[powerpress]
…you have created reservations called countries, called nations where you exclude others and you form boundaries that are based on false power beliefs. It is time to lay these false ideas aside…because unified, you are a power to be reckoned with and so it is for you to say, I am sufficient, I am effective, I am powerful as one. But I am more joyful, I am more powerful, I am more present, I am more creative in my circle.
Good morning and welcome to another offering of Heavenly Blessings with Linda Dillon, channel for the Council of Love and author of The New You, Emerging into the Brilliance of Humanity’s Heart Consciousness and myself, Suzanne Maresca.
Today, we’re back on the trail with Chief Red Cloud of the Lakota Nation as we continue with our Native Chief Series.
Red Cloud is a fierce champion for his people and possibly the most successful at keeping the U. S. government out of Indian territory. Even after the military defeat of the Lakota Nation, he continued to fight for the needs and the autonomy of his people on the reservation.
We’re honored to welcome Chief Red Cloud to this show and sit together for awhile at the council fire.
SM: Good morning Linda.
LD: Good morning Susie, what a wonderful introduction.
SM: Well, thank you.
LD: Yeah, and I am so glad that we are getting back to talking with the Chiefs.
SM: Me too.
LD: Yeah, even though, you know they, this theme that we interrupted the flow for, with Archangel Michael of Peace, has really, as I was thinking about it this morning in meditating, is really interwoven in all of their messages. The consistency, regardless of who you talk to…the theme is Peace.
SM: The theme is Peace. And you know, really, Peace, I mean, it goes hand in hand with unity and we’re moving into unity consciousness and it makes perfect sense that this would be the focus.
LD: Absolutely.
SM: Yes. So, I have a question actually, working with indigenous elders in North America and they really did work with the medicine wheel. Many of our listeners might be familiar with this and what it represents, but some may not be, so would you maybe give us a little detail on that?
LD: Absolutely, and please, I know that you have experience and understanding, probably in this and other lifetimes of the shaman path, so chime in where necessary.
SM: Okay.
LD: But yes, it certainly dawned on me too, as we sort of returned to this process of traveling around the medicine wheel, that perhaps not all of our listeners know or understand what the medicine wheel is about.
The medicine wheel, obviously is a physical thing, a circle of the four directions, with the center, that the Native Americans use, and in fact there are many points on the medicine wheel, but we’re only talking about the four cardinal directions, each area talks about different qualities, different powers, different totems, different minerals, and that you travel around the medicine wheel and it’s a very sacred ritual.
I think, at one point, I had said to you that it’s really akin in some ways, and I wouldn’t want to stretch this analogy, but it’s sort of like us going to church, in a way, I mean, it’s that kind of a very sacred ritual. It’s also reflective in the Native American tradition of the cycle of life. So, you always enter the medicine wheel from the east, and you can build one in your back yard, even if it’s tiny, it’s a really fun thing and a sacred thing to have. But, you enter from the east and then you travel to the south, to the west, to the north. You also can go to the center, you work with above and below, so you’re working with Father Sky and Mother Earth, all the qualities of being in form. But, eventually what you do, is you exit from the north and you leave what’s called ‘the good red road’ of being human and being in form and you go to ‘the good blue road’, which is being in Spirit and out of form, or perhaps in a different form.
SM: Humm.
LD: So, it’s a very powerful way to work, and one of the things that I did when I was certainly, I’ve only had two teachers per se, other than the Council of Love of course, in my life and the first being was Black Elk and the second being Lynn Andrews who was also in on that traditional Native American pathway. And so for years I certainly worked in that tradition and I worked with the medicine wheel and it’s important you know, when we’re in this time of creation to really figure out and perhaps even position yourself on where are you are sitting in this cycle. Maybe it’s the moon cycle, maybe it’s a year, maybe it’s until your project is finished, but where are you on your cycle and where are you going to position yourself on the medicine wheel?
