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Monday, July 19, 2010

Discussion, For Your Heart, Twin Deer Mother, WhiteBuffaloCalfWoman.Ning.Com Archives


For your heart, Twin Deer Mother Sings for You

Replies to This Discussion

Speaking to Red Family Members of the Rainbow Clan, I believe today is Memorial day (May 25, 2009) in the United States. This is White Buffalo Calf Woman, also called Twin Deer Mother. I twin your heart. I read your book of life, I know your way. Holiness David is beating the drum for you today. He is also known as Holiness Running Eagle Shooting Star and he flys between our heart beats and weaves us together. Today, I give you this Song Red Man, because Yesterday I heard a story that my Brethren was killing an Eagle so it could dance inside the Dancer. (I fell over and cryed and asked Holiness Running Eagle to help me. He held me and so many tears came out that I could not breath anymore. Finally about 20 minutes later, I stopped crying, but my body couldn't. I could see the outside of my body, in the dark space - spiritually. The body cavity, no extremities, had many holes with water flowing out of them all at the same time. My tears in my body could not stop, even though my mind tryed. And rivers I cryed for you. Finally, I got myself together. Slept early, I was exhausted and dreamt of Brother Elephants as we watched all the land as far as we could see, was ablaze. Fire and smoke everywhere and it was Red. The sky was Red, the land was Red. It was all I could see standing with my Relative, the Elephant. I awoke in knowing the purification is about to come and how will we save the elephants? Holiness Running Eagle reminded me that Noah, on his ark took care of Elephants, so can we! In the morning, after singing and prayers for Great Spirit Mother. My heart was bursting in so much pain. That I had to clutch my heart and hold it. All I knew is that I had to sing to you, the Red Man. I stopped what I was doing. Writing sacred pipe songs. And asked Holiness Running Eagle to drum for me. This is the Lullaby from my heart and the Beat of Sacredness from Holiness Running Eagle's heart, we gift to you, our children.) Great Spirit Mother crys and weeps. And many tell me of the story of only an eagle may gift you, it's feathers. my red man, you stand between the man or the being that wants to kill the sacred feather, the sacred eagle, the twin hearts, the twin flames, the twin beat, the oneness of all creation. You stand true to who you are, the protector the keeper, the one who shows the way, you are the eldest soul and yes, I know your body has forgotten. Will may the song help you remember. And if you don't remember email me. Email me and ask me what your Song is and I will sing it for you. And I will send it back to you. And if you don't' have an Email address, go get a free one. There is millions of free email addresses. Even if you can't get it until you get to the local library, you leave it there for you. You may contact His Holiness at runningeagleshootingstar@gmail.com. You may contact White Buffalo Calf Woman (Twin Deer Mother) at whitebuffalocalfwoman@gmail.com. It's simple as asking. Have you forgotten your song,ask you song, we will sing it for you. We will help you remember who you are. And soon we will have the sacred ceremonies for you so you shall remember. Come visit us at
www.whitebuffalocalfwoman.organd www.whitebuffalocalfwoman.info. And soon www.whitebuffalocalfwoman.net and if you want to be a real warrior. Come to the heart of where the Great Spirits speak. Train with us and be the real warrior. Come know what family is, meaning to take care of the body and the soul. Learn to gather, learn to teach others how to come home. You are ordained my Red Man to be the keeper and the soul that moves the way of the sacred breath. and all you must do is go to your internet and type in http://www.ajoylightfromwithin.org. Here you will find the entrance to the warriors. The Light from Within, the Light from Within. From there is a Joy that comes is the Dream. A Joy Light From Within. The Great Spirits ask us to call the Oneness of all the four sacred directions. And For YOU, we gift our very lives. We have come home to you today as the Great Star in the sky (Star of David). And our lives are dedicated to your knowing your own true heart. Walk along the Red road means to follow the law of love. And love means to know your brother and your sister as your relative. To know the rocks are the river of love. sow I will see you planting seeds along the way to paradise, the rolling hill, the yellow hill that we all been dreaming about. Start dreaming my relative, my beloved family. Aho, which means may your spirit fly. Aho.
Four Sacred Directions -Red (Twin Child, keeper), Yellow (Child, teacher), White (Father, a brave), Blue (or black. Mother, fire tender)
Twin Deer Mother and Holiness Running Eagle HolinessPeace Heart Song - Lullaby for the Twin Child Red Relatives Drumbeat Everyday, you'll go away, and you forget that I was here. Everyday you go to sleep and you dream that you aren't here. And if we are to find our way, the sacred breath that keeps us safe. Remember the heart that beats the way. The one inside who wants to play. Drumbeat Sow my children plant the seeds. Let joy come in all you see. The vision when you walk your way. And when you dream you see paradise upon the hill. And so my children plant your seed. And let your brother sister know you come home to me, and the truth is I will always be, the love of you and me. Sow my children, plant the seeds. Offer a smile in the breeze. Look at the wonders that you see. All the visions you bring home to you and me. Enjoy your treasure each day wherever you are. If the sky is above you listen from afar. but If your heart says I miss you. then all you must do is close your eyes and dream. dream of paradise upon the hill. the sacred place your heart knows that your coming too. The place you come and plant your seed and watch it grow upon the hill. And as you trek along your way upon the highest mighty inn, there lies within a treasure deep inside. It's white the light that all collides, where rainbows dream and skys provide the stars of magic in the night. Sow my children plant the seeds, give hope in all you dream. Today we come we watch over you, it's heaven that stands upon the hill. We shed our shroud of love upon you and know your love is still. Reach in your heart and you can see, the dream you've always longed for. The paradise upon the hill, the seeds that you sow. As I see the corn, grow it's mighty leaves and the stalks of heaven bleeds. And inside the fruit of all your corn, the magic for your thoughts that plant the seed. And wonderment that shrouded in form that you planted with all your seeds. Just remember to step along the hill and look for paradise in what you see. We Dream, we walk along the sacred path. A dream we call our home. Just reach inside and you will see paradise in your hearts dream. Drumbeat Just skip along and learn to play. No matter what the day will bring and suffering is what we do when we are in love with the blue. the reflection of our heart is shown in our relative around us, shed no more blood my brother sister unless we ask for blessings pure. receive your love of divinity to you. gift all you have, receive the love, that god gives to you. Do not take what is gifted, you need only ask. The willing to give you all you need today. my children it's all a gift for you, just remember to plant the seed. and along the way the corn will grow and show you the sacred way, just step and sow your seeds of time while the eagle flys overhead, it tells you time has come again to unify the soul. my heart speaks truth, when i walk the step, the sacred breath i breathe. my heart knows pure, when I trust my dreams, just give the law for sure. I tell you stop and show your brother sister and let them know you've come to show them the way. Don't walk away, walk toward them instead And you will see the sacred way. Learn how to find your heart in love and only walk this way, for hoops are only to and fro when we are here to grow. Drumbeat Take my spirit and show me how. show me how to be the sacred way, tell me what i am doing wrong and tell me how to be the right way. i forget you know i need your hand your smile your love you've come to me. just remember i'm your relative, the one (breathless) who loves your heart. I dream of paradise upon the hill, but i may not know my sacred way, sow my relative my red brother sister lead the way, show me how to breath. show me how to walk, don't turn away from me, your relative. I'm the bird in the sky, I'm the rock in the stream, I'm the heart that bleeds inside. and I know you forget i'm here, but i tell you I'm clear for you to see. just open your heart and look in the dreams you see, the ones you look at everyday, the sky above, the deer that play, the rabbit that hops along it's way. the smile my sister gives to me, the warrior who is brave and I tell you the one who plants the seed, is the one who knows the sacred way. Drumbeat White Buffalo Calf Woman and Holiness David's HolinessPeace Heart Song to Red Relatives Ends
White Buffalo Calf Woman
May 30 (1 day ago) Twin Deer Mother to Warriors and Elders Beloved Family, Today is our Peaceful Wisdom Prayer for our Global family. Please remember to send your love out towards the universe, our relations. His Holiness David and I have been extremely busy with the new gathering and attempts at creating an Army from Heaven. At the Elders Agenda meeting, Creation of Glory came from Heaven and spoke. She brought the story of the corn. Heaven asking, "Sing a song for her". She is from the Cherokee nation, this is her Song "Melting Pot Creation of Glory" Cherokee nation you are my hand of time. Cherokee nation you are my brother that shines. and my sister (Lakota) who comes to me in the west she says offers me the pipe to sing instead and i say, hey, i am the day and she said hey i am the night. and sisters and brothers we will be. and related a family. we will blossom together and shine all the days. we'll remember the flowing of yesterday. and the nights that bring us wisdom so we shine in the day, when we greet the morning star when it displays. I give you my heart, the heart of my life. the song that lives in the sky. And when I need my home I do not need to roam. I just look deep within me, inside. There the morning star lives inside of me. I can be free, a warrior I can be , when I know my family waits for me out there. I come home to rest with family in here. The Cherokee Nation is to lead the Army of Heaven. Lakota (highest honor-west) is the Heart of the World, leading the soul. Blue Lake, Taos People are the physical leaders of the world, leading the migration. This is the information I have gotten so far from the Oneness of God. I realize that many of you have to trust me, I hope as much as I trust you. I know some of you are having a difficult time, but if you have time, please read our Peaceful Wisdom Prayers over and over again. This is a learning process for all of us. Active-Indigos are Elders of the Rainbow Clan who support the Prophets of the World, the Indigo people, let us learn to keep our space blessed, as the impure winds of others flow through us. Let us pray today for them. I just want you to know, we send love to you, when you are in need. My heart always knows your need, even though we cannot always communicate through emails. I am here knowing you need love, and Holiness David sends it to you when you are in need, for I let him know. He is our foundation of love that unites all the renegades of the world who have walked alone, who now can walk united as the Holy Army of Heaven, the Rainbow warriors of prophecy. We have created the foundation of many domains and blogs as well as network groups. But this last two months really has been dedicated to the Sacred Ceremonies of the Sioux People which belong to the world. We the Elders have been very busy creating the unity of the four directions. Since today is a Prayer day, we will be sharing in prayer with our Advocate City partners in Palo Alto today. There is much to do to set up an army of Heaven, and now we are on the next rung, the radio and tv broadcasting. We have just bought four more domains to support the networking of native americans and relative of israel. www.houseofthebeloved.net, www.alightfromwithin.org, www.lightfromwithin.org, www.houseofthebeloved.info, We own these already: www.whitebuffalocalfwoman.org, www.whitebuffalocalfwoman.net, www.whitebuffalocalfwoman.info, whitebuffalocalfwoman.ning.com, houseofthebeloved.ning.com, houseofthebeloved.blogspot.com and they eventually all lead to http://www.ajoylightfromwithin.org which lead back to crystal_indigo_children@yahoogroups.com (warrior and sanctuary) and active-indigos@yahoogroups.com (elders and purehearts) Remember anyone wants to talk, join us the number is on the Peaceful Wisdom Prayer each week, biweekly or monthly the way it is going. There are so many new RSS feeds to keep up with, but Saturday is always our heart path, the sacred day of prayer for the world. Reach in your heart and remember to spend time in reflection today. Spread the word, Saturday is the Sacred Day around the World. I love you so much I cannot even begin to explain, and I know there is so much for you to learn. The Native people are ordained to lead us as the Twin Child, the "keepers" of the other three directions. And as Elders, the Natives will lead us homeward, to knowing the sacred path. As the mother or heaven, Natives people the western shore at the horizon and father of heaven at the eastern shore the Sons of Israel. This is what the Oneness of creation requests, now let us all pray and share our visions and our dreams with each other. your devoted servant, white buffalo calf woman, your twin deermother (flesh) elder crystal person "iyeshka or interpreter" eldest sun in the house of God
a song for you my beloved family today, now i hear your total song crystal-indigo-children and active-indigos, where does the music go, when i listen to a song? where can i find the path to run, when there seems no place beneath my ground? where can the sky turn green (sun rise is green sun, the embrace of one) when the sun is so blind? i can't find my way to you, but hey i want to stay? where when will the whipper will blow to sing the song again? I want to find my heart today, if I can only sing. I want to stay alive today. I want to know the sacred way. but it seems i am not going the way, i want to be this day, but if I keep taking my stand, and keep making my hand, the device of love that lends the heart of man whos gone overrun. Let me pick up my heart, and let me pray to sing. let me know my brother and sister again. what will it take me to understand the vision inside me is always at hand, just trusting myself can be all that I can stand, sow a seed today for the day again tomorrow, it's gonna rain all day, to bring the sun back to me and you. let us pray today, we find the loving way. let us play in time, let us find the time. let us pray all day. let us be sacred in our ways, let us be loving and kind, if i could only find my mind. sow the seeds i will but tomorrow will show the till, the bringing of harvest the place of dreams the golden path, the dream in me. sow i pick up my voice today, i sing and let all know that i am here again. i will walk and enjoy the trees and i will realize that they belong to me, the story of relative that long to be the heart of you and me is a dream. let our prophets lift up their stance and let their voices ring throughout the land, and willing to be the the hand of god, the one we pray the one we long for, and here we come together and unite in brotherhood,and our hearts will long to sing together when we know the sacred breath, until then, i will lift my cup to thee, i will set my sister to roam free, i will let my family come to me and i will gift my hand to thee. come home to us and know the sacred well, the light of love that dwells inside the head, just bless all you do and say and we will know our sacred way. let us rise and know today, it' takes only a prayer to know the way, for god is only the united one of us, the part that's divine the part that's us. and we are not alone, when heaven holds our hands and understands that we are here to lead, the family of god, the one in need. Loving you, aho may your spirit fly your devoted servant, white buffalo calf woman (holiness david is sending you love)
Shavu'ot Jewish Year 5769: sunset May 28, 2009 - nightfall May 30, 2009 * Posted by White Buffalo Calf Woman on May 30, 2009 at 8:00am Shavu'ot (in Hebrew) Understanding Shavu'ot Level: Basic You shall count for yourselves -- from the day after the Shabbat, from the day when you bring the Omer of the waving -- seven Shabbats, they shall be complete. Until the day after the seventh sabbath you shall count, fifty days... You shall convoke on this very day -- there shall be a holy convocation for yourselves -- you shall do no laborious work; it is an eternal decree in your dwelling places for your generations. -Leviticus 21:15-16, 21 Shavu'ot, the Festival of Weeks, is the second of the three major festivals with both historical and agricultural significance (the other two are Passover and Sukkot). Agriculturally, it commemorates the time when the first fruits were harvested and brought to the Temple, and is known as Hag ha-Bikkurim (the Festival of the First Fruits). Historically, it celebrates the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, and is also known as Hag Matan Torateinu (the Festival of the Giving of Our Torah). The period from Passover to Shavu'ot is a time of great anticipation. We count each of the days from the second day of Passover to the day before Shavu'ot, 49 days or 7 full weeks, hence the name of the festival. See The Counting of the Omer. The counting reminds us of the important connection between Passover and Shavu'ot: Passover freed us physically from bondage, but the giving of the Torah on Shavu'ot redeemed us spiritually from our bondage to idolatry and immorality. Shavu'ot is also known as Pentecost, because it falls on the 50th day; however, Shavu'ot has no particular similarity to the Christian holiday of Pentecost, which occurs 50 days after their Spring holiday. It is noteworthy that the holiday is called the time of the giving of the Torah, rather than the time of the receiving of the Torah. The sages point out that we are constantly in the process of receiving the Torah, that we receive it every day, but it was first given at this time. Thus it is the giving, not the receiving, that makes this holiday significant. Shavu'ot is not tied to a particular calendar date, but to a counting from Passover. Because the length of the months used to be variable, determined by observation (see Jewish Calendar), and there are two new moons between Passover and Shavu'ot, Shavu'ot could occur on the 5th or 6th of Sivan. However, now that we have a mathematically determined calendar, and the months between Passover and Shavu'ot do not change length on the mathematical calendar, Shavu'ot is always on the 6th of Sivan (the 6th and 7th outside of Israel. See Extra Day of Holidays.) Work is not permitted during Shavu'ot. It is customary to stay up the entire first night of Shavu'ot and study Torah, then pray as early as possible in the morning. It is customary to eat a dairy meal at least once during Shavu'ot. There are varying opinions as to why this is done. Some say it is a reminder of the promise regarding the land of Israel, a land flowing with "milk and honey." According to another view, it is because our ancestors had just received the Torah (and the dietary laws therein), and did not have both meat and dairy dishes available. See Separation of Meat and Dairy. The book of Ruth is read at this time. Again, there are varying reasons given for this custom, and none seems to be definitive. List of Dates Shavu'ot will occur on the following days of the Gregorian calendar: * Jewish Year 5769: sunset May 28, 2009 - nightfall May 30, 2009 * Jewish Year 5770: sunset May 18, 2010 - nightfall May 20, 2010 * Jewish Year 5771: sunset June 7, 2011 - nightfall June 9, 2011 * Jewish Year 5772: sunset May 26, 2012 - nightfall May 28, 2012 * Jewish Year 5773: sunset May 14, 2013 - nightfall May 16, 2013 For additional holiday dates, see Links to Jewish Calendars. © Copyright 5756-5767 (1995-2007), Tracey R Rich
Holiness Peace Prayer Song 08162009Title: We are going home! (half of the song) , Sung by White Buffalo Calf Woman, your Twin Deer Mother, Drumbeat by Holiness David Running Eagle Shooting Star
And then we are here, in time and space we are here, and I am here to speak the wind to you. My heart is telling me to say, that miracles are on the way, and if you could only believe it's true then you could live inside the blue. But if we try to see, the blue, the heart of you and me could be, the righteousness of truth today, when we all sing and show display. We are rainbow colors that are pure, and I say, that God lives inside your shore, to see to sea, from shining sea, the heart of loving you and me. The days of miracles are coming soon, but we will have to choose the blue, and when we walk the other way, then Oneness says, why don't you come to play. We are the gardens of Love, we are the willing from above, we are the blue of true, and the love that new, the place of heaven that's come home to you. My heart is loving you, but you cannot see the truth of how you planned your day, not trusting god today. You chose the know your way, the way, man's choose this day. And when you walk away from love, you make your choice from above. Separation is not love you see, how could you think it's in the breeze, but you forget to bless, the wind that goes across your face at night. And when the day, hits you blind as light, what makes you turn from love? What makes you think that man knows more than God? What makes you feel you have no heart inside of you? We are all apart of this great majesty, the display of all that's great, the land of my mistakes (perfection knows). And I want you to know, that's Gods living glow, and we must forgive them true, to know the way of loving you! We are four colors true, we are the loving that's coming home to you, the seasons of time you know, the heart of your living glow. Instead stop expecting the worse, Start looking for God' truth, and you will find your way, when you choose love today! Not rules but a heart instead, a loving gesture that's sent, the will of your heart inside, the truth of you, where you collide, the darkness and the light, is heaven and earth inside and you must choose love's sake, or you will be left behind, How could I leave you there? How could I leave you there, when you need my Love today, to take you all away, to paradise that's waiting for you, you just have to see the view, the place that lives inside, the glory of magic that we hide. Now lift your voice and sing? Now lift your heart and bring, the love that's deep inside, the love that's here to collide. We know the truth you and me, when love is free and loving thee, for we do not search for threats, we receive the love God gifts. And when you depend on the false, the money that's all of man, the light that brought us this way, but now, we must escape and learn a new way. For we are here to be, the love of you and me, and heaven has come home to us, where we collide and learn to trust. For love comes only when, we can accept the wind, the place of blessing need, the song of heart that you can give. Now lift your voice today, and sing I love god's grace, the hope of magic that's pure, the heart of love in all my family deer, my journey is one with you, you are not apart (separation) of me that true. You are part of me, and now you come home to believe.
That paradise is waiting for you, and I know that god is pure, it's love and you and me that place I dreamed this night and day with thee. Now all you have to do, is come home to the truth that lies inside your heart, when you dream inside the dark. The luminous flowing in you, the numinous flowing in you, the place I long to be, united true and blue, the royal family is here, they are called Rainbow Clan it's true, the ones who are the Warriors for you, who will fight tooth and nail to save you. For they will die for you, for they will live for you, for they choose love each day, and speak their hearts display. And when the anger come's home, just hold her in your arms, and say, I'm sorry dear, I love you more this day, it's true. I'm here to bring my heart, to you, your gift the smart (sting), but I will be with you too, when you walk away from the blue. But we say, we pray for your feet, that touches the ground that you keep, the place of rolling hills, the place you shed your tears, and if you hold it inside, you suffer more and collide, for you deny your heart. The truth of heavens that's sent home to you. Our heaven is tears you know, it's tears of joy to explore, the tears of sadness we bring home, the tears of joy, we explode. The glory of God, today, the glory of Gods display, did you look out your window today, didn't you see, glory in the day? The sun above did shine, the moon and stars did climb, to all the stories we tell, of hardships and loving tales. And we are glory to be, and we are glory in yesterday that's true, for we made it here don't you see, the heart of you and me. But now it's heaven sent, evolution is not waiting for you, we must walk with God right now, the fires light that gifts us clouds. The sky is turning red, and we must start a new way, the way of loving it's true, but we all have to trust the view, when you don't have money anymore, the coin you use, will be the coin of Gold, the one that's true inside, the coin of brotherhood. Will you gift love today? Will you walk and turn away, or will you receive Gods love, when they stand right in front of thee? I tell you truly my deers (journey), you need the child who hears, the song of yesterday, the song of now we play, let us go and have a party today, and let us have all of God's display. Let us have a good old time, let us have a picnic and have so me fun. And all you must do in your heart, is invite all the colors of the Rainbow, it's true! Start with blue (black), white and yellow and red, then you can begin to shed, the love of you and me, the love of God you see, the love of receiving thee, the love of brotherhood in me, and when I reach that place, my heart will know the race, the race of men who climb the mountains of all the time.
