WHAT SHE IS. . .

of Simone McLeod:



"I am looking into your face. It is not the beauty that holds me and keeps me looking into your face it is the statements you convey from the silence wrapped around you, and place in the shadows. Beauty isn't an announcement it is a state of being one's self, naked, firm, and in your story stoic, at times, and hard to categorize other times. What is beautiful to the eye holds my attention. What pertains to the heart stills the moment. What isn't said is as alive as what is conveyed in a glance, a song, a moment of awe and a reflection of essence..."  - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 6.15.14 [Father's Day]

Ojibwe artist Simone McLeod
May 15, 2014 

 

Simone McLeod

May 14, 2014 

 

A Creature Feared & Forgotten



Underwater Panther drawing when it was still on the bluff...

Underwater Panther

 This ancient animal being lived in the Great Lakes area and was encountered by the Oceti Sakowin and Ojibwe, it is just one of the historical beings our people knew along with the giants, giant snakes, giant turtles, giant bears, Bigfoot, stick people, dwarve people-little people, water monsters, and Star People just to name a few.

Known to the Ojibwe as the Mishibizhiw, or underwater panther, a creature of the underworld who lives in creeks and rivers, waiting to drown unsuspecting victims. According to a Sioux tale, the Mishibizhiw is covered in red hair. “Its body was shaped like that of a buffalo. It had one eye and in the middle of its forehead was one horn. Its backbone was just like a cross-cut saw; it was flat and notched like a saw or cogwheel.” Because of the creature’s characteristic dorsal fins and deadly, spiked tail, some have speculated that the Mishibizhiw is none other than the prehistoric stegosaurus.

 

An Ojibwe tale of an underwater panther reports that the creature lived on an island of mud in a lake that separated two tribal villages. The villagers usually avoided the island because of an evil spirit, but on one festival occasion, two girls crossing the lake came across the underwater panther. The creature flicked its tail at the boat as if to overturn it, so the girl took a swipe at it with an oar. The oar cut a piece right off the panther’s tail, which remained in the boat as a solid hunk of copper and brought them good luck in fishing and hunting for the rest of their lives.

If someone were to kill one or capture a part of it, they would attain great power and vitality as they were strong medicine; that's if they weren't eaten first!

Oceti Sakowin

On this subject, Khaŋǧí Thatéiyumni said, In Lakota/Dakota it's called "unktehi". The opposite if Wakinyan. They don't represent good and bad because we don't have that concept, but they represent order vs chaos. Lightning kills people but water drowns people. Wakinyan bring power and unktehi brings power and brought us the Wacipi Wakan ceremony. At one time more respected than Sundance, but put away in the early 1900s. "

Janna Flautt went further adding, "I was just doing some research on this two days ago. I grew up on the Mississippi River and there are many stories about these creatures there. This is a craving found in the Mississippi. We also have what is called the Piasa Bird. It is a painting now on a piece of metal It used to be painted on the bluffs themselves. I helped repaint it when I was young. They lost the rites to the spot on the bluffs where it was, to a barge line co. There are many theories about it. It is very interesting, if you go a chance, look it up..."

Underwater Panther drawing found in the Mississippi area.

 

Look into An Ojibwe Artist

Ojibwe artist Simone McLeod plain and simple. She once said, "I feel naked and bald without my hair."
March 20, 2014  

  

her legs...
March 16, 2014 

WHAT SHE CREATES. . .

Simone McLeod

Ojibwe artist Simone McLeod
May 12, 2014 

I love this illusion. It is like play when you see or perceive something or someone from the other worlds, but your vision plays tricks on your eyes until you either believe what you saw, or question it knowing it is really there! - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 6.15.14

one of the artist's works of art by Simone McLeod
May 26 , 2014

Something For This LIFE!

Simone McLeod

Gifted with something special for this journey in my life. Miigwech Zhaawano Giizhik for being so thoughtful. I love it.

