Red-Tailed Hawk and My Seven Fires Vision

Greetings Relatives,

I didn't think much about my heritage when I became an adult, seldom thinking about the medicines Mum taught me or about the Red-Tailed Hawk. In 1972 I moved away from Maine to Isla Vista, California. I got married, moved to Kentucky, had two kids and was divorsed after eight years of marriage. I joined the Navy and got stationed in the Philippines where I met Benny my current wife. Later I got stationed in San Diego and still live there to this day. My Naval job was extremely stressful and I was working 16-18 hours per day, 7 days per week. My son, Alex had just been born when the stress of my job got to me and I suffered a minor heart attack. I didn't want to leave him fatherless so I got out of the Navy after twelve years. I found a job in the local computer industry and remembered the promise I had made to Mum 40 years earlier, that I would pass on my knowledge of my Indian heritage, and the medicine plants, to my children. I started going to a sweat lodge held by a man named Jonathan in an area of San Diego called Madre Grande. I became his fire keeper and started learning the sacred medicine songs and sweat lodge ceremony.

In July of 1997, at 1:00 in the morning, I awoke from a very lucid dream. In this particular dream I was guided by a Red-tailed hawk to an elder's fire. He was wearing very unusual ceremonial regalia, which I later learned was traditional Mi'kmaq Peaked Cap regalia. This elder told me that in his time everything had a name. He explained that even fires had names. I then was presented with a list of native words. I did not know what language - it is possible that it was one of the Wôbanaki (Abenaki, Mi'kmaq, Maliseet or some other related tribe) as that is my heritage. Next to the native words was their English translation.

Here is the list:

Honor
Respect
Honesty
Sharing
Balance
Love
Peace
Family

The elder went on and gave me a directive. At my next Sweat Lodge Ceremony I was supposed to select a name for our fire - and that I would know which name to select when the time came.

That was the end of the dream and when I woke up. I remembered what Mum had told me that whenever I dreamed of, or saw, a Red-Tailed Hawk I should pay very close attention as it was trying to tell me something quite important. So I knew this dream was extremely important and decided to investigate it.

I contacted my friend Carmen. I had not associated my dream with the Seven Fires Prophecy until she reminded me of it. But she also pointed out that there were 8 names in my list, not 7 as in the Seven Fires Prophecy. After searching the Internet, I found an article written in NATIVE-L which does mention the eighth fire. (I will tell you about the Seven Fires Vision in a later post).

Another friend, Bernadette deGonzogue, provided the following information:

"I have here the translation for the eight fires you speak of. My knowledge of the seven fires is about the prophets who led us to the present. The eighth fire will burn again when all men live in peace and brotherhood, and there is a rekindling the old flames of the previous seven fires (Compassion, Honesty, Humility, Wisdom, Health, Respect, Truth and Unconditional love)."

Here are the Abenaki translations that Bernadette found:

Honor-??
Respect - Kwsilawiodw8gan
Honesty - s8bamtkojimziwni
(to) share - waji chajabnigamek
balance - Imobaghigan
Love - Kza8zsow8gan
Peace - s8gnawsad8wadw8gan
Family - nguejigamigzo

The following information was note added 3 years later when I was gifted some other translations of the words thanks to Elie Joubert:

Honor = Kwisilawihodwôgan = The act of giving someone reverence
Sharing = Chajabnigawôgan = The act of separating, dividing, and giving up something
To share = Chajabnigamek = To separate, divide, and give up something
Balance = Wlidbôbata = It is good, not more than the other
Peace = Sôgnowsidôwadwôgan = The act of wishing a calmness for all
Peace = Sôgnawôwzowôgan = The act of those living in tranquility
Family = Lakamigwzoak = They are all of one nature
Compassion = Kedmôgidaômwawôgan = the act of expressing mercy to others
Understanding = Wawidahômwawôgan = the act of expressing comprehension to others
Unconditional Love = Kzalmômek ônda tebakweniganal = to love someone without boundaries
Respect = Kwsilawakamigzowôgan = the act of expressing respect to others
Honesty = Zôbaskidôbawôgan = the act of being a true man
Humility = Piwihozwôgan = the act of making self small
Community = Môwkawôgan = the act of working together as a common group
Fairness = Ntôwnamenawôgan = the act of judging others well
Forgiveness = Anhaldamawôgan = the act of pardoning/absolving others

Well, I told the sweat leader of my dream and he told me to think on it as I had been instructed. We scheduled the Fire Naming for the sweat ceremony that was to be held on Sunday Sept. 28th, a week after the Fall Equinox. I still had not been given what name to use until the day before the ceremony. On that Saturday before our sweat ceremony, I received a piece of e-mail that was an invitation to the Meeting of Elders Gathering and Prayer Vigil that was being held in Washington, D.C. It was to start on Saturday Sept. 27th and last until Sunday the 28th. The e-mail informed me that the leader of the ceremony was Grandfather William Commanda, the holder of the Sacred Seven Fires Wampum Belt, and that he had been lead in vision to discuss the Seven Fires Prophecy and to ceremonially light the Eighth Sacred fire during the Vigil - the fire of the brotherhood of all peoples of all colors - the entire family of the human race.

