Archive for sacred imagery and spirituality

Full Moon in August is called Pawepana by the Hopi

August 6, 2009 · Filed under Hopitu Shinumu culture, general interest, sacred imagery and spirituality · Tagged , , , ,

home grown peaches

home grown peaches

This morning I was out at 5am, it’s cool and bright, the early birds were squawking, my pup Melanie was rooting around in the grass and my cats were pouncing on the insects buzzing about….beautiful big full moon above the pine and eucalyptus trees invites me to sing…I sing the circle setting song of the Hopitu Shinumu, feeling connected to the land and the life all around me….

August in the Hopitu Shinumu calendar:

the full moon of August is called Pawepana, meaning Lake Moon

Agricultural Significance-peaches are ripe and food is abundant, the corn is harvested for the second time

Personal Significance- have fun and enjoy the sweet things in life, accept change as natural, personal growth.

Celebrations- The Festival for the Peach Harvest comes at the end of the month, with plenty of sweet peach desserts, dancing in the light of the full moon and joyful celebration of friends and family.

Leave a comment »

Summer Solstice is called Niman by the Hopitu Shinumu

June 21, 2009 · Filed under Hopitu Shinumu culture, Native Americans, Word for the Day, sacred imagery and spirituality · Tagged , , , , , , , ,

How do you celebrate Summer Solstice (June 21-22)? I remember being part of the Candelaria for Yemaya on a summer solstice ….. vibrant blue ocean… warm clean sand…flower petals as offerings…..quite lovely!

Astronomical Significance:

Niman is the time when we say goodbye to our Kachinas (or spirit helpers) who have stayed with us for the last 6 month cycle, from Winter Solstice on December 21st (Soyal) to Summer Solstice on June 21st (Niman). They have brought us lessons and knowledge, now it is the time for playing and relaxing in the sunshine.

Special Dances/Celebrations:

Traditionally, Niman, or the Home Dance, is a sixteen day ceremonial that begins shortly before the summer solstice and ends in mid-July. The dance marks the final performance of the Kachinas before they return to their homes on the San Francisco Peaks until next Soyal.

Agricultural Significance:

This is a time when our first corn harvest arrives from the March equinox planting season. This is the beginning of the slow summer’s gleanings of abundance.

*************

June Full Moon in the Hopitu Shinumu Tradition is called Kapnakoyapana, which means “Corn Tassel Coming Out Moon”. The moon’s energy reminds us to listen to the voices of balance, to try to gain the strength from both our male and female principles. The harvest will not grow if we have too much sun (male) or too little rain (female), we must both care tend our gardens as well as aggressively weed them for the plants to be healthy, and we must both consume the plants and save something back to encourage the growth cycle.

To The Dance of Life!

Diane Tegarden (aka) Esthana Thlehiya, white shell woman, abalone woman

Leave a comment »

31 Days of Notable Women- Benazir Bhutto- World Leader

March 3, 2009 · Filed under Women's History, general interest, politics, sacred imagery and spirituality · Tagged , , , , ,

Benazir Bhutto was the Prime Minister of Pakistan- war torn nation chooses the first woman prime minister to lead them out of war.

Benazir Bhutto was born in Karachi, Pakistan on June 21, 1953 to a prominent political family. At age 16 she left her homeland to study at Harvard’s Radcliffe College. After completing her undergraduate degree at Radcliffe she studied at England’s Oxford University, where she was awarded a second degree in 1977.

She was elected co-chairwoman of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) along with her mother, and when free elections were finally held in 1988, she herself became Prime Minister. At 35, she was one of the youngest chief executives in the world, and the first woman to serve as prime minister in an Islamic country from 1988-1990, and then again from 1993-1996, she was assassinated on December 27, 2007.

Source Cited:
http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/printmember/bhu0bio-1

Comments (1) »

A Common Bird with Uncommon Power- Crow Medicine

May 20, 2008 · Filed under Hopitu Shinumu culture, sacred imagery and spirituality · Tagged , , , , ,

A Common Bird with Uncommon Power

Don’t let Crow fool you, like many seemingly “common” animals, this bird has important lessons to impart. As urban dwellers, we take for granted less rare species and believe that power only comes from exotic animals like the elephant or lion, but the people of each land had tales of power to tell about the animals who lived all around them, from the largest to the least.The natives of the Southwest particularly honored Grandmother Spider as a powerful being, who’s admittedly a tiny creature amongst human kind!

