The White Buffalo Prophecy

For us, we go back to a story I want to share here. It's never been shared in this way, ever. But my great-great-grandfather's name was Owl Man. He was both the chief and the etasha and the head of the Holy Man Society for the White Swan Dakotas. And he had this beautiful bay horse he was raising. He wouldn't let anybody else ride it. And there was 300 Yankton's riders had come together and three Oyates had come together and struck by the reed was the old man who was the spokesperson, etasha, because we're all part of the circle. And they were waiting for the spring herd to come up. And we had a prophecy. It said that there would be a white buffalo would appear before this wintertime came. We didn't know what this winter was. How do you know what untruth is if you live in truth? How do you know what hatred is if you live in love? How do you know what the destruction of Mother Earth is when you only respect her and love her? So we had no idea what this wintertime. But they said a white buffalo would appear. And of course, we always would pray before we hunted when that white buffalo gave itself. Because to understand these buffaloes, that's why we learn from them. The old bulls are on the outside. They give up first, the younger bulls, then the older women. In the center are little children. And right in the center is the white buffalo. Because they're total albinos. They have pink eyes, pink toes, pink tongue. They're parasitic. So that's why they're in the center. Because they protect them, protect anything that's weaker in the center. And so you might see one of these maybe once every 80 years. And that's when there was millions and millions. So this occurrence of one every year now is an incredibly special sight, these white animals appearing everywhere. So his son, Brown Bear, who was mentoring, Maltolri Brown Bear, came to him and said, you know, Ate, father, can I ride this bay horse in this hut? He hadn't allowed anybody to ride it. And people were amazed. Why would they allow him to ride that horse? He said, yes, he said, Jinx, my son. So sure enough, range and all their holy societies, they look down here and come to these buffalo. Scouts came in, so they're coming. So they went 300 men on horseback, all arranged. And of course, you had to have your only your best buffalo horses going to the center of that herd. Because when that thing got thundering, that's where the best meat was, you see, in the center. But you had to prepare yourself. And the younger people hunt outside in the stragglers because, you know, they didn't want to be injured. And so they got to the top and looked down, all of a sudden, somebody yelled out, there's a white one right in the middle, big white bull. And they've been waiting for this, because this was holy to us. But it was a sacrifice of this giving itself, that remembrance that if we would endure, and from these lineages, which, you know, many, many of our spiritual leaders share, and everybody has these kind of sacred prophecies, but I want to share this one has been talked about before. And so, boom, all societal rules. Now we're focused on one thing, and that's your survival of the people. And all the men went after that one white buffalo. And you can imagine this thundering, and we're talking about, you know, these herds used to be 100 miles long and 50 miles wide. No, but it was huge. It's a river. And right in the middle, that white buffalo was, you know, nearsighted. Here they went, boom. And my grandfather, Vine Deloria Sr., and my father, by the way, who carries the name Brown Bear, which my son now carries, told me this story so many times. He said, finally, there was only two riders left. There was Brown Bear on this bay horse, this red or a black horse. And they always pause at this point, because that they've been running so hard, that black horse started to bleed through his nose. And he said, that man, understanding the spiritual journey, that we don't injure anything, understanding and loving, having compassion for that horse that had given it all, he pulled him up. He pulled him up. He said, go on with him. Go on with him. Go on with him. Go on with him. I told you, Brown Bear. Now, if you think about this, here's this big white buffalo. He's coming up. Now, here's some keys about this. Where you've got one shot, there's certain physical qualities about that rider that you have to have to actually take that white buffalo in one shot. Think about it. First thing is, where is the heart? This side. So, when the buffaloes run, they take their front arms, they stretch their ribs. You've got to put it right in between the ribs. Another quality you have to have, physical quality. You can't be right-handed. You have to be left-handed. And you've got to be tall, stretch that. Left-handed, that side. Sure enough, he pulled back, clear to the quills. He said, I got him. I got him. All the riders came, and they wept. They cried, because they knew they'd given this life, because this was coming, whatever this was. And they had to remember this moment until the springtime came. And so, they came, and they gathered sage. And they were very clear about it. They built a platform, a popular, we use in our