Post #11: Religion

Today I read about North American Shamanism. A shaman in tribal cultures is someone who sees in to the sacred world. They act out rituals, in order to heal themselves and others. I'd say this religion is a form of animism which is defined as "the belief in souls or "doubles" because they believe in animal spirits. In this religion they have something called a "medicine wheel" which is an "ancient way of creating a sacred space." each direction of the medicine wheel has an animal that lives there and "stands for one type of energy." For example the West may have a bear which represents healing power and the north may have a turtle representing grounding etc, etc. It is made by placing a small object representing an animal or its energy in each direction around a circle. The circle can be any size. The object may be a feather or a shell or even a special stone, as long as it has deep meaning. There is also an object placed in the center creating a "mini vortex of power" an creates a balance, where the four energies are acting at once. "The path of the feather" is basically when one follows an ancient spirit, to find the feather and its meaning. The ancient sprits will then tell you the story of "the path of the feather". These ancient spirits speak in "collective voice of ancient peoples." They are known as spirit guides, and are the "indder voices of the earth". The spirits appear to the shaman in visions and give them messages from the earth, coming with the "intention to communicate" and heal.

ARTICLE:http://www.pathofthefeather.com/pof3.htm PICTURE:http://www.sagegrovecoven.com/Portal/images/stories/medicinewheel.jpg