A short introduction? or not...

[Nia Onyx]

Hello, I'm Nia Onyx online (a name from a old RPG character) and I would like to introduce myself. I am no good at short introductions, so I am sorry for the wall of text. Because I am not a Native American myself, I feel that I should explain why I am here as best I can. I would like to be an ally, but I feel I am so woefully uninformed that trying to claim I am one right now is hubris.

I am a "white girl", very much so, but I consider myself British American. My mother is British, as is her entire side of the family. My birth father is what my Mom calls a Heinz 57 American (aka: a typical mix blood American) I was born in Tucson, AZ and my family being in the Air Force, moved to Cheyenne, WY where I lived for about 16 years. Now, at about 12/13 years old, my older sister (who was severely multi-handicap) passed away. This caused me to learn that my older sister had not only been the only reason we stayed in Wyoming so long, but was why my Mom was still married to him. So my parents divorced and my Mom remarried and we moved to Ohio in 2000. During this I also had a big falling out with my birth father (who had never had a real strong presence in my life before) and I haven't talked to him since his own remarriage in Arizona.

Ok, back to when I was little in Wyoming. One of the things I had always remembered seeing, both around Frontier Days and on the trips to (and from) visiting family in Arizona, was the native tribe visability. They would be selling jewelry, bags, and rain sticks. Near Lions Park in Cheyenne there was an "Indian Village" that had a pen attached where a mom and baby buffalo were kept. I still own the two leather pouches I got from going to one of the "dances" (little kid perspective and all). So, as I became interested in both growing plants and Paganism, I had always thought that as soon as I was old enough to, I would go and ask one of the tribes that were near me for lessons on taking care of the land, use of native plants and how to be respectful of the spirits of the land, because it is their land I wish to grow my food on. I was also excited that I might be able to learn a new language and about a new culture too! Both are major interests of mine, as well as art and hands on projects.

Visiting a local tribe kind of went out the window when I moved to Ohio when I was 16/17. I lived near Dayton, but the only places I could find anything was Sun-watch and Serpent Mound, which were not tribe owned or run... but more like museums. Once I graduated from high school I instead tried to turn to books. I already had a strong interest in what is called Green Witchcraft, aka the use of herb and the spirits (aka: life) of nature itself. But all of the stuff I could find is from the "European Branch" and had little to do with local flora and fauna. Frustrated I spoke to another pagan friend of mine and she told me about a presentation she had seen a few years back by a man who had published a book on Sitting Bull, and that he was Sitting Bull's grandson, and that he said that he would be willing to help teach others about his people if they came to the reservation. I attempted to contact him or the publishers through the website about the book, but received no reply.

Not wanting to give up, I contacted the Indigenous Environmental Network on Facebook. They gave me two lines of contact to try instead, but again I got no response... Instead I decided to look for Pow Wows in the area, because I remembered when I worked at a little Mom and Pop craft shop just out of high school that I had met a man who said he was a Native American shaman. He came to the shop to get waxed cotton thread in bulk because he was helping disabled children make medicine bags. He was taking thick buffalo hide, having the children draw around their closed fingered hand, and they would write their name (or it would be written) on the outside portion of the hide. Then he would cut them out, keeping the rest of the hide with the children's names on it, and help them make medicine bags that held the items in the 'palm' of the bag while the 'fingers' were the top flap. He gave me a bit of black doe hide one time, and had said that Pow Wows were a good place to get good leather. I remember he had a lot of glass eye rings and was missing a few fingers...

Pow Wow searching I came across a list of Ohio Tribes, but when I highlighted the names and did a Google search, I kept getting a page that listed Fake Shawnee Tribes. One of those brought me to your site and there seemed to be a lot of really good information here, and the thought of someone profiting from another's culture made me mad. There is a difference between being respectful to the spirits of the land and claiming them as your own! I consider my deity Mother Earth (sometimes called Gaia) and she is why I want to care for the animals, and nurture plants. Animals and plants are different in different places though, just as the spirits of a place differ, the genus loci... I want to build a good home here in Ohio, one that lives with the land and not against it. I hope to build something like a bermed house (earth sheltered, like an Earthship) and grow my own food.

Anyways, sorry for the long post. I am very interested in creating a dialog, and perhaps even visiting and learning from tribes in and around Ohio, about the land here, the plants, the animals, and the life here. What can be used as medicine (like I learned that plantain is Ohio's Aloe Vera), what is good food (nut trees means nut flours, but what do you make?), and what animals (insects, birds, etc.) are good to help protect your garden without using pesticides. I think that to learn more then that would require people to get to know me though. Beyond this site, I still think my best bet is going to some Pow Wows, but I am now concerned about finding myself being fooled by the Fake Tribes that I have discovered are in my area. I hope people here might help me avoid them...