Introduction

We Cherokee, or Tsalagi, have traditionally called ourselves the Principal People (Ani Yun Wiwa), in that our creation stories and philosophy refer to our sacred duty to instill light, to manifest good for the benefit of all beings.

We trace our origins to the stars known as the Pleiades, the Seven Dancers. Encoded within our ceremonies and patterns of relationship is the Fire of Wisdom, hence we are the fire-keepers of the sacred light, responsible for rekindling the fire of clear mind and right relationship in these changing times.

The teachings contained in this volume are put forth by one who is of the fifth generation to survive the coming of darkness upon the Tsalagi's natural way of life. Children of the fifth generation were given special duties by their elders to rekindle the sacred wisdom fire, by inviting the people to see the effects of our thoughts and actions upon the Earth, upon ourselves and one another, and upon future generations. Our elders, some of whom suffered great deprivations and punishments for seeking to maintain our culture, encoded in us through ceremony, song and example the methods of realizing a sane world.

Until 1979 it was illegal in the United States for Native Americans to practice their traditional religions. In 1978 the U.S. Congress considered legislating the unilateral abrogation of all existing Native treaties, taking away what little yet remained of the land base of the sovereign Indian nations. This would have forced the death of Native culture, for the very basis of Indian religion, language, relationships, and life is sacred practice upon the land, sacred relationship with the land. In 1979 the American Indian Religious Freedom Act was passed, permitting Native Americans to practice their traditional rituals and ceremonies once again. Many of the fifth generation perceived the passing of this act as an attempt to make palatable the destruction of the Indian land base. Although the 1978 bill did not pass into law, it stirred the fifth generation to act as their elders had hoped. For many Native peoples the attempt to break all treaties and steal the remaining land base was the awakening of their "Indianness." With the realization of how close we had come to extinction and assimilation, renewed study of Native language, philosophy, medicine, and religion began. The Tsalagi are but one of many Native nations currently growing and flourishing.

This book is dedicated to those wise elders who had the faith and foresight to keep the wisdom fire burning.

Myself, I am a Tsalagi of the Etowah Band, a vessel filled with dreams of those who walked before, blessed and empowered by the elders to be a repository of the teachings of the Ywahoo lingeage.

The Ywahoo lineage was established 2,860 years ago by the "Keeper of Mysteries," the Pale One, a great teacher whose name is spoken only in ceremonies. When the people had forgotten their original instructions, neglected their spiritual duties, and become warlike, the Pale One came to rekindle the sacred wisdom fire. Born in a miraculous manner, his body emitted great light; he appeared in many places at once and he spoke the language of all creatures. The teachings of the Pale One flourished throughout the Americas. He reestablished the building of temples and schools, reformed the priestcraft training, and gave methods for cultivating and maintaining peace within individual, family, clan, nation, and planet. This great teacher was a living reminder of the unmanifest potential in all. He rekindled the holy fire and renewed the original instructions encoded within the Crystal Ark, that most sacred crystal that ever sings out harmony's beauteous note, inspiring people to act as one with the sacred law and bringing all thoughts and actions to harmonious resolution.

The duties of each Ywahoo are to care for the Crystal Ark and to maintain ceremonies for universal balance. Thus the Ywahoo lineage is the caretaker of the crystal and of the crystal-activating sound formulas and rituals.

There have been twenty-seven Ywahoos entrusted to maintain the teachings, to ensure methods of stabilizing the mind in times of confusion. Thus the teachings outlined within this book have been maintained and transmitted through the Ywahoo lineage for twenty-seven generations. They were passed to me, Dhyani Ywahoo, by my grandfather, Eonah Fisher (Bear Fishing), who received the teachings from Eli Ywahoo, his father-in-law, my great-grandfather (also known as Rain Cloud), and from my grandmother, Nellie Ywahoo, daughter of Rain Cloud.

From an early age the insight of Tsalagi children is recognized and they are invited into particular spiritual societies according to their clans and the particular lineages moving within those clans. The Ywahoo lineage is of the Ani Gadoahwi (Wild Potato) Clan of the Tsalagi Nation. My ancestors, the relatives who taught me, are from the Carolinas and Tennessee. During the Trail of Tears, which occurred in the 1830s, rather than leave their honored homeland they hid in caves, that they might maintain their spiritual duty to the Blue Mountains and the rivers and land of that region.

So the things I speak are of a continuum. Myself, I am a firstborn daughter of a firstborn daughter. The medicine tradition that was kept by my family is the tradition of the Tsalagi people, traced back through the times of the sun temples. So we consider ourselves a very ancient people; our history speaks of over a hundred thousand years of relationship to the planet Earth.

In the Tsalagi view, children are valued members of the society, and from the moment they make their first smile they are invited to partake in spiritual ceremony and responsible action for the good of all the people. That first smile is an indication of the child's willingness to reach out and communicate with others, and from that smile one understands what that child's gift is.

It is common among the Tsalagi and many Native American nations that before a child is born the grandparents have visions and dreams about that coming child. My grandparents also had visions. They say that a Red man came from across the ocean carrying a message of unity, of rebuilding the sacred hoop. He spoke of me, saying that I would travel around the world and that I should be given all of their teachings. The elders followed those instructions. While I was a child my elders would sit around the fire and make many prophecies. They said a time would come when I would speak to people from all over the world, and that we would be of one heart. The prophecies have proven true. Now may the prophecy of unity of action and a shared concern for life renew the sacred hoop, as they foretold.

