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Ted Silverhand the Seer (Sight beyond Sight)
In this free E-Book, Tuscarora (6 Nations) seer Ted Silverhand shares his wisdom and memories from the Red Road. Ted has worked side-by-side with Rolling Thunder, Mad Bear Anderson, Twylah Nitsch, William Commanda, Sara Smith, Dennis Banks, Beeman Logan, Dan George, Semu Huaute and many others. Essential teachings on Native American Spirituality are archived in this free E-Book, preserved for posterity. Aho!
Now available in print or on Kindle via Amazon.com.
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Learning Indian Medicine from Eleazar Williams
One of the great Tuscarora medicine men was Eleazar Williams (1880-1968), a Sachem Chief of the Turtle Clan. He studied medicine under the tutelage of Juh G’wa Dee (Cayuga) from the 6 Nations reserve in Canada.
Eleazar was the father of Mad Bear’s friend, Ted Williams (1930-2005). Just like Peter Mitten, Mad Bear (Medicine Man) had a high degree of respect & admiration for Eleazar and the lighthearted, yet humble way in which he practiced Native American medicine.
The Williams family had a great sense of humor and they were fun to be around. This probably had an influence on Mad Bear as well. The Williams, like many Tuscarora families, were both Baptist and traditional. They managed to preserve & maintain their traditional customs & beliefs, while practicing Christianity.
Eleazar, like many medicine men of the time, did his medicine work in private. On the Tuscarora Reservation, the community knew of Eleazar’s practice and some people would seek his assistance from time to time, however, the society at large was fearful of medicine, especially witches. The Salem Witch trials of 1692 drove the practice of medicine underground in many native east coast communities. Some medicine people were even killed by their own people who feared “witches”.
Mad Bear was a student of Eleazar, although at this time we don’t know too much about the personal interactions they had together. Eleazar wasn’t a traveling companion, like Peter Mitten was to Mad Bear.
Fortunately, his son Ted witnessed a lot of his father’s amazing medicine work and overheard many of his medicine stories.
Medicine runs in the William’s family. Ted had an uncle, Charley, who was gifted at medicine as well. Among Charley’s many talents, he had the ability to communicate with birds and to heal people through prayer. To support his family, Charley couldn’t afford .22 bullets to hunt with, so he learned how to charm (hypnotize) his animal prey by pointing his finger in their direction and freezing them right in their tracks.
Ted Williams was a happy-go-lucky individual like his father. He actually devoted himself to medicine himself, late in life. He became a member of the False Face Society in 1970 and passed on some of his wisdom teachings through two published books; “The Reservation” (1976) & “Big Medicine from Six Nations” (2007).
Ted’s work is very much appreciated, considering that the old Tuscarora language, culture and living traditions are disappearing, lost to written history. Ted was dedicated to keeping alive the traditional wisdom of his people. He adamantly stated, “If the Tuscaroras need something and want it back, it will come back.”
Michael Bastine became a friend of Ted’s in the 1990’s and he told many stories to him about his father. The stories that he & Mad Bear would share about Eleazar gave Michael the impression that this man’s medicine was indeed legendary.
MEDICINE OF STEEL
Eleazar’s nickname in the 20’s & 30’s, up on the Tuscarora Reservation, was “Steel Plant”. As an herbalist (medicine man) he knew that in the wild, certain plants would be accompanied by almost identical looking plants that would grow close by. The latter is the plant that contains the “medicine of steel” with greatly enhanced strength; it hides by growing next to closely identical plants. Eleazar would often pick the plants that grew in this special combination, and so, his medicine was “made of steel”.
Eleazar eventually bequeathed a small grey accountant book over to Mad Bear that was kept hidden most of the time. After Mad Bear had passed, Ted Williams, later on, wanted to find this book because in it contained many of his dad’s secret instructions for collecting medicinal herbs. Ted knew his request was too late, because after Mad Bear crossed over, his house was unfortunately ransacked & looted. Everything of value to Mad Bear was taken out of the house.
