This morning I heard the gentle sweet susurrus of countless 17 year old teenagers
wafting on the wind,
calling out for love.
Emerging from their solitary confined netherworld existence
into their cotillions and beautillions
they shed their earthbound form
and grow (to them) angels wings,
with which they fly to find their one and only true love.
In two weeks time,
the unceasing day and night cacophony of these alien amorati
will grow to irritate the locals.
They live only a few days to return to the earth
to consign their progeny to another 17 year sentence.
I’ve always wondered what it meant to be “in love” for an older couple. After 35 years it is a set of feelings that I can only know because of my journey here, with my partner.
What is different? It is not “romantic love” in the sense of wanting to be with her. And the initial uncertainty of not understanding . . . her, and not knowing if she reciprocated wanting our future –that contributed to the pitter-patter of my hopeful heart.
Past is the “settling in” of learning to accommodate one another’s taste, temperament, peculiarities, biorhythms, and solutions to life’s challenges at various previous developmental stages.
It is having learned that excitement needn’t come from our interpersonal drama, that it could be found outside of us and experiencing it together.
I find that “older love” is not without a sense of humor, is cordial, respectful, and loyal. It is a sharing of secrets between confidants who value our relationship before friends and family while still recognizing the importance of them in each others lives. For me older love is also knowing, understanding, and showing that I love her in the way she wants to be loved.
At some point the bloom fades from our two roses. But the dried petals carefully preserved in the pages of our existence still hold the faint scent of memories of the flower of our youth. Perhaps older love is a kind of double vision, where the past and the present are seen together. It is seeing the beauty and youth of the soul in aged bodies, of giving compliments not because of initial physical attraction but out of consideration for feelings.
On this end, I’m still a man, and a dolt. I still mis-take. Perhaps older love is one of those things that can only be practiced, until polished.
This an illustration of a “fourth degree chart from the National Museum. This is from the collection found by Reagan at Nett Lake (or Bois Fort).
Note that in this version the Buffalo and the bear are supportive, while Misshipeshu and the Great Serpent are malevolent.” *
* From “The Sacred Scrolls of the Southern Ojibway,” by Selwyn Dewdney
When you get right down to it, there isn’t much difference between the meaning of the symbols used to represent the four degrees found within the old Grand Medicine Society lodge and the four degrees found in a Latter-Day Saint temple. Except that the Midei used symbolism and hyperbole to consolidate power unto themselves over others, while the Latter-Day Saints use it as a teaching tool to enable all who wish, I a journey to return to God.
To the Anishinabeg all living things have spirits/manidos and the strongest spirits have the most power. In this case the spirits of the bear and the buffalo can represent either:
God the Administer and Jesus Christ-The creator, or Christ and Adam/Michael the first man,
Or God and the Holy Ghost,
as they were all involved in the creation. A symbol can have multiple and multi level meanings.
The good spirits created the Mideiwigun or a remnant of the ancient temple as the path to return to them.
Attempting to bar this path at each degree are the evil manidoos mishipeshew and mishiginebig, the great water lion and the great water serpent**. They represent the destroyer or any two of his servants. They are “fire breathing” and “pestilence striking monsters”. They represent evil spirits who attempt to destroy us through spiritual death, spiritual dissipation, and sometimes pestilence.
The “fire” that they breathe are “the fiery darts of the wicked,” Ephesians 6:16. These are the temptors and temptations of the natural man which beset us whenever we attempt to improve ourselves. So it is not at all unusual that an evil personage appears in the Mideiwii scrolls, or the temple as part of the story. In order for the old Anishinabeg to attain the highest degree or us to succeed in the plan of happiness, there must be “opposition in all things”.
If the destroyer has such power, how can we hope to protect ourselves? James 1:14 says:
“But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.” If we recognize that we are only being tempted with something that we want, which isn’t good for us, we can choose the good. That is how we overcome the destroyer. That is the way the old Anishinabeg progressed to the next degree in the Mideiwiigun and how we now make covenants in the temple.