Ojibwe artist Simone McLeod holding Bear jewelry.
May 12, 2014 

   

MY LIFE, A STORY

Simone McLeod, Ojibwe artist
April 25, 2014 

  

by Simone McLeod

"I get tired of struggling all the time. It would be nice to stop and just feel like a woman for a while." - Simone McLeod, artist March 21, 2014 

A FIRST NATION'S WOODLAND ARTIST

“Our pain as a people keeps my heart wrapped in tears. Provides inspiration to my fingertips that search this realm for lost hope. I am an artist, can you feel my love reaching out through my work?” - Simone McLeod

Ojibwe artist Simone McLeod  

HER STORY 

PAINTINGS AS MEDICINE BUNDLES

Simone's paintings have a spiritual content that is reminiscent of the spirit powers of the midewiyaanag (medicine bundles) that her ancestors carried - which were living objects, or manidoog in themselves. Made of animal skin, these bags were usually filled with spirit guardians and sacrificial and healing items, including small pouches of dried herbs and roots whose spiritual and protective properties aided in the curing of ailments. Like the midewiyaan, Simone's paintings carry and represent the beliefs and identity of her ancestors, their long migration history, their strength and resilience and healing as a People, as well as their innate kindness, generosity, and faith in a better future. But her paintings, no matter how colorful and positive in nature, also reflect the frustrations of her People, their collective tears and sorrows as she, as a person and an artist, daily faces the grim consequences of hundreds of years of ethnocide and social traumas that to this day threaten Anishinaabe-bimaadiziwin, the Aboriginal Way Of Life.

"UNITY OF THOUGHTS" by Simone McLeod

ABOUT THE PAINTING

______________________________________________________
Bezhigo-inendamowin, or bezhigwendaamowin. It means many things: the same thought, unity and conformity of thoughts and sentiments, concord; constancy. This piece, which I did in May 2013, is a tribute to friendship between people and clans and to growing together as individuals. The man in he painting, dressed in blue, represents waabizheshi doodem, the marten clan. Name doodem, the sturgeon fish clan, is represented by the woman, dressed in red. The red and yellow of the fire that I painted at the bottom is giving life to the people as depicted with the red and yellow unity circle in the male figure's arm- which is all also the centering point for the female. It is a story of Trust, Kinship, Strength, and many other of the virtues I paint into each painting that I do. I hope you all enjoy this piece. Miigwech.
________________________________________________________

artist, Simone McLeod
May 8 

art by Simone McLeod and Zhaawano Giizhik

ANISHINAABEWAKI (THE UNIVERSE OF THE ANISHINAABE PEOPLES)

An illustrated glossary showing a cross section of Anishinaabe Izhinamowin: the traditional worldview of the Ojibwe Anishinaabeg, who for the past 1000 years inhabit the North American Great Lakes area.

Animikii Binesi is one of the aadizookanag, his power prevented me to depict him though. You popped up even before I could tag the turtle by the way.  He is not depicted in the drawing but his spirit lives in the stories. The marks on the birch trees are his talon marks.


http://www.fisherstarcreations.com/data/docs/The-Traditional-Anishinaabe-World-View_0.pdf





MISHI MIKINAAKOMINIS NIIGIWIN (Birth Of The Great Turtle Island)

This pen and ink drawing tells the OJIBWE CREATION STORY of the world as we know it.

  

"Waabizheshi and the Mermaid"

"Aaniin. Biindigen! Hello, welcome to this blog!

Today's blog story is the first in a new series named "Love Stories From the Land of Many Lakes". 

It is a collection of love stories written and illustrated by myself and Simone McLeod. The stories are based on aadizookaanan (traditional stories) of our People, the Ojibwe Anishinaabeg from Gaa-zaaga'eganigak, the land of many lakes - the Great Lakes area of North America.

The stories are of a sacred, healing nature and told within a romantic context, their allegorical themes often provided with a personal touch.

Today, we tell the zaagi'iwewi-aadizookaan (sacred love story) of Waabizheshi and the Mermaid.* 

To our ancestors, Mermaids were metaphorical interpretations of fish, symbolizing temptation, their nature combining the qualities of beauty and treachery. Like Mermen, they belong to the world of the fish spirits. They are one of the giigoonhyag (fish clans), known for long life and baldness in old age." 

Love Stories From The Land Of Many Lakes, part 1

"A new story told and illustrated by Simone McLeod and Zhaawano Giizhik"



Ahaw, 'ngad aadzooke, “Now, I will tell a traditional story.”


Once upon a time two young men of the Ojibwe nation, named Name and Waabizheshi, were out fishing when a ferocious storm arose forcing them to take refuge on the shores of the bay. As the evening fell and they were lying comfortably underneath a shelter they had constructed of giizhikaandagoog (cedar branches) and watching the camp fire they heard above the thunder of the waves the melancholic, even mournful voice of a woman coming from the shore.

