One Vision - One Vibration

WHITE BUFFALO CALF WOMAN

Brings The First Pipe
As told by: John Fire Lame Deer, in 1967

John Fire Lame Deer was a Lakota Holy man, and perhaps a Heyoka. His book Lame Deer, Seeker of Visions, (see book review) written with Richard Erdoes in 1972 . He died several years later on the Roeebud Lakota reservation in South Dakota; his son Archie carries on his spiritual work. This version of the Buffalo Calf Woman's brining of the first sacred Pipe is from American Indian Myths and Legends, 1980, by Erdoes and Alfonso Ortiz. (see Book Review.).

The Sioux are a warrior tribe, and one of their proverbs says, "Woman shall not walk before man." Yet White Buffalo Woman is the dominant figure of their most important legend. The medicine man Crow Dog explains, "This holy woman brought the sacred buffalo calf pipe to the Sioux. There could be no Indians without it. Before she came, people didnt know how to live. They knew nothing. The Buffalo Woman put her sacred mind into their minds." At the ritual of the sun dance one woman, usally a mature and universally respected member of the tribe, is given the honor of respresenting Buffalo Woman.
Though she first appeared to the Sioux in human form, White Buffalo Woman was also a buffalo---the Indians' brother, who gave its flesh so that the people might live. Albino buffalo were sacred to all Plains tribes; a white buffalo hide was a sacred talisman, a possession beyond price.

One summer so long ago that nobody knows how long, the Oceti-Shakowin, the seven sacred council fires of the Lakota Oyate, the nation, came together and camped. The sun shone all the time, but there was no game and the people were starving. Every day they sent scouts to look for game, but the scouts found nothing.
Among the bands assembled were the Itazipcho, the Without-Bows, who had their own camp circle under their chief, Standing Hollow Horn. Early one morning the chief sent two of his young men to hunt for game. They went on foot, because at that time the Sioux didnt yet have horses. They searched everywhere but could find nothing. Seeing a high hill, they decided to climb it in order to look over the whole country. Halfway up, they saw something coming toward them from far off, but the figure was floating instead of walking. From this they knew that the person was waken, holy.

At first they could make out only a small moving speck and had to squint to see that it was a human form. But as it came nearer, they realized that it was a beautiful young woman, more beautiful than any they had ever seen, with two round, red dots of face paint on her cheeks. She wore a wonderful white buckskin outfit, tanned until it shone a long way in the sun. It was embroidered with sacred and marvellous designs of porcupine quill, in radiant colors no ordinary woman could have made. This wakan stranger was Ptesan-Wi, White Buffalo Woman. In her hands she carried a large bundle and a fan of sage leaves. She wore her blue-black hair loose except for a strand at the left side, which was tied up with buffalo fur. Her eyes shone dark and sparkling, with great power in them.

The two young men looked at her open-mouthed. One was overawed, but the other desired her body and stretched his hand out to touch her. This woman was lila wakan, very sacred, and could not be treated with disrespect. Lightning instantly struck the brash young man and burned him up, so that only a small heap of blackened bones was left. Or as some say that he was suddenly covered by a cloud, and within it he was eaten up by snakes that left only his skeleton, just as a man can be eaten up by lust.

To the other scout who had behaved rightly, the White Buffalo Woman said: "Good things I am brining, something holy to your nation. A message I carry for your people from the buffalo nation. Go back to the camp and tell the people to prepare for my arrival. Tell your chief to put up a medicine lodge with twenty-four poles. Let it be made holy for my coming."

This young hunter returned to the camp. He told the chief, he told the people, what the sacred woman had commanded. The chief told the eyapaha, the crier, and the crier went through the camp circle calling: "Someone sacred is coming. A holy woman approaches. Make all things ready for her." So the people put up the big medicine tipi and waited. After four days they saw the White Buffalo Woman approaching, carrying her bundle before her. Her wonderful white buckskin dress shone from afar. The chief, Standing Hollow Horn, invited her to enter the medicine lodge. She went in and circled the interior sunwise. The chief addressed her respectfully, saying: "Sister, we are glad you have come to instruct us."

She told him what she wanted done. In the center of the tipi they were to put up an owanka wakan, a sacred altar, made of red earth, with a buffalo skull and a three-stick rack for a holy thing she was bringing. They did what she directed, and she traced a design with her finger on the smoothed earth of the altar. She show them how to do all this, then circled the lodge again sunwise. Halting before the chief, she now opened the bundle. the holy thing it contained was the chanunpa, the sacred pipe. She held it out to the people and let them look at it. She was grasping the stem with her right hand and the bowl with her left, and thus the pipe has been held ever since.

