Learning to Receive

posted by K Carter Steeves
Out of the darkness comes the JOY of receiving.I have learned in Native Way that all of creation is in a Universal relationship.There was no word for "Thankyou " or please, everything was shared among the people no ONE was held in higher esteem than the other giving and receiving were one in the flow of the Universe to Mother Earth.Very simple.No more no less,all in Creation is interwoven into a sacred order of beauty and that the earth is this huge school house.Engaging as it is it is to be approached with careful thought and respectful feelings of gratitude or thankfulness.
I was taught to give a prayer of Honor to Great Spirit for our Christmas Tree.To give some tobacco or sage back to the earth in reservedness.I was taught we are never ever able to Give to Great Spirit for all is here given freely for our health and well being from Great Spirit.We are here to learn then we pass to the next phase of our soul learning and in this very short time we can bring about the required consciousness in the generation shift by prayer and meditation.I had sat for years staring into the fireplace or the tree and not  conscious of the  reality I was creating yet in me was a longing.I avoided appreciation of the WHOLE.
Today I feel so very complete in my heart at Christmas, celebrations of these Holy Days.I know in my heart and now in my mind that giving a prayer of Honour to Great Spirit before I cut the tree or pay for it is a blessing and a deep sense of connection to the natural world around me.We can do this with the Turkey and other way of celebration that include nature.I keep Green in my life and my awareness f all being sacred. lol
The Miracle for me is that we are all witnessing a Great Sacred EXPERIENCE of creation which is so much more surreal when we give Honor and a Sacred place of connection to the many gifts that the earth provides for us, not just at Christmas yet all through our days.The Creator gives day and night in balance to each other.Today is the same day as always has been,the day is not under time nor is the night they are timeless in that they are as the Creator created them in the beginning,what is and what evolves into night is and always will be revolving into the day again eternal.The day is a clean sheet of paper the night the cover it sits in ,what we bring forth onto the page is of our own making,Universal,and eternal.

posted by K Carter Steeves

The fall colours are brilliant here along the coast in Armdale Nova Scotia, Canada.It is my favourite view of Halifax.
I'm certain I take so much of it for granted and had this proven to me yesterday.I was walking up Cheubucto Road and just turned my head to the left and there standing in a parking lot were two men in dark outerwear with heads covered eyes closed and heads bowed praying.Im no stranger to prayer.Im certain they were praying.
My first thought was of the seagulls and ducks in winter who sit on the ice facing east to get warm in the sunlight.My second thought was a lot of good can come from that.
Im so glad to be alive to see persons praying in public places in my homeland.Im so glad to have a peaceful land and heat to share with these people.I pray all beings be one in God.All my relations.

posted by K Carter Steeves
Moving into Arm dale and back into the old neighbourhood  has been a fulfilling and in all sincerity a bit scary.There sits the house we used to live in, the school my daughter attended,and the many places I went to shop.God how time flies when you are having fun!!!!Thats over 18 years ago!!!
I am however very glad to be living on the Arm experiencing my affinity with the ocean and all that sea life has to offer.Birds prestigiously red rich, sunrises and sunsets.Sails set into the wind on a colourful array of sailing vessels,now docked in the Marina,this now being the 4th of October.
My neighbours have opened their hearts and I have a few new friends who have been very hospitably over-active.lol
Already I'm hooked on being up at dawn and on Saturday's off to the Farmers Market which since my time away into the county has been given a much needed facelift.Its held at Peir 21 on Lower water Street and the huge array of wares has doubled in size.There is something for everyone. Truly a medicine for the soul for any long lost artist like myself.It truly is a tribute to the markets and craftsmen of old.
Its coming on winter and the water is dark with the odd Hawk swirling about for food,but not much human activity on the nearby beaches and picnic area.
Looking out off the North West Arm is my favourite view of the Halifax coastline.It spans the basin around the Armdale Rotary up one side to the Dingle and the Dingle Tower then over to the opposite direction you can view the Wagwaltic Club then straight ahead on the opposite view into Purcells Cove is the tip of the Armdale Yacht Squadron.A magnificent view indeed of Marine life at its finest.