Prior to 1969, the Ywahoo lineage teachings were hidden, shared only with Tsalagi and other like-minded peoples.

According to the ancient teachings and calendar, a great darkness would fall upon the peoples with the end of the cycle of worlds called the thirteen heavens. Over five hundred years ago a Council of Elders of the Red Nations of North, South, and Central America was called to ensure the survival of the sacred teachings through the coming age of darkness. At that time the teachings were hidden within the home fires, in secret societies within family lines, to sustain the people through times of tribulation. The thirteen heavens ended April 21, 1519, the day Cortés landed in Mexico. Thus a "pale brother returned from the east," his memory of the unity of the human family impaired, and his coming wrought great destruction upon the land and the people. The science and culture that spawned the world's most accurate calendar and most beneficial pharmacopoeia and, over seven thousand years ago, discovered the mathematical concept of zero, was stomped into the dust. Yet the wisdom survived within the home fireplaces, awaiting a time when the people would be of one heart, awaiting sturdy vessels to carry the fire out.

The great Smoky Mountains, Arkansas, Georgia, and Tennessee have been homeland to the Tsalagi Nation for thousands of years. During the early l800s, as the settlers encroached upon the sacred areas and forced the people on the Trail of Tears, the darkest night fell. (The seventh hell began in 1831; the Indian Removal Act was ratified in May 1830.)

It was spoken to me at an early age about the Trail of Tears; my grandmother described it to me so vividly that I felt I was there. She said that people—soldiers and settlers—came into the cabins and threw the people out, took whatever was belonging to the Tsalagi people and just said, "Go with the clothes on your back." Even their food stores were kept from them. And what amazed me, as a young child listening to the wisdom of the elders, is that they spoke without bitterness. They described the Trail of Tears as an indication of dark times for the mind of all human beings, the beginning of a final cycle of purification. In this era, illusions of domination over the natural world and materialism in place of ethics have choked the lifeline of all.

As the darkness fell upon the Tsalagi people, some priests and priestesses self-immolated the physical form in the sacred fire. It was recounted to me by my elders how two members of my family thus stepped into the fire and disappeared, leaving no physical remains. Their sacrifice was to scatter the seed essence of the original instructions, to sprout again as the fifth generation appeared to reestablish right relationship with the land, the nation, Mother Earth, Father Sky, and all our relations. In the minds of myself and others of the fifth generation were carefully placed certain keys, that we might again stir and rekindle the sacred fire in all people, so the hoop of life could be renewed.

Thus for hundreds of years the sacred teachings were kept hidden. During 1969, elders of the Etowah Band and the Ywahoo bloodline conferred and decided that the general aspects of the teaching were now to be shared with all those of good heart who were dedicated to manifesting peace. The elders stated that the astronomical teachings were to be restored to the world; these are the basis for understanding the movements of the stars that give order to the ceremonial calendar shared by most Native peoples of the western hemisphere. The elders said that the Medicine of the Twins was to be understood by all, so that even anger and fear could be recognized as opportunities to realize that clear wisdom fire within. And they said that the general teachings of the Pale One were to be shared, to give light to a new day.

These things are being done according to instructions. In 1969, Sunray Meditation Society was founded as a vehicle for the appropriate teachings of the Ywahoo lineage to be shared with those of one heart, and today students and practitioners of the Sunray teachings are flourishing as seeds of light and right relationship in communities throughout Turtle Island (North America and the world). And through this book I pray that sparks of the wisdom fire may kindle remembrance in the hearts of many.

The Tsalagi teachings of the Ywahoo lineage convey specific areas of study and practice. There are general teachings, suitable for all types of people, which include physical, mental, and social codes or values. There are teachings that are specific to particular clans, taught only to members of these clans; these include codes of behavior, bloodline duties, rituals, traditional stories, and teachings for protection and survival. There are particular teachings for nations, governmental law based upon clan law, to aid in maintaining peace and planetary balance. Then there is a particular method of training used in the priestcraft, entailing ten steps of development and example.

This book contains teachings suitable for all people—basic Elo (philosophy) and practice for purifying ignorance and obscuration, for clarifying mind, for pacifying afflicting emotions, illusions, and suffering, for magnetizing the good, and for actualizing the vision of peace and harmony held as a sacred ember within the heart of every being. Native American religion does not proselytize or seek converts. These sacred teachings call upon you, not to become an Indian, but to become the best human being you can possibly be, to fulfill your unmanifest potential for the good of all beings.

I pray that these teachings be conveyed clearly for the benefit of all my relations, whether flying, walking, swimming, or crawling. May it be known that any inconsistencies or ambiguities herein with respect to historical chronology are the result of my own limitations or of destruction and/or confusion in the ancient records. The teachings themselves are true and offer means for realizing peace on all levels.

We have been in the ninth and final stage of purification, the ninth hell world following the thirteen heavens. And in this time the fifth generation, living in a natural way, is keeping the sacred precepts, dreaming of beauty. The fire is rekindled on Earth's holy places. The song of peaceful remembrance goes forth. A new day is dawning. The new cycle of thirteen heavens began August 30, 1987, thirteen days after Fifth World ended. Now I pray that each one of you may perceive the vision of peace and have the will and courage and compassion to manifest it. May the thoughts that obscure the inherent beauty be transmuted, revealing the means of right relationship. And may you be called forth as a Peacekeeper, turning aside anger, shame and blame, calling forth harmony and joy for all relations.