sun dance. And they rolled that bull buffalo onto that. And they put sage in his ears and mouth all over, and laid him on this mat. Then they pulled it up on the horses. It was off the ground, four horses. Of course, they sang and prayed. They stopped once, twice, three times. They came in, they came, all lined up. Everybody lined up, brought him down. Of course, what you do is you eat. They had communion. One last time, one last time before they entered this time of preparation that would last for 500 years, to prepare themselves for answering the prayers, because they were praying for all of humanity, all human beings. So, if you pray for everybody, and if you want to learn to be forgiving, then you have to receive things that hurt, or you can't learn to be forgiving. Right? So, sure enough, after they got finished eating, because the honor of one is the honor of all, and the hurt of one is the hurt of all. And of course, the way that you would have this honor is you would bring somebody up before the people, and then the children would be all watching. I want to be like Brown Bear. I want to be like, serves the people woman. I want to be like this. So, they brought him up. I was struck by the reading once. They had a chief there. They brought him up, and faced him in four directions, and fanned him off, saying, just like here, saying, prayed, honored him. This young man, young man, crazy horse ruling, 36 years old, when he was assassinated, killed. Thirty-six. So, our young people, this is where the power is coming. Three billion people on the planet under 25 years old. In our communities, it's the young people who are the majority coming up. So, anyway, afterwards, when they'd completed the ceremony for Mahtori Brown Bear, the other key part was, who was the man that prepared the rider, and who's the horse? You see, the horse, that's how much we love the horse. So, here he comes, bring up this bay. He had eagle feathers right into his mane, into his tail. He had thunder and lightning signs on his hard side. He came leading him up. The next question they had to ask was, struck by the reason, what's his name? What's his name? The old man said, I want you to guess in a way to go to him. He had a big buffalo bag. He pulled out a whole necklace of eagle claws, he threw it over his neck. He said, eagle claws. He said, yes, that's his name. They said, from this lineage of relatives, many, many, many, many, many, because all men had 22 children, 18 daughters and four sons. He comes down there to Tipisapa, Phillip Deloria, go to the National Cathedral of Washington, D.C. He stands the third from the right, because he realized also that we had no choice but to understand and go to the heart of the spiritual teachings, because that's the only way we had to worship during a period of time, while others kept these things alive. So, we honored all traditions. But, you know, the question I always had was, how in the world could a creator that could create a universe, galaxies upon galaxies, we're on the edge of this galaxy, it's 26,000 light years to the center of this galaxy, and there's many galaxies, and the space between the galaxies are bigger than the galaxies. That's traveling at 186,000 miles per second. So, I always wondered to myself, how could a power of such magnitude, if I call this power the most holy, holy of wisdom, I'm forced to admit the very wellsprings of wisdom have been created by this power. If I call this power the quintessence of knowledge, I'm forced to admit the very wellsprings of knowledge have been created by this power. That's why we call it something sacred, moving beyond, beyond. So, how in the world could something so powerful only send this truth and this light, the truth and light to one people, to one place in history? It doesn't make any sense, especially since the center of the universe is everywhere. So, you know, from my perspective, all tribes and nations have had spiritual teachers, spiritual people from every part, guiding us one step at a time, renewing the spiritual teachings always, bringing those social teachings that are needed for this time and place. Because now we're at a time where it's been prophesied, we're coming into this global civilization. And we hear, I can hear it, the death pangs, death cries of an old, outworn system dying. It's in its death throes. It is. It's not going to be. It is in its death throes. This is the time you got to be careful. As you know, I've been around animals. When they're in their death throes, in a state of denial, in a way, struggling, that last thing, they're very dangerous. But also, if we listen carefully, we can hear the beautiful sounds, the birth cries emerging everywhere of a new springtime, a new day, a new time in which we'll fully realize who we truly are, that each of us is a sovereignty, ancient and perishable and everlasting. And also recognize we're all part of one holy human family, with one holy power. And that we'll understand fully, the eagle has two wings, one is man and one is woman. And in order for us to fly as highest to our total spiritual maturity, both wings of this eagle must be given full honor, justice, respect, and glory. Then the eagle of humanity will fly as highest.