Sidhe-Ra
I never realised what a beautiful deck that was! Thanks Mi-shell! 
For ALL who have the LS Native American Tarot!
Mi-Shell
The Sun Card:
Wiwanyag Wachipi (sun dance) the BWB says....and the 3 sentences that follow are essentialy true and good.
The card shows 2 teepees in the back,sun between them, a pole with a buffalo skull in the middle, a maiden holding the sacred tree and a bunch of happily hopping Natives szirseling aroubf COUNTERSUNWISE!???????????????????????????????? PFUI!!!!!
tha Sundance is held at the hight of the summet every year to honour all our Relations and to suffer for the people it is a Prayer, it is a moving meditation... Just not like in the picture....
A young maiden is honoured with doing the first cut into the tree selected by the Medicine person.. then it is chopped down but not allowed to ever touch the ground. it is transported to the festival site. It is an honour to dig the hole for it sage, cedar, tobacco and other gifts will be put into the hole before the tree is put back into Mother EARTH. Around arbor is erected around it. that makes the dance ground. on top of the tree most often you find a ring of sage and Eagle plumes- or "fluff" feathers. A buffalo skull makes the altar at the foot of the tree.....
For more and different site descriptions please loooook at these websites (before I type my fingers numb... )
I worked at a sundance once, many years ago on a res in the western States as a member of the healing societies taking care of any family that was sick and also the exhausted dancers and checking their wounds AFTER they had been treated in the traditional way by LCD and his helpers....
I received an Eagle Feather for this...
(Can't talk more about it...)
But what I can do is find some pictures from ceremonies that were published and therefore are in the public domain....
will do that next.....
Just a note: the mandan people did a "Sun Dance" Ceremonie that happend inside a laaaaarge roundhouse........
Wiwanyag Wachipi (sun dance) the BWB says....and the 3 sentences that follow are essentialy true and good.
The card shows 2 teepees in the back,sun between them, a pole with a buffalo skull in the middle, a maiden holding the sacred tree and a bunch of happily hopping Natives szirseling aroubf COUNTERSUNWISE!???????????????????????????????? PFUI!!!!!
tha Sundance is held at the hight of the summet every year to honour all our Relations and to suffer for the people it is a Prayer, it is a moving meditation... Just not like in the picture....
A young maiden is honoured with doing the first cut into the tree selected by the Medicine person.. then it is chopped down but not allowed to ever touch the ground. it is transported to the festival site. It is an honour to dig the hole for it sage, cedar, tobacco and other gifts will be put into the hole before the tree is put back into Mother EARTH. Around arbor is erected around it. that makes the dance ground. on top of the tree most often you find a ring of sage and Eagle plumes- or "fluff" feathers. A buffalo skull makes the altar at the foot of the tree.....
For more and different site descriptions please loooook at these websites (before I type my fingers numb... )
I worked at a sundance once, many years ago on a res in the western States as a member of the healing societies taking care of any family that was sick and also the exhausted dancers and checking their wounds AFTER they had been treated in the traditional way by LCD and his helpers....
I received an Eagle Feather for this...
(Can't talk more about it...)
But what I can do is find some pictures from ceremonies that were published and therefore are in the public domain....
will do that next.....
Just a note: the mandan people did a "Sun Dance" Ceremonie that happend inside a laaaaarge roundhouse........
Attachments
Mi-Shell
Wikipedia on sundance:
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
D/L/Nakota tradition dictates that sundancing ceremonies are not to be discussed with the fat takers (wasicus). The general rule is to keep your mouth shut, your eyes and ears open.
The Sun Dance is a ritual performed by love a number of different native tribes. Each tribe has its own distinctive rituals and methods of performing the dance, but many of the ceremonies have features in common, including dancing, singing and drumming, the experience of visions, fasting, and in some cases, piercing, of the chest.
Most notable for early Western observers was the piercing many young men endure as part of the ritual. Frederick Schwatka wrote about a Sioux Sun Dance he witnessed in the late 1800s:
Each one of the young men presented himself to a medicine-man, who took between his thumb and forefinger a fold of the loose skin of the breast—and then ran a very narrow-bladed but sharp knife through the skin—a stronger skewer of bone, about the size of a carpenter's pencil was inserted. This was tied to a long skin rope fastened, at its other extremity, to the top of the sun-pole in the center of the arena. The whole object of the devotee is to break loose from these fetters. To liberate himself he must tear the skewers through the skin, a horrible task that even with the most resolute may require many hours of torture.
