🪶 The Four Ages of the Soul — What Tohohyayloh Taught Me
🪶 The Four Ages of the Soul
A Story About Growing Up, Growing Wise, and Coming Home
A quick word before I share this.
Some of you may not know who Phillip “Cloudpiler” Landis is.
Cloudpiler was one of the principal translators associated with the Nemenhah sacred records, first published in the early 2000s through a five-member translation council.
This story—The Legend of Tohohyayloh Ahkehkt—comes from a vision or “medicine dream” attributed to him.
Don’t let unfamiliar names throw you.
You don’t have to know Native terms to feel what this story is saying.
At heart, it is simple.
It is a story about growing up.
About how life teaches us in stages.
As children we act before understanding.
As youth we rush without reflection.
As adults we begin seeking counsel.
And as elders we finally learn surrender and Spirit.
That’s what moved me.
This isn’t really a story about eagles, mice, buffalo, and wolves.
It’s a story about us.
About the four ages of the soul.
And maybe about the long road home to God.
🌅 First — The Child and the Eagle
The story begins with a little boy who wanders too far from home.
He gets lost.
But he doesn’t yet understand he’s lost.
That feels like childhood.
Maybe all of us begin there.
Acting before understanding.
Moving before seeing.
Then he meets the Eagle.
The Eagle teaches vision.
To lift your eyes.
To see farther than your fears.
To look East.
I love that.
Sometimes the Lord doesn’t hand us a map.
Sometimes He simply teaches us how to see.
And maybe that is where awakening begins.
Not with answers.
With vision.
🌿 Then Comes the Mouse
This surprised me.
The second teacher is not some mighty creature.
It is a mouse.
Small.
Low to the earth.
Easy to overlook.
And maybe that’s the point.
Youth can be hurried.
Restless.
Strong.
Distracted.
No time to stop and evaluate.
And the Mouse says:
Get low. Look within.
What a lesson.
Humility.
Self-honesty.
Learning your own heart.
Most of us resist that for years.
I know I did.
But without looking within,
all our outward strength can fool us.
🦬 Then the Man Meets Buffalo
This is adulthood.
Responsibility.
Burdens.
Questions.
Trying to make sense of life.
And there by the waters stands Buffalo.
Steady.
Ancient.
Wise.
And Buffalo asks:
Have you taken counsel in all things?
That gets me.
Because maturity is not knowing everything.
It is learning to listen.
To God.
To others.
To life.
To experience.
That is wisdom.
Not self-sufficiency.
Counsel.
That’s a lesson men often learn slowly.
🐺 Then Comes the Wolf
This may be my favorite part.
At the end of strength—
at the edge of regret—
the White Wolf appears.
Spirit.
Breath.
Guide.
Companion.
And notice—
Spirit does not come to dominate.
Spirit comes to carry.
He climbs on the wolf’s back.
And is borne home.
I love that image.
Maybe grace often looks like that.
Not climbing to heaven.
Being carried.
✨ Then Comes the Surprise
Here’s what struck me most.
At the end, his father asks:
What have you learned?
And Tohohyayloh answers—
but not in the same order he learned the lessons.
That matters.
He doesn’t repeat:
Eagle
Mouse
Buffalo
Wolf
Instead he says:
Counsel.
Spirit.
Vision.
Inner truth.
The order changes.
Life taught one pattern.
Wisdom rearranged it.
That feels profound to me.
As children we begin with vision.
But with maturity we learn:
Counsel anchors us.
Spirit balances us.
Then vision clears.
Then truth settles inward.
That feels like real growth.
🪶 Maybe Life Is a Circle
This whole story feels like a circle.
Not a ladder.
Not a straight line.
A return.
You wander.
You learn.
You get broken open.
You are carried.
And somehow you come home.
Maybe that is what the Medicine Wheel is teaching.
Balance.
Wholeness.
Return.
And maybe the gospel has always been that too.
Coming back to center.
Coming back to Christ.
Coming back home.
🌄 What This Story Says To Me
Childhood needs vision.
Youth needs humility.
Adulthood needs counsel.
Old age needs Spirit.
And a whole life gathers all four.
That is balance.
That is medicine.
That is wisdom.
🕊️ My Favorite Part
After all his searching…
what does he want?
Not power.
Not prestige.
Not to be admired.
He wants to sit with little children
and teach them what he learned.
That may be true wisdom.
To become simple enough
to help the young.
Quietly.
Lovingly.
Without force.
That touches me.
“When you have found the balance life requires of us all, you have come round to your beginnings.”
I love that line.
Maybe the journey with God is not becoming something strange.
Maybe it is becoming whole.
Coming round to our beginnings.
Back to the Father.
Back to balance.
Back home.
And maybe…
that has been the journey all along.
🪶
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🌿 About the Nemenhah Records
Many readers have asked about the Nemenhah Records.
The Nemenhah Records are a collection of writings that claim to preserve teachings, history, prophecy, and spiritual instruction among indigenous peoples of the Americas. Whether you are simply curious or deeply interested, I encourage you to study them for yourself and compare them with the scriptures you already know.
The records are available through Amazon and can be found by searching:
🔍 Nemenhah Records
🔍 Phillip Cloudpiler Landis
As with all things, I encourage you to seek the guidance of the Holy Ghost and allow the Lord to be your teacher.
🌿 Sunday Study Group
Several of us gather each Sunday morning to read and discuss the Nemenhah Records together. We come from different backgrounds, ask honest questions, and seek to learn from one another while keeping Christ at the center of the discussion.
If you would like information about joining the study group, simply leave a comment below and let me know. Be sure to include a way for me to contact you, and I will be happy to reach out.
🌿 Search the Blog
There are now many studies available on a wide variety of subjects.
Click the magnifying glass (🔍) at the top of the blog and search topics such as:
Christ
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Zion
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Take what helps.
Leave the rest.
Keep seeking Christ.
— The True Remnant
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