The Seventh Fire:
An Ancient Prophecy
from the Ojibwe Tradition
by Allen Aslan Heart/White Eagle Soaring
Ojibwe/Abenaki artist, teacher, healer, and writer
Over one thousand years ago seven prophets came to my people while they still lived on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. They said it was necessary that the people leave their homeland and seek a new home in the unknown wilderness of the setting sun. If they did not, the people and their way of life would be destroyed and they would be scattered. They were told to follow the Great River west and look for an island in the shape of a turtle and the food that grows on water. They were told of the dangers and difficulties of their journey and of dreams that would show them the way. They were told of Great Lakes and Thundering Falls, of the coming of a light-skinned race, how their culture would be torn apart as some would leave the path of spirit to follow the way of the mind.
The Seventh Prophet was different from the others. He was younger and light seemed to shine from his eyes. He said that there would come a time when the fish could no longer live in the water and the air would begin to lose its power of life. Then the water drum would sound once again and the ancient stories would be returned to the people. Lead by the power of wisdom and the gentleness of compassion, a new people would rise up and, offer to the light-skinned race the path of spirit. They would offer them a way to live according to the Original Instructions to love, honor, and respect all beings in the Web of Life, to walk in balance and harmony on the Good Red Road. If this offer were to be accepted, a new and final age of unimaginable beauty, cooperation and love would arrive. If this offer were to be refused, the destructiveness of the light-skinned race would turn back on them to destroy them. Only by following the path of spirit will we find our true potential as human beings.
I first heard of the Prophecy of the Seventh Fire fifteen years ago, from an Ojibwe teacher and activist. Nice legend, I thought, although I didn’t see how it had anything to do with my life. I didn’t plan to weave dream catchers and tell their stories, either. But Spirit has a way of grabbing your attention sometimes, doesn’t it? Still, I thought I was just a white man doing “Indian” things until, at a family reunion, my elders let it slip that may be I was doing this “Indian” stuff because Grandma Bertha was Indian. I was Indian! The next year I was honored for my teaching and weaving at a powwow at the Rediscovery Center on the White Earth Indian Reservation in Minnesota! In the next five years I would market these unique natural dream catchers and their stories of wisdom to museums shops, art galleries, and retail stores from Seattle and San Diego to Berlin and Vienna and teach over 5,000 people how to weave dream catchers from San Diego to Slovenia. I taught over 5,000 schoolchildren about dream catchers, including the children of UN diplomats at the American International School in Vienna.
One morning in Denver, Colorado, I awakened with these words ringing through my head: “You are a Dream Dancer. Dance a new dream for the people.” A year later, visiting my friend Josephine, an elder on the White Earth Indian Reservation, I found that the Ojibwe have an ancient tradition of the Dream Dance and Dream Dancers. I had given Josephine a box of my books about dream catchers that she could sell to raise funds to buy another set of Ojibwe language audiocassettes for the reservation. Upon returning to Minneapolis to clear out my storage locker prior to returning to Europe, I found on the floor a small blue brochure that told of the Seventh Fire. It told the story of the Red Eagle of Dawn, of the Turtle who had offered his back upon which to build an island, of the Great Bear of the North who holds the water in snow and ice so the earth can never again be covered with water. Three months earlier Indian people had given me three necklaces to wear: the Red Eagle of Dawn, the Turtle, and a claw of the Bear. And I had just returned the stories to the people. Now the stories are on the Internet at www.the7thfire.com for all the world to see.
I don’t remember signing up for this. I thought I was just creating dream catchers and telling stories. Then I realized that the Seven Prophets were telling their wisdom through the art and design of my dream catchers and the stories. The stories point toward a new paradigm: the path of spirit. The way of the mind has lead repeatedly to wars, conquest, domination, exploitation, pollution, and misery. Those who follow this destructive path operate out of a lust for power, selfishness, and greed. It is not a path of love, honor, and respect. The air and waters of the Earth are polluted, the water drum has sounded and the stories have been returned to the people.
Now is the time of the Seventh Fire. We’ve heard the wake up call—our “911” call—loud and clear. From our human perspective it seemed like a horrible tragedy. At least, that’s our interpretation of the circumstances of life on Earth. We saw the plane crash into the World Trade Center, burst into flame and moments later saw first one then the other tower crumble into dust and debris—over and over again until it was engraved on our mind. Then we were fed the story of terrorists and “Attack on America,” corollaries were drawn to Pearl Harbor and the “Day of Infamy.” The true story of Pearl Harbor still remains classified sixty years later although some information that is not told in history books shows quite another reality. Day of Infamy has another meaning, then and now.
We are being shown the truth behind the veils of illusion because now is the time for us to take back our power and take responsibility for ourselves. We are at a fork in the path. We can choose to take the path to our higher evolution as beings. This has always been our heritage, awaiting the time when we chose to pierce the veils and see WHO we really are. It’s not really a big deal. It’s been made to seem a big deal to keep people from going there. Keep them searching for something outside themselves and they’ll never find it. Jesus said it correctly and so did a few others: “The kingdom is within.” You are already there and don’t know it. When you REALize this, you will be ready to step through the crack in time to the next level of your evolution. The train is coming and you don’t need to stand on the track. Come soar with us.
Bawaudjigaeyaun wae-ondji manitouwiyaun.
(To dreams I owe the mystery.)
Allen Aslan Heart is an Ojibwe/Abenaki artist, teacher, healer, and writer. More information about the Seventh Fire, dream catchers, soaring, and the earth journey may be found at http://www.real-dream-catchers.com or email him at whiteaglesoaring@yahoo.com.
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