We call this evolution, the sacred direction that come, to live inside of us, to express the light and the dust. Now we must choose our hearts, for we have no choice but to start, to trust God's family, they call themselves Rainbow will you please, the colors of all that's sent. The colors of Warriors from each shore that's met, the places where we go, who gift us safe passage to the other shore. When we meet these folks, then we need know God has spoke, for we are loving thee, the family God sent home to me. And I am here to be, a part of loving thee, and now, we go our way, to show that God is here to stay. And we shall learn to bless, the fire and the walk about, when we light a candle today, or incense that leads the way, for blessing do keep us safe, from evil we call this day, but surely you can see the way, that darkness is pure when you bless the space. The numinous of God is here, the Heaven we adore! Just keep it safe for thee, and bless eternally, for when we bless the hour, we bless the wind and smile, for we gift love this day Just bless the wind, each hour of the day. And we can go home to thee, where Love is magic in thee, the place of God's home in thee, the place we dream about and where it's free. Speaking, speaking to the heart, speaking speaking to the heart, speaking , speaking to the heart, of knowing Love this way. oh, I do say.
We are going home, We are going home, We are going home to Heaven that's sent our way, here today. We are going home today, We are going home today, We are going to heaven 's sent. We are going to the darkness that is safe. Sanctuary is here, the heaven that states "I love you deer", the place of know God is here, when we show our hand so clear. Don' t fear the love that's sent. Instead, bless the numinous (flowing) that sent your way, just say, they've lost their way, and now I must save their day. I will bless them true, I will bless their feet to know, that God the great has come light a fire that saves thee way, the heart of loving thee, the heart of loving me. The heart of trust yourself, the heart of loving all God sent. I must only bless and embrace those who must walk away, but we shall come home when god Sends the fire to burn their blood. For fire and blessing pure will send them home for sure and I must embrace my family for more are coming home to me. And each day I walk with you, I walk and talk with you, I speak my heart to you, the child from heaven that's true..........................ooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. (talking) Will you say, "I knew what you were going to do", then you display, all that God sends not in your heart, but in your mind instead. You don't look past the gate and into paradise you see. You don't trust that maybe that yelling and screaming could come from there inside of thee. The paradise is when you choose that all that God gives to you is the hope of heaven's love that you choose love instead of walking away, just put your arms around those you don't understand and maybe they can teach a few things. The things you have been longing to know, but if you walk away, then you will not learn today. You will think that God did send, only hatred instead of the wind, for I learn each and everyday. From the actions that you display, your heart with wrenching pain and I know that God is here, but you don't look this way, and I have to bless the day, when you come back to my arm when you choose God again. But until that day you see, you will will have to suffer and bleed and we shall be the true, who walk along side of you. We will be true neighbors, the ones who come when called, but will only stay if you choose, the road of love and all that it use. But if you continue to be, unrighteous to me, then law you will hear, from my heart that knows the truth.
At 3:41pm on September 2, 2009, White Buffalo Calf Woman said… Beloved Mike, Sorry I had to delete your photo of armwrestling between Jesus and the Devil. Jesus is a Crystal Person and the Devil as many think of him is the right hand of God, they do not fight each other, but take care of each other. We need embrace the darkness, not oppose it. For darkness is our heaven, the evil is from inside of us, as we bring the numinous flowing of heaven home inside of our souls. This image would never happen, no even in playtime. There is much for all the family to do, but oppose one another is not unity of ONENESS. It is not easy to embrace the darkness, but how else will we bring it home. Darkness need only blessings, if they refuse a blessing and run away, then they are not by your side. But if we refuse their presence and do not offer blessings, then you shall be cast of them into a living hell of suffering. The Oneness calls this "chained to the railings" because they are not free to fly as they are stuck completing their karmic debts, until they choose love and unity, none come home. The last phase of evolution did not include the darkness or heaven or our souls. And now to claim our souls, we need claim the darkness of heaven. When the darkness is not always pure or light is not always pure these days too, we need only bless every hour of each day, to be safe. But to bless, is what many are fearful of. This will alleviate us, the sacred unity of the blessings. Trust the blessings, and come to receive yours, your devoted servant, white buffalo calf woman, your twin deer mother. ps.now if you have questions, please pose them, how else will we know the answer. I may have the answer as a Crystal Person, but often I don't have the right questions, this is what I need my family for.
Beloved VeroniKA,
Very happy you came to be with us. Now about starchildren yahoo group (will have to check if I am a member), did I write something or did someone else share my writings? If you remember, that would be nice, however it really don't matter. We all have four sacred directions of the Rainbow Colors, this is why we are called Rainbow Warriors of Prophecy. Many claim, but do not live up to this ideal. Three are colors that radiate light, but not necessarily, because sometimes some people will carry two dark points, instead of one, which is called Grandmother, our dark space, which is really white-dark-white-dark-continually and this color is GRAY. Now if we have three points of light, this offers us a reflection or light that goes towards a direction, like when light hits a side of something, but if there is four points like a piece of paper, a reflection does not occur. So we tend to have three points of light, to express who we are, and one point of darkness to hold us in place. This space is center space within, called Grandmother. All and I mean ALL beings upon Earth that we see, have Grandmother GRAY including animals, plants and rocks. All life has breath including rocks and we share Grandmother space with all being luminous and numinous. The sound ka, from the Crow, represents Grandmother space. When I hear a Crow nearby, I always welcome Grandmother into my heart. And we have Grandmother people, like Grandmother Going Places Richard Harris. Once a Grandmother person Adam had a person take his picture and it was as if he was invisible. Now for me this was understandable, while others were perplexed about the whole thing. Grandmother Space is the embrace of all atoms (adam) and as a Grandmother does, care for all the children. Grandmother is from heaven who is descended onto earth. We fly from our belly button, and not from our third eye as many new agers think. Look how Native (eldest souls) people stand, they tend to relax shoulders and allow the tummy to protrude, as this is where we fly from and to other spaces. We are all bound by Grandmother space. Within all the many colors, the very middle color is yellow often seen as strands or ropes of light which is often seen by true Indigo People who are prophets and great teachers, but all of them have all of society to forgive as they society wanted to tell them they were crazy and forced drugs upon them because they can see truth in the light realm, while people like me Crystals see truth in the dark realm. Grandmother space belongs to all of us. And the recent native, Imaitaki Thunder Walks, a green person, Rainbow Colors blessings of his soul tells us this: Gray: I am with Grandmother each and every day, I am with holiness and it's display, the heart of envelopes that hold me close, for I can worship all the truths. Days and nights, hold me near. Have my heart close to yours. When the shadows come to me, I will bless them all set free. But when they seek to hide from me, the many doors into the breeze and I can say I love you more, because it's Gods open doors. The spider who weaves our destiny, is here to hold us in the breeze and when we come home to be with God upon the rolling hills and up above. It's grandmother! It's grandmother, its more than I can bear with her. She must endure all that's unkept, for she must open the nasty nest. Grandmother, Grandmother, come hold my heart and let me rest. Let me weave inside of you, and we can hold all the views. Grandmother, Grandmother, hold my head up Grandmother. Keep the heart of everyone, all together under the sun, Grandmother Grandmother, you often send crows to hawk at us. We can offer you more than love for you endure all from above. Grandmother, Grandmother, I love you more than words can spell. Grandmother, Grandmother, I have come home to your love. Brother Shawnee, a blue person, says this with his blessings: The last of the colors we all share inside, this is the way, that we can survive. This allows us to be the perfect royalty, when we listen to Grandmother (grey) who walks around us outside this day. These people are part of everyone, because they are the open and darkness of the sun. The tender of fires that lie inside the dark, is where we all go to open up and dream. The Grandmother is the space where we all collide, and Blue is the Color where the heart is felt. Sister Gathering of Flowers, a green person, with her blessings: Now we have a mighty open ocean out there, and we can't see but we are guided in their, and it's Grandmother, who we all share, the embrace of all space the spider does know. My granny does love you more than others who glow because you are fearless and because you show, how to bloom in the garden when others don't swim, you come to know gardens that shine in the sun. Brother Earth Bound, a golden person, with his blessings Now what is left but greatest fold, is Grandmother who often holds, our heart our light, our deepest dreams, for if we have to travel, she is so bold. She is the way, we know the heart, of those who gift us so many smarts (stings). For when we are down, we remember to dream, inside the space where we always sing. She gifts us light, for she does hold, every single molecule that beholds, the radiance that brings us home, to lands untouched, the rolling hills. Here we fly to know the way, of hearts of dreams, and who does say, the catcher of us, when we fall, the heart of many open doors. It is Grandmother who offers us so much space, the running wells of untold dreams. She offers us new ways to be, when we allow all the breeze to flow inside of me to you, with Golden Light with so many views. Brother Buffalo Man, a magenta person, with his blessings Now the last color is Grandmother Gray who sings, to us in our dreams and holds us in our light and waking hours. You see Grandmother is space, the space we walk about, and they are real people who are here right now. They often walk with Elders, of the souls, who are Flesh children, and like Grandmother who walks this way, she takes care of the young. But what does this have to do with you, it has to do with everything, for Grandmother is the doors to destiny, the many doors you guide them to. You may have the key, but she is there to bleed (law of love) to show others how to be, when they choose a way. She is in our dreams, awake or asleep you see, no matter where we be, she is standing there with us, this day. The darkness we must collide, in order for our lights to shine. She gifts us liberty, to shine our lights upon the sky. We are a reality, because Grandmother holds us near, to the heaven that we came from, to know the way of the sun. These are all examples left on http://crystal-indigo-children.blogspot.com as well as real meanings of Indigo and Crystal terms, as the world has everything lopsided because we tend not to listen to other but speak at them usually like most groups do. So it is refreshing to really speak to someone, rather than someone speaking at you. It's like they are too lazy to read or receive. And I know they have not learned how, and that is why I am here to clarify all who do not understand truth. For the many white calves mean the many crystal people who bring laws of heaven to earth, as this is evolution unfolding, as we enter the third phase of evolution, and not the fifth as there is no fifth phase, however this understanding is really the knowing of the blue of me and you, where water goes is where hearts flow, the reflection of all related or relatives. Einstein called it relativity, and expressed that space folds and bends, which is truth as he is a Crystal (christal) person who knows truth, like Jesus, Krishna, Mohammed, Moses and others too. These people will be despised and not loved in their time, like I am, because I bring truth, which many do not want to hear. The only other Crystal who has spiritual written works is Moses, and he left law unto the peoples called the Torah. I am the only other who writes and speaks truth about spiritual life. Now Einstein is a crystal and left scientific works, which is truth, but he did not trust himself, but his calculations did not fail him. Even today, we are proving what he said was truth. He created a new type of math resulting in relativity. And there is a spiritual deity called Manjushri, which is the expression of a Crystal person. They call Manjushri the master of science. The Oneness of God gifted to me the mathematical calculations of all of space and time, which shall be kept with the Suns of Israel as ordained by God. I am only the keeper as Holiness David and I are the House of the Beloved Children (star of david). However, the most important fact here is this, these calculations will take years to understand, and I am not supposed to speak to anyone or share with anyone until the Purehearts of the Jews come home. But in the meantime, I can speak the Rainbow Colors and the Native American storytelling language, the star language, to all who come near me. Jews ordained on eastern shore. Natives ordained on the western shore. All the rest of us, are part of the eternal circle of ONENESS we call God. I offer blessings speaking the truth in the star languages. I can interpret any image, language by sound, and any questions of spirit, and the most important fact is that I am a gift and servant to the people, and I give it all away. Holiness David and I live on the streets in a motorhome helping all who come into contact with us, as we follow the migration homeward as the star of David. And take instruction from everyone and everything, no exclusions. Grandmother is part of Heaven upon Earth and like a Grandmother who is pure, we feel loved. This can fill some with peace, like being rocked which is joyful. I once had a Grandmother visit me and embraced me from Tunisia, where I was totally rocked like a baby in space. It was wonderful, but only felt this once from a Grandmother. He must have been a true medicine man, who knew love and forgiveness. But to be truthful, only a Crystal person can bring peace to any soul, by purification, allowing the soul to be free, as we gift the treasure, the lesson, some call karmic lesson, and this is why people always blame us for everything. By the way, we have another Crystal sister, her name is Tonkunee which means Blue Dove. Blessings come in every shape and form, yet I am the only person who can offer you Rainbow Blessings of your sacred four directions and it seems, sing your songs from your souls heart and colors breath. When you ask, you learn to receive. And if you learn to receive you can allow others to come into your lives with their hearts song or comments or anger or whatever their feelings are. Joining the Great Give-A-Way is to learn how to RECEIVE. For heaven is receiving (blue road) and earth is giving (red road) and when we cross these roads, the heart (blue road, dark) and breath (red road, light) , we glow the rising star within, the wisdom of the yellow way. Blue, red, yellow are the only colors of light in the world, all other colors are generated by these three colors. When we use the voice spoken from the heart and use the flesh to do good brotherly works then we tend to do what we say. Haven't you noticed that people don't do what they say? This is because they walk two roads, and are not united within, to know the yellow way of wisdom. Blessings are examples http://crystal-indigo-children.blogspot.com and heart songs http://sacredsongblessings.blogspot.com. Try looking at http://twindeermother.blogspot.com for internal teachings and http://white-buffalo-calf-woman.blogspot.com for external teachings. A blessings is when we receive others with a spiritual purification like when you go to a priest to get a blessings or even by a friend who offers you blessings. It uses the words, "I bless you". Any of us can bless anyone or anything. This is what we are teaching others to learn, how to constantly bless to keep space purified and the use of fire is total purification and cleansing. We clean our houses without, now we need learn to cleanse our spiritual house within daily too! We all have six directions in the perfection like the star of David or a crystal snowflake (no two are alike but each have six sides). Four belong to us like a house has four sides and two which flow like the wind to and fro, like water of tears, through our house. This flowing is how everyone travels Grandmother space the heart of our souls which fly to and fro. This is what needs cleansing everyday, others come into our house without our even knowing, and we need cleanse our spiritual house so we don't feel bad like others do. Often we claim what others feel as our own, and when you do daily blessings, you are cleaning your house and don't feel bad anymore. Blessings cleanses our Souls, the tears of knowing of years of flowing, the river of God in the wind. Great to hear you are a teacher to our young minds, who are starving for truth and as you learn more being around me, you will be able to tell them truth too. Truth validates us, and make us whole, like our kids want. They know the world is a farce, and they want change. This reminds me of a teenager who asked about the New World Order to his teacher. Now his teacher denied it existed and so did all the other teachers and parents, but when he opened his history book up, it said exactly these words, New World Order. They are not dummies our kids and we need treat them as intelligent and feeling beings they are. One of the things the Oneness has requested is going to schools, so anytime you want to set something up for the kids, we can arrange it. But let us work together for awhile. We support Frienet Education or Free like the Natives used to teach this way and even the white man today still do it, called internships. The kids decide what to learn and we give them the tools to accomplish this. Many Colleges around the States offer this type of education now. Difficult kids are often the brightest and most intelligent, because they simply don't want to conform, like most true Indigo children. And as we are changing in evolution, so are our kids. What is different is that Parents and Educators are noticing our children but our kids have known for quite awhile. Many are writing about Crystal and Indigos as just coming in, this is just not so, we have always been here, but now, we are only recognizing the evolutionary changes in our children. So many are making money off our children, and this is just wrong, this is called slavery. Selling our kids for money and speaking false words, just for a buck. Making our kids ginny pigs to their experiments, just like we do to animals who are innocent and helpless. I say to kids, when in doubt, check it out. I do understand about time (groups), but we are relatives not just another group. We help others and our children and will help you anyway we can in the physical realm and not with just empty words. This is what makes a Rainbow Warrior of Prophecy as they are learning to do what they say and being responsible for their space and others around them, being servants to others before self. You know, Holiness and I were going to counseling when we got married at a local church, as this was what I wanted for Holiness David and I. The whole time, the minister told us to not stay married and that it would never work. Well he just didn't know how to help a Lavender person like Holiness David nor could he handle a Crystal person like me who only spoke truth. When we started on the streets as missionaries, we asked for some help. He wrote a paper saying that "we had no business helping others when we couldn't help ourselves" and at the time we never said we were helping others. He just made the whole thing up, just to speak against us and put himself in the limelight, just like a Magenta person as he is. He did not keep his word with us nor did he help us. He was not a nice person, but there were other reasons for this meeting later down the road ordained by God. We are servants to others and the most nicest people I know have been those who had nothing to offer but their love. Helping others is first according to God, and not second regardless of what one owns or does not own and this is called Brotherhood. All things belong to God anyway and we are only caretakers. I get furious with people when they sell religion. This is a gift from Heaven and not of man, and it's always free, just like love is. I can help you learn skills for the difficult kids with the law of love. And it's not easy, but if you really love these kids, then you will try to be a good role model while teaching them life long skills. The blessings teach one to manage the dark space. And you can teach about science this way too. Giving birth to twins girls and then twin boys looks like God wanted to teach you something. You see we are all called Twin Hearts, this is why we act like others. Twin children show us this really well. However, this doesn't mean their rainbow sacred colors are the same, as you know your own children. This is why even identical twins have different personalities, but similiar behaviors. I am called Twin Deer Mother, because I Twin the Heart of Others, and this is how I know what they feel inside of them. We all have some ability to do this, we call a sixth sense as it blows in the wind.
Awesome you do quilting. I love to do this but don't have the time, I used to join a group of women quilt, but it seems such a click and they were selling the works for not much, but only for their friends and this was a church group. Yesterday, I found some great quilts with many hands, and I will attach here for you. And Tonkunee does needle works and I also do beading and other artworks and we have a group for sharing these gifts. We need teach others to create. I am glad you are getting validation with our quilts later on, as everything is our teachers. Pearls are the colors of a Crystal person, the radiance of pinks and blues, the sky colors, when in the light phase, by the way, the colors have four directions but also have a reflection and luminous like waves. I am in my light phase and Tonkunee is in her reflective or dark phase in life. This makes a combination of eight colors which is Holiness the eternal circles of the figure Eight, combining two hearts or two roads, the blue and red roads to make yellow rising within. You even notice how people go through the seven year itch? Well this is what happens when we change from light to dark, which happens around seven years but not always. When in light we get everything done we want, but when in the dark phase we can't even seem to go to the grocery store, because we are entering creative phase. We must create and change our ways. Many times people get hurt during the dark phase to look inward, our heaven.
 
