Grandmother’s Legacy by Parisha Taylor

[Parisha Taylor Google Group]

Grandmother’s Legacy by Parisha Taylor

Parisha TaylorThe system of living for the Cherokee meant being
surrounded by demonstrations of value and examples of respect.

That respect goes out to everything as being valuable. The knowledge
that all Creation is a living ecosystem and that even the “body” we
call the Universe is the transforming of ourselves. We live “in” and
“through” the Great Spirit. Everything is “alive” and therefore is
life and needs respect and care.

We are inner-connected and outer-dependent on the whole of Creation –
the macro and micro -elements and creatures, we are all connected.

The laws of physics support the basis of the system our people live.
The law of opposites for example, is our Medicine Wheel.

Quantum physics says the part of us that is relative in the third
dimension is in the field of opposites, we exist in the balance of
polarity. This polarity is as common in our lives as our Planet
turning on her axis, our Sun rising in the East and setting in the
West, day and night, desert and ocean, man and woman.

Change is constant and it challenges us in every moment and breath.
Every breath in and every breath out – every heartbeat is change. Each
is a measure of life that is finished, past, and to be no more. Our
way of life is to flow with this fact. To resist only brings aging
faster. We accept this fact of ever present death as a guide to the
passages of our growth, from infancy to death at whatever age, we know
to live in the world of opposites with respect of them. We simply know
this as Great Spirit.

To every thought and action there is re-action – opposition. This
brings the experience and outcome. Cause and effect. Time is what we
“spend” here, we exchange it for experience; it is our only real
commodity.

Sleep is called the mini-death. We live in the dream state as well as
the wakeful state of our life. So therefore we accept our dreams as
meaningful. Dreams take place at some levels of existence because the
dreamtime is experienced in mind. Some is recalled, most is not, but
all is real.

We interact with our dreams emotionally and physically, therefore they
are real. We work with all dreams as a way to understand the greater
picture of our purpose and life, which is active and happening in many
dimensions, simultaneously. Today, Dream Research has proven this
important part of our life needs greater consideration of value.

The experiences of life are merely the outcome or test of the
opposites. We exist in this life and third dimension in that fine line
between magnetic and anti-magnetic forces. We are always active, in
what manner we are cognitive of the activity determines what we
believe and think we know consciously.

The process of breathing is being inner-active with the field of
opposites – in – out. The heartbeat, tighten and release, this is
inner-action with this same principle, polarity/opposites. So even in
a decision to take no action is a decision of action.

For every determination and intention there will be a counter
determination and intention. Every thought will have an effect and
action.

Our world and therefore our life is positive and negative, masculine
and feminine, polarity is the field of energy we the form/body exist
in the three dimensional life.

Physics has learned of ten dimensions of existence. Our people have
interacted with and know of fourteen dimensions of existence. Research
of the principles of life in physics and psychology supports the
reality of native knowledge in every phase of its evolvement. We live
in duality. We exist as we are because of it. So knowing that, my
people live in harmony with the knowledge.

We hold to our values and live in a manner to nourish our lives with a
sense of value of all there is in life. To respect our inner-
connectedness to all creation is our strength. We accept we are inner-
dependent on the principles of this World and our life in it.

To disrespect even the smallest, the microcosm of our world is to
bring suffering and pain. To harm anything is to be self-destructive.
To care is to be gentle and considerate. Caring is thoughtful of
other’s needs. To nurture is to speak truth and be fair under all
circumstances. These are powerful needs of our people.

Our ancestors left us the way of the Lodge. Our Wisdom Keepers, the
Old Ones, have passed them to us in each generation. This is why we
protect our Old Ones and value them.

We accept only One Source, which is the same as One God. We accept
that this “One” holds us all in Its Oneness; therefore we exist
because of IT.

We accept that there are certain times that we are sent “messengers”
who teach and direct us back to the principles of Life and our purpose
here. We acknowledge these as the lives of all that are referred to as
Prophets. These we call the Peacekeepers.

We do not see the need to kill to make people accept only one prophet.
We do not understand “religious wars”. The One, the Creator in all the
many holy names that has been given the One, has never asked this of
our people. We remain ignorant of the purpose of religious wars.

