THE INVISIBLE PEOPLE

Recently I painted a picture. (See painting at top right.)

I could sense our people, the People of the Dawn , in it, but I was unable to capture them in my painitng. They remained invisible to me. This saddened me.

And so it is in our modern society.

The M'kmaq people have almost disappeared. They have become almost invisible, and inaudible as well...having no substance and no voice. Both have been taken.

Our people have been absorbed into modern socity, sucked into it, assimilated, and we have been spit out again...almost carbon copies of everybody else.

We exist , but are losing ourselves, as we relinquish hold upon our heritage and traditions.

With the loss of our ways and our cultural traditions , we become invisible...and it will be as if we never existed. Our essence will be destroyed.

It is with joy that I notice that the last two decades have shown a rebirth among our people.

With the revival of our culture, our heritage, language, and traditions we are again finding ourselves.

My painting, "The Invisible People" symbolizes the journey of the People of the Dawn.

It represents the time that we were a Great Nation, the time when we almost disappeared, and the time when we reclaimed our right to again become visible in this world.

Our downward spiral has been reversed as we are reborn into our transformation.

We are back...We never left....We are visible.

RESPECT FOR ALL

KWE!!!

Walk gently, slowly on the sacred grass of Mother Earth.

The turtle life span of three hundred years or more , doesn't run.

They have thirteen lines on their back, representing the eleven mother moons that orbit the Mother Earth.

The first teaching of Turtle is to keep the our water pure, fresh , and clean. It is our life source.

To appreciate water try to stop drinking for four hours.

We have to respect the mothers of the earth . as they are stronger than man in spirit .

We also have to respect every living thing that exists,even a branch of a tree if we have no need for it.

We have to respect each other ,in the cycle of women and man. No one should be greater than the other. We are all here together.

Most of my teachings came from Mother Earth, similar to the way animals act and teach us a lot of things.

The birds, like the eagle , have hundred of teachings.

I would't have enough time in my life to know all the teachings. But, while I have breath I will try .

CREATION

KWE!!!

(First)... In the beginning Mother Earth was barren. Our Grand Fathers, the rocks, were the only thing on earth. Then one blade of grass began to appear, and the whole forest kingdom started to form.

This is why our sweetgrass ceremony is so important.

We braid the sweetgrass to signify the Body ,Mind , and Spirit.

We smudge our five main senses: the Eyes, Touch, Nose, Ears,Speech. When one of our senses is weak, the cleansing of our body will strengthen the other senses.

KWE!!!

(Second)....Then came the oceans and tides, and rivers. They are the leaders on mother earth,the sun and moon having been already set for all creation.

... KWE!!!!

(Third)...Then came the animal and flocks of bird's,the eagle that flies the highest in the air to watch over the creator kingdom.

KWE!!!

(Fourth)... Then came Woman and Man. We, as a people, are only fourth to be here to form all our relations.

VJM, Pikto'l Sa'ke'j Muise,(Ancient Spirit or the White Wolf)