Art by Kris Waldherr




Wakan Tanka

Hear Me Oh Great Wakan
Alone with my thoughts
As I walk among the trees
I listen to Mother Earth
As she speaks within Skan's breeze.
She reminds me to see my strengths
And to walk my path with pride
To place my footsteps carefully
And with nature to abide.
The many gifts of Grandfather
Surround me as I walk
The sun, the sky, the grass, the streams,
The call of Brother Hawk
How can you doubt the beauty
Of what Wakan has made
When all of it's before you
So clear in its' display?

jfaus ©copyright 2/1998


Wakan Tanka is the supreme divinity of the Lakota (Sioux) Native American people in North America. Wakan Tanka ("Great Mystery") is the creator who governs the universe through various deities, which are all aspects of his being. These aspects are addressed in prayer as "father," while transcendent Wakan Tanka is called "grandfather." Wakan Tanka presides over important rituals involving the sacred pipe of the Lakota. According to Lakota creation myth, the first four gods were Inyan (Rock), Maka (Earth), Skan (Sky), and Wi (Sun). These deities, the Superior Gods, grew lonely and created other aspects of Wakan Tanka. First were the associated gods: Moon, Wind, Falling Star, and Thunderbird. Then the Kindred Gods: Two-Legged (humans and their relatives, the bears), Buffalo, Four-Winds, and Whirlwind. Finally, the God-Like were more abstract beings related to the soul and to sacred power: Nagi (Shade [ghost] of the Dead), Nagila (Shade-like), Niya (Breath of Life), and Sicun (Spirit Power). These sixteen deities are known as the Tob Tob (Four-Four). Wakan means "energy". It implies and teaches that creation has the power to give life or take it away. Mitakuye oyasin! We are all related! Lenape' Nan.....Morgana



Wakinyan

Wakinyan (The Thunderbird) of the Lakota tribe lives in a lodge on the top of a mountain at the edge of the world where the sun goes down. He is many, but they are only as One. He is shapeless, but He has wings with four joints each. He has no feet, yet He has huge talons. He has no head, yet He has a huge beak with rows of teeth in it like the teeth of the wolf. His voice is the thunderclap and rolling thunder is caused by the beating of His wings on the clouds. He has an eye, and its glance is lightning. In the great cedar tree beside His lodge He has His nest made of dry bones, and in it is an enormous egg from which His young continually issue. He devours His young, and they each become one of His many selves. He flies through all the domain of the sky, hidden in a robe of clouds. His functions are to cleanse the world from filth and to fight the Monsters who defile the Waters. His symbol is a zigzag red line forked at each end.



Wakonda

The great mysterious power alluded to by the Sioux Indians, Wakonda is the source of all wisdom and power.



Watauineiwa

The sky god of the Yahgan tribes of Tierra del Fuego.



Wayland

Wayland was the smith god of the Anglo-Saxons. Wayland and his two brothers married swan princesses, and lived in peace until one day Wayland's wife left him. Nidud, the king, captured Wayland and set him to work on his island kingdom, fashioning wonderful items for him and his family. To ensure that the smith did not escape, the king had his men cut the sinews of Wayland's legs, thus crippling him. Wayland had his revenge on the king by slaying his sons, who came to visit the smith. He then maked fine goblets of their skulls, which he gave to the king, and fashioned their eyes into jewels, which he gave to the queen. He fell in love with the king's daughter, fathered a child by her and escaped from the island. Nidud's daughter had already extracted a promise from her father that he would not hurt her son, so the king could not take revenge.



Wele

The supreme god of the Abaluyia of Kenya, Wele created the heavens and supported them by pillars. He then created two assistants, with whose help he placed the sun and the moon in the sky. But the sun and moon fought each other, so that Wele had to decree that they should only occupy the sky at alternate times. Then Wele created clouds, lightning, stars, rain, rainbows, and air. Thereafter he created man, and the earth. Death was brought into the world by the meanness of a farmer who refused to share his food with a hungry chameleon, Wele in disguise, who cursed the farmer and his descendants with the loss of immortality.



Were

The supreme deity of the Luo of Kenya, life and death is under the control of Were, and he uses his thunderbolts to strike down wrongdoers.



Westri

Westri was the Norse dwarf who held up the western part of the heavens.



White Buffalo Calf Woman

White Buffalo Woman by Sandra Stanton For the Lakota Native Americans, White Buffalo Calf Woman is the giver of the Pipe, and The Pipe represents truth. I'm going to quote Chief Arvol Looking Horse, who is the 19th generation Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe: "Hua Kola, my name is Arvol Looking Horse, my Lakota name is Horse Man. I humbly stand before you as Keeper of the Sacred Pipe, which White Buffalo Calf Woman brought 19 generations ago....

A prophecy which has great significance for us is the story of the Great Flood which came to this sacred island [North America] long before the contact with the Europeans. A flood was sent to purify mother Earth and our people were residing in an area we now call Pipestone, Minnesota. This sacred stone [pipestone] represents the blood of our ancestors.

It was some time after the flood that the Sacred Pipe was brought to our people by a spirit woman who we now refer to as the White Buffalo Calf Woman. She instructed our people in sacred ceremonies and how to live in balance with all life.

The bowl of the pipe is made of the Inyansa (red stone of our mother) and it also represents the female. The stem of the pipe is made of wood and represents the tree of life and the male. The tree of life represents the root of our ancestors, as this tree grows so does the spirit of ancestors people. The only time the pipe is put together is when you are in prayer. After she had given these instructions to our ancestors, she said she would return as a White Buffalo Calf.....

Our prophet Black Elk said the Nation's Sacred Hoop was broken at the Massacre of Wounded Knee in 1890. To begin mending the hoop we have led a spiritual ride to wipe the Tears of the Seventh Generation from 1986 to 1990. The Nation's Hoop has begun to heal and mend. The prophecy tells us the White Buffalo Calf will return".

 Sacred Birth Brings the White Buffalo
The birth of the Sacred White Buffalo in Wisconsin, in 1994 directed Chief Arvol Looking Horse to begin another spiritual journey of a four year commitment to organize World Peace & Prayer Day on June 21st in the four directions. Bringing awareness to the Prophesies with a call to secure the sacredness of the sacred sites that dwell every 100 miles around Mother Earth. The Completion Circle of World Peace & Prayer Day occurred on June 21st, 1999 in Costa Rica, fulfilling the ancient prophecy of unification between indigenous leaders representing South, Central, and North America. This event helped to launch a global shift of consciousness.



World Peace & Prayer Day's Web Page


Click the Above Picture to Visit the World Peace Site






White-painted Mother

White-painted Woman is the mother of Child of the Water, from whom all Apaches are descended. She keeps her child safe in her womb, slays all evil monsters, and keeps the world safe for her Apache people.



Wiyot

Wiyot is a creator deity of certain Native Americans of California, for Wiyot fathered a race of beings that existed before mankind. When he died, Coyote leapt onto the pyre and tore a strip of Wiyot's flesh off, eating it. This may mean that he had some part in the death of Wiyot.



Wonomi

Wonomi was the creator god of the Maidu Native Americans. Wonomi created men, but they chose to follow instead the trickster Coyote.





More Coming........





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