posted by K Carter Steeves
I loved the Sweat Lodge Ceremony, here my soul began to heal and my mind was able to focus in the moment.I started University and detach from the pain in my mind.I learned the beauty of the Medicine wheel and how to pray with Great intention and to always check my motives in all situations.I learned the beauty of the dream we live in and the beauty of being true to my self and my own heart.I  learned to see the dream within the dream and if i have not a dream then i am being dreamed.A Dream Catcher symbolises the whole web of your life and existences.In each new situation the trickster will test your will and probe your heart to see if this dream is really what your are prepared for and if it is in tune with your destiny and serves the highest good for all concerned.It takes a long time and many soul searching hours to change your destiny set by the Spirit threads when you are born.We can rise above the hardships and find stillness and prosperity,friendships,and a life guided by Great Spirit.Prayer can cnahge the world for the good balance of creations.
I realised that my dedication to Christianity was useful and as societies they are very orderly however  for me they were dead,I had a very distorted inner vision of a dead GOD, and sometimes an OLD MAN up in the sky looking over me and judging us.
I needed a reawakening a profound Spiritual experience and a way of  consciously choosing my life path in accordance with the Oneness of the Universe.
I learned to embrace now not far away images of worry  a very bad habit one develops when on is being watched by an angry GOD.
In summer we celebrated, gathered, walked,made ready for winter.Always we were drawn into the practise of meditation, be it in bead work, a rocking chair,solitary moments in the woods,drawing, painting,or sitting for long periods of time, we practised meditation on a daily basis.It is simply woven into the culture habits of daily life.To sit and watch the sunset still floods my soul with JOY!!!!Weaving the soul to its natural tune the old Irish tell of thsi way of healing and living in cycles of reverence to nature.Hindu speak of this quiet time in nature as well as being a balm for the soul. Weeding out physic lies takes years.
In winter we went to school worked made drums medicine wheels, feasts, prayer circles,and rested.
I learned who I was my personality was secured enough to give way to some character because I know what I believe now and am able to expand on my beliefs and abilities.I accept my wholeness and that of others.We have so very much to be grateful and open-minded for all things are related to the Oneness.Trusting my Spirit is what  took time and practise and patience.Making quick decisions is a must do not hesitate on first thought, best thought.Great Spirit has a certain feel about it a joy in the mind in the feelings all at the same time, somewhat childlike.Not to second guess myself took time and space for grounding and still remain in the flow.
I am very soft and delicate on the inside this is one of my greatest strengths.I never thought of softness being a strength!!lolol I can be very indifferent and self  serving on the outside.I was taught no one is going to think or feel for you.that's an illusion.You have to think and feel for your self and asking  for guidance in this  matter is wise for we are never upset for a reason you may think.You can always take your self to seriousness,when you are sailing along make sure it is what you would share with the world or it may not be worth what you feel.it is .Feelings shift and change with the wind.Never do for one what they can do for themselves.Do not make or keep people dependant on you. that the worst thing for the Universe is always shifting into seasons of time and life and we must go with the flow of this and that for it is the law of Creation.No thing stays the same.talk about WONDER!!!I was euphoric at times and just kept walking eating sleeping and living my natural way which i have come to find great pleasure in.I always wanted to be somewhere else or be someone else.loll I am so relieved to be here and be me.I was so tired of the old way.Its hard work being a little child of an angry God and being angry all the time!!!!Not knowing if I was saved or not if my name was in the book or not.Today I know Im in the book, washed in the blood and sitting on the right side of the throne of The Great Spirit and it is flowing out into my life and the life of those around me.
These women taught me how to give for at the POW WOW's all the best of each home would be brought out and we would cook for hours.When we arrive there was just a pot and a stone fireplace in the ground.When we left the crowd was full of a great meal and there was a fire pit and a few pots.No mess was on the ground,not paper cups not gum wrappers etc.The Earth was left as we found it.Many thanks were given to Great Spirit and Mother Earth. A plate of food was left to honor the Great Mother in nature by a tree or a brook or a beautiful stone a way of expressing thank you on Natures level not our level.Sometimes I would wonder who ate the food.Im amused today how ignorant I can be sometimes.
I remember the Gold River POWWOW a woman brought out a frying pan that held 20 pounds of Caribou!!Man that was the biggest frying pan I ever saw!!!!!Slow and steady wins the race the Great Turtle is our bet teacher when our lives are seen as our work of art.
I learned my Spirit name I talk with my ancestors and I have now inner guidance to follow to plan my life around.Great Star Woman protects my Spirit Sheild.My life today is a sweet place to be to be becoming to be creating the human future for all eternity.I am at-one-ment in myself for all beings.

