The Feminine Divine

The Indian was a religious man from his mother's womb. From the moment of her recognition of the fact of conception to the end of the second year of life, which was the ordinary duration of lactation, it was supposed by us that the mother's spiritual influence counted for most. Her attitude and secret meditations must be such as to instill into the receptive soul of the unborn child the love of the "Great Mystery" and a sense of brotherhood with all creation. Silence and isolation are the rule of life for the expectant mother. She wanders prayerful in the stillness.

I don't want to get to the end of my life and find that I lived just the length of it.
I want to have lived the width of it as well.

Diane Ackerman (1948- ) - quoted in Newsweek, September 22, 1986

According to the Ndee from the beginning Is dzán naadleeshe', Changing Woman lived alone. One day she received inspiration to go up on a hill and build a wickiup with four poles, where the first rays of the sun would strike in the morning. Is dzán naadleeshe' went inside and lay there and as the sun came up, the sun shone between her legs. One of his rays went into her. This caused her first menstrual period. After that she became pregnant. She conceived a son and called him Nayé nazgháné; (Slayer of Monsters). Four days later she was impregnated by Water- Old Man and gave birth to Túbaadeschine (Born of the Water-Old Man). These were the first Apache people.

"It is well to be good to women in the strength of our manhood because we must sit under their hands at both ends of our lives."

- He Dog, OGLALA LAKOTA

Prayer To the Feminine
Thank you for your light and your unconditional love. Thank you for the gift of the feminine energy, the gift of feelings, of intuition, of the dream power. Thank you for your strength always pouring out your love no matter what. Thank you for always being there. Help me to open myself to your compassion and tenderness, Holy Mother. Help me to bring it in to the places within me that need it, and to be a channel for your healing to whomever you would have me send it to in the course of this day. A-Ho.

Friendship

The white man wished to know about the moon. One of the old wise men said he would teach him, so he told the man what the Natives said long ago about the moon & her children. At first the animals were pleased with the sun; but they soon found Sun was careless. Now & then he was sullen & cross... sometimes he stayed long in the way made for him under the earth. This left the lower world in Darkness a long time. So the Little Turtle made the bright, warm moon to light the world when the sun was gone. The moon was the wife of the sun. They had many children. These children were the stars.

One day the Sun was very angry with his wife, the Moon. That night when he went under the earth he made her go with him, for he had planned to kill her... but the Little Turtle knew about the trouble & hurried after them. When she found them, the Moon was much hurt. All her heat was gone. That is why the rays of the moon are now said to be cold. Most of her light was gone. That is why the moon shines with a dim & and mellow glimmer. The sun had made her shrink in fear until she was very small. All that was left of her was the thin little New Moon, which you see at evening low in the western sky shinning like burnished silver.

Slowly the Moon grew full & round & beautiful again. that made her happy, for she thought her husband would be pleased with her once more... but not so. This made her so sad that she became smaller & smaller until she was again the thin little New Moon. each time that she grew round & full she hoped her husband would love her.

But his anger grew & was to great. He would not say a kind word to her. Then she would shrink again to a narrow shining bow seen in the evening sky just above the hills. so it has been to this day; and so now it must be to the end of the world...

Moral of the story? Don't let any man steal your life. You are full and wonderous in your own rite!

I come to Changing Woman
By means of long life I come to her
I come to her by means of her blessing
I come to her by means of her good fortune
I come to her by means of all her fruits
By means of the long life she bestows,
I come to her.

Changing Woman holds a place of power and reverence in two Native American tribes, the Apache and the Navajo, and her characteristics are similar in each. She represents the turnings of the wheel of time, and at the same time, the eternal timelessness that is beyond and above all such temporal concerns. She is the Goddess of the moon cycles of women, and of the cycles of birth, growth, aging, death, and rebirth. Changing Woman is the magic of the seasons of life and all the wisdom that comes from walking the path of beauty.

“There are really only two ways, it seems to me, in which we can think about our existence here on earth. We either agree with Macbeth that life is nothing more than a ‘tale told by an idiot,’ a purposeless emergence of life-forms including the clever, greedy, selfish, and unfortunately destructive species that we call Homo sapiens – the ‘evolutionary goof.’ Or we believe that, as Pierre Teilhard de Chardin put it, ‘There is something afoot in the universe, something that looks like gestation and birth.’ In other words, a plan, a purpose to it all.” - Jane Goodall, Reason for Hope

In beauty, I walk,
with beauty before me, I walk
With beauty behind me, I walk,
With beauty above me, I walk,
With beauty all around me, I walk,
With beauty within me, I walk,
It is finished in beauty,
It is finished in beauty,
It is finished in beauty,
It is finished in beauty.

Yeibechai - (last verse of the Night chant of the Navajos)

THE INVITATION

It doesn't interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing. It doesn't interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dreams, for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life's betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain!

I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it or fade it or fix it. I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own; if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, be realistic, or to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself, if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul.

I want to know if you can see beauty even when it is not pretty every day, and if you can source your life from Divine presence. I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of a lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, "Yes!"

It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have, I want to know if you can get up after a night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done for the children.

It doesn't interest me who you are, how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the Fire with me and not shrink back. It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away. I want to know if you can be alone with yourself, and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.

Oriah Mountain Dreamer

Calling the Eagle

People say true friends must always hold hands, but true friends don't need to hold hands because they know the other hand will always be there.

I don't believe in Miracles. I rely on them.

Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here we might as well dance.

Zuni Fetishes and Their Characteristics

Buffalo - Steadfast endurance to rise above one’s weakness
Owl - Magical transformation, link between unseen world and world of light, comfort with the shadow self
Raven - Transformational powers, guidance for deeper understanding of the shadow self, courage and comfort with the darkness
Snake - A powerful fetish symbolizing life, death and rebirth; elusiveness
Wolf - Teacher, path finder on the never ending journey for survival, loyalty
Deer - Ability to sacrifice for higher good, moderation, gratitude and giving
Mountain Lion - Leadership, resourcefulness
Coyote - The ability to laugh at oneself, humor, crazy wisdom