This is a key that you won’t see in the old scrolls. Because we have a body and the destroyers do not, they only have power over us if we let them. NEVER give them permission. You’ll regret it if you do!
The last thing I would comment on is the circle in the middle. It is a sun symbol which can represent three things. , The Son who is The Creator, A return to the presence of The Father with whom the Son dwells, and our heart after we realize our best desires.
** It is interesting to me to note that both the Anishinabeg and the early Latter Day Saints connected the destroyer with water. D&C 61:
3 But verily I say unto you, that it is not needful for this whole company of mine elders to be moving swiftly upon the waters, whilst the inhabitants on either side are perishing in unbelief. 4 Nevertheless, I suffered it that ye might bear record; behold, there are many dangers upon the waters, and more especially hereafter; 5 For I, the Lord, have decreed in mine anger many destructions upon the waters; yea, and especially upon these waters.
18 And now I give unto you a commandment that what I say unto one I say unto all, that you shall forewarn your brethren concerning these waters, that they come not in journeying upon them, lest their faith fail and they are caught in snares; 19 I, the Lord, have decreed, and the destroyer rideth upon the face thereof, and I revoke not the decree.
This is one of the coincidences which enables me to reconcile the two institutions.
Turns out I was closer to the truth than I thought. I disassembled my door chimes box to see what transformer I had. When I looked at the chimes within, I found out the painters had oversprayed onto them when the house was built! So that is why they sounded like a painted children’s toy bell and went “thunk thunk”.
A little elbow grease and some Goo Gone and some fingernail scraping later and they were all clean. Now I have a doorbell that actually makes the resonant if not bland sound of “Ding Dong”.
In my research, I’ve come across many different kinds of doorbells that actually play full but stereotypical songs. I’ve found these are not to my taste. I’ve found two that have a three note series that can be played as MP3s that actually sound good. But I have to find them again. I’ll add a link in the last installment so you can hear what I’ve picked.
I had a friend once who once accused me of selling out my being Indian (American) to the “Mormon” church. (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) I suppose since I’ve never shared my innermost thoughts I can see how it appears that way. So I would like to set the record straight.
Mind you, these are all my personal beliefs and I claim to represent no one but myself.
Since I was raised a Latter-Day Saint the question is not why I joined the church but rather why I stay. It’s because I see beyond the two cultures in question to the spiritual commonalities they share.
Since this blog is from an Indian perspective I’ll start off there, although there needs to be some switching back and forth in other parts. If I were to say that I believe in a traditional “religion”-which I do, these are the things I believe that are necessary for it to have.
My people believe in prayer to a Creator. Conversely we believe in fasting during vision quest, which implies spiritual purification on our part and revelation on the part of the Creator. We believe we can receive revelation through dreams. We believe in the prophecies of old. The seven fires prophecy comes to mind. This implies that the Creator gives universal revelation to His chosen prophet-a spiritual person who also represents and is accepted by the people.
In my tribe we have the Mide’wiwin. A Grand Medicine Society which is composed of both men and women. My Grandpa’s grandmother was a fourth degree Mide’. She prophesied at his birth that he would go on to meet royalty, and curiously enough, he did.
Socially, it was expected that a medicine person was chaste and moderate. If they slept around, or were drunken, it was noted with private disapproval.
That’s it in a nutshell. I might think of more in the future but this is what comes off the top of my head. So, looking around, where do I find a container of spiritual beliefs that matches all of the above criteria?
Almost all churches satisfy many of the above criteria except for one. That the Creator presently gives universal revelation to His chosen prophet-a spiritual person who also represents and is accepted by the people. (Although it strikes me as somewhat schizophrenic that religions or tribal institutions believe or espouse that The Creator provides personal revelation but has ceased to provide revelation for His people as a whole through prophets.)
For me, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the only church which satisfies all of the above criteria. That is why I am still a member without having to sacrifice my traditional beliefs.
Coming Soon:
Part Two: The Temple and the Mide’wigun. The Mide’wiwin and the Melchizedek.
Red Lake Writer 