BRING BACK “BLUE DOG"
When Ted Williams was a young boy, 6 or 7 years old, a new puppy come into his life, named “Blue Dog”. While Ted’s dad was at work, Blue Dog ran out into the street and was hit by a car. Blue Dog had died.
Eleazar soon arrived home and received the sad news from his son who was in tears. Ted was crying really bad. He just loved that little puppy. He asked his dad, understanding that Eleazar had special abilities, “Dad, can you anything? This is the best dog I have ever had. He was such a great dog.” Ted’s crying & pleading continued up to the point where his dad was so emotionally moved that he gave in and agreed to collect some medicine for Blue Dog.
When Ted’s dad returned, they crushed up the medicine together. Eleazar then mixed in a little water with herbs, and then while chanting in Tuscarora, he opened up Blue Dog’s mouth and pushed the medicine in. He then began to massage the puppy.
Shortly, thereafter, Blue Dog began convulsing & shaking his body. Eleazar instructed Ted, “Don’t hold Blue Dog, he’s going to get sick.” Ted wanted to hold Blue Dog but he listened to his dad and followed his instructions.
Blue Dog then staggered over to the bushes and started heaving. After the puppy left the bushes he started wagging his tail. Blue Dog took a long nap that day; he was now back into Ted’s life.
Eleazar had a talk with Ted about the doctoring he performed on Blue Dog. He said, “I don’t like to do stuff like that. We shouldn’t turn back the pattern of the Creator just because we want to.” Then Eleazar explained the concept of free will and the way that the Creator balances things. He also assured Ted that “the Creator won’t let us do anything that would tip the balance of things.”
EXPOSING THE GERMAN SABOTEURS
During the early 1940’s, Eleazar worked at the Bell Aircraft Corporation (aerospace) near Buffalo, New York. They did research on aerodynamics & flight; trying to figure out how to make planes travel faster. The facility employed German engineers.
Eleazar knew that some of these Germans were sabotaging the company’s research. He didn’t know exactly which ones were doing it.
At home, Eleazar pulled out his Ouija (Weegie) Board. He would use this board on rare occasions, usually to find missing items. Eleazar then lit some incense and chanted in Tuscarora. He asked the board to name who the saboteurs were. The Ouija Board directed him to the letters on the board that spelled out the names of the Germans who were guilty of sabotage. Eleazar turned 2 or 3 names over to his bosses when he returned to work.
The company bosses started watching the German engineers who were named by Eleazar. Sure enough, they caught the German saboteurs in the act of destroying company property & research.
EVEN NIAGARA FALLS MAFIA DESERVE SOME DOCTORING
Up in the Niagara Falls area, tourism brought in a lot of money to the area and the mafia had a piece of the action. One time they came to Eleazar and said, “We have someone who is very sick and we want to know if you will help him.” He told them to bring the guy over and he’ll see what he can do. Eleazar doctored the guy and he recovered. The Mafia was so grateful they said, “Whatever you want, you got it. You just tell us whatever it is.” Eleazar told them, “I don’t need anything. I have everything I ever needed in this life.”
Eleazar’s response was not something the Mafia was used to hearing. They kept on coming by Eleazar’s house in their big limos, attempting to offer him money or to take him out to eat. Eleazar explained that they made a small donation after he performed his doctoring. This covered the amount he spent on herbs used for the healing. According to Eleazar, this satisfied the exchange and everything is OK. He said, “If I accept anything more I’m going to lose my ability to help people.”
WITCHCRAFT PRE-WORLD WAR II
In the 6 Nations, the term “witch” and “witchcraft” refers to the practice of using “black magic”, as in the use of magic involving the invocation of evil spirits for evil purposes. Much of this practice has died out. The secrets of this trade have not been passed down to the younger generation. Eleazar’s generation, and Mad Bear’s to some degree, was the last to experience the scary phenomenon of witchcraft.
