White Buffalo Peace - 24" x 48", Acrylic on Spruce, $3,700

In the silence of a day in the whiteness of the sun

A Buffalo changes into Yellow, Red, Black then into White

Four races and directions she comes spinning into one

She was at once the peace of a beautiful Woman

Witness two Lakota brothers hunting watching this from up on a hill

And as she approaches there was one who disrespected her in his sexual desires for her

And she turned to him and changed him into a cloud then into a skeleton

With a message for the other brother to take home

She taught the respect for women in heart and strength and beauty as vision

She was the Mother of Life White Buffalo Calf Woman

And cradling the Pipe she taught what lives in the heart of a Mother

When offering the pipe to the Creator the body becomes the bridge

From the feet on the earth and the pipe stem reaching to the sky

The Sacred below to the Sacred up high

That the pipe holds every living thing together as one great family

Of what lives in the hearts in the words of semma and smoke

That listening means some truths might be angry

And must be honoured along with all the rest  in the spirit of Wayo Kapi ~ the truth

But if you walk away from the truth and understanding of another heart

You will take away all the peace and offend every Mother’s heart

Who has ever lived through wars along the way

Seeing what breaks even to the smallest breaks into war

The teaching is living side by side in understanding both sides

For even those who cannot understand the struggle of a warriors heart after battle

Cannot have the honour of the pipe

To understand the bridge of peace Is to understand the hearts of warriors of men

And the hearts of mothers

So as she leaves and turns away into the Western Doorway

Lakota Chief Looking Horse keeper of the pipe awarded the Wolf in the spirit of kin

Arvol Looking Horse holds the pipe in the Eastern Doorway

“Look at this bowl, it’s stone represents the buffalo, but also the flesh and blood of the red man.  The buffalo represents the universe and the four directions, because he stands on four legs, for the four ages of man.  The buffalo was put in the west by Wakan Tanka at the making of the world, to hold back the waters.  Every year he loses one hair, and in every one of the four ages he loses a leg.  The Sacred Hoop will end when all the hair and legs of the great buffalo are gone, and the water comes back to cover the Earth.”

Quotes taken from John Fire Lame Deer’s “White Buffalo Calf Woman Brings The First Pipe” 1967

Sioux Teaching

LauraLee K. Harris