Prayer from the leader of the Sioux nation concerning Gulf Oil spill
June 15, 2010
A letter from Chief Arvol Looking Horse
(Present Chief and Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe of the
Lakota, Dakota, Nakota Nation of the Sioux)
Gulf Coast Oil Spill - Sioux Prayer Request
****** A Great Urgency ******
To All World Religious and Spiritual Leaders
My Relatives,
Time has come to speak to the hearts of our Nations and their
Leaders. I ask you this from the bottom of my heart, to come together
From the Spirit of your Nations in prayer.
We, from the heart of Turtle Island, have a great message for the
World; we are guided to speak from all the White Animals showing
Their sacred color, which have been signs for us to pray for the
Sacred life of all things. As I am sending this message to you, many
Animal Nations are being threatened, those that swim, those that
crawl, those that fly, and the plant Nations, eventually all will be
affected from the oil disaster in the Gulf.
The dangers we are faced with at this time are not of spirit. The
Catastrophe that has happened with the oil spill which looks like the
Bleeding of Grandmother Earth, is made by human mistakes, mistakes
that we cannot afford to continue to make.
I ask, as Spiritual Leaders, that we join together, united in
Prayer with the whole of our Global Communities. My concern is these
serious issues will continue to worsen, as a domino effect that our
Ancestors have warned us of in their Prophecies.
I know in my heart there are millions of people that feel our united
Prayers for the sake of our Grandmother Earth are long overdue. I
believe we as Spiritual people must gather ourselves and focus our
thoughts and prayers to allow the healing of the many wounds that
have been inflicted on the Earth. As we honor the Cycle of Life, let
us call for Prayer circles globally to assist in healing Grandmother
Earth (our Unc'I Maka).
We ask for Prayers that the oil spill, this bleeding, will stop. That
the winds stay calm to assist in the work. Pray for the people to be
guided in repairing this mistake, and that we may also seek to live
in harmony, as we make the choice to change the destructive path we
qre on.
As we pray, we will fully understand that we are all connected. And
that what we create can have lasting effects on all life.
So let us unite spiritually, All Nations, All Faiths, One Prayer.
Along with this immediate effort, I also ask to please remember June
21st, World Peace and Prayer Day/Honoring Sacred Sites day. Whether
it is a natural site, a temple, a church, a synagogue or just your
own sacred space, let us make a prayer for all life, for good
decision making by our Nations, for our children's future and
well-being, and the generations to come.
Onipikte (that we shall live),
Chief Arvol Looking Horse
19th generation Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe
posted by Sara Hickman at 09:16 am
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Here’s the stained glass cross I designed for my church’s chapel…seeking donations
June 06, 2010
It will be 8 feet high, 5 feet wide, and light up from within!
If you can help donate towards the creation of it, I'm trying to raise $6000. Thank you so much, if you
can help donate....I'll also let everyone know when the unveiing is so you can come celebrate!
ChipIn: Stained Glass Cross for our chapel
stainedglasscross4fumcaustin.chipin.com
posted by Sara Hickman at 10:02 am
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Boone Planta Water Project….It’s Happening!!!
May 19, 2010
I wanted to give you and update on the Boone Planta Water Project. Boone was the son of my dear friend, Sam. Sadly, Boone passed away
several months ago, and in response, many, many people came together to create this project to build wells for remote places
that need clean, fresh water.
Tomorrow, a team of 15 people from Impact Ministries and The Boone Water Project will leave on a mission.
Their destination, El Zapote, is a remote village in the northern mountains of Honduras. There are about
85 people in the village, 25 are children who are in dire need of fresh clean water.
80% of infant mortality in the 3rd world is caused by water borne diseases. Like many villagers the
world over, the women and children of El Zapote spend hours each day trekking to and from a distant
mountain spring to collect the day’s supply of water needed for drinking, cooking and bathing.
Think about how much we take for granted the water that flows into our homes...for showering and
bathing, for drinking, for making ice, for running our automatic dishwashers and washing machines,
for watering our lawns and filling our swimming pools. It’s sanitary, its supply is unlimited, and it’s available
to us at the turn of a knob. It can be regulated to whatever temperature and pressure we choose and even
contains fluoride to prevent tooth decay. And all for pennies a day.
