Kayas (a long time ago), at the edge of the Atlantic Ocean, the people lived close to the grandfather, an old man had cleared brush and made a great garden. One night, the old man had a dream about not letting just anyone come into his garden. The next morning, he made a fence all around his garden. The fence was tall and people could not see what he was doing in that garden. Everyone was suspicious and teased him about his garden. Now, the thing was, he did not have any seed to grow in that garden. They teased him so badly that he finally got angry and refused to go to fish camp with the people. He stayed home and pulled weeds and made that garden plot look as beautiful as a meadow cut into the forest.
He was so lovingly taking care of that empty field, that soon there were plants springing up in the garden even though he never had any seed to plant anything. It happened that what was growing all looked the same. He was perplexed but knew he had dreamed to make the garden plot and had done so. And his loving care made a certain plant, growing there, rise tall and strong. Soon it grew so tall that people began to notice. Even neighboring people of the Delaware came to see his beautiful garden. When they asked how it came to be, he told him that the garden was made because of a dream he had had and he did not know anything other than to tend to the garden and the certain plant that grew there. It was such a mystery because the Great Spirit had planted it for he had not.
The Chief of the neighboring people said there was a man in their tribe that had dreamed the same dream and had grown the same herb. The old man asked how the people used the herb. The neighboring Chief took the old man aside and said, that, if Creator had told him, in a vision, to make the garden, then he should also know how to use it. The Old man was perplexed. He had not been told anything more than to make a garden. The chief told him, that if the Creator did not tell him how to use it, by fall, that he would bring his man and they would show him how they were told to use theirs. When the neighboring Chief and his men left, the old man was very concerned. Why had he not been told how to use the plant?
He fasted for two days, and prayed, and finally the Creator did visit him and told him to gather the leaves of this plant and told him how to dry them and burn them to pray with. He was also told to smoke the dried leaves in a pipe. He was told that the plant was very sacred and should be offered at every gathering of the people and used every time the old man was on a dream quest, a vision quest.
After this dream, the old man went to the black cliffs and got some black stone to made himself a pipe. But, he had no idea how to do that and so he went to the Chief and asked for help. The Chief showed him how to gather a long dry branch of wood and how to carve a stem for the pipe. He taught him how to make a rectangular stone bowl out of the black rock that would be the bowl of the pipe. While they were working, the Chief pulled out his own pipe and showed the man how to light it. The old man took a long draw off the pipe and the sweet taste of the herb and it was good.
That fall, he began to harvest his plants and dried them. He had his wife make a pouch to hold his pipe and the sacred herb he had dried and prepared for smoking. When his people came back from the camp and settled back into their village, they asked what that tall plant was that had grown in the secret garden. They tasted it and he shared his pipe so they could smoke some. They did not know what to call the plant but knew that the plant was definitely sacred.
Soon others of his tribe began to harvest his crop and he went to the Chief and asked that he tell everyone to stop taking the plant. The Chief knew the plant to be sacred and so he went around the whole village telling everyone to stop taking the plant. He told them they had to wait until the old man would tell them how to use it properly.
Another dream came to the old man while he was tending his garden. In this dream he heard the voice of The Creator. He was thanked for making the garden as he was told in his first dream. He was told that he must always listen to his dreams and do as the dreams tell him. He was told how to use the tobacco in ceremony and in every day life. Afterwards, he invited everyone to come to a feast. There he passed on what he had been taught. And it was good. Everyone was so happy to have the blessing of tobacco. The man gave everyone that came some seeds from his garden now that he had told them how to use it. Before long, the seeds had been gifted to all people from many tribes. Many kinds of pipes were made to honor the sacred herb and Creator who had shared such strong medicine. Every time a prayer was said by anyone of the people, tobacco was burned, pipes were shared. The ceremonies became stronger and stronger. But, then, the conquerors came.
They stopped the ceremonies but they did not stop the tobacco. They took the tobacco from the people and the fields. They did not use tobacco when they prayed. They did not use it for sacred ways. The tobacco they smoked became sick and made them sick. Only a few of the real people knew how and when to use tobacco and they are careful not to share the many uses with others who would not use it correctly. ***Potawatomi story
One of the first things I was taught was how to smoke tobacco. My first lesson was about not having bad thoughts, or conversations, when smoking. We were all standing outside, in the smoking area, and crabbing, and, sometimes gossiping, while we smoked. All of a sudden something made us all cough at the same time. One of the sisterfriends told us we were being told to shut up. She explained how powerful tobacco was and our bad thoughts about others would come back on us if we did not stop. Tobacco is nothing to toy with. It is used as gifts when we pick herbs. It is used in the prayer as we offer tobacco. Tobacco ties can be found in a certain place in my trees that hold my prayers for my girl who is walking the journey towards purity in the next place we go to. I keep Grandmother tobacco (pure uncut leaves) for use when I need the pure power. I offer tobacco when asking questions or make requests of another of the people. I offer tobacco to the smudge bowl when I pray. I offer tobacco to the fire I smudge myself with. Although I do smoke, I know the difference between tobacco that is sacred and tobacco that is not pure. Real raw tobacco is used for healing and purifying and spiritual reasons. And, lately, I have dropped tobacco three times. I am being given a warning. It is time for me to use tobacco in the right way again. I have not smudged lately as I have been working hard on grief work and have not felt worthy of using it. It is time. The lesson is taken. I shall be smudging night and mornings in the right way not just going out for my first morning smoke and my evening smoke. It is time for me to get another pipe (It is custom to give away everything when you lose your partner and I lost mine in 2015. I felt as if I also lost the right to use tobacco. I was wrong and it has made me sick. I need the sacred blessing of traditional tobacco again.)
Traditional tobacco is not inhaled. Offering tobacco is a respectful way of sacredly making a request or for showing gratitude. Tobacco of any kind is to be treated with great respect and even the butts must be taken care of properly not thrown on the ground or in an ashtray. It is never used in the careless way we use commercial tobacco. It is used in a way like sacrament, like the taking of wafers at church, making a contact with Creator.
I learned, at university, in one of the Native Studies courses I took, that all four colors of man were given ways to pray and do ceremony. Yellow people were given the incense. Red people were given tobacco, sage and woods. Black people were given song and dance. White people were given words. It was prophesized long long ago, that when Mother Earth became sick of us, it would be because we turned those sacred medicines into not good things. If you think about it. Opium and the inhaled drugs are using that yellow medicine the wrong way. People are using tobacco without thought that it is sacred. Song and Dance has become not good; the words are not good; the dance has been made not good in many ways. And words…oh, yes, rote prayers without connection to Creator…the way words are used to hurt… we have bastardized sacred words, titles, etc. The only way to heal all is to make those medicines sacred as a whole people...the honor of one being the honor of all.
There are many many protocols around tobacco, it’s use, its use as offerings, the way to pass tobacco, the way to take tobacco. I am only skimming the bare surface of how we should use it and not use it. I hope you all get the chance to be around medicine people, that you will take the opportunity to be around them, and learn the many ways. We can learn all the rest of our lives and not get all the information. May we take the time to know what we can.
©Carol Desjarlais 10/19.23
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