Best Kept Secret

From that time on, I ceased all activity in Canada with the exception of the few times I attended to some people who were personal friends. On the reservation it was a different situation.  I was dealing with native people who had aboriginal rights to the use of indigenous medicines.  This I knew, and as long as they requested it, I could feel free to let them have it.

In Kahnawake I was dealing with a different system.  So while I was preparing for another conference, I was also preparing myself to treat the subject and the people without any sort of reservation.  I could tell it as it was, because I had learned a lot about what went wrong in current therapy. 

I had no serious preparation to make, as I knew the subject of arthritis quite thoroughly.  I had also just published a paper entitled: “Arthritis - a reversible condition.”  I made a few mental notes concerning things I wanted to add but I didn’t need a script.

During this time, I was in touch with Winihawi on a daily basis. The latest news was that she was able to wash walls and ceilings, something that she had not been able to do in years.  The news was good all round and she told me to expect a big crowd at this conference.

The conference was being announced daily on the radio and she herself had invited several people to hear me speak.  The time was set for seven o’clock in the evening, so that people who were working or were otherwise occupied during the day could attend.  I arranged to be there about an hour or so before.  When I arrived, there were already many people assembled in the lobby. I walked into an atmosphere of palpable strangeness.  I had a sense of Mohawk Society.  Everyone was so serious and this made me feel somewhat self-conscious. However, they were for the most part silent, and those who spoke, did so in whispers. 

We exchanged casual greetings of  “Hello”, and “Hi,” as I walked into the library to help set things up. I was half an hour early and had some time to kill. I was very anxious and thirty minutes felt like an eternity.  More people were arriving all the time and the lobby was beginning to overflow. 

Then, by the door I saw Winihawi. She approached me and we exchanged warm greetings as she told me how happy she was that I was willing to speak to the people. This made me very happy and I was all the more anxious to begin. She then proudly displayed what she could do now with her arm.  It looked good as new, no more pain. It was like a new beginning for her.  

She introduced me to another of her sisters, then to her daughters and to a few other people in her clique.  I was a bit reserved, but at the same time I was rather happy because Winihawi’s recovery not only exemplified my ability but also lent the all-important element of credibility to what I had come to say.  Many people knew how she had been suffering and were anxious to hear what I had to say about her condition. They knew that whatever I was using was working!  I could now speak with even more confidence, having living testimony to endorse what I would be saying.  I now had to find a good opening, something of common interest; I thought that respect for nature would make a fitting introduction.           

The time to start the conference was drawing near so I went backstage while people were getting seated in the library.  Soon the hall was filled to capacity with a few people standing against the walls. It was time for me to begin.  After a brief introduction, I went to the podium.  There was no microphone so I reminded myself that I would have to speak louder than usual and not wait for people to ask me to raise my voice.  I made another brief sound check.  “Can you hear me in the back there?”  “Okay,….. thanks for the nice introduction. Good evening ladies and gentlemen….”

“…In the beginning, the Creator created the heavens and the Earth.”   I purposely chose the word Creator, because that was the term, I found out, the Mohawks use when referring to God.   “The Creator created the earth; Mother Earth is the first Kingdom, Kingdom Number One.”