Yes, quite a gift when a quilt is gifted to another, as it takes hours and hours of work. A blanket covers us and make us secure when we are in need, like a house of God, the sanctuary. We feel embraced like Grandmother space offers us. Always bless all your works for this is for their safety not only your heart is in this blanket, but the heart of all that touched the materials from beginning to end. Blessings purifies the blanket for the exceptional gift. A crystal person can feel everything and everyone, from beginning to end. And our Crystal children and adults who don't understand, get really upset and will not like being around something that is not blessed. It is not safe for them. This is why Holiness David blesses constantly to keep our space safe, as I am the eternal child, the White Calf. You see, you signed with blessings. Now offer a bit more. I bless you, those who are not pure will leave you quick as they fear, those who receive your blessings will receive your love too. This is always what we do, when we don't understand, after the blessings, the ones left standing is the purehearts. your devoted servant, White Buffalo Calf Woman, your twin deer mother elder crystal person, wakan iyeshka or holy interpreter http://www.whitebuffalocalfwoman.org ``````````````````````````````````````````````````` dear one i know that you will write when it is time for so take it nevertheless looking forward love and peace veroniKA "Holy Spirit" ```````````````````````````````````````````` From White Buffalo C... to veroniKA beloved veroniKA, have not forgotten about you, soon, alright love, calf woman ````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` From veroniKA to White Buffalo C... Sent Sep 9 thank you for your welcome i found your site through starchildren yahoo group it is interesting that you talk about the Grandmother as a few weeks ago someone told me that this Grandmother energy fills them with peace and joy can you please tell me what you mean with ask for your blessing(s)? i teach maths at high school and do lots of other things there as working with so called difficult kids and so on in the afternoons so i do not have much time to be around the sites now as it becomes more and more "necessary" to be there and here live for the kids i gave birth to twin girls and seven years later to twin boys and i do quilts with pearls and so that are often "pics" for things that reveal years later... each quilt for a person who takes it as cover when going through their processing hours days and... blessings veroniKA
thank you so much for your answer, dear sister i feel at home with you explaining the Grandmother and blessings and so much more i know - that point is behind the heart - it is where i feel it one thing why i still go to public school is that i know that i can make a difference from within what already is to be felt there - and the purer i get - i once sat three nights in my bed and recited the phrase" i am pure" all nights and with each sentence one glibbery bubble vanished the clearer is the message i bring there - only by being there and loving them as they are .. the teaching is just a medium for that - i love them so and i know from my own exeriences how they feel - i had the "luck" to mostly have had teachers who did not try to change me and parents who did not drug us - i once worked in a clinic for those kids where they were brought into because of getting onto drugs and only by holding them or sitting them on my lab they felt better - i was not long in that institution, as the kids told - in their joy - what i did and the psychiatrists did not like that.... you said." I can help you learn skills for the difficult kids with the law of love. And it's not easy, but if you really love these kids, then you will try to be a good role model while teaching them life long skills. The blessings teach one to manage the dark space. And you can teach about science this way too." yes please... one evening in july i did a blessing ( now i know that this is also called a blessing) with a student (in a meditation) - i often do similar in the evenings - then there were many people who came for it, too and the last that came was the school building itself and said "i also want to get blessed, as i also want to show the joy to all who come here every day" that brought tears into my eyes as there was so much love in it and these vacations on august 17, there was a fire in the school house that burnt many things free when the sons were concepted there was a broad golden ray coming down into me and the father to them was ill for nearly a week afterwards i both times prepared myself nearly one year for them before and my mother died two wees before they were born so that she could be with us in the birthing room - she was in koma for more that two months but she showed us what a soul can do when LOVE is invovled - as she took all her power to get off all the machines and being able to go on herself - she said good bye to my father sitting on her bed - the sun shone bright from a high blue spring sky - and closed her eyes herself
all my quilts get blessed when doing them with each stitch
thank you for your sent pics
it seems i do them that those who use them get covered when i cannot be there for holding them directly in my arms...
and they are around the world
bridging heaven and earth
 