Again the chief spoke, saying: "Sister, we are glad. We have had no meat for some time. All we can give you is water." They dpped some wacanga, sweet grass, into a skin bag of water and gave it to her, and to this day the people dip sweet grass or an eagle wing in water and sprinkle it on a person to be purified.

The White Buffalo Woman showed the people how to use the pipe. She filled it with chan-shasha, red willow-bark tobacco. She walked around the lodge four times after the manner of Anpetu-Wi, the great sun. This represented the circle without end, the sacred hoop, the road of life. The woman placed a dry buffalo chip on the fire and lit the pipe with it. This was peta-owihankeshini, the fire without end, the flame to be passed on from generation to generation. She told them that the smoke rising from the bowl was Tunkashila's breath, the living breath of the great Grandfather Mystery.

The White Buffalo Woman showed the people the right way to pray, the right words and the right gestures. She taught them how to sing the pipe-filling song and how to lift the pipe up to the sky, toward Grandfather, and down toward Grandmother Earth, to Unci, and then to the four directions of the universe.

"With this holy pipe," she said, "you will walk like a living prayer. With your feet resting upon the earth and the pipestem reaching into the sky, your body froms a living bridge between the Sacred Beneath and the Sacred Above. Wakan Tanka smiles upons us, because now we are as one: earth, sky, all living things, the two-legged, the four-legged, the winged ones, the trees, the grasses. Together with the people, they are all related, one family. The pipe holds them all together."

"Look at this bowl," said the White Buffalo Woman. "Its stone represents the buffalo, but also the flesh and blood of the red man. The buffalo represents the universe and the four directions, because he stands on four legs, for the four ages of man. The buffalo was put in the west by Wakan Tanka at the making of the world, to hold back the waters. Every year he loses one hair, and in every one of the four ages he loses a leg. The Sacred Hoop will end when all the hair and legs of the great buffalo are gone, and the water comes back to cover the Earth.

The wooden stem of this chanunpa stands for all that grows on the earth. Twelve feathers hanging from where the stem- the backbone- joins the bowl- the skull- are from Wanblee Galeshka, the spotted eagle, the very sacred who is the Great Spirit's messenger and the wisest of all cry out to Tunkashila. Look at the bowl: engraved in it are seven circles of various sizes. They stand for the seven ceremonies you will pratice with this pipe, and for the Ocheti Shakowin, the seven sacred campfires of our Lakota nation."

The White Buffalo Woman then spoke to the women, telling them that it was the work of their hands and the fruit of their bodies which kept the people alive. "You are from the mother earth," she told them. "What you are doing is as great as what warriors do."

And therefore the sacred pipe is also something that binds men and women together in a circle of love. It is the one holy object in the making of which both men and women have a hand. The men carve the bowl and make the stem; the women decorate it with bands of colored porcupine quills. When a man takes a wife, they both hold the pipe at the same time and red cloth is wound around their hands, thus tying them together for life.

The White Buffalo Woman had many things for her Lakota sisters in her sacred womb bag; corn, wasna (pemmican), wild turnip. She taught how to make the hearth fire. She filled a buffalo paunch with cold water and droped a red-hot stone into it. "This way you shall cook the corn and the meat," she told them.

The White Buffalo Woman also talked to the children, because they have an understanding beyond their years. She told them that what their fathers and mothers did was for them, that their parents could remember being little once, and that they, the children, would grow up to have little ones of their own. She told them: "You are the coming generation, that's why you are the most important and precious ones. Some day you will hold this pipe and smoke it. Some day you will pray with it."

She spoke once more to all the people: "The pipe is alive; it is a red being showing you a red life and a red road. And this is the first ceremony for which you will use the pipe. You will use it to Wakan Tanka, the Great Mystery Spirit. The day a human dies is always a sacred day. The day when the soul is released to the Great Spirit is another. Four women will become sacred on such a day. They will be the ones to cut the sacred tree, the can-wakan, for the sun dance."

She told the Lakota that they were the purest among the tribes, and for that reason Tunkashila had bestowed upon them the holy chanunpa. They had been chosen to take care of it for all the Indian people on this turtle continent.

She spoke one last time to Standing Hollow Horn, the chief, saying, "Remember: this pipe is very sacred. Respect it and it will take you to the end of the road. The four ages of creation are in me; I am the four ages. I will come to see you in every generation cycle. I shall come back to you."

The sacred woman then took leave of the people, saying: "Toksha ake wacinyanktin ktelo, I shall see you again."

