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Women Are Sacred: -

11 Native American Quotes About Women

The cycle of life for the woman is the baby, girl, woman, and grandmother. These are the four directions of life. She has been given by natural laws, the ability to reproduce life. The most sacred of all things is life. Therefore, all men should treat her with dignity and respect. Never was it our way to harm her mentally or physically. Indian men were never abusers. We always treated our women with respect and understanding. So from now on:

I will treat women in a sacred manner. The Creator gave women the responsibility for bringing new life into the world. Life is sacred, so I will look upon the women in a sacred manner.

In our traditional ways, the woman is the foundation of the family. I will work with her to create a home atmosphere of respect, security and harmony.

I will refrain from any form of emotional or physical abuse. If I have these feelings, I will talk to the Creator for guidance.

I will treat all women as if they were my own female relatives. This is my vow. - Native American Elders

2- Treat every woman from the tiniest child to the oldest one with respect at all times. Always treat a woman with honor and consideration.

3- The Old Ones say the Native American women will lead the healing among the tribes. Inside them are the powers of love and strength given by the Moon and the Earth. When everyone else gives up, it is the women who sings the songs of strength. She is the backbone of the people. So, to our women we say, sing your songs of strength; pray for your special powers; keep our people strong; be respectful, gentle, and modest. -Village Wise Man, Lakota

4- The honor of the people lies in the moccasin tracks of the woman.

5- "A people is not defeated until the hearts of its women are on the ground."– Cheyenne saying

6- "Always do what your mother asks!"

7- The Elders say the men should look at women in a sacred way. The men should never put women down or shame them in any way. When we have problems, we should seek their counsel. We should share with them openly. A woman has intuitive thought. She has access to another system of knowledge that few men develop. She can help us understand. We must treat her in a good way.

8- A spear is a big responsibility. I am one with the Earth. All around me my land is beauty. Navajo (Dine) Chants

9- A man who looks first to a woman's outer beauty will never know her beauty divine, for there is dust upon his eyes and he is blind. But a man who sees in a woman the spirit of the Great One and sees her beauty first in spirit and truth, that man will know "Divinity" in that woman. - White Buffalo Calf Woman

10- All women in the world are like the different colored flowers of one meadow. All are beautiful. As children of the Creator, giver of life and source of all human life they must all be respected.

11- The hurt of one woman is the hurt of all women, the honor of one woman is the honor of all women. Show honor and esteem for all women! Consider and treat them with deference or courtesy.

Legend of the White Buffalo

Sioux (lakota)

The White Buffalo are sacred to many Native Americans. The Lakota (Sioux) Nation has passed down The Legend of the White Buffalo–a story now approximately 2,000 years old–at many council meetings, sacred ceremonies, and through the tribe’s storytellers. There are several variations, but all are meaningful and tell of the same outcome. Have communication with the Creator through prayer with clear intent for Peace, Harmony, and Balance for all life living in the Earth Mother.

Spirituality among Natives Americans and non-Native Americans has been a strong force for those who believe in the power of the Great Spirit or God.

It matters not what you call the Creator. What matters is that you pray to give thanks for your blessings and trust the guidance given to you from the world of Spirit. Many truths about Spirit are told and handed down from one generation to the next.

The legend of the White Buffalo Calf Woman tells how the People had lost the ability to communicate with the Creator. The Creator sent the sacred White Buffalo Calf Woman to teach the People how to pray with the Pipe. With that Pipe, seven sacred ceremonies were given for the people to abide in order to ensure a future with harmony, peace, and balance.

Legend says that long ago, two young men were out hunting when from out of nowhere came a beautiful maiden dressed in white buckskin. One of the hunters looked upon her and recognizing her as a wakan, or sacred being lowered his eyes. The second hunter approached her with lust in his eyes desiring her for his woman. White Buffalo Calf Woman beckoned the lustful warrior to her, and as he approached a cloud of dust arose around them causing them to be hidden from view. When the dust settled, nothing but a pile of bones lay next to her.

