The Way of the Sacred Pipe
The Power of the Pipe
I want to tell you the history of a Ceremonial Pipe that came into my care a few years ago. The reason for this is to introduce you to just how powerful and effective the Sacred Pipe actually is. Lakota Holy Man, Frank Fools Crow, said that miracles do not make believers, but I hope after reading these accounts you will at least receive the idea that you are being introduced to something which can bring “uncommon assistance” into your life.
To start with, let me say something that has helped me tremendously in sorting out what things are of true spiritual value. Today there is so much out there claiming to be spiritual truth. It is confusing, to say the least. Here is my “formula” in sorting out the real from the fake, or in my terms, the spiritual from the religious: “If it is real, it works; if it works, it is real” In other words, if something has, say, healing power, it will heal.
I will use terms relating to the Pipe such as “I heard the Pipe” or “the Pipe said”. You may wonder what I mean by this. Does the Pipe have an audible voice? Yes and no. The Pipe speaks to each of us a bit differently.
When the Pipe speaks to me, it is usually through one of two ways. The first is through a voice I hear in my mind. Often it is more of a complete thought rather than sentences or a progression of thought. I have learned to identify the Pipe’s “voice” from that of my own thoughts through trial and error. I will just say that when I “hear” the Pipe speak, it is always with definable results that match the communication given. I have actually heard an audible voice on occasion, but more often it is similar to a married couple who seem to be able to read each others thoughts without actually saying anything.
The second way the Pipe speaks to me is through "coincidence". An example of this is when I sent a Pipe to Don, a good friend of mine. When he went to open the package containing the Pipe, he pulled a lighter out of his pocket while looking for a knife. He placed the lighter on the box and it “jumped” off, twice in a row! This was the Pipe’s way of telling him it did not want to be lit by a butane lighter. I always pay close attention to things that happen around a Pipe or during a ceremony.
Once when I did a naming ceremony for a little Cherokee girl, I planned to use my son's medicine staff as part of the ceremony. As I stuck the staff into the ground, the bottom of it broke off. I saw this as the Pipe’s way of saying not to do what I normally would. Instead of planting the staff in the ground as usual, I handed the staff to the little girl. What she did became part of the ceremony. She passed it over to another child who was attending the ceremony and I saw “medicine” going into the boy from the staff. This would not have happened if I had not listened to the Pipe {circumstances} and performed the ceremony according to the “rules”.
Now, let me describe the Pipe I will be telling you about in this section. It is made of Black Pipestone (steatite) and has lead inlay in the form of two thunderbirds on its bowl. It has been handed down for at least three generations, making it over 150 years old. Its medicine or mission is to connect with the Thunder Beings (those Spirits that control the weather) and to perform healings. It has, in recent history, broken a seven year drought, as well as many other amazing things which I will relate to you. I want to point out right here that power is in the Pipe, not the one who takes care of it.
I also need to preface this history with a brief account of my own story before this Pipe came into my care. This is to help you understand why it came to me and not someone who is more “qualified”.
I have followed the spiritual path commonly known as the “Red Road” (White Road to the Cherokee) most of my life. The Red Road is most easily described as conducting your life in a way that puts you in harmony with all of creation. It is not just the “Religion of the Redman”, for the Red Road, just like all religions, can be “practiced” without actual spiritual activity. Dogma can be found in any religion, be it Christian, Hindu, Red Road, etc. The difference is that walking this spiritual path requires one to be in a continual, ever-active relationship with all aspects of the Creator and Creation. Nature is not under the control of humans; therefore, there is a reality to the “Red Road” that is often absent in other spiritual paths. It is one thing to call on the spirit of Owl to assist with a ceremony; it is another thing to have Owls actually arrive during a ceremony.
I like the analogy of the map verses the guide. If you want to get to the “promised land” which would you prefer to use to get there - a map, one that you could misinterpret (i.e. written manuscripts or scripture), or a living guide who knows the way (i.e. an agent of the Great Mystery itself).
Just the same, true spirituality (i.e. spiritual activity that works and produces tangible results) can also be found in any religion, for unfortunately, the roots of all dogma spring forth from true divine inspiration
This spiritual path is based on the Native American understanding that we are all part of the great circle of life, and being “spiritual” means finding our place and proper function in this circle. All places in the circle are of equal importance, none is above the others.
