Nourish the Word

  I have loved turtles since I was a teenager. Maybe even before that. I’ve loved them since before I understood they have significance to any American culture. And my very favorite of all the turtles are the green sea turtles. Catching a glimpse of these gentle giants unexpectedly in their element has always been a moment of excitement and awe for me. At the beginning of this year, I snorkeled at the beach of an island. It was our first time trying out full face snorkel masks. My hair was braided to keep it manageable in the water, but in the undulating waves it would snake in expected directions, and a time or two it’s frayed end had startled me, mistaken for a curious fish or eel that had ventured too close to my face. At the beckoning of family members on shore, I began to return to the sand with my children, fresh from an octopus sighting. Before I reached it, I discovered one of these beautiful creatures swimming between me and the shore, to the East. I pointed it out with childi

I had a thought the other day about two dominant religious/cultural symbols and how they represent the current state of their respective cultures in this country. In America’s Christianity the dominant symbol, is Jesus the Christ, obviously. This cultural religion is largely devoid of information regarding the other half of the image of God (the divine woman). We have the image of Christ, who came down in the name of the Father and performed His Father’s works. The image of this Son of God and knowledge of His works and instructions are largely missing in the surviving Native American traditions; however, a remembrance of the divine woman (in various forms depending on each tribe) and the tradition of listening to wisdom exists here where it does not in Christianity. These two symbols [Christ as a symbol of His Father, a divine man, and White Buffalo Calf Woman (or Corn Mother, or Sky Woman, etc), a divine woman] metaphorically represent two parts of the image of God in two specific

In the Anishinaabe seven fires prophecy is an additional prophecy about a boy that would be shown where the records were hidden. “In the confusing times of the Sixth Fire, it is said that a group of visionaries came among the Anishinabe. They gathered all the priests of the Midewiwin Lodge. They told the priests that the Midewiwin Lodge was in danger of being destroyed. They gathered all the sacred bundles. They gathered all the Wee’-gwas scrolls that recorded the ceremonies. All these things were placed in a hollowed-out log from Ma-none’ (the ironwood tree). Men were lowered over a cliff by long ropes. They dug a hole in the cliff and buried the log where no one could find it. This the teachings of the elders were hidden out of sight but not out of memory. It is said that when the time came that Indian people could practice their religion without fear that a little boy would dream where the ironwood log full of sacred bundles and scrolls was buried. He would lead his people to t

Part 1 of this series can be found here. Understanding part 1 will be essential to understanding this second part, which deals with the symbolic identity of White Buffalo Calf Woman. Other than the meaning behind the sacred pipe to symbolically identify her, we have two other things. The account of Black Elk tells us that she is wakan, or sacred/holy/divine. She is a heavenly type of being. Secondly, accounts of her visit demonstrate that the man with “bad intentions” towards her could not accomplish his design. “Early one morning, very many winters ago, two Lakota were out hunting with their bows and arrows, and as they were standing on a hill looking for game, they saw in the distance something coming towards them in a very strange and wonderful   manner. When this mysterious thing came nearer to them, they saw that it was a very beautiful woman, dressed in white buckskin, and bearing a bundle on her back. Now this woman was so good to look at that one of the Lak

“We have been told by the white men, or at least by those who are Christian, that God sent to men His son, who would restore order and peace upon the earth; and we have been told that Jesus the Christ was crucified, but that he shall come again at the Last Judgment, the end of this world or cycle. This I understand and know that it is true, but the white men should know that for the red people too, it was the will of Wakan-Tanka , the Great Spirit, that an animal turn itself into a two-legged person in order to bring the most holy pipe to His people; and we too were taught that this White Buffalo Cow Woman who brought our sacred pipe will appear again at the end of this “world,” a coming which we Indians know is now not very far off.” Black Elk, The Sacred Pipe , p.xix Since reading these words from Black Elk, the legend of White Buffalo Calf Woman has been on my mind a lot. It seemed very important that I understand her and what she represents better. I’ve made earli