Native American Passions Forum

chosnazzy

Ok back to the Halloween kind of stories

Also in Lakota culture, there are stories about creatures called "Unkcegi" or "Unkcegila". They come in many sizes and many different shapes, too. Some walk like a man. Some have four legs. Some can fly. Some are giant. And some are so small that you cannot see them with your eyes. I think this is really interesting that we have a Lakota word for these tiny creatures that you cannot see with your eyes, but we have very accurate descriptions for them. And today, you can see them with a microscope. So that means that in ancient times, there was a technology that was developed by our ancestors but that is another story

In the Unkcegila stories, the creatures do nothing but cause trouble. They can live on the land and in the water. And the only thing that can destroy them is "Wakinyan", the thunder-being, because of her cleansing power. When there is an Unkcegila monster causing trouble on the land, Wakinyan comes to destroy it. And many times there is a great fight. Eventually, the Unkcegila begins to get weak so it runs for the water because Wakinyan cannot go in the water. So Unkcegila monsters usually stay near where there is water. Even if it is only a small, shallow stream, they can still escape through it.

So Wakinyan made friends with the Turtle and they became strong allies. And then Wakinyan gave some of her cleansing power to the turtle, so when an Unkcegila runs to the water to escape Wakinyan, the turtle is waiting in the water to destroy that Unkcegila. This is why if you are going to have a pond with fish in it, its a good idea to have a turtle there to keep the water clean. The turtles make it possible for water to be clean and pure so everything can live, the fish, animals, birds and humans. Because of the Turtle's alliance with the Thunder-being, it is one of the most powerful animals of all. Even the eagles "look up" to the Turtle Without the Turtle, much of Life could not exist.

Many of the Unkcegila monsters have yellow eyes, and if you make eye contact with one, they can send bad energy inside your body through your eyes. And sometimes, this bad energy can even paralyse your body. This is why in Lakota tradition, we did not make direct eye contact with people we did not know.

In one Unkcegila story, two Lakota warriors were hunting and they were walking near a stream that had many trees in the area. And they noticed that the trees were falling slowly. So they decided to go investigate.

As they got closer to that area, they smelled something very bad. And then they knew it was most likely an Unkcegila so one man said they should leave from there immediately and he started running away. After a few minutes, he realized his friend was not with him, so he stopped and looked back.

Way in the distance, he saw his friend standing still and this Unkcegila was approaching him. This one was like a giant snake and it was moving very slowly because it was so huge. So immediately he turned around and ran back to his friend who was just standing still. He was screaming for his friend to RUN! But the friend continued to stand still, and the Unkcegila was almost close enough to start devouring the friend.

Finally the man reached his friend and he pushed the friend out of the path of this slow moving Unkcegila. And he made sure to not look at the Unkcegila. The man realized that his friend must have made eye contact with this Unkcegila and that is why he could not move. The friend was paralyzed. His eyes were wide open and his facial expression was frightful. And since he could not move, his face remained looking frightened.

The man had to carry his friend back to their camp. And he was moving as fast as he could, as the Unkcegila was still following them, even though it was moving very slowly.

As he came near the camp, the Unkcegila turned around and went back to its own place. And the man ran shouting into the camp that his friend made eye contact with an Unkcegila. So immediately, the men prepared an Inipi ceremony (sweatlodge) to cleanse the friend.

When the ceremony was going to begin, they brought the sick man inside and immediately, he started vomiting a thick yellow fluid. They had to do four Inipi ceremonies each day, for four days. And finally all the yellow fluid was out of the sick man's body. And he was incredibly tired from the experience. And he slept for a few days, without waking up.

After a few days, he was feeling almost back to normal, but he lost confidence in himself and he never hunted again, and his relatives had to take care of him. He was never the same after that. He always seemed to be nervous and troubled.

That is an example of an Unkcegila story. And this could fit in the Halloween kind of story, too

loveternal

`Again "WOW!!"