As she walked toward the respectful young hunter, she explained to him that she had merely fulfilled the other man’s desire, allowing him, within that brief moment, to live a lifetime, die and decay. White Buffalo Calf Woman instructed the young man to go back to the People and tell them to prepare for her arrival to teach them of the way to pray. The young hunter obeyed.

When White Buffalo Calf woman arrived with the sacred bundle (the prayer pipe) she taught the People of the seven sacred ways to pray. These prayers are through ceremonies that include the Sweat Lodge for purification; the Naming Ceremony for child naming; the Healing Ceremony to restore health to the body, mind and spirit; the adoption ceremony for making of relatives; the marriage ceremony for uniting male and female; the Vision Quest for communing with the Creator for direction and answers to one’s life; and the Sundance Ceremony to pray for the well-being of all the People.

When the teaching of the sacred ways was complete, White Buffalo Calf Woman told the people she would again return for the sacred bundle that she left with them. Before leaving, she told them that within her were the four ages and that she would look back upon the People in each age, returning at the end of the fourth age, to restore harmony and spirituality to a troubled land. She walked a short distance, she looked back towards the people and sat down. When she arose they were amazed to see she had become a black buffalo. Walking a little further, the buffalo laid down, this time arising as a yellow buffalo. The third time the buffalo walked a little further and this time arose as a red buffalo. Walking a little further it rolled on the ground and rose one last time as a white buffalo calf signaling the fulfillment of the White Buffalo Calf prophecy.

The changing of the four colors of the White Buffalo Calf Woman represents the four colors of man–white, yellow, red and black. These colors also represent the four directions, north, east, south, and west. The sacred bundle that was left to the Lakota people is still with the People in a sacred place on the Cheyenne River Indian reservation in South Dakota. It is kept by a man known as the Keeper of the White Buffalo Calf Pipe, Arvol Looking Horse.

The legend of the White Buffalo Calf Woman remains ever promising in this age of spiritual enlightenment and conscious awareness. In today’s world of confusion and war, many of us are looking for signs of peace.

“With the return of the White Buffalo, it is a sign that prayers are being heard, that the sacred pipe is being honored, and that the promises of prophecy are being fulfilled. White Buffalo signals a time of abundance and plenty.”

Though harsh as the world we live in may be throughout recorded history there have been spiritual leaders teaching peace, hope, and balance (synergy) amongst all life. This was taught by great teachers such as Jesus, Buddha, the Dali Lama’s, and Native American leaders.

Chief Crazy Horse, Chief Seattle, and Chief Red Cloud are a few of the visionary leaders who committed their lives to bring peace, and internal happiness to all who they touched. They were tangible signs of goodwill toward all men, women, and children.

The Secret History of Witchwalking.

The history of Witchwalking is as old as movement itself.

Like many other examples of occult knowledge, it is a legacy that often conceals itself within the various cultures and people who have engaged in its practice.

It is a tradition that sometimes emerges under different names and guises depending upon the societal climate and religious views of those in power. In many cases Witchwalking has remained hidden, becoming a ritual safest practiced at night or alone and far from the authorities wary of its power and benefits.

You may know Witchwalking as travelling the path of Songlines or Dreamwalking. You may know it as a North American initiation rite demanding the neophyte undertake an arduous journey through dangerous terrain.

Or, you may be aware of this practice as a marathon shamanic-type dance assisted by drumming and entheogens.

Witchwalking even survives within early Christian writings, thinly disguised as a meditative desert walk of 40 days and nights, as well as today in the stations of the cross. Another contemporary incarnation within Christian spirituality is the Camino pilgrimage.

The Latin phrase 'solvitur ambulando' means 'it is solved by walking’.

When we look with a keener eye we will find that Witchwalking is embedded into all of the world’s esoteric practices and rituals in one form or other.

Witchwalking continues to evolve even in today’s contemporary societies in the form of forest walks, ritual hikes to sacred places and even within the techniques of esoteric modern dance and musical therapy.

There are many reasons why someone is called to this path, be it for healing ourselves or others, or to gain insight from the deeper aspects of our minds. For more serious practitioners it is a way to contact ancestors and spirits of the land and to return from these trance states with advice and new knowledge.

