A recognizable trait of quite a few North American Natives was the tradition of pipe smoking. Using local weeds, bark, and tobacco, smoking was a form of communication with the Great Spirits as the rising fumes carried up the smoker’s thoughts and wishes. Amongst the Woodland and Plain Indian tribes, pipes were hand crafted and used in numerous ceremonies to establish goodwill and peaceful intentions between the various tribes. The Peace Pipe became an integral part of Aboriginal society, and around 3,000 years ago, they started mining a soft, red claystone (argillite) called catlinite in the SW portion of today’s Minnesota. The quarries were considered sacred, and tribes could gather small slabs of the coveted rock where it was taken back home and hand carved into custom smoking pipes. These locations were the very first “head shops,” where smoking paraphernalia became available to the masses. The Pipestone was so valuable to many tribes that an unwritten rule existed that no violence shall befall any tribal member who was in the process of quarring the catlinite. The same code of conduct existed in Hot Springs, Arkansas between rival Mafia members and in Switzerland between German and French soldiers. YOU CAN’T KILL YOUR ENEMIES WHILE IN THE “HOLY LAND.” Humans are a strange lot indeed. If technologically advanced Aliens land on Planet Earth, let’s hope they land on an Indian Reservation, where an honorable people reside and keep their word. Not like the US Government, who broke more promises with the First Nations than an enraged bull breaking glass in Dale Chihuly’s art studio.
Torked Truth 