March 2009

Hau kola na tiyospaye (Hello friends & extended family),

Welcome to all new Circle members! Each section of the Circle of Nations newsletter is written 'facing' one of the four sacred winds, beginning with the east, then the south, west and finally the north. This is to honor the old ways. It is to teach and to help us to focus and find the center. I have designed the Native Circle website in the same spirit. I welcome you all to the Circle....

EAST - Wiyohinyanpata - Yellow (Four Winds)
Healing Breath....
What a journey it has been. From my earliest memory as a child, music called to me. I heard it in everything. My mother’s angelic voice, the clinking sounds of the kitchen, the purr of a tractor engine, the rumble of distant thunder, and the wisping of the wind - all music. As a boy, I would stand at the record player (remember those?!) and listen for hours. I loved those sounds and knew even then that I wanted to make them myself. From the beginning, music was more than timing and scales and tablature for me - it was breath. It was the heartbeat of life itself, and I could hear it and feel it in everything. I dreamed of one day finding myself on the other side of that record player, sharing the sounds of the music I heard in my heart with the world. As fate would have it, my life would take a tumultuous journey from that moment up to the present. Raised in a mixed up, broken family that suffered from the destructive forces of substance abuse and the legacy of Indian boarding schools, I moved 13 times before I was 9 years old and was a victim of years of sadistic child abuse inflicted upon me by my step-mother. Always, I turned to my music for refuge. As a young man I drifted through music and life, trying to find my place, my voice, my purpose. Then came the flute. Quiet, humble and patient. Waiting for me to bring it alive with the song of my heart, my loss, my suffering, my pain and my eventual mending. I took it into my hands. From out of the deep places inside, I poured the fullness of my soul into the empty vessel. The sounds of healing breath flowed and filled the air. I played into forever, the voices of my ancestors and the generations to come rising like smoke from a sacred fire. From the first touch, I played, and rode the years like a hawk on the winds of time. I paused to take a breath, opened my eyes, and found myself here. The flute can heal. I know because it healed me. I’ve made a lot of music since I last stood at that record player. Music with strings, with voice, with keys, and with percussion. Yet no instrument has ever given me more than the flute. And only the Native flute has ever given a voice to the music I have heard in my soul since I was a child. That voice lives in all my music. And I still hear the music in everything. Only I am on the other side of the record player now. Will you join me? Allow me to say thank you to you, and to the flute, for listening to the songs of my soul....

The New 'Wind Songs' CD


SOUTH - Itokagata - Red (Red Earth)
A word from Peggy....

I have been having a hard time focusing lately. So today I made a list and I am making myself stick to it. This South Section is number 4 on my list of 6 things to accomplish today.
Taxes were number 1. Yuck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Pure proof that life is sometimes a big pain in the @#%!
But now I am past that and I can just hold on the wonderful feeling of accomplishment and fight off the fear of an audit.
Teeter totter life, up and down, play and work, laugh and cry, succeed and fail, win and lose.
At the center of it all is some great lesson… or some great farce. You decide.
I for one will choose to let the Mystery Be. Sometimes just to witness a bright yellow bird outside my window in the morning with a moment to be and a warm cup of coffee in my hand makes living seem as if it is pure ecstasy. Nothing else seems to mean much… especially the taxes.
Hope your days are full of such moments!

The new John Two-Hawks solo flute CD “Wind Songs” is now pre-released and available for purchase. For a limited time you can buy one for $12 and buy the second one for a friend for only $8. That is true - 2 CDs for just $20. So you can send one to a friend.

Please check out our schedule of concerts and retreats for 2009 that will just be starting up here in a couple of weeks. You still have time to sign up for the April Creative Expression Retreat. This is always a total blessing!!

So looking forward to seeing and meeting some of you this 2009 season.
peace,
Peggy
Red Earth of Native Circle
The Official JTH Website


WEST - Wiyohpeyata - Black or Blue (We are STILL Here!)
Roadblock or Detour?
In 1937 an English journalist went to Asia to report on the bloody conflict between Japan and China. His name was George Hogg, and he was a young man who aspired to become a great journalist who would tell the untold stories of unspeakable tragedy to the world. He went to China with this intent. Ultimately, he found himself a part of that story, as he became the keeper of over 60 Chinese children who had been orphaned as a result of the conflict. Still holding fast to his own ideas for his purpose in life, George was initially quite reluctant to take on this daunting task. It took time, but he eventually came to terms with all of it, and grew to love the children. The orphans were wary of him at first, but in the end, he earned more than their trust, he earned their love. As the fighting intensified, it became clear that the children were in grave danger. And so he devised a plan to sneak them all out at night, and then walk 700 miles, over a mountain, to a safe haven in the north. Incredibly, they succeeded in this daunting task. And yet, shortly after they arrived in their new home, George became severely ill and died. And so it was that the Creator led George Hogg to his ultimate destiny, the most important purpose of his whole life - to save 60 Chinese orphans. This was what George was called to do. What may have seemed like a roadblock to crush his dreams, was really a detour to guide him to his destiny. Because of George Hogg, 60 children grew up safe, had children, and grandchildren. They are here today because George allowed himself to be what Creator wanted him to be. In losing his life, George Hogg gave life to over 60 people and all their descendants. In dying to his own ideas for himself, he gave birth to the calling the Creator had for him. And so it is for all of us that sometimes our own ideas must perish for our true purpose to be born. Ever find yourself at a roadblock? Maybe it is not a roadblock at all, but a detour which will lead you to the calling Creator has for you. Ultimately, the choice is ours. We can choose to let the roadblocks stop us, or the detours guide us. In the end, we all pass away. What a beautiful thing it is, to choose to accept and follow the detours of Creator’s guidance and fulfill our destiny. For there is no greater calling than to die having given life. Maybe you feel your life path is not as profound or meaningful as George's was. But it is! You matter. Your life matters. And the journey you take and the choices you make, matter. So when things don't work out the way you planned, look for that detour and let Creator guide you. You never know who's life you might save. I may even be your own....


NORTH - Waziyata - White (Words of Wisdom)
Some tidbits from my thoughts....

The wildflower has always been too free for the garden....

Words are not wisdom, they only tell of it....

The pathway to wisdom is well worn by selflessness....

The speeding driver always ends up right in front of you at the stoplight....


May Wakantanka encircle you and yours with faith to believe, hope for the future, and love for all....

As always, in the spirit of mending the sacred hoop of the nations of the world
Your Oglala Lakota friend and brother,
John Two-Hawks
http://www.nativecircle.com
http://www.johntwohawks.com
Reprinting of this Circle of Nations newsletter is encouraged! All I ask is that it be printed in its entirety, with no changes, and that I be given proper credit, unless I have otherwise okayed it. Wopila (great thanks)!