Friday, May 31, 2013

UP HIGH

Jessica Alicia Bertrand

May 25, 2013



"Times would pass, old empires would fall and new one's take their place, the relations of classes had to change, before I discovered it is not the quality of goods and utility which matter, but movement; not where you are or what you have, but where you have come from, where you are going and the rate at which you are getting there. ~ CLR James 1901-1989



EDUCATION 2013: death of spirit


Racist School Closings in Washington, DC


Friday, 31 May 2013 00:00By Rania KhalekTruthout | News Analysis

READ STORY


Closing schools in Washington DC will not improve educational outcomes. Anyone who is a thinking parent sees this clearly. The track system is still in place in Washington DC. The expectation level for children is purposefully low. The teachers are subjugated by the insistence of passing tests to keep money coming to the school, their jobs, and creativity is not respected in the gifted and creative teachers. The things that need changing are not in the building or tearing down of school buildings, or grandstanding as is the custom. What is needed is the expansion of the ideas, and techniques that always work for starters.

I learned bitterly living in the United States how low a priority children are, and for the most part how much money is made off of the under development of a child. To me, an Elder from Greenland, said about the American culture, "We (Americans) kill our grandchildren to feed our children." - Gregory E. Woods 5.31.13



Lindsay Lohan saying fuck off !!!!


Portrait of a BLACK MAN

Eye of the Tiger. Copyright 2011 Peter Salama. All Rights Reserved 
Peter Salama Photography




"It is not common for photographers to capture the images of Black Women skillfully for print media. Rare is the portrayal of Black masculinity in a pure form not surrounded by pretense, or the repulsive tendency to feminize. This study of a man, a Black man in a pure form of intensity as a beautiful form, an intelligent face allows me to look and see a mother's touch, and a father's introspective insight into his son.

All sons are sent into the world as gifts or parasites. But every son sent into the world knows a period of time of being cherished, and here in this portrait of a Man is the reflection of not only a pensive beauty with and of a man, but the reflection of being cared for into his adulthood as a gift you, the photographer captured thoughtfully, Peter Salama." ~ Gregory E. Woods 5.31.13




BLACK HAIR & BODY


Black model Marlene 15






HAIR & BLACK WOMEN

"I think many people, especially from other cultures, just don’t understand the role hair plays in Black women’s lives. I can now transform the energy surrounding my hair into something way more productive. Now that [my hair is] growing back, I’m kind of in that in-between stage. Previously, I would have said, “I’m straightening it again; it’s just becoming too much work.” But I think the key is to find styles that give me flexibility."- Solange Knowles
























The contrasts between women in ancient times who were connected to their wombs, and to the Earth, our Mother by breath, by knowing, and today's 'modern woman' disconnected from the ancient rituals and ties to their wombs, or trying to make those connections is a stark revelation. I watch, and participate in young lives. What we, as adults, say and don't say acts in children's lives. Their portrayals of us, and our angst, contradictions, and joys, and discoveries come out in child's play as mirrors. What is often reflected back our direction frightens us, but not enough to make many of us re-connect with the essentials because of our attachments that cannot stand up against our deaths. Why is that? is one question.

How is this related to hair? Every which way ceremony is connected to the beginning, the middle and the end of life before resurrection. – Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 11.9.12



big black model in color

Thursday, May 30, 2013

101 powerful women

The ranking and photos of
Power Women

Michelle Obama a diner honoring Mexican president Felipe Calderon in 2010

The Harvard grad and former corporate attorney (and husband Barack Obama's boss) actively uses her platform as first lady to fight childhood obesity and promote healthier eating and lifestyles. With 67% of Americans viewing Michelle Obama in a positive light, she's more popular than her husband by far (47%)...  This year alone she's appeared on the shows of Katie Couric and Jimmy Fallon and announced the Best Picture for the Academy Awards 2013 

SPOTLIGHT: At a keynote address in March, she kept it real, saying "It wasn't that long ago that I was juggling a demanding job with two small children and a husband who traveled."

Michelle OBAMA



Hillary Clinton is fine.

