The Mysterious Symbols of the Dollar Bill

By Jay Moody

            The imagery on the back of the United State One Dollar Bill is intriguing to say the least. When a person takes the time to really analyze the symbolism in the Great Seal found thereon he is often filled with curiosity. Unfortunately this curiosity often leads to much uninformed or misinformed speculation. One of those foolish speculations is the idea that the Great Seal contains a lot of Masonic symbolism. This belief is held by a minority of people who have been influenced by Hollywood's inaccurate but entertaining fantasies like "National Treasure" and the fabrications of overzealous students of occult subjects. While it is true that several of the United States founding fathers were in fact Freemasons, it is not true that the United States One Dollar Bill contains any symbolism adopted from or inspired by Freemasonry.

(To read the rest of this article go to;

 http://www.helium.com/items/1045141-imagery-united-state-dollar       it's free!)

Ron Paul in 08?

By Jay Moody

In the race for the 2008 White House the American voter is quite inundated with information regarding the likes of big-money, big-name candidates such as Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Clinton. While main steam media tries their best to mold the American perception to believe that the 2008 Presidential race is merely a contest between the two corporate big dogs while chomping at the bit to name another Clinton president. In due form, the mainstream media seems out of touch with the American people and the upsetting youth, failing to recognize just how badly voters want change. After twenty-years of Bush, Clinton, Clinton, Bush and Bush, the people may not be quite as willing to invest another four to eight years for more of the same ol' same especially with respect to just how cozy the Bush's and the Clintons …

For the rest of this article go to;

http://www.helium.com/tm/696672/white-house-american-voter

On Naming God

Naming G-d can be one of the most challenging ideas presented to the religious mind. The Spirit from which all things emanate, the creator of everything is truly the unfathomable force throughout the universe. It is beyond gender and similar terrestrial attributes, but everything that is male and female exists within It. This Supreme Being ...

For the rest of the article go to;

http://www.helium.com/tm/693862/naming-challenging-ideas-presented

Bass Player Wanted, position available as of September 21, 2007.  Applicant may be temporary or permanent, must be reliable and willing to actually show up to practice and to gigs.  Other instruments will be considered on an individual basis.  Players should be knowledgeable about Caribbean, blues, ska, and Latin styles with a bit of a rock or punk edge.  To apply for this position contact Lojah through this myspace page or through the link provided at; 

We just played the Olde Town Cavern in Pensacola.  It was a good show, especially for being so last minute.  It seems we were remembered for our performance at open mic night and when the bar needed a band to fill in, I got an invite about 3 hours before showtime.  I got ahold of my backup and after confirmig with them we pounced on the opportunity like a wild panther.

It was a great thing too.  We had a really good time and we were asked back.  We don't have the formality of a date set yet, but Lojah will be performing another show at the Olde Town Cavern in Pensacola very soon.  We want to thank everyone who came out and partied with us on such short notice. Delia, Erica and Barbara, thanks for being so supportive and to everyone ... see you at the next show!

One Love!

http://www.Lojah.net">

NW Florida Greenman Family History;

Kee-O-Kee

By Jay Moody (Lojah)

                When we look around at the many gatherings and groups of alternative faiths and paganism in the Northwest Florida area, we should be reminded of the impact that the Greenman Family gatherings have had on their conception and foundation.  It is true that the Greenman Family Reunions in Pensacola, Florida were the first regular open Pagan Gatherings in the area which all others have tried to emulate, yet failed to duplicate and at times even attempted to immolate, but there is a history behind them that has in the opening decade of the twenty-first century become almost legendary.  Not only were all current pagan gatherings based off of the Greenman Family Reunions but the Greenman Family reunions were based of an older tradition; the tradition called Kee-O-Kee.

                In approximately 1967, a man by the name of Barry Bonifay and a group of young counter-culturists were avid campers of the river-filled Blackwater Forest of Santa Rosa County in Florida.  They were particularly fond of strips along Juniper and Coldwater Creeks.  They were youthful, freedom-seeking, Earth-loving and spiritual people.  They showed respect to the land and to the indigenous ancestors whose flesh and blood composed its soil.  They were like a family who sought spiritual life through communion within the most primitive surroundings of nature.

                Bonifay and his friends came together often for fellowship and to celebrate the wonders of the Earth.  They drew on many sources of inspiration.  They were influenced by many things; Native American Wisdom as portrayed by Hyemeyosts Storm in her classic literary work "Seven Arrows," the Rainbow Family gatherings and Christ.  But nothing was more influential than the hands-on direct physical experience with the Earth in her most natural of states, virginal and nearly unmolested by the hand of humankind.  They sought their spiritual consul in the flowing rivers, the music of the winds blowing through the leaves, the crackle of a warm campfire and the cooperation of their small community. 