posted by K Carter Steeves
One day as the morning broke around the sacred fire at Pictou Landing I sat next to an elder and ask him a question, I really did not think there was any answer to.I was just making conversation.

"Why do you suppose there is so much anger and war in the world, why so much sexual abuse"?
He answered "When you break a natural law it backs up on its-self". Scarcity and violence are not natural,separation of men and women is not natural."
"So we need then to explore and develop a spiritual understanding in regards to our natural instincts and the human condition in relationship to the Universal Powers?. I said.
"YES", he replied that would be a good start! !!!!ha ha ha ha
We sat we watched we witnessed , we felt the warm sun awaken us to the day. 

posted by K Carter Steeves
I'm simply writing about these experiences today because I was asked to.Also it may enlighten other white folk on the topic of Aboriginal Traditions.I knew nothing about my ancestors who were Aboriginals from the St. John RiverValley in New Brunswick as I was growing up I grew up adopted in an Irish American home.I did not know about my Celtic heritage either.
Little did I realise some twenty five years ago that I would be sharing on this topic.I was in need of healing and direction in my life and my friends, Miq Ma friends, were very open to teaching me how to know myself and trust my thoughts to an inner intention of goodness and Universal order.Through prayer fasting and Sweat Lodges and Spirit walks,they taught me we all have gifts and no one is special yet we are Uniquely created as time flows.One gives as one receives in the moment.Created to the Natives peoples is a verb and always in motion yet very still all the while in connection to all beings.Gentleness is protection, dreaming is direction and flow is action.
The Miq Ma peoples of Nova Scotia are of the First Nations Peoples.Meaning they were one of the first human forces to live here on this continent. Inuit Eskimo were also living here some two thousand years ago.
I was priveledged and honoured to be welcomed into there homes and their re-education of old ways here on reserves in Nova Scotia.from 1986 to 20010 I was in close contact with my sisters there.Then I moved back to the city and a way of life where I can practice all I have earned.Big medicine between learning and earning.Learning is innate, earning takes many pathways and lifetimes. Also my life is now moved to a more gentler time and my ways like supporting a car does not allow me to get to the area now.The people i travel with do not seem to have respect but contempt for Indian ways thus here i sit to write about my experiences.I am happy for the most part and more will be revealed.When the student is ready the teacher will appear.
Many of the healers and teachers I have known were women,a few were warriors, and men who hold honourable places in their Miq Ma community.One man I met in a restaurant the other day he had a very difficult time saying hello to me.Many still wear our Ego's on our shoulders.Some will like what I write some will not.I know in my heart he is just trying to survive.
Today I love to write and drum and sing!I know who I a and I love my ways and my brothers in all walks of life.We are one big Earthly family.
So let us begin.
"What will your mother and people say about me being here with you?" I asked Little Moon as we drove along in my car.I had a few days to go to the reserve and take part in a sweat lodge."It does not matter" she replied our ways are now open to all people and many will come from all over the earth to bring our message of healing to the others who need us at this time"."The time for Unity has come we are moving into the fifth dimension and all peoples are ready to Unite.Trust your inner guide that is how we met Kate we have been guided to this place all will be well you will see.!!I had never known how to trust my Spirit until this time."lolol We laughed and we drove to Indian Brook reserve.I met a mother who was a most gracious host and woman.She was an elder of her people and much re veered by all.She showed me the flowers she made from Birtch bark which she had given to Queen Elizabeth.I loved her.Her house was safe it was real it was moderate.
Litle Moon and me had a joke that if we were on the reserve I would follow her and when we were around white people she would follow me.I was raised to believe I was white and only white I have since learned of my Celtic and Indian heritage.I am proud to be me in all my greatness of Spirit.I am still discovering my many talents and gifts, my medicine and my communication and honoring all my ancestors.I owe them so very much for all they have brought into place for me and all of us at this time here in the earth walk.
Native way is a way of living or being alive (verb),life set in the mindfulness of the seasons of Universal  life force.The source of all life is open to each of us through the belongingness of our minds and our spiritual gifts that we share in relationship to all beings past present and future.So you are your own ancestor The flow is from the Creator to each other and to the earth to each other and back to The Universe.The flow is never from us to Creator that is un-natural.Fire Earth Air and Water are not separate neither are we.We cannot make the sun shine but we can enjoy the abundance of its effects on us and all beings.Dogma or imaginable rules  created through some ones imaginativeness for centuries to keep the powerful rich in emotional soul robbery and create ministerial gibberish, mental masturbation's attacking the profound, the mysterious into all sorts of Supernatural hogwash .
Native Way of life is practised by all Indians I have also seen the same practises in  a Hindu fire ceremony that date back for four thousand of years.Much healing and change for the better ways in a person can be found in this Universal WAY of Living.There is still much room for improvement.
The first POW WOW was in 86 or 87 at Indian Brook Reserve for me.I stood with tears streaming down my face at the sacred fire and stood by my friend Little Moon feeling so grateful for the chance to serve her people.I had no self esteem no pride no strong inner force.We stood in rain packing wood to the Sacred Fire all that weekend.I learned to play again at that fire.Wood was not a problem all was blessed and many of the people came out to a ceremony they had not seen before.I was a woman in my middle years then and was told i could not go itno the sweat that weekend because i was on my moon time.HOWEVER!!I was very encouraged to take up the offering at the potlatch ceremony later at the end of the POW WOW.The receiving power of abundant creativeness is held in high esteem by a woman at the time of her monthly minstural-cycle, or her moon time.
And so begins my revelations of my time learning with and of my Miq Ma brothers and sisters.