We celebrate the greatness of all knowledge and we hold precious and
sacred the teachings of all the Peacekeepers that bring love,
enlightenment and joy to our world of opposites. We are also ignorant
of a weekly Sabbath, a day held aside for acknowledging the One Source
in its many names.

Our Old Ones taught us in stories around the fires at the end of our
day. They demonstrated and showed us every day in our life to be in
constant observance and acknowledgment of our source of Life. There is
a constant flow of weaving our day into the fabric of our faith of the
One. Every moment of every day is given in complete acknowledgement
and focused mindfulness of our spirit, the connection to our Source.
This connection is complete in each breath and heartbeat, that is all
we have – the moment! We never knew if we would be here any given
number of days or a week to practice setting aside a day for the
Sabbath, every day was a holy day – Sun-day.

We begin by opening our eyes and looking into this world with our
Spirit and saying, “I AM again today in the great Earth Mother. I am
trusted with this gift of a new day, a new life. I am free of
yesterday and all past. I begin a new life with greater wisdom and
love. I welcome all my Relations to share this time with me. I give to
you Great Spirit every thought and action of this day as my very best
and pray ever to be your joy, as you are mine. I am your instrument,
use me, use me up that not a moment or heartbeat is squandered. You
are – I Am.”

We then go to the dawn of the day and greet the Sun Rising. We chant
our words of praise and thanksgiving as it washes over us and warms
our body. We are all equal in the light of the new day. We now make
our offerings of corn pollen, which is the body of our Mother, and the
gift of daily bread, our communion with Creator.

We bathe and wash away the time past and rid our body of all used and
dead cells. Our Bath is rebirth and newness. We have been chosen and
trusted to have this day and opportunity to serve all life and
creation in the manner we believe God/The Great Mystery Wills us to
do. Nurture and care for all. Share and give as given. Before any food
touches our lips we give the best and first to the Great Spirit in
appreciation of all our abundance and recognition of its source and
origin. The Old and babies, nursing Mothers are fed first, and our
Leaders and Chiefs are last.

The daily work is recognized as service and dedication to the One.
Throughout the whole day we acknowledged our thankfulness of being
here. We accepted every moment in the state of thanksgiving.

We knew our every thought was effecting the state of life in our
world, so we were taught by example and oral tradition to be
responsible for our thoughts. We are therefore always in prayerful
communication with the Intelligence that surrounds us, this
Intelligence is considered the Body of the One. So we were taught to
be in constant awareness of how we were thinking and relating to
everything as Great Spirit.

I remember how good it was when the work was heavy and intense and the
body grew weak. There would be the joy of a Song Bird coming near us
and singing, and someone saying aloud, “Aho, Great Spirit” and we
would all acknowledge it with “Aho” [Amen]. Our work became lighter
and our hearts stronger in this gift. [Blessing]. We knew Creator
expressed itself in all its creations and everything had purpose and
was valued as such.

We accept we are loved. We have been given the most precious and
valuable of all gifts – intent to be/free will. We have been trusted
with this Power. We accept that there is only one Giver and it gives
all things. This is called Creator. How we pass on the gift is how we
role model the Source. Generosity is a profound reality. Giving is the
receiving.

We are aware on all levels of our inner-actions with the Source Of
All. We see it in Nature. The Seasons, the Sunrise and Sunset, the
Winds, the Clouds, the Rains. Creator is in the cry of the newly born,
and the scream of the Mother in birth. It is in our children’s
laughter and our tears, in our songs and in our work. We see it in all
the creatures that live in this world with us. We see it in all
mankind. Where is God not?

We come together in Celebration and our Ceremonies are done as we see
Nature to be. We see Nature as our teacher and we observe her well. We
know the “laws” of Nature and respect them in all areas of our life.
Everything and everyone is included in the Ceremony, because we are
here together and share the time called a life.

We know no need to have shame. It steals the Spirit. We know remorse,
the pain of responsibility and the desire to heal and make better. We
have tolerance; Great Spirit has shown us how. We have no need of
faith for there is no doubt. We do not seek love, we were created of
it, and it is ours to give, not take. To experience is to understand,
so we do the best in any moment, and re-take any mis-takes with the
knowledge of growth. We are born into death so we always prepare for
it and are ready to embrace it in any given moment. You cannot take
“my life” it was already taken, it is the One’s. We live transparent
and open unto each other, for who is more important than the One? And
the One sees and knows all, so in all wisdom and intelligence do we
really think we can hide? From who, each other? Not if we are of the
One.

