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Native American Spirituality
Native American Spirituality refers to the teachings, traditions, rituals and stories of the First Peoples of North America. As these teachings vary, between Peoples, generic answers sometimes can be misleading and answers should refer to the teachings of a particular People or group of Peoples whenever possible.
383 Questions
What is the Chickasaw religious belief?
The Chickasaw and Choctaw were once the same people before they split into two separate tribes. Traditionally they were Sun Worshipers. Today most are Christian.
It is theorized that the earliest knowledge regarding Shamanism comes from Russian anthropologists when they studied tribal nomadic herders in Siberia in the 19th century. Their detailed descriptions of the spiritual practitioners the tribesmen called Shamans, led to the term being continued by anthropologists and historians.
Knowledge has since come to light which has furthered the study of the history of Shamanism, some of which is discussed below, and in the book Dawn Behind the Dawn: A Search for the Earthly Paradise, by Geoffrey Ashe.
Answer 2:
Although Shamanism is recognized worldwide among earth-cultures, shamanism remains a great mystery for most people. Natural energies are all around us--we humans have simple gotten away--too, too far away--from listening to these energies. Tantra and other disciplines help reawaken our sleeping or dormant mind to these energies and how to join with them incooperative effort.
Shamanism is shown to ahve it's roots in the mythos and magik of the Cro-magnon peoples of europe=--amply demonstrated in the cave paintings all over europe. Richard leakey's "Origins" and his subsequent "Origins Reconsidered" sheds new light on shamanisms' origins, functions and the new meanings this gives to old 'evidence' not before taken into consideration. Much of this work centers on comparative studies with current tribal peoples in Africa and the evidence derived from archaeological resources old and new.
For a really good understanding of what shamanism is about, see the terrific move "Phenomenon" with John Travolta.
Shamanisn started as a quest to provide deeper understandings of the natural world for us ill-equipped human beings. Their belief systems functioned in harmony with the natural world, sought a sense of security and predictability for the ill-prepared human beingsthrough intercessors who spoke with or communed with spirits of the elemental world around them.
A significant portion of shamanism is the cyclic nature ofour world--season follows season, migratory animals follow their respective trails, the heavens above turn across the night skiesand sink beneath the horizon only to reappear the next night. Wind moves in its greatest force in a circle--tornadoes; birds build circular nests; from dust to dust the cycle continues, and all its energies can be 'listened to', acted in concert with, and results shared...
The most remote and inaccessible of tiny chambers wherein many single or small groupings of effigy carvings/paintings are found present in some cases with theinability for the artist to even see his own handiwork. There are cases shown where the last possible distance one could reach into, even by only an arm or hand, was the desired location. The animal effigies carved there were 'planted' into the earth to prosper the species, a seed placed into a sacred womb, mother earth herself!
Other larger chambers were specifically chosen for their accuostic resonance--a perfect setting for large groups to partake in shamanistic ceremonies wherein the rockwall itself, covered in paintings, becomes the doorway between two worlds with the shaman operating in both at once. Healing, death, birth and 'running interference' for the hunt, the harvest, etc., against malevolent spirits are but some of the functions a shaman would perform.
There are specific geometric patternings relavant to each of three progressive stages of ssc (shamanic state of consciousness)--again, see Richard Leakey's "Origins Reconsidered" for a much more on the matter.
Answer 3
Please read Richard Leakeys "Origins Reconsidered"--his work puts a whole new look on the origins of shamanism, and brings the practice much further back than Geoffrey Ashe's work.
Answer 4:
Apparently the other responder is thinking only of when the word 'shaman' was adopted.
Ashes' work is already outdated by Leakeys' "Origins Reconsidered"--comparisons between current shamanistic cultures and the Cro-Magnon peoples' cave paintings reveal the practice to date significantly further back than 19th century nomadic herders.
To wit: How could the basic practices and principles of shamanism have become world-wide ony SINCE the 19th century? Not possible--shamanism was/is practiced by every prehistoric culture on earth, so it isn't possible for nomadic herders to have traveled the globe to spread this practice since the 19th century.
What gods did the coastal Indians worship?
