Bear's Den: "Indians have to be Careful if Somebody asks them 'Their 'Sign'"

Ya know, I’ve never been much on astrology. But, although I’m no Shirley McClain, I do see that there is some truth to fate rotations. I do know, unequivocally, that the Creator works in multi-faceted and mysterious ways. And that brings me to this parallel. I get questions, all the time, about pumas (cougars) making a come-back in Michigan. Um-hmm, and while I’ve never seen one in the wild here in the Mitten State, I do know that they are, indeed, around nowadays. Sure, and since folks are always attempting to apply new-age meanings to old-age notions – there’s the Native American Horoscope. Um-mm, and while I don’t go to bars and ask chicks what their sign is, anymore; I have noted that pumas... are my ‘sign’. Now that said, I’d be hesitant to use this horoscope if I were a girl at a pick-up joint, and my traditional Zodiac sign was Scorpio. Yes’sir, 'cause if some guy asked you what your sign was, and you replied that it was ‘snake and eel’… it might be a tad off-putting… eh.

Since the beginning, American Indian cultures have taught their children life lessons through oral stories. Most have animals as the main characters or the only actors whatsoever in the tale. Yes’um, and that is because all life existed, and is still supposed to exist… in harmony. For instance, one of the ways that the deer and other four-leggeds were helped by the Indian two-leggeds was by their controlled burns. A controlled burn is when people deliberately set fires to burn an area that is extremely congested with think growth. This thickness makes it impossible for any younger plants to grow and thus makes a shortage of food for the foraging animals. So, two-leggeds light a fire in a heavily congested thicket or forest and then monitor and control the fire. When it goes out, the land is clear and new vegetation immediately sprouts up, providing food for the animals. Heck yeah, and they in turn, provide meat, fur and hides for the two-leggeds, completing the circle and providing harmony in this facet of life. This method is still used by most conservation departments today.

It is the same for all other animals, fish and people - everywhere. We are all part of the same circle. So it is that using animals in oral teaching is, of itself, a teaching tool, eh. The little ones learn, positively, that we are all connected and dependent upon each other. This then, equates to balance, the precursor and ultimate partner to harmony. Yep, all animals play important roles in teaching the younger ones the vital life lessons because animals have always been a strong part of an Indian’s world.

Now lately, folks have taken to applying a kind of Zodiak to American Indian cultures. I can’t find any history of this, as it's laid out, within Indian nations, and have a feeling that it’s a mish-mash of stuff. This ‘created’ form of a zodiac-like system is based on animal guides or…totems. Unlike the standard doo-dad, this new notion has several animals applied to each birthing time. Uh-huh, and if your birthday falls in the time between November 23 and December 21 (Traditionally Sagittarius), then your Native American Horoscope signs are: Horse, Owl and Elk. Not so bad, eh? But if you’re a Cancer, then your Indian signs are woodpecker, salmon and flicker. It’s hard to be cool when talking to a member of the opposite sex and you have to relay that you’re a 'woodpecker', eh. But I digress.

So, just for fun, if you want to know your American Indian Horoscope sign(s), you can send me an email with your birthday and I’ll shoot you back what animals fit, and a bit about them, etc. Yes’sir, but as I said, if you’re a standard Scorpio, then it could be a scoasch off-put’n, when you replied… that it was ‘snake and eel’ in the Indian, eh.

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David Walks-As-Bear is an Inter-Tribal Elder and Kispoko Shawnee Indian. He works as a private game warden and detective and is a novelist and syndicated newspaper columnist living in Northwest Michigan. Contact him at The White Lake Beacon: 231-894-5356 or visit his website at: www.Walks-As-Bear.com