A central part of the traditional ways of native peoples is the using of the Sacred Pipe to assist us in our walk. It is understood this Pipe is not just an instrument for ceremony, but an actual living spirit entity which comes into our lives to teach, guide, protect and nurture us. Many pre-contact Native American nations had the tradition where most adults possessed a personal Pipe. As you will discover later, a personal Pipe is similar in power to the Ceremonial Pipe, but its work is that of assisting an individual, rather than being used in ceremonies to assist a nation.
I tell you this because in the normal sense I was not trained to carry the responsibility of a Ceremonial Pipe. I had only my personal Pipe, which I used in my daily life to learn the ways to walk in balance. Its bowl was made of deer antler and its stem was made of sumac wood. At the time, I would not even think of having a Pipe made out of the sacred red or black stone of which most Ceremonial Pipes are made. I did not consider myself worthy.
I had been using my personal Pipe for several years when I was given as a gift, a very powerful and important Pipe which had been created to do ceremony for the United Nations. It was carved in 1978 by Adam Fortunate Eagle, an Anishinobie (Chippewa) Elder, master Pipe Maker and spiritual leader of the “Keepers of the Sacred Tradition of Pipe Making”. The Pipe has a large turtle on the bowl as well as four other little turtles carved out of red Pipestone mounted on the cedar stem, all “following” the head turtle on the bowl. Adam presented the Pipe to delegates of the UN and for seven years it was used to open many international negotiations and ceremonies. Even President Ronald Reagan took part in ceremony with it.
So here I am, suddenly in the care of this Pipe, which should obviously be with someone much more experienced in these ways than me. I happened to know of Adam, who had carved this Pipe for the UN. When I contacted him to ask what I should do with it, he said I should come to a gathering being held in Pipestone MN the next week and he would decide what should be done with it then.
This Pipe has a long story of its own, some of which I will relate later in this book. But since this is a history of the Black Thunder Bird Pipe, not the UN Turtle Pipe, I will just say that Adam decided the Pipe had chosen me to take care of it and that I should carry that responsibility and learn the ways of the Ceremonial Pipe. He gave me a year to learn as much as I could from my own Elders, after which he would re-evaluate what should be done with that Pipe.
I am grateful to those who took me under their wing and taught me so much in such a short amount of time with such amazing patience. As the years have passed, I have continued to learn from the Pipe and the Elders it has brought me to, and I believe I will continue to learn until the day I pass over to the other side of existence.
I want to restate that in the normal way, one is brought up from childhood with a Ceremonial Pipe like this, being an assistant to a Pipe holder for years until they are chosen by the Pipe as being ready for the responsibility. But this is the point: it is the Pipe that decides who will care for it and it is the confirmation of the Elders that help to keep one’s ego from misinterpreting that choice.
So, there I was. I had had the responsibility of the UN Pipe for a few years when I received a phone call from a woman I knew, who wanted to know if I could help her evaluate some “artifacts” her late husband had collected. She was in need of money and wanted to sell his collection if it was worth anything. I agreed to help her, even though I felt like I was going to someone’s house to tell them the market value of my own family’s Bible, found on my family’s old homestead.
She had a nice collection of arrowheads, spear points and pottery, all old and worth a good deal, but what really caught my attention were several old Pipes she had in a box. Two of these were obviously taken from graves of the mound builders, and the others were wonderful examples of late 1800’s style Pipes. I told her that she could get a good price for most of the collection but that it would not be wise to sell the Pipes. I advised her they should be returned to their original tribes or families to be taken care of properly. She said she would think about it but she really needed the money.
As I was getting ready to leave, she remembered one other Pipe she had and asked if I wanted to see it. I said “of course”, and she brought out a big black stone Ceremonial Pipe with lead Thunderbird inlays on the bowl. This Pipe radiated power and, if I understood its energy, displeasure. I was particularly drawn to it and after leaving I could not bear to think of this Pipe being sold to hang on someone’s wall. The other Pipes seemed to be “asleep” for lack of a better description, but the Black Pipe was defiantly awake and not happy with the situation. I prayed about it over and over.
My Elders have said a Pipe goes where ever it wants to; it stays with whomever it chooses. They say a Pipe is more capable of getting to where it wants to be than we are. As things turned out, the widow ended up passing the Pipe on to me because of my helping her with the other items.
I was excited about the Pipe and took it to show to a friend who is an Apache Medicine Woman. When she saw it, she would not even touch it and told me I was not ready to use it, even though it had chosen to be in my care. So what did I do? I used it in a ceremony the next week. After all, I was responsible for the UN Pipe, why not this one also? (First lesson from this Pipe…listen to your Elders!!!) The ceremony went badly and my ego was put in its place quite firmly in front of over 50 people. It took years of sitting with this Pipe, caring for it and continuing to learn its ways before I was released to use it in ceremony. Even now, it continues to be very demanding towards me as we travel together.