The whole world is watching: Will Hillary run? Clinton has a CV full of firsts: She is the only First Lady to become a U.S. senator turned viable presidential candidate turned Secretary of State. Now a private citizen, she holds her position as one of the most powerful women on the planet with all bets on that she will be the 2016 Democratic presidential candidate and likely next leader of the free world. The polls don't lie. 65% of Democrats say they'll vote Team Hillary, while another poll has her beating the two Republican forerunners by 52%. Her only speed bump now is the Benghazi controversy. And while Bill Clinton calls speculation about his wife's intention to run as "the worst expenditure of our time," she's done little to quiet the chatter, including hitting the speaking circuit last month at an estimated $200,000 fee per event and inking a reported $14 million book deal

2013 
SPOTLIGHT: Super PAC Ready for Hillary, launched in April, has nearly 150,000 Facebook likes, over 60,000 Twitter followers and more than 1,000 financial contributions.

Hillary Clinton 






Forbes' 9th of 12 Power Women of May 2013

Facebook's COO, Sheryl Sandberg, in photo by James Martin, was wooed from Google in 2008. Her base salary is a mere $300,00 a year, in addition to 1.9 million shares worth $72 million. The real money, as they say, will come as her restricted stock vests. 

Facebook's COO incited a new conversation on feminism in the workplace with her March 2013 book, "Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead." The manifesto sold nearly 150,000 copies in its first week and has held the top non-fiction spot on bestseller lists since. But Sandberg's biggest success of the year may have happened right in Menlo Park. After adding ads to its mobile news feed, Facebook earned more U.S. mobile revenue than any other publisher in 2012, with an 18.4% share of the entire market. The April release of "Home," the new Facebook phone, will reportedly allow companies to send advertising directly to users' smartphones even if the home screen is locked. 2013 SPOTLIGHT: One year after Facebook's initial public offering, the company's stock is down roughly 30%. - {source}


ENLIGHTENMENT is. . .

Jennifer Crystal 



"Dictionary definition: Enlightenment — the action or state of attaining or having attained spiritual knowledge or insight, in particular (in Buddhism) that awareness which frees a person from the cycle of rebirth." - Christopher Icha https://www.facebook.com/christopher.icha.9



"… I am beginning to understand how powerful it is to stand out on your own, to think more deeply, and to throw out all that we have been taught even from gurus and spiritual teachers. One has to find their own way. This indeed is one person’s opinion of enlightenment and indeed there are thousands more that are just as profound... What is yours? No need to tell me, simply know for yourself." - Pablo Imani https://www.facebook.com/pablo.imani from Uganda (nov. 2012)




"Enlightenment is also innerstanding dark and light are active energies. In light, we have shade (darkness). In dark, we have light (m00n and stars). oooOHMmm..." - Ralan Ahku Tehuti https://www.facebook.com/ralan.tehuti.7 




Jennifer Crystal, model

IN THE LONG AGO TOMORROW

a compelling image from gallery
of  
Selket Anun Seshat 



A Story


... from the rubble of the last war the statue of the ‘ideal’ national governments fought against, in the name of their Popes, and Holy Fathers, towered. She was now a timeless wonder in the dying consciousness, and cultures that feared the symbol and actual powers of the wombs she may have, and eventually did open up would rob the Holy Men of their contrived power, and send them into a kind of poverty they'd never envisioned for themselves.

It was centuries in the making, but in a few short months that war ended the shortages of food and resources as the last vestiges of Old Power(s) shifted in the ash and fallout of the calamities of war, and disease. Little girls and under-developed women emerged from hiding seeking scraps of their former lives. In tattered dresses and broken spirits girls, dazed by the onslaught of silence after months of deafening roars of sound stumbled into the clearings, and from now opened passages from underground, and beneath houses into the gray light a new day said to them, “Come.”  - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 11.9.12 



Wednesday, May 29, 2013

WHO WILL SURVIVE AMERICA?

Baby


"The balanced souls, the enlightened minds, and the expanded spirits of the individuals within a collective of balanced souls, enlightened minds, and expanded spirits. Who will survive in America? Not the sluggard or the dull, those weakened by following, or shamed by striving. The survivalist will organized conscious awareness into a force of Nature, of their natures that will shudder against the hold of darkness upon the fringes of light giving people hope of the Messiah within them.  

That's what I sense." - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 5.16.13





THE RIGHT TO BE BLACK IN AMERICA
Lioness Daiba Sala

Dragon Fly

Yellow mystique & BLACK illusion

"Love being a woman because you can fight in the men's world equally and after all we can wear mini dress but men can't." ~ Rumiko McCarthy 

Rumiko McCarthy posing on May 15, 2013



Dani J.
May 5, 2013


HIGH FASHION

I Freaking Love Sneakers


April 14, 2013
Stacy Keibler in her Air Jordans

Amour Creole


model, Ananias Jean-Louis



Lindsay Cowles' ART

LINDSAY COWLES art
April 29, 2013
Untitled 42813- 48"x72" oil on canvas. Available for sale. lindsaycowlesfineart@gmail.com 

I don't know why, don't have an explanation for it, but the colors, and how they are arranged to stand upright, and lay down beckons me. I want to merge within the elusive thoughts that come together in this landscape. 

