Chapter One - From the Dust of the Land: Ancient Texts Are Becoming Available

Mayan Elders ~ Ancient Native American Peace Shield ~ Teachings From Other Traditions ~ African Zulu ~ Jewish Kabbalah ~ Maori of New Zealand ~ Kogi Indians of Columbia (South America) ~ Q'ero Elders ~ Dead Sea Scrolls ~ Native American Indian Elders ~ What if History is NOT What We Think It Is ~ New Archaeological Evidence ~ Ancient Roots of Christianity ~ Sumerian Tablets ~ Islamic Tradition

Chapter Two American Indian Spirituality

Attempts to Regain the Culture ~ The Right Time To Take a Walk in the Woods ~ The Red Road ~ God (Great Mystery) and Native People ~ Native Life ~ Life Was Honored From the Very Beginning: Social, Spiritual and Political Roles of Native Women ~ Educating The Children ~ No Such Thing As Death ~ Oral Tradition, Story Telling and Tricksters ~ The Importance of Joy and Laughter ~ Honoring Personal Sacredness ~ Cycles and Circles ~ The Giving of Gratitude ~ The Elder Within and the Elder's Role in Community ~ The Swedish Fisherman ~ Mother Earth and the Indigenous People ~ Relationships Beyond Mother Earth

Chapter Three Ancient Native American Peace Shield Teachings Revisited

Ancient Peace Shield Teachings ~ The Seventh Fire Peace Shield Teachings and Times of War ~ Personal Vision Teachings ~ Supporting Another's Vision ~ Rainbow Eagle's Vision ~ Understanding Native American Rituals and Ceremonies ~ Four Sacred Herbs: Tobacco, Sweetgrass, Cedar, Sage ~ What Place Have Suffering and Sacrifice in Native American Sprituality?

Chapter Four Indigenous Peoples Prophecies: A Future to Be Optimistic About

The Gift of Prophecy ~ The Power of Prayer, Love & Faith Related to Prophecy and the Future ~ Seneca Prophecy ~ Tha Anishinabe Seven (Eight) Fire Peace Shield Prophecy ~ Hopi Prophecy and Messengers ~ When the Condor and the Eagle Fly Together: Andean Prophecy ~ The Doctrine of Discovery - 1452 ~ Quetzalcoatl and Cortez ~ Inca History and Prophecy ~ Serpents, Elohim, and Luminous Beings ~ Ages and Cycles ~ The Golden Age ~ The Q'ero People of Peru ~ Q'ero Beliefs and Teachings ~ Taripay Pacha: The Age of Meeting Ourselves Again ~ 100th Monkey or Something Else? ~ A Message for Today ~ Prophecy by the Peacemeker: Deganawidah ~ Prophecy of the White, Red and Black Serpents ~ Some Mending of the Wounds of "American History"

Chapter Five Mother Earth Speaks To Earth Walkers: Her Spiritual Lessons

Understanding Lessons of Form - Gift #1 Mother Earth Teaches Us Spiritual Balance - Gift #2 Mother Earth Says, "It's About Time" - Gift #3 To Become Related With All of Life - Gift #4 Mother Earth Teaches Us Lessons of Power - Gift #5 Mother Earth's Natural Cycle and Our Spirituality ~ Are the Trees Trying to Tell Us Something? ~ Are the Oceans Contributing to Global Warming?

Chapter Six A Walk in the Woods: Preparing For Cosmic Relationships

The Natural World is a "Classroom" Rather Than a Model of Spirituality ~ A New Culture is Developing: In America and Abroad ~ The Seventh Fire People: The New People ~ Getting Ready for "Cosmic" Relationships!

Chapter Seven How Do We Go From Here To There: Steps Toward Personal Healing

Steps Toward Personal Healing ~ The Return of the Feathered Serpent ~ Some Principals of Healing ~ Some Barriers to Personal Mending and Healing ~ Peace Shield Application to Life ~ "Native American Natural Spirituality"

Not long ago, while enjoying a beautiful and sunny day on the Seneca Reservation, I was approached by Grandmother Twylah Nitsch. Grandmother is a beautiful and magnetic teacher who, at the age of 82, has made known her decision not to journey yet to the other dimensions until her work and that of others is finished.... Grandmother said to me in a very clear and pointed words, "You must write a book! What you teach is the real way it is. Now, prepare the young people to step into the future with those teachings." For many years I have resisted trusting the pages of a book to present the precious words of the Elders I have visited. When opportunities came for me to sit with many of our native elders, the practice of passing on teachings through oral tradition was reinforced. It is much more meaningful to teach in person, heart-to-heart, with clarity and the opportunity to answer questions. Over and over I ignored those elders who told me, "Tell this to those who don't know. Help them understand. Reach as many as you can. The time is right."

In the early 1980's the last Peace Shield Teacher of the Anishinabe Nation called me to his home for two winter visits. He shared with me and one other native person the teachings of the Peace Shield, an Ancient Anishinabe drawing, before he "changed worlds" in 1984. Native American spirituality can provide a foundation that will develop our relationship with all creations and all worlds, honoring the phrase that "we are all related".

The Peace Shield Bundle was opened in early 1996 in a special ceremony in Taos, New Mexico to begin the sacred mission of the Peace Shield. Contained within the bundle is a sacred prayer pipe and a large elk hide upon which the Peace Shield is drawn. The "Seven Fire Prophecy" of the Anishinabe (Ojibwa) tribe foretold of this time to the ancient people. Seven prophets spoke of seven Fires, spiritual chapters or ages, and described things which would happen to the people during these times. In the 1970's we entered into the Seventh Fire. The Seventh Prophet said, among other things, that native ways would be honored and the elders would once again speak. Also, the light skinned race would be given a choice between two roads, to continue traveling the road of destruction or to choose the road leading to the lighting of the Eighth and final fire, an age of peace, love, joy and oneness.

Having laid the spiritual foundation of Native American spirituality, certain native Elders are to reveal their Star Eldership and open the understanding they have regarding Star Wisdom and Star Knowledge.