Totem or power animals can come to you in a mundane or a magical way. Some of the animals you encounter will have no particular spiritual meaning for you, so in your own heart and mind, you must ascertain which animal medicine is significant to you.

Knowing a little more about their power helps us understand the lesson, so here is a bit about sister crow!

CROW MEDICINE

Crow medicine is that of the left-handed guardian, the keeper of the sacred laws, the mysteries of creation and the knowledge of our physical universe. Crow People are said to be able to bend the laws of physics, shape shifting at will. But, this ability is rare in today’s world.

All Sacred knowledge of the Great Spirit’s laws are kept in the Black Lodges, the lodges of women. It is said that “all things are born of women” and this is signified by Crow Medicine.

Crow represents the element of change in your life, allowing you to simultaneously see the past, present and future. Crow medicine merges the dualities of darkness and light; of our inner and outer Beings. In Mayan culture, the Crow is a privileged being, because it is cross-eyed, seeing both sides of reality at once.

If Crow has flown into your life today, she is calling on you to stand in your personal truth and thereby, become your future SELF.

Comments (4) »

Portal Goddesses-Tonanzin, the Vigen de Guadalupe, the Virgin Mary

April 19, 2008 · Filed under Word for the Day, sacred imagery and spirituality · Tagged , , , , , ,

The Virgin Mary, Tonanzin

Portal Goddesses

Tonanzin, the Vigen de Guadalupe, the Virgin Mary

Portal goddesses lead us into a religion and then open the doors to Spirituality. Perhaps the most famous portal goddess is the Virgin Mary, whose brown sister in Mexico is known as the Vigen de Guadalupe, and whose ancient Mother was Tonanzin, the Aztec Creatrix.

The story of how the Vigen de Guadalupe revealed herself to Juan Diego in 16th century Mexico, is a well-known one. On Tepeyac Hill (on the same spot that the Temple of the ancient Goddess of Earth and Corn, Tonanzin, had stood before the Spanish conquest), a dark skinned, pregnant Indian woman appeared to the young boy, Juan Diego.

She asked the child to have a new church built on the same site as her ancient ancestress, Tonanzin. As proof of her appearance to the child, she pointed at a cactus and it grew roses, the symbol of the heart and of the unconditional love of a mother. Like Tonanzin and the Virgin Mary, who are both called “Our Mother”; she represents a nurturing, caring maternal Creatrix as the face of deity.

The Lady of Guadalupe came as a protector, a refuge from the new, angry God and his war like European hosts. She became the patron saint of Mexico, a symbol of protection from tyranny and invasion.

With the millions of Catholics who adore and worship the Virgin Mary all over the world today, she is indeed a very important entry (portal) into the world of the ancient feminine divine known as Goddess.

Who is your portal Goddess? Who is the face of the ancient feminine divine, for you?

Comments (1) »

Hopitu Shinumu Wheel of the Year

April 13, 2008 · Filed under Hopitu Shinumu culture, sacred imagery and spirituality · Tagged , , , ,

The Hopi Wheel of the Year differs a bit from the Celtic calendar in that instead of four quarters, we divide the year into a 6 month/6 month cycle; beginning with Soyal, December 21st (winter solstice) and the second cycle begins with Niman, summer solstice, June 21st.

The Wheel of the Year is the name for the calendar, but also brings an awareness that everything is located on a great spiral, from the cosmos themselves, to the sun traversing the sky.

It depicts the seasons as they change, and that time is somewhat circular, in that the cycle of life/death/rebirth/life is one continuous wheel that turns as time passes.

Many of the Celtic celebrations didn’t “sync-up” with my internal calendar for years (I’ve lived in the southwest most of my life). Then I started studying and practicing the Hopitu Shinumu ways of the people who’ve lived on this same land where I live.

The Hopi calendar makes more sense for this climate, the weather and the changes in seasons here than does the Wiccan calendar, although I’ll always have a special place in my heart for many of the Wiccan holidays (especially Beltane).

I practiced eclectic Wiccan paths for over 12 years before I began studying/practicing the native ways and am a big fan of remaining on an eclectic path. It keeps my spirit of inclusion and growth alive!

Please join us in an old fashioned Full Moon Chanting Circle this coming Sunday 20th; the Hopi Full Moon of April is called Kapana, the planting moon.

BURN BRIGHTLY,
Diane “Esthana Thlehiya”
the rosefire walker

Leave a comment »

Myth-understood Words and Phrases

March 18, 2008 · Filed under Word for the Day, sacred imagery and spirituality · Tagged , , , , , ,

Myth-understood Words and Phrases

Pejoration is the process or condition of worsening or degenerating. In linguistics, pejoration is the process by which the status of the meaning of a word changes for the worse over a period of time. For example, the word “egregious”, which formally meant “distinguished or remarkable”, has come to mean “conspicuously bad or flagrant”. Talk about your fall from grace!

guru on mountaintop Another example of pejoration is the word pagan. The current meaning of the word is:

1. a person who is not a Christian, Moslem, or Jew; a heathen

2. one who has no religion

3. a hedonist

*The American Heritage Dictionary, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston,1991.

Originally, however it derived from the Latin word “paganus”, meaning country dweller (from pagus=country.)So began the demonization of the term “country people”, as more and more people moved from the country into the cities, and therefore considered themselves more civilized.

The urban dwellers began to distinguish themselves from the rural people (“country dwellers” or pagans), by considering that their religion (monotheistic vs. polytheistic), their economic basis (industrial vs. agricultural), even their style of dress was superior to their simple country cousins. In their ignorance and fear, and often forgetting their own origins were from the country, the city dwellers began to call anyone connected with the country a “heathen”, which currently means a person who is not a Christian, Moslem, or Jew;the unconverted, note definition No.1.However, the word heathen, whose roots reach back to Old English, simply means “of the heath”, the heath being large tracts of uncultivated land covered with shrubbery. In essence, they were calling their country bumpkin cousins “landless, godless and uncultivated”!

The connotation of the word “pagan” then degraded further by being considered to mean irreligious, note definition No. 2. Yet, according to the first definition, a Buddhist, an Indian Shaman, a Hindi, a Wiccan, and a New-Age Mystic are to be considered pagans.

How can they claim the other religions don’t count as religions? Simply because they did not agree on religious views didn’t mean other people didn’t have their own beliefs. Still, the persecution persisted, if the country people didn’t agree to convert to the new religions, they were often put to death.

As we can see, the word pagan began as name calling between city folk and country folk, and then was degraded into a word that has come to be reviled and feared.

However, in my experience, Pagans are not devil worshippers, or people who loll about having orgies, (note definition No. 3).

We are, by definition, people who regard the Earth with respect and try to adhere to a more natural way of life.

Our next Myth-understood Word will be Wiccans.

;>

To the Dance!

Comments (1) »

Thirty Days of Notable Women- Women in Religion

March 4, 2008 · Filed under Women's History, sacred imagery and spirituality · Tagged , , , ,

Most of us have heard of St. Francis of Assisi, but have you ever heard of St. Clare of Assisi? Clare was born in 1194 to a rich Italian family who wished her to marry well, but instead on Palm Sunday of 1212 Clare attended a service of the Blessing of the palms in the cathedral of Assisi, and that evening decided to aid Francis in rebuilding the church at San Damiano.  She took the vows of poverty of the Franciscan order.

Three years later Clare was appointed the abbess of a small community, where she began her work in the Franciscan movement along with her widowed mother, her aunt and her two sisters, Agnes and Beatrice.  The women renounced all their worldly wealth and rejected any yearly revenues offered from Pope Gregory IX, so that they could be allowed the privilege of poverty or privilegium paupertatis; this meant that they were not obliged to accept rents or possessions.

The sisters would travel from city to city; begging money to give to the poor, nursing the sick, visiting the old and disabled, celebrating Mass, living off the work of their hands and praying in silent devotion in the evenings.  The popularity and consequent development of the Order spread to other parts of Italy, Germany and France, chiefly because it offered women an unusual degree of freedom of movement and autonomy in a time when women were considered weak, and in need of confinement and masculine authority .

The Sisters became known as the Poor Ladies of St. Clare, which was later shortened to the Poor Clares.  Clare of Assisi died in 1253 and was canonized two years after her death.  Her Order still exists today at the Convent of Santa Chiara, near the town of Assisi, Italy.

*********************
Source cited:

Women Saints- Lives of Faith and Courage. Jones, Kathleen. Orbis Books. Maryknoll, New York.1999. pg 91-96.

********************
Ever wonder “Where Are Women in History?”

Now you know!
 

Comments (2) »

Have A Hopi Holiday!

December 20, 2007 · Filed under poetry, sacred imagery and spirituality · Tagged , , , ,

Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year 

Have A Hopi Holiday!   © Dec 2005 By Diane Tegarden 

It is true, much time has passed,

a year has flown away.

The season changes colors,

with red, greens and gold,

the festival of lights hold sway.  

Yuletide is upon us, time to think of friends,

to be thankful for all of our lucky happenstance.

To remember good times in grateful abundance.  

I wish you all a Heartfelt Holiday,

no matter what you are calling it,

anyway!

Be it a Dramatic Diwali,

a Holy Hanukkah,

a Spiritual Soyal,

a Captivating Christmas,

a Kickin’ Kwanzaa,

or the most wondrous Winter Solstice!  

If you live in Australia, it’s summer solstice,

the longest day of the year.

If you live in the northern climes

the night is longest here.  

But no matter where you are,

whether planetside or star……  

All I could wish for you is peace

(internally),

and a larger worldwide view!    

Author’s Notes on Holidays

Diwali, called Deepavali, is a major Hindi festival that is significant in Hinduism, Sikhism and Jainism. Known as the “Festival of Lights”, it symbolizes the victory of good over evil, and lamps are lit as a sign of celebration and hope for mankind. Celebrations focus on lights and lamps, particularly traditional diyas. (Source: Wikipedia) 

Hanukkah is the annual Jewish festival celebrated on eight successive days beginning on the 25th day of Kislev, the third month of the Jewish calendar which corresponds approximately to December in the Gregorian calendar.  Also known as the “Festival of Lights”, the “Feast of Dedication” and the “Feast of the Maccabees”, Hanukkah commemorates the rededication of the Temple of Jerusalem by Judas Maccabee in 165 B.C. (Source: http:// www.history./minisites/Hanukkah).  

Soyal is the winter solstice ceremony of the Hopitu Shinumu, which means The Peaceful Ones, also known as the Hopi Indians. Soyal is held on December 21st, the shortest day of the year. The main purpose of the ritual is to ceremonially welcome home the Kachinas, or spirit teachers for the first half of the Wheel of the Year, which begins on Dec 21- June 21st when the Kachinas will return to their ancestral home in the mountains. Pahos, or prayer sticks, are made prior to the Soyal ceremony, to bless all the community, including their homes, animals, and plants. Sacred underground ritual chambers, called kivas, are ritually opened to mark the beginning of the Kachina season. Night Dances for Kachinas are held, a great pageant of men and women in ceremonial dress representing the spirit teachers and guides.(Source: Bahti, Tom. “Southwestern Indian Ceremonials”. KC Publications.1970.p36-40.)

Blessed Beeeeeeeeees,

Diane T. and furfamily

Leave a comment »

Soyal is the winter solstice ceremony of the Hopitu Shinumu

December 18, 2007 · Filed under sacred imagery and spirituality · Tagged , ,

Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year

Soyal is the winter solstice ceremony of the Hopitu Shinumu, which means The Peaceful Ones, also known as the Hopi Indians. Soyal is held on December 21st, the shortest day of the year.

The purpose of the ritual is to ceremonially welcome home the Kachinas, or spirit teachers of the tribe or clan for the first half of the Wheel of the Year, which begins on Dec 21st and ends on June 21st (when the Kachinas will return to their ancestral home in the mountains.)

Pahos, or prayer sticks, are made prior to the Soyal ceremony, to bless all the community, including their homes, animals, and plants. Sacred underground ritual chambers, called kivas, are ritually opened to mark the beginning of the Kachina season. Night Dances for the Kachinas are held, a great pageant of men and women in ceremonial dress representing the spirit teachers and guides.

Baskets are filled with small gifts for guests who are invited to share in the celebrations.

At this time of year the land lies fallow, it is time to allow the earth to regenerate, the seeds are quiet and nothing is growing, life is “waiting to become”.

On Soyal, the longest night of the year, it is an appropriate time to learn life lessons from the elders and the visiting Kachinas; time to learn crafts and skills to help the tribe; to repair and mend our relationships, time to think and internally slow down, preparing ourselves for winter.

Leave a comment »

« Previous entries
Next Page »