Every place has an echo, a memory of what it was once, long ago. Helena used to have herds of antelope, elk, buffalo, deer. Cottonwoods, prickly pear, and chokecherries grew all over. The grass was high and lush, and the creeks traced their way across the valley floor. Like you, I often think about how it was here, long ago, and about the tribes who knew this valley and mountains. There were sacred places all around here, too. My Cheyenne uncle, Herman Bear Comes Out, told me once, whatever was there once, is still there. I think it is true for Helena and the mountains around us too.

I read something today by a Native American veteran today.

"No one is right all of the time. People are always attracted to whatever seems the biggest and most successful, never really looking at the root, or the source.

The Mik-Maq, have a huge expanse of land, as we haven't given away any of it since 1789. The first time that I set foot on tribal lands, I had dreams in which people were greeting me, welcoming me home, petitioning me for favors, and inviting me into their wigwams. The tribal ceremonies, were very different from those seen on the Pow-Wow circuit, and the magical practices deep, and very serious.

When I visited a good friend's tribe, the Hopi, I had dreams of people greeting me as a guest and friend, and teaching me who they were. This felt wonderful and different. The ceremonies and magic were serious, yet joyful. Since my friend and I were soldiers and were going into a nasty place soon, the Hopi, seemed to make it their mission to make us laugh. I find desert gloomy, yet not on Hopi land, I owe them. On Nisqually land, I had dreams in which people watched me and showed me what they were proud of. In other tribes' land I have had dreams were I was greeted with fear on one, curiosity on another.

On Mohawk Land, even though we fought each other and we chased them 2500 miles once in bloody conflict, they greeted me in the dream world and in this world with respect and honor. Every Tribe, every tribal ground, has a different feel, that shapes the tribes that inhabit them. When you ignore the attempts by western civilization, to make every place the same, and even attempt to kill the spirits in the land, you feel great differences, when open about it. Tribes as they settled into areas were shaped by the land, and became part of the land loci [the spirits of the land]. This has occurred all over the world giving rise to the gift of different cultures. It shapes us, and when we try to shape the land, even to kill the spirit of the land, we do ourselves great harm, and become fearful, lost people."