Welcome And Guest Introduction

SPEAKER_00 0:14

Hello, everybody. Welcome back to the Son of a Bleach podcast. I'm your host, George Bleach, and today I had the honor of sitting down and speaking with an old friend of mine, Chief Orville Looking Horse, who is the 19th generation keeper of the sacred White Buffalo Calfpipe. I first met him in 2001, and I was doing some work uh with the Lakota people, and I learned about him through some mutual friends, and I was asked to come be a part of a ceremony where I met him and uh ended up doing some promotion on his book tour for White Buffalo Teachings, uh, the book that kind of talks about White Buffalo Calf Woman and the sacred rites of the Lakota, Nakota, Dakota people, the Great Sioux Nation. And it kind of talks about the history of Orville's life and how in 12 years old uh his grandmother had bestowed upon him the honor and uh the duty of protecting the sacred white buffalo calf pipe in the bundle. Um, and so he talks about that today and talks about World Peace and Prayer Day, which is on June 21st. All across the world, people gather upon sacred sites to pray for the healing of our earth and the healing of our people and our minds and our hearts. It is something that he was called upon from prophecy to create in 1996, the first World Peace and Prayer Day, and here we are 30 years later. Um, and it is just wonderful to sit down and talk with Orville again and to have him share some of his messages, his hopes, some of the prophecies that are happening right now uh in this time of great turmoil in our world. Uh, and in that time, there is a lot of unity and healing that is transpiring. There's a lot of uniting of people from across different cultural bridges, and those things may not be focused on as much, but they need to be. And he talks about uh a lot of the

Becoming Pipe Keeper At Twelve

SPEAKER_00 2:06

lessons that he'd like to share with the youth as well. Uh, and overall, it's just an incredible conversation. I always enjoy hearing from Orville, and I think you will too. So, without further ado, here is my podcast with Chief Orville Looking Horse. Enjoy.

SPEAKER_01 2:21

Yes, good to all, each and every one of you. Blessings and greetings, and I am Chief Orville Looking Horse, and I am the keeper of the sacred chanupa or sacred pipe for the Lakota, Dakota, Nakota Oyate. Uh, we're known as the Great Sioux Nation. And and uh anyway, uh we are I am a Lakota and I live on the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota. And I've been a sacred bundle keeper since uh 1966 when I was 12 years old. And the elders said that uh I was one of the I am the youngest that ever uh that uh become the sacred bundle keeper at the age of 12 years old. So back then, no, our ways were outlawed until 1978, the Freedom of Religion Act. That's when uh we uh get to uh pray out in the open in public places too. So we were allowed at any uh sacred sites and that no, they had no trespassing signs and no all that back then. But we came a long ways, you know. And since the 70s, uh the first time the American Indian movement were the ones that uh came to uh greengrass here back in the early 70s, and of course I was young and uh I sat with the elders and he uh welcomed uh American Indian movement here to uh uh do a big ceremony, the sacred pipe ceremony. And we had uh uh hundreds of people, first time in history, you might say, that uh a lot of people came down and all the old leaders back then, you know, they all came. But being a sacred bundle keeper, I I was taught by my grandmother and my grandfathers, and they're they were all elders when I was 12 years old. So I got uh uh so fortunate to uh get their blessings and their sacred teachings. And of course, uh, you know, I would say uh it was a dark time because uh we had to uh do these ceremonies and teachings in hiding, I would say. No, we we're not uh out in the open uh we had to uh uh uh do it do the ceremonies in a secret way back then. And being a sacred bundle keeper, no, I had to uh it's nothing is written in in uh like uh books or no like that. Uh our way is uh oral history. Back then, everything that we uh all of our teachings were just in a ceremony, and uh that's where I'm speaking uh uh from I guess uh from our old tradition and our our way of life. It's not uh even though it's a Freedom Religion Act, they they gave us allowed us to do uh uh ceremonies. Uh we'll uh it's not uh religion, you know, it's a life year of people, the First Nations fall on Turtle Island. So I guess uh I want to start by saying that I am really uh humble right now to uh speak the White Buffalo Cat pipe teachings. And of course, uh like uh when I start speaking about the White Buffalo prophecy, you know that and uh sacred teachings, you know, hardened. Well we guys we should uh a little booklet and and all we come up with uh uh to help us uh people was like five thousand dollars now. That was a lot of money. But today it doesn't mean that much to you, it seems that way. But the price of uh gas and and our living expenses, uh but back then uh that uh times have changed so fast, uh that um it was uh good coffee and uh uh and uh a few dollars means a lot back then. Hundred dollars was a lot back then too, you know. So I uh I went to uh start telling you how uh like uh protecting and honoring sacred sites for me, like uh world peace and purity. I was uh I was uh told in a ceremony about the white buffer calf, uh the white buffer calf woman that brought the sacred pipe to our people. And that was uh in the oral history. And so when as a young boy, a young man, you know, I uh I know through ceremony about the black hills, the heart of Mother Earth, and I learned about the stars, the Ujachbi Wakan, and the star knowledge. The so we wrote a book uh in the early 70s uh with the Sinteglashka College in Rosebud with the star knowledge. And I was uh really, I guess uh to me it was uh I thought it was the biggest thing that ever happened to even uh talk about the stars and the sacred sites connecting.

