Indian spiritual leader brings message of peace
'Crucial time': He says the unrest and warfare
among nations has an effect on Mother Earth
By Kristen Moulton
The Salt Lake Tribune
Photo by Paul Fraughton Salt Lake Tribune
OGDEN - Arvol Looking Horse, a Lakota Sioux spiritual leader and peace advocate, told 100 people attending a symposium here that humans - “two-leggeds” - must get their act together for the sake of future generations.
“We are in a very crucial time,” said Looking Horse, wearing an eagle-feather and beaded headdress, moccasins and a buckskin coat adorned with the emblem of the white buffalo calf.
Tapping on the microphone in the rhythm of a heartbeat, Looking Horse said he had come from the “heart of Mother Earth," the Black Hills of South Dakota, with a plea for peace.
Looking Horse, in fact, has been traveling the world in recent years to spread the message found in native prophesies. He believes that healing the violence and environmental destruction wracking this world begins by honoring sacred sites.
Looking Horse's four-day visit to the Wasatch Front continues with a panel discussion tonight at Salt Lake City's Indian Walk-in Center, as well as a pipe ceremony and story-telling event in Provo on Saturday.
He visited legislators Wednesday, and Thursday he spoke at Weber State University's first Native American Symposium and at Salt Lake City's Main Library.
Looking Horse, who founded World Peace & Prayer Day in 1996 and is regarded as a leading spiritual leader among American Indians, said prophesies of old are being fulfilled in these times.
The young, according to prophesies, will lead the way in repairing the environment, he said.
Looking Horse spoke of trips he took to Baghdad in 1990 and again two years ago, as war raged around him.
“People need to bring forth and honor the belief of all nations,” he said. “The bottom line is prayer. It doesn't matter what nation, what church. We all live to the creator. We all live in respect to grandmother earth.”
Because the earth and all people are connected, both violence and reverence have their effects, he said. “Mother Earth is like that. When you start bombing one place, it's going to have the effect someplace else.”
Looking Horse possesses his people's sacred White Buffalo Pipe, which has been passed down through 19 generations. He was given the pipe when he was 12.
The Lakota, Dakota and Nakota Sioux believe that White Buffalo Calf Woman appeared to the tribes hundreds of years ago and gave them sacred ceremonies for living balanced lives - as well as a bundle that included the pipe.
When a white buffalo calf was born in Wisconsin in 1994, the people took it as a sign of prophesied hard times had begun.
But Looking Horse cautioned against following false prophets.
“We live in a time when there are a lot of false prophets who are doing more damage than good,” he said. “While we say we follow the spirit, a lot of times the elders said 'go with your gut feeling.' ”
“We have to go with our gut feeling because we know that the way we live today is not good.”
Kristen Moulton
Link to Report
Special thanks to Bea Woodward for passing this on!
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Contents
February 2006 Reports
Last updated on February 13, 2006