Two Spirit people section 2; a more in depth veiw of Two Spirits!

TWO SPIRITS: WHO WERE THESE POWERFUL MEDICINE PEOPLE?

.. ..
Two Spirit people are what many of the ancient tribes of ..North America.. called homosexual, bisexual, transgendered, and otherwise inclined people! I would say that asexual people would also fall under this category, as well as heterosexuals who didn’t follow the normal patterns of interests in society. If a young boy or girl did not fit into the normal profile they were taken to the medicine people who would determine whether or not they were two spirits. They said two spirits because they believed that two spirits a male, and a female lived in one body. I don’t believe spirits have a gender but instead a gender quality. So I think it is more correct to say in our modern language that they had masculine and feminine qualities and energies as we all do; but theirs was more pronounced than most people one way or the another in a unique fashion, and back then before there wasn't anyone to make them feel ashamed they understood the balance within themselves and they knew how to wield it! They were honored and revered as shamans and artisans! They could assume any role or occupation in society that they wanted to, and they could change their roles and occupations at will! For instance a two spirit man might have been straight, gay, or bisexual, etcetera and been more in touch with his feminine energy. This man could have been a weaver with the women, or a cook, or a “wife”, or any other occupation that was usually reserved for women. A two spirit women might have been straight, lesbian, bisexual, or etcetera and been more in touch with her masculine side. She could have been a warrior, a hunter, or even a “husband”, a leader amongst the women, or any other number of roles that were usually reserved for men! They had the same rights as everyone else, and in point of fact more in some cases! They had the right to get married to whom so ever they desired, and they were revered as great healers with an singularly unique healing energy or power. That all changed with the fifth wave of light skinned people! There were some fair skinned peoples that came over here and lived in harmony with the natives. The first wave, were Viking explorers, followed by the druids, the celtic Christian voyager monks, and later on Asian sailors. Then in the centuries that followed troubles began with the appearance of the Spanish conquistadors, certain famous Italian explorers, the pilgrims (who were religious zealots of the worst kind), and the free-masons and deists who were the “founding fathers”! the first four waves of light skinned people were welcomed by the natives, who accepted them, taught them, learned from them, and even inter-married with them. new tribes were born from these harmonious unions. A few of which still exists today; none so famous as the coastal tribe of natives who have light skin and refer to themselves as the children of Madoc. Madoc was a welsh druid although some stories have him as a celi de’ (an celtic Christian mystic), who came here long before the time of Columbus, and shortly after the time the Vikings were here. He set up the first real white colony in north America He lived in harmony with the native tribal peoples. The natives ended up calling these new half breed tribes the spirit tribes! I am a descendent from the spirit tribes peoples! They were called the spirit tribes due to their lighter skin tones, and often their lighter hair and eye colors.

With the coming of the pilgrims especially the great and golden age of the two spirit medicine peoples came to a horrific end, and the devastating traces of the shameful and hateful events which followed last even unto this very day. The Spanish and Italian conquerors who came here had begun to banish the two spirit people, to torture them into submission, and finally if they failed to convert them into living as the status quo, and by foreign attitudes on so called morality they murdered them. There were in fact many slaughters perpetuated on them. This was one of the first genocides of the two spirit peoples. It hasn’t stopped since then. We see it today in places like Uganda were they are about to pass a bill making homosexuality punishable by death, and we also see it here in the united states where gay people are attacked and murdered in the streets, and are refused the basic human right to marry as they choose! Still we see it in places like England where in the last several years gay people have been the victims of brutal attacks and murders, often in the middle of the streets. And this ladies and gentlemen is what is supposed to pass as Christian ideals and morality? I think not! The Spanish and later the pilgrims began to slaughter and then to “convert” the native peoples to living in white immorality disguised as good religion! They converted them many times on pain death, “convert or die” they said to the tribes. These fear tactics began to work although it would be a few centuries were they began to wipe out natives on a large scale. Maybe if the natives had fought harder for the two spirit peoples, there would have been more peoples to fight back. But they didn’t speak up, they just let their children, friends, and neighbors die or be belittled and made to feel ashamed! There are lessons that our society greatly needs to learn before it is too late for us! The fight over basic equal human rights to gay people is facilitating these lessons for us!

