I Am A Wannabe

For many years now I have appeared on at least a hundred of radio and television programs. I have been interviewed by a variety of individuals each who possessed their own level of understanding of the work I Do, and often times I have been presented by the host of a show as a Native American … a Metis Shaman. As a result of my being a guest on many media programs there are a few individuals who would criticize me for being “a Wannabee”… Ot took seven years for me to get my PhD's; therefore in the beginning it was just my deeds and reputations for my ceremonial work they could grasp, I was to White Mans America an Enigma. After all I had no games, Books, or action dolls to sell, or titles, how else could they explain me.

I am accustomed to this label, which is often thrown around, in the base battle of words presented to an innocent and naive public, by the ignorant and the disgruntled…To me it’s like kids throwing stones. These people must, I suppose, criticize something in order to feel more secure in a world that they perceive is passing them by, and in the surrendering of the higher aspects of their potentials, thus they attack others rather than work on their own personal development.

With all that I do and have done in my struggle for public recognition of the Metis People, and being a person who is always in the public eye, of course, I would be a high profile target for their attacks…an easy hit. I am alone, I do not represent an Ashram, nor do I have a tribe of People surrounding me. I am simply out here doing what I do, because I believe in it. Now as far as my wanting to be someone else, a wannabe… I like myself…why would I want to be any one else? Very few people live the life I do…which is anything but boring.

This striking out against the Metis, is and old war. It has happened before on this land, long ago, as history will soon attest. Brother fighting against brother to protect the flaw, in their Spiritual understanding, and like the war of the heavens, it makes no sense if reasoned out. The main cause of the problem for me or any one else who has been born Metis, as I see it (and the general public at large is unaware of this situation) is that those of us who are mixed blood are not honorably recognized for their Spiritual Faith by the U.S. Government, and thusly by the people.

Now should a Metis Person choose to practice their Spirituality faithfully, their Native Spirituality that they have learned from and been given access to by the Native People of this fair and wise land, and be open about it, meaning to speak in public and be placed into the position of having to take a stand for those Spiritual beliefs, they are usually attacked by certain partisan groups for being Non-Indian, and having no right to do such. I have never seen elders do this. I have seen radical Christian groups do this. I have seen “Street Indians” do this, but Traditional Native People know better, and it is not their way. They are a shy and compassionate people, which is why they share their ways with anyone they trust to come into their home, and play with their children , and eat with them. There has never really been a contest in this area except through the fantasy that is too often played out in the Public arena, which is little more then ugly myth.

Racism is not an issue with Traditional Elders, it never has been. The way of the Native American has long been based on intermarriage, longer than the history of this country. They are a compassionate People who have suffered a great deal in the transition of this land through several civilizations. The Celts were here long before there was even a place known as France, England, Spain, or a man named Christopher Columbus, so the issue of who are the first Americans is ambiguous to begin with.

Today…. in this 21^st Century…. it is a known fact that perhaps greater than half the population of America, if your family has been here three or more generations, your family more than likely has mixed Native American bloodlines in its tree. Further, the latter part of the 20^th Century brought the mixture of many cultures and faiths to this Land of the Turtle, so we have become rather a soup of many races expressing, or struggling to express as one Nation, presenting itself under the political structure of being a Democracy. The very foundations of the Republic were given by the indigenous Peoples of this land, who were known to the Early French and English as the Iroquois, or more correctly called the Haudenosaunee or Algonquin Speaking Peoples.

The term "Wannabees" is used by some more base Native Americans, and more often disgruntled white Europeans, to refer to outsiders who "want to be" Indians. This seemed strange to me when as a young man. I had found that, in fact, Native American blood ran through my veins, and realized the extent of intermarriage that has long been the history of the Peoples that were first encountered when the Western Europeans rediscovering this land in the early 16^th Century. When I was a youth it was unfashionable to be Native American, and it was never mentioned that the family might truly have a “Cherokee in the Woodshed..” Harsh word’s, yes, but this was the truth of the age I and millions of others transcended during the latter part of the 20^th Century, and I think we still have a little way to go…

I am what is referred to as Metis, pronounced (Met-tay), originally a French word from Canada meaning a mixed blood. They had a few other choice words for us but that is the one that stuck. I searched for years seeking the answers to the riddles of my own origin, which left me with the evidence I would come to find before me, and to ponder… “Who were the First Americans truly, and thusly who was I really”.

