An open letter

There are those who would call me a prophet. I believe that I may be good at what I do, and I think it is important that people understand that this ability has come to me, only after years of learning to get out of my own way. Perhaps every one is a prophet in his or her own way, only some of us can verbalize what we know inside.

To accurately relate the prophecies of even one of the Indigenous American Peoples ,is a life long undertaking. Whether they be Lakota, Cherokee, Hopi, Inca, or the Mayan, or the millions upon millions of mixed bloods who are known as Metis, the task, to be complete would take volumes. I am called Ghost Wolf. This is my name, which was given to me in ceremony. Now it is my chosen legal name. I did this because what I have learned and practiced for going on thirty years, has changed me in a way that I will never again relate to reality as I once did. Whomever I was, I am no longer

I was born a Metis (me-téy), which means my genetic lineage both that of the Indigenous People, and another People not from the original inhabitants of this land. In my case this is European. That background is mixed-blood also, for there is Italian, French and Austrian. I was beyond question born a mongrel in this life.

The Metis make up the largest group of genetically related People in the Americas, and for that matter, the world . We are a People without borders that is growing daily. More mixed-blood people have been born in the last fifty years then in the last 5000 years of recorded history.

I have come to understand that we, the human species, also have within our bodies the genetics of over 22 races from beyond the Sun, so we are truly Cosmic Children. The Lakota have a name for this new race of people: we are the Wigmunkee Oyate -- the Rainbow Nation. In my life's journey I have been adopted by my Native American relatives through Hunka, the making of relatives. This is one of the seven rights of the Sioux bestowed by the Buffalo Calf Women to Hollow Horn and his people. In short, I have taken back the anamnesis and the spirituality of the First Nation's people.

Although I have received worldwide notoriety because of my accomplishments as an author and artist I am not unique in this awakening process. There are thousands of people who have made the same conscious choice as I since at least the 1970's. many of whom like myself, are Grandparents now.

I carry the Sacred Pipe. As I was taught, there are two ways that one walks with this pipe. One is the Cherokee way, and it is called the Sacred Pipe, the other is Sioux and it is called then the Chanupa, (Cha Nu Pa) meaning two trees that make up life: One part being of Mother Earth and the other being of Father sky. I did not buy my first pipe. This pipe was given to me by my elders who were Lakota and they taught me to use it So I learned in that understanding and I can call my pipe Chanupa. I worked alone for many years with this pipe before I was told that I had the right to make my choice to carry it for the people. This, only if I choose to take the responsibility. I accepted, and I then made the pipe I would eventually use for this purpose with my own hands.

I have walked this road consciously now for quite a few years. When I was about 16 years old I became an emancipated teenager and jumped into the waters on my own. My family was a dysfunctional family that grew out of a previously dysfunctional family. So closeness among family members was not apart of my experience growing up. I did not consider my self abused. In my day we just took life as it was. That term did not exist. We just took it on the chin.

My remembrances as a young adult during the 70's were very different from most. I was recognized at an early age for my artistic abilities and have managed to support myself most of the time with my artistic talents to this very day. Somehow though I knew that I was being watched over by Spirit. I traveled almost around the entire world by the time I was twenty-five In that time I got to meet and know some incredible people like Jack Kerouac, Ernest Hemingway, Truman Capote, Katherine Hepburn, Orson Wells, Harry Chapin. I shared cogent experiences with these people. Those are memories that stay with me to this day as the Winds of Change blow by.... These were people who affected my life immensely and caused me to aspire to the roads I would follow in my life .

Privately, I was lost for many years in the pain of being different, and not having those I could call a real People...a real family. I felt like I was an orphan, a misfit with no place in this world. I set out as a single seeker to find my own truth and make my own destiny. Thus I embarked early on in life upon a magical journey that has never ended. Those were my searching years. Along that journey I had a lot of kindness and wisdom shared with me by Native Americans. They did not care about any thing except where my heart was.

I learned where my family came from and, in that disclosure, that I myself had native blood in my lineage. I also was forewarned that it was not always a good thing to admit to having native blood. In fact most hid that fact, and denied it completely. It could be a matter of life and death, I was told. Things are different today, but today did not always exist. When I left the East Coast for the wilds of the Western frontier, I had my volumes of Jack London, and Steinbeck's "Travels with Charlie", so I was prepared for anything.

I took to the ways of my native friends, who became my extended family, like a duck to water. They showed me compassion for the human condition and for all life around me, and about being proud of what you are, just because you are. Along the way they shared many of the secrets of life that they knew. In the native way one does not deny compassion or nurturing. It is the grandmother of all ways. What they taught me had honor and sensitivity towards all that was alive... even the bugs and the things that had no bodies. They showed me the ways of Spirit, and encouraged me to share whatever I had. I learned how to be happy with nothing, and to have a quiet pride in that we were all children of one mother and one father. The rest didn't matter.

As I continued my journey I met many incredible people, having the blessing of both men and women as my teachers. So this "way that I walk" today has been a showing by example, and a learning by experience.

One learns if they keep the lights lit long enough to read the whole book, that Grandmother and Grandfather take care of their children. I learned in life to make lemonade out of lemons. I did not do too well in church, and at an early age I remember once being asked to leave because I asked too many questions. I could never buy the stories and for the most part I still can't today. Those who preached fire and brimstone were, in my opinion, people who placed themselves in high authority as representatives of God yet they never seemed to live buy the ways that they taught. But in the woods I was at home, and with my native friends and extended family I did not have to worry about being outcast for thinking my own thoughts.

Along the way it was decided that I had some special abilities that if properly honed and taught could be used for the good of all mankind, or at the very least, would help me become a good human being. I was taught that there are not a lot of human beings in this world, but that everyone was a child of the same mother and the same father. One day that would all make sense to me.

