Short Story: The pipe-smoking American Indian medicine woman

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Relia Two Toes, was an American Indian healer, and medicine woman, who also had her pipes, which she used in every religious ceremony that she officiated in their tribe. She had large big toes, on each foot, hence her name. She would load her pipe, with a different plant, depending on what she wanted to achieve at that meeting. She had over 100 different plant species that she used. Her favourite filling was sumac, a plant known for its medicinal qualities. In the end, though, her pipe smoking came back to bite her, and she got a virulent mouth cancer that killed her. Nevertheless, we can take away some positives still from her life, of 56 years. Her spirit helper was a bear, and bears are known as keepers of wisdom. She was a wise old woman. When we move our heart away from love, it hardens. We should follow the bears, and always have a dancing heart. Bears also bring inner healing, and protection, to a person too, and Relia knew that bears knew how to heal themselves too, and bring about healing to their wounds. She knew that nobody is ever totally enslaved by nature, as the great spiritual father, could often bring about a miracle that could override them, the laws of nature, at times. Relai was softly spoken, but her words carried great conviction, and power, in them, nevertheless. She would say, "It is far better to keep softness in the heart, burning brightly with God's light, than to speak from a dark cloud, with excessive thunder, in the mouth." "We need to be silent enough to hear the voices of nature talking to us through plants, and animals." "A heart and a mind can only dwell together, or work together, when love is behind each of them." "Our best teacher is our heart, not our mind." "When we ask questions with our heart, our heart must answer us, not our mind." "God gives us a tongue, but we should not allow it to bring deafness to our heart. Our heart must sing God's song that he gives us to sing, and we should not mouth off words, without the proper tune, or tuning by God, and his love." If everyone could speak that wisely, they will live a wiser life then too. Keep your heart alive, and tune it into God's wisdom, for your life. Photo Credit: The photo used in this article was sourced from my own collection of photos. Relai Two Toes was a wise old American Indian woman.