And what a true friend that guy was for running back to rescue the other guy. It also shows what can happen when someone gets too curious. This is really an interesting tradition concerning the not making eye contact. Maybe this is one of the many reasons why the modern world is so messed up, because in todays world most expect others to make eye contact when being spoken to. As such, people are unknowingly sending bad medicine to each other. For example, when one is jealous of another but he talks to that other like he was a best friend or something.

chosnazzy

`What I am about to say, I do not mean this in a racist way whatsoever. One time, a good friend of mine had to be admitted to the hospital here in Berlin (Germany) for an appendectomy. And there was another patient in the room, as well. The other patient was a young gypsy man, and there was always about 25 to 30 of his family members sitting with him. And among those relatives was a woman who would constantly stare at my friend. She just sat there for over an hour glaring at my friend. She was like a statue.

Many times, the doctors had to come in the room to remove some of those gypsies because they were loud and disruptive, making the other patients feel uncomfortable. But about 10 minutes after the doctor left, those family members would come back in again. And again, that same woman would sit and stare at my friend nonstop.

So next we complained to the hospital staff. And we decided to stay there until visiting hours were over, to make sure my friend was not alone with all those gypsies, especially the staring lady.

What I did, was I sat in front of my friend, so this staring woman would end up staring at my back. If she moved to another position, I would, too, to stay in front of her. Finally, she gave up and left.

I came back the next day, and the gypsy guy was released from the hospital so thank goodness that staring lady was not there. But I could tell that experience disturbed my friend.

So the week after he was released from the hospital, he was doing pretty good at home. So I went to visit with him and I did a small cleansing ceremony for him. I explained to him that that staring gypsy woman was trying to send bad medicine to him through her eyes. But she seemed to be scared of me, whenever I was in the room.

So we went out to the forest with a group of friends, and I sang a certain ceremonial song, with the drum. As in ancient Lakota tradition, the drum has the cleansing power of Wakinyan, the Thunder-being. And I also burned some cedar and pushed the smoke over my friend, as I sang over him.

A lot of people think that the drum is the heartbeat of Mother Earth, and that is a beautiful thought. However, there is a very old Lakota Star Knowledge story that explains how Wakinyan gave her cleansing power to the drum. So that whenever you feel sad, lonesome or are scared, you are to beat a drum and this will cleanse the area around you and inside of you, also. And if you have no drum, then you clap your hands for the same effect.

Also, sage is normally used for smudging. But in special circumstances, cedar is used because the lodge of Wakinyan is make of cedar poles. So during thunderstorms, we are to burn cedar. So when Wakinyan is flying over your house and she smells the cedar smoke, this pleases her so she makes sure not to send lightning near your house. This is an old tradition that most do not know today, sadly.

After I did this for my friend, he said he felt like he had been recharged. So we transformed an ugly experience into a nice, healing one. It is up to us to do things like that, to learn from difficulties.

When a difficulty hits us, as long as we are living the best we can, we are still on a good road. When the difficulty hits us, we just stop for a time to learn from it and make the best of it. And once we do, we receive knowledge, wisdom and peace. And before we know it, we realize that we are further up on our path than we thought. Thats the beauty of difficulties. They may hurt or make us angry or scared, but once we learn from it, we come to peace with it and the emotions that came with it become neutralized. And like I said, then we see that we are way up further along the good road we were always on. This is why in Lakota tradition, we do not see difficulties as a bad thing. Rather, we see it as something in process that we need to complete, to transform it into a learning experience, which then becomes a blessing, as we receive knowledge, wisdom and peace.

So difficulties never throw us off our path, as long as we are doing our best with our lives

lily4567

chosnazzy wrote: chosnazzy wrote: lily4567 wrote:

It's true that I have a million reason to love you !
ok even if it lasts an eternity ca does not have a problem for me either

I got your photo in front of me, and I am listening to "Heaven Must Have Sent You" by The Elgins The words of the song are speaking what I feel right now for you

Pretty music and lyrics I did not know this group but he's good it 'very pretty what you feel for me in reading the words ca touch me much I love that!

Amazing story! I knew that the turtles were sacred in Native American traditions but I have not understood very well for history or people staring fix eyes? Who is it?

loveternal

`I think what Chosnazzy is saying is that when anyone stares at you when they are really mad at you or jealous of you, it is like they are trying to send you bad luck. But it only works if you let it. For example, when someone does that to you to try to scare you, they are trying to intimidate you with the power of suggestion. And this makes it look like you are having bad luck. But you really are not. They are only using the power of suggestion, and this works mostly on those who have low self-esteem. This is just my opinion, Lily. I am sure Chosnazzy will write something here :)

chosnazzy

lily4567 wrote:
... but I have not understood very well for history or people staring fix eyes? Who is it?