But there is also a necessity at the roots of this practice. In many of the archaic, matriarchal cultures, from Catal Huyuk to the Hathor cult of ancient Egypt, there are embedded midwifery skills within the Witchwalking practices. The Moura Encantada, the female shape-shifters of Southern Europe, for example, were said to travel between megalithic sites, creating new life and spinning the sun. These motifs of ‘spinning’ and 'new life’ epitomise the coded and almost forgotten wise-women who assisted with childbirth and who were believed to draw souls from the spiritual realm and into new bodies. These were the same women who were almost erased from history by the later patriarchal religions and persecuted through inquisitions and demonization.

The writer, Ali Isaac, has drawn attention to specific mentions of walking ceremonies and processional paths within ancient Irish history and mythology.

Interesting, and possibly connected to Ali's Tara research, I have written about rites and ceremony related to pregnancy and birth before in this article for Ancient Origins.

https://www.ancient-origins.net/opinion-guest-authors/are-stone-circles-ancient-pregnancy-calendars-006774

There is inevitably a lot of speculation and guesswork in my own post but I found this paper on ancient Aboriginal birth practices a hugely insightful resource.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/215781043_Traditional_Aboriginal_birthing_practices_in_Australia_Past_and_present

Another Witchwalking connection is ‘Well-Wyrding,’ which is a practice where women would visit a holy well or sacred spring on certain nights and divine prophecy based upon the movement and sound of the water.

This type of pagan spirit-contact at holy wells was so widespread in Europe that there was even a law in 1178 created to ban women from going out alone in order to receive these prophecies.

An ancient link between holy wells and wisdom occurs in the Irish Dindsenchas which describes one in particular, Connla's Well, as being 'The Well of Knowledge' or 'The Well of Wisdom' because of the hazel trees which grew over it and dropped hazel nuts into the water.

In Ireland, holy wells are still very much associated with cures and healing.

Specifically related to 'witchwalking', Holy wells also continue to draw visitors who practice the tradition of patterns and rounds, which is a type of meditative walk.

The esoteric practice of shape shifting is also intimately connected with Witchwalking in non-European cultures and is at the root of totem power and witches familiars.

Today, these techniques and spells, the wisdom and methods of spiritual contact are quickly being retraced and recovered. Cross-cultural comparisons are revealing that no matter how it is named or known, Witchwalking has always been a part of spiritual and ritual expression. Witchwalking in its many forms is once again revealing itself as an instructional and, ultimately, primal response to life.

Indeed, movement, change and discovery are the alchemical ingredients that lead us all down the pathways of questions.

Witchwalking takes us towards the inner parts of ourselves which has always known the answers we seek, if we are courageous enough to go and find them.

(C.) David Halpin.

Image: Andrea Kowch.

#witch #witchcraft #hedgewitch #irishwitch #irishpagan #pagan #yoga #folklore #mythology #wicca #animism #midwife #midwifery #megalith #holywell #celt #fairies #faeries #thegoodpeople #indigenous #healing #camino #meditation #goddess

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OLD APPALACHIAN FOLKLORE FOR GETTING RID OF WARTS . . . . .WAT?

Two hundred years ago, our Appalachian ancestors were very superstitious. They were very aware and paid close attention to their surroundings. Their Druid ancestors and their new neighbors, the Native Americans did as well. It was a way of life, to watch and record nature. It was part of their survival techniques living in the harsh cool hollers or steep mountain sides.

I thought it would be interesting to do a little research on Wart Witches as they were called. A Granny Witch who specializes in getting rid of someone's warts....... WAT? With Wart charms.............WAT? Here is a SMALL list of what I've dug up so far: Let me say first, with modern medical technology, that is where you should try to get your wart removed, these are for fun and entertainment only. "OK?" say "Gotcha".

Buttons used in wart buying ceremony-- Some wart witches go through a kind of wart-buying ceremony, but no money actually changes hands. You show the man your wart, and he says: ‘Want to sell it?’ You answer ‘Yes, sir.’ Whereupon the wart taker produces a big safety pin with many buttons strung on it. He selects one of these and hands it to you saying: Carry that there button in your pocket till the wart’s gone. It’s mine now, ‘cause I done bought an’ paid for it.’”

