From the Heart of the Black Hills - on the Wyoming edge of the sage kissed prairie - where indigenous clans lived for centuries nurturing and respecting the land and it's diversity of creatures and plant life, treating each creation as "relatives"; 
before scientists warned of "global warming" and whole species were wiped out upon our planet by "civilized" people with a religious fervor and a political agenda,
here a life-style was lived to preserve these resources and each tribe had their teachers, elders and wisdom keepers who had dreams and visions, and the receiving of prophecy, to help nurture, teach and protect life and keep good relationship with all living things in an effort to preserve and protect earth's abundance for generations who would follow in their footsteps.

 This was a worldview, a way of life
that is sorely lacking among the majority of people living on our planet today.

Perhaps these long held truths have now been hidden, or fallen upon deaf ears because unscrupulous people have distorted, manipulated, and re-interpreted these ways
in an effort to gain political, religious or material control.

However this does not change the fact that many ancient life-ways based the teachings and prophecies harmonious  with the natural created world  that were passed on in story, song, and in written forms (including the Bible) have all agreed in general terms.  They have served to warn that if ever people abandoned ways of living in harmony, ceased their practice of treating all peoples and life forms with honor and respect, that there would be
large prices to pay in the future.  That the Creator, or life-sustaining force of the universe, would one day work to bring back into balance these "laws" of "nature."

 Awareness is needed
to recognize that

 True Freedom, peace, and security
can only be achieved when all living things are allowed the space and enjoyment each species requires to live a healthy, harmonious existence, fulfilling their sacred space for which they were created, within the circle of life, for themselves and their offspring to come.  Fighting, denying,  and consuming only increases the lack of these life-sustaining requirements. 

 We EACH, INDIVIDUALLY are a part of the great puzzle
and EACH
either becomes a part of the problem or the solution...
it is our privilege as humans
to have such a choice.

 So, in song we ask

with humble hearts
for the truth and wisdom
to choose to become
a sincere

Prophecy

Keeper

and to carry these truths to yet more hearts.

that we each may take the opportunity
within our unique place in the cosmos,
and decide now
to live and work in harmony
in the ways given each of us
to BEST use our own sacred gifts and talents
to
HONOR LIFE
in all our relations.

Mitakuye Oyasin

HOW THE SONG AND CD CAME TO BE

 He then introduced her, via email,  to Bunny Sings Wolf, as the voice destined to send forth these words in song.  

Inspired and honored by the prospect, Bunny dreamed of the song that night, and later sang her "dream" version, accompanied only by drum, over the telephone during an interview for Prophecy Keepers radio in May 2005 (you may hear the entire interview in the web sites' interview archives for Bunny Sings Wolf at www.prophecykeepers.com). 

The telephone recorded version of this song has been played on the radio’s home page since then.  A  BONUS TRACK of this song is included on this CD as a "give away" THANK YOU song  -  two versions of the same song for a single song price - are all in this one album - emphasizing the importance of the song's content for reflection
 for our times.

 Karen and Bunny became email and long distance telephone friends and music collaborators hoping to find a way for Bunny to professionally record the song on CD. Indigenous tribal elders, Chiefs, Mothers, sisters, housewives, business and medicine people, spiritual leaders, visionaries and those keenly interested in prophecy for our times from around the planet were told about this song, listened to the rough version played on Prophecy Keepers radio, and soon a worldwide prayer circle was formed.  Prayers were made  for the making of this song in a good way, to bless all insightful people during these "prophetic" times in mankind’s' history.

 Prayers were answered when Bunny won a small grant from the Wyoming Arts Council, and Karen filled in the gap by sending additional funds on faith from her humble savings (she was between income producing projects at the time) to help manifest the production of this sound recording.
IT IS NOW

 Sent with love,
appreciation
and blessings
for all our relations

 and for the comfort and enjoyment of all
who recognize
these long anticipated,
very unusual, critical, and transformational times
that require great wisdom
and insight
from all
who wish
to live in peace and harmony
in a sacred manner now,
upon
Mother Earth. 

Following are words that Karen has shared about her songwriting experience with this song:

 “When I wrote this song it became embedded into the fiber of my heart and soul.  The words transform my daily meditations, instilling peace, tranquility and love in my being.  I feel an acute awareness of the importance of this song  - to instill peace throughout the world.

 We are on the threshold of a challenging time on earth.  I dedicate this song to the concept of peace on earth – goodwill towards peoples of all races.  This Prophecy Keepers' song has inspired me to think about and appreciate the free gift of life and peace.  I hope it does the same for all who hear it.” 

