A True Warrior

Courage to standThe true spiritual warrior knows the only enemy he has is what he has yet to shed light upon in himself, therefore, he/she never postpones a battle that must be engaged. The true spiritual warrior always remembers that his enemy never forgets his weaknesses.The true spiritual warrior starts life over all over and over again. The true spiritual warrior works every day, every moment, to sharpen his battle skills. The true spiritual warrior leads by example, never fearing to make an example of him/herself -- no matter what the cost.The true spiritual warrior is never afraid to look at what he doesn't want to see. The true spiritual warrior commits himself to his best choice and realizes that to live in conflict over what is or is not best is the refusal of responsibility.The true spiritual warrior never fears feelings of helplessness, because he recognizes such states as the heralds of new powers to come . . . like storm clouds before spring flowers. The true spiritual warrior knows that the path of spiritual liberation that he/she has chosen must lead him to one encounter after another with conditions that always seem greater than he is. Welcome to the spiritual life!Pray......... Believe and Know a Clean Spirit R E Sebastian
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Wise people from up above lead us!

Today as days of old, becoming a Chief is a very important event, for the Gitxsan and Wetsuweten tribes here are some of the rules. Firstly the Chief is mostly picked from birth, then groomed all his/her life for that position. In the grooming the child is held very strictly and habits are drilled into the child much like the modern day child in a royal family. Both education and manners are essential to him/her becoming a community leader and a religious person. They are constantly watched and all behavior is noted to see what kind of a leader they will make.
I heard it expressed by one of our chiefs that a Chief is looked to; much like a Bishop, in modern day churches. Now! You must remember that this ancient system has been here (British Columbia) for over a thousand years,
A modern day Chief must walk his/her territory, all houses or clans have designated land holdings, fishing holes and members. They must lead in all the attributes of the society, including laws written and unwritten, common law, and constitutional (or Feast Hall) laws. Chiefs do not react to just anything that bothers them, as they do not want to bring shame to their family, or “Dirty their Official Blanket!” They are extremely careful and they walk softly on the breath of their Grand parents. It is said that they are led by the wise from “up-above”

Many young people try to make their mark in our ancient system, but these new comers can be seen miles away. They are humored. In order to speak in one our feasts you must log hundreds of hours in the system before people will even acknowledge you being there. Even then you may not get a chance to say a word. This is not a democracy, but there are avenues to make your point in the feast hall. If the point you want to make is so crucial to the path of our people you must bring it to the feast hall through your father’s side of the family, and to do this you must pay your father Clan for this privilege. In that way you will be heard.
At one Feast at Hagwilget years ago, it was this one Chiefs turn to speak, no one dared say a word before this Chief took his turn to speak. The Chief pondered, ached, a thought about what he was going to say. A day and a half went by, finally the Chief rose to feet to speak. This was recorded by one of the first Doctors to the Hazelton area at contact time. A day and half, people waited for the man to take his turn to speak, can we do that today, I doubt if we could sit and be quite for one hour let alone 36 hours. I understand now why they call our village (Hagwilget) village of the quite people! RES

Supernatural Power of education!

WE grew up with a fierce belief in the supernatural, the magic enthralled us all, this is how we learned our first lessons in behavior. If we didn’t go to bed the old lady of the woods was going to come and take you away! Close the curtains or a ghost was going to look into the window, we momentarily dashed a quick look at the window and wrenched the blinds closed.
One winter evening an old stranger came by the village, it was snowing at the time, he wanted to play poker. The whole village played all night with him until he had all the money. He got up quietly from his seat and walked off into the night. The men got mad, we can’t let him take all our money, lets go track him down and take our money back! The men went out side with their lanterns they followed the tracks in the snow only a few feet, to their astonishment and their horror the human tracks in the snow turned to hooves! They had just spent the night with the devil, no one played poker for a long long while!
The native legends were endless, how we were not to copy the hoot of the owl! Once a young child did this endlessly, every night he would mimic the owls. One night he simply disappeared and word came that a villager had seen an owl carrying him off in the distance. The Chief, of the household, sent hundreds of search parties, looking for him, to no avail. They looked everywhere, no sign of the young body! Broken heartedly they gave-up! There was always a empty feeling when thoughts of young boys came around,. Then 10 years to the day, out of no-where, a young man walked into the village. He spoke no language, he climbed onto tree branches and rousted, he only ate what owls ate. It was the long lost boy, he had come home! A big potlatch and celebration was put up, all the people who searched were paid, “Our son is back!” part owl but he’s back! We no longer hoot at Owls!

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