The Old Way Culture
(An excerpt from "Journey to the Ancestral Self")

by Tamarack Song


 In a despondent mood on a warm, grey afternoon, I asked Talks With
Loons if the Old Way is forever gone from this land, if the few aged
Healers and Grandmothers are the last vestiges of a way of life in its
death-throes. I didn't know whether she'd answer directly, as her way
was more often that of subtle Raven. For a few long minutes she became
absorbed in reflection, during which she directed me with her eyes to
observe the prairie about us. Then her gaze lost its focus as it seemed to
flow into and dwell within the panorama before us, and she spoke:
"Is there still life in the Rocks, does Father Sun still visit the dawn, does
the She-Swallow diving at our heads in defense of her young on the limb
above still Walk the Path? The Old Way was not born with our species
and it will not be buried with our species. As we sit here, the Grasses in
the fullness of their bloom whisper teachings that were secret to us
yesterday. As long as the Grass shall grow, as long as the Rocks are here
to speak, the Old Way survives."

 I was once taught that the Old Way culture was the language, crafts,
and rituals of a People; I have since been shown that these are but its
most surface, visible expression-the social medium in which a People
is immersed. The Old Way is the Ancestral Memory-that cumulative
primal knowledge rooted in my reptilian brain, which is expressed in
my instincts and intuitions. It is the way my physical self has evolved
to function in its rhythm, the way my senses are pre-tuned to its
language. It is the only way I know, as I was born into it eons before I
took my first breath. It is the way a Fox walks through the grass, the
way a Flower drinks water, the way a Rainbow is. It is the way of all
Creation, the way of all through whom flows The Breath of Life.


Who Are We?

Perhaps the most powerful evidence we have as to who we are is the
deep, rejuvenating feeling that is engendered when we spend some
time close to The Earth. When I leave the ungiving pavement and the
soft duff of the Forest again pads my feet, I know I'm back home. Like
a lost puppy returned, I spontaneously relax into Her comfort and
trust in Her nourishment.

We are Clan Earth Peoples, or perhaps I should say, we are still Clan
Earth Peoples. Our natural home is still as close to the Earth and Sky
as we can be. Those of us who have dwelled for generations in the
cities are still drawn to The Earth when we can get away on vacations.

Our eyes are healthier and less stressed in the green light that filters
through a canopy of trees. We have the innate capacity to trust and
share with only a maximum of fifteen to twenty-five people. We
haven't existed enough generations to genetically change and adapt to
our altered world, to which the "diseases of civilization" are testament.

Stress-related diseases are the classic voice screaming at us of our
intolerance of the Civilized Way. It is classic because our success in
the dominant culture is directly proportional to our tolerance of stress.
Production, organization, regimentation, and specialization on the
level needed to sustain the Civilized Way create a continual
high-stress climate. This causes conflicts and contradictions within us,
as we're not equipped to deal with such stress. We evolved in a living
situation where stress was periodic and short-lived. In activities such
as the Hunt, stress played a part in stimulating adrenal function, and
sharpening alertness and sensual perception. There was a gradual
buildup, a climax, and a quick release. We, as a species, haven't
evolved the capacity to handle continual stress normally. So we do
what we can to ease the pain and placate the inner warriors-drugs,
alcohol, meditation, counseling, stress management workshops, and
so on. Sometimes we lose control of the inner battle and it externalizes
in the form of mental, digestive, and cardiovascular disease,
addictions, domestic violence, and suicide.

We find other evidences and surviving remnants of who we (still) are
disguised and buried in some of the least likely of places. For
example, the following "Hagar the Horrible" comic strip illustrates the
Old Way concept of staying clear to the moment by bringing
resolution as close as possible to the time of conflict:

It is hard to seek our identity through the study of self because it is
difficult to step back and observe. Our kin of the natural realm have
identities intrinsic to them, no matter what their cultural surroundings;
we Humans have a much more malleable consciousness, which can
cloud our essential beings. But we can see our innate reflection in
those who Walk the Old Way, as they have an identity that is intrinsic
to their life experience. And we can see ourselves in our natural
environment because we are the product and sum total of that
environment, and we are nothing out of its context. Our non-Human
kin in that realm are as we would be in an unadorned, unfettered (i.e.,
uncivilized) state.


... in Relation to Native People?

