THE WAY OF THE CHEROKEE
by Tsquayi

KNOWING THE SPIRITS

I have learned about the Spirit World of the ancient Cherokees through stories told to me during my boyhood by Cherokee Elders, through writings by Cherokees living in the 1800’s and from my own experiences as I followed my Cherokee Spirit Path through my life. All the things I learned from those several sources have been tempered by my study of science and the religions of the world. I have learned enough to realize how much I have yet to learn. But, I will share with you what I believe and you can test it against your own experience and decide on its truth and usefulness to you.

I believe there is a spiritual component to every physical thing in the universe. I believe the spirit is just as real as the physical thing we can see or touch, although we usually can’t detect spirit with our normal senses. Spirit is like the wind. We can’t see the wind, but we detect its presence by feeling it on our skin or seeing it blow the leaves or ripple the water. We detect spirit by feeling it on our intuition and through its affect on interactions in our lives. For example, I always become aware of the spirit of the wood when I make a bow. Even a non living thing, like a piece of chert, reveals its spirit when we knapp it to make a tool. I know that spirit is involved when “coincidences” in my life happen too frequently or regularly to be explained by mere coincidence.

I think of the Spirit World as existing in at least two domains; the domain which lies beyond this life and the domain which is around and within each of us and every other living or nonliving thing in the universe.

(Photo - Left)
After the serious business of the recognition ceremony, the Herrins share a laugh with the governor.

The domain that lies beyond this life is entirely spirit. Here live the spiritual counterparts of every physical thing on earth. The ancient Cherokees believed that many of those spiritual beings are white. Thus, the spiritual bear is Unega Yona (Oo nay gah Yoe nah; White Bear), the spiritual wolf is Unega Wahya (Oo nay gah Wah hyah; White Wolf), the spiritual deer is Usdi Ahwi (Oo-sdee Ah whee; Little Deer (which is white in color)) and so forth. One spiritual counterpart of mankind is Unega Yvwi (Oo nay gah Yuh wee; White Person²).

I conceptualize the other spiritual domain as existing within and among living and non living things. The ancient Cherokees believed in the interaction of the spirits of all things. Mankind was not higher than the other creatures or plants in spirit or in wisdom. Mankind’s highest goal was to become Yvwi (Yuhwee; Human), to whom the Spirit World was as important as the Physical World and who maintained balance within each world and between the two worlds.

THE ANCIENT CHEROKEE RELIGION

When I was a boy growing up in the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, I heard the elders talk of the days long ago, before the white man came. Of course, none of them actually remembered those days because the white man came long before any of them were born. But they repeated old stories that they had heard as children from their elders, who had heard them from their elders and so on back through the generations to the olden days.

There were also some relatives and friends who showed me written documents of early Cherokee life, written in the Cherokee characters invented by Sequoyah, that had been passed down through their families. Some of those documents were letters between sweethearts, some were records of business dealings, some were records of tribal government, and some were entire books of myths, sacred formulas, and medicinal practices that had been carefully recorded by the Shamans who practiced them in their daily lives. Those wise people foresaw that the ancient wisdom would be lost to the advancement of civilization if it was not recorded.

The ancient Cherokee cosmology consisted of a Spirit World and a Physical World. In the Spirit World, there dwelt the archetypes of all the living things in the Physical World. These archetypes were not merely Spirit images of living things but were much greater, as in the Judeo Christian religion, man was made in God’s image but God is much greater than man.

Thus, in the ancient Cherokee religion, the archetype of the bears was the White Bear, the archetype of the deer was Little Deer, and so on for each group of animals, birds, insects, fish, etc. and to a lesser extent for plants. The people prayed to the archetypes for favors and the Shamans invoked the archetypes by special ceremonies. The animal archetypes were the most often invoked, with insects and fishes occupying a subordinate place. The four legged animals, birds and reptiles were invoked almost constantly. In ceremonies conducted by the Shamans, the most frequently invoked animal archetypes were the dog, the squirrel, the rabbit, various hawks, the box turtle and the rattlesnake.

Humans were not considered to be above the other animals in importance. One archetype of mankind was the Red Man or the Red Woman.

Above all these were the elemental archetypes, the principal of which were fire, water and the sun. The sun archetype was called Unehlanvhi (Oo nayhlah nuh hee; Apportioner of All Things). Early Christian missionaries mistakenly believed this to be the Cherokee “Great Spirit”³ and used the term as a synonym for “God” in their translations of the Bible. Among the ancient Cherokees, prayers were often directed to Unehlanvhi, particularly by players of stickball.