We are initiated into the stages of evolution and have set rituals to
acknowledge the changes of such passages. The chemistry of our body
changes as we mature so it calls for acknowledgement and sharing of
wisdom in relation to it. We pass our traditions on through this
practice. We hold to the Principles in our Traditions for they are
ageless and cannot get lost in time. Even if the people expire, the
principles are in all of Nature and will come to each generation as it
did in the beginning. We cannot destroy the principles, they are God/
The Mystery. We are made of them.

Those who wish to test Creator make up some creative angles of these
cosmic principles and they are called superstitions. They pale to the
test and fall to the wayside; truth and principle are of the One and
cannot be altered or destroyed.

We are savages and heathens to most religious people because we do not
live in fear of the Almighty. I cannot be in fear of what I am. I Am
That I AM, is real and it is all giving and love. I am here in the
world by the will of God/Great Mystery and by that Will I live. What
has fear got to do with that? It is clear and free of Man’s laws. It
is love and unto it all returns. That we are of different lands and
practices and even if our traditions are different in many aspects,
that does not change we are all humans. Do You question Creator? We do
not. We are as intended, all is of beauty.

We are of exactly what God/Creator is. In the reflection of the One we
have been created, so we create. We are Co-creators, children of God.
So who is counting out whom, for what reasons and how do you justify
that in regards to your scriptures? In finding our answers to these
questions, my desire is that you will go to a deeper level of your
spirit to reflect upon the words.

I am so very grateful for the wisdom in the lifestyle of my Cherokee
family. We refer to it simply as “The Way”. Nature is the oldest of
our Elders and we know her well. She has birthed our Human Elders to
give words to her ways. It is simple, but can be hard if we make it
such or resist the authority that is its life giving power. We accept
all has purpose within the Circle Of Life.

The way we live and the roles within our community is woven as a
blanket, each thread a principle of the One. Our Elders are the Wisdom
Keepers, who hold in safekeeping and demonstrate the wisdom for us.
They nurtured us all as their own so we call them affectionately,
“Grandmother and Grandfather.” We use Grandmother and Grandfather also
for our Peace Keepers, helping us to remain open to what is fair and
works for everyone’s good. From original time we have always called
all humankind Brother and Sister, regardless of shades of skin,
texture of hair or individual features of face. We are Human, the
chosen out of all the creations to protect and be the stewards of our
Mother the Earth and all life forms here.

Our Elders take us through all the passages of life and the evolution
of our human growth. This helps us stay connected. It keeps us
centered in the seven generations behind us and the seven in front of
us. This is so we do not make the same mistakes of our Ancestors and
we use the wisdom of their mistakes to set the growth of the next
seven generations to come.

These passages all have manners, and activities we must do to prove we
understand and know the importance of this life. Each seven-year
growth period has an initiation that goes with it. As children we are
given significant ceremonies as we come to different stages of growth
so everyone understands how to conduct themselves with us, and so we
as the children know what the differences will be. This cultivates
self-confidence and personal perspective of our role in our family and
Village.

This allows even children to see they have great importance in the
survival of our way and people. They learn to hold their end of the
work and responsibilities according to their ages. They are born as
gifts to us and taken to the Sun on their first Moon cycle among us so
that parents and family know they are a child of the Great Spirit and
we are trusted stewards of them until they can manage for themselves.
We acknowledge we do not own them and that no one owns another, this
would be to our total detriment. European people, who came here,
introduced slavery of another human to our homeland. Even when we
began to war among ourselves before the Europeans came, it was to the
death and all survivors, men, women and children were adopted into the
camps of the captors as family. If they chose not to be adopted they
were killed rather than left alone to a slow painful death was the
intention behind the killing.

Killing of each other was breaking of the basic principle way of our
life. And the Old Ones said it came as a sickness in man when he began
to hunt the animals for food instead of living off the trees and soil.
This is how illness and sickness came to our lives say the Wisdom
Teachings. Sickness was the defense of the Animals and creatures to
try and get us to see how harmful and wrong it is to kill them and
take a single life. After man had eaten flesh, he then began to hunt
and kill his own species, human. Then came the wars.

