Summer Reading VII, Home of the Nez Perce

MEMORIES OF THE HOMELAND OF THE NEZ PERCE
By Lorae Ireland

In August of 1993, I moved to Enterprise, Oregon. That night there was a terrible thunderstorm with high winds and lightning which killed three horses in various places and hit the pay phones in town. (I spent the winter there: My landlord and I built a sweat lodge in the backyard and held weekly sweats for six every Friday night. We would climb out of the searing heat to break the ice in the horse trough and jump in. EEWW! On New Year's Eve, nearly the whole town spent the night skating on a frozen lake in the moonlight.)

Two weeks later, in the evening I stood on a small hill near the dam to the lake on the old Indian burial ground. In the distance toward the town I saw a lot of Indians on horses coming up to where I was standing. They were dressed in finery and rode horses painted with various signs. Evidently the Nez Perce were there for some ceremony, and I thought, "Here come the People." I looked again, but I saw only wisps of smoke where the Indians on horses had been.

Then I remembered my life as a young woman in Chief Joseph's band; I was about sixteen years old and had a young husband who was killed early on in the fighting on our flight. Although the record says there were no casualties, he was killed at the battle near Whitebird Hill in Idaho. I visited that place in this life, and cried for the rest of the day. As Indians, we were not to show emotion, so I cried now for when I couldn’t then.

When were were given the ultimatum to leave our lands, we had to cross the Snake River in high water in early spring on horses, trying to manage small children and babies. The young men easily held the children on the swimming horses in front of them, but the mothers carried the babies on their backs. Then we lunged and climbed up steep mountains into what is now Idaho.

Joseph (this wasn't his real name) hated fighting and killing and wasn't really all that much of a warrior. The other old men in the tribe, however, were very good at it. Mostly, Joseph was a gentle kind-hearted mystic. His father was my grandfather, so Joseph was a half-uncle of mine. I didn't know him very well, but I was close to Old Grandpa, his father, who had died by that time. And we did not have "chiefs". Sure, on a hunt, the best hunter or hunters would be sort of in charge, same for anything else, but our tribe did NOT have a top-down organization.

On the trail, I helped the old women care for the children and tried to keep them from being scared--hard to do when you're scared yourself. I still have an absolute horror of being out in the wilderness in early snow without proper equipment or food to keep warm. I lasted until the whites moved us back east, then I got TB and died, but mostly I died because I didn't want to live any more.


"Chief" Joseph

from http://www2.gsu.edu/~eslmlm/chiefjoseph.html
the book: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/029574009...glance&n=283155



It was good to come back here and remember our happy times living in this place. In the fall we would move down into the Imnaha Canyon near Hell's Canyon on the Snake River to spend the winter. When spring came, we slowly moved back up to the lake area, taking a week or more and driving many, many horses in front of us. When we reached the top of the trail where we could see the mountains for the first time, we stopped for a day of ceremonies and prayer for the Spirits in the Mountain Peaks.

The land is all cleared now, but back then, the valley was covered with big trees. We stayed away from the lake because that was Sacred Ground, and, other than medicine people, we almost never went up into the high mountain lakes. In the fall, we did go up to the lake for fish which we dried for winter. Now there are summer homes and resorts on this lake, and I’ve heard that there are plans for a development of upscale homes on the moraine.

From Sacred Ground: Ley Lines and Vortices of the American West
http://rapidshare.com/files/13187164/vorti...West_edited.doc

MATTERHORN MOUNTAIN--OR
This mountain of marble is near Joseph, Oregon, a creative magical place and home for many artists. The ley lines crossing this vortex are:

* Mt. Spokane--WA/ Matterhorn Mt./ Mt. Tobin--NV/ on south
* Mt. Shasta--CA/ Matterhorn Mt/ Ronan, MT/ Vortex in Great Bear Wilderness--MT/ Elkhorn, Alberta, CANADA/
* OZETTE, WA/ Ozette Lake--WA/ Mt. Olympus--WA/ Yakima, WA/ Matterhorn Pk/ Grand Canyon of the Snake River

The Bighole Battlefield in Montana is also an important vortex. When I was first locating the vortexes on a large aeronautical map, two of the main ley lines crossed at this spot. It was only later that I realized that this was the Bighole Battlefield, where Joseph and his little band fought and lost :

* MCVAY ROCK south of Brookings, OR/ Eight-Dollar-Mountain--OR/ INDIAN BATTLEGROUND south of Lost Creek Dam--OR/ Rogue River Gorge--OR/ Mt. Scott/ Winema--OR (dv)/ Monument Rock--OR/ BIGHOLE BATTLEFIELD--MT/ BUTTE, MT/ on northeast

* A POINT three miles north of Gualala, CA/ Mt. Lassen--CA/ STEENS MT. AREA/ BIGHOLE BATTLEFIELD--MT/ HELENA, MT (This line defines the northeast-southwest edges of the two triangles of the STEENS MT. AREA.)