Sacred Sites And Star Knowledge

SPEAKER_01 8:55

So RTP is like uh it's like this, no, like a vortex to the stars, the moon, the sun, and the star and the stars, and then the sacred sites are down here. We're doing like uh the our ceremony, sacred places of worship. No, this is uh to us that's a uh sacred sites is like a church to us and direct communication to the creator. But in our ways, we we uh when you go to the sacred sites, you know, we you have to in in our ceremonies we always start with the honoring the grandfathers to the four winds, the west, north, east, south. So those those are teachings that was told to me uh age and and of course that when the bundle came, the Lloyd Buffalo Calf women brought the sacred bundle. It was a horse ceremony and a buffalo ceremony, and we utilize everything in a ceremony like that. So right in the middle of the buffalo and the horse forehead is a circle like that, clockwise. That means uh you know we that's uh like uh you might say a sacred marking to uh us uh that's what it was told our monies. So when I was young, then uh this was like uh about 1970. Uh during that time, uh like our ways uh vision quest and the uh seven ceremonies that got the the uh sacred nupa, the sacred pipe and our dreams and our visions, no, it means a lot to us. So we have to take it to ceremony and uh get blessed. So in the early 70s I was laid like uh we had a little uh uh cabin that I was living in, and and during that time how it got started, it was I was kind of like uh you might say half asleep. And I was laying there then I when uh I thought I was uh like sleeping, uh half asleep, then I I dreamt about this uh the the world, you know, the earth was turning. And but what happened was like uh my father back then, that was the first time we had electricity here in uh my home. And being uh like uh right away my dad said no he trade a horse for uh uh old black and white TV that sits on the ground like that. And the earth was turning at uh in my dream, and then uh I thought it was that black and white TV that my dad bought. Then uh I was watching it. The earth was turning uh like uh slow, and then uh somebody uh beside me now point or touch that screen like that, and then when it that uh screen the earth stopped and it opened up like a book, and there was people standing there in a circle and then shut like a book. Then the earth was turning again. Then it this person touched another part of the world and it stopped and and it opened up like a book, and different people were standing there, probably from that country, then it closed, and then the earth was tur slowly turning like that, and this person touched like that, and it opened up again like a book. To me, it happened like seven times in my dream. And uh there's a fire in the middle, and people stand there. So the next morning I told my dad, hey, I tell you this is what we humble. This is what I dreamt about. And then he was sitting there drinking coffee, smoking a cigarette, and I said, Oh, someone tell you something. I said, These dreams is happening now or it's going to help and happen in the future. You got to have patience. Our way is to have patience that everything would fall in place.

