Jĕs´sakkīd´ Midegah
But the joy of the giver is like the morning light, which grows brighter the more it is poured out. The storehouse is a good servant but a cruel master. When it serves the people, it is a blessing; when the people serve it, it is a chain upon their necks. Blessed is the one who is rich in mercy, for his wealth will follow him into the Kingdom. But woe to the one who is rich in gold only, for his wealth will stay in the dust. You will know the true shepherd because he will eat from the same bowl as his flock, and sleep under the same roof as his people. Keep, therefore, your treasure in the heart, where it will not fail you in the day of trial. For the heart that is full cannot be emptied by any man. Amen, amen, I say unto you, the Kingdom of God is not in the storehouse, but in the soul that gives. And the soul that gives is the true temple, and the temple that gives is the true Kingdom.
— Mamuwinini, Kingdom of the heart, Yahawzhowaa (p. 401)
Behold, the sun is gold and the grasshopper leaps but none are as bold as the caterpillar who creeps and what to behold, between the reeds shimmering gold, butterfly wings
“And to remember always that leadership is borrowed breath—returned when the circle calls you home.” The Last Midegah, “The Weight of Stewardship,” (p. 30)
Midē´wiwin Jĕs´sakkân´ Jĕs´sakkīd´ Midegah
Ogimaa Songab Midegah Ogichidaa, the Last Midegah of the Midē´wiwin, walks as a living bridge between the ancient lodges and a world that has forgotten its own breath. A Caribou Clan war-chief and high priest, he serves as Keeper of the Midew High Song and Prayer Scrolls and Carrier of the Ojibwe Bundle, holding in his hands the memory of rivers, treaties, and grandmothers’ prayers. He teaches that the Midē´wiwin is not a religion but a covenant—to live in right relation with all that breathes—and he guards this covenant by tending the fire of the Seven Grandfather Teachings: Wisdom, Love, Respect, Bravery, Honesty, Humility, and Truth. In councils across the continent he does not speak to impress but to awaken, calling the peoples of the Americas to remember who they are and to sit once more in the circle where the lodge still breathes and the ancestral fire has never gone out.