Some witches were frauds. They pretended to have great medicine in order to make money. However, there were some real legit witches that had incredible powers, like having the ability to shoot objects into other people’s body. This was especially true in Canada.
Eleazar Williams was married to 2 other women, prior to marrying Ted’s mother. The previous women had both passed away. One died of a tumor. The other was certainly witched. One evening, Eleazar’s wife woke up in the middle of the night, letting out screams and fainting. As soon as she was back conscious, she sat down on the toilet and excreted out of her body a six-inch shiny black lizard.
This terrifying experience most likely prompted Eleazar to practice medicine; to counter the common witches of his day.
Another story of witchcraft was told by Eleazar. He knew a medicine man, Chief Pat Sandy (Cayuga), from the Six Nations reserve in Canada. A woman came to him with great pain coming from her back. She had been witched! Pat removed a one-inch thorn that was lodged in her back.
Pat, using his intuition, rolled the thorn up in a strip of cloth and dipped it into a batch of medicine he prepared. He then pushed the thorn & cloth into an emptied out shotgun shell. Pat instructed her to place this shell into her gun and at dawn, the following morning, shoot the shell, to the east, at a 45 degree angle. He said she wouldn’t be bothered after that.
Sure enough, the witch left the lady alone. Now, however, the witch was bothered and in pain. She appeared at Chief Pat Sandy’s doorstep. Ironically, the witch wanted his help to remove the thorn that was now lodged deep into her back.
ELEAZAR WILLIAMS & THE LITTLE PEOPLE
Eleazar Williams was reputed to have had a lifelong guide & tutor among the Little People (Elves). His relationship with the Little People began when he was a child. One day when Eleazar was a boy, his father had no one to watch over his son. He had to go to work that day cutting down trees, which is a dangerous job. Afraid that his venturesome boy would get hurt hanging out at the lumberyard, he dropped young Eleazar off at a “special tree”. His dad instructed Eleazar, “Just wait by the tree till I’m out of sight. You’ll have playmates all day.”
As Eleazar’s dad’s horse & carriage pulled away, Little People began to appear in front of young Eleazar. They were coming out from the other side of the tree, as if they had a doorway back there somewhere. They played all day. It was magical & delightful! The Little People taught him lessons about nature and he was assigned a friend who played at his side the whole time. When young Eleazar’s dad could be seen approaching in the distance, the Little People went back into hiding.
WILLAMS MEDICINAL UNDERSTANDINGS: CANCER CURE
Through Ted’s later medicinal work and reflection on his father’s practice, we have greatly benefited by gaining a better understanding of herbal medicine.
Ted recalls seeing pharmaceutical drug representatives visiting his father, Eleazar, and attempting to bribe him for his remedy to cure Cancer. Each time he refused their dirty money. Eleazar understood that their motive was financial gain and not healing. These drug companies would rather shelve a Cancer cure, than freely release the cure into the hands of the public, which would deplete their customer base.
Eleazar also understood that the medicinal herbs are living conscious entities that have a choice in the matter. Even if he did pass on his remedy to the drug companies, the herbs would probably not have behaved in that manner that the drug companies would expect. They would have been ineffective.
WILLAMS MEDICINAL UNDERSTANDINGS: GATHERING PROTOCOL
In order for medicinal herbs to work the practitioner needs a pure heart & pure intention first. Then, in private, without being watched, the practitioner must talk to the herbs and seek their assistance in the medicine work. If they are in agreement, the practitioner should then proceed to take only what is needed for his procedure, and only if there is enough plant medicine growing to be picked in the first place. The last step is for the practitioner to leave behind a proper exchange, like Sacred Tobacco.
Certain great & powerful plant medicines are very touchy. They cannot have anyone with the least bit of disbelief in them, see them. Nor can you speak of them to anyone who has this disbelief. Disbelief dilutes any plant medicine to the degree of the disbelief.