My relationship with the UN Pipe had been that of one with a gentle teacher - very nurturing. I soon found out the Black Pipe was not like this at all. This Pipe proved to be a very stern and harsh teacher! I did use it, and with astounding results, but it held me to account like never before! As I’ve learned to adjust to the Pipe’s demands of me in my personal life, I have been blessed to be witness to many powerful and amazing “miracles” accomplished through it.
Now, I will continue with the actual history of the Thunder Pipe and what it has accomplished over the last few years. I wanted you to have a base from which to understand a very important fact: the medicine (power) is held by the Pipe, not by the one who takes care of it. There are other aspects about this but they are not appropriate for discussion in a book.
I was living in Colorado when I first received the Thunder Pipe, but have since moved to Montana. At that time, there had been a drought for more than seven years in both states.
One day in the spring of 2002, I was on my way to a folk concert on the Flathead reservation in Montana when the Pipe, which I keep with me almost all the time, urged me to pull off the road and go into the National Bison range. I felt it calling to me to pray for the young buffalo soon to be born. I did as I felt prompted and as I prepared the Pipe for the ceremony, I was told to also pray specifically for the drought to be broken. I was lead to ask that it would rain all summer from the bison range in the south end of the valley, all the way to the northern tip of the Flathead valley. Rain for the entire summer never happens there, even in a good year.
The very next day (twenty four hours after the ceremony) it started raining, and continued through out the entire summer. The rest of Montana was still in a drought, but the Mission and Flathead valleys were so green that folks were complaining about how often they had to trim and mow (how quick we forget!).
Later that summer forest fires broke out all over the still-dry mountains of Colorado. I still love the land there and I determined to take the Pipe to Colorado and pray for rain. Now I want to point out that the prayers for the Montana drought were instigated by the Pipe but the prayers for Colorado where instigated by me. The differences in the results are important to note.
I traveled to Colorado and started the Pipe ceremony at Turquoise Lake near Leadville. Just before I was to start the ceremony, the Pipe was given a gift of a special bird wing that was to be used in the ceremonies. To this day, it still travels with this Pipe. The other wing of that bird was used in ceremony by a Medicine Person to “draw a line” where the fires were not to pass.
I intended to carry the loaded Pipe all the way to the south end of the San Louis valley, several hundred miles, in order to cover as much of Colorado as possible with the rain I hoped would come. I followed the instructions given me for the ceremony by striking the bowl of the Pipe into the water of the lake and pointing the stem towards the sky (clouds). It started raining 24 hours later, and the storm followed me for the next few days as I traveled across all parts of the state.
The thing to notice is that in Montana the rain continued for the whole summer. However, in Colorado, it only rained wherever the Pipe was physically. As I traveled back home, it even rained across the desert of Utah, but lightening from the storm started some fires in the dry mountains there as well.
It was weird to be traveling in rain for almost a week and to find out that it only rained where we had been, not anywhere else in the state. I wondered what the lesson was and finally understood. I needed to let the Pipe initiate the ceremonies, not initiate the ceremonies myself.
I moved to the Bitterroot Valley in Montana the next summer and the weather went back to a drought in the Flathead and Mission valleys. We had some very bad forest fires in the Bitterroot and I wanted to pray for rain with the Pipe. I did, and instead of rain I got this message: the Pipe said that it would not rain as the fires were needed to restore balance in the area. Not my idea of balance, but I have learned to trust the Thunder Beings as they tend to have a broader perspective!
Ok, now we jump ahead to the spring of 2004. We had a ceremony celebrating the Awakening of Thunder. During the ceremony, I jokingly said that if I was not doing the ceremony properly, everyone would know because I might not be alive four days later, inferring that if I was doing the ceremony improperly, I would get zapped by the Thunder Beings in four days. So, guess what happened four days later.
I was on a small plane taking off from the Seattle airport when the plane was hit by lightening!! It fried some electronics in the cabin, lit up the whole inside of the passenger area, and scared the attendant so much she wet her uniform. No kidding! There I sat, wondering if the whole group of us was going to die because of my joking about the Sacred Pipe! Well, we didn’t die. Instead, we had a forced landing, and I got a free night in a cheap hotel near the airport until a flight out the following day.