The Native People of the Southwest are not one people. They have different languages, cultures, history and religion and philosophy. I understand that some schools teach about Native people by grouping them in geographic culture areas but this causes a confusion about the actual people. Just one example, the Navajo and the Hopi speak languages as different as Turkish and English. The Hopi live in villages and the Navajo live spread out in family groups. They both grow corn but the Navajo raised sheep. The Hopi have been in the area for a very long time, the Navajo are thought to have moved there about 900-1100 years ago. Their belief systems are very different.
I will discuss the Navajo a little because I know the most about them and lived there. The first thing is that the Navajo are not in the past, the traditional ceremonies are practiced today. There are a number of beings, sometimes translated as "gods". Changing Woman is one of the most important. Others are often translated as the Holy People. The are also the spiritual beings inside the four sacred mountains and two center mountains and many others. Almost any natural feature has spiritual beings inside, often they come in pairs and many times they are male and female. First Man and First Woman have important roles in the creation stories. Changing Woman's twin sons also have important roles.
The Navajo don't "worship" them. They have ceremonies and prayers that enlist the gods powers to bring and person, family, house, clan, and the world back into beauty and harmony. For the Navajo the central philsophical concept is Hózhǫ́ . Roughly, it means beauty and harmony, peace, balance, happiness and contentment, wholeness, goodness and health and dynamic symmetry. In Navajo thought all these concepts are tied together in one idea. It is also an every day word. You can say: I am Hózhǫ́" and it means "I am happy", it also means " I am in a state of beautiful balance.
K'e is also important. It means the proper interrelationships between family and clan and living things. This includes called the Holy People. Ceremonies include prayer, song, ritual movement, oral and mythic history, dance, herbs, sandpaintings and many other elements. The leader is like a preist. He must do the ceremony exactly as he learned it or it won't work or he even could get sick. He is called a hataałii, which translates as chanter or singer. The ceremonies last form one to nine days and most take place at least in part inside a hogan. There are about 60 ceremonial "chantways. Most hataałii have spent many years to learn tow or three. The Navajo traditional religion and philosophy is still actively practiced today on the Navajo nation which has 300,000 members.
What gods did the Yurok Indians worship?
The religion of the Yurok people was based on individual effort through ritual cleanliness and rituals including the entire tribe. In accordance to Es Curtis, author of The North American Indian, “Yurok religious practices are founded on the belief that ages ago the earth was inhabited by a race of prenaturals in human form.” The Yurok’s practice the annual World Renewal Ceremonies. The purpose of the rituals was to renew the world or “firm the earth”, as the tribe described it. This ritual included recitation of magical formulas, by repeating the words of an ancient spirit race and other acts. Most of these rituals were considered to have connection with medicine. Medicine included not only that which was administered to cure sickness, but anything; root, herb, stick, or bark that is used in formula form. This power was restricted to women, giving them prestige and a source of wealth.
What does a dream catcher symbolize?
The hoop of the traditional Dreamcatcher represents the circle of life.
Decorated with bits and pieces of everyday life and hung in the sleeping area the dreamcatcher has the power to catch one's dreams and filter out the bad one's only allowing the good dreams to pass through. These good dreams slide down the soft feather making no sound and often without the dreamer knowing they are there. The bad dreams do not know this way and are forever caught in the web.
What happens in the shamanism religion after you die?
1.) There is no such thing as a 'shamanism religion'. Shamanism is a type of tribal faith system. Similar terms in the context of categorisation are monotheism, polytheism, and animism. It is a kind of religion, not a specific religion.
2.) Stop reading books published by Llewellyn Publications. They will rot your mind.
Where are the 7 cities of gold?
The Seven "Cibola" or cities of gold were supposedly the following:
El Dorado: Made famous by the eye whiteness accounts of Juan Rodriguez Troxell and other early Spanish explorers.
Quiviria: Described to Conquistador Francisco Vazquez De Coronado by the pueblos Turk as being "On the other side of the great plains"
Trapalanda: (Also called Elelin) Somewhere in Patagonia according to legend
Antillia: supposedly an island in the Atlantic west of Portugal
Manoa: Some South American natives told European explorers that their gold jewelry came from a place called Manoa.
