December 2006
Monthly Archive
Friday 29 Dec 2006
The Great Mystery, Gee-chee-mun-ee-too
My great grandmother had explained the Great Mystery to me. She called her “Gee-chee-mun-ee-too” in our mother tongue and with a laugh she would say “the big little bug”.
It goes something liken this:
“ a woman with transparent skin, a body filled with the creatures and things of the universe and cosmos sits by a shady brook of spring water. The water goes underneath the boughs of young birch trees and back up the hill and down again in a continuous circle. The Great Mystery, in one of its guises, tends to her baskets made of different things. Continue Reading »
Friday 29 Dec 2006
3 Stars, 3 Beings, The Paypaytahbun,The Memaywaysuh and the Anishinawbe
I grew up in the Land of the Ten Thousand Lakes Area in Northwestern Ontario, Canada.
I remember a time when I was very young, about 5 or 6 years old, when my sister Norma, myself and along with my Grandpa, had gone to the back of the cabin. It was close to nightfall and my grandfather pointed to 3 stars and said:
“ the three stars that line up in a row facing south during the summer moon are the places we come from (looking south from Wild Potato Lake in Partridge Crop). The Paypaytahbun, The Memaywaysuh and The Anishinawbe came together on a craft that traveled by thought and as quickly. We are all relations but these three are closer because of this. ”
By this time we were in the swamp at the back of the cabin at Crilly. Grandpa popped a mushroom that gave off a cloud of dust (spores). Continue Reading »
Friday 29 Dec 2006
Early Thoughts
As I near my half century of wandering this side of the universe, I can look back and look forward equally now. My great friend Scot, a fellow wanderer whose family blood runs from the other side of the earth, and I have forged a great kinship. The life and times we have shared together and separately have enriched us immensely. I want to share some memories of my family blood and paths with you.
Most of us came from the wilderness of the earth and we were full Anishinawbe with our ways and religion strong. The sense of empowerment that we all had as children, before we were touched , was strong as the rapid waters of Skibokahnneeng (place where the river widens). The sense of being a master of our world was shaped by my relations and place in this world. Continue Reading »
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