A common explanation is that a flesh offering is given as part of a prayer.
Though only some Nations' Sun Dances include the piercings, the Canadian Government outlawed some of the practices of the Sun Dance in 1880, and the United States government followed suit in 1904.
This sacred ceremony is now again fully legal (since Jimmy Carter's presidency in the United States) and is still practiced in the United States and Canada. Women are now allowed to dance but are not required to pierce their skin as the men are, in the dances where they pierce (some do not do it at all, such as the Shoshoni in Wyoming). They may pierce if they desire to. A Sundancer must commit to dancing for four years, for the four compass directions. It is a prayer of great self sacrifice for one's community and the people.
Contents [hide]
1 The Sun Dance in Canada
2 References
3 Films
4 See also
5 External link
[edit] The Sun Dance in Canada
Although the Government of Canada, through the Department of Indian Affairs, officially persecuted Sun Dance practitioners and attempted to suppress the Sun Dance, the ceremony was never legally prohibited. However, the flesh-sacrifice and gift-giving features were legally outlawed in 1895 through a legislated amendment to the Indian Act, however these were non-essential components of the ceremony. Regardless of the legalities, Indian agents, based on directives from their superiors, did however routinely interfere with, discouraged, and disallowed sun dances on many Canadian plains reserves starting in 1882 until the 1940’s. Despite the subjugation, sun dance practitioners, such as the Plains Cree, Saulteaux, and Blackfoot, continued to hold Sun Dances throughout the persecution period, minus the prohibited features, some in secret, and others with permissions from their agents. At least one Cree or Saulteaux Rain Dance has occurred each year since 1880 somewhere on the Canadian Plains. In 1951 government officials revamped the Indian Act and dropped the legislation that forbade flesh-sacrificing and gift-giving In Canada, the Sun Dance is known by the Plains Cree as the Thirst Dance, the Saulteaux (Plains Objibwa), as the Rain Dance and the Blackfoot (Siksika, Kainai,& Piikani) as the Medicine Dance. It was also practised by the Canadian Siouxs (Dakota and Nakoda), the Dene, and the Canadian Assiniboines.
sorry for the authentic coment at the beginning of this wicky article But that is the world of today.......
I did not see fit to cut it out and thereby alter the information.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
D/L/Nakota tradition dictates that sundancing ceremonies are not to be discussed with the fat takers (wasicus). The general rule is to keep your mouth shut, your eyes and ears open.
The Sun Dance is a ritual performed by love a number of different native tribes. Each tribe has its own distinctive rituals and methods of performing the dance, but many of the ceremonies have features in common, including dancing, singing and drumming, the experience of visions, fasting, and in some cases, piercing, of the chest.
Most notable for early Western observers was the piercing many young men endure as part of the ritual. Frederick Schwatka wrote about a Sioux Sun Dance he witnessed in the late 1800s:
Each one of the young men presented himself to a medicine-man, who took between his thumb and forefinger a fold of the loose skin of the breast—and then ran a very narrow-bladed but sharp knife through the skin—a stronger skewer of bone, about the size of a carpenter's pencil was inserted. This was tied to a long skin rope fastened, at its other extremity, to the top of the sun-pole in the center of the arena. The whole object of the devotee is to break loose from these fetters. To liberate himself he must tear the skewers through the skin, a horrible task that even with the most resolute may require many hours of torture.
A common explanation is that a flesh offering is given as part of a prayer.
Though only some Nations' Sun Dances include the piercings, the Canadian Government outlawed some of the practices of the Sun Dance in 1880, and the United States government followed suit in 1904.
This sacred ceremony is now again fully legal (since Jimmy Carter's presidency in the United States) and is still practiced in the United States and Canada. Women are now allowed to dance but are not required to pierce their skin as the men are, in the dances where they pierce (some do not do it at all, such as the Shoshoni in Wyoming). They may pierce if they desire to. A Sundancer must commit to dancing for four years, for the four compass directions. It is a prayer of great self sacrifice for one's community and the people.