My Indigenous teachers have been from a variety of people including Apache, Sioux, Hopi, Osage, Ojibiwa, Cherokee, Comanche, Haudenosaunee, Mayan, Yaqui and Inca. I have also known and shared understandings with remarkable people from India, Germany, Japan ,Tibet, England, China, Yugoslavia, Spain and Greece where I lived for three years. I am a very blessed person. Yet all along the way, I was I continued to hold true to my ways that were given to me by native people.

I remember once along my journey back home, a Cherokee Grandmother said to me, " We need to have a way that keeps us connected to Spirit or we can get lost in this world. You are already Indian in your heart, and you live like one, so you better learn how to work with what you have, and get down to business. Spirit is the only thing that matters. It is just a matter of whether you learn that early in life or after it is too late to make a difference…Our People are like the trees. If we lose our roots we dry up like old leaves and blow away with the wind."

Later on I remember when my Lakota Grandfather first put the Chanupa in my hands he told me, "You should have this, you will need it on your journey. You are always alone and your head gets lost in the clouds. You can learn to talk to Wakan Tonka with this. I will teach you what I know, but where this pipe takes you is between you and this pipe. There are many things and you will need to find out in your own way. If you honor the pipe it will honor you. The pipe is a living thing, it is connected to every pipe that was ever smoked, and the understanding and the right to carry it is handed from one living soul to another."

Before he passed over he would tell me. "You must go and learn the spiritual ways of all peoples. I see you working with people from many cultures, in the times that are ahead of you. They will all be coming back to understand these ways, for this is where all their journeys began. Go and learn how they see spirit and how they speak of the Creator. Then you can help others, even strangers, heal their minds and hearts, because you will understand the differences. When you share your knowledge do it in a way that they might heal their own hearts and know the wisdom of their own grandfathers.

"In your lifetime a new way of being will be born to this Earth. You will see many strange things and many of the ways you shared with me will become only memories to you, as if they were part of a dream. Our ways and our race are fading, perhaps our time is almost over here. As this new world comes forth like a summers storm, there will be many changes….

"I do not know that I would want to be here in those times. I like the way things were. You must learn not to judge anyone for their ways of expressing spirit, for the Creator allows all beings to express in their own way. There are many roads up this mountain…

"Another part of your journey will be that somehow you are to help reconnect the people of the Condor with the people of the Eagle. If you and the others that will seek you out succeed at this, then this land and its people will become one again, at least in spirit. Many secrets will open for you that have been closed. You will know when your time to accomplish your task, for this, is up."

I remember he paused and looked into the distance, like he was seeing something that only he could see….then he continued. "There will be no experience of time then, but you will still be here." He paused as if losing the vision. "Like I said it is a very strange future I see. Go, be the peacemaker and remember you are never alone, and if you forget, ask the pipe to show you the way."

I had a friend once who took up with the Baha'i faith for a time. She told me that there is a prophecy of the Baha'i faith that says if the original peoples of the Americas can be awakened, in their awakening they shall illuminate the world. That it is the destiny of the Indigenous People of the Americas -- to lead the world back to their spiritual heritage -- and this shall result in the Day of Creator. For on this day, the days of the Prophets will be past. It will be the beginning again. All people will gather after this day and have the opportunity to build new nations.

I have learned all people have their story about this prophecy. It is my prayer that this prophecy of the end times comes to pass. It will mean the beginning of an age where humankind once again remembers and experiences the awareness of their divine beginnings.

If this prophecy is ever to pass, all people, even the Indigenous People, must give up arguing about their differences and join together as one people. And the rest of the world must recognize the Indigenous People as the sovereign people they truly are and hear what they have to say. These stories must go out to the world unfiltered, not distorted by the intellect. They must be stories of the heart.

The struggle and trials are far from over many times it is as if I were living out the story of James Dean the later years. And Grandfather's memory, like he said, appears in my mind often times like it was only a dream. "There is a sickness in the minds of mankind." I now understand what he was referring to. I thought I did then but I was still naive and had much to learn about people...their treachery as well as their goodness. I had to learn the laws of forgiveness and not become cynical against those who tried to destroy me because of what I believed and the way I choose to live my life.

I grew up in a time when it was honorable to be a warrior and take action against those who would do harm to you and your family and loved ones. We rode Harley's, and put our fate in the wind -- followed the music -- always searching for compassion and higher understanding. We traveled around the world and listened to the Grateful Dead, and the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd , the Moody Blues and Bob Dylan. The music taught me more about spirit and life then any religion ever could. I made some mistakes and occasionally took up with the "wrong " People, but we learn and change if our hearts remain open. Those days were then; they are now past. The ways of the warrior have changed, as Grandfather said they would; It is a different time now, and we must learn to be warriors of the heart. This can be difficult to understand and learn to apply for one who grows up in a warrior society.

If our enemies are surrounding us, well we just have to get smarter. We have to move in another direction, yet hold to our path. We have to grow and create new ways of dealing with old problems. This is true not only for men but for women, as well. We need to choose the path of compassion, and heart. We need to heal the hurt that everyone is carrying in their hearts. It seems sometimes like the whole world is crying for a vision now. A vision of hope.

Now that I am a Grandfather and a father of six. I must live my life in a manner the children can learn from and prosper. I must allow for the healing of the pain in my own heart, and allow for others to do the same. With each new day as my hells slowly go by, I need to prepare to live in this new world that is coming. This realization alone would make even the greatest of warriors very humble. I know it has made me so, even though in spirit I still dream the dreams of Geronimo….where I am still Free like the Wind……. Those who come after me must have this dream as well.

Aho Mitakyue Oyasin

Robert Ghost Wolf