Snaru Speaks

In the 1800s I was known by a different name.

My name was Snaru, and I was born the daughter of a shaman of the Ponca people.

It was from my father that I learned the healing and herbal arts and the philosophies that I still hold true in my heart even to this day. My father was a great and respected man. Unfortunately, he was killed, as were many of my people including my own new born baby, by the foot soldiers on the day of the great massacre.

Those were days of great sorrow, my children. Days when our old ways came to an end and we were forced to embrace the ways of the white man. It was during those dark times that I learnt the meaning of true sorrow. But I learnt other things as well.

I learnt to understand the ways of the heart and spirit of man. I leant how to heal the souls of the grieving. I leant how to heal the souls of those who had killed my people, for their spirits carried the scars of their deeds like the land carries the scars of fire. I learnt a new depth of love and understanding.

I died an old woman in 1886 and have had a few short lives between those days and now. But if I listen carefully, I can still hear the drums and the songs of my people. And if I listen even more closely, I can still hear the voice of my father.

The voices of my people are like the whisperings of the trees to me now, but I can still hear them. I can still learn the lessons they teach. They are in my heart, a part of my soul, as are all of you.

My spirit is old, my darlings, older than you can imagine. I was one of the first children of the earth who walked upright, one of the first to learn the gifts of fire. But there are no totems to me, no monuments or carvings for I am no more important than a tree or a rock. However, just like the tree and the rock, I have my place in the great all that there is.

It has been a long road from there to now, but I remember much. I still remember how to talk to the spirits of the ancestors, the trees, the sky, the water, the earth. I remember the lessons taught to me by wolf and dog, raven and hawk, cougar and cat. My totem spirits are with me still and teach me many new things each day.

I am one with the spirits of the ancients, my children. I am one with the spirit of our great mother, the earth, herself.

My message is simple, dear ones: Be all that you can be. Love all that you can love. Help others be as one with our mother who gives us all life. Be at peace within yourselves and be as one with all of earth's children. We are all as one.

Be kind, be true, and listen to the lessons given to you each day by the spirits that surround you. Embrace the great and wonderful all that there is.

Be at peace in love and light as always - Snaru