Contents [hide]
1 The Sun Dance in Canada
2 References
3 Films
4 See also
5 External link
[edit] The Sun Dance in Canada
Although the Government of Canada, through the Department of Indian Affairs, officially persecuted Sun Dance practitioners and attempted to suppress the Sun Dance, the ceremony was never legally prohibited. However, the flesh-sacrifice and gift-giving features were legally outlawed in 1895 through a legislated amendment to the Indian Act, however these were non-essential components of the ceremony. Regardless of the legalities, Indian agents, based on directives from their superiors, did however routinely interfere with, discouraged, and disallowed sun dances on many Canadian plains reserves starting in 1882 until the 1940’s. Despite the subjugation, sun dance practitioners, such as the Plains Cree, Saulteaux, and Blackfoot, continued to hold Sun Dances throughout the persecution period, minus the prohibited features, some in secret, and others with permissions from their agents. At least one Cree or Saulteaux Rain Dance has occurred each year since 1880 somewhere on the Canadian Plains. In 1951 government officials revamped the Indian Act and dropped the legislation that forbade flesh-sacrificing and gift-giving In Canada, the Sun Dance is known by the Plains Cree as the Thirst Dance, the Saulteaux (Plains Objibwa), as the Rain Dance and the Blackfoot (Siksika, Kainai,& Piikani) as the Medicine Dance. It was also practised by the Canadian Siouxs (Dakota and Nakoda), the Dene, and the Canadian Assiniboines.
sorry for the authentic coment at the beginning of this wicky article But that is the world of today.......
I did not see fit to cut it out and thereby alter the information.
Attachments
Mi-Shell
Mi-Shell
How do other NA inspired decks deal with the subject?
Here first are 2 cards from the Quester Tarot: the Sun Dance Card shows a Mandan inspired scene but it stands for "the Hanged Man, as also there someone is giving up all control and suffers for the tribe and to have a vision of and how to continue life in a sacred manner....
And then there is the Sun card like we know it...
A similar scene we have in the Magda Gonzales NA Tarot: in place of the Hanged man the Sun Dancer in the lodge...
The Vision Quest has no culturaly sensitive cards of any "of limit" ceremonies or otherwise problematic actions and shows the Sun Card as we know it.
By the Way: Is anybody out there reading all this or am I talking Bullsh... to myself??? It sometimes happens, you know...
M.
Here first are 2 cards from the Quester Tarot: the Sun Dance Card shows a Mandan inspired scene but it stands for "the Hanged Man, as also there someone is giving up all control and suffers for the tribe and to have a vision of and how to continue life in a sacred manner....
And then there is the Sun card like we know it...
A similar scene we have in the Magda Gonzales NA Tarot: in place of the Hanged man the Sun Dancer in the lodge...
The Vision Quest has no culturaly sensitive cards of any "of limit" ceremonies or otherwise problematic actions and shows the Sun Card as we know it.
By the Way: Is anybody out there reading all this or am I talking Bullsh... to myself??? It sometimes happens, you know...
M.
Attachments
EarthAngel2911
Mi-Shell,
Thank you so much for this thread!! I've had this deck for some time, and although I love the artwork, I haven't truly been able to connect to it for lack of understanding.
I'm now "watching this thread"! I just wanted you to know how appreciative I am, and although you might be the only one "talking," I'm sure there are a lot of people learning from your insights.
Blessings,
Karen
Thank you so much for this thread!! I've had this deck for some time, and although I love the artwork, I haven't truly been able to connect to it for lack of understanding.
I'm now "watching this thread"! I just wanted you to know how appreciative I am, and although you might be the only one "talking," I'm sure there are a lot of people learning from your insights.
Blessings,
Karen
Debra
I'm watching, too, Mi-Shell. If you keep teaching, we'll keep learning.
Grizabella
Breezes said:
Try the Native American deck by Gonzalez and the book to go with it called Star Spider Speaks. It's very good, in my opinion.
Mi-Shell
Lyric said:
Yes, that is a very nice deck!
And I miss mine very much!
I borrowed it and the book to a friend/ aquaintance and her house burned down !!! with my deck and a few very good books I also had given her! Now I am patiently waiting id Great Spirit sees fit that I receive another copy.
the only thing however I had to do to my old copy was to change the Devil card! On it are white Buffalo dancers and Gahee' "crown"dancers and since I actively participated in both ceremonies I found this card very unbefitting of such Sacred Ceremonies!! So I changed the Devil card with the 10 of pipes, a Native Man overdressed in white fashion cloth looking like a drunk dandy. And the 2 different dancers from 2 different cultures together on or passing as the 10 of Wands/ pipes works for me too = Toooo much of a goooood thing... or "overkill"
Little Hare
i really would love this deck (LS one) but if i got it i'd be tempted to trim all the borders and key words off...
I think it would be great if you wrote a book Mi-shell, you have a wealth of knowledge about alot of things
I think it would be great if you wrote a book Mi-shell, you have a wealth of knowledge about alot of things