Links:

Hiking in the Wallowas:
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_...205/ai_63923449

Beautiful photo of the Wallowas: http://riker.ps.missouri.edu/rickspage/Photo1.html

Chief Joseph: http://members.aol.com/Gibson0817/chiefjo.htm

http://www2.gsu.edu/~eslmlm/chiefjoseph.html

Joseph, Oregon: http://www.josephoregon.com/panoindexpage.htm

Wallowa Mountains:
http://www.oregonphotos.com/pagefourteen-J.html

Photos: http://www.peakbagger.com/peak.aspx?pid=3158
http://sofinesjoyfulmoments.com/wallowa/mtnpics.htm

Photos of the Joseph area. There are art galleries in this little town with $85,000 bronzes...
http://www.pbase.com/tnkbuzan/autumn_in_eastern_oregon__d70

Photos of the Imnaha region of the Grand Canyon of the Snake River
http://community.webshots.com/album/64222250CVxsvm/1






HOME OF THE NEZ PERCE
By Lorae Ireland

Wind from the Universe wanders over Earth
As do I, from place to place and life to life,
Like smoke from fire dancing the eternal dance
To the drum of spirit
In misty shadow and brilliant light.

I return with remembered pain,
With lightning, roaring wind and crashing rain.
I come back,
Softly and gently, caressing with delight
Like warm spring showers
Falling on mountain flowers in rainbow light.

I am in this place, our ancient home,
Land of clearest skies and aquamarine waters,
Land of elk, deer and salmon,
A sacred place, hidden from the world on a high plateau,
The abode of Mighty Spirit in snowy peaks of splendor.

I hike through fir, spruce and singing pine.
Dancing waters carve marble rocks.
The flicker sings, dropping a brilliant feather.
Mountain peaks say "Welcome, welcome back."
Red-Tailed Hawk sails above the valley below.
My heart is full.




SWEAT LODGE
By Lorae Ireland

We build a Medicine Lodge,
Giving prayer to the Red Dogwood,
We gather special rocks below vermilion banks
And from deep hidden canyons.

The lodge is large and strong,
A circle of Good Medicine.

On our knees, we enter the hut
Smoked with sage from a high place.
In the steaming dark,
Rocks glow red and hiss with searing heat.
Shaking rattles,
We pray, we sing, we chant,

We sweat in Pain.
Naked bodies lose all pretense,
Souls are bared and cleansed.
We stagger out to break ice,
Immersing burning bodies in cold water.

Back into the lodge,
We are young children again
when the world was new.
Bright sparkles, mimicking stars above,
fill the steaming lodge.
In the dark mist, spirits speak.

We sing some more,
We give thanks and praise.
Emerging, we are renewed and changed
Shaking with clear glowing light.







TO MOTHER EARTH
By Lorae Ireland

Thou art beautiful in our hearts, and we love thee.
Blessed art thou in all of creation.
The Jewell of the Universe.

We bless thee in the pure rays of the rising sun.
We listen at high mountain springs to the birds of morning
As they sing of hope and promise a new tomorrow.
Dancing water spirits play with rocks of quartz and silver,
Spring flowers in green grasses lift out hearts.

Thy mountains are our hope and our life,
Where angels sing with mighty power from high clear spaces,
And the craigs echo with joy to the orchestra of light,
Heralding the new age to come,
When all our animal teachers will dwell in balance upon thy breast.


Buffalo will return to ancient homelands,
Bringing life and power to the flowing plains,
Below purple clouds and rain,
Where storms of lightning connect to Father Sky above,
Bursts of brilliant energy in the black horizon below moon clouds.

We walk in reverence though ancient forests,
Beneath enormous beings existing in a slower and greater dignity.
We thank them for their love and care.
May they live until the end of time.

The oceans. Oh, the oceans.
How can I speak of the oceans, oh my brothers,
How can I speak of all creation?
It is upon the vast reaches of these wonders
That the winds of time interact with Earth.
Expressing the emotion and creativity in
The Dance of our Divine Mother and Father.

We send our love and protection to our brothers in the sea,
The whales and dolphins who broadcast the state of our world to the stars.
We beg forgiveness for abuses done by others lost in darkness.
And we bless the salmon who connect the land to the sea.
Let not their anger tear apart our continent.
May our good help and intentions return them to traditional waters.

Ho! Let it be so.
All is good. All is well.
Blessed are we to be with thee,
And may we live with thee in harmony and peace forever.



Next: Natural Vortices Compromised
http://unveiling.18.forumer.com/index.php?showtopic=96

Video about the Nez Perce:

http://www.spokesmanreview.com/blogs/video....asp?postID=227