The Earthkeepers

Questions have come over the years on how folks come to be a lodge pourer. I can only share what I have been taught about some of the traditional ways.

Some Southern Ute Lodge Ways, as I understand it:

In Ute tradition, firekeepers are men as fire is male. The Stone People carried into the Lodge are the seeds of wisdom coming in union with the womb and the water which is female. As is the natural order of things for two leggeds, man carries the seed into womb. This keeps the balance.

To become a pourer in the Ute way, one needs to have been a Chooch (Pipe) carrier and attended lodge regularly for at least 7 years or more. If the Elder Medicine person is guided by Spirit that someone is ready to lead ceremony, they call the person to go on the hill. If the Spirits give a vision to pour, then one would apprentice in the Ways of the Lodge for as long as the Elder deems necessary before pouring their first lodge for the people.

Our Ute Elders say, “People who lead or provide ceremonies because they have attended rituals performed by a Ceremonial leader, is like putting a shingle up to practice medicine because you have experienced medical procedures done by a medical doctor. Ceremony is the ‘tip of the iceberg’.”

Some Earthkeeper Lodge Ways, as I understand it:

Hollis Little Creek, a respected Midewiwin from the Marten Clan of the Anishinabeg nation, taught John. John apprenticed for years before pouring his first lodge. John told us the story of how he always got into “hot water” because he was listening to Mother Earth when he was suppose to be listening to Hollis. When it came time for John to pour his first lodge, he told Hollis, “I cannot pour in your traditional way. I can only pour as Mother Earth guides me.” John expected he would not pour lodge. However, Hollis not only had John pour, he honored him by pulling the stones for John. Additionally, he had John awaken Joseph Many Horses’ Chooch in the lodge. Hollis taught him, “So many make the mistake of listening to “Spriit” without having the foundation and knowing the “Spirit”. It has caused many hard lessons on the path. You have the foundation John and hear true.” John commented, “I don’t know why Hollis saw that in me as I caused him such grief with my screwing-up.”

John taught that the tradition of the firekeeper determines who carries the stones and moontime practices. As for the Earthkeeper Lodge tradition, I will share what John did. John was given a vision while on the hill, that he was to offer tobacco to Dave and I to teach us to pour. We turned down the tobacco. However, three months later John said, “I am not one to offer tobacco a second time, but I had a vision to offer it again.” As I had talked with my Ute Elder and gone on the hill and Dave had been having dream visions, we accepted. To pour in the earthkeeper way one must be a Chooch (Pipe) Carrier and listen to Mother Earth. John did teaching lodges with us. We poured for one year under his guidance and when Mother Earth guided John to let us continue pouring, we did.

What is said about non-traditional lodge ways:

The Southern Ute Elders are cautious. Balance for the participants is a major concern as is short-cutting the prayers by short-cutting the training process.

John taught that the sweat lodge is one of the oldest universal ceremonies of the earthkeepers. One must know the teachings but follow your guidance from Mother Earth.

I can only offer, in my small way, my belief…that sweat lodge ceremony is a relationship between the participants and the spirit of the land. The pourer needs a deep-rooted foundation so they can pour in a balanced way thus the participants can make the connection and do their prayerwork in balanced energy. As our prayers in lodge are actually impressed into our body. Our cells radiate our prayers for many days afterward. So balance is paramount.

For as many traditions as we have across our nations, there are that many different paths to becoming a lodge pourer.

Hugs, Tracy - take what you want…find your truths…leave the rest…I share because I care.

We all have lessons to learn and John was not exempt from this. Part of the earthkeeper walk with John Armbruster, was to learn about functionality through experiencing dysfunction. I am grateful for these lessons, even though I came kicking and screaming at times! Thank you John.

Some of the unintentional lessons were:

~ each person has a degree of dysfunction or we wouldn’t be on earth.

~ yin (negative) and yang (positive) are part of life.

~ dysfunction comes when it is enabled by those involved.

~ we think we are being tolerant when we say, “live and let live, or to each his own”. However, it enables the current paradigm, be it functional or dysfunctional.

~ it takes hard work to keep functionality alive…that’s why dysfunction is so prevalent in our world…because it’s the easy way out.

George Soros said, “Once we realize that imperfect understanding is the human condition, there is no shame in being dysfunctional, only in failing to learn from it.”

Hugs, Tracy - take what you want…leave the rest…I share because I care.

As our family continues to sing, dance and drum the Appreciation of the Ancestor’s earth ceremonies on the shores of Lake Michigan, it becomes more and more evident to us that prayer is a joyous act of people in love with life.