So, for example, in the east it’s that place of fire, it’s that place of enlightenment. When you go to the south, it’s the place of the innocent child, of play, of creativity in the child like sense, it’s a great place for artists. When you go to the west, you know you’re going into the void, you’re going into that blackness, you’re going into a cave and that’s a place also for artists, but for writing. When I’m doing my writing, when I’m working on my books for example, I really go and I feel myself, I go and I position myself in the west of the medicine wheel. And then in the north is the place of the elders, you know it’s that place of incredible wisdom, at the end of your life where you’ve come to really understand the journey and that you’re training, or sharing that wisdom and council with the young people coming up. So, it’s a beautiful, it’s a ceremony, it’s a ritual, but it’s also a way of looking at your life.
And so, as we haven’t gone in perfect order, but today with Red Cloud we’re going to the south of the medicine wheel which is that place of the innocent child, that place of the coyote, of the trickster, because sometimes you don’t always know. But it’s something worth investigating if this tradition speaks to you at all.
It’s a place where the wisdom of the elders, not just the Chiefs, but the council fire, the medicine women, where you can really find deeper understanding, deeper wisdom about your own path.
SM: Yes, I feel it also is a wonderful exercise to connect with our own, old indigenous soul.
LD: Perfect.
SM: Yeah.
LD: All of us, and particularly, I would suggest all of us who have positioned ourselves in North America, have a history of being Native American.
SM: Yes, ah hah.
LD: I think that’s true, regardless of where you live, that you know, if you live in New Zealand or Australia, chances are you are aboriginal or Maori. You know, every continent has a richness of those original indigenous people.
SM: Yes.
LD: Connecting with them is such a powerful way to bring back those aspects, it’s part of the integration process that we’re going through right now.
SM: Yes, I agree completely.
LD: I was channeling for someone yesterday and normally I don’t really remember a lot of what I channel when it’s an individual session, but this part really stuck out for me, because it was Archangel Michael, I think, who was talking, we were talking about the integration of all our aspects, which would include those indigenous peoples, those you know, we’ve all been saints, sinners, you know you name it, we’ve done it.
SM: Yes.
LD: But what Michael was saying is, you know it’s not only the glory lives, that there’s no aspect that’s any such thing as sort of a poor sister. Everybody has equal experience and richness to bring in this integration process, so you don’t ignore anybody. To ignore that indigenous part of who we have been and the richness…you know when I was looking at this this morning, and I know I’m going on, but I was looking and I was thinking, you know, Red Cloud lived from 1822 to 1909.
SM: Uh, huh.
LD: And I was looking at that, 1909 like, that’s only a hundred years ago.
SM: Yes.
LD: And, you know the buffalo were still roaming and yeah, there was the terrible process of putting the Native Americans on reservations and stealing their land really, but when you think about it, I mean there were still bows and arrows, the beginning of some rifles, but people were cooking on their campfires and living in tee pees. It was a whole different way of life and then we say well nothing’s happened. You know it was only a hundred years ago and you know, we are traveling throughout the universe.
SM: Yeah.
LD: It’s like, a lot has happened, but we can’t lose that wisdom of who we are and what’s been brought forth by the Native American people. So, enough of my rambling…
SM: Oh, no that’s cool, it’s all good. It kind of reminds me of like, seeing the friends of children, like people that you see maybe only a couple of times a year and you know, we’re used to seeing our adult friends and everybody looks the same. When you see your friends children after six months, or even family or whatever, they’re just like huge and if it‘s not in front of you every day it’s very hard to notice and if you aren’t paying attention, then all of a sudden you put your attention on it again, wow look, look what happened.
LD: Yeah, wait a minute where did that baby go?
SM: Yeah, and where did my, ah well, we just don’t know what we didn’t know last week that‘s all, it’s just integrating so seamlessly really, because it’s who we are, it’s remembering things.
LD: And we are growing and we are integrating more and more and as you and I, Susie, have talked about it, it’s because when we’re integrating these expanded abilities and our creative abilities and entering into this new times, we don’t remember what we didn’t know or wasn’t feeling that it was an integral part of us, even a week ago.
SM: Exactly.