(Photo - Right)
White Chief Herrin & wife Frankie “Ahila” prepare to meet the governor.

The water archetype was Yvwi Ganvhida (Yuh wee Gah nuh hee dah; Long Person) and refers to the river. Virtually every important ceremony, whether connected to the stickball game, hunting, medicine or love contained a prayer to Yvwi Ganvhida. The House of the Shaman was Amayuldi (ah mahyule dee; by the river), because that was a sacred place.

The fire archetype was actually two; Ajila Gigage (Ah jee lah Gee gahgay; Red Fire) and Ajila Unega (Ah jee lah Oo nay gah; White Fire). The color of fire invoked depended upon the need. For example, the Ancient White (White Fire) was invoked by the Shaman to drive fish, turtles, or snakes, which were causing illness, from the body of the patient. The hunter prayed to the Ancient Red (Red Fire) and the Ancient White for good omens of success on the coming hunt.

Before a stomp dance, the sacred fire was kindled in the center of the dance circle. In limes of peace, the white paths, which stretched east to west and south to north to the ends of the earth and signified peace and happiness, were said to cross at the sacred fire. The fire which was kindled in preparation for war was said to be the crossing point for the red paths which signified success and triumph

James Mooney, who extensively and scientifically observed the Cherokees from 1887 to 1890, wrote of our ancient religion in his reports to the Bureau of American Ethnology. He stated: ⁴

The Indian is essentially religious and contemplative, and it might almost be said that every act of his life is regulated and determined by his religious belief. It matters not that some may call this superstition. The difference is only relative. When we are willing to admit that the Indian has a religion which he holds sacred, even though it may be different from our own, we can then admire the consistency of the theory, the particularity of the ceremonial and the beauty of the expression. There is a wonderful completeness about the whole system which is not surpassed even by the ceremonial religions of the East. The Cherokee Indian was a polytheist and the spirit world was to him only a shadowy counterpart of this. All his prayers were for temporal and tangible blessings for health, for long life, for success in the chase, in fishing, in war and in love, for good crops, for protection and for revenge. He had no Great Spirit, no happy hunting ground, no heaven, no hell, and consequently death had for him no terrors and he awaited the inevitable end with no anxiety as to the future. He was careful not to violate the rights of his tribesman or to do injury to his feelings, but there is nothing to show that he had any idea whatever of what is called morality in the abstract.

Of course, we must keep in mind that Mooney’s background did not prepare him to fully understand the Cherokee ways and he thus made some errors in his observations and interpretations.

For example, I strongly disagree with Mooney’s last sentence in the statement above. In my opinion, the early Native Americans, including the Cherokees, had a higher morality than did the European invaders who deceived, cruelly conquered and slaughtered us and expelled us from our homelands. Many early observers recorded the honesty, faithfulness, and other moral qualities of the early Cherokees. The Cherokee elders and parents taught the children the importance of becoming Yvwi (Yuh wee; Human Being, Real Person) who was a good and worthy person in balance within himself or herself, with other persons and with Nature. The reward for being Yvwi came in the form of a happy and successful life and was not postponed until the hereafter as in the Christian religion. All of the Spirits and Nature hastened to do the bidding of the Yvwi. This belief formed the definition and the motivation for moral conduct.

(Photo - Left)
For some reason, White Chief Herrin keeps a closer proximity to Senorita Turismo than he does to the mayor (in foreground).

Today, the majority of Cherokees embrace the Christian faith. A small minority, primarily of the Kituwa (Kee too wah; Nighthawk Society), still follow the ancient religion to varying degrees. But, regardless of the current religious beliefs of the Cherokees, the ancient religion remains an important part of the heritage of every Cherokee. Our heritage, more than any other factor, determines who we are.

Pagenotes:

² This belief explains why the Native Americans, at first, believed the whiteskinned explorers from Europe to be gods. Unfortunately, the Native Americans soon learned otherwise.

³ I believe the Cherokee “Great Spirit” to be the totality of all Spirits and I call them Sagwu lgohidv (Sah gwoo Ee goe hee duh; Eternal One). In English, I use the plural term “Spirits” because each individual Spirit retains its identity in the “Eternal One”.

⁴ From “Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees” by James Mooney. For brevity, I have omitted brief portions of Mooney’s statement which I felt were unnecessary to his meaning.

The Four Souls