As I sat in my hotel room and pondered it all, the Thunders came to say that it was not a punishment, but it was to show everyone the reality of the ceremonies we were doing. I was told that I needed to tell everyone who had attended the ceremony about this and some other things that usually happen to folks after such a ceremony - things I had neglected to tell them.
As it turned out, several of them had indeed had those experiences and were wondering about what they meant. Some examples of these experiences were two ladies who attended who started their moon (menses) right after the ceremony, over a week early. One person got sick and couldn’t sleep for 3 nights. This may have been because they did not heed my advice to refrain from using drugs or alcohol for three days prior to the ceremony. After I gave them the complete information that I should have given prior to the ceremony, these people were able to access more completely what the Great Mystery was doing in and for them, and were able to see the reality of the power of the Pipe. Good thing the Thunder Beings decided to make an example of my little “joke” about the four days.
As stated previously, the Bitterroot valley has been plagued by huge forest fires for several years, all a result of a long term drought. In the spring of 2004, the forestry and weather experts were predicting the worst year yet for forest fires. Of special concern were the fisheries of the valley due to the low snow pack in the mountains and the extended drought. They said it would take two months of almost constant rain, as well as a late season snow pack build up - something that never happens - to get into a safe “zone”. Things looked very bad to say the least.
As is my custom, I was sitting holding the Pipe bundle in my lap one day and felt drawn to have a Rain Requesting ceremony. I also felt urged to ask Jason, a young Sundancer I knew, to join in the ceremony with me. I called him up and we set up a time to pray down by the Bitterroot River. I knew that one of the reasons for the ceremony and his attendance was to help him see the reality of the spiritual power of the Pipe. He has been exposed to many ceremonies through his experience with the Sundance; however his upbringing caused him to cling to the security of the dogmatic aspect of ceremony. What he needed was to experience a ceremony where the answers to the prayers would truly have to be a miracle. As it turned out, the whole event was custom-designed to blow away anything he thought he knew about praying with the Pipe.
Jason met me down by the river along with Lora, my girlfriend at the time, and Connor her three-year-old son. As we spread the blanket on the sand and got the Pipe out, Connor began running around playing, throwing sand, yelling, and generally being very disruptive to the seriousness of the ceremony. With all this distraction going on, it was obvious our ceremony would only have power if it was real, not something we drummed up with “just the right atmosphere”.
We did the prayers, and I created a pathway connection from the river-water to the sky-water with the Pipe. In our prayers I was directed to ask for a full season of good gentle “female” rain, as well as lots of extra snow on the mountains. The next day, exactly twenty four hours later to the minute (I have learned to pay attention to the timing by now) I was about two blocks away from the river, sitting on a city bench with my friend Paul. I couldn’t help but break out laughing as we watched the rain come like a wall from the west and sweep across the valley.
I am writing this in October, 2004 and the ceremony was in May. We have had rain almost every day since then, as well as lots of late spring snow on the mountains. These supplied the rivers with the much-needed run-off for the fish and wildlife throughout the summer. Even the life-long residents of the Valley are saying they have never seen a year like this. We are now in the fall of the year and continue to have daily rains.
There is a Shoshone sponsored Ghost Dance held every year just north of Missoula MT in Lubrect Forest. Usually it is a beautiful time of the year with crisp cool nights and fall colors throughout the forest. In the fall of 2004, it was cold and wet. I was asked by one of the spiritual leaders of the dance if I could do a Splitting the Clouds ceremony so the dance would not be rained on.
I went into the ceremonial lodge on my property and sat with the Thunder Pipe. I asked it if it would help the people at this dance. I felt its agreement, much as one married partner can sense what the other partner is feeling without a word. The instructions I received from the Pipe were that it would be improper to ask for the rain to stop, since it was through this Pipe that the request for rain was made in the first place. Instead, it directed me to do an Undoing ceremony, wherein I was to “undo” the connection of the earth water with the sky water for just that area and for just three days. The dance grounds were to be marked for the spirits with a piece of lightning-struck wood tied with specific colored ribbons.
One other thing I would like to mention is that I often ask for someone I know and trust to join me in the ceremony, even if they are not able to physically be with me. In this case, I asked Tim and Hermi, a young Cherokee man and his wife who live in Austria, to pray with me at the designated time, (with appropriate adjustments made for the time difference). Tim received a vision during the ceremony that explained the ceremony’s outcome. When I talked to him the following day on the phone, he said that he saw an osprey circling over the dance grounds and that there was water dripping off of its wings. As you will see, it was a perfect visual of what actually took place.