Plant medicine should not be made fun of and teased; otherwise, they might completely disappear from the location where they were previously gathered. They hide!
WILLAMS MEDICINAL UNDERSTANDINGS: SACRED TOBACCO
Plant medicine is also aware if you are bringing them a gift of Sacred Tobacco (Nicotiana Rustica) or a comparable exchange, like a pre-1964 silver coin. Sacred Tobacco likes to hide as well, and sometimes it will not grow, if the practitioner does not have purity in thought & action. Certain plant medicine will hide until they sense the presence of Sacred Tobacco.
When Ted’s father moved houses, at a distance of 2 or 3 miles, he found that his Sacred Tobacco which had grown in his previous yard, had transported itself, on its own accord, into his wife’s new flower garden. Mother Nature is a mystery and Sacred Tobacco is held in high regard in her plant kingdom.
[Post by Mackboogaloo]
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CYGM MISSION STATEMENT
CYGM is promoting the “Conscious” expression of Youth through the Arts.
CYGM is inspiring the Youth to create artistic content that is “Conscious”; meaning it has an inspirational “upbeat” message that is morally or spiritually elevating; speaks to the heart, mind, body and soul. These energetic messages foster personal development and leadership skills, which are a great benefit to the community.
Unique to CYGM is its commitment to pass on the core traditional values & principles that have been carried for thousands of years by the “The Elders” for our genuine safety & security.
“The Elders” are wise men and women, grandmothers & grandfathers, teachers & healers, prophecy keepers & storytellers who carry sacred indigenous (tribal) teachings. This is “lost” ancestral knowledge, which we call Original Instructions, in accords with the Laws of Nature, which are not taught in today’s classrooms.
CYGM does not promote or affiliates itself with social activist causes (Climate Change, Politics, Racial Equity, etc.) or Religion, its focus is strictly spiritual and encourages creativity & personal development.
CYGM is partnering with other like-minded organizations & artists that desire to create specific content that is in alignment with CYGM’s Mission statement. This is a Call-to-Action! Join in the fun!
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We must gather our Nations together (call-to-action)
Read this free definitive E-Book on Inter-Tribal Unity efforts led by Mad Bear Anderson (Tuscarora), which started as a collaboration between the Hopi and the Iroquois, named the AMERICAN INDIAN UNITY MOVEMENT (1950’s–1980’s). This is lost history the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) does not want you to know. And almost lost Indian Medicine knowledge that the world must not forget!
(1972 Unity Caravan, Utah)
[First Inter-Tribal Unity gathering… American Indians & White Americans meet]
Speaker/Mad Bear: Time is ever so short! You must, right now straighten this out, between yourself, the Creator and my people. We are gathering our nations together! You must gather yours together! To return back to the spiritual way of life; to return back as the Creator has intended. Or this whole world will be destroyed.
We are here today under our grandfather the Sun who is our witness and we have come here to deliver a message to all of you people, to all of our brothers & sisters to tell you that there are many things that are happening in this world now, and that we who are close to the forces of nature, close to the land and the spirits, and close to the Creator, know how to interpret these things, according to our prophecies.
Our Unity Caravan to begin with, began on August 21, 1967, at the Tonawanda Indian Reservation, near Bethany, New York. We called an emergency council, an emergency convention. We sent notices to all of our brothers & sisters, to come and meet with us because we saw a great problem facing our people. At that time, there was a bill, which was introduced into Congress. It was known as the Indian Resources and Development Acts of 1967.
Many of our nations refer to this bill as the Termination Bill or the Omnibus Bill, because it was so broad in its language, and if this bill would of passed, today, there would not have been an Indian reservation in the United States.
We would have lost all of the very little land, which our people, now, still hold on to, and still value so dearly. We, Indian people, believe that this Earth is our mother, that without her help, all life will die. Everything comes from our mother the Earth. Many times our people have neglected to take care of our mother Earth. Many times our other brothers and sisters from across the waters have not had that feeling from the soul and the heart, and the mind to the attachment of our mother the Earth. And there have been many things that had happened to this country.
