Dear All,
Firstly I wish to say a big thank you for my very warm welcome to The
Cedars last night, 30th October, 2010.
I wanted to share with you all
an experience I had recently over in Michigan, USA whilst staying with very
good friend of mine, Lynne Judd.
It has always been my wish to meet a Lakota Sioux N. American and six
years ago I had that very special opportunity. Not only then did I meet him,
but met a lot more at an Indian Powow, when we not only met Lakota, but N.
Americans from Canada too who had come for the ceremony. I was taken six
years ago to meet and talk with Bo-John Brave Bull who lives on a small ranch
in Michigan called Standing Rock Ranch.
I sat down with him and told
him of my experiences with my guide Running Cloud. He was a wonderful
listener and I poured all my feelings out to him. He even tried to find out
what tribe Running Cloud was part of.
Six years went by and I again had the opportunity of visiting
Michigan. I was greeted very warmly by my friend Bo-John and he had even made
a tepee for me. He is a healer also who works in the Sioux way and has helped
many of my family and friends. Nothing is ever too much for him. Also I
wondered why the Buffalo and the Eagle were so important to me. I found
myself buying a few years ago two buffalo ornaments. I was given the eagle
for protection one night in circle in the late 1980s when I was learning.
I have been told by my Indian
friend that the Buffalo and the Eagle are very significant in the legends of
the Lakota Sioux and he is a great story-teller.
We, Lynne's wonderful parents, Lynne and myself were treated in July
to an Indian meal which Bo-John cooked and we had to, as tradition, stand
around the food as Bo-John prayed aloud in Lakota language, giving thanks to
The Great Spirit for our meal.
I was so pleased also that he
had made a tepee for us to see. Nowadays, the Sioux are more westernized but
keep to the old ways and traditions, preserving the language and each year
going to a huge gathering in S. Dakota. He went this year with his family,
Summer his wife, Amber and Aspen Rain, his two delightful little girls. It is
for The Sun Dance and meeting up with old friends and family. Before I had to
reluctantly leave him, he presented me with a Prayer Quilt. Each piece of
this quilt was stitched by a Lakota Woman and a prayer said over each and
every piece. I must, he said, never lock it away but put it out each day as
it has great healing properties. It is a star quilt.
I am enclosing some photographs
taken of myself with Bo-John Brave Bull and the famous quilt.
It is something I will treasure
and maybe one day, God willing, I will have the means to again visit this
very spiritual man. I was deeply grateful for the quilt as it is a great
honour I know to be given one.
I wish all the readers of the
Cedars Spiritualist Church website well.
With love and light,
Angie Christie.