thank you for your blessing from the bottom of my heart and yes it is as you "offer a bit more. I bless you, those who are not pure will leave you quick as they fear, those who receive your blessings will receive your love too. This is always what we do, when we don't understand, after the blessings, the ones left standing is the purehearts."

 
it is immedately...
some already left

it s the frst time that i can feel it

my heart became more open
my sounds became clearer - i work a lot with breathing and sounds on myself





(the lion and the eagle and the snake bearing the lotus)you see i am not a native speaker
but i know you know what i wanted to say

as i know
you are member to starchildren group
you wrote a short sentence there a few weeks ago


i bless you for all that you are and do with all the love within and without
in gratitude
veroniKA

please sing your song have you ever heard the song of a craw once i sat on my balcony meditating then a craw came near sitting on the branch of the maple tree looking at me singing in sounds i never heard before go on come on fly with me and then we flew together the next day she already sat there waiting for me i had to step into a fire first the cloths then i myself and when i came out of this fire i was an eagle flying high above the earth grateful for this wonderful abundant planet
sei gesegnet in der reinheit deines ICH BIN be blessed within the purity of I AM sei gesegnet in der vergebung be blessed within forgiveness sei gesegnet im jetzt be blesses within the now segne deine gedanken bless you thoughts mit deinem ICH BIN with your I AM ICH BIN LIEBE I AM LOVE ICH BIN LICHT I AM LIGHT das licht des reinen kristalls in dir scheint the light of the pure christal within you shines
 

Group, Words of Wisdom, WhiteBuffaloCalfWoman.Ning.Com Archives




Soar


At this moment (actually many moments) I am in the Broadcast love mode.
Because I want you to send out love to the world too. And this means everybody and everything.
And if you can't you need to work on forgiveness....

Perseverance of good things is a good thing! Holiness David Running Eagle Shooting Star

From my heart on May 23, 2009


Aimee Wonder of the World, your Constant Looking Glass Speaks Wisdom of the Great Teacher, our Indigo!

"In the night when you shake with terror remember that the tree tremors when it produces new shoots. Then be still and listen. Listen! Your heart will carry you!"

Blessings! Aimee Constant Looking Glass

 From the Heart of Micheal Running Bear





Rainbow Warriors of Prophecy
 

Discussion, LAKOTA ETHNOASTRONOMY, WhiteBuffaloCalfWoman.Ning.Com Archives

LAKOTA ETHNOASTRONOMY

by Steven Mizrach
Introduction

Although there has been much written about Plains Indian ethnoastronomy, a large amount of that literature has focused on the Caddoan ethnic/linguistic group - in particular, tribes such as the Pawnee, Arikara, and Arapaho. In this paper, I will focus on the "Sioux" Indian tribes (a misnomer), looking in particular at the astronomical practices and beliefs of the Oglala, Hunkpapu, and other Lakota bands. It can be shown that despite what some anthropologists have proclaimed about living 'timelessly', the Lakota did pay attention to the heavens, and they did have means of preserving what they observed.

Sun Dance

Contrary to common belief, the Plains Indian Sun Dance was neither a form of solar worship nor a ritual ordeal or sacrifice. For the Lakota, the Sun was indeed a representative of the Great Mystery (wakan tanka), and was known as a wakan akanta (superior divinity) whose name was Wi. However, the Sun Dance is not for the purposes of offering blood or anything else to the sun; and even though many people have focused on the use of hooks being driven into the flesh of the dancers or their way of dancing until exhaustion, this was not an 'ordeal' in the commonly understood sense. Instead, the "probationer" or dancer volunteered to partake in the ritual in order to help put himself and his band in harmony with the cosmos. (Lincoln, 1994.)

The Lakota hold their Sun Dance very year in late July or August. It is thought that the timing of the Sun Dance had more to do with the height of the buffalo herd population at that time of the year (that was when all the nomadic hunting bands could gather in one place) than with any specific astronomical or calendrical event. A vertical connection (axis mundi) to the sun and the cosmos is necessary for the ceremony to continue, and this is symbolized by erecting a large cottonwood tree at the center of the dance ground. The tree is adorned with flags and artefacts of six colors, representing the six cardinal directions (east, west, north, south, above, below.) The dancing ground is surrounded by an arbor covered with boughs with an opening to the east, where the dancers and the Sun enter each day. (Crummett, 1993.)

One of the more sensational aspects of the dance is, of course, the piercing of dancers with pegs through the chest; these pegs are connected to a rope which is tied around the central tree. The dancer runs from the periphery of the circle to the center and back three times, building up speed. After the third flight, the dancer runs with such force that the pegs are torn out of his chest, ripping free from his flesh. Many Lakota point out that this part of the ritual simply emphasizes that at birth, people are "torn" this way from the Great Mystery and from their connection to the veridical dimension of the cosmos. It reinforces the idea that everything is ultimately dependent on the gifts of the Sun, and can't ever truly be free of the heat and light that it gives. (Farrer, 1992.)

According to the Lakota, the Sun Dance is one of the six great ceremonies, including the smoking of the holy Pipe, that was given to them by their culture-bringer, White Buffalo Calf Woman. Although it became something of a powwow-style tourist attraction around the middle of the century (after the U.S. government outlawed the more sensational aspects of it in the name of "decency"), since the 1970s, AIM members and other Lakota traditionalists have tried to recapture some of the solemnness of the original ritual, and have subsequently banned tourists, alcohol, and other distractions, while restoring the piercing and rigor of the ritual. Non-Indians have been allowed to participate, but only if they are well known and agree to obey by all the rules and taboos of the ceremonies.

From an astronomical standpoint, the Sun Dance is interesting because its elements display many of the features of the Lakota cosmos. The Lakota believe that the circle is a divine shape, primarily because so many things in the cosmos (the Sun, the Moon, etc.) are round. Although the Sun Dance is not held on the vernal equinox, the eastern opening of its arbor clearly is supposed to be oriented toward the rising of the summer sun. The Lakota have not been an agricultural people, at least within historical times, although they may have been before. Like many nomadic societies, they did not attach much importance to fixed points within the year.

Winter Counts

The Lakota did not have a system of writing prior to European contact, and thus did not have a calendrical notation system as we would understand it, or any "true" written history. However, they did utilize a means of counting winters and noting significant events that passed each winter season by recording them ideographically. This was used to supplement their primarily oral tradition. They would begin their year with the first snowfall, and end it with the thawing of spring. The tribal winter count keeper would symbolize each passing winter with a pictograph and a phrase notched into a tanned animal hide, and these were mnemonic devices to record the most significant events of that year.

The tribal count keeper's job was to remember each year and the things that happened. "That was the winter when we saw the purple spotted buffalo," or something like that. Von Del Chamberlain discovered that these winter counts often contained significant astronomical data. Among a sample of some 200 winter counts from many different bands, he claimed to have found pictographic records of 17 astronomical events, including solar eclipses, lunar eclipses, "fireballs" or spectacular meteors, comets, and the Leonid meteor shower -- in particular the famous 1833 meteor "blizzard." (Del Chamberlain, 1984.) The Lakota clearly only recorded very stunning and unique phenomena - unique enough to identify a particular year.

They did seem to realize that eclipses were recurrent events, but they did not seem to believe that there was any type of regularity or periodicity to the most spectacular total eclipses of the sun or moon. Del Chamberlain concludes that the reason why only one comet appears in the winter counts is because the Indians did seem to believe that the recurrence of comet appearances was a recurrent, predictable phenomenon. Why this insistent interest in transient events? Most likely, it was connected to the Lakota belief that such things were connected to the wakan or incomprehensible nature of the cosmos.

For the Lakota, anything which did not behave the same way as other things did was wakan. A heyoka, or sacred-backwards-clown, was wakan because he did things in an ironic, reversed way that was different from everyone else. The planets were wakan because of the way they wandered among the other stars. The pole star was wakan because all the other stars whirled around it while it kept its place in the sky. The spectacular cosmic events recorded in their winter counts are similarly wakan, because they were unexpected and dramatic.