LD: It just feels normal because we are, we’re remembering, we’re remembering the past and we’re remembering the future.
SM: Uh huh, yes, exactly. So yeah, we’ve been going on for quite awhile, shall we jump into a meditation now?
LD: (Laughing) That sounds like a plan.
SM: Okay.
LD: So, let’s begin by taking a nice deep breath of red, of that brilliant crimson red, of the ruby, of the red rose, the red geraniums and the red poppies and feel that vitality, that sense of aliveness and breathe in the red. Open your crown, open your entire chakra system and let’s anchor in our hearts and feel your tri-flame as you sink into your chair, your bed, your office chair, your car seat, the floor, wherever you are.
Just relax and give yourself credit, give yourself credit for giving yourself this sacred time to be on your journey, to feed your spirit, to open more fully to your path and your journey. Feel yourself today as we travel again through the medicine wheel sinking into the dirt of Gaia, anchoring firmly. Feel that red cord come out of your spine, the tail bone of your spine and travel through the carpet or the wood, the linoleum, to the foundation, into the dirt, the rock, the gaseous layers, right down into the heart of Gaia. Feel Gaia take your cord as she anchors you and protects you and guides you and keeps you on her so that we go forward as one.
Let’s begin by relaxing even more as we go on this journey, as we continue on this journey around the medicine wheel and feel that it is a perfect prairie morning where you can see forever. It’s that early light, just before dawn, as the sun begins to creep up over the distant horizon, there’s fingers of rose and pale smoky yellow and gold coming up over the eastern horizon. Breathe in that cool morning air as you begin to awaken and begin to walk towards your medicine wheel, the medicine wheel that you have created.
As you walk, hear the birds chirping and the rustle of the animals awaking. Approach the medicine wheel that you have built, that you have created in accordance with the old ways. Look around and see the markers, the sacred stones that you have sung to and attuned with. Take comfort knowing that in their positioning it is reflective and reflecting of the galaxies and the cosmos, the edges of the wheel, see the animals emerging welcoming the day; the small rabbits nibbling at the grass enjoying their breakfast, deer peeking out of the edges of the shrubbery.
You have chosen the stones, the flags to mark the north and south and east and west and all the points in between so that there is this beautiful circle of stones that you have collected in your travels, from the northwest and the southeast; that you have a beautiful generator crystal in the middle of your medicine wheel and you have left an opening in the eastern portal. Chanting and singing your song of ritual, you stand at the eastern portal and you raise your arms to the sky to welcome the day. You lower your arms, your palms facing the earth, to thank the mother and you enter in through the eastern portal and you walk in sacred manner to the south of the medicine wheel and every time your bare feet touch the earth you feel that hum and that connection to sweet Gaia, to Terra Nova and when you approach the south you see that Red Cloud awaits you, this mighty Chief, this mighty warrior of the Ogala Lakota tradition.
There’s a part of you that wonders, what is the Chief doing in the south, the place of play and innocence? But, he looks at you; “yes, this is the place of youth and innocence, the red place of earth and the crystal people, the first children of the Mother.” He asks you to chant with him, thanking the Earth Mother and her kingdoms for the multitude of gifts and blessings that she bestows upon you every single day.
Red Cloud turns to you and places his hands upon your shoulders… “I give you the gift of red, the gift of the burning sunrise, the stamina of the warrior, the red of ancient earth. I give you the spirit blood of the people, drink it. Let it fill your body and your heart; carry the life blood of the people proudly. I give you the gift of the innocent child who travels out into the world fearlessly and yet, my friend, too many children have been slaughtered, too many have died and continue to die upon this planet. Children are starving and are still victims of war, and yet still they continue on. And so, I give you the gift of courage. Know that as you walk the world, I will protect you as I have protected the children of my tribe. You are safe to be curious and to play with the corn doll and the bow.”