Paititi: Somewhere in the Amazon Rain forest along with Manoa.
La Canelia: Located in what Christopher Columbus called "The Valley Of Cinnamon"
None of these locations have ever been found by modern explorers and/or confirmed to exist.
What did the shoshone Indians look like?
Facially, Teton Sioux women in the 1800s looked almostthe same as they do today (the difference being eyebrows - see below). They generally wore their hair in two braids which hung down the front of the shoulders, with the hair parting painted red for women who had reached puberty. They generally have round faces and high cheekbones, very black, straight hair and skin like polished copper.
Before traders brought blankets, trade cloth and ready-made dresses, they wore long dresses of elk or deerskins, often with an added yoke section at the top which was decorated with beadwork or dyed porcupine quills. Moccasins and short beaded leggings completed the outfit. Long "hair pipe" necklaces were favoured by Sioux women - these were originally of bone. They also wore earrings and chokers of dentalium shells.
All 19th century Sioux men and women, like most native Americans, removed all facial hair including the eyebrows, at first using freshwater clam shells and later metal tweezers obtained in trade. This is one feature of native culture that is no longer seen in North America - and an obvious error in all Hollywood movies depicting Plains Indians (next time you see "Dances With Wolves", count the eyebrows).
The links below take you to images of Teton Sioux women taken in the 19th century - note that not one has any eyebrows.
What are the Kiowa's religion?
Kiowa religion was very similar to that of the Crows of Montana. They venerated the Sun (pAe), mother Earth, the Pleiades, Coyote, the Whirlwind and various minor spirits such as buffalo, bear and golden eagle. There does not appear to be an overall main god, just as among the Crows.
Sendeh or Sainday was a culture hero or trickster figure in many Kiowa tales and myths. Special powers were credited to a sacred effigy called the taime (pronounced tie-may), as well as medicine bundles with curative or protective powers, or special power as war medicines.
The taime was protected by a series of priests/medicine men and kept secure in a special tipi; it was brought out for display at certain ceremonies, guarded by 10 medicine-bundle owners. It took a central part in the Kiowa version of the Sun Dance ceremony and was referred to as "Our Grandfather".
How does a potlatch differ from a kachina ceromony?
Potlatch was a ceremonial establishment of status thru largess. It was less about fun and friendship than it was about political maneuverings between tribal clans. If you had a rival in the tribe, and you knew he was not as well off as you, you could throw a potlatch in which you give away enough material wealth that your rival would essentially be unable to match or better. That would cause him to lose status and influence in tribal affairs... OR, it would divert him from involvement in tribal affairs as he struggled to assemble a suitable counter to your potlatch. While some in modern society may throw a party to show off how well off they are, or make their friends feel obligated in some sense... the key difference is that you would never throw a party so all your friends could watch you , say, burn your brand new car, just to prove you could afford to burn your car. And neither would any of your friends respond by burning BOTH their cars, just to prove they were better off than you. Potlatches not only resulted in the exchange of valuables, but often escalated to the pure destruction of valuables in a cycle of one-ups-manship
What was the religion of the Native American?
Ever since the arrival of the Europeans, Europeans converted Native Americans to Christianity by force. That is why most Native Americans with religion are Christian though some maintain their original spiritual beliefs, and others are any other religion.
There was no "religion" of the Native American. Native America consisted and consists today of many, many different tribes and clans. Each had their own spirituality.
Fake Natives Americans who are actually White, tend to mis-represent Native Spirituality by lumping all the Native stereotypes together and making up fake religious ceremonies to make money.
Who are the people like the transcendentalists?
I think some modern transcendentalists are the Dalai Lama, and uh... OH! Kurt Kawohl. Definately Kurt. :( Sorry, but that's all I know. To tell you the truth I want the answer to this question myself.
P.S.
Previous answerer... you spelled orgasm wrong.
What are he names of Indians gods?
lord rama, krishna, venkateswara, shiva, brahma, vishnu, ganesh,
godess lakshmi, parvathi, saraswathi, durga............ and so on.
What is the old word for Wolf Spirit?
