I am a mixed blood native of Algonquian descent.I have been on the Red Road for twenty years and have helped people all over the US and Canada by sharing ancient teachings I have learned from respected elders. In addition, I am a professor in Native American studies and an ordained interfaith minister teaching college courses in world religion and Native Studies.
January 8th,I was walking in the snowbound woods at night somewhere in Canada and I placed tobacco on the snow and asked for guidance from the Great Spirit. I knew that it would be hard to get back to Canada, the land of my ancestors, for a while, and was grateful to be on this northern land again. I said a prayer for all my friends and students that I was no longer able to see due to my busy schedule.
I had what I would call a spiritual or visionary experience, and it put me in an altered state for the rest of the night and the following day. Manitou showed me that I would need to place myself in service to spirit in a different way, to use the internet to send my spiritual messages to my friends via the internet using emails.
I learned that I would be given messages and that I should share this with my students and fellow travelers around the US and Canada. Then I was presented with 12 statements that were not worded as commandments but were simply called "Things to Remember" to help inspire those on the Path of Manitou.
Out of respect I did not try to write them down immediately, but kept on walking, letting them sink in.
I got back in the car and drove towards Ottawa. At dawn I saw a roadsign and it was the road where my teacher lived, Odjigwano, a 95 year old elder who holds wampum belts of prophecy. I did not know I was close to his house. I drove into his guest parking space and sat there and meditated. The wording of the twelve statements became vividly clear. I found a note pad and wrote them down one after another without revision. I sat there about ten minutes. I realized I was there to share them with him and ask if they were any good or if there were any mistakes. I understood there would be more reminders to come, maybe twice as many, but now was the time to call on Odjigwano.
It was early in the morning, but I knocked on the door, and they brought me right in. Both he and his kijekwe were very excited about something and very glad to see me, even so early in the morning unannounced. Ten years ago I met him by the Lake at Maniwaki early in the morning and gave him No Word For Time, but this was the first time I had called on him this way after ten years working together.
They told me that ten minutes earlier a dozen golden birds came to his window all at once. He knew it was a sign and called to his better half to come and see. It was a small window sill and only eight birds could fit on it at once. The other four stood nearby, so there were twelve. Then another twelve came and perhaps one more. All in all there were as many as 25 birds.
His widige magan was going to get her camera, when I knocked on the door and they flew away for a moment.
Odjigwano said he knew it meant someone was coming to bring a message, but did not know what the number 12 meant, or 25. I sat down with my writing pad in hand and read him the 12 reminders. After each one, he exclaimed in joy, saying ¨that`s right! or a similar exclamation. It was a happy moment.
I asked what the word for Things to Remember would be in his native Algonquin language and he said it would be mamaytonay nen demawin.
We agreed it was a good time to send out messages such as this to remind people that by whatever name we use, the Great Spirit is in all things and loves us as we are a part of It. I decided to call these reminders "The Twelve Birds."
He brought me to the window and a few of the birds were still there. They were mourning doves, but of a strange golden color. There were blue circles around their eyes.He said they looked like angels, and he felt very blessed.
All his life he had looked upon the presence of these doves as a blessing because they are so peaceful, and also because they are so shy that they don`t come near humans that often unless they feel moved by spirit. He had sometimes seen one in his window, sometimes two, and once he saw three, but this morning as I knocked, there were 25 and he was amazed.
The story is often told of a small blue bird that came to his window in 1961 when he had cancer and doctors had given him less than a month to live. He was an angry man then, drinking the white man's spirit water, and both were killing him. He asked the bird to tell Manitou that he was willing to give himself over to spirit to be a tool of the Creator for the rest of his life, however long it might last, or to take his life otherwise. The bird brought a message to him to help bring peace between the four races of the world. Within a month he was back on his job. Doctors found him to be perfectly healthy, much to their amazement. Soon he was presented with the responsibility of carrying three wampum belts of prophecy. He said yes. Thirty-five years later, his work for peace was so admired that he was asked to welcome the Dalai Lama to Canada. He said yes.
He is still going strong at the age of 95 today, still working for peace and understanding, (he had just recieved the Order of Canada, and showed me the letter that morning) and no sign of cancer has ever returned in those 48 years. It is often said among Algonquin people that birds pray at dawn and that their prayers are heard by the Great Spirit. So let us not dismiss the arrival of these golden birds of the dawn as coincidence, but wait and see what will happen.
Here then are the "twelve birds" just as I read them to him and his kijekwe on that beautiful morning.
The Twelve Birds
If you wish to journey on the Path of Manitou, follow these twelve birds, or reminders, ``mamay tohnay nen demawin*`` or ``Things to Remember.``
1. Love and serve the Great Spirit in all you do.
2. Honor the earth in your thoughts, words, and actions.
3. Have fun, enjoy life, play; but be a responsible citizen of the earth.
4. Honor and respect all spiritual traditions rooted in the great harmony.
5. Speak from the heart but keep an open mind.
6. Remember to learn and then learn to remember.
7. Meditate often, on the silence, or on the voice of the wind. Tranquility is the crossing place to the other side.
8. Pray not for things but that you become closer to Manitou.
9. Trust God by entrusting yourself with the freedom to be as God made you.
10. Ever hone yourself as a better tool of the Creator.
11. Humble yourself before the Creator does it for you.
12. Speak truthfully but with kindness as we are one spirit.
*In the language of the Algonquin Nation of Maniwaki
Copyright c January 8th, 2009 Evan Pritchard
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