Prophecy Keeper Song Lyrics

Prophecy Keeper
(click song title to listen to music clip at Bunny's CDbaby page) 

Words by Karen Lake, Music by Karen Lake and Bunny Sings Wolf (ASCAP)
© 2005 Hillbunny Productions

PROPHECY KEEPER, PROPHECY KEEPER, PROPHECY KEEPER

 TELL ME YOUR GREAT SECRETS

DEEP INSIDE YOUR HEART

TEACHERS OF GREAT WISDOM

TRUTH OF OTHER TIMES

 LET THE WIND BLOW, LET THE TRUTH BE KNOWN

TO ALL MANKIND AGAIN.

 PROPHECY KEEPER,      PROPHECY KEEPER,      OH YEAH!

 LOOK INSIDE THE RAINBOW

LOOK INSIDE THE HEART

DEEP IN THE MOUNTAIN STILLNESS

ECHOES FROM ANOTHER TIME

 LET THE WIND BLOW, LET THE TRUTH BE KNOWN

TO ALL MANKIND AGAIN.

 PROPHECY KEEPER,      PROPHECY KEEPER,      OH YEAH!

 ANCIENT TRUTH SURROUNDS US

LIKE A LOVERS HAND UPON THE HEART

THE VERY BREATH YOU GAVE ME

GROWS INTENTLY THROUGH THE YEARS

(AND VISITS ME IN DREAMS)

 SO - LET THE WIND BLOW, LET THE TRUTH BE KNOWN

TO ALL MANKIND AGAIN.

 IF WE CAN KNOW YOUR WISDOM

TEACH US WHILE YOU CAN

FOR THERE’S A MIGHTY DARK CLOUD

HANGING OVERHEAD

OH YEAH, HANGING OVERHEAD

LET THE WIND BLOW, LET THE TRUTH BE KNOWN

TO ALL MANKIND AGAIN.

LET THE WIND BLOW, LET THE TRUTH BE KNOWN

TO ALL MANKIND AGAIN.

PROPHECY KEEPER,      PROPHECY KEEPER,     

PROPHECY KEEPER

Custom Flutes (with white buffalo carved "birds", made of spruce, poplar, cedar wood and white birch) used in this recording were custom made and gifted to Bunny by Mark Nelson (after a pattern by Daniel Red Buffalo circa 1846)

Chimes (8 copper pipes with her own special patina, hung on large Elk antler, and special drumstick decorated with white turkey feathers and beadwork) were custom created for Bunny by Artist Christine Nervig of  BEAR ROCK ART

Cold Creek Willows

(click song title to listen to music clip at Bunny's Crow and Wolf Music page) 
ã2004 Hillbunny Productions all rights reserved - Words and Music by Bunny Sings Wolf
Song #3 another BONUS TRACK on Prophecy Keeper CD

Willows by the water, near the rambling streambed wet

Heard the voices in the meadows where they stood and prayed and wept

The buffalo were gone now, and the horses were lost in the fray

And the families that once lived here were all forced to move away

And the willows stand and pray

Holding the promise of a new day.

Willows by the waters under skies above deep blue

I remember the days we walked here, where all the bluebirds flew

Now the dragonflies on Cold Creek in whirlwind windings fly

Over  the ancient rocks with petroglyphs, where all their stories lie

While the wind in the willows sigh

But they never say goodbye.

For the willows heard her promise

She’d protect this sacred earth

From dividers, builders, dammers, who would not honor it’s true worth

From the East Spruce and Pine forests to where the Aspen join their hands

The willows heard her promise

She would protect this land

And bring the people home again

Who are the Cold Creek Willows Friends.

. . .  

(the Arapahoe words are written here by Bunny as best she could phonetically - see story below the lyrics)

Jah – bea s.ah nauw, baugh ball ah-the.e saw naw

  (to walk I walk in dignity, I know what my destiny is, and I am aware as I walk that his journey of my life is in perfect compliance and balance with the natural order, the natural world, not in “control”, but in harmony with the whole of it)

Jah ee na.w wah

Knowledge

Haa thah. AAA sahnaw

And wisdom

Naw Naw hay knee naw, Naw naw hay knee naw

Because we are the (chosen ones as ) caretakers of the earth, we are the appointed ones Creator has designated to watch over and take care of the earth and all creatures thereupon.

 Haaah See SAH nauw

And beautiful (I walk among beauty)

. . .  

Willows by the waters, are awakening this Spring

For they know the time is close now to hear that songbird sing

For with the greening of the landscape a fresh hope arises strong

And the willows that grow on Cold Creek won’t have to wait too long

For her thundering sunshine song

To bring back that rainbow throng. 

From the East fields of sage and sunflowers,

 to where the cottonwood seeds disband

The willows heard her promise

She would protect this land 

THERE ARE MANY STORIES BEHIND THIS SONG!

