Animals

If you talk to the animals
they will talk with you
and you will know each other.
If you do not talk to them
you will not know them,
and what you do not know
you will fear.
What one fears
one destroys.

Chief Dan George

The Horse (so'-qui-li)

Mighty horse...power to run
Across the open plains,
Or to bring the vision of the shields
Dancing in purple dream rain...

The horse was a marvel to the Indian and came
to be regarded as sacred. It had a mysterious or
sacred character. The Indian often times referred
to the horse as the big dog or the sacred dog.

The ceremonial importance of horses is strong in
many cultures. In the Navajo Enemy Way ceremony,
which is used to rid someone who has come in contact
with the enemy of the evil, horses transport the sacred
staff that carries the evil away from the person. Horses
are the focus of many Plains ceremonies as well.

Proud Heritage, by Donald Vann

The Buffalo (ya'-n'-s-si' or yansi)

The buffalo or bison is considered by many tribes to
be a symbol of adundance for it was the meat of the
buffalo that fed the people, the hides that provided
clothing and shelter, the bones and sinew provided
tools of survival.

In the Legend of the Sacred Pipe, the White Buffalo
Calf Woman gave the Sacred Pipe to the Sioux as a
caretaker for the Red Nation. This pipe held the power
of the Great Spirit. She brought the people a message
of peace and said that they would have good hunting
and turn into a great nation. The appearance of a white
buffalo is a sign that prayers have been heard, and
signals a time of abundance plenty.

"Buffalo Medicine" means to bring a special honor,
or appreciation for all of the things that the Earth
provides for her children. To use buffalo medicine
is to smoke the pipe in a sacred manner, and to give
praise for the richness of life to be shared with all.

If a child's name included the word "buffalo" in it, the
Indians believed that the child would be especially
strong and would mature quickly. If a warrior was
renamed after a vision or great hunting or war
accomplishment, and his new name included the
word "buffalo," it meant that the buffalo was his
supernatural helper, or that he exhibited the strength
of a buffalo, or that he was an extraordinary hunter.
In other words, the name desribed the powers of the man.

Societies named after the buffalo had the animal as
their patron. Holy men who saw buffalo in the vision
during which they were called to the practice of
medicine would seek thereafter to commune with
the Great Spirit through the buffalo.

<IMG height=190 alt="" src="http://users.ap.net/~chenae/buffalo2.jpg" width=280 0?>

Night Flight, by Harry Bowden

The Eagle (wo-ha'-li)

The Eagle is the great sacred bird of the Cherokee
Indians and of nearly all native tribes. Eagle figures
prominently in their ceremonial rituals. Each Tribal
group has its own stories and legends concerning
the Eagle. Only the greatest warriors and the
Medicine Man wore feathers of the eagle.

Eagle medicine is the power of the great spirit, the
connection to the Devine. It is the ability to live
in the realm of spirit, and yet remain connected and
balanced within the realm of earth.

If someone dreamed of an eagle or eagle feathers,
the town organized an Eagle Dance as soon as
possible. This could only be done in late fall or
winter as the songs sung during the dance angered
the rattlesnakes.

The eagle could only be killed by a proffessional
Eagle Killer who knew the proper ceremonies for
turning aside vengeance by the eagle's spirit. There
were only certain times when the eagle could be
killed, usually only when an Eagle Dance was held.

Julia White, Animal Walk

 

As winter descends,
two kindred spirits-
Wolf and Raven prevail,
ever wise, sly, playful, hardy...
mythical creatures,
sacred to the native peoples...

By Peter J. McLeod

By Jim Brandenburg

The Wolf (wa-hya or wa-ya)

To Native Americans, the wolf is a powerful
spiritual symbol. They are considered to be
teachers or pathfinders. The wolf star was red,
an esteemed color, associated with the wolf by
all tribes. Also known as Sirius, it is the brightest
star in the Northern Sky. The milky way was the
wolf's trail-the route to heaven. In time, the wolf
also became associated among the four seasons
with summer, among the trees with the willow,
and among the great natural forces with the clouds.

The indians respected the wolf's prowess as
a hunter, his stamina, and the way he moved
silently across the landscape. They were moved
by his howling, which they sometimes regarded
as talking with the spirit world. The wolf appears in
many legends as a messenger, great long distance
travelor and a guide for anyone seeking the spirit
world. He was the forerunner of new ideas who
returned to the clan to teach and share medicine.

Wolf is the Grand teacher. Wolf is the sage,
who after many winters upon the sacred path
and seeking the ways of wisdom, returns to share
new knowledge with the tribe. Wolf is both the
radical and the traditional in the same breath.
When the Wolf walks by you - you will remember.

The old ones tell us stories about our beginnings
and of a time when human kind first came to live
upon this Earth. It was Wolf who taught Humans
the ways of living in harmony. It was Wolf who
taught us how to form community upon this Earth,
for Wolves have an intuitive knowledge of order
through chaos and they possess the ability to
survive change, intact.

Wolf medicine is very ancient and born of living
experience. Wolf will look deep into your heart
and share the greatest of knowledge, but will
demand full participation, and absolute sincerity.
When Wolf has walked by you, the very presence of
the wolf will rekindle old memories within your soul.

Through the friction of experience you rekindle
the emotional fires of the inner soul and question
the manifestations of your own consciousness.
You can own a thing only when you have come to
own the emotional experience of it, and realize
the responsibility for its creation. then you are
free to continue. Wolf medicine can make you whole.

You will return to Wolf many times in your life as
you complete and begin your cycles of experience
and seek the inner truth.

Ghost Wolf
the Wolf Lodge

Moon Song, by Daniel Smith

By Art Wolfe, Tony Stone Images

The Raven

It was the raven who created the waters and the
salmon, which came to sacrifice themselves to the
people. The raven fashioned every creature that
walks or flies. It was the raven who helped the
worthy, but loved to trick the unsuspecting; and
as full of mischief as he was wonderful, who made
this world the way it is.

Raven is the messenger of magic from the great
void where all knowledge waits for us. His powerful
medicine can give us the courage to enter the
darkness of this void, called Great Mystery. He
is also the symbol of changes in consciousness,
of levels of awareness and of perception.

By Art Wolfe, Tony Stone Images