You dig what I'm saying? - Gregory E. Woods



2 new paintings drying in the studio
April 27, 2013


SPORTS RAGE

This scene is the very reason I decided not to develop my natural athletic talents into a possible career, and why I used to attend ball games armed when I was a younger man. . . - Gregory 

May 8, 2013

I Freaking Love Sneakers

STONE TALK

Glenis Fay Tinirau with family March 25, 2012


Kia Ora, I would like to share with you all an experience that happened yesterday morning with me.

A friend of mine who does Astrology picked me up to go to Cape Hillsborough to visit another friend staying by the beach there.On the way as she was driving down the range my hands started moving and doing all these wave movements and making like animal shapes and also my breathing changed to like swooshing and blowing out.When i looked out the side window there were these big beautiful rock formations and it flew out of my mouth that it was lizard energy.When we got to the bottom my body had bent over like being an old person and my friend said to me that i had picked up on the energy.

We drove along a few more kilometres and my hands started up again doing all these movements and there again in front of us was another rock formation. This time it came out of my mouth that it was rainbow serpent energy.When i got home i said karakia and lay down and slept for a few hours.

This has also happened to me when my hubby and i were home last year on holiday down the South Island when he was driving us along Lake Hawea my hands started doing all these movements that i couldn't stop until the rock formations were out of my sight. I have had a lot of other experiences that has happened to me since 2009. ~  Glenis Fay Tinirau 5.28.13


Jan. 9, 2012


PLAIN TRUE


“Strong beauty is plain and simple with more clarity than the assumptions of youth.” 
– Gregory E. Woods 11.9.12




Kelly Park Garnica



Circle of Light & Color





"Every fish that swims silent,
Every bird that flies freely,
Every doe that steps softly,
Every crisp leaf that falls,
All the flowers that grow,
On this colorful tapestry,
Somehow they know,
That if man is allowed,
To destroy all we need,
He will soon have to pay
With his life
For his greed."

 - Asia Abissinya Jobe













Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Advertiser

Gretchen Bonaduce for her perfume line by Kat Attack Photography September 4th of 2012.




BOND

September 4, 2012
Kat Attack Photography

What is sweeter than a bond? - GEW 


LINES & COLOR


This is a Richard Anuszkiewicz exhibition at the David Richard Gallery 


works of a BLACK PHOTOGRAPHER

2012

1967



actress Edina Ronay as Saria
in Prehistoric Women !!!!
 1967 was climaxing into a euphoric cascade of dreams, color, lights and possibilities the 20th century had not anticipated and the 21st century could not do without! Actress Edina Ronay played Saria in the movie, Prehistoric Women, and taboos were falling down like women’s panties in 1967. Sexual energies permeated the air, the atmosphere like no other time in our conscious history. Sensitive to it were the old, and the very young. It shaped a whole generation, but made a mistake we bear the brunt of responsibility for in this century: our inability to provide our children with the Elders to acknowledge existence in life, and facilitate the continuation of life introduced through initiation to develop the mastery of sexual energies, thus opening the channels to deeper lives with deeper perceptions into the life given at birth. It has proven to be a fatal flaw in the character of a nation claiming to lead the world towards freedom. © Gregory E. Woods 11.04.12


actress Edina Ronay as Saria
in Prehistoric Women !!!!





Monday, May 27, 2013

TIES THAT BIND


Galleries

There is an actress, Camilla Belle, I saw in a movie, 10,000 B.C. playing a young woman named Evolet. Her people, the Yahahl lived in a remote and cold mountain range in the Urals surviving off of the hunt. Under the spiritual direction, and powers of the tribes’ Wise Woman, whom they respectfully called Old Mother, the men hunted woolly Mammoths. The White Spear, a prized possession given to the hunter who brought down the woolly Mammoth, motivated the men, and marked a hunter a man among men!
 