THE COLD CREEK WILLOWS  SONG CAME  4-8-04 3:00 a.m. after a full moon visit to the old Cold Creek (Hook family) ranch near O’neill Pass, Wyoming, on return from Spearfish Canyon.  This is a place I have visited with awe and reverence for over 20 years at every chance I could get when coming to the Black Hills, never knowing who owned it or why the old buildings were left to fall down uninhabited for so long.  Then, two weeks after the song came to me, driving by the old ranch again I saw a car parked there for the first time!  We stopped, and met the owner and her daughter.  I had my flute with me, and sang them the song, and when the flute solo concluded at the end, there was not a dry eye in the place  - just yards from where the bluebirds flew and the stream sang it's rippling harmony.  They asked that I email the words of this song to them (which they promptly printed out, framed and hung near a limited edition print of an original painting of the "old place" proudly displayed in their city home that had been gifted to them by Hill City Artist, Jon Crane).

During our visit I learned that  Mr. Crane,  who I had met at a private house party I had performed for back in 2001, had painted two works of art depicting the ranch house.  Later I was contacted by the Cranes to see if they could have my  permission to print the words of this song alongside renditions of Jon's paintings for a coffee table book to be published in 2006.  Of course, I said I would be honored, as I also hoped one day to record the song, and would be sure to mention their new book on my web site, if they would also mention my song and web site in their book!  I am surprised that my recording happened before the book was published (which seemed very unlikely at the time!).

Also interesting to note:  Hill City's world renown fine Artist Jon Crane's motto is
"Art that takes you home" which perfectly fits this dream song and is very similar to the motto I have also used at my web site since it's creation, i.e.
"Music that takes you home" 
(all little creative "messages" sent to us from the Black Hills, a place many Native American tribes reverently call "sacred" and
"the HEART of everything that is")!

Did you know that the places where for many thousands of years, Native Americans typically go to pray (their "churches", if you will, called in the Lakota language "inipi") have been reverently constructed of willows?
- - -

The ARAPAHOE portion of the song music came in a dream the second night of my five week stay beginning a  5 week MUSIC workshop on the Wind River Reservation at St. Stephen's Indian School, Wyoming, Sept.-Oct. 2004.     I hummed the tune each morning on my drive from my motel room in Lander to the school, but the words I dreamed I could not say or understand. 

Then I noticed the school motto displayed on the front wall above the school office - written in Arapahoe language when  the school was established many moons ago by those who came to  "civilize" the area and "re-educate" the "savages".  Thankfully now the activities at the school are now overseen by Arapahoe tribal council and cultural advisors, but, at least at first, it seemed "re-education" seemed to have done it's deed.  After questioning many students and staff as to the meaning of the words, few who I initially met  and spoke with, students and staff,  could not read nor interpret the school motto in the Arapahoe tongue.  Many said "oh that is a HARD language, too hard to learn!" I was stunned that most certainly this pop culture has infiltrated and consumed the thoughts and activities even of these peoples.  Yet, I mused, one day a long time ago a whole HEALTHY AND ROBUST civilization at one point in time didn't think their own  language was "too hard" or "too difficult" to learn.

I was finally blessed to meet  the  very proud and  elderly Black Eagle Woman (Mary Kate Underwood) who set me straight on the words and filled me in with many stories about her early days as a child living at the school when it was a very strictly run boarding school, and how she has kept and treasured her language and the "old ways"  of  the Arapahoe even though punished frequently for doing so.  I  later learned that "Arapahoe" means, roughly translated "we are the caretakers of the earth, this is our privilege".  Black Eagle Woman simply put it  bluntly: "we are the chosen ones."

Having been taught at an early age the first few pages of the Bible which also indicates humankind was designated by the Creator to nurture and care for this planet in a good way, I could not help but recall my research as a young person that proved to me that the intent "caretakers" had been drastically changed in the "translations" - and Bible truths tampered with by  "dividers, builders and "dammers", giving them presumed full license to consume and destroy rather than nurture, preserve and care for each of the created things put here for a specific and unique purpose.

Later during my five week music residency, the schools cultural advisors Wayne C'Hair and Mick Spoonhunter did their best to help me with the words, but eventually  referred me to Willian C'Hair for a more "correct" understanding of the Arapahoe translation which I have attempted to include with the lyrics written above, even though not all these words are "sung".  

After several meetings with him, I "think" I finally picked up the correct pronunciation of the Arapahoe words and their very deep meanings that may only be "estimated" in English, for our culture today has truly lost touch with good relationship with the "slow thinking" needed to live in deep appreciation, respect and harmony with Mother Earth and all the created beings resident here!   It seemed VERY important  to me at the time that I learn the words and the understanding correctly - as if my
LIFE depended on it!  

