Nourish the Word

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...

I saw an eagle flying overhead as I was driving the other day. This is not so unusual in some parts of the country. But it stood out from the birds of prey that frequent the skies over me this time of year: hawks, ravens, kestrels usually, and the occasional vulture. It reminded me of the symbolism of the eagle I am overdue in examining. So let's examine it... Last post, I shared a link to  this Potawatomi site with their tribes cultural teachings . Today I'm going to direct attention to  another one of their videos.  The specific part relevant to this post begins as the 12:13 min mark of the video. I'll also be referencing The Mishomis Book , by Edward Benton-Benai again. (Edit: When first sharing this, one of my initial resources for this had disappeared from the internet, and I made do with what resources I had left. I have since rediscovered it on the internet archive:  The Eagle Feather ) The Eagle as Intercessor By Carly Lesser & Art Drauglis fro...

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...

I find the Anishinaabe story of a flood fascinating. I've seen it compared in William Whipple Warren's History of the Ojibways with the flood of Noah. But I see a different comparison when I read it. I see something else I recognize. Here is a version from Basil Johnston's The Manitous , chosen for its brevity. According to tradition, Kitchi-Manitou (the Great Mystery) created the world, plants, birds, animals, fish, and the other manitous in fulfillment of a vision. This world was flooded. But while the earth was under water and life was coming to an end, a new life was beginning in the skies. Geezhigo-Quae (Sky Woman) was espoused to a manitou in the skies, and she conceived.  The surviving animals and birds observed the changes taking place in Sky Woman's condition as they clung to life on the surface of the of the flood waters. They set aside whatever concerns they might have had about their own fates and asked one of their fellow survivors, the Giant Turtle...