Nourish the Word

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. Thus 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...

I ended  Part 1  of the Seven Fires Prophecies topic with a note that there was more I hadn't addressed and that I had yet to understand how to explain. I think I am ready to do this now. This post also is Part 4 of my Re-creation and Rebirth series that I began with. It was originally going to be titled Turtle Island. Both these topics run together here, though, so they have been combined. The complete combined seven prophecies can be found in the video link in part 1, in Edward Benton Banai's The Mishomis Book , or found on different internet sites, including  this wikipedia page . One important part I have noticed in the prophecies begins in the very first prophecy. "In the time of the First Fire, the Anishinabe nation will rise up and follow the sacred shell of the Midewiwin Lodge. The Midewiwin Lodge will serve as a rallying point for the people and its traditional ways will be the source of much strength. The Sacred Megis will lead the way to the chosen ground...

The Anishinabe people have a set of seven sacred prophecies they call the Seven Fires. They explain that seven prophets came to them and delivered the prophecies at a time they were living peacefully on the shores of north-eastern North America. Each of the prophecies given by the Anishinabe prophets is referred to as one of the seven "fires." Below I will compare passages of the Anishinaabe Seven Fires Prophecies to other scriptural prophecies. The versions of the Seven Fires that are quoted below all came from The Mishomis Book, by Edward Benton-Banai. I'll link online sources for the Seven Fires at the bottom. All the red highlighting in the quoted material is added by me. Other than that, the quotes should be the same as the materials they were taken from. *A description of the people that the Covenant of Christ refers to as "gentiles" in the quoted material below: They were originally divided by "many waters" from the people in the Americ...

The Medicine Wheel A year or more ago, I was having a conversation with a Lakota man. He asked me whether I knew the cardinal directions. I was confused by the question, thinking, everyone knows those.  But the way he asked me, convinced me he wasn't talking about just East, South, West, and North. I explained that I didn't know what he meant, and he proceeded to teach me there are actually no fewer than 7 cardinal directions. In addition to the four main directions indicated in a compass rose and the Native American medicine wheel, there is also the directions of the sky above, the earth beneath, and at the center of them all, the self. My brain imploded for a moment, before it clicked into place. Of course there must be seven directions. How did I not know this before? It makes perfect sense. Here is a link to a website that explains a perspective of the different parts of the medicine wheel. I've been learning lately some things about the four main parts of the med...

Continuing with the Anishinaabe tradition of a global flood , there are some versions that tell of Sky Woman, and others that replace the role of Sky Woman with Nanabush. In Basil Johnston's The Manitous , he combines the two different tellings by linking them together. In his telling, the Sky Woman's flood occured first. Later on, culture hero Nana'b'oozoo (also Nanabush) experiences his own catastrophic flood and remembers what Geezhigo-Quae (or Sky Woman ) did to re-create the Earth. This he repeats, and again it is the muskrat who succeeds where all others fail in bringing a bit of earth to the surface through which life can begin again. This bears similarity to different scriptural books, where a people have forgotten their way, and stand in need of a reminder. Each divine teacher or prophet who provides that way for others shares a similar role as Nana'b'oozoo's in his version of the flood. A good scriptural comparison can be made to John the Bapti...

One thing I have noticed and love about Native American culture is that a lot more about female divinity has been preserved than in European and Middle Eastern religions. There is more to this than I currently understand, but look forward to knowing more over time. The significance of woman has almost been eradicated from modern Christianity. So this is a great pleasure to explore. I know I won't do justice to this subject, but I'm going to try anyway. If you missed part 1 of this series, I suggest you read it , because the Recreation tale I am addressing is contained there, and I won't be repeating it in this post. One thing I noticed is that the nature of the story is of a secondary creation. I will soon go over the primary creation story that involves Gitchi Manitou (the Great Mystery). The initial creation ended in failure, and only with the participation of Sky Woman in this tale and this secondary creation is the vision of Gitchi Manitou realized. Basil Johnst...

"To satisfy my own curiosity I have sometimes interpreted to their old men, portions of Bible history, and their expression is invariably: 'The book must be true, for our ancestors have told us similar stories, generation after generation, since the earth was new.'" History of the Ojibways by William Whipple Warren   This quote is interesting to me, given its time period and given William W. Warren's background. He lived from 1825-1853. He had the benefit of being raised in two cultures, that of his native mother's (before that culture would be entirely repressed) and his European father's. He comments more than once in his book of the similarities he found between the two, and developed the opinion that either his mother's people were part of the lost tribes of Israel, or had communed with them at some point. One of these similarities I see is in the creation performed by Kitche Manitou. Kitche Manitou (also Gitchie Manito) has been interpreted a...