

My small-treasure gift book, Native Knowings, has earned high praise from The Reading Bud. Here’s the text of the review:
“Native Knowings: Wisdom Keys for One and All by Steven McFadden is a profound and soul-stirring journey into the heart of North American indigenous wisdom. This concise book, though just 84 pages, is a treasure trove of timeless teachings that are more relevant today than ever. As I delved into its pages, I found myself deeply moved by the words of wisdom that have been passed down through generations.
“McFadden’s writing is both eloquent and accessible, making the profound teachings of the Native American elders resonate with a contemporary audience. The book masterfully weaves together teachings from various tribes, offering a rich tapestry of wisdom that speaks to the heart as well as the mind. The quotations and teachings from elders like Frank Decontie are particularly impactful, urging the reader to listen not just with their minds, but with their hearts. This approach brings a deeper, more intuitive understanding of the messages conveyed.
“One of the most compelling aspects of Native Knowings is its relevance to our current era of transition and uncertainty. The book highlights how these ancient teachings can guide us in creating a more harmonious and sustainable future. It’s a call to integrate these insights into our daily lives, for the sake of ourselves and future generations. The sense of urgency in the words of contemporary elders adds a poignant note, underscoring the importance of heeding these teachings now.
“In conclusion, Native Knowings: Wisdom Keys for One and All is a must-read for anyone seeking wisdom, guidance, or a deeper connection to the Earth and its history. McFadden has created a powerful compilation that not only educates but also inspires. It’s a book that I will undoubtedly return to, as its messages are timeless and its wisdom, inexhaustible.”
As yet another United Nations Code Red warning flashes around the world, I join with those who propose that ginawaydaganuc is an essential and realistic mind set, and who encourage general, wholehearted embrace of all that it denotes and connotes.
What in our vast, entangled cosmos is this thing called ginawaydaganuc? Suffice for the moment to say that it’s a word from one of the original languages of North America, Omàmiwininìmowin(Algonquin). That language has been extant on North America for many thousands of years – a vital vernacular.
This Algonquin word is easier to say than you might at first imagine. It’s pronounced with a soft ‘g’: gee-na-way-dag-a-nook. Try speaking the word aloud phonetically, and experience how the sound feels in your head, heart, and soul. Ginawaydaganuc denotes the fundamental reality that we are all related–with each other, with the natural world, with the cosmos.
There’s more to say. But before contemplating the ramifications of ginawaydaganuc, take a moment to breathe, and to absorb the full impact of one of the latest Code Red warnings. This one comes from the UN’s 2020 report, The Next Frontier: Human Development and the Anthropocene.
“We are at an unprecedented moment in the history of humankind and in the history of our planet,” the report says. Under relentless pressure from climate chaos, species loss, inequality, natural destruction, and COVID-19, our planetary and social warning lights are “flashing red”…
My complete blog post is live now at .
Photo of author Steven McFadden by Justin Wan, Lincoln Journal Star
I’m pleased to report that my nonfiction saga Odyssey of the 8th Fire is getting some publicity this week, in both formats: online journal and the work in progress slide-show of memes. Both of those formats for engaging the tale are currently live and freely available for readers around the world.
Columnist Cindy Lange-Kubick at our local daily newspaper, The Lincoln Journal Star, wrote and published about me and the long journey that is at the heart of the epic, nonfiction saga in our era of profound change.
“The simple reason for the walk ” as the story reports, was to find teachings that had long ago been left by the side of the trail — and to bring them forward into the present so they can be applied as we go into the future..
Part 4 of the Odyssey of the 8th Fire Memes – Days 120-160 slide show is now live and freely available on my Youtube channel. The memes at this link tell a shorthand version of the longer true, epic saga available at 8thFire.net.
In invite you to undertake this adventure, to check out the tale, and through the tale to vicariously journey from the Eastern Door at the Atlantic toward the Western Gate at the Pacific, meeting and learning from insightful elders. As the tale of true adventure unfolds, the elders freely share a wealth of wisdom teachings. I recommend viewing the slide shows on a large screen.
To give a sense of how the story is told by memes over the 230 days of travel, I’ve posted three of the memes below as a sample: Days 63, 145 and 159. If you click on the images you’ll go directly to my Youtube channel. There you can access Parts I, II, III, and IV. I’ll post the concluding Parts V and VI as they are completed in the months ahead.
To commemorate the 25th anniversary of the epic Sunbow 5 long walk from the Eastern Door at the Atlantic Ocean, to the Western Gate at the Pacific, I’m creating memes that suggest some of the teachings that were found along the side of the trail.
To make the memes more coherent, since they are part of an overall pattern, I created a 6-minute Youtube slide show, sequencing the memes and hinting at some of the experiences and teachings of the first 40 days.
It’s been a quarter century since the Sunbow 5 Walk for the earth began it’s epic trek from the Atlantic to the Pacific in 1995-96, under the guidance of traditional elders and wisdom keepers of North America.
The tale of our adventures, and our meetings with the elders, is chronicled in Odyssey of the 8th Fire, a freely available online journal that I authored over 225 consecutive days in 2007-08
I invite you to follow me on Twitter < @StevenMcFadden > as day by day I post memes to help commemorate the walk, and to direct people to the teachings within. I then assemble those memes into slide shows which are freely available on Youtube as Odyssey of the 8th Fire Memes. It’s a journey well worth making.
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A quarter of a century ago—June 23, 1995— a band of long walkers gathered at First Encounter Beach on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. They came on behalf of all the people, plants, and animals of the Earth. From this place of sand and sea at America’s Eastern Door, this intercultural band of pilgrims took the first steps on the epic Sunbow 5 Walk for the Earth. In many respects and in a global context, everyone is still walking.
The small, ecumenical band of sunbow pilgrims journeyed from the Atlantic to the Pacific over a span of eight intensive months. They walked under the Algonquin teachings of the Seven Fires, the inspiration of a White Buffalo, and the global skysign of the Whirling Rainbow (Sunbow).
The walkers paid respectful attention to the Sunbow. When this natural phenomenon occurs, a full 360-degree rainbow circle appears in a wide ring around the Sun. The colorful, whirling vortex is said to signify critical understandings.
For the walk, the number 5 was added to Sunbow to signify five colors of human beings: Red, White, Black, Yellow, and Brown. The sunbow pilgrims were walking from the Eastern Door on the Atlantic toward the Western Gate at the Pacific to help unite all peoples and all nations in honesty, caring, sharing, and respect.
Their epic spiritual adventure involved untold U.S. and world history, pressing environmental and social issues, a convoluted web of personal relationships, and a wealth of spiritual insight with direct relevance for our era.
Now as world culture continues on a larger, more challenging journey from an old time to a new time, our long walk together under the whirling rainbow may serve to illumine some of the steps…
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The full blog post is at Mother Earth News
My magnum opus, Odyssey of the 8th Fire is a freely available epic, nonfiction, contemporary saga of The Americas (Turtle Island).
Within the true, unfolding physical and spiritual adventures of Odyssey of the 8th Fire, many of the learned elders of the Americas make a great and generous giveaway of their teachings. I cordially invite you to join the walkers and the elders via an online literary pilgrimage – S.M.