 The story, narrated by Omar Sharif, whom in his youth swelled the hearts of millions of women, and astonished men with his voice, and his elegance, tells of the intense love between young Evolet, and an orphaned boy, D’Leh. Others ridiculed the boy because they believed his father had abandoned the tribe out of fear, thus labeling his orphaned son a coward. During the hunt D’Leh kills the beast, and wins the White Spear, but in his sense of integrity young D’Leh thinks the accident he had that killed the Mammoth did not earn him the right to carry the coveted White Spear. Returning it to the man who took care of him, Tic Tic,  the previous carrier of the spear, he also loses Evolet, to whom he’d made a vow of commitment, and who came along with the prestige of the White Spear. His decision breaks her heart, and would have, had not the village been raided, and Evolet stolen, returned to him the shame and ridicule of his growing up years.

Receiving the blessing and the strength of Old Mother’s powers from her Dreamtime Medicines a small party of Yahahl men track the invaders through snow, a wet jungle, and a desert. There are many dangers faced from the land, and internally the ever evolving young D’Leh is learning, unlearning, and discovering who he is, and why his value system stands a contrast to the fellows he grew up with. He learns profound things about himself, and motivated by love discovers other dimensions of love village life might never have revealed to him. He learns who is father is and what his father planted within his son, at great cost to his own soul. The sacrifice, and the tenacity within his father and passed to his son spearhead a revolt within the boy shaking away the tentacles of old beliefs, old understandings. This emboldens him in an entirely new cultural setting in a dance to the death to capture, and embrace his beloved woman.

Both Evolet and D’Leh are children of prophecies. Their ordeal does not go unnoticed by Old Mother. She saw it all in her dreaming. Bound by a code of conduct unique to her craft since the beginning of ‘soul doctoring’ in the ancient past, the old Shaman held the words of her mouth and understanding allowing prophecies, or patterns to work themselves out into the design people and events flow into and from. It is a standard and a worldview Shamans carry silently within despite every obstacle and challenge unfathomable to the people, and communities they serve.

The story leads to the deep contradictions of powerful men over people, and finally the fact of bondage, of slavery comes to the forefront challenging love, and commitment! The young warrior is now leading tribes of men into a great city, and the psychological, cultural, and spiritual dilemma of bondage confronts him with a life and death choice. This level of combat is spiritual warfare, and the story presents the timeless dance of life-death-resurrection into the man D’Leh, and his woman Evolet with penetrating energies! Their souls marry through Death before they are married in the eyes of the state, which leads to two questions: What is Marriage? Is initiation fundamentally important to marriage? © Gregory E. Woods 11.04.12


actor Steven Strait as D'Leh in movie 10,000 B.C.
The name D'Leh is an anagram for "Held" which is the German, Dutch & Afrikaans word for hero.

Evolet held by D'Leh in movie 10,000 B.C.
The name Evolet is an anagram for "t(h)e love".
She is among the few survivors of her tribe, and unique for her blue eyes.




CAMILLA BELLE, the roundness of character. . .


Actress Camilla Belle's mother is Brazilian, her father is American. An only child. Speaks fluent English and Portuguese. Likes Brazilian food: feijoada (typical plate made with pork and beans), pão-de-queijo (typical bread made with cheese) and brigadeiro (sweet made with chocolate). Daughter of Cristina Routh. She was named after actress Renata Sorrah's character, Camila, in the Brazilian soap opera "Cavalo de Aço" (1973). 


Camilla likes to watch Brazilian soap operas with her grandmother Deborah and used to visit her mother's family in São Paulo. People call her by middle name Belle. Attended Marlborough School, an elite all girls school in Los Angeles. She is an aspiring classical pianist. She has also been involved in various charities and is an international spokesperson for "Kids With A Cause", created to provide a helping hand to children suffering from poverty, hunger, lack of education, neglect or abuse. http://www.listal.com/camilla-belle


Camilla Belle







Mrs. Pfiester

Bonnie Pfiester is a powerful affirmation of Life. - Gregory 


http://www.pFITblog.com
http://www.pFIESTERpFIT.com

phone:  (772) 778-7867

SEE against the trend



SEE THIS?

The words, 'Working out without tracking what you eat, is like working without tracking what you spend.' directly opposes and removes the sanctity of eating for me. Food, its preparation, the way food looks and smells, and eating food  have always been sacred acts, and pure joy since I was a boy. The scientific approach to eating separates the essentials of Life one from the other. - Gregory E. Woods 5.27.13


Hmmm...



actress Goldie HAWN gallery



HAWAIIAN GHOST TESTING

Hawaiian Ghost Testing – Hawaiian

MANOA VALLEY for centuries has been to the Hawaiians the royal palace of rainbows. The mountains at the head of the valley were gods whose children were the divine wind and rain from whom was born the beautiful rainbow-maiden who plays in and around the valley day and night whenever misty showers are touched by sunlight or moonlight.