Within a week, Meredith (Boone's sister) and Sam (along with Brandon Parsons, Camron Barnette, Dillon McCarty,
John Langford, Kelly Vidovic, Mark Smith, Matt Bowman, Matt McCarty, Maurine Winkley, Serineh Saki, Shay Spence,
Tiffany Harelik, Win Smith) will have worked diligently in Boone’s honor to ensure water reaches the village.
Stay tuned for updates on The Boone Planta Water Project FaceBook site and/or the Boone Planta
Water Project website, Blogs and Twitters. Share this with friends.
Offer your prayers and good wishes. And thank you all who have supported the project & family with prayers and
donations in making this happen!
In Grace and Gratitude,
Sara
posted by Sara Hickman at 06:46 pm
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BIG BIRD, LITTLE BIRD/ABSENCE OF BLAME/SWEET SONGS
May 18, 2010
BLOWN AWAY that "Absence of Blame" is out, produced by Mark Addison: 13 songs of sorrow and redemption, and thanks for all
the support here in Austin, and abroad...
IN LOVE with "Sweet Songs", the cd I produced of 8 fabulous Austin women musicians. This is a collection of songs for families..songs
to make you laugh, to sleep, to dance, to sing along with....
All available here: http://www.sarahickman.com
Thank you, everybody, for your kindness on these ventures! I'll keep working to create more music/art/love....
posted by Sara Hickman at 06:04 am
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Maverick Magazine review!
May 06, 2010
Review from Maverick Magazine, May 6, 2010
Sara Hickman
ABSENCE OF BLAME
Sleeveless Records
4-1/2 out of 5 Stars
ABSENCE OF BLAME is practically faultless. Whatever, let's blame Sara!
Hickman's thirteen song, thirteenth adult recording, delivers six songs written on her own alongside five co-writes. Her (five) collaborators all possess Texas credentials, rather appropriate since, appointed by the State Commission on the Arts, Sara is the 2010-11 State Musician. Bar one song, Sara's latest album was recorded and produced by Mark Addison at his Austin, Texas studio The Aerie-that song being the bittersweet Suitcase which she wrote with Dan Workman. The simple, mainly voice and acoustic guitar rendition was recorded at Dan's SugarHill Studios in Houston. In addition to helming the project, Addison plays a plethora of instruments. Scrappy Jud Newcomb (the Highwayman/Loose Diamonds/the Resentments) delivers big (occasionally fuzzy) electric guitar power. Chords, drumbeats and percussion arrive care of Dony Wynn, while wind instruments are handled by Mike Agentis.
Album opener I'm So Glad You Came Along expresses gratitude to the person who: 'built this house of glory' while later on, supported by a sympathetic string arrangement, the ballad Before You Change Your Mind, co-written with Addison, simply shines. A couple of songs were co-written with Rachel Loy, an Austin-bred musician and Berklee College of Music graduate now residing in Nashville. Their Size Six Dress focuses on a young woman driven to extreme measures-cosmetic surgery-in order to satisfy that facile human vanity labelled fashion. Supported on backing vocal by her oldest daughter Lili, the justifiably vitriolic lyric cleverly embraces uncertainty: 'Less is more, less is happiness I guess' and then adds: 'Are you happy, now there's half of me, Love is more than a size six dress.' Previously released as a single, Hickman's narrator embraces social commentary-regarding autism-in the lyrically desperate State Of Emergency.
Located in the Concho County, Central Texas town of Eden is a for-profit prison operated by the Corrections Corporation of America. At the outset of the sonically muscular Edentown Sara mentions the facility before shifting her focus to a blue-collar couple living on the edge-'Eve had six children, and Adam was a drunk, He led them deeper into debt, He wiped each kiss with a punch' You will probably have figured, Adam ends up incarcerated in Edentown. At the outset of the lyrically sly 99% Sara sounds suitably seductive-'Let me take you home and I'll give you ninety-nine per cent'.
ABSENCE OF BLAME includes a couple of covers. Juliet & Juliet, a gospel tinged tale of forbidden love penned by Marvin Etzioni (Lone Justice, Grey DeLisle), is performed as a duet with Ginger Doss, and the album closes with Grace Pettis' hymn Love Is There. The principal gem among many in this package is without a doubt the (ten-year-old!) love and loss focused Blown Away. In the mid-section Sara's voice simply soars skyward on this lyrically inspirational number. Frankly, she has never sounded better.
- Arthur Wood, Maverick Magazine UK
posted by Gene Cowan at 08:34 pm
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