02/26/2024
Attached is my current Pipe collection or array- they are each special; one of my mentors is teaching me how to construct/make Pipes. I Pray with each of these throughout the week the eagle Pipe far left is very special, advanced master craft work by same mentor made of muktiple pices of wood carefully measured at exact angles from someone holding a pHD, the blue one is the 1st Pipe made for me by Chief mark Anthoy Ramsey- colors great-lightweight very meaningful not only the pipe but that he accepted me he helped me with my geneology though we cant be exactly sure where my King line ultimately goes & I pray with this one esp on windy days with feathers on strings- also you should note the pipe ends at the elbow bend of the bowl sort of Cherokee-ish style; the flat-stem Western style prayer Pipe is my 1st almost-by-myself effort under Chief Adkins' & my other mentor's supervision, and the Pearl-inlay museum piece is also made by same expert mentor who says there's no wrong way to Pray & peopl's statements to/from Creator is between them & Creator, so if someone does Pipe Ceremony "wrong", it's not my/our role to correct everyone as "Pipe Police", so if he or I do any Blessings of the Ring with ANY Pipe at our Powhatan Pow Wow in July, it may be a Western theme/style or similar to that in the book, "The Sacred Pipe" in a Lakota style or Siouxan- still Algonquian, however. Pipe Ceremonies and Pow Wow Circle Opening Ceremonies do vary, and BIA or AL IAC officials may have opinions on what they commonly see or may want but you can see the variance just between Pipe styles in that the Bold is/completes the action in Mark's Pipe, but Western Pipes have stem continuation past the Bowl because to***co, smoke complete a Circular Cycle of Prayers to heavens but the Pipe is an energy conduit of sorts when holding it vertically touching the ground or sky w/ to***co merely fueling it not being the entire action- neither system is wrong as each is expressions to/of Creator/God or Wakan Tanka in Center of the Circle(s). Pipes & Prayers, folks...that's the takeaway for you to ponder today.
