The Fallen Feather - Kinetic Video

We are not a people who were defeated. We can choose to remember the truth
about our past. And we can choose to embrace the future. And from what I
have learned, it is in the act of embracing our culture that we can heal ourselves.
I asked John Jules about the spiritual powers of dance. And the words he spoke
changed me forever.
We have here what is called the plateau style feather pick up. And what we do
within that, if a dancer drops a feather or a plume then we immediately bring
everything to a halt. And we call out the warriors, a veteran who has actually
seen battle and has drawn blood as its called. They are the only ones in our
minds that has the ability to pick that feather up. The feather in our minds is
connected to the eagle, the
highest flying of all birds. And
thus in our minds the ones
nearest to the creator. And
it’s the Golden Eagle that
actually caries our words to
the creator. And his helpers,
the eagles, are carried in very
high esteem, that when we
where them, it becomes
sacred.
And when that feather falls its taken as a spiritual connotation. That it could
mean one of our members has fallen. And by that, all the red children of Turtle
Island. Or it may mean that the hope of our people is such at a low level that we
need the ability to pick that up. To rise it back up to where it should be so that it
stands in equality to all of us standing here around so that we have ability to give
back the power not only within the meaning of the feather but to the dance and to
one another. Because we are all witness to that. Even if we don’t actively take
part in the dance, we actively take part as being witness. So we are all part of a
ceremony that ties us together. So all of these things come together in relation to
that single feather. Falls down to the earth. That we as people pick that up. So
we pick up our own spirits. And all the people around are helping in their own
way to make that happen. Giving that recognition to spirit.
John Jules
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