Pictured here: feeling blessed with my new quilt from “Quilts for survivors”
Good evening to all of you and once again I thank you for your love, goodness and solidarity. We are in a time of profound healing and wellness and it is with deep gratitude to the greatness of our culture for this unique path forward. We are a “medicine family” who finds vast richness in the many roads involving the depths and spiritual practices of the Indian way of life. Our culture has provided so much intuitive healing and goodness as we recover from the effects of genocide. A day at a time. I am so honoured to be able to introduce my son to these magnificent ways of understanding. We continue to trudge the road of happy destiny and we continue to build our strengths through the practice of these ceremonies and teachings.
For me, I prefer the medicine way or peyote way of life. It has brought me so much vision and awareness and has helped to clear the path for me with regard to being a human being. I keep it real as they say. I’m not the Hollywood Indian type or a person who needs guidance from other human beings. I don’t follow that way. I have a strong and sovereign relationship to the Creator spirit and obviously I respect many of our ancestors. But not all ancestors, medicine people or elders deserve that honour. I’ve learned to take what I need and move on from those who are into bad medicine. Or who practice a false way of living, of being.
Pictured here is Sagein and I feeling super blessed and content. We live each day as full as we can. We play, create, learn and grow together as a family. Our little unit is the best I’ve ever had it. I feel so much joy and happiness being a father. I grew up without one so I know the value and I comprehend my role better than most. It’s a true privilege to lead by example and to keep them close to me each and everyday. My life is complete and I have no need for anything else. I don’t care about living the colonizers path or the colonial dream of money, fame, sex, drugs and rock and roll. It doesn’t work. It’s weak. It’s actually pathetic. It’s too easy to fall for those carrots. Look at Morrisseau and his spiritually bankrupt lifestyle. Broken family, a broken man, a sexual abuser and his broken children. Too many broken relationships etc. It’s not the path of true and realistic success. His legacy is that of a fraudulent man a fraud of a human being. A fraudulent legend. No wonder the problems and issues. It’s unclean.
Pictured here: my son Sagein Wisdom - the CEO of Jacobson native art 2024
There is a much better way. Keeping my family together and fulfilling the promise of love, trust, compassion and understanding using creativity as the light and our cultural practices, works much better. Being in the depths of these kootenay mountains and so close to the heart of Mother Earth is where it’s at. We feel so honoured to sift through all the craziness and to find our way. I no longer desire the ways of the colonizer. I’ve unconditioned the conditioning. Setting myself free along with those I truly love. This is happiness. This is the path forward. This is what “decolonization” means to me. My true identity. I don’t identify as a Canadian. I mean let’s face it, that’s not even a real thing. Like much of the colonizer’s playbook it’s a scam on stolen Indian land. That’s the reality. Even the white guy in me knows this. So I lead with my “indianness” as best as I can. A day at a time. This is what it means to find and practice my sovereignty. My identity as Anishanabe. This is what I try to show my son each and everyday. That there is a new hope in and through us. Together we can conquer all dragons, all demons and sicknesses of the settler playbook. We are destroyers of the modern windigo’s. With that I say chi-Miigwetch and all my relations...Rainbow Thunderbird - MAJ 🌈🦅🌈
Enjoy this peyote prayer song by Louie Gonnie titled: Meditate
