While gifting a Native American town in Upper MI, my Toyota
got stuck in the deep mud.
I was 25 miles from camp with no phone. The bugs were biting and it was
raining. I had no choice but to walk miles in the mud,while feeding many
parasites along the way.After 2 hours of hiking i came to the Indian Reservation.
I was full of mud from head to toe and soaking wet. I was a
mess!Well,those Native Americans did not see me as a threat. They saw
someone who needed help! I was allowed inside, given blanket. fed the best
roast turkey sandwich i ever had. Wow! Royal treatment! they asked what i
was doing on their land. I explained orgonite ,that i was converting DOR
coming of the towers to OR. We had a long conversation about towers. They
said they never trusted all the towers going up. I told them i’m burying
orgonite next to every tower in the region and that the rain, birds,and real
clouds will return soon.That’s when a quiet elder who listened to what i
said ,without saying too much, said: We’ll call you Bear Claw! One that
digs in the earth, and heals the land and sky!
You can really be proud of that name. Keep on digging, Bear Claw. [Image Can Not Be Found]
That’s a great honor you’ve been given.
Great work.
Hanh mitakuyapi / Hello my relatives. Lila ota ehanni – a long time ago – the bear was called “ksa”, which means “wisdom” in my language. (You were in a different Nation than mine so their bear stories & ours will differ, but I think you’ll like this.)
Bear became too proud of his abilities & his contributions to us two-leggeds (too big for his britches, so to speak) & the trickster conned him into doing something foolish so he lost his long fluffy tail, which he was overly proud of.
Because of this, bear’s name changed to Mato (mah-THOH; you kind of spit the ‘th’ in the 2nd syllable). It translates roughly to something that’s very strong but was foolish & had to learn the hard way. I can’t come up with anything more direct – sorry.
But to this day, we honor Ksa for the wonderful things he originally taught &/or gave us, & remain mindful of the name change & reason for it so we don’t become too cocky either. Pride goeth before a fall (usually in something messy, of course…)
Bear was one of the original healers in our Way, too. Kind of a Plains Indn universal, I believe.
Regardless, you have a big honor & therefore a big responsibility. Congratulations or condolences, as appropriate… :~) Best of luck with what you’re doing.
Keep up the good work – be careful if you gift on any Rezs – some of us are extremely cautious – & therefore, hostile – about who does what on our holy sites, or even, near them. You could accidentally get yourself a pack of big Trouble in those areas. There are a couple of t-shirts that are very popular in Indn Country that express the sentiments well – one has a photo of Geronimo & other Big Chiefs of his time, armed to the teeth, with the words “Homeland Security – Fighting Terrorism Since 1492”. The other is one I’ve made & sold for many years – It says, “Christopher Columbus was this land’s first terrorist”.
You might keep these things in miind next time you go gifting near or on a Rez so you stay safe & don’t have any big hairy adventures. (Suppose I could have said “a bear of an adventure…”) :~) Mitakuye oiasin.
Thanks for posting the story, Carl, and thanks for the enriching background information, Auntie Carol.
Bearclaw agreed to post this after he kindly emailed me to explain his ID. I told him that our readers are hungry for personal accounts that they can relate to, rather than just reports that are scorecards for how many death towers we’ve turned into life force generators.
A high score counts, too, of course, and Bearclaw sure has generated one [Image Can Not Be Found] and gotten the requisite physical confirmations in and around Milwaukee (a hard target) and beyond.
Some of the other contributors also have astonishing personal histories and experiences but getting them to publish them is like pulling teeth. I badger them to get past that misplaced sense of modesty because I know that this wonderful stuff is what attracts people to this unorganized global effort on a heart level.
~Don