Then, above the thunder of waves and the lamenting woman’s voice, they heard another, even stranger voice, singing:

“Her head hangs low

as the days go on

nights are so lonely

she thought she had won

a heart that never knew

where true love hid

look up sweet mermaid

see what you did

shadows dancing past

in the moonlight glow

the scent of his skin

is one that you know

one up so high

he can only be the sky

dare you venture forth

never asking why?

oh but his world is not

where you belong

hold onto your gifts

learn how to be strong

sitting on a rock

when sun is reaching out

does he even hear you

when you're too shy to shout

lay your sleepy head

on the floor of the sea

hair so beautiful

a sight as black as night can be

curls that can rival

ocean’s strongest waves

a smile destined to make

any men her slaves

but sweet mermaid

your dilemma I do see

you only love the unknown one

the man you will never see...”

Waabizheshi rushed down to the beach. In doing this, he ignored the warnings of his wise friend who understood that the deep melancholy of the strange song was extremely dangerous because it was capable of drowning out a man’s own voice of reason and sense of self. Waabizheshi, however, was sure that the woman the strange voice sang about was in distress and, as he saw no one on the beach, he jumped into the rolling waves of the bay.

Waabizheshi thought he saw sitting on a rock in the water a beautiful woman with long pitch-black hair, thick and curly. But as soon as he reached the rock he was immediately pulled under! He passed out and when he regained consciousness, tayaa! he found himself amid aadizokanaa giigoonhyag (Fish-beings) who were part human and part fish and who, as he would find out later on, were able to shape shift in either a water being or a human being!

The Fish-beings told Waabizheshi that after drowning he had traveled through 4 levels of life and death before arriving in this strange land on the bottom of the lake.


Upon hearing this Waabizheshi shouted that he wanted to return to his people in the Land of the Living, but alas, the giigoo ogimaa (spokesman of the Fish-beings) shook his silver-gray head, telling him that this was not possible. Waabizheshi was told that the beautiful curly-headed woman who had lured him into the waters of the bay and into the Land of the Fish-beings had fallen in love with him. Waabizheshi was to marry her and they would have many children together and he would help the other Fish-beings to bring as many as possible of the Ojibwe to this new underwater land.

Understanding that he had no choice, Waabizheshi accepted his fate, knowing that there was no way he could ignore the love that the beautiful Nibiinaabekwe, whose name means Sleep Being Woman, held for him. At first, Waabizheshi felt no love for her, but one evening he heard her sing in a low and quiet voice:

“I close my eyes

attempt to sleep

upon my lids

what is this I see

his crooked smile

lines of his face

how he puts me

in a happy place

first thing I see

at morning’s light

last thing I say

at dark of night

a man whose skin

I have never touched

how can it be

I love him so much…”

Upon hearing Nibiinaabekwe sing her quiet love song, Waabizheshi fell in love with her and he finally consented to marry her. As predicted by the giigoo-ogimaa, they had many curly-headed children together. Waabizheshi was happy and content in his new land and his new family on the bottom on the lake. But since he was a curious person he asked Giigoo ogimaa if he could return to the Land of the Living to visit his parents. Gigoo ogimaa, knowing he could trust Waabizheshi, granted him and his children permission to visit the Land of the Living, but since he was a very wise fish person, he warned Waabizheshi that his visit might cause sorrow for him and his children, and also among his people, the Ojibwe. Waabizheshi, taking the ogimaa’s advise at heart, decided to go without his children.

Digi-painting "The Love Story Of Waabizheshi And The Mermaid " by Simone McLeod and Zhaawano Giizhik (2013).

Short after Waabizheshi resurfaced he found himself on the very same beach he had left, and to his surprise the gale was still raging and his friend Name was still calling his name over the waters of the bay!

Waabizheshi was struck dumb with astonishment and surprise. That he had gone to the land beneath the lake, married, and fathered children while the same storm was still beating the coastline and Name was shouting his name through the wind, was truly incomprehensible to him. Could his new life down there have happened in just the blink of an eye? Could it be that his descent to the lake’s underworld was measured by another time than the linear rule of time that governed the upper earth?

