuge with a nearby tribe, possibly the Chickahominy.

With this horrific action in August 1610, a whole Nation was annihilated. A Nation who befriended strangers, and, ultimately died at the hands of those same strangers. We are seeking recognition through an act of congress rather than the BIA because actions taken by the Commonwealth of Virginia during the 20th Century in seeking to erase the existence of my people through statutes and legislation have made the administrative process nearly impossible. The destruction of documents, regarding our existence, during the Civil War and other periods of early history pales in comparison to the State sanctioned indignities heaped upon my people under the hand of Walter Ashby Plecker, a rabid separatist, who ruled over the Bureau of Vital Statistics for 34 years, from 1912 to 1946. Although socially unacceptable to kill Indians outright, Virginia Indians became fair game to Plecker as he led efforts to eradicate all references to Indians on Vital Records. A practice that was supported by the state's establishment whn the eugenics movement was endorsed by leading state universities and when the State's legislature enacted the Racial Integrity Act in 1924. A law that stayed in effect until 1967 and caused my parents to have to travel to Washington D.C. on February 20, 1935 in order to be married as Indians. This vile law forced all segments of the population to be registered at birth in one of two categories, white or colored. Thus legitimizing cultural genocide for Virginia's Indigenous Peoples. Sadly this tells only a part of the story. The affect of this period and the racial policies of the state, meant that Indian people were targeted --it was feared that they would dare to try to claim their heritage and seek extra protection outside the state or with the Federal Government. The policies established by Plecker made it illegal to designate Indian on a birth certificate or to give an Indian child a traditional Indian name. Violations put doctors and midwives at risk of up to one year in jail. Our anthropologist!
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Contents:
Animal Rights:	US Park Service Slaughters Buffaloes
Bennie LeBeau	Mother Earth Is Waiting For Us
Eco-Notes:	Natural Ant Control
Elder Council Meeting:	February Details
Elder's Meditation:	Dr. Charles A. Eastman, Santee Sioux
Feature Story:	Dance to Heal the Earth!
Funny Bones 1:	Indian Astrology Chart
Funny Bones 2:	Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob
Funny Bones 3:	Words of Wisdom
Hawk Speaks:	One Grasshopper Can Jump Higher
Healing Prayer Basket:	Don't Stand at My Grave
Health Watch:	Fluoride - Bane To Humanity.....
Hill & Holler:	Mining Threatens Colville Rez
History:	Skull for sale discovered
Indigenous Perspective:	My Two Beads Worth
Legends of Old:	Smiling Fox
Letters to the Editor:	Healing Medicine Grandmother Used
MAIC Messages:	Food Baskets Needed Now!
Poetry Circle:	Earth Medicine by Liora Leah
Opinion Page:	Force Animal ID System - Conspiracy!
Tribal Politics:	Federal Recognition of Virginia Tribes
Upcoming Events:	Ceremony of 8,000 Sacred Drums
Website Updates:	21 New Pages Added in February!
Women's Circle:	Build Your Child's Self-Esteem
Women's Medicine:	The New World is a World of Doing...
Women's Calendar:	March Happenings

# 1	Lakota Stories - Exciting and Historical
# 2	Zuni Stories - 6 Stories Added
# 3	Lenape Stories - Colorful
# 4	Achomawi Stories - 6 Beautiful and Informative
# 5	Dakotah Legends - 4 Great Stories
# 6	American Indians North and South: A Web for Discourse
# 7	Legends of the Choctaw - 8 Really Good Stories
# 8	Seven Fires Prophesy of the Anishinabe

Nican Tlacah Ilhuitl - Indigenous Peoples Day
Sunday March 12, 2006
NAHUACALLI
Embassy of the Indigenous Peoples
802 N. 7th Street
Phoenix, AZ 85006
Tel (602) 254- 5230

The Ceremony of 8,000 Sacred Drums
March 21, 2006
Otomi Ceremonial Center
Temoaya, Mexico



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Nican Tlacah Ilhuitl - Indigenous Peoples Day Sunday March 12, 2006 NAHUACALLI Embassy of the Indigenous Peoples 802 N. 7th Street Phoenix, AZ 85006 Tel (602) 254- 5230

The Ceremony of 8,000 Sacred Drums March 21, 2006 Otomi Ceremonial Center Temoaya, Mexico

Nican Tlacah Ilhuitl - Indigenous Peoples Day
Sunday March 12, 2006
NAHUACALLI
Embassy of the Indigenous Peoples
802 N. 7th Street
Phoenix, AZ 85006
Tel (602) 254- 5230

The Ceremony of 8,000 Sacred Drums
March 21, 2006
Otomi Ceremonial Center
Temoaya, Mexico