The natives of the valley usually give her the name of Kahalaopuna, or The Hala of Puna. Sometimes, however, they call her Kaikawahine Anuenue, or The Rainbow Maiden. The rainbow, the anuenue, marks the continuation of the legendary life of Kahala.

The legend of Kahala is worthy of record in itself, but connected with the story is a very interesting account of an attempt to discover and capture ghosts according to the methods supposed to be effective by the Hawaiian witch doctors or priests of the long, long ago.

The legends say that the rainbow-maiden had two lovers, one from Waikiki, and one from Kamoiliili, half-way between Manoa and Waikiki. {p. 85} Both wanted the beautiful arch to rest over their homes, and the maiden, the descendant of the gods, to dwell therein.

Kauhi, the Waikiki chief, was of the family of Mohoalii, the shark-god, and partook of the shark's cruel nature. He became angry with the rainbow-maiden and killed her and buried the body, but her guardian god, Pueo, the owl, scratched away the earth and brought her to life. Several times this occurred, and the owl each time restored the buried body to the wandering spirit. At last the chief buried the body deep down under the roots of a large koa-tree. The owl-god scratched and pulled, but the roots of the tree were many and strong. His claws were entangled again and again. At last he concluded that life must be extinct and so deserted the place.

The spirit of the murdered girl was wandering around hoping that it could be restored to the body, and not be compelled to descend to Milu, the Under-world of the Hawaiians. Po was sometimes the Under-world, and Milu was the god ruling over Po. The Hawaiian ghosts did not go to the home of the dead as soon as they were separated from the body. Many times, as when rendered unconscious, it was believed that the spirit had left the body, but for some reason had been able to come back into it and enjoy life among friends once more.

Kahala, the rainbow-maiden, was thus restored several times by the owl-god, but with this last failure it seemed to be certain that the body would grow cold and stiff before the spirit could return. The spirit hastened to and fro in great distress, trying to attract attention.

If a wandering spirit could interest some one to render speedy aid, the ancient Hawaiians thought that a human being could place the spirit back in the body. Certain prayers and incantations were very effective in calling the spirit back to its earthly home. The Samoans had the same thought concerning the restoration of life to one who had become unconscious, and had a special prayer, which was known as the prayer of life, by which the spirit was persuaded to return into its old home. The Hervey Islanders also had this same conception of any unconscious condition. They thought the spirit left the body but when persuaded to do so returned and brought the body back to life. They have a story of a woman who, like the rainbow-maiden, was restored to life several times.

The spirit of Kahala was almost discouraged. The shadows of real death were encompassing her, and the feeling of separation from the body was becoming more and more permanent. At last she saw a noble young chief approaching. He was Mahana, the chief of Kamoiliili. The spirit hovered over him and around him and tried to impress her anguish upon him.

Mahana felt the call of distress, and attributed it to the presence of a ghost, or aumakua, a ghost-god. He was conscious of an influence leading him toward a large koa-tree. There he found the earth disturbed by the owl-god. He tore aside the roots and discovered the body bruised and disfigured and yet recognized it as the body of the rainbow-maiden whom he had loved.

In the King Kalakaua version of the story Mahana is represented as taking the body, which was still warm, to his home in Kamoiliili.

Mahana's elder brother was a kahuna, or witchdoctor, of great celebrity. He was called at once to pronounce the prayers and invocations necessary for influencing the spirit and the body to reunite. Long and earnestly the kahuna practised all the arts with which he was acquainted and yet completely failed. In his anxiety he called upon the spirits of two sisters who, as aumakuas, watched over the welfare of Mahana's clan. These spirit-sisters brought the spirit of the rainbow-maiden to the bruised body and induced it to enter the feet. Then, by using the forces of spirit-land, while the kahuna chanted and used his charms, they pushed the spirit of Kahala slowly up the body until "the soul was once more restored to its beautiful tenement."

The spirit-sisters then aided Mahana in restoring the wounded body to its old vigor and beauty. Thus many days passed in close comradeship between Kahala and the young chief, and they learned to care greatly for one another.

But while Kauhi lived it was unsafe for it to be known that Kahala was alive. Mahana determined to provoke Kauhi to personal combat; therefore he sought the places which Kauhi frequented for sport and gambling. Bitter words were spoken and fierce anger aroused until at last, by the skilful use of Kahala's story, Mahana led Kauhi to admit that he had killed the rainbow-maiden and buried her body.