Well, it was pretty clear that spirit was leading me to name our sacred sweat fire for the word that I was given that meant Family - Nguejigamigzo. We had a very nice ceremony before the sweat, and just talked of the meaning of fire and how it is a means of purification. We talked how our ancestors used fire to burn off the old fields to prepare them for the new crops of the next year.

Jonathan, our sweat leader, told me that my dream was not only for the purpose of learning about the fire-naming, but it also was a personal message to me that I was going to go through a sort of personal purification. Yep, he was right, but that is another story.

By the way, you can find out more about the Prayer Vigil by clicking this link:

Prayer Vigil

As a side note, another friend, Steps In It, has validated my vision that our Abenaki ancestors did indeed name their ceremonial fires with names such as the ones given in my vision. For example, if an argument had occurred in the community resulting in hurt feelings, they would light a fire of anhaldamawôgan = the act of pardoning/absolving others. All that attended the ceremony would know that the "theme" of the evening would be one of pardoning and absolving others.

I was able to contact Grandfather William Commanda through one of his aides and he confirmed that my dream carried the same message as his vision.

That's it for now.
Walk in Peace,
Steve

Copyright © 1995-2008 Stephen L. Miller

Red-Tailed Hawk

Greetings Relatives,

Like I said, we were at St. Charles for about 2.5 years. Mum got better and was able to take us out and care for us again. We moved to Sanford, Maine. When she brought us home I told her that I had been having dreams about the Red-Tailed Hawk. She told me that the Red-Tailed Hawk was my spirit protector that I should always pay very close attention whenever it visited me as it was trying to give me an important message.

She continued taking me out on nature and plant identification hikes to the small woods. Whenever we went we would both look for the Red-Tailed Hawk, and it never failed that one of us would spot one. Whenever I saw one I felt safe and secure – that it was watching out for my safety. Mum always reminded me to pay attention to the Hawk and that to our ancestors it was a sign of strength. Many Indians understand that the Eagle is a spiritual messenger that carries our prayers to Great Spirit. Mum told me this, but then she would add that the Hawk carried messages back from Great Spirit to us.

My friends and I used to go bike riding on the back roads around Sanford. There were about six of us and we liked to go riding on new roads, often dirt, as often as possible. I would always look up into the sky before the ride to see if my friend, the Hawk, was soaring above. On this one particular day, I could not spot one so I was quite uneasy. I told my friends I didn’t think we should go riding on this particular road. They asked me why and I explained that my I could not spot my spirit guide, the Hawk, soaring above and that I didn’t feel comfortable – that it may not be safe. They all started laughing at me, making fun of me and saying I was a superstitious Indian. Even though I was still uncomfortable, I didn’t like my friends making fun of me so I told them that I would go. So off we went. This was a dirt road that we had spotted near Sand Beach which was about half way to Wells Beach. None of us had ever been on it before, but it looked like a good road as it was twisty, bumpy and had some good uphill climbs. We especially liked these kinds of roads as they often had the types of hills we could ride really fast on and we could feel butterflies in our stomachs as we rode over the top of a crest.

We were all laughing and joking (still making fun of me and my spirit guide). I was second in the pack and we were going up a steep hill really fast. We could see the crest a short distance away so we all really started pedaling as hard and fast as we could anticipating the thrill of going back downhill. My friend Gregory was leading us. He was a short distance ahead of me, and he was first to reach the top of the hill. As he was about to go over the top when from out of nowhere a Red-Tailed Hawk shot out in front of him, wings and talons outstretched and let out an ear-piercing screech. Gregory was so shocked that he immediately fell to the ground. I hit his bike and also fell down, and everyone else crashed into us and also fell down. When we got up we looked at the road ahead of us. About 5 feet in front of Gregory was a 70 foot drop-off! The road we had chosen to ride on was a mining road. Had the Hawk not frightened us we would have all gone over the edge. My friends all looked at me and then looked at the Hawk as it soared away, then they looked back at me. We were all dumb-founded, realizing that the Hawk, my spirit guide, had saved all of our lives. They all apologized for making fun of me. From that day forward whenever we went bike-riding, we would all look for the Hawk and if we didn’t spot it we wouldn’t go. I would always remember Mum’s words that whenever I saw a Hawk (or in this case – didn’t see one) I should pay particular attention as it was trying to tell me an important message.

Years later, I found out that Hawks need to hunt in areas that have not had the ecosystem destroyed. The strip mine had done exactly that and this was the reason I had not initially seen any Hawks soaring above the area. However, this does not explain why that one Hawk that frightened us was in the area. The only explanation I have for this is that the Hawk was watching out for, and protecting me.

To this day I think of Hawk as a friend, brother, teacher, companion, guide, mentor, and Manitou.

Until next time, walk in peace,
Steve

Copyright © 1995-2008 Stephen L. Miller