The Dream Of Circles Worldwide

SPEAKER_01 14:02

You pray about it, and but always uh those dreams are vakah sacred, and then so everybody has a dream or vision. It's between you and the creator like that. So that uh from that time on always think about that. That old TV, the earth was turning, people standing in circle, fire in the middle. It wasn't until uh that uh the first uh white buffalo calf was born in Janesville, Wisconsin. And I mean uh some of the lesson people we got together and said we took it to ceremony. Said this is the white buffalo that is going is standing upon the earth with black nose, black eyes, black hooves. And that's what the prophecy is about. That's why uh like the when when the white buffalo calf woman she brought the sacred pipe, it was in um a place called Mathotipila, we're known as today as uh devil's tower. And the elders said, you know, our ways uh that Mother Earth is a head is a living spirit, and all these sacred sites are connected to the stars, and these sacred sites, uh no, that's what uh to us, uh that that's where we have to go, you know, to uh so and uh the elders talking like that to me, then uh I was thinking, no, we have to go back to uh where the original place of the uh uh white buffalo prophecy. So 1996, that's when uh we traveled from Canada through Montana to uh Mathotipila, Devil's Tower. And uh today I like to change it since 1996. I told people we need to change the uh name back to Mathotipila and not call it Devil's Tower. It's about energy, you know. And to us, no, uh we as uh like uh ceremonial people, no uh spiritual people, the First Nations people on Turtle Island. No, we uh we know that everything, we believe that everything has uh uh living uh like a uh spirit, like the water, the trees, and everything else with this environment. So when the white buffalo calf woman brought the sacred pipe, no, she stopped four times when she left. She stopped the first time she stopped was uh she stood, stopped, walked so far, stopped, and rolled over and stood up as a young black buffalo. Then walked up the hill, stopped, rolled over, stood up as a red young buffalo. So, and then uh further up the hill is that third uh the third yellow. The last one was uh further on top of the hill was a white buffalo cat with black nose, black eyes, black hooves. And she went over the hill as a white buffalo cat. And our prophecy says that someday I shall return when Mother Earth is sick again, when nothing is good. People getting up in the morning, no, with not in a good mind. And so these are that's a prophecy that was told when I was young. And I never thought my whole life that uh this would happen in my lifetime, because at Jamesville, Wisconsin, no, that was the first white buffalo is born, and I told uh in our prophecy, many white animals shall be born all over the world. Today it's happening, a lot of white animals being born all over the world, and now even more, almost every year right now, a white buffalo calf is born right now. So this is uh a very uh crucial time that we're in right now, and only prayer can uh change what is going on upon the earth, but all nations, all faiths, one prayer. So that's the I guess uh me like uh I told Harvey Arden and and the White Buffalo prophecy and uh trying to get a message out because here

White Buffalo Calf Woman Prophecy

SPEAKER_01 19:10

living on the reservation, uh like uh it's very poor community, and and uh anyway, we we still have the reservation here. The reservations used to be like a concentration camps, but today it it's our uh seven country fires, and this is our who we are this uh the seven consolidars or the la cota people. So that's the story of the white buffalo calf and our message in in the world. No, when that we carried that message like uh 30 years ago, 1996, and every year we went to a different country because we believe that no every country, you know, their uh they have prophecies. Every country has is uh like uh the their uh spiritual connection or ceremonies or no a place of worship. No, they that's the foundation of uh each nation is uh their spiritual uh wealth of hell well-being like that. So that's the story that uh uh I share with you is world peace and purity today. We uh this 30 years and it's getting more uh like uh like everything is uh more uh very uh I guess uh every year it seems like uh it is it's going uh a lot of heart and the people are trying to find their spirit right now to uh help um go back to our traditional spiritual ways like that. So that's the uh white both the teachings there.

SPEAKER_00 21:21

Yeah. Well, I appreciate you sharing that. Um in in mind of all the things that are happening in our world right now. I wanted to know what message you have to the people, what it is that you feel like we need to focus on, the importance of us coming together and uniting in in face of dark times. And I wanted to get your perspective and and your thoughts and and what your prayer is that you walk with right now.