With each beat of the drum we are reminded that…a smile is a prayer. With each note we sing we know… laughter is a divine ritual. And with each step we take we understand… ceremony is about discovering the hidden power of your heart.

John used to say,

“The EarthDance way is a celebration of life. That it manifests in better health, more prosperity, and better relationship between people. It also heightens our awareness, our concentration, and our commitment to our Spiritual Path.”

These used to be just words. But as we continue our family ceremonies, this wisdom has come alive. We know earth ceremony as one of Creator’s masterpieces. It has brought us to an earlier heaven.

Hugs, Tracy - take what you want…find your truths…leave the rest…I share because I care.

Sharing what John wrote in June of 1998.

Hugs, Tracy - take what you want…find your truths…leave the rest…

The Power of the Individual
by John Arbruster

Central to any spiritual practice is the power of the individual to maintain a sense of clarity and integrity in his or her life. One can look at all ceremonial, meditative, and self-help practices as just that… practice. They are training programs to help us find our strengths and expand them. They will reveal our weaknesses so that we can better understand, compensate, and ultimately release them. We can do this with the help of our own discipline, a personal deep spiritual faith, and with a real feeling for the faith of those around us. So it is always advised to look for the power within even as you begin to understand the greater power all around you. You too are part of the Great Mystery. Your spiritual understanding breaks down the first illusion of being human. That illusion revolves around a widespread conviction that we are not divinely inspired in every thought, feeling, and action.

To bring light and harmony into our lives, we first learn to allow it in our lives. Once we choose to see our lives as a divine spark, a miracle of creation, we can begin to allow miracles to happen. We begin to see things in a different way. It is a productive creative way. It is a path of joy and revelation of the power of the spirit of life all around us. This is a power of laughter and good feeling for all those around us.

On the other hand, we can choose to allow fear, jealousy, and a sense of inadequacy to confuse ourselves into thinking that is not true. That is what spiritual practice can help us with. It can begin to clear our minds so that we might feel comfortable with choosing the power of joy. It helps us face with purpose the terrifying confusion of our mortality.

When we come to the realization that we are evolving spiritually, we begin a great adventure. Whatever path we take, we truly must expect the unexpected. We face day to day the inner workings of our heart. We see the emptiness. We experience the thrill of discovery. We feel the uncertainty. But there is no day that is the same as the last.

The EarthDance Way is such a path. Because it is not theological or dogmatic, it is a path of personal discovery. It is like a closet full of alternative realities which we can try on. Those that are in accordance with our spiritual mission will fit well. Those that don’t won’t. The decisions about which is which have always been between my creator and me. There have been those who would have it otherwise, but something always swept them out of my life.

My only task has been to not shirk from the adventure. To embrace the uncertain road with certainty. To look into the darkness and sense the goodness coming towards me.

In this adventure knowledge is gained. Some of the knowledge helps me create beliefs that allow me to observe the miracles of life when they occur. This knowledge is like re-wiring a circuit so it can carry more current.

Other knowledge adds to my knowing, my sense of life. Just this summer when an 8ft Grizzly was standing over me just 20 ft away growling, I understood the medicine of the Bear. I can describe it to you, but I cannot transmit that knowing through those words. What I can do is transmit that knowing through the way I live my life. In the same way, all the sunsets I have truly seen and allowed to touch me are in my eyes. All the sweet waters that I have bathed in, that I have allowed to caress my body and exercise their buoyancy on me are in my touch.

And so it is, in the process of learning about ourselves, we learn about the world around us. We often tempt the limits of our knowledge. When we enter into that empty space of not knowing, we are filled with the thrill of discovery. The Earth gives us thrills in abundance. We dare not challenge her power, for it is awesome. However, when one throws open the gates to life the secrets often come in out of the cold. Knowledge comes in its own time and of its own accord. Our job is to be willing participants…

…and so we sit by the fire. The smoky smell a sweet perfume in the night air. The Drum carries us into the dreamtime. We make our prayers. We smoke the Sacred Pipe together to seal our intent and honesty into them. We sing the sacred songs to carry them around the planet so all will hear and believe us. We dance in the sacred way, giving ourselves to the rhythm, giving ourselves to the people and the goodness of life. Our feet act out the completeness of our prayers so the spirit of the land will have no doubt about what it is we are requesting… And in this way we walk into the distant lands of our spiritual adventure. There is no way of knowing where it will lead us. It is the beauty of the Mystery of Life.