Using a Stone method-- One form of wart charming involves taking a stone from the small rivulet created when water runs off of the roof of a shed or building that doesn't have gutters; you rub it over each wart on the persons hand (or wherever the wart may be), then you throw the stone away so that no one can find it. Preferably in a body of water. I've also heard of people using one stone per wart

A branch from a Sycamore Tree-- This method is to take a branch from a sycamore tree and cut a notch in it for each wart. Then you place the notched branch over each wart, one notch per wart. Afterward you throw the branch away just like you would if you were using the stone method

Corn-- Some folk prefer to lose their warts at a crossroad, or better still at a place where the road forks three ways. Take a grain of corn for each wart and place each grain in the road under a small thin stone. The warts will be taken over by the person or animal that moves the stones and uncovers the grains of corn. Other methods of using corn include pricking the wart until it bleeds, then take a piece of corn and rub on it, then throw the piece of corn over your left shoulder in the chicken pen and if you can’t see which chicken ate the corn the wart will go away. And still another version: Take a needle and prick the wart until it bleeds, then rub three grains of corn in the blood. Throw the corn to the chickens. If a rooster eats them the wart will go away, but if a hen eats them you’ll just have to try something else

Buying warts with a penny or nickel --Warts may be disposed of by hiring some boy to ‘take them off your hands" two or three more warts don’t matter to a chap who has a dozen or so already. Just give the boy a penny or a nickel for each wart, and they will pass from you to him as soon as he spends the money .Warts can be purchased by exchanging them for any small token, such as a penny etc. When the token is lost the wart will disappear. If you buy a wart from a person for a penny and they keep the penny for a year the wart will go away.

Paper-- Another way to ‘pass’ a wart is to spit on it, rub a bit of paper in the spit, fold the paper, and drop it in the road; the wart is supposed to pass to the first person who picks up the paper and unfolds it.

Stump water --The exact number of warts is important in some of these ceremonies. When a mountain man tries to remove warts by applying stump water he repeats this formula: Stump water, stump water, Kill these — warts! The dash represents the number of warts that the patient has, and it is essential to state this number correctly. If a man says six when he has only five warts, the warts will not be cured, and another one will appear in a few days.

Green Beans --A green bean leaf rubbed on a wart several times a day will cure a wart. Another one is to remove a wart, cut a bean in half. Throw half away, rub the wart with the other half, put it under a rock and don’t look back at the rock. And still another one, take beans and rub over warts, throw the beans into a well, and the warts will go away.

Stolen knife--Cut big notches in a stranger’s apple tree with a stolen knife, one notch for each wart to be removed.

Dirty dishrag buried for warts -- Rub them with a dishrag, and then bury the dishrag in the corner of the barn. Or steal a dishrag, tie knots in it, and bury it so the drip of the house falls on it. As the dishrag rots, so will the wart.. Another, to get rid of a wart on your hand take an old dirty dishrag, put it under the back steps, and don’t tell anybody that you did it. Then your wart will disappear.

German magick/German Folklore

The Story of the Hex Sign ( Witch Mark)

Falsely Attributed to the Amish.

Over a period of many years, the story evolved that local Pennsylvania German farmers put colorful symbols called "hex signs" on their barns to keep the evil spirits away or to bring good luck. That at first seems to make sense in that the word "hex" means "witch" in German. The tourist industry helped to get the "hex sign" myth going and the term appeared in print around the mid-1930’s. But scholars are still arguing over the origins and meanings behind what we now call hex signs. As with many of our local customs, we need to go back to

Europe.

The use of stars and circles in art and decoration goes back thousands of years. These "folk art" designs of rosettes, stars, circles, and the "Tree of Life" with their connection to the sun, nature, and the celestial, can be seen on everything from tombstones and birth certificates, to furniture and plates. Over the hundreds of years that these basic designs have been used, there are certainly times when the symbols may have had an association with superstition or religion. And, since the use of these designs on houses and buildings in Europe was relatively rare, their unique application on barns in Pennsylvania fueled the hex sign idea. But even though the Pennsylvania Dutch were often a superstitious lot, the use of hex signs is restricted to a fairly limited area.