There are more than 450 different languages spoken in India, so you would have to be more specific.
If you are talking about Native American Languages, there are more than 700 spoken today. Again, you would need to specify which language you want to translate into.
Answer:
It depends on which of the hundreds of tribes of Native Americans, but a common Native American language is the Dakota Native American language. Some Native American languages are similar to the Dakota language too, so I'll just tell you it in Dakota.
The Dakota word for wolf spirit is 'shunkahah wanagi'.
Note: The reason why people get confused between calling Indians Native Americans is because Indians are from India. Native Americans are from the United States of America. Christopher Columbus accidentally called the Native Americans he saw Indians, because he thought they looked like they came from India. This website: (See related links) will explain this better than me. Hope this helps!
What kind of vegetables did Daniel eat?
If the questioner is referring to the Daniel of biblical times, he and his friends would have most likely eaten meat (sheep and goat), fish, fruits and vegetables, and wine.
What were Comanches religious beliefs?
Comanches like many Southern plains Indians practiced an earth-based
belief system sometimes referred to as shamanism. There is no particular name
for these practices. The Apache had a different way, the Sioux another.
Quanah Parker was the last of the Comanche chiefs. When he was introduced to the religion of the white, he founded the "Native American Church" It is nothing like the Christian church. Indians of different tribes may belong to it.
What is the cosmological argument trying to prove?
Short answer: No.
It alleges that there is a problem that "anything that exists must have a cause, the universe exists, and therefore then universe must have a cause." and replaces it with a bigger problem: By saying that God is the first cause you are saying that God exists and therefore the argument applies to God and God must have a cause. This would then become infinite as whatever caused God must have a cause and whatever caused that must have a cause and so on.
The other big problem is that the argument doesn't even say that the first cause had to be God, it just says there had to be a first cause... That first cause could have been natural.
Answer:
The above answer hints at something which atheist (and indeed theist) philosophers widely regard as false. If God is used as an explanation for the universe, then we do not need to apply arguments of cause to God. This is a mistake that many prominent atheists (notably Richard Dawkins) make when they say "God doesn't explain anything, because you can just ask who made God?"
A counterexample for the idea that explanations must be explainable is subatomic particles. We said there are protons and neutrons and electrons because they explained the behaviour of atoms, even though it turned the small question "why are atoms like that?" into a much bigger question "why are electrons and protons and neutrons like that?"
The reason why the cosmological argument is largely dismissed by philosophers is that it relies on a number of difficult assumptions (A-model of time, laws within the universe to apply to the universe as a whole, rigidity of logic outside of the universe, etc.) is highly speculative (we have no real evidence to push us either way) and any conclusion one way or the other would actually be meaningless. If we conclude that there does have to be a first cause, then what was it? It could be a scientific anomaly, a cosmic accident, any of the deities worshipped by the millions of religions throughout history, or one that none of them managed to find.
What type of religion was practiced by many northwest coast native American?
Many of the NW tribes are related to plains and their traditional ceremony is Sun Dance. Many have converted to Christianity.
How many different Gods do the Indians have?
yes, they do. there are so many of them. well actually almost all everything in the world is related to Gods and Goddesses. e.g books are related to God Vinayaka or Lord Ganesha. and cows are related to Lord Shiva and that is why Hindus don't eat beef. and so most hindus calculate almost everything as Gods or Goddessed
What are the samples of opening and closing prayer?
One User Said:
This would depend on the kind of class and the particular prayer you are looking for. Some examples are:
- Lord, may all that we do this day, from morning until the end of our classes, begin with your inspiration, and continue with your powerful help. May our work this day be rooted in love and mercy, that we may love you, and love our neighbors, as perfectly as you love us. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
- In the USA, it is illegal under the establishment clause of the First Amendment for any employee of a public school to lead students in or require students to pray. Do not open your school class with a prayer.
- The following opening prayer may be used in sectarian religious schools and in other schools if permitted by the education authorities, although individual children may require to be excused from participating in this ceremony. As there are legal considerations, express permission should be sought in schools other than religious schools: Dear God / Help us to cooperate when having a group activities / Guide us to listen to teacher attentively / This we ask in Jesus name.