This is why the fight is really important; not just for gay people but for all people! There is a poem that was written by Pastor Martin Niemöller. This poem speaks to the apathy of the German people, and their inaction during the nazi party’s rise to power. It tells why every citizen should be alarmed at the infringement on the rights of their fellow man! The poem is entitled “when first they came…”!
.. ..
When First They Came;....
.. ..
When first the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
for I was not a communist.
When they locked up the socialists,
I remained silent;
because I was not a socialist.
When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn’t a Jew.
When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

When the conquerors came into power they told the native peoples that all of their ancestral ways were bad. They convinced them that they were heathens who needed to be ashamed of their savage and uncivilized ways! The fact that they called them uncivilized is not just a cruel joke, but the worst kind of hypocrisy; that which is self-righteous hypocrisy! They told the native peoples that they were less than, and that they should be alright with being third and fourth class citizens! Despite what the conquerors purported, they were not and never were true Christians. This is evidenced not only by their treatment of the native peoples but also later on by the terrible crimes against humanity during the witch trials and inquisitions!
Now the natives had become like their oppressors and many remain so till this very day! Many of them still blame the “white man” for their horrible lot in life. They say “the white man ruined our ways and our cultures”, and while this maybe true to some extent it does not assume any personal responsibility for letting the white peoples take their cultures away! This attitude also fails to remember that the natives did not stand up for their two spirit brothers and sisters. They didn’t learn the lessons of oppression when it happened to the two spirit people, so they were doomed to repeat the lesson. Many of the natives became so enslaved by the mindsets of the foreign invaders that they believed all their dogmas. The two spirit people were no longer considered valuable members of society. In fact they were not often considered at all, and when they were it was with scorn because they now saw them as abominations, perverts, and parasites, to be “dealt with” and “gotten rid of”! The two spirits did not disappear but went into hiding, themselves truly buying into the concept that there was something inherently wrong with them. They became ashamed and convinced. We still see the results of this thinking today. The most likely group of people to commit suicide today are homosexual teenagers. I myself during my teenage years tried to commit suicide! It is only now that two spirit people have begun to really reemerge into the world at large “coming out of the closet” if you will, and say “we are still here, we are just as human as you, we are still powerful good medicine people, and we will stand and fight for our rights if necessary, and we are not going to hide anymore, and we are not going away”! We are being met with hard opposition, even by tribal so called leaders, who still hold to the mindsets of their oppressors. They have forgotten who they were, who they are, and they have lost the vision of who they are suppose to evolve into being! These so called leaders think themselves victims, of they think themselves white! Only a few years ago in certain tribal councils, the rights of two spirit peoples to get married was voted down by tribal reservation laws. Yet these native leaders seem to think that they are deserving of our recognition and respect; in fact they expect it! We can not give their laws any respect until they give back two spirit peoples all the rights and privileges that were stripped away from them throughout the history of their oppression. The invaders took away those rights and it is time to give them back; to reclaim all the missing pieces of the tribal cultures that were almost wiped out! If these rights are not given back it is an affront to The Great Spirit, and against the truth itself! Two spirit people should be honored and proud for who and what they are, and given recognition for their contributions and enrichment to and of the beauty and fullness of our global society; most especially in the areas of the arts, and in the religious, spiritual, and cultural movements of society! There is a legend about the king of ....Denmark..... The legend says that when the Nazis informed him that they were coming to round up the Jews, he rode out through his kingdom wearing the yellow armband with a David star on it. By ..noon.. time, all of his subjects wore the bands as well, following his example. When the Nazis came they couldn’t distinguish who was Jewish and who was not. So were the Jews of Denmark saved, because the Nazis gave up looking and went away! Many now say this never happened; at least not like this. However this legend provides us with an example of how we should as human beings react when the rights of any group of people are taken away! We should all band together and fight as one to preserve basic equal civil human rights for all people! Maybe if the Christian churches would start acting Christ like, they would have started flying rainbow flags outside their doors to send the message that all people are welcome into the house of God and that hate and discrimination of any kind will not be tolerated by our religion anymore! The story is based on the principle that Christ was trying to teach when he uttered the words “Verily I say unto you, in as much as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”! He was identifying himself with the common people; with everyone! There is also an old religious teaching that states that you should be kind to everyone you meet because you never know when you are entertaining angels! This is again based on the same principle.
.. ..
Written by Rev. Loush M. O’Raven in the year of our lord 2006, revised and re written in 2009
.. ..

Many native americans have made great strides over the past years to correct the wrong doings of certain bad leaders, and we should recognize this and be thankful for it. We should let this give us hope for the future of the human race! Many tribes people today are arguing over the term two spirit! It means this or that they say. Well I think everyone needs to define words like this for themselves! I won’t let other people define me! so I will use the words that I feel comfortable with!
I am a shaman, a healer, a minister, a celi de’ (celtic Christian mystic), and I am a two spirit man! Frankly I don’t really like the word gay because it does not seem to fit many aspects of who and what I am, I use the term because other people are comfortable with it! I prefer the terms queer or fairie personally. I can feel people out there getting mad right now; well go ahead and get mad if you will! I will define myself if I must be defined, no one else will do it to me because I won’t allow it! People define yourselves, stand up, let others take notice, do not falter, do not waver, and do not back down! Never ask for permission, because to ask for permission is to seek denial, and it is better to ask forgiveness than permission. Do not let others define you or try to put you in a box! You are better and bigger than the box. Always define yourself, be authentic, live in your truth; the truth of who and what you are!
.. ..

bb
L