When I was invited to Europe in 1998, I thought I was just going to market dream catchers, tell their stories, and teach dream catcher weaving. Before I left America, I had been told by Mishanagqus, a Passamaquoddi/M'kmaq seer who has strong medicine, that I had a much larger job to do. I was being sent to the place where the pebble of mind was dropped into the pond.  Great Spirit had showed me that I was to teach a new way of being for a new people.  I had returned the ancient stories to the people.

While at powwows in Massachusetts, three Indian women each gave me a gift--the eagle of dawn, a bear claw, and a turtle.  And Grandfather Oak, a 96-year old Indian man that I'd healed at the Topsfield powwow gave me his dancing moccasins.  I'd been told that I was to dance a new dream, to create the new possibilities offered by the Vision of the Seventh Fire.   I would find a female companion, my spiritual and earthly mate, with whom I would bring the message and the teachings of the Seventh Fire. 

This is where the path divides.  No longer will the way of the mind be allowed to dominate and divide.  People of the Mind must be shown the vision of the Seventh Prophet of the Anishinabe and given a choice to learn to walk in balance.  They must rediscover their connection to all things --- the path of the spirit.  

To many "civilized" people, the path traveled by my People seems slow and primitive.  The power and wisdom of this path isn't easily understood when their mind is taught to play inside boundaries and their heart is closed to sissagwaad, the soft wind of Spirit.  Our project is to teach the way to peace, the wisdom and the power of the spiral, the way of the circle, how to walk in balance between mind and heart, how to find inner strength and serenity, and how to use power and wisdom according to the Original Instructions.  This is the traditional way of the Native people of North America.  I've taught this with drumming, storytelling, song, dance, and the weaving of dream catchers.  It wasn't enough.  There must be more.

Bit by bit the pieces have come together.  I saw that I must teach people how to be guided by spirit and how to receive energy from the universe.  Then they would become Ogichidaag, leaders who would use their power with gentleness, wisdom, and love to guide others to a new way of life.  To do this we must emphasize the importance of the way of the circle in remembering the Original Instructions--love, honor, and respect all beings in the Web of Life.  Many others have taught the way of the circle but the circle was not integrated into the lives of people.  There must be a focus, a purpose that creates a vortex around which the circle can spiral into being. 

I am helping people learn how to do the earth experience in a new way, a way that works with the new energies of this new time.  The old way of Western Civilization is a way of individual limitation, separation, isolation, hierarchies, domination, and a mind guided by ego.  The new way is a way of individual blossoming, togetherness, community, the circle, cooperation, and a mind that is guided by heart, by spirit.  The most effective method we can use to learn this new way is a practicum, a practical application of the experience of the circle way.  We show people ways to improve their health so that they have the clarity and stamina to do the spiritual work. We show people who to discover their true freedom through practical courses in debt elimination and sovereignty. We show people how to work together to bring prosperity to themselves and their community. In another practicum we create a community with a common purpose of mutual support using the Native American model of the circle way.