The Sipapu Newsletter from Native American site at BellaOnline.

Greetings to all near and far. I hope you are blessed with a wonderful month of love. February is a time for love and Valentine's Day is coming up fast. Do not forget to give your loved ones a token of your love.

We are experiencing some very cold temperatures at night here in Washoe Valley. The days are still giving us Spring-like weather, but at night we bundle up and cozy in.

Black Elk was one of the greatest spiritual leaders. His words of wisdom still guide people today.

"You have noticed that everything an Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the Power of the World always works in circles, and everything tries to be round. In the old days when we were a strong and happy people, all our power came to us from the sacred hoop of the nation, and so long as the hoop was unbroken, the people flourished. The flowering tree was the living center of the hoop, and the circle of the four quarters nourished it. The east gave peace and light, the south gave warmth, the west gave rain, and the north with its cold and mighty wind gave strength and endurance.

This knowledge came to us from the outer world with our religion. Everything the Power of the World does is done in a circle. The sky is round, and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball, and so are all the stars. The wind, in its greatest power, whirls. Birds make their nests in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours. The sun comes forth and goes down again in a circle. The moon does the same, and both are round. Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing, and always come back again to where they were. The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves. Our teepees were round like the nests of birds, and these were always set in a circle, the nation's hoop, a nest of many nests, where the Great Spirit meant for us to hatch our children."
- Nicholas Black Elk, Oglala Sioux

All of life is a circle and we are part of that circle.

"When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice." - Cherokee Expression

I am still working on my Animal Spirit articles. The latest is "Snake to Squirrel". To read the articles, click on this link: http://www.bellaonline.com/subjects/12087.asp For animals that are not listed in my articles and you would like to discuss, come on by my forum and let us chat about it.

Till next time, my your heart and moccasins follow a path of peace and harmony.
Blessings,
Phyllis
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Phyllis Doyle Burns, Native American Editor
http://nativeamerican.bellaonline.com

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