printed a line drawing of a group of Indian women observing Susan B. Anthony, Anne Howard Shaw and Elizabeth Cady Stanton leading a parade of women. A verse under the print read:

“Savagery to Civilization”
We, the women of the Iroquois
Own the Land, the Lodge, the Children
Ours is the right to adoption, life or death;
Ours is the right to raise up and depose chiefs;
Ours is the right to representation in all councils;
Ours is the right to make and abrogate treaties;
Ours is the supervision over domestic and foreign policies;
Ours is the trusteeship of tribal property;
Our lives are valued again as high as man's.

Women, Take Back Your Power.  ~ Gray Owl

“Unless the eye catch fire
the God will not be seen.
Unless the tongue catch fire
the God will not be named.
Unless the heart catch fire,
the God will not be loved.
Unless the mind catch fire,
the God will not be known.”

William Blake

Know What It Is To Be a Child
by Francis Thompson

Know you what it is to be a child?
It is to be something very different from the man of today.
It is to have a spirit yet streaming from the waters of baptism,
It is to belief in loveliness, to believe in belief.
It is to be so little that the elves can reach to whisper in your ear.
It is to turn pumpkins in to couches, and mice in to horses,
lowness in to loftiness and nothing in to everything.
For each child has his fairy godmother in his own soul.
It is to live in a nutshell and count yourself king of the intimate space;
it is to see a world in a grain of sand,
Heaven in a wild flower,
To hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.

1. Learning. Learn from all our relations, from mountain, plant, animal, human, from dreams, from elders and children, from stories and life experiences. Good learning creates connection and caring; poor learning is intellectual baggage.
2. Respect. Honor all forms of life; do not be careless in your thoughts, words, and actions. Respect yourself; low self-esteem insults Creator's precious gift of life.
3. Acceptance. We cannot grow unless we accept who we are and have the courage to face and learn from our weaknesses and shadows.
4. Spiritual Sight. Sight and insight are equally important. Spiritual sight means ridding the mind of mental screens, so that we perceive the world without preconception, stereotype, and prejudice.
5. Listening. The spiritual person is a good listener. Native American elders sometimes test prospective students by observing how comfortable they are with silence. The narcissistic person is always thinking and speaking and thus has nothing to express but his or her own opinions. There is no silent space in which to simply listen and experience.
6. Speaking. If we can hear the truth but are afraid to express and live it, even when it goes against the crowd, then we can never find inner peace. Walk your talk, and talk your walk.
7. Love. Keetoowah once said that he used to fight his enemies, but later decided he was going to love them to death! Love is for warriors, not whimps. Indian healers like to remind Christians that Jesus' love did not prevent him from throwing greedy merchants out of the temple. Actions that increase love are good; actions that decrease love are evil.
8. Service. Service is more than “helping.” Some people help from a position of superiority and expect something in return. True service is selfless and without ulterior motive.
9. Relationship. Native American prayers frequently include the expression “All my relations.” We are all related, like plants growing from the same soil. The action of any member of a community affects all members. We are accountable to each other and to all of nature. A feeling of connectedness is the source of responsible action.
10. Creativity. Nature never repeats herself. Although we are all related, we must each find our own path to Creator. An Innu elder once said “If you sing someone else's song, you are called a liar in my language.” Creativity means allowing the mind to soar like the eagle. The eagle does not follow any one else's ruts and leaves no track in the sky.
11. Dynamic Spirituality. The spiritual person does not sit in a cave and wait for “enlightenment” before doing good in the world. A medicine person is in the front lines. A warrior like Geronimo or Crazy Horse would lead his warriors, not watch from the hill top. Spiritual warriors stand up for what they believe in and fight against injustice.
12. Gratitude. Gratitude is more than saying “thank you.” We can express gratitude through music, song, prayer, dance, and art. When we are grateful to  the Creator for our gifts and blessings, we strengthen those blessings. If you receive a meaningful dream, thank Creator for the dream, and it is more likely to come true. If a deer crosses your path or an eagle flies overhead, thank these “creature teachers,”  . Spiritual powers that appear in vision are more likely to hang around when they see concrete expressions of gratitude. They don't like to be taken for granted…
    
13. Joy and happiness.  If you follow your path walking through life as if you were walking  a sacred prayer with a song in your heart and a prayer on your lips
    radiating love all around , you will live in Joy and Happiness.                                                            ~ Thanks, White Buffalo Woman