posted by K Carter Steeves
The soft light breezes of summer give way to the distancing rays of Autumn here on the North West Arm by the sea.
The sunsets are deep and earlier now.The coolness of the eves suggest the cycles of frost into the future that the terrace will envelop later in the winter time.For now the terrace garden stands empty and wet.The rain suggests a very wet winter.
Trips out to the sea and the lake are on hold till next year.
The sea looks darker somehow since the sun has moved out.
Clouds say hello to the horizon daily as the blue changes to a more deeper subtle blue.
Birds are chirping later and going to bed earlier just after supper.
Winter winds threaten the campers.

posted by K Carter Steeves
Know your own mind, sit with the fire, fast, pray, learn to overcome your own fears.Then the children can be free.

Native Elder

Black Street Party

posted by K Carter Steeves
have you ever wished you could live where everyone came out of there houses and hugged each other as they went about their ways?Where the god in all of creation was respected and interwoven into their ways? Where music is sweet one moment then erotic and sensual the next mush like the flow of reality?
"Paradise Rising" was a phrase that came to me as I watched the mingling of hundreds of tree branches,dads mom's daughters and sons of somebody,BBQ's rocks the street black with energy, musicians and artists, driveways empty of cars and food plenty.Black Street Party, last night!!!!:)))))

Atlantic Spring

posted by C. Carter Steeves

Spring flies around the corners of old marsh fields and old hard wood forests very slowly.She savours the misty fogs drooping in and around the deep salty waters of March.
Sometime around the last week of March she welcomes the Canada Goose to the marshes again like a wayward child they wonder in to new wheat fields.they can be seen by the thousands off shore their natural boundaries determined by their inner clocks finding their way to these Atlantic shores.
Misty  earthy wonders, rain.winds, smells of renewal all come forth in the month of April.
The heavy bundles  of Christmas wrapped up and put away into credit cards are being paid off for another year.The roasts and stews of the winter are being swayed along in to brighter, lighter ways of salads and sandwiches and burgers.BBQ smoke fill the alleys of the city dwellers ways.
It's the time to welcome travellers who venture out for miles in the new sun for a short visit.passing time in the renewal of the environment to gain a more pleasant protectiveness, after the long stay indoors.
Its still a regular day for the Atlantic dweller.Milking cows or going into the office.Buying a new horse or a new car, all is usual and secure here in Atlantic Canada