Allow the vibration of red to fill you from the tips of your toes to the crown of your head and out into your field. Welcome the totems of this direction; the otters, the deer, the coyote and the porcupine. Take a moment and see and feel who joins you right now in your heart. Who is accompanying you in the south of the medicine wheel, in your heart and in your journey? Pick up the red jasper and ruby that have been anchored in this portal and place them, secure them, in your heart. You will carry this vibration with you, now and forever. Embrace the ability to trust and love with the innocence and the playfulness of the child. Give thanks, gratitude for the gifts of the south, (? Inaudible) to all place. Give thanks to Red Cloud.
RC: Greetings, I am Red Cloud.
SM: Welcome.
RC: And welcome to you, beloved sister and beloved sisters and brothers, for the journey continues. Yes, I may have left this form well over a hundred years in your time, but let me tell you I still sit by the Council fire and I still hunt the buffalo and I still watch over my people. My people have assumed many forms, white and yellow, black and red, it matters not. I come to you not merely as Chief and not merely as warrior, but as brother.
I have chosen in this meditation, in this journey around the medicine wheel, to position myself in the place of the innocent child because that is what is missing. In my life, I did not have a great length of time as the innocent child. I will tell you how I came by my name, for that was not my birthing name.
When I was boy becoming young man and I went on my vision quest and it was demanding and arduous and I was not yet, what many came to think of as strong warrior. I had many doubts about my ability to complete such a quest, but I went at the encouragement of my father, for he was my mentor and in many ways, my life blood.
I traveled out to the place of the rivers and the mountains and although the water was plentiful, part of our tradition was to not drink or eat. And on the third day I had this vision; out of a clear, blue sky, came the perfect white cloud and it took many forms and I was visited by White Buffalo Calf Woman. And she gave me the gift and the understanding of Peace; she shared the pipe with me.
But then, my cloud of pristine white, turned completely red and I thought that is alright, for this is the dust being churned up by the buffalo and that is sacred as well. This is also a gift from the White Buffalo Woman and I will be a great buffalo hunter. But the cloud continued to become redder and redder; I knew that my life, and in my life, that much of the blood of my people would be shed, and the blood of others as well. But that did not concern me as much. This vision frightened me, for this was not a future that a young boy or any being would welcome.
When I returned to our camp, I sat with my circle, with the medicine man and we discussed my vision and my fear and it was then when I received my name. But it was also explained to me that my journey was not only to lead my people, but to save them so that this vision of such great bloodshed would not come to pass, or that in some ways it could be minimized.
So my training, in many ways, began in earnest and always I held to the vision that I could help to at least prevent the slaughter of the people, the women and children. You know, especially in life, you never truly know whether what you think is your best is truly the, in absolute terms, the best path that could be ever followed. Often there is a price for freedom and in so many cultures it has included bloodshed.
So now, I position myself in the south, not because I simply grieve for lost innocence or children, but because I see and I welcome you that it is the purity and the innocence, the playfulness of a child’s heart that can allow for the interplay with all beings, whether it is the stone people or the animals, or children of another tribe.
When there were gatherings, the children always congregated and ran to each other. There was no fear. Those who were different, for you know we had many different traditions and cultures and ways and foods and games and even shades of skin. The children did not care, they wanted to learn new games, new understandings, they wanted to expand.
This is what all of humanity has need to learn. When there is a difference between beings, you can talk it out or you can scream at each other or you can wrestle each other to the ground, or as you get older you can count coo or you can devise contests, but there is never any need to kill each other. That is, yes, what your Archangel Michael has been teaching you and sharing with you and each of you have been bringing to the forefront. Our message is not significantly different.
Linda is correct, for when you keep a child’s heart, it is not naiveté, it is not ignorance, it is the knowing of Great Spirit’s plan and that there is room for all beings, not simply the two leggeds but all beings upon the planet and that Gaia provides all that is necessary or needed and there is plenty for all. Hoarding does not truly in any sense of the word make any reality or sense because there is always another season, there is always another moon, there is always another cycle.
It is only because of selfishness or hatred that there is not enough for all. And it is with the deepest gratitude that we give thanks that that time of selfishness passes from this sweet planet and from the hearts of man. It is being in the harmony, yes, in the wisdom of the elders and the creativity of those in the middle, in the honoring of those with insight and the acceptance of the truth and the needs that the child tells you, that you are able to proceed.