To take only what we need and to not kill the Tree or Bush we take
fruit and food from. To leave enough to reseed and living the
principle of reincarnation and allow all life its course of existence
was how we were given to live here. This is called the Sacred Hoop.

Our Elders teach and work with Ceremonial Leaders, who are given the
roles of leading and caring for all items of ceremony, the way we
dress and regalia all are in compliance with cosmic principles.

Our Medicine People or Witch Doctors have been given the ways to heal
and the herbal recipes to help cure illness in our world. These are
the same and in most cases better than the pharmaceuticals you get
from the drugstore. They are organic and more compatible to your
organic body. Most people are dependent today on chemical drugs
instead of natural pharmaceuticals. Witch Doctors use drama to draw
the emotional state of a person to their authority and then use it to
overcome the fear of dying or sickness. Most North American Natives
use ceremony for this same purpose.

All our healing is based upon the body, mind and spirit all needing
attention for a whole healing. We acknowledge that when a person’s
Spirit and Mind is in conflict and stress, the immune system goes way
down. So the emotional state of a sick person is given a great deal of
importance. We call upon resources we have in Nature and the Cosmic
Forces to flow through us as an instrument to help others. We
surrender our vessel to being whatever Great Spirit needs us to be, to
heal and do the work of the One’s expression in and through our world.

We do not feel we have a self. We are a cell of the One. We are always
within the One. So it is easy to just put the mind in place to that
and allow the Source to flow into our service. How can you be
independent of your Source and BE, or exist? Clear Mind, Intelligence
cannot answer this other than to come to this same place. Because IT
IS, we are. I AM THAT I AM, what are you saying?

Our Rock Lodges where we use hot stones prepared in observance of our
knowledge of the Cosmos and principles of life on Earth are all a huge
part of its ability to heal, but also to open the body’s pores to
release toxins and residue left in our skin, purifies us and gives us
a new base to heal from. The lodge works in body, mind and Spirit and
is based upon that balance to bring wellness and peace. We also use
Rock Lodges to prepare for ceremonies.

Everything we are emerging into today, cloning, space travel and
computer technology is the doorway to “knowing” we are truly of the
One. To not get reckless and destructive or harmful is a must or we
will all suffer the outcome. Quantum Physics is the major source today
of giving back our faith in a single source, with many names and
revealing to all unbelievers that we are of the stars and the essence
we call “life” is infinite intelligence of the single Source. Face it
or not we are of divine origin.

Our Chiefs are the Fathers of our way of life. They lead because they
have proven their valor and virtues to the People. To break that trust
is to die. Their manner of existence is noble and loyal. The Chief
does not eat until all the People are fed. He does not have a blanket
if any of his people are without one. He has to be the first to lead
the battle if fighting is determined to be the only solution, so he
can be the first to die if blood is drawn and a Son lost. If he comes
back with dead he then has to take the role of provider and takes all
families of men who died in his battle. His warriors must see that he
fought fierce and that is the only reason he lives and others died, or
they kill him themselves.

Our Clan Mothers are Mothers to all people. Who ever comes to visit or
a traveler stops in she must feed them. Even if a dog or animal comes
to the people, it must be fed. This prevails to the point that if food
is scarce, Clan Mother and the Chief will not eat so there is enough
to share with the guest. Also, providing them with a warm resting
place is part of our way and she would give her own blankets if
needed.

We are each here as providers. To use our gifts are to keep them. So
we would not come to a place to take. As we are all made welcome by
offerings of food and warmth, we come bearing gifts and being in full
demonstration of how much we value the goodness of the people. So we
cut wood or do a major work to give back for what was given. We would
give our very best possessions to show our gratitude. We give more
generously than was given us always. If someone just takes they are
considered dangerous and would be observed as a threat to the safety
and welfare of our families and People.

The way of the Clan was originally our means of knowing who was in
direct blood lines so we did not inbreed, and therefore have birth
defects as an outcome to doing such. So today that is less necessary
because few live so close anymore.