In Lakota ancient tradition, we believe that energy can travel through the eyes. So if someone wishes you harm, they might stare at you in a mean way. When they do this, they are trying to send bad medicine into you from their eyes into you, through your eyes. This is why we did not make direct eye contact to people we did not know.

If you are emotionally and spiritually healthy, their bad medicine can do nothing to you. Because like loveternal wrote above, it is usually people with low self-esteem that are easy targets for people who try to send bad energy to them.

And then they respond to the power of suggestion that is used against them by the one who is staring, and they think they are having bad luck. But they are really not. They are making it happen themselves because of their low self-esteem.

However, when it is someone you know and love, and you look each other in the eyes, you are sending good medicine into the other person through looking each other in the eyes.

So when I am with you and I am looking lovingly into your eyes, I am sending you healthy love energy. And you receive it by looking at me in the eyes, too.

Also, in Lakota tradition is something called Wawokiye, the Natural Law of Generosity. This means that the energy you send out in your communication to others, will return to you four times as strong. So when you send out unhealthy energy to try and hurt others, that is only going to return to you four times as strong.

But likewise, when you send you healthy energy (good medicine) to others in your communication, that will return four times as strong to you, too, and to bless you.

So when people try to hurt others with their communication, they are only hurting themselves more in the end.

And even though this is a Lakota belief, there are still people who try to use something like a black magic to try to hurt others who they do not like. And usually this is done with porcupine quills. There are lots of stories about that, and they could fit in the Halloween kind of theme, too

For example, in one story that I know. There was this beautiful girl from the same reservation that I am from. And she was a powwow dancer. She danced in a category called Women's Fancy Shawl. And she was good at it. She would win in many dance competitions at many powwows.

But soon other girls became jealous of her, and this is how the powwow world is in many places even today. Dancers pretend to be friendly to each other, but secretly they wish something bad would happen to the other dancers so they will not win.

Well at one powwow, this girl (from my reservation) suddenly felt a pain in her leg. Throughout the day, the pain intensified. Finally she could not even walk. And the pain was so bad she started to cry. The hospital was too far away, so they called for a local medicine man.

And the medicine man did a ceremony for her in which he pulled out two porcupine quills from her left leg. And he said someone sent them to her because that someone was jealous and didnt want her to win at that powwow. So the medicine man sent the porcupine quills back to whoever sent them.

What happened was there was another girl who was very jealous of this dancer. And that other girl went to a different medicine man and asked him to stop that girl from my reservation from winning. So he got two porcupine quills and placed some kind of spell on the two quills. And then he told that jealous girl to hold these two quills and then to shake that dancer's hand at the powwow when she sees her. So she did that. And the spell on the two quills caused the quills to go inside the dancer's body and put pain in her legs so she would not be able to dance.

So from that story, we learn that not all medicine men are good people, because it is only medicine men who can do those kind of things.

And from this story, we can see that not everyone believes in that Natural Law of Generosity because they try to do things like this to hurt others. So those two quills went back to the girl who sent them and she ended up becoming even more sick.

I think that story fits the Halloween theme

loveternal

`Yet again, "WOW!" That is a really interesting story. It is crazy how when people start feeling selfish or focusing on a certain emotion, how it overpowers common sense and they do not really see the full reality. Or if they do see it, they choose to deny it by focusing only on that emotion. Then the interpret it to fit their own selfishness.

chosnazzy

`You know these stories show that natives were not a perfect people. Many Europeans, as well as non-native peoples from other parts of the world, think that all Natives were/are in tune with the earth and that we are all mystical and peaceful, and that all native men play flutes and speak poetically wandering through the prairie, and that all native women wore skimpy dresses and sat on hillsides hugging wolves. All of that is fantasy. And when Natives think like this also, this shows they do not even know their own culture.

The reason these stories exist is because there were some people who were living very unhealthily back then. If we were perfect, these stories would not exist.