You have created reservations, not merely the places that you herded us into like cattle, but you have created reservations called countries, called nations. You have created reservations where you exclude others and you form boundaries that are based on false power beliefs. This time to lay these false ideas aside, it is time that you let the red cloud that hovers over sweet Gaia return to white.
Sweet Susie, where do you wish to begin?
SM: Oh, thank you Red Cloud for joining us today. Ah, as your speaking, it’s occurring to me that I really hope that the, umm, more than our usual listeners, hear your words and get your message. I’m going to trust that it’s an energetic thing and that it will get where it needs to go.
In my experience and the people that I am in touch with, it seems to be a theme that we are longing for community. My daughter certainly will become well, I’m sure of it, I’ve seen it in a vision that her health issues that have been over many years, will finally be resolved when she’s in community again and has tribe around her, and loving people. That’s just my observation that there are many people, including myself, I’ve never had community in my life and the people close to me are far away from me physically, and I’m just really looking forward to, you know, it just feels like I’ve known this in past lives and indigenous being and that I know this and I think we all know this in our hearts and it’s what we’re hard wired for.
Anyway, one of my questions is that you native elders are all still maintaining identity after death and I’m just wondering, have you had other life times on Earth? Are you all starseeds, is it just sitting in the same thing, can you say anything about that?
RC: I have had other life times on Earth and yes we have gathered and come as the native elders because the lessons, the understandings, the wisdom of those recent life times are important still to convey.
But, I have lived amongst the stars, I am very Pleiadian and I have come long ago, long before I was ever Red Cloud, I have come originally as Anasazi to the, what you think of as Canyon de Chelly.
SM: Yes.
RC: And so I have traveled on the earth plane and then returned home at an appointed time, I guess you would say, that I have lived as Bedouin, because, there is nothing… when I say to you that I understand how those who seek to wield power, and I mean force and control, because it is power in your day is not always based on the strength of wisdom or leadership and that is a very sad thing. But one of my favorite things has always been to ride across the open sands or the plains or even the meadows and to hear the thunder of my horse’s hoofs.
SM: Humm.
RC: So yes, I have, prior to being Red Cloud, I have lived as Bedouin. Long ago I have been part of the Mongols; I have lived in what you would think of as Afghanistan, I have lived in the caves in many, many places.
So I come to you in this Native American tradition, but when I say that the sectioning off of people into particularly religious cultural groups is very sad. You mention the importance of tribe.
SM: Yes.
RC: That is a stand alone truth. And part of what sustains, not in a positive way, but in a fear way as well, what sustains these divisions is that sense of fear of being shunned or sent away from the tribe where you belong. Because it is this primary knowing that your tribe sustains you.
But the tribe, in truth, let us speak of truth. It sustains you because of love, because each person is seen, not only for their strengths, for their path, for their place within the whole, not merely what you think of as biological family, but the tribe and for their weaknesses, for areas that perhaps, they are lacking and need greater support. So weaknesses was never thought of as a shortcoming or a fault because it was an opportunity for members of the tribe to support, to fill in the holes, to bring each individual into the whole. This practice, and it is ancient, of exclusion, of shunning, of sending away, has always, in every tradition, always been a mistake.
Yes, we know in your culture you say, ‘oh, there is no such thing as mistake.’ Let me tell you, there are mistakes, there are errors in the pathways when I say to you that I felt that I did the best I could. Now in the ultimate reality of the unfoldment of the Mother’s plan, was every choice and every decision, every step the best, in terms of reflection of her Love? No. But I was human and I have been human in all of these lifetimes and I have learned and I have evolved and I will come back at one point and live again; perhaps this time I will be European, for that tribe is coming together nicely as one.