SPEAKER_01 21:50

Oh well, I'm uh I grew up uh speaking Lakota and our ceremonies, so that's all I know.

SPEAKER_00 22:00

as a and I went to boarding school to speak English but and I other than that uh you know I'm in ceremonial I'm in I got a Peepers in quest right now and but the first message that uh that 1996 is still we carry that same message that we are at the crossroads either be faced with global disasters tears from our relatives' eyes we're going to see a lot of sicknesses viruses and we're going to see uh false leaders false prophets and or we can unite spiritually all nations all faiths one prayer that's what world peace and prayer is about so our this year we're going to uh matho tripula we're going to uh bears uh bear but uh it's by Sturgis on the 20th and 21st we'll be there this because we're doing uh a healing ride right now we're getting ready for that and we're going to ride from uh greengrass here to uh greasy grass in uh montana we'll be there on the 25th of June to uh so i'll be leading that ride and i'll be uh but i i want to uh stay no focused on peace and the environment because we need uh to that's our way of life is to always maintain peace as a spiritual lead leader or spiritual person medicine person always uh protecting mother earth and our uh our ceremonies is is like uh the four seasons like uh in the springtime

Crossroads Message And One Prayer

SPEAKER_00 24:20

we do the uh uh march 21st welcoming the thunder ceremony so before that we get our medicine too like that uh medicine and then after the thunder beings come back and we get our medicines again but it's very important that welcome the thunder ceremony in March to uh uh welcome uh the thunder beings to bless Mother Earth to bless the good medicine and that's what we use in the ceremonies so the the whole then we prepare for the whole year like that so it's never ending this way of life like that another thing I I thought about was the idea of the words mitakuya yasin and that we are all related and I've talked about this in other podcasts at something when I first learned it um many years ago it stuck with me in the thinking of the idea that we are all related and every being and every person every living thing in that spirit of life and I'd love for you to maybe talk about that idea of motoku yeah yasin and uh maybe explain that a little bit further please well today uh it's always been like uh metal is like uh like everything has a spirit and we like uh two legged the four legged the winged ones those ones that swim and crawl yeah and of course Mother Earth and so every we say mitoasin that to me that uh like the elders always say that's the shortest like a shortest prayer just to say that word that means that you cover everything that is and so that idea that we are everything is connected and I think that that's something that people have gone apart from uh these days and seeing us as different colors different people different regions and these invisible lines of different countries I'd love for you to kind of talk about that idea of why you know and and maybe how with with World Peace and Prayer Day and this idea of uniting everybody how you what is it that you think about when you think about that idea of the fact that we are all related and connected and that we all have that same spirit that run through us and what is it that you see these days with maybe that being a little fractured and the need for us to heal that circle well it doesn't matter what person that is what country no we all believe in the spirit we all have tobacco we have sacred fire and we use that tobacco so tobacco to us uh like a you meet the spirit halfway then you offer that tobacco to uh uh the honor spirit like that so we that's all we say no everything is all related in this like uh upon birth and so that's uh like uh every nation doesn't matter what uh language or no we all believe that uh the spiritual is way of life and uh understanding that no like uh to us that we when we do ceremonies we bring balance back to the earth we when we pray we offer tobacco that's uh like uh doing our part uh like uh the we uh it doesn't matter no uh we're all really like that but like uh what I speak about is you know you have to go back to your own uh faith uh tradition because and your language because that's the way uh that way uh you're you are uh like connected your own uh well-being so we don't want everybody to be like uh trying to find our our way uh like Lakota way or no we want everybody to believe in their own tradition and your own medicine and so what you're because what is there is that your own DNA that medicine there that place where you are is your own like uh your own DNA and but in doing so you know you're you're connected to that place so to us like uh we follow the animal nation and like uh wherever their the uh the animals they're like they're both that that's their territory and like uh so no matter where you go you know that's their own territory there and and