“Niijii! Maampii!” (Friend, I’m here!), Waabizheshi yelled out above the thundering waves and screaming gale, and he swam toward his friend who stood on the shore, transfixed to the earth and looking pale, his eyes showing anxiety and consternation. “Tayaa!” Name stammered. “You are nothing more than jiibay, a ghost! The treacherous Sleep-Being-Woman has seized you! How many times have you been warned that your curiosity would get you killed one day! What shall I tell your parents?”

Waabizheshi, smiling, placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Do not blame yourself niijii, what has happened was not your fault. And do not feel sorry for me, because I am perfectly happy with my new life. Do not bother, I will go to my parents myself.”


Waabizheshi left his friend on the shore and appeared to his parents in their dreams, recounting his adventures with the Fish People as if it happened years ago, although in their perception of time, it had happened last night.

Upon seeing their lost son his mother started to cry and his father lamented, “We warned you of Sleep-Being-Woman so many times but you didn't listen. Now she has taken hold of you, my son. And we will never see you again in this life.” He too started to weep.

Waabizheshi, however, did his best to console his parents, telling them how happy he was among the Fish-beings and telling them about their grandchildren, and he tried to convince them to return with him to the Land of the Fish-beings so that they could live with his family. But alas, no matter what he said, they refused with a shudder.

Waabizheshi, saddened that his parents would never meet their grandchildren, returned to his adoptive people, the Fish-beings. And although his heart was heavy with grief, he longed to see his curly-haired wife and his curly-haired children and he was glad that he would never have to live in the upper world again.

Giiwenh. Miigwech gibizindaw noongom mii dash gidibaajimotoon wa’aw zaagi'iwewi-aadizookaan. Bi-waabamishinaang miinawaa daga!

So the story goes. Thank you for listening to us today, to let us tell you about this sacred love story. Please come see us again!

Perfection, the concept of

Caroline Berg Erikson pregnant, still and beautiful. Give thanks to the Creator!

Mom under fire for her body

There is a story about a white woman who posted a picture of her slim aligned body on Instagram. It was remarkable because it was four days after giving birth, and she looked like she'd never carried a child full term. She looked like a woman fresh out of the gym, or away from the beach so fit she appeared. Well, being the wife of a professional athlete, and white and good looking didn't go well for her. Around the entire globe were reactions to her 'selfie', and many of them were unkind, didn't understand her, didn't want to like her or understand her, and there were the many who deeply resented what appeared to be an assault to the self-esteem of normal women whose bodies take time to either find a new shape, or return, if they are young enough, to its pre-pregnant form.

What the mother wrote about her condition expressed a sentiment only women would know and deeply understand. "I feel so empty... Four days after birth." read her caption. She may be genetically gifted as the prenatal nutritionist and spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Melinda Johnson said in the article I read by Beth Greenfield, about the mother in the line of fire, Caroline Berg Eriksen, "... "But we can't say she's unhealthy, we can't say [what] she is. The picture alone doesn't tell us anything at all about her health, the health of her pregnancy [or] even her happiness." 

What this story told more than anything else were stories of pain around esteem and social outrage at the fact of how little people have control of the images in their heads. The powerlessness in the tone of Mrs. Eriksen's critics was revelatory and at the same time painful in the stark honesty that comes after a blow to one's consciousness. Caroline Berg Eriksen's story is very much a part of all of us, and is within the Ojibwe story of how Beaver got his tail. As told by Roland LaBarge, whom I personally do not  know, it goes like this:

Once upon a time there was a beaver that loved to brag about his tail. One day while taking a walk, the beaver stopped to talk to a bird. The beaver said to the bird, "Don't you love my fluffy tail?"

"Why, yes I do little beaver," replied the bird.

"Don't you wish your feathers were as fluffy as my tail? Don't you wish your feathers were as strong as my tail? Don't you wish your feathers were just as beautiful as my tail?" the beaver asked.

"Why do you think so much of your tail, little beaver?" asked the bird. This insulted the beaver and he walked away.

After walking for a while, he stopped for a drink by the river and saw a muskrat. He walked to the muskrat and said, "Hello little muskrat. What do you think about my tail?"

"Well, it is very beautiful and big and fluffy," answered the muskrat. "Is it also a strong tail?"

"Why, yes it is," the beaver answered. "Do you wish you had a tail like mine?"

"I didn't say I wanted a tail like yours. I just asked if it was strong," the muskrat replied with a disgusted voice.