When I began my own search for who I was in relation to The
Mother, I thought it was presumptuous of me to imagine that I could
be an Earth Person. I felt self-conscious and out of place when I
sought out the Native Elders and Teachers I was being drawn to. I had
no lineal or cultural connection-nothing to ground me. Or so I
thought.

Then Raven, in her subtle way, drew the essence out of my cluttered
searchings and gave it back to me. That clarity freed me of the
stereotypes as to who I was and who I wasn't. I was able to begin
hearing the voices of those around me who knew me, knew my
Ancestors.

What they told me was hard to fathom-that my Ancestors, the Native
People of Europe, Walked the Old Way just as did the Native People
of America. In the same ways they hunted and foraged, sought Vision,
entered the Sweat Lodge, and lived in Clan-Circles around the Drum
and Moon. One not specializing in their study would be hard-pressed
to distinguish their wigwams, arrowheads, and clothing one from the
other. The lifeways of both were crushed by the Civilized Conquerers;
both were forced/ coerced to take new ways and shun their own as
being of the Devil.

The Drums of both were destroyed, shearing their connectedness
with the Earth and each other, robbing their collective source of
Power. The voices went on to say that the only significant difference
between me and my regional Native neighbors is the number of
generations we are re-moved from our Earth/Clan roots.

Their recent forebears who lived the Old Way have more in common
with my Old Way forebears than with their Aztec and Inca kin (whose
ways of slavery, class, taxation, war, wealth amassment, and Human
sacrifice gave them a closer cultural and spiritual relationship to some
of my Civilized European kin than to my Native neighbors).

Even more profound to me was their sharing that the Blood and
Ancestral Memories of my forebears live on in the American
Natives-that we are cousins. They showed me the writings in the old
script of my People scattered across this land; they showed me the
stone ceremonial structures and observatories that my People built;
they showed me remnants of my ancestral language that still exist in
Native tongues spoken here, today. They told me of the legends that
recount the day when my People were here and also foretold of their
return. They showed me accounts of the Post-Columbian explorers
that speak of the light-haired, blue-eyed People they encountered
amongst the Natives. And they drew me into the legends and
ceremonies that still carry the clear imprint of my People from the time
when they first walked this land.

They came-Celts, Norse, Carthaginians, Hebrews, Libyans. They may
have already been coming 5,000 years ago, to trade and mine and fish.
Some of them stayed, intermarried, and helped to found many of the
present tribes. For example, Zuni language and pottery styles are
based on ancient Libyan; the Pima, whose language is Semitic in
origin, still sing a literal version of the creation legend of their Semitic
Phoenician Ancestors; the Algonquian languages are laced with
Egyptian, Norse, and Celtic words.

Elders of the Old Way tell me that we are all the same-we all have red
blood and white bones, we are all children born of the same Mother.
That being so, they say that the Way of Our Mother-the Old Way-has
to be intrinsic to all. Conditioning is what makes some of us Civilized.
It channels our natural spiritual inclinations into some Religion and
diverts our foraging instincts into some grocery store.

Some People of all the races have been Civilized for millenia
(including the Red Race, whose empires we recently mentioned). And
there are still some of each race who live the Old Way, such as the
Ainu and Sarni (Laplanders) of the White Race.

This being the case, perhaps those who distinguish Conquerer and
Conquered, Civilized and Native, by race are not using a valid criteria.
In fact, the concept of race appears not to hold up well to observation.
If we were to travel westward from Southeast Asia, we would notice
the Mongoloid features of the People we pass gradually softening as
Caucasoid characteristics grew stronger. We'd find a comparable
transition on a trek through Europe to Africa. As we went southward
we would observe the People getting progressively darker. Caucasoid
features would continue to fade as Negroid features strengthened and
finally reached the fullness of their expression in Central Africa. A trip
across pre-Columbian America would reveal similar, varying blends
of Mongoloid, Caucasoid, and Polynesian characteristics.

So where do we draw the lines to categorize ourselves by race?
Perhaps we are more like a Rainbow, which owes its beauty-and its
very existence-to its various hues blending and unfolding into one
another.



Elders (books):

Barry Fell, America, B.C., Bronze Age America, Saga America

Salvatore Trento, The Search for Lost America

Jennings Wise, The Red Man in the New World Drama