It's A Miracle! Recently several close friends and I made a pilgrimage to the little town of Janesville, Wisconsin. We took a country lane out to a small farm just across the road from slowly flowing river, and there, on a quiet and misty day, visited Miracle - a female white buffalo calf, born long after the usual spring calves on August 20, 1994. Her nose is black, her eyes are black, the tip of her tail is black, and the rest a totally rare white. She looks as though her mother had intimate connection with an ermine in his beauteous winter coat! Such a white coat is even more rare than an albino, which would display pink nose and light eyes. There has not been such a one born for sixty years or so; the most famous and long-lived (many have very short lives) was a male called Big Medicine who spent his years on the Allard/National Bison Range near Moise, Montana. Big Medicine died years ago and is on permanent display in the Montana Historical Museum in Helena. Fulfillment of Prophecy The real miracle is not just her rare whiteness; she is a powerful spiritual symbol to many native peoples. She is the completion of an old, old prophecy which was given when White Buffalo Calf Pipe Woman made her mysterious and profound visit to the Lakota people, bringing the sacred pipe and giving seven sacred rites to help two-leggeds live well upon this sweet Mother Earth. This happened long, long ago when the Lakota people lived a rather settled existence in forested areas east of the Great Plains. White Buffalo Calf Pipe Woman taught that each day and all things are sacred, blessed by the great Mother Life; and that we should therefore respect, honor, and commune with all things in the Circle of Life. She spoke of walking in a holy manner - a way of wholeness and vital integrity with all things and beings in all the realms of life. She reminded the people that whatever we do to any other thing or being in the Circle of Life, we do to ourselves - for we are One. Her message was that of a deep sacred ecology - through which consciously working together, all things are assured of continuing and vital life. She reminded us that without this communion, cooperation, sharing, and unity, we would not be able to move through this old time into a new one. Before leaving those Lakota people, she prophesied that she would return, and bring the message of peace, unity and wholeness again. Now, as we stand in the midst of immense destruction, brought about by our lack of good relationship with all things, her message is especially poignant. And voila! Miracle appears, to urge us to walk in White Buffalo Calf Pipe Woman's ways before it is too late for much of the beauty of Mother Earth to remain-when we two-leggeds are in danger of removing ourselves from this sweet planet with our cancerous overpopulation and our ravenous, disrespectful appetites. Message For All People It is very interesting that she was born to a non-Indian farm family in the Midwest who own about 14 buffalo - who'd a thunk it!! This is itself was part of the message of unity and coming together across racial lines. If Great Spirit had so intended, she could easily have been born in the great herds of South Dakota or on one of the reservations - then the Native American people could have felt some "private ownership" of her and her message. But no, she was born to a wonderful, simple family who did not even know of her symbolic stature; yet they have found it in their hearts to keep her, protect her, open their small farmyard to as many as 2,000 people a day for months-even after being offered many thousands of dollars for her! The native elders who came flocking to visit were overjoyed to see her, and deeply moved by the message she brought: now is the beginning of the new time of peace, and we must all make it real by learning to respect each other across not only racial lines, but lines of kingdom and realm. From the "highest" spirit to the deepest stone, all must be respected-all are alive with creator's intelligence, and other kingdoms and realms (spirit, deva, animal, plant . . . . .) are anxiously awaiting for us as two-leggeds to step fully conscious into the Circle of Life. When we do, more miracles than a little white buffalo calf await us!! There is magic afoot, waiting only upon our willingness to cooperate. Living The Oneness For me, seeing her reinforced the ideas I shared in Buffalo Woman Comes Singing, especially in the final chapter "Carrying Her Pipe Of Oneness." Her presence encouraged me to live more fully what I know of the harmonious, magnificent way of life White Buffalo Woman portrayed for us. She underscores the importance of unity across racial lines rather than fighting over "spiritual property"; of actually getting down to work with the spirit/devic realms as people like Machaelle Small Wright is doing at Perelandra and Dorothy McLean reported at Findhorn; of awakening to sustainable living and building as Bill Mollison shares in his Permaculture work , Michael Reynolds through his Earthship building , all those working with materials like straw bales and systems of solar and wind power , and Tim Binder who, along with many others, researches a new and sustainable science/technology . Is She Real? Another powerful part of her message is being expressed through her turning brown as she loses her baby coat. Some have taken this to mean that she wasn't "real" and we can disregard her message. Lots of attention is paid to her genes and her lineage, all the while ignoring the clarion call of her message-peace and unity for all. This ignorance is even more poignant when you realize that when White Buffalo Calf Pipe Woman came originally, she was a white buffalo calf for only a few minutes at most, yet her message still echoes down through time to people all across the globe . In her form as a woman, she shared with the Lakota people; then upon leaving she turned several different colors and ages and sexes of buffalo-each one for only a brief moment in time. So don't bother to worry yourself with whether she is "real," spend your precious time and energy attending to your own walk in the world each day. If you are creating separation, competition, fear, division, conflict or discord, you are living in an old time that is rapidly passing. If you are living in oneness, harmony, cooperation, sharing, unity, sister/brotherhood, respectfulness and good relationship, you are in the new time. And that's a Miracle. I have spoken. Brooke Medicine Eagle by Brooke Medicine Eagle
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