                And it came to pass on one of many excursions into the wilderness that one of their numbers became lost in his inebriation.  Worry struck him and his comrades from whom he had been separated.  After a time of searching that probably seemed longer than it truly was, he thought himself to have found a way near to where he had left his comrades and began shouting; "Kee-O-Kee!"  His family heard his cry and began shouting in return; "Kee-O-Kee!  Kee-O-Kee!"  This cry was shouted back and forth, over and over until the lost youth was returned to his family of friends.  They embraced each other and laughed about this new word they had discovered; a word that before this day had no meaning yet would spawn a legacy for underground and counter-cultural religious experience in Northwest Florida for the rest of the twentieth-century and beyond.

                After the fateful day that spawned the word; Kee-O-Kee became the standard yell for the growing community.  Whenever a person became separated from his comrades and disoriented, or a later arrival made their way into the forest during one of the many gatherings, this shout was given and he waited for the reply of "Kee-O-Kee" in order to gauge his distance and direction from his target people.  As time progressed through the 1970's, steadily more and more people were invited to partake in the primitive deep-wilderness campouts and excursions then becoming known as Kee-O-Kee Gatherings.

                In the earlier days of Kee-O-Kee, the community took two weeks to themselves during the spring for celebration in the wilderness.  Bonfires and drum circles were the norm.  Barter, mutual-trust and the give-away were central to the communal functioning.  Open circles and council fires where everyone had a voice if they chose to sound it, with a central Talking-Stick that signified which individual had the floor represented the social order.  There was a camp kitchen and communal meals.  Transformational experience was the goal.  Each individual was welcomed to lose themselves in the wilderness of Blackwater Forest for weeks during the spring, finding their way back to the community fire awaiting them on their return.  In this way we became more strongly connected to the Earth and the life it supports.

                As time progressed and the community grew, the founding members of Kee-O-Kee became more involved in their daily struggles supporting themselves and their families.  They found fewer opportunities to gather together in the forest as they had in the previous years.  It was decided that the long gatherings should not just occur in the spring, but in the fall as well.  So twice a year there were held Kee-O-Kee Gatherings for two weeks each in the most remote and primitive areas accessible in Blackwater Forest.

                By the 1980's and 90's the Gatherings had grown immensely and Kee-O-Kee had become legendary within the greater community of Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties.  People made pilgrimage-like trips every spring and fall from places as far as Seattle, Washington to emerse themselves in Kee-O-Kee in Blackwater State Forest in Florida.  Rainbow family, new-agers and pagans considered it to be practically a Mecca of celebration.  Kee-O-Kee became a life changing experience for hundreds of people as they found themselves and their path connecting them more firmly to the divine nature in the Earth.  Sweat lodges, bonfires, painted-drum circles, clay-baking and general cooperative community were a regular part of the experience.

                Kee-O-Kee had quite a large impact of the future of the counter-cultural religious movement in Northwest Florida and nearly everyone involved in earth-focused spirituality found themselves in Kee-O-Kee at one time or another.  Debra Merwin who brought the Temple of Isis to Pensacola and the surrounding area was known to have attended the Kee-O-Kee Gatherings.  Delia Stone who founded Northwest Florida's Greenman Family and Paganwebpcola in 1999 was instrumental in organizing ceremonies, Maypoles and planning meetings all throughout the 1990's.  Kee-O-Kee was a phenomenon no one had ever imagined it would become.  As Kee-O-Kee Gatherings were regularly held at either Monkey's Camp near Dewey Hardy on Juniper Creek or Calloway Landing on Coldwater Creek, Green Turtle Tours, the underground tour bus company even made Kee-O-Kee a stop on its route. 

                In the 1990's, Brian "Loki" Skoville and Tom Abbot were college students at the University of West Florida and both had become regular attendees of the Kee-O-Kee Gatherings and camped regularly at Calloway on Coldwater.  Together Tom and Loki founded the UWF Pagan Campus Ministry (Later renamed the Green Earth Fellowship; a Pagan Campus Ministry).  PCM celebrations for the seasonal holidays were held most regularly at Calloway on Coldwater or on the Edward Ball Nature Preserve at UWF.  By 1997 Abbot and Skoville met Jay Moody another regular from Kee-O-Kee and they became camping buddies, as the two founders of the PCM were leaving the University and Jay was entering.