There have been vast areas, thousands and thousands of acres of topsoil that has been ruined because of ruthless mining, and all these other things. Our mother the Earth has suffered terribly. Mines have gone in and taken the minerals from her ground. The wealth of these resources has not been put to proper use.
Today, my people, those few in number, representing less than one-half of one percent of the population of this land, are forced to live in poverty. Many of my people do not even enjoy three square meals. Many have no clothes. Many have no shoes. Many are hampered by other things that are respected by the economic world.
But we still are rich, rich in spirit, rich in heart, and rich with a feeling of closeness with the Creator. And according to the prophecies, one day we will stand again as a mighty nation. We are now gathering our people, as it was planned in 1967.
And this North American Indian Unity Caravan has toured its nation, and will be completed on September the 4th of this year at the Kahnawake Mohawk Indian reservation in Montreal, Quebec. We will have completed one hundred and fifty seven thousand miles of travel.
We have met with many nations and many people, and I must tell you people here, the community, that this is the first time that we have permitted a meeting with non-Indian people.
We want you to know this. Time is short! We have to tell you these messages. We are involved, according to our prophecies, with a responsibility of gathering of our Indian nation to salvage something of this world, which is about ready to be destroyed.
We have to do this duty. This is our obligation! And our leaders have told us that we would face many trials. We would face a lot of trouble & difficulties, hardship, and this has happened.
They have told us that we would see this country, as it really is, we would see the people, we would recognize the truth, we would see the fulfillment of prophecies, we would go through high winds, floods, hailstorm, fire, and all these forces of nature, that are now being activated.
Speaker/Mad Bear: Purification can only come about by wind, water and fire. That is what is happening to this land. That is why we tell you there is not much time left. You must get your people together! You must believe this. Because all you have to do is look around and see what has happened.
We are living in a dangerous time! If you continue to ignore this, you will have to pay the supreme price. If you do not get back and consider the first people; my Indian people, you will have to pay this price.
A great spirit has placed us here upon this land with very special instructions. He has told us that Mother Earth was handed to us by her for the protection and for the benefit of our future generations, of our children’s children, who are not yet born.
Today we will wander through the cities. We find hundreds and hundreds of our people, full bloods who have no nation to claim, who have no land to stand on, and who have no religious way of life.
This is wrong! This is one of the great crimes that have been perpetrated against my people. The sacred people, sacred fires, sacred ceremonies all go together. Without one the other cannot operate, cannot function.
It is a sad day when we see our own native people, our native Indian people, hitch hiking on these highways, walking through these cities, as vagrants in their own land.
A great spirit gave this land to us. It belongs to us, and if this mess is not straightened out soon, many lives will be lost by the forces of nature, because the great spirit will take this land back, purify it, and then return it to our people.
This is our problem! For twenty years, we have studied all about the prophecies and listened to them, and basically they are all the same. To our Indian people, we do not involve ourselves in the real estate or the selling of land, because it’s too sacred to us.
Every part of this country is sacred to my people. Every hillside, every valley, every plain and grove has been held by some fond memory or some sad experience of my tribe.
And even the rocks, which seem to lie dumb as they swelter in the sunshine, along the silent seashore, are thrilled with the memories of past events connected with the lives of my people.
The very dust under your feet responds more lovingly to our footsteps, than to yours, because it is the ashes of our ancestors. Our bare feet, our every conscious thought & sympathetic touch resonates with our ancestors. The soil is rich for the life of our kindred.
The glad, happy-hearted maiden, and even the little children who rejoiced here for a brief season, and whose very names are long forgotten still love this beautiful world that gave them being. They often return to visit, guide and comfort us.
Day and night cannot dwell together! The red men have ever fled the approach of the white men and the changing mist on the mountainside flees before the blazing sun.