The people saw her walking off in the same direction from which she had come, outlined againest the red ball of the setting sun. As she went, she stopped and rolled over four times. The first time, she turned into a black buffalo; the second into a brown one; the third into a red one; and finally, the fouth time she rolled over, she turned into a white female buffalo calf. A white buffalo is the most sacred living thing you could ever encounter.

The White Buffalo Woman disappeared over the Horizon. Sometime she might come back. As soon as she had vanished, buffalo in great herds appeared, allowing themselves to be killed so tha the people might survive. And from that day on, our relations, the buffalo, furnished the people with everthing they needed, meat for their food, skins for their clothes and tipis, bones for their many tools.

Two very old tribal pipes are kept by the Looking Horse family at Eagle Butte in South Dakota. One of them is the Sacred Pipe brought to the people by White Buffalo Woman.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Pamela Heyen on August 6, 2010 at 2:14am

Thank you for sharing.....

Permalink Reply by AuroRa / Little Crow Feather on August 11, 2010 at 4:10am

Highest Blessings to you, Pamela and Carol.

Permalink Reply by AuroRa / Little Crow Feather on August 11, 2010 at 4:16am

White Buffalo Calf Woman Sings: Come My love, Let's Fly Away, Looking For Love Another Day
Wednesday, August 4, 2010

*Come my suns (I am a Sun Dance), lets fly away. Look at stars another
day. Don't you feel the magic we share? I am waiting don't you fear. There
my heart will linger far. I know God loves you, this is hard (suffering for
love). But its magic that you feel, once you realize you are healed.

Come my darling fly with me. Hold my hand and you will sea (vision with a
heart). Glory forever is divinity. Share your soul and be free. There is
magic, upon your soul, but you don't let it glow. Why oh why don't you let
it go, into the magical crystal show.

We are working upon this land, tilling soil to make amends (lessons and
forgiveness, become treasures). I will gather far from you, but my heart
will gift you many clues (the sacred winds). Don't be afraid of love this
day. I need all of you to pray. God is greatness inside your heart. I am
here to leave a start.

Gift a magical wonder ride, upon the heart we deny (the soul inside). But
if we look upon the sky, then we will know the glorious pie (parts of a
whole). Share your heart, share your time. Don't look away, because you
are blind (not able to see). Instead open hearts and lead the way, because
we are Great Spirits (wakan tankan) today.

If you don't find miracles. You are not looking for what you should. It's
deep inside, the heart that's real. The spirit life is God's open reel
(pull them towards you, record their heart). If you don't look inside your
heart, how will you know, the gifted part (mission of your life). Its a
world, where you are needed my love, because you are special and fit like a
glove (perfection).

Don't you fear. Don't walk away. I will hold you for another day. My love
is so full. I have to pray, to gift my heart another day (tears of
enveloping love). We can fly to eternity, if you feel the love in me
(bonded to relatives). I will gift you more than life, if you wonder, just
think twice (feel with your heart). Reverberate all life.

Waiting are you, for what I say? Don't you think walking away will teach
you anything this day, but if you turn around and pray**•♫♪♥♪♫•* *you will
find me walking towards your heart today. My heart is full. And yours can
be too. My heart needs you, to gift you clues. My devoted love, come walk
with me. I will show you the heart of divinity.

I will show you love, that grows in me (you are my love)!*

Permalink Reply by AuroRa / Little Crow Feather on August 12, 2010 at 7:31am

"White Buffalo Teachings" by Chief Arvol Looking Horse

"We need a great healing,
and we need a Great Forgiving.
But healing cannot begin without forgiveness.
We must forgive each other,
Forgive our loved ones,
Forgive our friends,
Forgive our enemies,
Forgive ourselves.
We need to pray even for a person who has done wrong!
In our Tiyospaye - our family, when two people fight they are made brothers or sisters.
Forgiveness itself is a powerful medicine.
We need forgiveness to create PEACE!
Mitakuye Oyasin! (all our relations) in the Great Circle of Life,
where there is no beginning and no end."

Permalink Reply by AuroRa / Little Crow Feather on August 12, 2010 at 9:03pm

(There wasn't a #2 video !!!!!)

Permalink Reply by AuroRa / Little Crow Feather on August 12, 2010 at 9:05pm

SIOUX PRAYER REQUEST A letter from Chief Arvol Looking Horse
(Present Chief and Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe of the Lakota, Dakota, Nakota Nation of the Sioux)

****** A Great Urgency ******
To All Nations
My Relatives, Time has come to speak to the hearts of our Nations and their Leaders. I ask you this from the bottom of my heart, to come together from the Spirit of your Nations in prayer.
We, from the heart of Turtle Island, have a great message for the World; we are guided to speak from all the White Animals showing their sacred color, which have been signs for us to pray for the sacred life of all things. As I am sending this message to you, many Animal Nations are being threatened, those that swim, those that crawl, those that fly, and the plant Nations, eventually all will be affect from the oil disaster in the Gulf.