Mahana said that Kahala was now alive and visiting his sisters.

Kauhi declared that if there was any one visiting Mahana's home it must be an impostor. In his anger against Mahana he determined a more awful death than could possibly come from any personal conflict. He was so sure that Kahala was dead that he offered to be baked alive in one of the native imus, or ovens, if she should be produced before the king and the principal chiefs of the district. Akaaka, the grandfather of Kahala, one of the mountain-gods of Manoa Valley, was to be one of the judges.

This proposition suited Mahana better than a conflict, in which there was a possibility of losing his own life.

Kauhi now feared that some deception might be practised. His proposition had been so eagerly accepted that he became suspicious; therefore he consulted the sorcerers of his own family. They agreed that it was possible for some powerful kahuna to present the ghost of the murdered maiden and so deceive the judges. They decided that it was necessary to be prepared to test the ghosts.

If it could be shown that ghosts were present, then the aid of "spirit catchers" from the land of Milu could be invoked. Spirits would seize these venturesome ghosts and carry them away to the spirit-land, where special punishments should be meted out to them. It was supposed that "spirit catchers" were continually sent out by Milu, king of the Under-world.

How could these ghosts be detected? They would certainly appear in human form and be carefully safeguarded. The chief sorcerer of Kauhi's family told Kauhi to make secretly a thorough test. This could be done by taking the large and delicate leaves of the ape-plant[1] and spreading them over the place where Kahala Must walk and sit before the judges. A human being could not touch these leaves so carefully 
[1. Gunnera petaloides.]

placed without tearing and bruising them. A ghost walking upon them could not make any impression. Untorn leaves would condemn Mahana to the ovens to be baked alive, and the spirit catchers would be called by the sorcerers to seize the escaped ghost and carry it back to spirit-land. Of course, if some other maid of the islands had pretended to be Kahala, that could be easily determined by her divine ancestor Akaaka. The trial was really a test of ghosts, for the presence of Kahala as a spirit in her former human likeness was all that Kauhi and his chief sorcerer feared. The leaves were selected with great care and secretly placed so that no one should touch them but Kahala. There was great interest in this strange contest for a home in a burning oven. The imus had been prepared: the holes had been dug, and the stones and wood necessary for the sacrifice laid close at hand.

The king and judges were in their places. The multitude of retainers stood around at a respectful distance. Kauhi and his chief sorcerer were placed where they could watch closely every movement of the maiden who should appear before the judgment-seat.

Kahala, the rainbow-maiden, with all the beauty of her past girlhood restored to her, drew near, attended by the two spirit-sisters who had saved and protected her. The spirits knew at once the ghost test by which Kahala was to be tried. They knew also that she had nothing to fear, but they must not be discovered. The test applied to Kahala would only make more evident the proof that she was a living human being, but that same test would prove that they were ghosts, and the spirit-catchers would be called at once and they would be caught and carried away for punishment. The spirit-sisters could not try to escape. Any such attempt would arouse suspicion and they would be surely seized. The ghost-testing was a serious ordeal for Kahala and her friends.

The spirit-sisters whispered to Kahala, telling her the purpose attending the use of the ape leaves and asking her to break as many of them on either side of her as she could without attracting undue attention. Thus she could aid her own cause and also protect the sister-spirits. Slowly and with great dignity the beautiful rainbow-maiden and her friends passed through the crowds of eager attendants to their places before the king. Kahala bruised and broke as many of the leaves as she could quietly. She was recognized at once as the child of the divine rain and wind of Manoa Valley. There was no question concerning her bodily presence. The torn leaves afforded ample and indisputable testimony.

Kauhi, in despair, recognized the girl whom he had several times tried to slay. In bitter disappointment at the failure of his ghost-test the chief sorcerer, as the Kalakaua version of this legend says, "declared that he saw and felt the presence of spirits in some manner connected with her." These spirits, he claimed, must be detected and punished.

A second form of ghost-testing was proposed by Akaaka, the mountain-god. This was a method frequently employed throughout all the islands of the Hawaiian group. It was believed that any face reflected in a pool or calabash of water was a spirit face. Many times had ghosts been discovered in this way. The face in the water had been grasped by the watcher, crushed between his hands, and the spirit destroyed.