However, today we come here. We extend our hand of friendship and brotherhood to all the people who are created by the same creator. We ask that you open your hearts, that we open our hearts, that we put our minds together as one, and try to straighten out these great wrongs which were and are still being perpetrated against my people.
Many of our people have recently has some strong visions, some hesitations, some great messages, some dreams which have told us that time is ever so short; that you must, right now, straighten this out, between yourself, the Creator and my Indian people, or you will be lost.
You must recognize what our people are doing. We are gathering our nations together! You must gather yours together! To return back to the spiritual way of life! Return back as the Creator has intended! Or this whole world will be destroyed! Only those that are strong, those that still follow the sacred ways will be saved, as it happened in the other worlds before this.
We have traveled this country and have seen many things which remind us of how many took place in those other worlds. We have seen volcanic ash, we have seen volcanic stones, and we have seen signs where the whole land was once covered with water.
We have seen where the ice age hit; the continental divide. These are the evidences of what we are talking about. We have recordings, rock carvings that are spread out all over this land, and for twenty years our people have been gathering the information on these. Thomas Banyacya, one of our religious leaders, have many pictures of these rock carvings that will one day stand against any deed on this land.
These rock carvings tell of a beautiful life that our people once enjoyed, when we were all in harmony with the Great Spirit. It records the events of things that have happened, and we can trace these rock carvings and prove to the world that our people were here on this land, that we never came from Asia, but were here and placed here by the Great Spirit. We were once living and enjoying a great civilization so far advanced from anything that the world has to offer us now. We were living here for at least 500,000 years before Christ.
Recently in a documentary by MGM which premiered on April 27th, entitled “In Search of the Lost World”, they presented before the TV audience of the world some proofs that the Indians even had launching pads for their inter-space travels. They had vehicles that propel from an unknown force. They had spaceships that travel interplanetary.
We have evidence to prove that we have the best calendar that was ever created by men. We have evidence to prove that we have contributed over three quarters of all the edible food, fruits, vegetables and plants of this land. Without the many gifts from the American Indians to the world, civilization would perish within a matter of hours.
We call upon all of you people to listen closely as we discuss our prophecies.
Speaker/Mad Bear: We believe that there are many things that are going to happen soon. Many have already happened! It is said that when our nation begins to rise, that we would even take the minds of the children of the white serpent. We would see many things happening, we would see our pine trees begin to die from top to down. We would also see them bend down with their tops facing Mother Earth like a cane.
To us, we know how to read these signs. To us this indicates that the spirit of that tree no longer wants to live in this polluted air, and has bent down to ask Mother Earth to take her back. To us, this means earthquake. And it has happened time and time again, wherever this tree has bent down.
Our people watched these signs! Right now we are asking the people to leave the cities and go back to your Indian way of life because all hope seems to be lost. This country is in trouble! It has lost spiritual contact with the Creator.
Gather your minds together! Do not any longer participate in programs or actions that are aimed to destroy my people. Do not participate any longer in this genocide of my people. Too many of my people have died!
There was a time when my people covered this whole land. But that time has long since past, the greatness of our tribes now almost forgotten.
I will not dwell no more over our timely decay, nor reproach my pale faced brothers while hasting it, for we too may have been somewhat to blame.
When our young men grow angry over imaginary wrongs, and they sprinkled their faces with black paint, their hearts also become disfigured and turned black. Our old men are unable to control them, the same as when your people pressed & pushed my people westward. But let us hope that the hostility between the red man and his pale faced brothers may never return. We would have everything to lose and nothing to gain!
Your religion was written on tablet stones by the iron finger of an angry God. Our religion is the dreams of our old men given to them at the silent hours of night, by the Great Spirit, and is recorded in the hearts of my people.
There are many things that we could tell you in the way which we believe, but we know that according to our prophecy, the Great Spirit has told us that this land will be returned to our people. And we hope that not too much life, or none perhaps, will be destroyed by this process. But we must all get together and make it right for the Creator before it’s too late!
[Post by Mackboogaloo]
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