The dangers we are faced with at this time are not of spirit. The catastrophe that has happened with the oil spill which looks like the bleeding of Grandmother Earth, is made by human mistakes, mistakes that we cannot afford to continue to make. I ask, as Spiritual Leaders, that we join together, united in prayer with the whole of our Global Communities. My concern is these serious issues will continue to worsen, as a domino effect that our Ancestors have warned us of in their Prophecies. I know in my heart there are millions of people that feel our united prayers for the sake of our Grandmother Earth are long overdue. I believe we as Spiritual people must gather ourselves and focus our thoughts and prayers to allow the healing of the many wounds that have been inflicted on the Earth. As we honor the Cycle of Life, let us call for Prayer circles globally to assist in healing Grandmother Earth (our Unc'I Maka). We ask for prayers that the oil spill, this bleeding, will stop. That the winds stay calm to assist in the work. Pray for the people to be guided in repairing this mistake, and that we may also seek to live in harmony, as we make the choice to change the destructive path we are on. As we pray, we will fully understand that we are all connected. And that what we create can have lasting effects on all life. So let us unite spiritually, All Nations, All Faiths, One Prayer. Along with this immediate effort, I also ask to please
remember June 21st, World Peace and Prayer Day/Honoring Sacred Sites day. Whether it is a natural site, a temple, a church, a synagogue or just your own sacred space, let us make a prayer for all life, for good decision making by our Nations, for our children's future and well-being, and the generations to come.

Onipikte (that we shall live),
Chief Arvol Looking Horse
19th generation Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe

Film & Pictures of White Sacred Animals, Sacred White Animals herald both a Blessing and a Warning

Apart from the prophesized white Buffalos (which are among the most sacred animals a person could ever encounter), other rare and beautiful white animals have begun to appear the world over: Lions, Servals, Giraffes, Zebras and Gorillas; Robins, Foxes, Sparrows, Bats and Hedgehogs; Tigers, Elephants, Raccoon Dogs, Pythons, Cobras, Monkeys, Leopards and Peacocks; Kangaroos, Wallabies, Kookaburras, Koalas, Possums, Emus, Echidna and Kiwi; Ravens, Crows, Deer, Black Bear, Skunks, Moose, Squirrels, Pronghorns, Coyotes, Horned Owls, Hummingbirds, Rheas, Pumas, Rattlesnakes, Alligators and Lynx and Whales, Penguins, Fur Seals, Dolphins and Sea Turtles, with many appearing in the last four years, or directly before, during or after world events that call for peace and global unity.

According to Chief Arvol Looking Horse, traditional leader of the Lakota clan of the Sioux nation and 19th generation Keeper of the White Buffalo Calf Bundle, the appearance of these white animals heralds a time of great urgency for the Earth and humanity as a whole. It is said that the appearance of such unusually coloured animals is a sign; an omen calling for us to unite as a People and walk as One; to see past the colour of our neighbours skin or the ancestry of their people and to come together and embrace them as brothers, sisters and all-related children of the Earth Mother.

Permalink Reply by AuroRa / Little Crow Feather on September 11, 2010 at 10:52pm

Each of us is put here in this time and this place
to personally decide the future of humankind.
Did you think the Creator would create unnecessary
people in a time of such terrible danger?
Know that you yourself are
essential to this World.

— Chief Arvol Looking Horse of the
Lakota,Dakota and Nakota Nation,
19th Generation Keeper of the
Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe

Permalink Reply by AuroRa / Little Crow Feather on October 9, 2010 at 3:06am

Permalink Reply by AuroRa / Little Crow Feather on October 22, 2010 at 7:34am

DAUGHTERS OF THE LIGHT
As received by Gillian MacBeth-Louthan

My daughters of the light – my sisters of the stars. Unbuckle the humanness that keeps you so strapped in to all the roles that you once played. The vibration and the energy of your light dazzles the constellations that look down upon you. The wind is envious as it blows through your hair and your life for it sees your beauteous nature. It sees what you once were and what you yearn to become. Know at this time and this vibration and this intersection of light and life you are worthy of grandness that you have failed to become in the past.
You are a conjunction of all of your fears, of all of your dreams, of all of your desires. You are conjunction of time and space and heaven and hell. You are the destiny of this beauteous planet that you stand upon. You hold the vibratory key that escorts so many into a portal, a place of safety and it is in this place of safety that you will lift them so they do not stumble. You will lift them by drinking for them, by sleeping for them, by praying for them, by holding the fire light for them. You will lift them in your song, in your laughter and in your playful manner because that is what you have always done.
This life is a time of great joy, and for all of you in this room this is your last time on earth as you know her. She is on her way to becoming stellar of countenance, stellar of nature.
we ask you to embrace all those shortcomings that you try so hard to cover and prevent others from seeing. We ask you to embrace and love all the stupid things you do throughout the day and all the imperfections that you wear so well. for all of nature is beautiful as are you. The intertwining of the leaves, of the grass, of the wind and of you is the most beautiful of dances. Your worth is priceless and in that priceless vibration you need to embrace all the dreams within your heart. Do not cut yourself short. Do not put on the brakes when you yearn so deeply in your heart to fulfill desires that are a but a tiny seed of creation waiting on being birthed.
The time to address all your fears is now. The time to move forward wearing a badge of courage is now. The time to dream big is now. do not be afraid of the predictions, of prophecy. for the vibratory level that you live in a safe place that is beyond the reach of what makes others so fearful. You must believe without a shadow of doubt; look at your shadow and embrace every party of her for you wear her because you have earned her. Every valley of woe, of death and demise you have walked through now comes to a point of reflection and in this reflection there will be a collage of mirrors. Every angle you look at you will see yourself differently and that is your gift.
You are every role that you have ever played and it comes together in this place and this time. Do not be embarrassed by what has happened to you in the past no matter what form that took in this life or others. fully clothe yourself in all the remnants of what once were for they make you the multi-dimensional woman you are at this moment of time.
You are not one flavor of She – you are every aspect of She. The next three years bring you to a planetary situation that you have never experienced before. There were no humans on the earth in the last galactic conjunction and this is the first time a planet will go into stardom with inhabitants upon her. Every role you have played serves you well now. Every badge of courage, every fear, every power, every shame is wrapped up in a cocoon of feminine light. Honor it and understand it. The physical body must move forward to these shifts. It will scream, it will kick and you will feel like you are dying. This is all a game to keep you less than. You will walk through the fears, the panic attacks, the angers, the devastating dreams and come to a point of complete clarity. You will be the first people to do this. I am White Buffalo Calf Woman and I leave you in Honor.

Permalink Reply by AuroRa / Little Crow Feather on November 13, 2010 at 11:22am

Permalink Reply by AuroRa / Little Crow Feather on December 20, 2010 at 3:08am

Permalink Reply by AuroRa / Little Crow Feather on January 3, 2011 at 8:04am

Discovery of "White Buffalo" Turquoise
WHITE BUFFALO TURQUOISE

When discovered in the Dry Creek Mine north of Austin, Nevada in 1993, they were not sure what it was? Because of it’s hardness it was decided to have it analyzed and to their suspicions proved correct. It was white turquoise! Although however, it was not used in jewelry until 1996.

The chemical name for turquoise is Aluma Phosphate, which in its pure chemical state is white. Turquoise takes on color via an intrusion of either copper or iron. In the case of Dry Creek ore, the slight coloration, when present, is the result of copper. The more intrusion, the darker the color.

Blue turquoise forms where there is copper present, which is the case with most Arizona turquoise. Green turquoise forms where iron is present, the case with most Nevada turquoise.

White turquoise forms where there are no heavy metals present, which turn out to be a very rare occurrence. To date, no other vein of gem quality white turquoise has been discovered anywhere else in the world. When this current vein runs dry, that will be the last of it. Because white turquoise is as rare as white buffaloes, the Indians have named it “White Buffalo Turquoise”. The white turquoise is itself considered sacred and powerful. The jewelry making is an honoring or tribute to the “White Buffalo” with this turquoise.

The Shoshone Indians who help mine the white turquoise are not known for their jewelry work, so consequently they sell or trade the white turquoise with the Navajo Indians in Arizona and New Mexico, who then work the stone into jewelry. Whether a ring, pendant, earrings, bracelet, a necklace with contemporary styling, or the traditional squash blossom, the craftsmanship of the Navajo artist’ contribute an excellence to the finished product of the white buffalo turquoise.
*************
Wild Horse is mined in Nevada and is sometimes called White Turquoise or White Buffalo, but it is 75% Magnasite and 25% Hematite. One of the most popular stones in the Southwestern today is the Beautiful Black and White Wild Horse. This stone is thought to energize and revitalize you, it also represents beauty, strength and determination.