The beaver quickly turned and began walking back to his dam. He was angry because he felt that the animals were being rude to him. He was very upset and decided to take out his frustration by cutting down trees. After cutting down a couple of trees, he came to a very large one. He knew that it would be a great challenge for him. So he went to it. But as he was cutting, he kept thinking about his tail and didn't notice that he was cutting at a bad angle. Before he knew what was happening, the tree began to fall toward him. He jumped to get out of the way, but he didn't jump fast enough, and the huge tree fell on his beautiful tail! He tugged and pulled and finally dug away the earth to free himself. When he finally pulled his tail from under the tree, he was horrified to see that it was flat. The beaver was very sad and started to cry. As he was crying he heard a voice. It was the Creator.

"Why are you crying?" asked the Creator

"A tree has crushed my beautiful tail," the beaver cried. "Now no one will like me."

The Creator told him that a beaver is not liked for his tail but for his kindness and wisdom. He also told him how to use his flat tail. "Now your tail will help you swim rapidly," the Creator said. "And when you want to signal a message to a friend, all you have to do is slap your tail on the water."

Hearing this made the beaver happy again. When the animals saw his flattened tail they were shocked! But the beaver said, "It's better this way."

From that day on, the beaver never bragged about his tail, and all the animals liked him.

That's how the beaver got his flat tail.

The other side of these stories is the missing ingredient: sacredness. Pregnancy as discussed in the media outlets, and in the lexicon of modern life is not aligned with sacredness in a way that will change the levels of existence for millions of women thus changing dialogues within and amongst themselves into higher vibrational levels! When life givers change the world follows and changes raiment.

- Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 12.7.13

Caroline Berg Eriksen is a Norwegian fitness blogger and more importantly a mother and the wife of a professional athlete. 

SLEEP

Dreamcatcher Origin Story – Ojibway

Long ago in the ancient world of the Ojibwe Nation, the Clans were all located in one general area of that place known as Turtle Island. This is the way that the old Ojibwe storytellers say how Asibikaashi (Spider Woman) helped Wanabozhoo bring giizis (sun) back to the people. To this day, Asibikaashi will build her special lodge before dawn. If you are awake at dawn, as you should be, look for her lodge and you will see this miracle of how she captured the sunrise as the light sparkles on the dew which is gathered there.

Asibikaasi took care of her children, the people of the land, and she continues to do so to this day. When the Ojibwe Nation dispersed to the four corners of North America, to fill a prophecy, Asibikaashi had a difficult time making her journey to all those cradle boards, so the mothers, sisters and Nokomis (grandmothers) took up the practice of weaving the magical webs for the new babies using willow hoops and sinew or cordage made from plants. It is in the shape of a circle to represent how giizis travels each day across the sky.

The dream catcher will filter out all the bad bawedjigewin (dreams) and allow only good thoughts to enter into our minds when we are just abinooji.

You will see a small hole in the center of each dream catcher where those good bawadjige may come through. With the first rays of sunlight, the bad dreams would perish. When we see little asibikaashi, we should not fear her, but instead respect and protect her. In honor of their origin, the number of points where the web connected to the hoop numbered eight for Spider Woman's eight legs or seven for the Seven Prophecies.

It was traditional to put a feather in the center of the dream catcher; it means breath, or air. It is essential for life. A baby watching the air playing with the feather on her cradleboard was entertained while also being given a lesson on the importance of good air. This lesson comes forward in the way that the feather of the owl is kept for wisdom (a woman's feather) and the eagle feather is kept for courage (a man's feather). This is not to say that the use of each is restricted by gender, but that to use the feather each is aware of the gender properties she/he is invoking. The use of gem stones, as we do in the ones we make for sale, is not something that was done by the old ones. Government laws have forbidden the sale of feathers from our sacred birds, so using four gem stones, to represent the four directions, and the stones used by western nations were substituted by us. The woven dream catchers of adults do not use feathers.

Dream catchers made of willow and sinew are for children, and they are not meant to last. Eventually the willow dries out and the tension of the sinew collapses the dream catcher. That's supposed to happen. It belies the temporary-ness of youth. Adults should use dream catchers of woven fiber which is made up to reflect their adult "dreams." It is also customary in many parts of Canada and the Northeastern U.S. to have the dream catchers be a tear-drop/snow shoe shape.


The above story is a combination of information gathered by Lyn Dearborn from California, and Mary Ritchie of the Northern Woodlands, with assistance from Canadian elders. Miigwetch.