Meaning Of Spirit Animals

Native Americans do not explain their supernatural elements the same way other cultures do. Most other cultures try to talk about gods, or ghosts, or supernatural elements. Native Americans use nature and spirits to explain the supernatural elements. Native American myths instead rely on nature and spirits to tell the story, which reflects on their culture’s belief system. The Native Americans have many myths and folktales, and most of them share many common themes and archetypes with other cultures, myths ,and legends. Almost every Native American myth or piece of folklore revolves around nature and its power; while spirits are used mainly to explain the unexplainable parts. This characteristic is shown with spirits being important characters,

spirituality. Aboriginal spirituality is passed on orally by elders through myths and rituals. Without knowledge of their traditional languages, young people could not learn about the spiritual beliefs of their people. This spirituality was all encompassing, affecting not only their thoughts about the spirit world but also their knowledge of places, plants and animals and traditional skills such as fishing, trapping, and tanning (Blair et al., 2002, p. 96). As Steckley and Cummins have pointed out, without access to the elders’ knowledge of nature, young people lost access to the beliefs and practices their people had developed over thousands of years (2001, p. 17). Therefore, the loss of language led to the loss of traditional spiritual beliefs and

“One general truth that threads throughout the Native American spiritual beliefs is the belief of the Mother Earth spirituality” (Coll). They often called earth their mother and called father the air. The earth to the Natives is very sacred to them and is the most important thing to them. Most of the ceremonies were in some way revolving around the earth and they called earth “home.” Most of the ceremonies were practiced for many years and were passed down through generation to generation. The Native Americans didn’t have a book like the bible or any language that was written. One big thing they had was Totems. These were everywhere in their tribes and it was supposed to represent people and the animals that represented them. The Indians were supposed to have 7 spiritual animals and the many animals on the totems were supposed to represent all the person’s spiritual

To explain the Native American identity is necessary to take into consideration several arguments. A group’s identity is never a universal consensus, since every individual’s experience would define the meaning of what is to be member of a certain group. Despite these differences in experiencing and living within a given culture; the commonality is that members of the group are recognized are part of It by members of the group they claim to belong. Native American’s self-definition is a continuum because “[…] knowledge is conditioned knowledge, constructed within our conceptual systems, and thus knowledge is a communal achievement and is relative to time and place. One need not retreat to a complete

Due to the wide range of habitats in North America, different native religions evolved to match the needs and lifestyles of the individual tribe. Religious traditions of aboriginal peoples around the world tend to be heavily influenced by their methods of acquiring food, whether by hunting wild animals or by agriculture. Native American spirituality is no exception. Traditional Lakota spirituality is a form of religious belief that each thing, plant and animal has a spirit. The Native American spirituality has an inseparable connection between the spirituality and the culture. One cannot exist without the other.

The Native Americans had settled in the land years before the arrival of the Euro-Americans. Hundreds of Native American groups occupied the land, each tribe with its separate culture, language, and spiritual way-of-life. Despite the many differences, “there was also considerable interaction and dialogue among tribes about spiritual concepts. Through the common language of sign-talk, ideas could be shared and compared among Indian tribes including the spiritual concepts that are an intricate part of the Indian’s everyday experience” (Treat). The Native American culture was primarily oral. Almost all tribes believed in a cosmology or creation myth regarding how this world and the things inhabiting it came to be. Most native peoples worshiped an all-powerful, all-knowing “Master Spirit.” They also revered and placated a host of lesser spirits in hopes of receiving assistance in their daily interactions with the world around them. Often times shamans, who were believed to have supernatural powers through visions, were called upon to communicate and implore the spirits to ensure a good harvest, or victory in warfare, or healing, or interpreting dreams, or other matters of great

Spirituality often can be classified to an ultimate or immaterial reality or inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of their being; or the deepest values and meanings by which people live. This can be true for the aboriginal people, whose concept of spirituality is derived from the concept of the Dreaming, where the roots lie in a variety of stories, ceremonies, values and structures. In the beginning many people held on to what ever they could, holding on to their idea of themselves a connection to the families that they left behind. However, in order to wipe away any thought or lingering feelings “many masks, regalia. And ritual artifacts were confiscated and burned as pagan works of the devil- or simply held and later sold for profit.”[7] This was devastating as many lost whatever connection they had to the outside world, their families and their spirituality. While in residential schools “Children were taught that the beliefs of their

The theme of spirituality takes place in many novels that we have read this semester. Natives has used spiritual guidance as a means of connecting with their past and honoring their ancestors. To Natives, spirits have always played an important role in their culture and everyday lives. When Natives were forced to convert to Christianity and over time have their beliefs sucked out of them, the spiritual connection was broken as generations passed. One novel that particularly spoke to me on this subject was Monkey Beach, by Eden Robinson. The main character, Lisa, is struggling to fins herself after being blessed with the gift of being a shaman. In this novel, the author exploits how the European or western “white” culture has destroyed the

Standing Bear’s “Nature” provides a deeper look into Native American religion seen through the Oglala Indian’s sacred love for nature. Luther Standing Bear was the son of an Oglala Sioux chief, and later after his career as an Indian in the Hollywood film industry he became chief of the same tribe in South Dakota. Luther Standing Bear uses both personification and symbolism of the Earth and Mother Nature’s soil to create meaning of their religion, which is significantly influenced and maintained by nature.

            The book Lame Deer Seeker of Visions authored by Richard Erdoes help readers understand the American Indian community through a Sioux medicine man. The author’s relationship with the Lame Deer enabled him to portray this community from several interviews. He portrays the culture, rituals and ceremonies, religious beliefs, main legends, the use of medicine, environmental destruction, injustices in this land whose occupants hold it as sacred. The author narrates about Lame Deer as a small boy and his experiences in the move to be a medicine man. Lame Deer ability to recall critical symbolism in American Indian culture helps him to explain to the author the significance of spiritual unification, and its need in his community beliefs and practices. At the end, Erdoes argues oneness among human beings is significant. The author is also convinced that Lame Deer is stable with his spiritual values.

In Native American traditions, they believed that Earth is Mother, Sky is Father, and all life is interconnected. They often prayed to animal spirits, plant spirits, ancestors, Great Spirit, and the forces of nature, like the wind and rain. They prayed for many things and also used meditation as a way to connect to spirit guides.

spirit is injured or insulted, it can retaliate. Human beings must therefore show that they

Sacred power (pg 16): Native Americans believed in spiritual powers and the natural world. Spiritual power for men were hunting and war.

Aboriginal spirituality is deeply linked to the land and they believe that all objects are living and share the same soul or spirit, which they themselves share. It is primarily characterised by a belief in spirits who created the native environment, animals and people. This occurred during a particular creation period at the beginning of time called the “Dreamtime”. It is appropriate to use the plural, “spiritualties” because there is great diversity throughout the different tribes and clans of Australia. Aboriginal spirituality is tightly linked with the land through things such as the Dreamtime, ceremonial life and the many different totems.

In my arms, my daughter took her last breath. Her once-strong, -lively body was now as frail as those of the elders from our home village. And her eyes—her black, playful eyes—were peacefully closed, never again to open. I listened hopelessly to her mother’s song of mourning, sung in our native Cherokee tongue. Her voice was smooth and soft, but intermittently interrupted by brief sobs. Across from me stood my son—now my only child; his eyes, streaming with tears, focused intently on his dead sister, as if they were willing breath back into her small, lifeless body. Could it be that the shamans were right? Had my family been cursed by our ancestors for leaving our homeland? Should we head home, only to return to land-hungry white