The Universe Of The Ojibwe Anishinaabeg, an illustrated glossary by Zhaawano Giizhik*

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The Universe of The Ojibwe Anishinaabeg by Zhaawano Giizhik - 2014 The first two forebears whom Nookomis (who was formerly known as Giizhigookwe, or Sky Woman) conceived were twins, man and woman. She gave birth to them on the back of a Great Turtle. She called them Anish-in-aab-eg, or Spontaneous Beings, for they were apparently born out of no known substance. Painting by Omàmiwinini (Algonquin) Medicine painter Frank Polson Unlike two children she had conceived in the sky in an earlier time (one had been jichaag, made up of mere spirit - or soul - while the other being, called Wiiyaw, was only made up of physical substance), the new species, despite their differences, tended toward union with one another. Neither seemed to be complete or content without the other. They both had jichaag (spirit and soul, the life force and intelligence of a person, the core of the self residing in the heart), djiiban (an - under most circumstances - invisible sense that resides in the brain, providing perception and intuition, the truth that precedes logic), and wiiyaw (a body, or outward manifestation), and both had something that emanates from jichaag and jiiban: aura, called jiibaaman. Because of this, the traditional Anishinaabe concept of life became essentially fourfold: every human being is considered to have an outward manifestation, the capacity to reason, dream, and receive vision, a sixth sense, and a transparent substance by which the state and quality of his inner being is sensed and felt. Likewise, all other living things in the cosmos - which are also regarded as persons, but of an other than human category - possess a physical The Universe of The Ojibwe Anishinaabeg by Zhaawano Giizhik - 2014 140
The Universe of The Ojibwe Anishinaabeg by Zhaawano Giizhik - 2014 substance, a life force, something you don’t have top intuition, and a surrounding atmosphere. WAABAN: The morning, and the east, called wenji-mooka’ang by the northeastern Ojibwe Anishinaabeg. Patron of youth and knowledge. Formerly under the guidance of the Evening Star, an elder incorporeal medicine man in the west who embodies wisdom, he began a fight with him that neither could win, but which resulted in the everlasting human conflict between youth and age, and knowledge and wisdom. Waaban is represented on earth by asemaa, the sacred tobacco. WIIGWAAS: The (bark of the) white birch. The sacred birch bark forms wiigwaasabakwayan (the covering and roofing of houses), shapes canoes and containers, is used in dyes and medicines, and keeps the magic images the ancestors indented, or drew otherwise. Wiigwaasatig, or Wiigwaasimitig, the white birch tree, is told to have grown many string of life ago from the grave of a young hero who died defending his People, the Serpent River Band of Ojibweg in what is now Northern Ontario; it was also a birch tree that once served as a safe haven for Wiinabozho, a mischievious aadizoogaan (supernatural being), against the wrath of the Thunderbirds. “Thunder Leaf”: a sterling silver ring handcrafted by Woodland jeweler artist Zhaawano Giizhik. The ring is set with a Kingman turquoise and a pear-shaped red coral. The free-form turquoise stone is accompanied with a stylized birch leaf of sterling silver. The ring design celebrates the beauty and spirit powers of Wiigwaasaatig, the beloved birch tree of the Anishinaabeg . For more reading about this topic, go to ZhaawanArt art blog. WIINGASHK, also called mashkosii-wiingashk, wiishkobi-mashkosi, or – in Canada - bashkode-mashkosi: sweetgrass. The Anishinaabeg approach life in a very sacred manner. To the Mideg, or the medicine people of the Way Of The Heartbeat Society, and all the others who follow Anishinaabe- Bimaadiziiwin, the Traditional Road, there are certain plants that are especially revered 141 The Universe of The Ojibwe Anishinaabeg by Zhaawano Giizhik - 2014
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The Universe Of The Ojibwe Anishinaabeg, an illustrated glossary by Zhaawano Giizhik*

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