A more recent, and more accepted interpretation of the hex sign is as an indicator of "ethnic symbolism." As Don Yoder and Thomas Graves say in their excellent book HEX SIGNS, published by Stackpole Books, "the meanings we find in the hex signs are ethnic identity, ethnic pride, and the pure joy of colorful decoration." They noted that the increased use and public display of these decorations might have had something to do with the State’s efforts to "rid the Pennsylvania Dutch of their distinctive culture, using the state school system to mount a systematic stamping out of the German language."

Indeed, the earliest documented hex signs on barns date back to the later half of the 19th century, perhaps because barns weren’t generally painted at all much before 1830. But it wasn’t until around 1940 that painters started making hex signs that could be purchased and mounted on barns and other buildings. Visitors to the area wondered what these colorful decorations meant. They soon started to appear on tourist literature and on products made in the area, becoming an easy way to "identify" the food or product as coming from the Pennsylvania Dutch region.

Meanwhile, various novels and stories about the area tended to emphasize (and exaggerate) many customs of the Pennsylvania Dutch, often pairing the Amish and hex signs together. For example, the Broadway musical Plain & Fancy even had a scene in which an Amishman put a "hex" on his neighbor’s barn! (Interestingly, the Amish did not adopt the custom of decorating their barns, and do not use hex signs to this day.)

Of course, scholars tried to dispel some of these ideas. In 1953, Alfred Shoemaker, of Franklin & Marshall College’s Pennsylvania Folklore Center, wrote a booklet titled HEX, NO! He concludes with the following comment, "I must say with absolute honesty that I have never found a single shred of evidence to substantiate any other conclusion but this: ‘hex signs’ are used but for one purpose, and to put it in the Pennsylvania Dutchman's own words, ‘chust for nice.’ "

Indeed, for locals and visitors, hex signs are displayed because they are pretty, plain and simple. Over the years, many "new designs" were developed as part of the commercial hex sign business. Many of these are rooted in traditional folk art, such as the "distlefink," a bird design that now symbolizes good luck and, not surprisingly, the shamrock! Many "hexologists" today create new designs and ascribe the meanings to them, based on the combinations and symbolism involved.

All of this brings us to the town of Paradise and Jacob Zook, "the Hex Man." According to an old brochure from his shop, "Paradise is where it all started in 1942. Intrigued by some hex signs obtained from a salesman, Jacob Zook endeavored to learn everything he could about these quaint, colorful pieces of Americana. It really began to come together upon meeting Johnny Ott, who taught Jacob the art and lore of the Hex sign. Mr. Zook started painting signs and eventually built up a local following and, with increased publicity, a national reputation as well."

I had the pleasure of meeting Jacob a few years before his death. He was a little man full of energy with good stories to tell. It was clear to me that his personality had much to do with the proliferation of these colorful designs through the technique of silk-screening.

After his passing, Bill and Charlotte Marsh took over his business and sell not only Zook’s hex signs, and those of other "hex artists," but the works of over 300 local Amish, Mennonite, and other Dutch craftsmen as well. At Will-Char, the "Hex Place," the wonderful tradition of the hex sign lives on, and their hex signs are sold in many of the local gift shops.

Over the years, I have heard of people who request a special custom-designed hex sign be made for them, to help with some special problem they had. I once talked to a couple who told me in all seriousness that the "fertility" hex sign they had purchased definitely worked for them! And the Internet has brought the colorful patterns and designs to people all over the world.

From Lancaster Pennsylvania

Amish News

For visitors to Lancaster County, hex signs remain a colorful and delightful gift or souvenir, as they are truly something unique to the Pennsylvania Dutch area. As Yoder and Graves note at the conclusion of their book, "the hex sign speaks to us and beckons us, as if by magic, into the spirit of the place and into the heart of the people who painted them."

THE MISSION OF A CAT 🐈 ♥️😽

Most people think that cats do nothing, are lazy and do nothing but eat and sleep...