Our Clan Mothers were the strength of our people. It is said that a
people still stand unless the heart and blood of their women are on
the ground. Women are fierce and mighty warriors for love of their
families and People. Our Elders and Clan Mothers are the ones that
lead us in beauty and heart. The manner in which our homes and
Villages look and how our day’s events flow is all the service of our
Clan Mothers. The decisions of how we celebrate our Ceremonies are her
decisions. She works closely as a direct voice from our Elders. And
she sees to the good and care of our Oldest and youngest.

She sees that the eating and food chain is held. First a portion of
all food is given to the Fire or to the land. She and all the Women
manage the process of who eats when. Portions are made to be given to
the sick and disabled, then the Elders and Old People are served next.
Then Nursing Mothers and children are fed and so forth and so on. The
Chiefs all eat last so they make sure there is always enough food for
all! Today, no Chief would go to a fast food place or restaurant
unless he knew his Circle had food and was fed. His role demands he
sit at the table with his people so he is sure all is well.

There were Red Chiefs that represented the leadership during war. If
war was determined the course of action, the only way to see that was
that we had all lost already and did not have the courage and strength
to maintain the principles of life that comes with clear mind and
intelligence and comprehends no one wins in war. So victory was lost,
if war was determined. And the Principle Chief/Peace Chief had failed
and could not lead the battle, so the Red Chief took over leadership
for the battle. All Chiefs fought first.

Many parts of our life practices are founded on historical events of
Spiritual nature. The Corn was given us as a sacred food and is native
people’s manna, food given from above. Then some Peoples tradition of
Tobacco came, as a powerful healing needed for dis-ease. We gave
Tobacco to the Fire for an offering of appreciation. And it is smoked
today as the same sacred burnt offering. This is not a statement of
support for addictive cigarette smoking and other manners of its
addictions. This is in violation to the gift of tobacco.

The Pipe was given to us by a Woman (Woman is wisdom) called Buffalo
Calf Woman who came to live among the people and help them in a very
dark time of life imbalance. Her teaching was to not violate each
other sexually, in mind or body. To become caretakers again and stop
taking and killing each other and all Great Spirit’s creatures. She
gave permission to eat the buffalo until we had regained our abilities
to live in harmony and eat of the bush again. She taught to eat flesh
only when we had no other resources. To not waste a cell or part of
the body was to show how we regretted needing to kill to live and to
make use of all its form was to respect its life and remind us of how
precious our relation is to each other. The pipe is to remind us of
our connection to all life and to remember the price of abuse and
disrespect to any part of it.

In preparing the pipe, tobacco is offered for all of Creator’s gifts
of life and to know our inner-connectedness to everything else in the
Universe.

Lovemaking is to know respect for each other and to pleasure the one
we love. To do that we need to study them closely and watch their
reactions to everything. Lovemaking is not just simple pumping of our
bodies into the release of sperm and secretions. It is gratifying the
Spirit and Mind as well as the body. To know the wisdom of our
differences as man and woman. To know the way of our thoughts
regarding the same things. Understanding the importance of each
other’s differences regarding these same things or matters is
powerful. We are given the teachings of these things in a way that
Nature and Human can maintain a balance of harmony and beauty. The
vital forces of attraction and chemistry are called our Fires and must
be handled with intelligence and without fear and its blanket of
superstitions and recognized as God given.

Our people do not suffer devils and Satan. We do recognize all this
practice as painful and suffering. All is God to us. Great Spirit is
all. What we do in regards to all the powers trusted us is an outcome
of our own intelligence in interaction with the One. We could forgive
and extend ourselves over and over again to the Newcomers (Europeans)
because we accepted that they came because Great Spirit wanted us to
know of each other. So we gave all we knew to help them survive here
and healed their bodies from the illnesses of their long ocean
journey.

We tried to understand the rage and greed. We tried to embrace the
likenesses to help things come to a peaceful balance. We saw our
common ground in both believing in one source, One God. Then we were
whipped, beaten and called savages because we did not accept that
Great Spirit hated us, and condemned us for believing in the love and
beauty of our Earth and life here.

