It is said that peace does not come from absence of conflict in life, but from how you weather the storm.

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In the beginning a spiritual council was formed. This council included representatives from each of the tribal nations, from among all the people of earth. Great Spirit said:

"Through Divine Laws this council will be able to ensure happiness for the people of earth. You are the ones who carry the medicine for the people"

(to which the tribes proclaimed : " but we are not sick") 

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Great Spirit continued: " I have formed this council to maintain order & righteousness. The council has power to increase compassion & love....Because the essence of the council is formed from among you, so you are equipped with all the medicine you need to be well"

To which the people proclaimed: " but you have made everything righteous and everything is in order"

 

Great Spirit continued: "When you find yourself in a struggle, My divine principles will make it easy for you..."

To which the people questioned: "but you did not create us in a struggle? So we will not struggle."

 

Great Spirit continued: " When conflicts arise, the council will use the tools I give them to heal you, and guide you towards a resolution"

To which the people promised: "we do not know this word conflict, so we will not need the tools, and we will not need a healing"

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 TO WHICH GREAT SPIRIT SAID: "Remember me & stay close to me and you will be fine"

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to which the people said: "We will always be close to you because you are right here beside us all the time"

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TO WHICH GREAT SPIRIT SAID: "Just Know that - WE are ONE."

 and in that moment Great Spirit turned and seemingly left the realms of earth. Great Spirit travelled until reaching the edge of the expanses of the universe.

 

And so the legend goes that the people did not understand Great Spirit's words, until later.

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You see, everything was perfect for the first while. Why? Because the people of earth had not yet wandered far from their Creator. Great Spirit was always directly beside them reminding them of this law and that law, in order that they remain happy and content.

Sadly,  as time passed & Great Spirit had been gone awhile, people forgot the Original teachings. People began to disagree. People became self focused, and absorbed in what was best for themselves.

 

So, as the story goes - conflict arose across all the lands. Persons from among all the tribes of earth were battling.  People of the earth became divided in thinking, divided in their hearts. As animosity grew between the people of earth, the earth became filled with mean & hurtful words, until everyone was shouting at each other.

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Fighting took place over many seasons until the people of earth became exhausted. Spring would come, then summer, and after a hard winter, spring would come again, and still the conflict persisted. It spread in many directions, until it permeated the minds and hearts of each individual causing people to go to war and killing many from among each of the nations.

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Much time passed without resolution.  The humans were so entangled in their fighting that they did not notice their loudness was disturbing other of Great Spirit's creations; causing those creatures to become confused:

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goose forgot to fly south for warmth, 

bear did not hibernate, and

artic fox did not grow a white coat for winter

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The people became afarid. They began thinking about bee; Thinking: ' what if spring comes and the bee stops making honey, and we love to eat their honey,but then there is no honey for us to eat?'

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The "medicine carriers" (Real Shamans) - both priests & priestesses of each tribal nation - looked upon the wars with disgrace, and became to be in great sadness. They told the people it was their loud fighting that caused the confusion for all of earths creatures.

"When you yell at each other it becomes hard for anyone to hear the message you wish them to hear! Look! Furthermore, your noise has confused the other Creatures of earth!"

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Despite the best efforts of each tribe, they could not resolve the issue.

Soon after, a sudden wind came up, and it was blowing like it had never done before. It was spitting hail and the sky was near black with the darkness of the hearts of the people.

 

Scared, the people begged the Shamans to enquire of Great Spirit for help. 

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Desperate to guide the people back to righteousness, the shamans set out to pray to Great Spirit to ask that the face of the people be turned away from war. They prayed and prayed until all the leaves of the deciduous trees fell to the ground in autumn.

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The prayer was like this:

" Great Spirit" the situation is very bad on earth, there is no future for our children in this, and the older ones have become tired and weary. Please help us Great Spirit, because the tribes are fighting each other. We declare no one can agree on anything. Every day, and every moment, the people of earth feel fear & worry. It is like a great sickness has befallen us, and we are dying" .

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They concluded the prayer and waited for a sign. After a very long wait, it appeared as if no sign arrived and the people kept fighting- even into the cold winter months.  During the season of the Swan (January & February in our modern calendar) the Shamans laid one stick on a pile to represent each nation that had survived the war up to that point in time. Sadly more than half the tribes had died as a result of the fighting.

 

The shamans scribed a message on each stick and sent the stick to each tribal nation.

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The inscription said:

"The shamans of earth invite you to a spring gathering. We have a solution to the problem. Please put one black bird feather on this stic. Each feather will represent your side of the story. Please only attach ONE feather for each complaint or comment you want heard in settlement discussions. Each tribe will be given a fair chance to speak while every one else is silent, but, there are a few simple rules: Each tribe will only speak on the matters that they tied to the stick. When you get through all the feathers that you tied on the stick, then it will conclude your chance to talk, and we will then move to the next tribes stick of feathers. Thank you ".

 

Each tribe was invited to attend a meeting where a spokesperson from each tribe would sit together to try to settle the dispute. But the shamans were wise. They knew that left without some guidelines in place the tribes would start talking over top of each other again and nothing would get resolved. So in order to ensure equal time to speak to the people and plead their case, each tribe would be given a story telling stick. The stick could be decorated however each tribe wanted, as a means to argue their case. They could use a black feather for each point they wanted to make 

 for each nation to have equal time speaking to prove their case, they would 

As news spread of the upcoming meeting each tribe began to prepare their best arguments for their case.

Each tribe, one after the other would arrive with their leadership holding tightly to their long war staff. The war staff represented the victories and strengths of that particular tribe. It showed how many enemies they conquered and how grossly their enemies had been taken out by them. The staff would be adorned with all kinds of evocative items, many deadly implications of the gruesome way they fought each other.

A very wise prophet from among the Oneness was chosen to go forth to bring a light to the people of earth. He arrived in the form of a flicker bird. He told the people he came with an important tool that would help the people resolve the conflict. 

When the Secwepemc tribe arrived to the gathering, they would also carry a staff, but it was not a war staff. It was not adorned with anything depicting violence or hatred.  Therefore making their intention known to all that they came in peace.

The Secwepemc tribe used flicker medicine in their healing protocols for their 

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The illusion is that we all come from a different place. In reality we are from the ONE and same place, we are all human!

flicker feathers of peace

black feathers depicted all the divisive tools one tribe used against another tribe. (assumptions, judgements, etc

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Flickers are master communicators.

Migrate annually symbolic of how we must also retreat for respite from a conflict in order to reflect or meditate on a matter.