It is not so!

Do you know what a cat's mission is?

All cats have the power, every day, to remove the negative energy accumulated in our body... as soon as we fall asleep, they absorb that energy. If there is more than one person in the family, and only one cat, it can accumulate an excessive amount of negativity by absorbing energy from so many people...

When they sleep, the cat's body releases the negativity it takes away from us. If we are too stressed, they may not have enough time to release all that negative energy, and so, as a result, it accumulates as fat, until they can release it. So, they get fat and you think it was the food you were feeding them... or because they don't move enough... and the truth is, they don't. It is nice to have more than one cat in the house, so that the weight is divided between them.

They also protect us during the night, so that no unwanted spirits enter our house or our room while we sleep... That's why they like to sleep in our bed. And if they think we're fine, they won't sleep with us. If there was something strange around us, they jump into our bed and protect us... If a person comes to our house, and the cats feel that that person is there to harm us or that he is bad, the cats surround us to "protect" us...

If you don't have cats, and a stray cat comes into your house and adopts it as a home, it's because you need a cat at that particular time... So the stray cat volunteered to help you. Thank the cat for choosing your home for that job. If you have other cats and can't keep the stray cat, find a place for him. The cat came for a reason unknown to us on a physical level, and in dreams you can see the reason for the appearance of the cat at that moment. There may be a debt, some karma he has to pay... "So don't freak out or frighten the cat." Well, "he" will have to come back, one way or another, to ful

Horehound was used for coughs and lung congestion. I remember being given horehound candy by my Grandmother Stewart for a cough. It had a bad taste, but it worked.

Blackberry (Rubus villosus)

"Celtic lore says that blackberries are fairy fruit and may bring bad luck to people who eat them. Blackberries were also considered protective against earthbound spirits and vampires. It is said that if planted near the home, a vampire couldn't enter because he would obsessively count the berries and forget about the people inside". (1)

"The blackberry in England has a lot of folklore, each pointing to a common piece of wisdom. Blackberry was the bane of all evils, from misfortune to illness. It was used to release people and animals from illness, misfortune, and witchery. There are tales that the Devil was thrown out of Heaven and into a blackthorn bush, and such avoids and hates them". (2)

A Witch's Whisk is a bundle of blackberry twigs, bound on one end, and lit to be used as a cleansing smoke. The bound end forms a handle. The unbound end sprays out, giving the appearance of a whisk.

"Cecil Williamson, a well-known English witch and the once owner of the Boscastle Witchcraft Museum wrote this about witch’s whisks:

‘Witch’s whisk made of dried out blackberry stems and with the end bound to form a handle. Here in the south west when a witch decides to make magic she first selects a spot or place where she will work, be the chosen place inside or out. The next thing to be done is that of cleansing the chosen spot of all evil forces. This is where the bundle of blackberry twigs comes in. She sets a light to the twigs and with them smouldering, burning and making smoke, she dances and weaves her way in and around and around over and over again. So this is one might call it: 'a witch’s devil scarer'." (3)

"Blackberry was considered to be sacred to some of the old Pagan deities of Europe, and was used in worship. To the present day, blackberry pies are baked on Lughnasadh (August 2) by some of the Wiccans in commemoration of the harvest.

A bramble bush that forms a natural arch is a great aid to magical healing. On a sunny day, crawl through the arch backward and then forward three times, going as nearly east to west as possible. This will cause boils, rheumatism, whooping cough, and even blackheads to disappear.

The blackberry leaves were used in spells of wealth, as are the berries themselves, and the vines are protective if grown.

The blackberry plant is also used to heal scalds by dipping nine blackberry leaves in spring water and then laying them against the wound gently, while saying the following chant three times to each leaf (27 times in all):

'Three ladies came from the east,

One with fire and two with frost.

Out with fire, in with frost.'

This is an old invocation to Brigit, the ancient Celtic Goddess of poetry, healing, and smithcraft.

Folk Names: Bly, Bramble, Bramble-Kite, Bumble-Kite, Cloudberry, Dewberry, Goutberry, High Blackberry, Thimbleberry.

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