When

posted by K Carter Steeves

When you suffer a mortal wound
"Be still", give the assailant room
Feel your deep mind unravel the path
Step lightly into the sacred space
Where every simple flower blooms

Loves ways say "I pray for you"
Dear sisters sweet and true
Is what is real a love so strong
It wills your path to God
What can ever be missing or wrong

On day then you awaken with empathy in your heat
you practise aim and control
A new opening begins
A whole new start
creativespiritphotography.weebly.com

Storms of Life and Perals of Wisdom

posted by K Carter Steeves
One of the first times alone ness entered my consciousness was on at age eight, ever so briefly yet with great clarity.I travelled into the woods on a Saturday morning with my best friend Meg and a few others.We would find a spot about a mile into the woods on Old Curtis's farm land and make a lunch on a fire in a pot or two usually canned beans.It was one of the last farms in the area the city was slowly approaching and rows of houses cover the land by the roads back as far as our house that my dad had built there the year before.
These outings were fun and gave us some kind of connection with survival and the earth ,it gave us confidence too, and perhaps a connection to the Universal life force.
We had our fire then ate and was on our way home we took the same root past Curtis's horses but we stood for few minutes to admire them and then this Clydesdale horse shifted his foot over mine.Everyone took off and it was tense for about a minute which seemed like a eternity.OUCH!!!!Pain like id never experienced before ran through my foot.Then the horse shifted again as if Id never been there.I ran!! desperate to catch up with my buddies.
About two minutes of the worst moments of my life nailed to the earth by a Clydesdale !!! 

posted by K Carter Steeves

posted by K Carter Steeves

keep on Lovin Me

posted by K Carter Steeves
Directed by Liam Manning
Written by caith and Laim

Cape Breton Folk Lore

posted by K Carter Steeves

In the spirit of inquiry and conviviality Id like to share a tale about my travel into Cape Breton, Nova Scotia Canada.
In Broad Cove Cape Breton there is a musical and talent concert every summer. Ive been twice.One my last visit I was developing a project on sacred ancient Celtic symbols.This is a conversation that took place outside Bruno's Cafe` in Inverness Cape Breton that summer.It was the 50th Broad Cove Concert.It is held every July
A elder who's name has not stayed with me drove his truck up beside our car and we began to talk on the concert as most of the community was on there way there, this particular afternoon.
"Nice piece of Holy Palm you have on your mirror" I said. "Yes" he replied,'Its there for protection "My mother taught me this when I was a boy, she would place the palm on the hot stove and the smoke would take the prayers up to God and cleanse the house." Protection stories are a favourite in the many different cultures that thrive in Cape Breton.

Tea anyone?

posted by K Carter Steeves

white winged Crossbill

Photoed by Dave F. in the valley

posted by K Carter Steeves

A winter gathering for food

posted by K Carter Steeves

deep in the winter lies the unknown grasses of spring


posted by K Carter Steeves

Sinéad O'Connor This is a rebel song

posted by K Carter Steeves

Googland: [G] Street View takes you inside museums around the world

Googland: [G] Street View takes you inside museums around the world
google thankyou for art from around the world!!!
posted by K Carter Steeves

posted by K Carter Steeves
Its 1:20 pm the laundry is on a cake has just come from the oven my feet are up to the stove and Issey our Border Collie is asleep under the couch.Only his nose is showing out.A wee faerie dust of snow has been falling for the whole day.Its white under foot crunchy cold of winter is setting in here in the tale end of January.We will now go into three weeks of deep winter.A time of deep resting and making way for the newness of spring not that far off. Good greens were hard to find in the old days.Now we just go to the store and we have them all year long.Its a time of slow rooting out the past and setting the mind to the firsts of the year to come.Working things in way that allows for the funs of summer.
Guess Ill go get a piece of that cake over there on the cupboard!!!!