HOPI LEGEND. DK
Appendix A
This is an excerpt from an ancient Hopi legend, as quoted in a talk
given by Lee Brown in 1986 by the Continental Indigenous Council at the
Tanana Valley Fairgrounds, Fairbanks, Alaska.
"There was the cycle of the mineral, the rock. There was the cycle of
the plant. And now we're in the cycle of the animal* coming to the end
of that and beginning the cycle of the human being. When we get into the
cycle of the human being, the highest and greatest powers that we have
will be released to us. They will be released from that light or soul
that we carry to the mind.
But right now we're coming to the end of the animal cycle and we have
investigated ourselves and learned what it is to be like an animal on
this earth.
At the beginning of this cycle of time, long ago, the Great Spirit came
down and He made an appearance and He gathered the peoples of this earth
together they say on an island which is now beneath the water and He
said to the human beings, "I'm going to send you to four directions and
over time I'm going to change you to four colors, but I'm going to give
you some teachings and you will call these the Original Teachings and
when you come back together with each other you will share these so that
you can live and have peace on earth, and a great civilization will come
about." And he said "During the cycle of time I'm going to give each of
you two stone tablets. When I give you those stone tablets, don't cast
those upon the ground. If any of the brothers and sisters of the four
directions and the four colors cast their tablets on the ground, not
only, will human beings have a hard time, but almost the earth itself
will die."
And so he gave each of us a responsibility and we call that the
Guardianship.
To the Indian people, the red people, he gave the Guardianship of the
earth. We were to learn during this cycle of time the teachings of the
earth, the plants that grow from the earth, the foods that you can eat,
and the herbs that are healing so that when we came back together with
the other brothers and sisters we could share this knowledge with them.
Something good was to happen on the earth.
To the South, he gave the yellow race of people the Guardianship of the
wind. They were to learn about the sky and breathing and how to take
that within ourselves for spiritual advancement. They were to share that
with us at this time.
To the East He gave the black race of people the Guardianship of the
water. They were to learn the teachings of the water which is the chief
of the elements, being the most humble and the most powerful. When I
went to the University of Washington and I learned that it was a black
man that discovered blood plasma, it didn't surprise me because blood is
water and the elders already told me the black people would bring the
teachings of the water.
To the North He gave the white race of people the Guardianship of the
fire. If you look at the center of many of the things they do you will
find the fire. They say a light bulb is the white man's fire. If you
look at the center of a car you will find a spark. If you look at the
center of the airplane and the train you will find the fire. The fire
consumes, and also moves. This is why it was the white brothers and
sisters who began to move upon the face of the earth and reunite us as a
human family.
And so a long time passed, and the Great Spirit gave each of the four
races two stone tablets. Ours are kept at the Hopi Reservation in
Arizona at Four Corners Area. I talked to people from the black race and
their stone tablets are at the foot of Mount Kenya. They are kept by the
Kukuyu Tribe. I once had the honor of presenting a sacred pipe at the
Kukuyu Tribe carved from the red pipe stone of Mount Kenya. I was at an
Indian spiritual years ago. A medicine man from South Dakota put a
beaded medicine wheel in the middle of the gathering. It had the four
colors from the four directions; He asked the people, "Where is this
from?" They said, "Probably Montana, or South Dakota, maybe
Saskatchewan." He said, "This is from Kenya." It was beaded just like
ours, with the same color.
The stone tablets of the yellow race of people are kept by the Tibetans,
in. If you went straight through the Hopi Reservation to the other side
of the world, you would come out in Tibet. The Tibetan word for "sun" is
the Hopi word for "moon" and the Hopi word for "sun" is the Tibetan word
for "moon".
The guardians of the traditions of the people of Europe are the Swiss.
In Switzerland, they still have a day when each family brings out its
mask. They still know the colors of the families, they still know the
symbols, some of them. I went to school with some people from
Switzerland at the University of Washington and they shared this with
me. Each of these four peoples happen to be people that live in the
mountains."
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[Greywolf] I have learned, however that in addition to all of this, the
Fifth Element (Spirit) has been given equally among us all, and no
single race has exclusive understanding or mastery of it. Each of us
tends to approach mastery of Spirit in a manner reflects the
Guardianship given the people from whom we descend, and each is equally
important to the application of Spirit... The White Man tends to be
Firey, Energetic, and Quick to act in use of the Spirit; the Red Man is
very Earthy, Steadfast and solid; the Black Man is Watery, Constant,
Resourceful, and Flexible (though there are many Blacks in America who
assume a more Firey aspect), and the Yellow Man is Airy, very Cerebral
and focused upon using the power of Spirit through Inner Discipline.
None of these approaches is superior to the others, nor can they be, if
the Balance intended by the Great Spirit is to be achieved.
~Greywolf |