Also, we were constantly at war with one another in those days, this is one of the reasons why we had warrior societies. It was not all peace on the prairie.

lily4567

`Yes, I believe much also those positive and negative energies with eyes as we also believe in our culture it's amazing that there is so semblales beliefs! And for my part I have experienced personally

Incredible stories! But this Indian woman dancer pow pow she could not re still dancing? This is true could be a Halloween story and as you said Chosnazzy Indian or not there are not only good people unfortunately
And yes look lovingly in the eyes is also very pretty!

chosnazzy

`Yes, I really like it that we have similar beliefs, too

And yes, when two people are truly in love with each other, their love increases when they enchant each other in a loving way by taking time everyday to look each other in the eyes. It is part of how they maintain their love for one another. And when they are apart, that is what videos and photos are for. That's why I do that with yours

lily4567

chosnazzy wrote: `Yes, I really like it that we have similar beliefs, too

And yes, when two people are truly in love with each other, their love increases when they enchant each other in a loving way by taking time everyday to look each other in the eyes. It is part of how they maintain their love for one another. And when they are apart, that is what videos and photos are for. That's why I do that with yours

Oh it's so pretty !!!!
I do the same thing for you too you know with pictures and videos !

chosnazzy

`Also, in a lot of stories, there is an old woman named Wakanka. She did something in which the result was that she wanders the land forever. She is always dressed in a long dress and her hair is usually covering her face. And she is looking down because she has seen so many things, and she is really tired of it all. Sometimes she stops to rest for a little while, then she continues walking again. She looks so tired but she continues walking.

In our Lakota tradition, we are taught that whenever we see an elder, that we must see if they need help, that we should feed them if they are hungry and give them something to drink if they are thirsty. Because, you never know, the elder could be Wakanka. And if it is, she will bless you. And even if it is not her, it is still a good thing to do because of something called the Natural Law of Generosity.

This Natural Law states that what and how you say and do something is communication. And the communication you send out will return to you four times as strong. So if your communication is healthy, for example like when you help someone, then it returns to you four times as healthy to bless you.

Likewise, if your communication is mean or something like that, that is an unhealthy communication. And that will return to you four times as unhealthy, and that is one of several ways in which you can mess up your own life. This is also causes you to unknowingly put obstacles in your own life's path.

One of the things that Wakanka teaches us in the stories about her, is concerning the future. She can see the future. However, she teaches that it is always changing because it is created by the thought patterns of the present moment. If she were to show you your future and there is something you see that you do not like, she says to you that you can change it. You begin by examining your life to see if there is something that needs to be settled and taken care of, that you establish peace within yourself. When you do that, your thought patterns change, and so does your future. So to be able to see the future is only to be used as a guide and not as something fatalistic. This is the foundation to the statement that "Life is just what you make of it." The future is not written in stone, it can be changed.

And she teaches that it is good to take some time every day to visualize what you would like your future to be like. But be realistic about it And then come back to the present moment, the "here and now". When you do this, you are putting something inside of you to give you inspiration to help you in the present moment to achieve something like or very close to that future you are visualizing. Sometimes, the result is even better than what you visualized.

When you are emotionally healthy, this visualization can really do wonders in your life. Likewise, if you are unhealthy, you will make your life worse. So the key to this working in a nice way, is to be emotionally healthy.

And when you are in love with someone, both of you can do this visualization together about the future of your relationship. But it is important to always come back to the present moment or the visualization will not work. So for a relationship, coming back to the present moment after visualization brings inspiration to the relationship. And in this way, kissing feels even better than it did before. And other things that concern the relationship will feel even better than before, too.

So you can better understand now that Wakanka has seen many futures. And when those futures came true, many times they were even worse than what she saw because most of the people in this modern world are emotionally unhealthy. So you can understand better why she does not want to look up, as she is walking. It's so sad and scary at the same time. And yet through her difficult life, she teaches us wonderful things. And this Natural Law of Generosity applies to her, as well

And lily4567, this is why I do visualizations with you :)

loveternal

`What a cool way that you and lily4567 are nurturing the foundation to your special connection, by looking each other in the eyes and doing visualizations. It is like a special kind of investment. While most people are looking for someone to complete them, you two are doing more by creating a new extension of yourselves to a new dimension of something extra-special that contains both of you together :)

lily4567

`I agree with many things you said Chosnazzy
And it is true that it is important to help these elders and listen to the older people I like much when you speak of this law of generosity !
So do you think it is important to focus on the present moment to create the future when two people are together if it's that this you wanted explain?

chosnazzy

`Oui!

First, you do it for yourself for your own life. Then when you are in a relationship, we both do it together for the relationship, as well.

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