So the nurturing, the sense of community, of sharing a fire or a stove, a dance, a meal, a ritual, the growing in understanding, this is what we have loved and I still do, by the way, about ritual, whether it was the medicine wheel or any of our many rituals, or even the rituals of the mystery schools. Every person who ever was placed as their turn to be in charge of a ritual had a unique energy and a way of conducting that ritual that was enriching to the entire tribe. Certain rights were always honored, but the sweetness or the strength or the chant was different. It adds when all are given an opportunity to step forward, not because they have to prove themselves, but because it is the importance of each person in the tribe, it is the richness of the sharing. And that is what has been absent, even from so many families; the structure is such that it is stratified and it is not helping so that children remain children until they are simply flown away from the nest. Many of them are floundering and it is not a wise way in which to proceed. So yes, the reassembly of community is vital to Nova Earth.
SM: I agree completely. I’m always looking for a way to see the positives in anything, so I’m wondering if you could speak at all to the way many of us , and I will just call us white round eyes, that we, you know we’re born into a non-indigenous society and we weren’t seen, not really nurtured and we pretty much had to find our own way to truth. Can you speak at all to the purposeful nature of that?
RC: It is so that you will find your way back to community. Now most of you have memory of being part of one tribe or another.
SM: Yes.
RC: It is important, and that is one of the reasons why we have stepped forward, it is to re-awaken many of those memories within you. But, it was not simply that you would learn to stand alone, and to thrive alone and to discover your warrior self and your divine feminine and masculine. It was so that you would find your way back, it is that you would complete the circle and say this way of existence, which was a way of separation put upon you by those who wish to exert control and to keep you separate, because unified, you are a power to be reckoned with, all beings are. And so it is for you to say, I am sufficient, I am effective, I am powerful as one. But I am more joyful, I am more powerful, I am more present, I am more creative in my circle.
SM: And it feels like it’s, we are more assured, we have more assurance of our connection to spirit, to Source, All That Is.
RC: Yes, that is true.
SM: Yeah.
RC: And you have formed community with spirit, but you know you call them by different names. but we always were connected and guided by spirit. It was a given, the harmony and the harmony of all expressions of the kingdoms, it was integral to our life and it is becoming integral to your life as well.
SM: Yes. Okay, so I have one more question and then we can go to closing comments. This question is about children and the raising of children. I’ve been purely unconventional in raising my daughter and I don’t really practice punishment and as I understand it, you guys didn’t either. Could you speak to that a little bit?
RC: There is too much brutality that has grown out as an accepted way of discipline, of child rearing. How do you raise up a child if you are beating them into the ground? Of course, the most destructive is not the physical beating, it is the emotional and the spiritual beating. It is the removal of that innate sense of magnificence and self worth. Once that is taken out of the child, it is a long and arduous process to recover.
Now, did we have individuals who were brutal? Yes. But our way of raising children was not that; we would call it re-direct. And so if someone was behaving, or misbehaving as you would call it, we would need to understand why? Because it would be jealousy, or insecurity or feeling ignored or feeling that they were not seen or seen too much.
SM: Right.
RC: So, we would discuss this and again sometimes it was an aunt or a sister or a young brave who would take the child under their wing and help them expel either the excess energy or to infuse the balance of energy. Herbs and healing and story telling and understanding was the way of course correction. And, yes physical activity. Your children are not physical enough.
SM: Umm, I think none of us are.
RC: Yes, but again it is not to become brutal about this. And that is what occurs for many, they think that they will whip their bodies into shape. Is that not a very peculiar notion?
SM: Yeah.
RC: It is the harmony of the body, in harmony with the birds, with the rising of the sun and the setting of the sun, the rising of the moon, the seasons…
SM: Yes, beautiful. Thank you so much Red Cloud for joining us today to share your wisdom. I was wondering if you had any closing comments?
RC: It has been my honor to be with you. My closing comments, yes, get rid of the reservations, get rid of the reservations also that sit in your heart…
SM: Umm, yes.
RC: …they have no place. Declare the wide open space my friends and travel throughout the stars and upon sweet Gaia. I will be your guide.
SM: Thank you.
RC: Aho.
SM: Aho
Channeled by Linda Dillon
© 2015 Council of Love
https://counciloflove.com/
