Wisdomkeepers
   Steve Wall and Harvey Arden
  1990 Beyond Words Pub, Inc. Hillsboro OR USA
   ISBN: 0941831663
 

Wisdomkeepers takes you on an extraordinary spirit-journey into the lives, minds & natural-world philosophy of Native American spiritual Elders. You share their thoughts, dreams & jokes; their visions & their prophecies.

In this rare publication, we are privileged to receive not only the Words of the Wise Elders, we are also gifted with their sense of humor, like the twinkle in a Raven's eye as it heists your favorite bauble or the grin of a Fox as it takes home a tame hen from your coop.

Lest we forget how very feral nature is, we who have our meats, slaughtered, bled, packaged & banked for us in cooled coffins in huge buildings. Lest we forget from whence we came, let us sit at the knees of some who live to remember.

As White Deer of Autumn reminds us, the Native American concept of First Cause, while being relatively universal to Turtle Island, has many tribal names that incorporate an understanding that all things are part of an incomprehensible totality which always was and always will be. Terms now commonly used such as God, Creator, and Great Spirit are not adequate translations for Sakioatisan, Wakan Tanka, Taiowa and Kitche Manitou.

"The Grandfathers are dying out, and the old way is going with them. Someone has to go out to them, record their words, take their photographs. Otherwise it will all be lost." Thus spoke the Gatekeeper to Steve Wall and Harvey Arden & so their work began.

What began as a journalistic project became a mission. Each Wisdomkeeper bestowed some special bit of understanding, some indelible experience. Wisdomkeepers are not necessarily "old". Several of the acknowledged spiritual or political leaders of their people are still in their forties and fifties. Others even younger are coming after them. "The Grandfathers and the Grandmothers are in the children-whose faces are coming from beneath the ground!"

"They're singing songs of the earth. I'm too weak to go out there with them, but I love hearing the children's voices sing those songs. I helped teach them, you know. They're my children. All children are my children. I teach them the songs and whatever else I can. That's what Grandmothers are for-to teach songs and tell stories and show them the right berries to pick and roots to dig. And also to give them all the love they can stand. No better job in the world than being a Grandmother! Now you boys get out there before the food's all gone-but before you go I'll tell you just one little story. it's one of my favorites-and it's true."

A wondrous find, a vivid companion & an awe-inspiring read.

Also from the EarthSong Collection: With a Rainbowed Sea; Moloka's: An Island in Time; The American Eagle and Light on the Land

Take a look at the authors website at dreamkeepers.net.
(05/30/99)

Rebecca