I was very humbled with the patience of this proud people with me as I tried to breach the gap in the language I grew up with and the multi-colored and rich language and meanings of  theirs, now almost lost for future generations.  I learned that ancient Arapahoe songs were not typically given names, but sung from the heart when the occasion presented itself.  Each person and family had their own songs, and each sung them a different way depending on the mood, the time, the feelings of the heart - and because of this source, song was considered a sacred thing, a sacred activity with which to further beautify, honor and nurture the gift of life in all it's forms.

Then one morning while humming on my daily drive to the school, I realized the words I had been learning in the Arapahoe tongue perfectly fit the music I had been humming from my dream - so I put the two together and attempted to share the song by singing it at the conclusion of an all school music program I had directed students to perform in the gym for parents, teachers and tribal elders at the conclusion of my residency.  I invited all to sing along, whether they could speak the language or not.  I had typed up the words phonetically as best I could and included it in the music printed program, along with these words:

"It is the hope that as Bunny sings this song, teaches it to students of the school who do not know the Arapahoe language or the school motto, that a desire to appreciate and learn their own culture and rich heritage will be cultivated in their hearts and carried into the future.  And for the rest of humankind - may this motto touch a place in our hearts to wisely direct our steps, and walk this beautiful way to benefit ourselves, all our relations, and motivate us to show respect for what is left of the life sustaining, natural resources of our planet, our home, on which we now hold the future by our thoughts, words and actions. 
It is time to LIVE in harmony!"

Upon seeing a full moon surrounded by a rainbow September 2004 that night at my motel, it dawned on me that the Arapahoe song words and music fit perfectly within the Cold Creek Willows Song written earlier that year!  At that time I was also given the title that my next CD project is to be named (once investor capital is found for the planned 2 CD release
- which I hope to find a way to manifest sometime in 2008). 

On on another level this "Cold Creek Willows and the Beautiful Way" song is reminiscent of the Lakota prophecy about the promised return of the White Buffalo Calf Woman during a time when people would again have nearly forgotten ways of harmony and beauty walking.  I also recall the prophecy that came to Black Elk on Harney Peak, and the visions given Wovoca about people living in harmony once again on the earth, full of buffalo and high grass, living in peace on the land.  For much time all these stories and prophecies continued be misunderstood by the white settlers who had a very narrow view of even their own prophecies that had been passed down to them, which led to further misunderstandings surrounding the beliefs of indigenous peoples in "America", the Ghost Dance, and the eventual decimation of  whole tribes and generations of  innocent  people. 

Yet , happily, with an open mind any thoughtful person can see that all the prophecies passed down to humankind for THIS time agree, that if man lives out of harmony with the truths resonant in the natural world that were set in motion by a loving and benevolent Creator
that great catastrophes will continue to increase as our planet and the life sustaining processes put in motion to create and sustain life here attempt to recalibrate and to correct the imbalances imposed upon it by an ignorant population.

However, each with their own unique symbols and stories depending upon the country and culture where sincere truth seekers can prayerfully come to understand the "translations" fully, all prophecies also agree that individuals who live and walk in harmony and balance, in good relationship with our Creator and all created things, can and will
LIVE again in peace here on Mother Earth
after a fear-inspiring earth-wide balancing, cleansing, and healing takes place.
(for Western "readers" see Rev. 21:3,4 for starters, or do a web search "Prophecy Keeper" for more info.
for this is the time to
"let the truth be known for all mankind again"
and all sincere truth seekers CAN find and live in the beautiful and life-sustaining ways of truth!)

Thus, it is with this dream song,  I am pleased and humbled to be able to
finally sing it for you in the Arapahoe way, spontaneously from my heart, on this sound recording a year after seeing the rainbow moon on the Wind River Reservation, especially for this time, on this CD so aptly named
Prophecy Keeper!

WE live in a time when it is easy to research and come to understand the truth behind the many prophecies that have with love and good intent urged to remind us human BE-ings (not just do-ings)

We ARE our brothers' keeper, and we ARE the caretakers of the earth!

. . . and indeed, our lives
and those of future generations
DO depend upon our truthfully understanding
and living in ways of harmony with this truth!

  Growing Old
(click song title to listen to music clip at Bunny's CDbaby page) 
©  2003 Words and Music by Bunny Sings Wolf , Hillbunny Productions All Rights Reserved
Song #4 - another BONUS TRACK on Prophecy Keeper CD 

"What the caterpillar calls the END of the world - the Master calls the butterfly!"
Richard Bach from his book "Illusions"

Growing old is a good thing for it beats the alternative!  However beyond that thought lies the fact that with age often comes the priceless beauty of wisdom, and transformations, fear-inspiring as they are. 
This IS the joy and miracle of the entire process of life!

 

To hear more music while reading lyrics - please click on name of  other albums -

White Haired Sunrise	Sacred Ground