The chief sorcerer eagerly ordered a calabash of water to be quickly brought and placed before him. In his anxiety to detect and seize the spirits who might be attending Kahala he forgot about himself and leaned over the calabash. His own spirit face was the only one reflected on the surface of the water. This spirit face was believed to be his own true spirit escaping for the moment from the body and bathing in the liquid before him. Before he could leap back and restore his spirit to his body Akaaka leaped forward, thrust his hands down into the water and seized and crushed this spirit face between his mighty hands. Thus it was destroyed before it could return to its home of flesh and blood.

The chief sorcerer fell dead by the side of the calabash by means of which he had hoped to destroy the friends of the rainbow-maiden.

In this trial of the ghosts the two most powerful methods of making a test as far as known among the ancient Hawaiians were put in practice.

Kauhi was punished for his crimes against Kahala. He was baked alive in the imu prepared on his own land at Waikiki. His lands and retainers were given to Kahala and Mahana.

The story of Kahala and her connection with the rainbows and waterfalls of Manoa Valley has been told from time to time in the homes of the nature-loving native residents of the valley.

Hawaiian Legends of Ghosts and Ghost-Gods, by W.D. Westervelt. Boston, G.H. Ellis Press [1916] and is now in the public domain.





Haudenosaunee / Iroquois Indian Tribe History


Iroquois (Algonkin: Irinakhoiw, 'real adders', with the French suffix -ois).  
  


   The confederation of Iroquoian tribes known in history, among other names, by that of the Five Nations, comprising theCayugaMohawkOneidaOnondaga, and Seneca. Their name for themselves as a political body was Oñgwanonsioñni', 'we are of the extended lodge.' Among the Iroquoian tribes kinship is traced through the blood of the woman only; kinship means membership in a family, and this in turn constitutes citizenship in the tribe, conferring certain social, political, and religious privileges, duties, and rights which are denied to persons of alien blood; but, by a legal fiction embodied in the right of adoption, the blood of the alien may be figuratively changed into one of the strains of the Iroquoian blood, and thus citizenship may be conferred on a person of alien lineage. 


In an Iroquoian tribe the legislative, judicial, and executive functions are usually exercised by one and the same class of persons, commonly called chiefs in English, who are organized into councils. There are three grades of chiefs. The chiefship is hereditary in certain of the simplest political units in the government of the tribe; a chief is nominated by the suffrages of the matrons of this unit, and the nomination is confirmed by the tribal and the federal councils. The functions of the 3 grades of chiefs are defined in the rules of procedure. When the 5 Iroquoian tribes were organized into a confederation, its government was only a development of that of the separate tribes, just as the government of each of the constituent tribes was a development of that of the several clans of which it was composed. The government of the clan was a development of that of the several brood families of which it was composed, and the brood family, strictly speaking, was composed of the progeny of a woman and her female descendants, counting through the female line only; hence the clan may be described as a permanent body of kindred, socially and politically organized, who trace actual and theoretical descent through the female line only. The simpler units surrendered part of their autonomy to the next higher units in such wise that the whole was closely interdependent and cohesive. The establishment of the higher unit created new rights, privileges, and duties. This was the principle of organization of the confederation of the five Iroquoian tribes. The date of the formation of this confederation (probably not the first, but the last of a series of attempts to unite the several tribes in a federal union) was not earlier than about the year 1570, which is some 30 years anterior to that of the Huron tribes.
     


The Delawares gave them the name Mingwe. The northern and western Algonquians called them Nadowa, 'adders'. The Powhatan called them Massawomekes. The English knew them as the Confederation of the Five Nations, and after the admission of the Tuscarora in 1722, as the Six Nations. Moreover, the names Maqua, Mohawk, Seneca, and Tsonnontowan, by which their leading tribes were called, were also applied to them collectively. 


The League of the Iroquois, when first known to Europeans, was composed of the five tribes, and occupied the territory extending from the East watershed of Lake Champlain to the west watershed of Genesee river, and from the Adirondacks southward to the territory of the Conestoga. The date of the formation of the league is not certain, but there is evidence that it took place about 1570, occasioned by wars with Algonquian and Huron tribes. The confederated Iroquois immediately began to make their united power felt. After the coming of the Dutch, from whom they procured firearms, they were able to extend their conquests over all the neighboring tribes until their dominion was acknowledged from Ottawa river to the Tennessee and from the Kennebec to Illinois rivers and Lake Michigan. Their westward advance was checked by the Chippewa; the Cherokee and the Catawba proved an effectual barrier in the south, while in the north they were hampered by the operations of the French in Canada. Champlain on one of his early expeditions joined a party of Canadian Indians against the Iroquois. This made them bitter enemies of the French, whom they afterward opposed at every step to the close of the French regime in Canada in 1763, while they were firm allies of the English. 