Ultimately, as was suggested earlier, the Lakota were not very interested in recording recurrent astronomical phenomena, because as nomadic hunters, they didn't need an agricultural calendar. They did reckon the months (literally, by the passing of new Moons) and the seasons but the primary annual event for them was when the population of the buffalo herd reached its peak. For them, the most interesting and important aspects of the cosmos were the ones that were idiosyncratic and non-replicated, although they did watch the movements of the Sun and the stars for other purposes or in earlier times, which will be discussed below.

Medicine Wheels

While there has been some argument over the antiquity of North American medicine wheels, and their purpose, most scholars are agreed that they may have had some astronomical function. The medicine wheels were large spoked wheels built from rocks with a central cairn in the middle. The most famous totally intact medicine wheel is the one found in the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming, which appears to have been used to watch the summer solstice sunrise and the summer dawn stars (Aldeberan and Rigel), and was probably built around 1760. (Krupp, 1983.) There are numerous other medicine wheels in Canada, where they seem to be most common, but they also were utilized on the northern Plains, including in Lakota territory.

John M. Eddy found numerous remains of medicine wheels on the Plains, which were often as large as a hundred meters in diameter. Eddy claims the date of many of these wheels has never been established firmly (some could be as much as 10,000 years old), and that many modern ethnographic informants, when asked about them, seem to have forgotten about their original function, and know only that they are sacred and have to do with powerful "medicine." (Eddy, 1977.) The wheels clearly show similarities to sun dance medicine lodges and tipi rings, and for the Lakota both these structures were thought to be "mirrors" of the cosmos. Many of them have 28 'spokes,' which is a significant astronomical number.

His Plains medicine wheels, like the Bighorn wheel, often use the central cairn as a foresight to view the summer solstice sunrise. A wheel in Montana reinforced this solar connection when he found that opposite the solstice spoke line on the other side of the cairn was a small solar symbol made of sunken lichen-covered stones. This symbol looks like the "parent" wheel, and suggests strongly that the wheels themselves could be solar imagery, with the spokes representing the radiating energy of the sun. The smaller symbol has turned up in several of the wheels found in Canada, so it does seem to be more than just an idiosyncratic marker.

The Canadian wheels are important because they often contain certain correlations or nearby archaeological materials which make them more dateable than their cousins on the Plains. The Moose Mountain wheel in Saskatchewan, for example, is extremely similar to the Bighorn Wheel, and its construction appears to date to somewhere around 100 to 300 CE. (Nikiforuk, 1992.) Eddy feels that these wheels are strong evidence for a "medicine wheel" tradition on the Plains which could stretch back thousands of years. They may not have all been built by the same people, he cautions, but they do seem to represent a certain diffusion of ideas.

If this is true, why the apparent lack of such sun-watching among most modern Lakota? Eddy thinks that with the introduction of the horse by the Europeans and their shift to a nomadic lifestyle, the Lakota lost much of their traditional astronomy - the kind of star-charting that could be found among the horticultural Caddoans, for example. He heralds it as a classic example of a loss of traditional knowledge through cultural contact. As it turns out, he wasn't completely correct.

Celestial Imagery

The fact that astronomy was important for the Lakota can clearly be found inscribed on their artefacts. Eppridge and others have collected a lot of the artefacts associated with the Ghost Dance religion or "ethnic revitalization movement" founded by the prophet Wovoka. In the Ghost Dance ritual, the morning star was identified with the Messiah: it was the "yellow star" who those in Ghost Dance trance were supposed to watch. It appears in the form of a Maltese cross on many ghost shirts worn by the dancers. Other shirts often contain images depicting stars, moons, suns, and comets. (Eppridge, 1980.)

The Lakota often made a special war shield following a Vision Quest. The design on the shield was supposed to offer them special protection and guidance. Many of the shields found by ethnographers contain celestial designs, usually depicting the sun, the Pleiades, the Little Dipper, Castor and Pollux, the Pole Star, and the morning star. Vision questers were often directed to make the focus of their visions the central element of their shields. The fact that they frequently chose astronomic elements shows what their attention was often directed toward. (Carlson, 1990.)

The heyokas or sacred clowns of the Lakota often covered their bodies with special painted designs. Sometimes these designs reflected sheer chaos. Sometimes they contained things that were supposed to be deliberate insults against enemies of the tribe. Often they contained the particular "step" or zigzag design that was supposed to reflect the lightning or thunder which was the hallmark of Wakinyan, the Thunder Bird. (One was supposed to become a heyoka if they were frightened by thunder.) But particularly interesting to ethnoastronomers was their frequent use of the sun and the moon, or the morning and evening star, to reflect on their bodies their unique "oppositional" or reversing nature.

The Pole Star appears infrequently on Lakota artefacts, but always prominently. Like the Sun, it is thought to be part of the Superior Mysteries. They call Polaris Wichapi Owanjila, "the Star that always stands in one place." The other stars are said to be moving in a "dance circle" around it, paying homage to it. The Lakota claimed that Polaris was emblematic of the way that all of creation moved around Wakan Tanka, "that-which-moves-moving-things." (Hollabaugh, 1996.) On objects, it often appears on top of the axis mundi (world-tree): much like the Christmas Star does on the trees people use today...

Other everyday objects of the Lakota have been found to have astronomical images, ranging from moccasins to tipis. There are even examples of the aurora borealis and shooting stars appearing on certain objects. One problem complicating this research is the sheer variety of pictographs used for depicting stars. The Lakota used crosses, lozenges, circles, and interlocking triangles , as well as the kind of five-pointed and six-pointed images Western people would readily identify as stars... only ethnographic information has helped people understand the nature of these depictions.

Lakota Cosmology


Two books, by Hassrick and Powers, give a general indication of what religion was like among the Lakota Sioux. In their complex pantheons, some Lakota ideas about the cosmos can be discerned. The counterpart of Wi, the Sun, was Hanwi, the Moon, whose name literally means "Night Sun." The stars were regarded simultaneously as parts of Skan, the Sky, and were also thought to be supernatural people in their own right. Because Sun had abandoned his wife at a feast of the gods, Skan passed judgement on him. From then on, Sun was forced to rule over the day and Moon over the night. Wohpe, their daughter, was the White Buffalo Calf Woman. (Powers, 1972.)

In Lakota cosmology, there were quadripartite divisions of everything: four colors (red, green, blue, yellow), four superior mysteries (sun, sky, earth, rock), four classes of gods (superior, associate, subordinate, spirits), four elements in the sky (sun, moon, sky, stars), four parts of time (day, night, month, year), and four winds corresponding to the four cardinal directions. All of these are symbolized by the Lakota cross-within-a-circle, a symbol which appears throughout the Americas. For the Lakota, it is the "sacred hoop" and represents the totality of their people. (Steinmetz, 1990.)

The user of the Sacred Calf Pipe faces east toward the rising sun at dawn, west toward the setting sun at dusk. The Sun was recognized as one of the greatest of the Lakota's divine Controllers. Inktomi, the trickster-spider, mediates between gods and men. According to this text, Wohpe is Falling Star, and *she* marries the South Wind as her husband. (Hassrick, 1964.) The Morning Star is said to represent the light of knowledge as a counter to the darkness of ignorance.

The eastern part of the tipi symbolizes the source of light. The south, death and the spirit path. The west, darkness and thunderbirds. The north, the path of forefathers. The Buffalo People are said to reside in the north. The Lakota claim to see a woman, rather than a man's face, in the moon, and she is said to be stirring a kettle by the fire. The moon is explicitly linked to women's menses and to pregnancy and fertility. For the Lakota, two of the six directions are marked by the solar zenith and nadir. (Williamson, 1984.)

The stars are said by some Lakota to be very remote from human affairs. People are not to concern themselves with their business because the stars are wakan. (Walker, 1980.) However, this is contradicted by stories which suggest that the star people come to earth to look for brides, and the fact that heroes and other important ancestor figures go to join the stars. (Monroe, 1987.) Lakota society was very individualistic, and so were the visions that were granted to people. So we can expect some degree of variance among religious ideas. The person who made this statement to Walker (Ringing Shield) might not have been familiar with all of the specialzied star lore of the tribe.

Milky Way and Fallen Star


Among the Lakota, there are many interesting myths and legends which are used to explicate their ideas about the cosmos, as is the case among many cultures. According to mythographer James LaPointe, "the ancient Lakota wise men said that all heavenly bodies exert influences upon life on Earth, and the destinies of individual life are at all times under the spell of the sun, moon, and stars." LaPointe also suggests, "... they imparted their knowledge to posterity through oral narratives and object lessons. One star cluster was called Pa yamini pa, 'a monster with three heads.' "

The Lakota have one fascinating myth which tells a great deal about their astronomical beliefs. According to this legend, Fallen Star, a supernatural hero, was the son of the North Star and a Lakota woman. (Interestingly, in Western mythography, the morning star or "Lucifer" is known as the "fallen star" or "the bright star cast out of heaven.") Fallen Star was said to be a member of the Maghpia Oyate or Cloud People and to be a special protector of the Lakota. His mother had lived with North Star in the clouds, but fell to Earth when she made the mistake of trying to dig up a plant growing in the cloud world - something she had been warned against. The North Star now broods in immobile solitude over the loss of his beloved Lakota maiden.

Tupun Shawin (the red-cheeked maid) was found by a group of boy hunters while she was lying unconscious after she had fallen from the cloud world. Her child was nursing from her "vigorously." The boys did not know if she was a cloud or spirit woman and so left her alone. But they did not want to abandon the helpless infant, so they brought it back to the village. The mysterious baby was named Fallen Star and given to a lonely, barren woman in the village. He matured very quickly, and became aware of a special destiny. He told others in the village that he was the child of a bright star in the heavens, and then told his adopted mother that he had to return to his father's place in the sky. He is said to be there now, watching over the Lakotas, his adoptive people.

Lakota people call the Milky Way Wanaghi Tachanku or "trail of the spirits." It was "the trail all Lakota people must take when fate overtakes them." (This is another interesting cross-cultural 'coincidence,' because among the Indians of South America, the Milky Way was also thought to be a "road of the dead" or "way of souls.") They claimed that at the point where the Milky Way splits, a divine Arbiter stood ... people who lived an immoral life were forced to head down the part of the Milky Way that ends in a nebula, tumbling through space forever. Those who lived a proper life took the other road to Wanaghiyata, the promised home of departed souls.

What is fascinating about this myth is that it ends this way, at least according to the translator: "Today, somewhere near the Trail of Spirits, known to others as the Milky Way, Fallen Star sends rays of hope for his earth people." (LaPointe, 1976.) This suggests Fallen Star might be one of the stars found near the Milky Way. Which one can't be determined from the story, but it could be the one of the ones in the Big Dipper. Based on the legend, it would have some special relationship to the Pole Star. This would be an interesting topic for further investigations.

Lakota Constellations and the Black Hills

Sinte Gleiska University scholar Ronald Goodman spent ten years studying the astronomical folklore of Lakota people, and the result of this work was Lakota Star Knowledge: Studies in Lakota Stellar Theology, a book which detailed the literally "cosmic" importance of the Black Hills for Lakota people. It discusses the spring constellations which the Lakota people observed while moving in a cyclical round from site to site in the Black Hills. The Black Hills were thought to be a terrestrial mirror of the cosmos, so the Lakota were simply "mirroring" the motions of the heavens. As the sun moved counterclockwise through the ecliptic, the Lakota were moving clockwise through the terrestrial analogues of their constellations. (Goodman, 1990.)

These constellations were: Canshasha Ipusye (Dried Willow), which was watched from the winter camps during the spring equinox; Wincinchala Sakowin (the Seven Little Girls = the Pleiades), which were watched from Harney Peak during "thunder's welcoming"; Tayamni (the Buffalo), which were watched from a central cairn during "life's welcoming in peace"; Ki Inyanka Ocanku (the center of the "Race Track"), which were watched from Pe Sla (a bare hill); and Mato Tipila (the Bear's Lodge), which were watched from Devil's Tower, during the summer solstice, prior to the Sun Dance. The 'race track' was subdivided into Cangleshka Wakan (sacred hoop) and Tayamni Cankahu (the Animal's Backbone.) The idea of the Black Hills as a 'terrestrial zodiac' is interesting; such an idea was proposed by Katharine Maltwood for some of the formations around Glastonbury.

The key sacred sites within the Black Hills, which are themselves thought to be enclosed by a terrestrial 'race track,' are Bear Lodge Butte, Old Baldy, Ghost Butte, and Thunder Butte. Devil's Tower is actually outside the Black Hills, but it forms the symbolic "Buffalo's Head" of the Lakota with two other hills inside the area -- Bear Butte as the "Buffalo's Nose," and Inyan Kaga as the "Black Buffalo Horn." Goodman notes that the tipi's shape also mirrors the heavens: 3 poles for the North Star, 7 poles for the cardinal directions, 2 poles for "ears", equaling the 12 months and the 12 stars (morning, evening, 7 in the dipper, 3 in Orion's belt.)