By the close of the twentieth century, the future of Kee-O-Kee was becoming uncertain.  Certain youths who perhaps had more good intentions than insight had proliferated fliers to all the local high schools in the area announcing the Gatherings and their locations.  In no time at all the pristine forest of Calloway had become overrun with people.  Hundreds of youths arrived and the forest was full of chaos.  The noise of radios blasting heavy metal drowned out the sounds of the birds and the wind.  Things became stolen that could have been trusted unguarded in past years.  The following summer, Calloway on Coldwater became a regular party area for young people looking to get far away from authority.  It became common for a hundred or more people to gather on any weekend with nothing in mind but intoxicated revelry and hedonism.  The forest began to become mistreated and suffer from the high demand and heavy stress that was exacted upon her.  This worried Bonifay and the Kee-O-Kee community as they saw that with the flood of people unknowledgeable about the ORIGINAL INTENTION of Kee-O-Kee had come disorder and destruction.  Lawlessness without insight brought the law, as first the Park Service and then the County and State Police began to arrive more frequently to run trouble makers out of the forest. It seemed as though the true spirit of Kee-O-Kee was being forgotten.  This worried the elder founding members of Kee-O-Kee because they felt it was counterproductive to hold Kee-O-Kee Gatherings that were overrun by people who were ignorant and not willing to learn the teachings of cooperative community, closeness to the earth and vision quests.

                Not wanting to allow the spirit of Kee-O-Kee to be abandoned in Northwest Florida many people tried to revive the Gatherings, with minimal and temporary success.  This was a topic of discussion at a number of area meetings.   In the summer of 1997 Delia Stone and Jay Moody met in a Sweat Lodge ceremony at Calloway on Coldwater where some of the earliest discussions of founding a more directly pagan oriented gathering in the spirit of Kee-O-Kee were held.  Shortly thereafter Paganwebpcola was founded at yahoo groups and this started what would later be called the Greenman Family Reunions.  The earliest GFR campouts were held at the same times of years in the same area of Calloway on Coldwater as the original Kee-O-Kee Gatherings were held.  Aside from the seasonal gatherings in the tradition of Kee-O-Kee, the GFR also holds monthly pot-luck socials in community parks in Pensacola. In 1998 Jay Moody assisted Dr. Terry Prewitt in refounding the temporarily defunct UWF Pagan Campus Ministry.  The UWF PCM (now the GEF) has been a regular sponsor of many GFR gatherings over the years.   The Greenman Family is a success.  People have attended from as far as 200 miles away.  Many other gatherings were spawned in its image in Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties, particularly in Milton and Fort Walton Beach Florida and Louisiana.  The Greenman Family Reunions have served, together with Paganwebpcola@yahoogroups.com to bring cohesion and tradition to the Northwest Florida pagan community that otherwise would not exist.

When a person considers the abundance of the local pagan and alternative religious gatherings in the Northwest Florida area, we are drawn to the fact that the Greenman Family has been a great influence on the foundation and formation of nearly all of them.  But behind the GFR is an older and deeper tradition, now nearly considered a legendary and mysterious place with an almost mythical status; Kee-O-Kee, the foundation on which these other local gatherings are built.  The pagan and alternative religious groups who gather in Blackwater forest to celebrate the spring and fall with campouts are participating in the tradition offered to them by the Greenman Family which has its roots in the traditions of Kee-O-Kee.  But Kee-O-Kee is more than a gathering, and more than a campout.  Kee-O-Kee is a state of mind.  It's a sort of vision-quest.  A tight-knit, yet welcoming community in the most primitive wilderness, seeking communion with each other, the divine nature and the Earth, each individual bringing what they could offer to the community fire, sacrificing your excesses and more to support the group, a hub-less wheel of fellowship with nothing more than what you could pack in to support you.  And just as the oral story tells us, it begins with finding your way back to the community fire after being alone with yourself in the wilderness of life.

I just returned from the Native American Music Awards.  It was a great experience, just one step down from the Grammys.  In fact there was a representative from the Grammys in attendance, checking out the possibilities of making the relationship official.  In a year or two we just might actually be having the first Native American Grammy Awards.  What a huge step for NDN people, and the indigenous all over the world.

            I got to rub elbows with some big names in the business and got a few pictures taken with them.  Little Steven was there, as was Micki Free from Shalimar, John Trudell (the Legend), Bill Miller, Brule and the list continues.  Such a great experience it is to have my disk in the hands of so many powerful people in the industry, each one of them actually taking the time to talk.