The French made several attempts through their missionaries to win over the Iroquois, and were so far successful that a considerable number of individuals from the different tribes, most of them Mohawk and Onondaga, withdrew from the several tribes and formed Catholic settlements at Caughnawaga, St Regis, and Oka, on the. St LawrenceThe tribes of the league repeatedly tried, but, without success, to induce them to return, and finally, in 1684, declared them to be traitors. In later wars the Catholic Iroquois took part with the French against their former brethren. On the breaking out of the American Revolution the League of the Iroquois decided not to take part in the conflict, but to allow each tribe to decide for itself what action to take. All the tribes, with the exception of the Oneida and about half of the Tuscarora, joined the English. After the revolution the Mohawk and Cayuga, with other Iroquoian tribes that were in the English interest, after several temporary assignments, were finally settled by the Canadian government on a reservation on Grand river, Ontario, where they still reside, although a few individuals emigrated to Gibson, Bay of Quinté, Caughnawaga, and St Thomas, Ontario. All the Iroquois in the United States are on reservations in New York with the exception of the Oneida, who are settled near Green Bay, Wis. The so-called Seneca of Oklahoma are composed of the remnants of many tribes, among which may be mentioned the Conestoga and Hurons, and of emigrants from all the tribes of the Iroquoian confederation. It is very probable that the nucleus of these Seneca was the remnant of the ancient Erie. The Catholic Iroquois of Caughnawaga, St Regis, and Oka, although having no connection with the confederation, supplied many recruits to the fur trade, and a large number of them have become permanently resident among the northwestern tribes of the United States and Canada.
     

The number of the Iroquois villages varied greatly at different periods and from decade to decade. In 1657 there were about 24, but after the conquest of the Erie the entire country from the Genesee to the west watershed of Lake Erie came into possession of the Iroquoian tribes, which afterward settled colonies on the upper waters of the Allegheny and Susquehanna and on the north shore of Lake Ontario, so that by 1750 their villages may have numbered about 50. The population of the Iroquois also varied much at different periods. Their constant wars greatly weakened them. In 1689 it was estimated that they had 2,250 warriors, who were reduced by war, disease, and defections to Canada, to 1,230 in 1698. Their losses were largely made up by their system of wholesale adoption, which was carried on to such an extent that at one time their adopted aliens were reported to equal or exceed the number of native Iroquois. Disregarding the extraordinary estimates of some early writers, it is evident that the modern Iroquois, instead of decreasing in population, have increased, and number more at present than at any former period. 


On account of the defection of the Catholic Iroquois and the omission of the Tuscarora from the estimates it was impossible to get a statement of the full strength of the Iroquois until within recent times. About the middle of the 17th century the Five Nations were supposed to have reached their highest point, and in 1677 and 1685 they were estimated at about 16,000. In 1689 they were estimated at about 12,850, but in the next 9 years they lost more than half by war and by desertions to Canada. The most accurate estimates for the 18th century gave to the Six Nations and their colonies about 10,000 or 12,000 souls. In 1774 they were estimated at 10,000 to 12,500. In 1904 they numbered about 16,100, including more than 3,000 mixed bloods, as follows:


In Ontario: Iroquois and Algonkin at Watha (Gibson), 139 (about one-half Iroquois); Mohawk of the Bay of Quinté, 1,271; Oneida of the Thames, 770; Six Nations on Grand river, 4,195 (including about 150 Delawares). In Quebec: Iroquois of Caughnawaga, 2,074; of St Regis, 1,426; of Lake of Two Mountains, 393. Total in Canada, about 10,418.
     


The Iroquois of New York in 1904 were distributed as follows: Onondaga and Seneca on Allegany res., 1,041; Cayuga, Onondaga, and Seneca on Cattaraugus res., 1,456; Oneida on Oneida res., 150; Oneida and Onondaga on Onondaga res., 513; St Regis res., 1,208; Cayuga and Seneca on Tonawanda res., 512; Onondaga and Tuscarora on Tuscarora res., 410. Total, 5,290.
    

 In 1905 there were also 366 Indians classed as Seneca under the Seneca School, Okla.

     The Algonquian and other Indians included with the Iroquois are probably outnumbered by the Caughnawaga and others in the Canadian northwest who are not separately enumerated.




·        Additional Iroquois Indian Resources
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Handbook of American Indians, 1906