Goodman also discusses Fallen Star and the afterlife beliefs of the Lakota. This ties into the Lakota constellation known as nape, "the Hand," which consists of Orion's belt and sword, and the stars of Rigel and Eridanus Beta. He suggests "the Hand" can be correlated with the "Chief who Lost his Arm." In this legend, the chief has his arm torn from his shoulder by Thunderbirds as a result of his selfishness. His daughter offers to marry Fallen Star if he can recover the hand for her. Fallen Star succeeds in this quest, defeats the Thunderbirds and Inktomi, and marries her. As Goodman points out, Fallen Star represents the new chief and the new year, and their son the renewed earth of spring.

In the legend, it is said that while searching for the arm, "Fallen Star... seems to be in the Black Hills area, but at the same time he also appears to be moving through the star world. He travels through three villages or 'star peoples,' and it is said his son will have to visit the other four." Something of astronomical significance is being described here... but I am not sure what. What's most fascinating is how similar this is to the "wounded king" myth of European Grail legends - the wound leads to a loss of fertility, and only healing this wound restores the land. The Grail legends are said to have a zodiacal basis too...

Winter Solstice Stars

Besides the "Race Track," the Lakota watch another important group of stars around the winter solstice. Although they didn't observe the winter solstice itself (it was usually way too cold on the Plains to be out at night star-watching all the time), these stars were noted around this time. Parts of this group of winter stars are parts of the earlier "race track," shifted in the sky; others are not.

Some of these stars/asterisms include Wichapi Owanjila (Polaris), Wakinyan (the Thunderbird = gamma Draconis + 2 stars from "Ursa's bowl"), Wichakihuyapa (the Big Dipper), Mato Tipila (the Bear's Lodge, which includes Castor and Pollux), Tayamni (the Buffalo, which includes Sirius, Rigel, and Aldeberan), Capella, the "Fireplace" (which includes parts of Leo and Gemini), Canshasha Inpusye (the Dried Willow = Triangulum plus Aries), Hehaka (the Elk, which has part of Pisces plus other stars), Keya (the Turtle), Zuzuecha (the Snake = stars in Canis Major + Columba), and Wanagi Ta Chanku (the Spirit's Road = the Milky Way.)

Paula Giese, a Lakota student at Sinte Gleiska, discusses these constellations because she feels that Lakota Star Knowledge only deals with the spring stars. She mentions a few others of importance: Arcturus is said to be variously either Iktobu (going toward), or Wichapi Sunkaku (Morning Star's younger brother), or Oglechkutepi (Arrow game), or Ihuku Kigle (it went under). It has a special relationship to Anpao Wichahapi (dawn star, Venus.) The Agleshka, or Salamander, corresponds to no known Western constellations. The Crab Nebula, which has no Lakota name, apparently occupies a special position among these stars. (Giese, 1995.)

Giese also mentions some interesting things about the Big Dipper. Its seven stars are said to correspond to the seven stages of a woman's maturation and to the seven Lakota council fires. Towin, the Blue Woman Spirit who assists midwives with births, lives in the center of the dipper -- the place where one can find the hole from which Fallen Star's mother fell. The Dipper is said to carry the water for celestial sweat lodge ceremonies, and to ferry the spiritual essence of deceased people to the Milky Way.

Basically, she suggests that there may have been some limited star-watching "from some sheltered location" around the end of the year, close to the winter solstice. Young people were taught about these constellations because the "life-paths" for girls and boys were marked out by the Dipper and so it was important for them to know about it. They were taught that the Sun would eventually return from its southerly drift, and that these stars were a reassurance of that fact. All in all, these are interesting additions to the insights in Goodman's book.

Conclusion

Why, until the publication of Lakota Star Knowledge, did many anthropologists think that the Lakota had no ethnoastronomy? Mostly, this is due to misinterpretations of the stories from Walker's informants, who claimed that the Lakota had no interest in the stars. It was partly due to a misunderstanding of the term wakan. Although they regarded the stars as mysterious and incomprehensible, they still observed them - as part of their religion. Astronomers studying Lakota culture after they had lost control of the Black Hills would not have known how vital star-watching was to their religious ceremonies.

Most ethnographers assumed that only the Caddoan (such as the Skidi Pawnee) groups on the Plains had any meaningful astronomy because only settled horticulturalists would have the time to make observations and only they would have the need to use the heavens as timing mechanisms for agriculture. (Ruggles and Saunders, 1993.) It was assumed by people like Del Chamberlain that, although star knowledge might have been used by the Lakota in the past, the introduction of the horse and the transition to a nomadic buffalo-hunting lifestyle caused this knowledge to disappear. (Chamberlain, 1982.) The Lakota also had an extensively oral tradition, and did not make the complicated sky maps and star charts of the Pawnee, or make other kinds of astronomical notation.

The problem was that Western astronomers simply didn't look closely enough at the Lakota religion. Other societies use star-watching as a form of utilitarian time-keeping ... a purely "secular" (literally) pursuit. The problem was that ceremonies like the Sun Dance, Sweat Lodge, and Sacred Pipe contained cosmological knowledge; but ethnoastronomers left study of those rituals to scholars of religion. They didn't realize that the Lakota were the descendants of the "vanished" cultures that created the Plains Medicine Wheels. They spent too much time hunting for alignments and not enough time collecting legends. They didn't understand that some of the adornments on Lakota costumes and artifacts were astronomical, because they didn't look "like stars," and they never really asked anyone about their museum collections.

Unlike some of the other cultures of Mesoamerica and South America, the Lakota did not have an astronomical calendar. They didn't build large, fixed, monumental structures with celestial alignments. They were not interested in fixing the length of the year, or of establishing precise planting and harvesting times, or calculating the beginning of climactic seasons. All that mattered to them was the size of their precious buffalo herd, and they could always determine its peaking point through simple observation. The only part of the year they counted were winters, because on the Plains surviving winters was something worth remembering, and it was the time that hunting ceased.

But research with the Lakota should teach us that nomadic hunting societies do not ignore the heavens, either. Like many other societies on the move, the Lakota used the stars as a guidepost for when to move on from place to place in the Black Hills. Ethnoastronomers seem to have a biased belief that only people who stay in one place bother to stretch their heads out and look up at the sky. But for wandering peoples, the heavens literally may have laid out a "map" of their migrations. Other forms of religious pilgrimage should be studied in this light. The Lakota were probably not the only race who chose to mimic the movements of the stars above by their migrations below.

http://www.fiu.edu/~mizrachs/lakota.htm



Lakota Celestial Imagery: Spirit and Sky by Dr. Mark Hollabaugh
Copyright (c), 1997, by Mark Hollabaugh

This is a written version of an illustrated talk I presented in May, 1997, at the Dakota History Conference sponsored by the Center for Western Studies at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Introduction

“One star never moves and it is wakan. Other stars move in a circle about it. They are dancing in the dance circle,” Ringing Shield, May 1903 (Walker, 1991, pp. 114-115). That comment by a Lakota elder about Polaris was the genesis for this paper. The Lakota, or Sioux, lived for over 100 years on the great plains of what is now Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming. Much of the interpretation of their life from about 1750 through December, 1890, has focused on their interactions with their great plains environment. What has often been missing from the “standard” treatments of their culture has been an investigation and exploration of their relationship to the celestial world beneath which they roamed the plains. The purpose of this paper is to explore this celestial dimension in the context of their culture. It will not be possible to examine all of the different kinds of celestial images that were important to this people, nor to fully discuss their meaning. Rather, this is an overview and a survey of those areas that might be fruitful grounds for further exploration.

The Lakota Nation is broken into three distinct cultural and linguistic groups. The eastern Sioux speak the Dakota dialect, the central Sioux speak Nakota, and the western Sioux speak the Lakota dialect. The dialect name has become the common name for the people as well. These language groupings are also known by their common names, the Santee, Yankton, and Teton. The four Santee groups, two Yankton groups and the Tetons were said to comprise the seven “council fires.” The Teton Sioux or Lakota are the focus of this paper. The Teton are further subdivided into seven subdivision, the best known of which are the Oglála (“To scatter one’s own”), Sicáhgu or Brulé (“Burned” in French), Huhkpapa (“They camp by the entrance”) and Mnikowoju (“They plant by the water”).

Several excellent histories give details of the history of the Lakota. While late twentieth century scholars have taken issue with some of his interpretations and his lack of direct references, nonetheless George Hyde’s work on the Lakota serves as a primary survey of their nineteenth-century life (Hyde, 1961, 1975, 1993). Other books give a late twentieth century interpretation of these events and people (D. Brown, 1962; D. Brown, 1970; Hassrick, 1964; Utley, 1984).

In any research into ethnoastronomy, it is important to consider the sources from which the data is collected. The focus of this paper is on nineteenth century Lakota celestial thought, and hence, nineteenth century sources must be utilized. The most readily available written material was complied by a man who became a trusted friend of the Lakota.

James R. Walker, a physician at the Pine Ridge Reservation from 1896 to 1914, decided to work with traditional Lakota healers instead of against them. This cooperative spirit lead to a relationship of trust between Walker and the medicine men, and the Lakota shared their stories, beliefs, and rituals with Walker. His journals are primary sources on the late nineteenth century Lakota.

Walker’s compilations are the primary source for this paper. This limits the scope of this exploration to the insights given by the people Walker interviewed late in the nineteenth century. Generally, contemporary Lakota have a high regard for Walker and the veracity of the accounts he recorded. Vine Deloria, Jr., for example, gives high praise for Walker and his methods, but notes the informants were all “late” in Lakota history and little is known about the origins of Lakota beliefs about the stars. He further claims that Walker asked the “wrong” questions for the information to be of value to archaeoastronomy (Deloria, 1982). I would disagree with this assertion because I believe Walker has left a wealth of information, which, if combined with other historical materials , could yield rich insights. Another valid criticism of Walker is that he tended to rely on just a few translators.

There is an important epistemological point to be made. There is no such thing as one Lakota “system” of “orthodox” belief. Unlike Christianity, for example, which has dogmatized its beliefs into a set of doctrines, the Lakota are much less rigid. Lakota belief can even be very “fluid” and exhibits diversity (DeMallie, 1987, p. 43). One cannot say, “This is what the Lakota believe about the stars.” It is possible to say what a specific Lakota person says about the stars. This means Walker’s interviews and stories will enable us to understand what the Lakota at Pine Ridge believed about the stars. Although we may not be able to directly understand the origins of those beliefs, these accounts are a starting place.

The goal of this paper is to explore the celestial images of the Lakota and attempt to understand their meaning. First, I will give specific examples of celestial images including comets, meteor showers, and the sun and moon. Second, I will examine the Lakota concept of wakan, or the incomprehensibleness of the universe. Finally, I will suggest that it is necessary to understand wakan in order to understand the meaning of the celestial images.

Examples of Celestial Imagery

Many examples of celestial images from the nineteenth century Lakota that have been preserved on winter count hides and ledger books. Von Del Chamberlain (1984) has compiled an excellent list of Plains Indian winter count hides and ledger book entries that specifically refer to astronomical events. Garrick Mallery, a late nineteenth century expert on winter count hides, explained the use and function of the winter count hide:

The Keeper of the Count was responsible for the perpetuation of the history… with this counsel of the old men of his tribe, he decided upon some event or circumstance which should distinguish each year as it passed, and marked what was considered to be its appropriate symbol or device upon a buffalo robe kept for the purpose. The robe was at convenient times exhibited to other Indians of the tribe, who were thus taught the meaning and the use of the signs as designating several years. (Maurer, 1992, p. 275)

For a people who relied largely on oral tradition, the hide was a visual prompt for the teller of the people’s stories.

Meteors

In 1822 a brilliant meteor blazed across the sky. This was recorded on September 20, 1822, at Fort Snelling in Minnesota (Hyde, 1975, p.318; Chamberlain, 1984). A Lakota couple supposedly saw this and several months later named their new son Red Cloud in recognition of the event (Mahpiya Luta). This is only one example of a meteor making an impression on the Lakota. In November, 1833, the Leonid meteor shower put on a spectacular display. Estimated rates are 100,000 to 240,000 per hour (Rao, 1995). The Lakota noticed this spectacular celestial display:

In November, 1833 when Spotted Tail was ten, the stars fell. The entire sky was streaked with fire as myriads of meteorites flashed across the heavens, and the fright-ened Indians thought that the world was coming to an end. (Hyde, 1961, p. 29)

A winter count hide by No Ears made note of this Leonid meteor shower (Walker, 1982, p. 138). His drawing of the shower is reproduced in Figure 1. Additional images of the 1833 Leonid shower and other showers were recorded by Mallery (1886, p. 116). Chamberlain notes the universal appearance of this event on plains Indian winter count hides (1984). These events made an impression on the Lakota. What appears in any Lakota discussion concerning a comet or meteor, is that the apparition is considered to fit into the larger picture of how the universe works. The meaning of the event is intricately connect to what is wakan or sacred.


Figure 1. 1833 Meteor Shower.

