Alela Diane and Mariee Siouxx :: Folk Miracles

I just discovered these wonderful, soulful singers and songwriters, with Good lyrics and Beautiful voices. They are both of Native American heritage and you can hear it through many of their songs. They seem to be friends and have sung together too. On the left, Alela Diane and on the right, Mariee Sioux.
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The Roots of Hoopdance :: Tony Duncan, Native American dancer

Tony Duncan won the 2011 World Hoopdance Championship in Arizona. He's also a flute player and tours with his band Estun-Bah and other family performers. Here the youngest member studies the master :)

Original, Native hoopdance is like storytelling. Dancers create shapes with the hoops - animals, different nature elements, flowers, eagles - and move from one formation to another. I saw Native hoopdance once in upstate New York and it's really captivating to witness. Here's Tony Duncan's winning performance from last February:

There's a definitive spiritual aspect to Native hoopdance as the hoop represents connectedness and the circle of life. Black Elk (1863-1950), a Sioux holy man, said: 

"You have noticed that everything an Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the Power of the World always works in circles, and everything tries to be round. The Sky is round, and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball, and so are all the stars. The wind, in its greatest power, whirls. Birds make their nest in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours. Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing, and always come back again to where they were. The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves."

Hopi Prophecies :: The Earth is your Mother, She holds you

A shelf my hubby made years and years ago :)

"The earth is your mother, she holds you.

The sky is your father, he protects you.

The rainbow is your sister, she loves you.

The wind is your brother, he sings to you.

Never a time this was not so. Hoka-hey-ho."

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"When the birds fall from the sky and the animals are dying, a new tribe of people shall come unto the earth from many colors, classes, creeds, who by their actions and deeds shall make the earth green again. They will be known as the Warriors of the Rainbow."

How to Make a Dreamcatcher

This tutorial is a guest post written and photographed by my sister Kaisu. She's the head elf of the Dreamcatcher Making Academy, located deep in the enchanted forests of Finland. She holds a PhD (Pure Heart of Dedication) degree in mystic craft sciences of the north. :)

Find a Fresh Branch

First you find a branch (fresh, so it won't break). If you have a special tree you are friends with ask if it would give you one and remember to give something back to thank. If you don't have a special tree you are going to ask, before you enter forest, offer it a small (or big, depends what you want) present and tell what you are after. Don't assume that you can just go and take what you need. But remember, that most trees are happy to give! Nature likes to provide. Don't take too big branch from too small tree. You can observe what the trees nature is and what sort of features you want to your dream catcher. You can see, when the tree really wants you to take its branch, it will snap easily. 

While Threading, Meditate 

Then make your branch to somewhat a circle. Teardrops are just fine. This is really easy, when you have your circle roll thread around it like in a picture (you start going right and the thread goes over and comes under and from left). And continue the same. Very easy, but you can make it to second level by meditating strongly with every "knot" spot. Concentrate on the meaning of your catcher also.

In this pic I'm pulling thread towards me (it looks like I'm pushing). When you have done the first round go on doing the same.

By making loose and tight you can make different shapes (loose and in the end tight creates stars/flowers, all the time tight is like a fishers web). Some pearls as dewdrops.

Stop rather too early than too late, thread the thread up and make it for example a hanging eye. You can add a clam to the center or a pine cone or whatever you can do what feels like doing.

Try Hooping to Silence (Bird Dance)

And you'll find out that silence can be substantial. Not boring and certainly not without voice. And you'll hear your self. As I hooped today, the batteries got low and I had to ditch the iPod. What happened was phenomenal. I was suspicious. Will I be able to move feelingly without music?

At first it was stiff. Without music to occupy me, I had to manually do something with my mind. So I started singing a mantra to Radharani because She is the source of all inspiration, as Srila Prabhupada says. It was nice to hoop to your own singing.

Srimati Radharani, the Divine Mother

Then another idea came to me. I should hoop like a bird. For the past couple of days I've worn blue feathers in my hair. I also saw two dreams recently with a human-size peacock/phoenix looking bird that spoke to me. Seeing such in a dream symbolizes change and trust. Even right before I started hooping I saw a big bird circle above me in the sky and fly away.

It felt like a right thing to do - a bird dance. I had SO MUCH fun dancing and moving that I'm definitely going to hoop to silence again. Never know what you will hear when it's just you and the hoop.

So here we go: