In Native American culture rattles are used to honor the spirits. They can be made of any number of materials: wood, leather, turtle shells, horns, and gourds. To create the rattle sound, they are filled with seeds, stones, shells, dried beans, or even crystals. The Ceremonial Gourd Rattle The gourd rattle can be used in […]
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For Native Americans, the medicine wheel represents four directions (East, South, West, and North). For generations, this sacred hoop has been used by various tribes for health and healing. It allows you to make the most of your life and ultimately find your true purpose. Some tribes believe that long ago the great spirit sent
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Kokopelli has appeared in Native American stories for more than 3000 years. He is often depicted as playing a flute and having a humpback or pack on his back. He is known as a fertility deity, often with an oversized phallus and feathers or antenna-like protrusions on his head. Kokopelli’s Humpback Some believe that Kokopelli’s
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The End of the Trail, as a sculpture or image, is one of the most recognizable symbols of Native Americans in the United States. The lone, weary warrior slumped across his equally tired horse is frozen in time. This image of the Native American’s struggle against westward expansion has become so renown it was often
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In its simplest form a Mandala is a Buddhist meditation diagram consisting of nested squares and circles aligned to the five symbolic directions: north, south, east, west, and center. To describe a Mandala through it’s language, a “manda” is a palace and a “la” is a hidden presence, usually a divinity at the center. So,
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