Walker offers an insight into the impression such meteors made and the meaning of the concept Wakan. He reports a conversation with Finger, an Oglála Lakota holy man who spent an entire night instructing Walker in the sacred ways of the Lakota (Hirschfelder and Molin, 1992, p. 88). This passage also indicates how Walker approached his task of determining the meaning to the Lakota of these concepts and events:

It came about in this way: I was at the house of Finger in the evening, and when starting for the agency, all were out in the gloaming, and a very brilliant meteor fell. Finger exclaimed in a loud voice, " Wohpe . Wohpe-e-e-e.” He then harangued for a short time and the women built a fire and when it had burned to coals, Finger burned a quantity of sweet grass on it, evidently with forms and ceremonial mutterings.
[Walker continues by discussing a subsequent meeting with Finger.] I left the Agency on the first of April, so had no opportunity of reviewing the matter with Finger or of submitting it to others of the Oglála for their discussion

Wohpe, the Lakota word Finger uses for the meteor, derives from the verb wohpa, “to make fall by shooting,” or “to shoot down” (Beuchel, 1983, p. 598). Wohpe, also associated with the White Buffalo Calf Woman, is a prominent figure in the Lakota creation story. The burning of sweet grass is a characteristic Lakota ritual. “Good” spirits like the smell of sweet grass, and the burning of the grass is a means Finger employed to bring the good spirits to him. Note that Walker attempted to corroborate the information he received from Finger with other Oglála Lakota. This was typical of his approach. He would ask several people to give their opinions. Walker goes on to mention how he checked his translations with George Sword, one of his principal interpreters:

The information I got from Finger clears up much that was obscure, especially relative to Taku Škanškan. Perhaps you will remember that I said that I could not give a translation of Škan, which is the shamanistic term for Taku Škanškan and that according to the best information I had, Škan meant the sky I so translated it with the approval of several Indians, including George Sword, though each and all declaring that Škan was the sky, and was also a spirit that was everywhere and that gave life and motion to everything that lives or moves. Every interpreter interpreted Taku Škanškan as “What Moves-moves,” or that which gives motion to everything that moves. From the information given by Finger it is evident that his concept of Taku Škanškan, or Škan is a vague or nebulous idea of force or energy. Recalling attempts of other Oglála to define the word I am sure that they had the same kind of a concept of Škan. I am now surprised that this did not appear to me before talking with Finger.


Taku Škanškan could also be translated as the “energy of the universe.” Beuchel translates the phrase “a power working, moving things secretly” (Beuchel, 1983, p. 476). In Finger’s mind, the concept is closely related to the Wakan. Walker was not only aware of who his sources were, but also who his interpreters were. Although he himself learned some Lakota, he relied on native interpreters to convey the meanings of the elder’s words. In the following passages, Walker relates several Lakota concepts:

Finger's discussion of Wakan Tanka agreed with that given in that part of my paper on the Sun Dance as submitted to you [i.e., Walker, 1917], except relative to Škan and the relative existence of the four superior Gods. For instance, he gave Inyan, the Rock, as the first in existence and the grandfather of all things. Maka, the Earth as next in existence and the grandmother of all things. Škan next in existence after the Earth because He gave life and motion to all things: Wi, the Sun, as the last in existence but as the most powerful and august of Wakan Tanka, being Wakan Tanka Kin, The Wakan Tanka. He also said that the Associate Wakan Tanka, Wi (the Sun), Wi Han, The Moon; Tate, The Wind, and Wakinyan, The Winged, and Wohpe were as the other self of the four Superior Gods; that is, that Wi and Wihan are as one: Škan and the Wind are as one; The Rock and The Winged are as one; and that the Earth and Wohpe are as one; that while there are eight personalities that are Wakan Tanka, four Superior and four Associate, they are all as one and there is but one Wakan Tanka. This is The Great Mystery known only to the wisest shamans.

Discussing Wi and Škan, Finger said that while The Sun was the superior and most powerful of the Gods, yet He derived His power from Škan; that many of the Lakotas believed Wi and Škan to be one and the same personalities; but the Wi was a Wakan Tanka visible in the sky only half the time while Škan was the Nagi Tanka, the Great Spirit, everywhere at all times and invisible except his color which was the blue seen in the sky at all times.

Walker is appropriate in recognizing that a simple translation of wakan will not do and he attempts to understand the interrelatedness of the ideas Finger expressed. In this section he suggested the translation of “Great Mystery” for Wakan Tanka. In a concluding comment, Walker acknowledges his own limitations. It is interesting that he says his paper is “constructive.” Apparently he was very aware he was putting his own thoughts into the report:
I am fully alive to the sense that my paper is based entirely upon information given by others, and that it is in part constructive; that I may have been misinformed either intentionally or because of the difficulty in getting correct translations of the language of my informants. But the intention of the paper is to give such information as I have received. (Walker, 1983, pp. 9-10)

Comets
The Lakota also noticed comets and apparently distinguished them from meteors. Two hides in the collection of the State Historical Society of North Dakota illustrate comet art (Maurer, 1992, pp. 274-275; Chamberlain, 1984). The Blue Thunder winter count hide from the Upper Yanktonai Nakota band depicts events from 1785 to 1913. It clearly shows an early nineteenth century meteor pictograph and also a comet. A second hide, the Swift Dog, from the Huhkpapa Lakota, chronicles their history from 1797-98 to 1911-12. The third to last entry depicts Comet Halley’s 1910 apparition. Maurer notes the Hu hkpapa remembered the years 1911-1912 as the “time when children had measles and a bright comet appeared in the sky.” This illustrates the important point that common Gregorian civil calendar dates may not always coincide with dates given for a particular pictograph.

Sun and Moon
A discussion of the role of the sun and the moon in Lakota life would encompass an entire book. For example, one could study how they reckon time. We take it for granted that the solar and lunar cycles can provide a calendar. Although the Lakota use solar and lunar cycles, they have a very different concept of time than Americans or Europeans. Times of the day, for example, are reckoned by how the sun or moon appear or are moving across the sky.
Winter count hides were the visible representations of Lakota history and functioned as an annual calendar (Chamberlain, 1984). Although the Lakota use repeating cycles of nature to give names to the passage of time, I believe they have a very linear, continuous, view of time. Their history seemingly would never end, at least as long as the buffalo were on the earth. In attempting to understand the Lakota concept of time, I find the following assessment to be useful:
In Lakota culture time was not conceived of as a causal force; history was not directed nor did it embody that notion of progress and change which is so fundamental to European culture. Instead, the universe was perceived as existing in harmonious balance. As Ella Deloria once put it, ‘You see, we Indians lived in eternity.’ (DeMallie, 1987, p. 31)

I have come to think of the Lakota as being suspended in time. There was no indication their situation would ever change until the white man (wasichu) began “putting down roots.”
Living in an eternity where the sun was a persistent feature in the sky led to giving it a place of importance, and there is one ritual where the Sun’s central role is best exhibited. The paramount ritual in Lakota life, then and now, is the Sun Dance. Beginning with Walker, many scholars have written volumes about the Lakota Sun Dance. Again, it is not possible to include a lengthy discussion of this important ritual in this discussion. It is, however, important to say that the Sun Dance is not Sun worship.

The Sun Dance is practiced by many of the Plains Indians and the Lakota call it Wi Wahyag Wachipi, or “Dance looking at the Sun.” It is one of the seven sacred rites of the Lakota as explained by the legendary Lakota elder Black Elk (Brown, 1989). The purpose of all seven rituals is to strengthen the tiyospaye (“community” or “extended family”) and sense of mitakuye oyasin (“You are all my relatives”).

The Sun Dance ritual includes fasting, purification, and dancing. At the center of the dance circle is a sacred tree around which the participants conduct themselves. Sometimes, even in modern times, the Sun Dance includes piercing of the flesh of male dancers who wish to provide a personal sacrifice. The sun is all-powerful. When a dancer participates in the Sun Dance, it is a participation in the sacred and mysterious. The Sun Dance serves primarily as an agent to strengthen the dancer’s sense of self and spirituality, and strengthen connections to the community (tiyospaye). In a contemporary reference, the Lakota at the Sun Dance are described as practicing a kind of sun watching reminiscent of the southwestern pueblo peoples:
The old-man-who-counts watches the sunset, cutting notches in his stick, even though with calendars this is no longer necessary. The old man watches until the sun sets on a well-known landmark. When finally it reaches the appropriate place, the time has come to make the sacred lodge. (Amiotte, 1987, p. 78)

I am uncertain how wide-spread this sun watching practice is. The mention of it, however, is a good reason to undertake further research into Lakota sun watching. This is the only reference to Lakota calendar sticks that I have found. This may be a late-nineteenth century or early twentieth century practice that became practical, and necessary, after confinement to the reservations and the Lakota no longer traveled great distances. However, at the Northern Plains Tribal Art Show in Sioux Falls, on September 28, 1996, Arthur Amiotte told me sun watching was practiced at the time of the Winter Solstice. He mentioned that although nomadic, the Lakota did return to the same location each year for their “winter camp” and hence there would be familiar horizon landmarks. Amiotte also said he knew of no Lakota calendar sticks in existence today. In addition to Walker’s nineteenth-century records (Walker, 1917), an excellent modern, personal account of Lakota Sun Dancing is Thomas E. Mails’ Sundancing at Rosebud and Pine Ridge (1978).

The sun and moon often appear together in Lakota images. I found an example of a heyoka warrior’s body ornamentation (Walker, 1991). The heyoka was a contrary who used his spiritual powers to satisfy the Wakihya h or thunder beings of the west. On the great plains summer thunderstorms (and winter blizzards) approach from the west. The heyoka would dress warmly in hot weather, and wear few or no clothes in the dead of winter. The heyoka were considered wakan, and are an example of “that which is different.”(Hirschfelder and Molin, 1992, p. 119) This particular drawing from a ledger book shows both a sun and moon symbol on the warrior’s body. In a sense the sun and moon are opposites or contraries, and hence they are a sort of celestial “joke” when they appear together on the Heyoka.

Of course, the sun and moon are together during an eclipse. Solar eclipses were noted by the Lakota. An 1888 winter count hide pictograph by Short Man (Figure 2) reports A hpa wi wah te, literally, “the sun died” (Walker, 1992, p. 151) However, a note dating of this eclipse on January 1, 1889, is problematic. Using TheSky 2.03 (Level III), I determined the dates of solar eclipses visible from western South Dakota from 1883 to 1892. Using “SunTimes for Windows” (Zephyr Services, 1995), I checked the sunrise and sunset times for the eclipse dates. Although there was an eclipse on 22 December 1889, the sun was not up in that area during the eclipse. The closest eclipse dates to 1888 to which Short Man could have alluded are 16 March 1885, 6 June 1891, and 10 October 1892. It also could be that the hide dates given for the event are slightly off. An event that occurred, for example, in the winter of 1888-1889 could be recorded in either 1888 or 1889 (Chamberlain, 1984).



Figure 2. Solar Eclipse, 1888.

Wakan – That Which is Different

Having discussed some examples of Lakota celestial images, I will now attempt an interpretation of these images in terms of the Lakota concept Wakan. The Lakota did not exist apart from nature, but were very much a part of it. In this sense, the traditional ecological focus of the Lakota’s relationship to the land and the animals, especially the bison (tatahka), that inhabited the land is correct. There has, however, been little interpretation of the meaning of the celestial events and phenomena that have been discussed in the previous section of this paper. It is my thesis that to understand the meaning of these celestial events and images one must attempt to understand wakan as the nineteenth century Lakota understood it.

I will draw on sections from Walker’s conversations with Lakota elders to interpret the meaning of wakan itself. The most common translation of wakan is “sacred” or “holy.” For example, the best translation of the name of the Mdewakahto hwah band of the Santee or Dakota Sioux in Minnesota is “People of the Sacred Lake.” In the basement of the Episcopal Cathedral in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, there is a small chapel used by a Lakota Christian congregation. Carved on an altar are the words Wakan, Wakan, Wakan, alluding to the Christian Trinitarian formula, “Holy, Holy, Holy.” The best approach to understand wakan is to understand the usage of the word and it is important to recognize the cultural context from which this concept takes its meaning.

The Lakota are a profoundly spiritual people. Although they exhibit one of the most genuine senses of humor and light-heartedness of any American Indians, they are very serious about their relationship to wakan tahka (often translated “Great Spirit” or “Great Mystery”), the created world, their fellow human beings, and their inner self. Their view of the world is very different from that of the white men who first encountered them in the early nineteenth century. Thus, I believe, it can be difficult, if not impossible, to summarize in a few words a concept like wakan.

Father Eugene Buechel in his Lakota-English Dictionary gives several connotations to the word: “sacred, consecrated, special, incomprehensible, possessing or capable of giving an endowed spiritual quality which is received or transmittable to beings making for what is specially good or bad” (Buechel, 1983, p. 525). This latter meaning is reflected in the term wicasa wakan, which Buechel translates “priest, formerly the Indian shaman.” The common usage slightly mistranslates that phrase as “medicine man.” In the film Dances With Wolves, Doris Leader Charge, who was the Lakota dialog consultant for the film, rendered it “Holy Man.” The Black Hills (Paha Sapa) are a place that is wakan.