We were taken from our homes after sharing all we knew and our
willingness to share the land. We were killed and made examples to all
of our people because we did not accept a God of cruel damnation. We
were not willing to fear our source and Oneness with Great Spirit. Our
only laws were what we knew of Nature and how to be in service to
life. To care for all life and all The Creators creatures and
creations. To be fair above all personal needs. To do unto each other
as we believed our God to be.

Savages? Ignorant? Brutal? Hatred? Heathens? Well I have a very
different take on all that regarding my people, as I am sure others do
as well. Of this I am sure, to hold malice is to bring a death more
painful than we can bear, so I lift all need to judge or hate anyone
or thing. All is of God is exactly as I live, breath and have my
Being. I give no acknowledgement to Satan and waste no moments in fear
of evil. I take full action to rid myself of any need to harm or cause
imbalance to any form of life, to do so would offend Great Spirit. To
place thoughts of Satan and Devils would be to create such and test
the Great Spirit, and is this not an act of faithless practice? Is the
devil what has come out of making a fearful God? Is that fear our
knowing we are out of trust and right action? That fear is our opening
our self to the punishment of doing and being wrong, and is not
feeling this and carrying this pain not punishment? To prolong it and
enhance it is to lose more time in its practice. Relent. Give it up!
Release it. Feel your remorse and go forward with the trust ALL has
been forgiven and you are wiser now and free to do better and make
good, good for The ALL.

It is not acceptable to hit or hurt another’s physical body. Our Body
is the embodiment of the Great Spirit. In it is represented the
accumulation of all that exists. It functions from a source that no
science at present can describe. The essence that is you looking out
from your eyes the windows of your Being, the concept of what life and
the world is, is sacred. And it has been anointed in Spirit and has
the presence of the One God in all things.

What science does know is that everything that is matter is present in
the body. So we are the total accumulation of all creation. We have
been given Intent to think out our choices. Our body is Creator’s
Altar. We are the expression of the One. We become what we believe God
to be.

To come to a place where people are rejoicing in the Spirit and sing
songs of beauty and praise is a safe place.

To kill and to try and force another to believe as we do is what?
Creator is as varied as the creations of our world. Can anyone of us
understand it from all points and in all matters?

To live life as a single day and do in that day all that we would want
to be our final day is how it is with us. So caring, respecting and
serving is the reality of our purpose. And to do it in good humor and
to sing, dance and celebrate is joyful living. To give is to give the
best, and the rest is of your own making, if you do not like it,
change it.

All around you no matter where you are is opportunity. You decide its
potential and outcome. You are the co-creators. Make a life worthy of
all the gifts we are. Love from a place empty of fear. Live in eternal
celebration of being chosen for this world and life, and if we manage
well, we will dwell in its glory and beauty again.

Our path to fulfilling our dreams is often paved with sacrifices;
remember that the word “sacred” is within the word “sacrifice.” Be
strong in determination. Even as you stumble along and run in several
directions, it is still marked with faith. You must walk in the
strength of your beliefs and know courage is only found in facing your
fear. Diligence and persistence is your resources. You will have to
confront your doubts, over come your setbacks, and deal with
unfairness. But all this is conquered in our willingness to face our
challenges, take chances, and to fail and get up and go again! When
the dream is realized there is no greater joy than knowing what you
have accomplished along the way, and who you have come to be for the
journey!

And so it all comes to pass………………………………………………..

This is dedicated to all my children and grandchildren, I pull you all
close to me, that my Blanket will wrap you forever in peace and keep
you warm, my blanket is my prayers for you. I say to your mind and
heart as you sleep in my arms, remember this time, hold fast to the
wisdom you have been given it is timeless and is today as powerful as
it was in the beginning. Your roots are deep in the knowledge of
Nature and the Ways of Life; you can always call upon it, be still and
listen to your heart. It will preserve your dignity and self-respect.
In days of testing and change may it give you guidance. And when your
life is painful and your faith is low, walk in mine. When I am no
longer in the world as a body, hold onto my hand,we are never
separate, we are the Circle Of Life. Live life as a day and know we
are one, I live in you and you live in me. I love as Great Spirit has
given me to do, and I judge no one so all may live free. You are my
fulfillment and joy, may my words give you what you ask for, and know
my life is greater for you being with me.

-Pa’Ris’Ha


© 1990 Pa’Ris’Ha

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