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“Our vision is for the peoples of all continents, regardless of their beliefs in the Creator, to come together as one  at their Sacred Sites to pray and meditate and commune with one another, thus promoting an energy shift to heal our Mother Earth and achieve a universal consciousness toward attaining peace.”

- Arvol Looking Horse

Day 126 - Thursday, October 26, 1995 - Under a gradually brightening sky, the Sunbow walkers formed a circle among the evergreens at the Whispering Pines early in the morning. They offered prayers, looked to the east, and greeted dawn together.

Then they drove to Shawnee, where they sat down at a heaping breakfast table as guests of the Absentee Shawnee nation.

The morning feast featured lumberjack-size helpings of juice, coffee, eggs, home fries, and thick, fluffy biscuits.

During breakfast the Absentee Shawnee people honored Algonquin Grandfather William Commanda with words of high praise, and with the gift of a handsome, beaded, bolo tie.

"The Shawnee have been so supportive, so wonderful," Grandfather commented later. "They have done everything they could to help. We are very thankful to have met these wonderful people on our way West. They have given us energy to keep going."

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Oklahoma gusher - oil boom days, early 1900s.

Fourteen Sunbow walkers were out on the road later during the day, striding into the heart of Oklahoma City.

In many places they saw oil pumps—pumps pecking ceaselessly away at the earth, to suck up thick, black oil. The pumps are plain to see, but the pipes generally run underground. The pipes convey the precious blood of the industrial era away from the well and on to refineries that it might eventually be burned, and so drive the world's many motors, and fill the panet's air streams with smoky residue.

On April 15, 1897, the Nellie Johnstone No. 1 oil well came to life with a powerful gush, the first commercial oil well in Oklahoma. Thus began a wild boom era in the region as the immense potential for riches ignited an oil-and-mineral rush that would ebb and flow across the land for more than thirty years and would rival all previous quests for wealth on Turtle Island (North America).

While oil and minerals brought vast wealth for a few, and provided fuel to drive the industrial economy, the staggering environmental consequences have became apparent slowly but relentlessly. By extreme late 20th Century, the time of our pilgrimage, the harsh consequences were undeniable. The oil economy befouls our home planet, making air and water filthy for us and our children unto the seventh generation and beyond. With this we must reckon; beyond this we must find a way.

As they traversed this land the Sunbow walkers put down tobacco as a spiritual offering. They prayed for all the children, all the parents, and all the earth that has been dug or drilled into to have the oil removed and burned. Everything is remembered in a sacred way; everone and everything is honored. Our pilgrim instructions are to forget none, to forgive all.

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At camp in the evening, the walkers cooked a meal of rice, beans, cabbage, and cornbread, then sat down and devoured every last crumb.

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Copyright 2006 by Steven McFadden

Read Day 127 -- Odyssey of the 8th Fire