Mitakuye Oyasin And Ancestral Roots

SPEAKER_00 29:46

people are connected uh uh like the their animal nation or their their um DNA is connected to that plant and that medicine there well when you talk about us going back into kind of our ancestral roots of you know who are we are the DNA of our people of of where we come from and you know it reminds me of us needing to listen to those who have been there the elders before us and how elders in your uh and you have always been important to you and in and my way too and now that you are a revered elder I wanted to know what messages you'd like to have as a parting message to the youth and the other to other listeners what it is it that you would like to to leave and and share upon the the end of our conversation well the youth is very important because to us uh we have uh four stages well uh being a babila is like uh the first stage is uh a child being born and then uh but when that child is born no it doesn't matter uh like uh to us we have to uh uh the mother has to uh the like the after there's a life uh and like uh home birth and so our ceremonies like uh we do a ceremony with that child being born and within uh in our teaching of that teepee under the sun that uh everything is uh it's about life and you have to uh that's where we have to always uh remember that uh each individual has has a mind a body and spirit and under the sun in that excuse me in our TP that the sun is called wi we so we call that man we cha sha and then under that sun we call the woman we young and it's all about life and a child being born uh then uh that well the and that's where life is we cholini so everything yeah here uh the creator gave us uh life here like that uh each uh person but within that circle of life no changlesh kawa khan like uh every person is uh uh it doesn't matter if a child or or no elder no you're part of that circle like that and so we have to do that ceremony but in the middle is that uh that that we offer tobacco and that we pray that's where the middle is a fire we give no fire tobacco to the sacred and because it's a direct communication to the creator so when a child is born you know there's ceremony then at the age of 12 years old that's where uh we have another ceremony like the women uh

Teachings For Youth And Life Stages

SPEAKER_00 33:18

hood ceremony and that become a ceremony for the men and then so that ceremony be uh you you become a man you can't uh go back yes you gotta always go forward like a a buffalo and then the third stage is being an adult and then uh be like uh what you learn and and then you uh but you gotta help the the elders all the time and then so the third stage is being the adult and then the last stage is uh the fourth stage is uh elder uh is like uh being the elder is the fourth stage so but when we uh think about the future no that's where the the young people come into play like that you you got to uh really know think about the future so the the youth are are being like uh they're the ones that are strongest and like the buffalo we teach all the buffalo nation and the the like the young is always like uh are always there to protect like that so with in that in mind what are what would you like to to leave to the youth what message do you feel like is the most important now for you to share with that that group that youth and and everyone who may be listening what I always say is that uh there's a source of life not a resource and all of us have responsibilities that we have to uh carry on yeah so protect mother earth and protect uh every living thing everything has a is a living spirit so when you sit there and you look at the trees the water the mountains that's where the sacred teachings is out there so it'd be uh good for the youth to go out and uh be part of the environment well thank you Orville for for joining me today uh is there anything else that you'd like to share before we leave today yes uh what I like to share is that uh the prophecies are very getting stronger every year and it's a blessing but it's a warning the white buffalo being born every year and now there's another ones born in Iowa but I'm trying to

Prophecies Now And How To Join

SPEAKER_00 36:06

get over there but uh I'm I'm caught up with uh everything else with ceremony so but I know that uh there's many uh prophecies coming about and I uh sometimes go different uh places with the elders and you know talk about these prophecies and how important it is right now during this time right now so everybody born today you know you you have a responsibility to do well thank you Orville um I will put down some notes for people can go and learn more about World Peace and Prayer Day maybe they can contact you if they have any questions through that. Our our our website is uh worldpeaceandprayer day dot com and that also shows the history of a lot of the different uh places you've gone and had your sacred ceremonies and uh those that are to come so I hope that everyone gathers around your local areas that are sacred to you and to your people on the 21st of June and every year there will be uh a uh a gathering in sacred sites to pray for all the things that we talked about today in the healing thank you much and thanks to each and every one of you peace be with all of you thank you thank you Orville blessings