However, wakan has meanings that transcend the human existence of the Lakota on the great plains. James Walker offers valuable insights into the meaning of this concept to the nineteenth century Lakota. In the following lengthy excerpts from his writings, he uses Lakota elders’ explanations of the meanings. As always, it is important to realize these are the opinions of the people he interviewed. First, he quotes from Good Seat:

Wakan was anything that was hard to understand. A rock was sometimes wakan. Anything might be wakan. When anyone did something that no one understood, this was wakan. If the thing done was what no one could understand, it was Wakan Tanka. How the world was made is Wakan Tanka. How the sun was made is Wakan Tanka. How men used to talk to the animals and birds was Wakan Tanka. Where the spirits and ghosts are is Wakan Tanka. How the spirits act is wakan. A spirit is wakan…
…The sun, the moon, the morning star, the evening star, the north star, the seven stars [i.e., Pleiades], the six [sic] stars [i.e., Big Dipper], the rainbow--these are all wakan… (Walker, 1991, pp. 70-72)


At first glance, it seems as if everything was wakan for Good Seat. In one sense that is true, because so much of the Lakota world is extraordinary and “Wakan was anything that was hard to understand.” But notice that the wakan or “mysterious” things Good Seat describes are things people cannot create or control. Good Seat’s list of these objects, animals, and phenomena are things that have kept the best scientists and theologians busy for centuries. That is, they are extraordinary. Wakan things are those experiences, events, or objects that are worthy of wonder. Something that is wakan does not reach the analytical mind, but rather catches the spirit of a person and causes him or her to reflect.

Following his transcription of Good Seat’s conversation, Walker adds his own interpretation concerning the meaning of wakan. Again, in this summary, he draws on his conversations with many Lakota, allowing them to interpret one another:

Long ago, the Lakotas believed that there were marvelous beings whose existence, powers or doings they could not understand. These beings they called Wakan Kin (The Wakan). There were many of the Wakan, some good and some bad. Of the Wakan who were good, some were greater than others. The greater were called Wakan Wankantu (Superior Wakan). The others were called Taku Wakan (Wakan Relatives). They were not relatives the same as a father or a brother but like the Lakota are all relatives to each [other]. The bad Wakan were not relative either to the good or to each other…

The old Lakotas also believed that each thing except the Wakan and mankind had something like a spirit. This something they called a nagila (spiritish). These nagipila (spirits-ish) were wakanpila (wakans-ish). Ordinarily, the people call a wakanla, wakan. Wakan Tanka (Great Wakan) and Wakan kin mean the same. In former times the term Wakan Tanka was seldom used but now it is used more often than Wakan kin. The younger Oglalas mean the God of the Christians when they say Wakan Tanka. When a shaman says Wakan Tanka, he means the same as Wakan Kin as used in former times. This means all the Wakan and the Wakanpila, both of mankind and of other things, for the old Oglalas believed that these were all the same as one. This is kan (incomprehensible, an incomprehensible fact that cannot be demonstrated).

When an Oglála is amazed by anything he may say that it is wakan meaning that it is wakanla (like wakan). It appears from the above information that "divine" is the proper interpretation of wakan. (Walker, 1991, pp. 72-74)


It is important to note that these characterizations are based on traditional Lakota beliefs from the nineteenth century as recorded by such white men as Walker. To give the meaning of wakan as “divine” shows a decidedly Christian influence. Encounters with whites, and in particular Christian missionaries, has had an effect on modifying the traditional mid-nineteenth century beliefs. Indeed, two important Lakota sources were Christian: George Sword was an Episcopal deacon and Black Elk was a Roman Catholic catechist. Such experiences may influence the interpretive comments from twentieth century Lakota elders. Good Seat hints at this when he said, “I am an old man. I know what my father said. I know what his father said. In the old times, the Indians knew many things. Now they have forgotten many things. The white men have made them forget that which their fathers told them” (Walker, 1991, p. 70). Walker alludes to this modification when he comments “The younger Oglalas mean the God of the Christians when they say Wakan Tanka.” Hence, the missionaries used Wakan Tanka to convey the Christian idea of God and usually translated the phrase “Great Spirit.”

We who are white and born into a western way of thinking may have a difficult time understanding these meanings of wakan. In a white American (or European) way of thinking, there are distinctions between the natural and supernatural, between the secular and sacred, between the human and the divine. These distinctions are blurred or even non-existent in the Lakota mind. Such dichotomies do not exist. The important distinction for the Lakota was between the ordinary and the extraordinary. More than anything what characterizes the universe for the Lakota is its incomprehensibleness, its uniqueness, and its wonder. Thus, I believe the best interpretations of wakan are “incomprehensibleness,” “that which is different” and “worthy of wonder.” The best interpretation of wakan tahka might be “the great incomprehensibility.” The Lakota were able to share in this wonder, mystery and incomprehensibleness through their rituals (DeMallie, 1987, p. 28) and their partnership with the natural world. Interestingly enough, although Lakota belief shows many variations, the rituals are generally more uniform. This may be because the rituals are a collective, community effort, serving to strengthen kinship ties.

Wakan and the Stars

Having discussed the meaning of wakan, I will now briefly explore how this important Lakota concept influenced their understanding of the stars. Walker records a conversation with Ringing Shield from May, 1903, in which the stars are said to be wakan:

A wise man said this. The stars are wakan. They do not care for the earth or anything on it. They have nothing to do with mankind. Sometimes they come to the world and sometimes the Lakotas go to them. There are many stories told of these things. No medicine can be made to the stars. They have nothing to do with anything that moves and breathes. A holy man knows about them. This must not be told to the people. If the people knew these things, they would pull the stars from above. There is one star for the evening and one for the morning. One star never moves and it is wakan. Other stars move in a circle about it. They are dancing in the dance circle.

There are seven stars. [Seven stars is a Lakota name for the Big Dipper.] This is why there are seven council fires among the Lakotas. Sometimes there are many stars and sometimes there are not so many. When there are not so many, the others are asleep. The spirit way is among the stars. This moves about so that bad spirits can not find it. Wakan Tanka keeps the bad spirits away from the spirit way. The spirit way begins at the edge of the world. No man can find it. Taku Skanskan is there and he tells the good spirits where to go to find it. The winds will show a good spirit where to go to find the beginning of this trail. The bad spirits must wander always on the trail of the winds. The stars hide from the sun. They must fear him. So mankind should not try to learn about them. It is not good to talk about them. It is not good to fight by the light of the stars. They must be evil for they fear the sun (Walker, 1991, pp. 114-115).


This passage is packed with both insights and contradictions. First, consider the North Star. The Lakota name for Polaris is Wicahpi Owahjila -- “Star that always stands in one place.” What is especially interesting about Ringing Shield’s words is that the pole star is wakan because it does not move. This suggests that wakan connotes “that which is different” about Polaris compared to the other stars. Then Ringing Shield goes on to mention the morning star and evening star. He equates the seven stars of the dipper with the seven council fires of the Lakota. These statements about the stars may seem to be in conflict with the statement that “mankind should not try to learn about them [the stars]. It is not good to talk about them.” He says, in essence, “Don’t even think about the stars,” yet he, and the Lakota as a whole, have names for stars, legends about the stars, and record celestial events and phenomena on hides! In a similar discussion Little Wound says “The stars are Wakan Tanka, but they have nothing to do with the people on earth. Mankind need pay no attention to the stars” (Walker, 1991, p. 70).
There is a contradiction, or at least an ambiguity, here.

If mankind should not even talk about the stars, or pay any attention to them, why should celestial events be recorded on hides, or appear on a heyoka, or become a part of story to be retold? I believe what Ringing Shield and Little Wound were saying was that the stars and their motions, or non-motions, are a part of the “great incomprehensibility” and hence mankind cannot fully understand them or their meanings. None the less, the sun, the moon, and the stars permeate Lakota thought and culture. Why?

It is simply because meteors, comets, the sun, the moon, and the stars are wakan that they were noted, recorded, and re-lived in stories and ritual. The stars are worthy of wonder, they are mysterious, they are incomprehensible. As fruitless as it may seem, reaching for the stars brings the great mystery a little closer to earth. Although the celestial images preserved on winter count hides, in ledger books and on clothing serve an ornamentation function, they too are a part of the belief and ritual of the Lakota. Each Lakota ritual serves a purpose. Ritual reflects and transmits belief and tradition. Thus, Lakota celestial art is an integral part of the beliefs of the people who constructed it. And, the center of Lakota belief is the incomprehensibleness of the world in which they live. The stars, although extraordinary and wakan, are a integral part of that world.

Discussion

There are at least three areas for future research that would reveal more insights into the Lakota and their astronomy. First, I have briefly discussed meteor showers, eclipses, and comets. It would be helpful to continue the work of Von Del Chamberlain (1984) and to correlate the same events observed by various Native Americans on the great plains as recorded in ledger books and on winter count hides. Art historians might be able to shed some light on the Lakota’s use of five-pointed stars. It may be that they began to use this symbol after encounters with the American flag. Second, I have observed aurora while camping in the Badlands National Park (about latitude 43 N). Are there any instances of aurora in Lakota art or stories? How did they interpret them? Finally, Amiotte’s reference to calendar sticks and horizon sun watching is very intriguing. An examination of this aspect of Lakota astronomy would allow for comparison with the pueblo people of the southwest. A sensitive and respectful inquiry might reveal more about any use of these sticks today and the relative importance of sun watching for calendrical or ritual purposes.

More importantly, understanding wakan and how it relates to the stars must be the focus of any research into Lakota astronomy. That is, understanding their culture is the key to understanding their astronomy and their use of celestial images. There is a danger that meaning could be “read into” Lakota ideas. It is possible to avoid this by employing an approach from the “historical-critical method” of biblical hermeneutics and allow Lakota sources to interpret and explain other Lakota sources. There are ethnographic materials other than those of Walker which might reveal other insights. Also, it would be very interesting to ask contemporary Lakota elders and wicasa wakan to comment on the monologues Walker recorded. However, it is important to recognize such commentary would represent the views of late twentieth century Lakota, many of whom have been strongly influenced by both Christianity and the twentieth-century ideas of Black Elk.

The passion to be a part of “living the sky,” to use Ray Williamson’s term, was a central facet of Lakota life. Raymond DeMallie offers a final assessment that may help explain the ambiguity the Lakota have about the stars and their wakan nature:

In the nineteenth-century Lakota system of belief, the unity of Wakan Tanka embraced all time and space, together with the entirety of being, in a universe where the place of human beings was minor but well-defined. Because this universe was most fundamentally characterized by incomprehensibility, it was beyond humanity’s power ever to know it fully, and perhaps it was this futility that made the quest for understanding of the wakan the driving force in Lakota culture (DeMallie, 1987, p. 32).


Ultimately any attempt at understanding the Lakota’s use of celestial images in their culture must also come to terms with their understanding of wakan. It may for us, as for the Lakota, be futile to come to any final conclusions that can satisfy a twentieth century analytical, scientific mind.

Acknowledgments

Dr. Von Del Chamberlain, former director of the Hansen Planetarium, Salt Lake City, brought to my attention his important work on Plains Indians calendars. I am deeply indebted to my good friend, and Lakota mentor, Dr. Martin Brokenleg for his patience with my endless questions. To Martin I say, “Mitakuye Oyasin!”

BIBLIOGRAPHY


How to contact me:
By e-mail: Hollabaugh@aol.com

By phone: 952-487-8461

Last updated: 1 March 2003




Venus, the Morning Star and Evening Star
Conjuction of Moon, Venus & Jupiter (w/moons). Photo courtesy of Tavi Greiner One of the nicknames of Venus is “the Morning Star“. It’s also known as the Evening Star. Of course, Venus isn’t a star at all, but a planet. So why does Venus have these nicknames? The orbit of Venus is inside the orbit of Earth. Unlike the outer planets, Venus is always relatively close to the Sun in the sky. When Venus is on one side of the Sun, it’s trailing the Sun in the sky and brightens into view shortly after the Sun sets, when the sky is dark enough for it to be visible. When Venus is at its brightest, it becomes visible just minutes after the Sun goes down. This is when Venus is seen as the Evening Star. When Venus is on the other side of the Sun, it leads the Sun as it travels across the sky. Venus will rise in the morning a few hours before the Sun. Then as the Sun rises, the sky brightens and Venus fades away in the daytime sky. This is Venus the Morning Star. The ancient Greeks and Egyptians thought that Venus was actually two separate objects, a morning star and an evening star. The Greeks called the morning star Phosphoros, “the bringer of light”; and they called the evening star Hesperos, “the star of the evening”. A few hundred years later, the Hellenistic Greeks realized that Venus was actually a single object.
We have done several articles on Universe Today encouraging readers to go out and see Venus the Morning Star. And here’s what Venus looks like in a telescope. Want more information on Venus? Here’s a link to NASA’s World Book on Venus, and here’s NASA’s Solar System Exploration Guide to Venus. We have also recorded a whole episode of Astronomy Cast that’s just about planet Venus. Listen to it here, Episode 50: Venus.

Rainbow Warriors of Prophecy
 


Poem from Don Juan of Carlos Casteneda's book

"For me there is only travel along a path that has heart, on any path that has heart. And as I travel the only worthwhile challenge is to traverse it's full length, looking, looking breathlessly!" 


Blessings from Grandmother Going Places
Don Juan loved a poem which when translated to English loses some of the rhythm, but I hope you enjoy!