In my veins runs the blood of ancient Celtic warriors, as well as the Algonquin Peoples. So the following of and embracing of the Native American Way was not only natural to me, but part of a prescribed journey back to my own awakening to the remembrance.. Then again this being the case with so many, perhaps this may be the reason why the song “Amazing Grace “ is so well-loved by so many Native American People. But racism is a thing of the past…in many ways, we are all Metis today.

The following article appeared as a flyer produced in 1995 by the Asatru Folk Assembly, aimed at European-Americans who are attracted to Native American spirituality. It has received praise from several Native American writers and thinkers, including Vine Deloria, author of GOD IS RED and many other books dealing with American Indians

The ways of the American Indian can offer much to those who want to learn to live in harmony with the Earth, and with their own beings. The simplicity of a life close to nature, and the powerful techniques of the shaman, call out to all of us who want to walk lightly on this planet and to know the journeys of the soul that make one wise. Many people, including those of European ancestry, feel the pull of this spiritual path.

However, there is something to consider. Many Native Americans feel that you should seek out the ways of your own people, rather than intruding upon their ways. They understand your interest in their traditions, but they think you should look for something that is yours.

Long ago, Europeans too were tribal peoples. From the British Isles all the way across the Continent, the Celts and the Germans (Vikings) and others lived in great forests and along rugged seacoasts. Our way of living was much like that of the American Indians whom you admire. The Earth was our mother, Thor rattled in the thunder, Odin led the Wild Hunt, Freya showed us that women could be both beautiful and strong. The tree Yggdrasil held the Nine Worlds in its embrace, and the web of Wyrd connected all things. Our ancestors lived in us, and spoke in our dreams, and in the eyes of our children.

The way of the indigenous Europeans had much that you will recognize, they called it utiseta, or "sitting out”, it was our form of the vision quest. The Norsemen called it " Sweatlodge”? The sauna was sacred to the Birch Goddess. The Celts were Great warriors, both male as well as female? Our history abounds in them. Honoring the Earth? Brooks, rocks, trees - all had spirits to be befriended. Shamans? Odin, father of the Gods, was a master Shaman!

Then, things changed. A new faith came to our forested lands from a far country where our tribes had never dwelled. It came with sword and fire, and killed or exiled those who would not accept the alien way. Many thousands of us died rather than submit, but eventually the church bells drove the land spirits into hiding, and even the Mighty Powers could not be seen for the pall which hung over our spirits. And so it stayed, for many centuries, and we brought this alien way with us when we came to the land we named America. It was not tribal Angles or Saxons or Iceni who treated the Native Americans wrongly; it was a people cut off from their soul, and from the wisdom of the generations.

But time passes, and now something new is happening. The way of old Europe, so long crushed and repressed, is once again accessible to its far-flung sons and daughters! And that's where you come in.

It is good to respect the Native American, for reasons you understand well. One way of honoring them is to leave their religion, their spirituality, their ancestors, unto them! But there's another obligation, too. Don't you owe it to your own ancestors - whose blood and bone and soul you are - to seek them first? There is a glory in your own heritage, there is a wonder in the way you might have gotten here, you did after all come from somewhere and through someone….There were thousands of generations of forefathers and foremothers, warriors, hunters, and explorers, heroes and rogues alike that now call unto you. They are your kin. They beckon you - to heal our people, to heal our world, and to walk again the way of the warrior and the wise one. They are calling you home, there is no death, there never was, it is a myth.. The question is will you answer?

Remember I did not write this article….. Robert Ghost Wolf

I Am A Wannabe….

from Robert Ghost Wolf PhD.

Now as anyone who has actually experienced me will tell you …a plastic Shaman I am not. I do not think any one would care to challenge me on that ground eye to eye, and person to person…in an honorable manner…

So let us together take a look at some facts, and take a reality check..