I arrived right before the Ghost Dance was to start and was setting things up for the ceremony in an area to the west of the dance circle. The rain that had been falling steadily for several days had stopped just before I arrived. The sky was dark with low-lying clouds that looked as if they would start a deluge at any moment. I needed an assistant to help with the sage and sweet grass but everyone was busy getting things ready to start the dance. I asked if anyone could help me with the ceremony and a young Blackfoot boy named Samson volunteered. I have to say I feel the main reason the Pipe wanted to do this ceremony had more to do with impacting this young man's life and less to do with the Ghost Dance itself.
After we finished the Pipe part of the ceremony, I had Samson pour water from a well on the property onto a spot next to the dance circles edge. I stuck the spike made from the lightening struck wood into the ground followed by the tip of the Thunder Pipes bowl. I then did the required “undoing” part of the ceremony.
This done, we then went to put the ashes left over from the smudge and Pipe into the sacred fire in the middle of the circle. As I put the ashes in the fire, a light rain started to drizzle. I was a bit perplexed that the Thunders would encourage me to do this ceremony and then for it to start to rain. I wondered if it might be just their way of putting my ego in its place….. again.
As I asked the Thunders why it was raining, they reminded me the outcome of the ceremony was their business, not mine and they wanted the dancers to appreciate what they were doing for them. This was not exactly what I wanted to hear, I would have rather passed on a message like “It will stop raining for exactly 36 hours”, but I passed the information on anyway and left for home. This is an example of being available to do what the Pipe directs and not getting too hung up over the outcome.
The further I drove away from the area, the harder it poured! I live about two hours away from the dance grounds and it rained almost non-stop at my house for the next three days. I was a bit worried about what was happening at the dance but kept reminding myself that no matter what happened it was as it should be. As it turned out, it rained through out the whole weekend, except when the dancers came to the circle to dance. Every time they did it stopped. It would rain all around the area but the circle did not receive any. At the end of the dance, the man in charge of the fire pulled up the wooden spike I had placed in the ground. He followed my instructions and put the spike in the fire to be burned. The smoke from it sent a message up to the Thunders that the dance was over and that the “boundary” was dissolved. Needless to say, shortly afterwards the rain started and continued to pour. So you see, the vision of the osprey was correct. It did protect the dancers, but water still dripped on them through out the weekend.
Now I want to tell you about little Ashton. Ashton is a two-year-old boy in Kansas City, Mo. He was born with serious heart defects; ones the doctors said would kill him before he had lived but a few years. I have never met him, but heard about him through his grandfather, who is a member of the “Keepers” mentioned earlier. His grandfather, Don, had requested prayers for him just before the annual gathering of the group in Pipestone at the end of July, 2004. On our trip from Montana to Pipestone, I felt the Pipe saying it wanted to intercede for Ashton. Now I would never think of giving someone false hope in a situation like this, but I have come to know that when the Pipe speaks this way, the outcome has always been dramatic and effective.
We arrived late at night so I did not get a chance to talk with Don. We heard he was leaving to return home early the next morning because Ashton was in the hospital again and was not expected to live more than a few days. I thought I had missed the chance to offer to pray with Don using the Pipe. However, as I was getting a cup of coffee from another camp the next morning, Don came into the camp to say a last goodbye before hitting the road. I took him aside and asked if he would like the Pipe to be used in a healing ceremony for Ashton. He readily agreed and offered the Pipe an honor gift of tobacco.
There were about six of us who gathered in a small circle between two tipis to perform the ceremony. It was a powerful and moving experience for all involved. Don gave me a hug and jumped into his truck for the long drive home. The next morning we got a phone call from Don. He was so excited. He said that when he arrived at his daughter’s house, he was greeted at the door by a happy and energetic Ashton who had been unexpectedly released from hospital because of a sudden and dramatic “recovery”!
We were all overjoyed by this news, and for the next few days the whole gathering in Pipestone took on an air of excitement. There were several ceremonies scheduled to take place over the next few days and with this answer to the Pipe, the enthusiasm among all those gathered was high. That evening the thunder clouds rolled in. Throughout the weekend we were surrounded by amazing lightning shows and strange weather, but it only rained on us during one night that we were there.
This is not the end of Ashton’s story. Over the next few weeks he had to go back to the hospital for tests and observation. To the amazement of all, his heart simply repaired itself. Yesterday I got a letter from Don confirming the continued recovery of Ashton. I wonder what kind of special gift to the world this child will be. I do not doubt that he will help change it into a better place, as so many other “miracle” babies have done before him.
