Seven Fires of the Anisinabe predictions

The Seven Fires of the AnisinabeSeven prophets came to Anishinabe at a time when the people wereliving a full and peaceful life on the Northeastern coast of NorthAmerica. These prophets left the people with seven predictions ofwhat the future would bring. Each of the prophecies was called a fireand each fire referred to a particular era of time that would come inthe future. Thus, the teachings of the seven prophets are now calledthe Seven Fires.The first prophet said to the people, "In the time of the First Fire,the Anishinabe nation will rise up and follow the sacred shell of theMidewiwin Lodge. The Midewiwin Lodge will serve as a rallying pointfor the people and its traditional ways will be the source of muchstrength. The Sacred Megis will lead the way to the chosen ground ofthe Anishinabe.You are to look for a turtle-shaped island that is linked to thepurification of the earth. You will find such an island at thebeginning and at the end of your journey. There will be sevenstopping places along the way. You will know the chosen ground hasbeen reached when you come to a land where food grows on water. Ifyou do not move you will be destroyed."The second prophet told the people, "You will know the Second Firebecause at this time the nation will be camped by a large body ofwater. In this time the direction of the Sacred Shell will be lost.The Midewiwin will diminish in strength, a boy will be born to pointthe way back to the traditional ways. He will show the direction tothe stepping stones to the future of the Anishinabe people."The third prophet said to the people, "In the Third Fire, theAnishinabe will find the path to their chosen ground, a land in thewest to which they must move their families. This will be the landwhere food grows on water."The Fourth Fire was originally given to the people by two prophets.They come as one. They told of the coming of the Light Skinned race.One of the prophets said, "You will know the future of our people bythe face the Light Skinned race wears. If they come wearing the faceof brotherhood then there will come a time of wonderful change forgenerations to come.They will bring new knowledge and articles that can be joined withthe knowledge of this country, in this way, two nations will join tomake a mighty nation. This new nation will be joined by two more sothat four will form the mightiest nation of all. You will know theface of the brotherhood if the light skinned race comes carrying noweapons. If they come bearing only their knowledge and a hand shake."The other prophet said, "Beware if the Light Skinned race comeswearing the face of death. You must be careful because the face ofbrotherhood and the face of death look very much alike. If they comecarrying a weapon, beware. If they come in suffering, they could foolyou. Their hearts may be filled with greed for the riches of thisland. If they are indeed your brothers, let them prove it. Do notaccept them in total trust. You shall know that the face they wear isone of death if the rivers run with poison and the fish become unfitto eat. You shall know them by these many things."The fifth Prophet said, "In the time of the Fifth Fire there willcome a time of great struggle that will grip the lives of all Nativepeople. At the warning of this Fire there will come among the peopleone who holds a promise of great joy and salvation. If the peopleaccept this promise of a new way and abandon the old teachings, thenthe struggle of the Fifth Fire will be with the people for manygenerations. The promise that comes will prove to be a false promise.All those who accept this promise will cause the near destruction ofthe people."The prophet of the Sixth Fire said, "In the time of the Sixth Fire itwill be evident that the promise of the Fifth Fire came in a falseway. Those deceived by this promise will take their children awayfrom the teachings of the Elders; grandsons and granddaughters willturn against the Elders. In this way, the Elders will lose theirreason for living; they will lose their purpose in life. At this timea new sickness will come among the people. The balance of many peoplewill be disturbed. The cup of life will almost be spilled. The cup oflife will almost become the cup of grief."At the time of these predictions, many people scoffed at theprophets. They then had medicines to keep away sickness. They werethen healthy and happy as a people. These were the people who choseto stay behind in the great migration of the Anishinabe. These peoplewere the first to have contact with the Light Skinned race.They would suffer the most. When the Fifth Fire came to pass, a greatstruggle did indeed grip the lives of all Native people. The LightSkinned race launched a military attack on the Indian people through-out the country aimed at taking away their land and theirindependence as a free and sovereign people. It is now felt that thefalse promise that came at the end of the Fifth Fire was thematerials and riches embodied in the way of life of the light skinnedrace.Those who abandoned the ancient ways and accepted this new promisewere a big factor in causing the near destruction of the Nativepeople of this land. When the Sixth Fire came to be, the words of theprophet rang true as the children were taken away from the teachingsof the Elders. The boarding school era of "civilizing" Indianchildren had begun. The Indian language and religion were taken fromthe children. The people started dying at an early age... they hadlost their will to live and their purpose in living.In the confusing times of the Sixth Fire, it is said that a group ofvisionaries came among the Anishinabe. They gathered all the priestsof the Midewiwin Lodge. They told the priests that the Midewiwin Waywas in danger of being destroyed. They gathered all the sacredbundles. They gathered all the scrolls that recorded the ceremonies.All these things were placed in a hollowed out log from the ironwoodtree. Men were lowered over a cliff by long ropes.They dug a hole in the cliff and buried the log where no one couldfind it. Thus the teachings of the Elders were hidden out of sightbut not out of memory. It was said that when the time came that theIndian people could practice their religion without fear that alittle boy would dream where the Ironwood log, full of the SacredBundles and Scrolls were buried. He would lead his people to theplace.The Seventh Prophet that came to the people long ago was said to bedifferent from the other prophets. He was young and had a strangelight in his eyes. He said, "In the time of the Seventh Fire, NewPeople will emerge. They will retrace their steps to find what wasleft by the trail. Their steps will take them to the Elders who theywill ask to guide them on their journey. But many of the Elders willhave fallen asleep. They will awaken to this new time with nothing tooffer. Some of the Elders will be silent out of fear. Some of theElders will be silent because no one will ask anything of them.The New People will have to be careful in how they approach theElders. The task of the New People will not be easy. If the NewPeople will remain strong in their Quest, the Water Drum of theMidewiwin Lodge will again sound its voice. There will be a Rebirthof the Anishinabe Nation and a rekindling of old flames. The SacredFire will again be lit. It is at this time that the Light Skinnedrace will be given a choice between two roads. If they choose theright road, then the Seventh Fire will light the Eighth and finalFire, an eternal Fire of peace, love, brotherhood and sisterhood. Ifthe light skinned race makes the wrong choice of roads, thedestruction which they brought with them in coming to this countrywill come back at them and cause much suffering and death to all theEarth's people.Traditional Midewiwin people from other Nations have interpreted thetwo roads that face the Light Skinned race as the road to technologyand the other to spiritualism. They feel that the road to technologyrepresents a continuation of Head-Long rush to technologicaldevelopment.This is the road that has lead to modern society, to a damaged andseared Earth. Could it be that the road to technology represents arush to destruction? The road to Spirituality represents the slowerpath that traditional Native People have traveled and are now seekingagain.The Earth is not scorched on this trail. The grass is still growingthere. The prophet of the Fourth Fire spoke of a time when "twoNations will join to make a Mighty Nation."He was speaking of the coming of the Light Skinned race and the faceof brotherhood that the Light Skinned Brother could be wearing. It isobvious from the history of this country that this was not the faceworn by the Light Skinned race as a whole - that the Mighty Nationspoken of in the Fourth Fire has never been formed.