General Questions

[Ganieda]

Considering that non native religions have enough respect for these Higher Powers to not expect people to pay to pray ,

Unfortunately, Miss Moma, not all non-native religions have that respect. ?

Almost all of them DO use methods to gain more money...guilt being a biggie. ? It's just one more reason why persons, like myself, have become dissillusioned about "churchianity" and are seeking a better way. ? If I attend a Pagan gathering, be it Native or otherwise, I always bring something and I make the effort to find out what would be appropriate. ?

[Moma_porcupine]

Both Ganieda and Al are right , in their point that these traditions belong to the tribes
where they originated , and I was very general in my wording , when I said these traditions belonged to all Native people , collectively . ? Sorry if this sounded unfairly
exclusive towards non native people . As the abuses are so often mixed traditions from various
tribes and pan Indian , it is often impossible to trace the parts back to the specific tribe
they were stolen from , so , the feeling of being violated by the theft , is often not tribal
specific . ?

Many non native people are also deeply offended to see the damage done to Native cultures by this abuse , and some of the abusers are Native , so it really is not something that can be divided along racial lines, and it is much more a question of practicing basic respect and descency .

Hope this makes sense , and helps to clarify what I was trying to say .

As for this last comment , by Ganieda about all religons having ways of raising money , it
just seems to be aimed at creating confusion where none needs to exist .

There is a big difference between loving something and donating to see it has the support it
needs , and paying to pray . If it is guilt and not love that is motivating the donations ,
that is sad , but it is a whole different issue than thinking it is OK to commercialize
someone elses Spiritual traditions .

[Ganieda]

Regarding the question about "medicine Wheels" Real ones, not the made-up Sun-Bear ones.

Archaeology: Frequently-Asked Questions

What is a Medicine Wheel?

Scattered across the plains of Alberta are tens of thousands of stone structures. Most of these are simple circles of cobble stones which once held down the edges of the famous tipi of the Plains Indians; these are known as "tipi rings." Others, however, were of a more esoteric nature. Extremely large stone circles - some greater than 12 metres across - may be the remains of special ceremonial dance structures. A few cobble arrangements form the outlines of human figures, most of them obviously male. Perhaps the most intriguing cobble constructions, however, are the ones known as medicine wheels.

more info @
http://www.royalalbertamuseum.ca/human/archaeo/faq/medwhls.htm


The term "medicine wheel" was first applied to the Big Horn Medicine Wheel in Wyoming, the most southern and one of the largest in existence. That site consists of a central circle of piled rock surrounded by a circle of stone; "Rays" of stones travel out from the central core of rock and its surrounding circle. The structure looks like the wheel of a bicycle. Alberta, British Columbia, has two-thirds of all known Medicine wheels (47) which suggests that Southern Alberta was a central meeting place for many Plains tribes who followed Medicine Wheel ceremonies.

Despite their physical existence, there is a lot of mystery that surrounds the Medicine Wheel as no written record to their purpose has been found. Of the many theories to their purpose, the two learning theories are: the wheels contain significant stellar and cosmological alignments, and/or, the performance of specific rituals and ceremonies that have been long forgotten.

Medicine Wheels are still used today in the Native American spirituality, however most of the meaning behind them is not shared among Non-Native peoples.

more info @
http://www.medicinewheel.com/

pics @ http://www.uwsp.edu/geo/projects/geoweb/participants/dutch/VTrips/MedWheel.HTM