            The after party was a blast.  William Osceola of the Seminole Nation of Florida went all out, sparing no expense to host a Native blowout that made us all feel like royalty.  John Trudell busted a free-verse with a live band that damn near brought tears to my eyes.  The girls from Ulali were magnificent.  I wish I could pin point an isolated event in the day that was the best, but the whole experience was so great that I cant even try.

            It was a good day to be indigenous!

Indigenism and Native Revivalism

By Jay Moody (Lojah)

            The middle of the twentieth century saw an upsurge in Native Revivalism in western countries.  With the back to nature trend sensationalized by the 1960s Flower-Power generation many doors were opened in the realm of altered-native religion.  Many hippies, realizing how miserably they were failing at being accepted within Native American communities began a quest for connections with their own roots religion.  This movement progressed into the modern cultural revivalist movement.

            Primarily, there are three wings within this movement.  I name them as such; Paganism, Heathenism and Indigenism.  On the surface, they all share many similar qualities, but represent three very different attitudes and beliefs concerning roots religion.           

Paganism This subcategory is the most common in the west and represents some of the most freeform and New Age ideas.  In this group we have modern witchcraft, Wicca, the Faerie traditions and  eclecticism.  Typically the primary political interests of Pagans in general are those concerning freedom of religion issues, gender rights and ecological concerns.

Heathenism Heathens are more geared toward recreating or revival of older and usually extinct religions.  In this category are groups such as Asatru, Imbas and other reconstructionist organizations.  Politically, heathens are often concerned with preservation of historical sites.

Indigenism This category represents living indigenous traditions of the world.  These are usually people somehow connected to a traditional native or aboriginal community.  This subgroup can easily stretch a bit to include communities such as the Vodoun, true Roots Rastafarians the Basques and certain Irish and Welsh communities of Europe.  Indigenists are politically involved in Native sovereignty struggles, land claims issues, ecological activism and cooperative communities.

            Many individuals in the movement for Native Revivalism somewhat begrudgingly accept being labeled as a pagan, though inside they feel more drawn to heathenrys reconstructionist goals.  This yearning for an authentic connection to their indigenousness coupled with the goals of building and maintaining cooperative communities based on this separates them from the vast majority of the revivalists.  But it is when all these values become strongly aligned with and guided by the concerns and struggles of indigenous people in the world that they truly become Indigenists.

       Indigenism is a little known term because in North America most Indigenists are Native American or Native Hearts.   Few if any people that are not directly involved in indigenous rights movements have ever even heard of the term.  There are many dynamics and complexities involved in this philosophy.  Indigenism is a spiritual perspective wrapped in a socio-political movement.

            The socio-political dynamics of Indigenism and its relationship to Aboriginal people of the world is the driving force behind the movement today.  This is perhaps the most rational and revolutionary perspective in circulation today for the manner in which it flies in the face of both Capitalism and Marxism, confronting colonialism and imperialism from both camps in many parts of the world.

Spiritual purpose

            When we take notice of the similarities between Indigenous religions we are often prone to question from whence they came.  Was there an original religion?  The question has in many ways been a significantly motivating factor in a lot of my earlier religious pursuits.  It makes for a great approach with solid, steady footsteps.  It can also represent a sort of red herring.  The answer to the real question here just may be more in the modern Indigenist movement rather than in a quest for the original religion.

            A particular Indigenist view on the origin of religion is such; that there is in fact only one Truth, one reality.  This Truth or reality is essentially the Sacred Mystery, the Great Spirit, or the Creator.  The Creators reality is and has always been (to the indigenous) interpreted to us through our geography/ecology.  In essence, the creators words are interpreted to us by the Earth or regional divinities.  Through the regional variations (or natures dialect) concerning the manifestation of these truths and from our communities organization in coping with them we established our traditions and our religions.  This accounts for the similarities as well as the differences in indigenous religion.

Example; we must have water to survive.  Water is sacred.  This is a common theme in most religions.  But there is a very different practical and therefore spiritual perspective regarding the type of emphasis placed on water by desert peoples than tropical islanders (in most cases) even though the basic thematic construct is the same.  Naturally, this paradigm carries over into even deeper realms of religion.

            Indigenist religion is as much about physical and social action as it is about faith and philosophy.  And the truth it follows is the unobtainable truth that must be pursued continually throughout our lives.  The Red Road doesnt really have an end to it.  It is a way of life, not just a belief system.  If one gives up the pursuit, one effectively gives up the path.  You put your arrows down, leave the wild hunt, succumb to stagnation and lose all the ground youve gained, resorting to crude methods to deal with a sophisticated life.  This is why it is the Way OF enlightenment not the Way TO enlightenment.

Political purpose

             Indiginism is heavily influenced by the work of Che Guevara, The Zapatistas, the American Indian Movement, Russell Means and those of a similar ilk brought back to the fire (as we Creeks say).  It is centered on tribal communities and around Native struggles from the Americas to Africa, Scotland, Russia, Japan, Hawaii and anywhere else the Indigenous are oppressed.  The Indigenist perspective stresses social decolonization, rather than assimilation and globalism as a means to our survival as a species.  Differences between culture and religion are to be respected because the Creator gave us different cultures and religions the same way we were given different landscapes.  We stress more Self-sufficient communities, ecologically sound commerce, and a kinder, gentler kind of war-fare.  These ideas also cut deeply into national boundaries, especially those of a colonial nature.

Importance of Indigenism

            In the old days survival and self reliance was of the utmost importance to our ancestors.  And in a way this should still be a core concept in our religion today.  We never really know when we may be separated from the tribe, when we may become lost in the forest, stranded on an island or be a survivor of a major cataclysmic event.  If an individuals core philosophy and religion is based on survivalist concerns and his relationship to his environment, hell be more prepared to face his obstacles with the heart of a warrior rather than the ass of a couch potato.  Couple this with an indigenous commitment to your community and voila, you have the foundations of true indigenous religion, the heart of the original religion paganism at its core.

            Indigenism is a practical philosophy and way of life respecting human nature and its response to the modern world.  It is not a utopian dream.  It's not for everybody; it's for indigenous people and those with indigenous hearts.  Colonial people and their respective governments will have conflicts with this perspective, being that there is not enough emphasis on control of the individual and of the land.  But this is our way of life.  This is our faith.  And this is what motivates us to act.  We live as natural people gifted with our own freedom and ingenuity, keeping our roots as firm as our branches and remaining One.

For more info apply for membership to the New Indigenous Warrior Society at Yahoo.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NIWarriorS/

So here it is again; Fat Tuesday.  I can scarcely begin to count the number of people I hear bragging about how much fun they've been having.  Everybody just loves Mardi Gras; all the beads, liquor and titties they can handle.  It's a time for pleasure, parties and promiscuity.  Every year about this time I am amazed by the numbers of people looking to enjoy all the neo-Babylonian hedonism of this specific holiday.

But just ask these people one simple question and observe the deer in headlights response you'll get; "So what are you giving up?"

 Failing to recognize that Fat Tuesday is really just the preamble to Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent; the forty-day fast, tourists and the spiritually-starved masses of party-goers are dumb-struck by this simple question.  "Give something up?  What the hell are you talking about?  It's Mardi Gras; time to get fucked up and get laid."

Bringing the true religious and spiritual meaning of this holiday to someone's attention typically conjures a response such as; "um uh ... well, I'm not Catholic."  This is frustratingly humorous since the fast of Lent has its origins in a Christianized Euro-pagan tradition.  Mardi Gras, however is a Catholic Holiday, a time to live it up just before you give it up.  Fat Tuesday is the Feast before the Fast.  Yet so many people in our consumerist model of society will balk at the idea of actually having to endure physical discomfort, or sacrifice a little pleasure in the name of spiritual growth.  Hedonistic pursuits are the only journeys in which most people are interested.

The sacrilegious and disrespectful nature of partaking in only the pleasurable half of a two part Feast/Fast celebration is not uncommon and considered hip by the majority of society.  How common it is for people only to be interested in the "good" parts of a tradition. As Natives of the Americas, we regularly encounter this phenomenon with outsiders trying to muscle their ways into our communities.  They want the feathers and the beads.  They love the drumming, the pipe-smoking and the peyote, but don't expect them to fast and stay awake all night.  You'll wonder where they are when it comes time to burden the responsibilities of building an arbor in the rain or fasting and dancing in the hot Florida sun in June for 16 hours.  Don't expect them to go more than a few minutes without sex, drugs and excess consumption.  They want the good parts of Native identity, but not the tough parts.  They want to tote the image of a Crazy Horse, but not the self discipline of a warrior.  This comes as no surprise.  How can we expect non-Indians to respect and fulfill the covenants of an Indigenous ceremonial complex when they will not even show proper respect for their own?  They just want the "good" parts.

So as Fat Tuesday kicks off the feast before the fast of Lent, I pose one simple question to the Mardi Gras partiers.  What are you giving up?