Showing posts with label Navajo chants. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Navajo chants. Show all posts

Thursday, April 10, 2014

"The Blessing Way".....

Navajo sand painting
In the house made of dawn
in the house made of evening twilight,
in beauty may I walk
with beauty above me,
with beauty below me,
with beauty beside me I walk
with beauty all around me I walk
with beauty it is finished."

                .......Navajo (Din`e) 
This is a prayer/poem  I sometimes read as a way of remembering how to "walk".  I love the Navajo understanding of the continual motion and transformation of life,  and their so very important understanding that, from the "house of Dawn" to the "house of Twilight" we can choose to realize beauty all around us.  And their understanding of "beauty" means all that is good, beneficial, worthy of gratitude.

The Rainbow Bridge, an important sacred site for Navajo mythology

"As opposed to the other Navajo [Diné] Chant Ways, which are used to effect a cure of a problem, the Blessing way [Hózhó jí] is used to bless the "one sung over," to ensure good luck, good health and blessings for all. It is sometimes referred to by English speaking Diné as being "for good hope." The name of the rite, Hózhó jí, is translated as Blessingway, but that is certainly not an exact translation. In the Navajo language (diné bizaad) the term encompasses everything that is interpreted as good - as opposed to evil,  all that is favorable for man. It encompasses such words as beauty, harmony, success, perfection, well-being, ordered, ideal. The intent of this rite is to ensure a good result at any stage of life, and therefore the translation of Blessingway.”
 
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-lU9MJ_tDJcJex_lqxc61Q972KGv2u7-ebp1uCqtmtILxBNIGz1w9xfHh1RmtM2OrzT3-kzJSbpgiOlOjdsJnzp0y9ScCgP6WjhlqbuKNnaWK3SZee3kRvOkqPs3gF0O3Cf6Z88hYaFh7/s320/sp+pendant.jpg
Spider Woman weaving

Sunday, March 24, 2013

A Crack in the Earth on Navajo Lands



 

I can't help but think of Pueblo stories that the new world is born from underground...........here's an interesting phenomenon happening in Northern Arizona on Navajo lands my friend Fahrusha passed on to me.  Doing what little further research I could, I learned that the crack has been forming slowly, and people living nearby have been aware of it for many years.  

March 19, LUEPP, Ariz. – A crack in the earth has been forming on Navajo lands, and no one seems to know why.  Just east of  Flagstaff on Luepp Rd and about one mile west of the  Leupp gas station.  (Photo and article courtesy The Navajo Post )


I can not imagine what is (slowly) emerging from this mysterious crack in the earth, perhaps a new age, perhaps a new Grand Canyon, perhaps the birth of new Mountain Gods,  but thinking of  Navajo lands, I remembered their beautiful "Blessing Way", and found the lovely video below to share.
"In the house made of dawn
in the house made of evening twilight,
in beauty may I walk,
with beauty above me, I walk
with beauty all around me, I walk
with beauty it is finished."

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

"A Blessing Way" Synchronicity


In the house made of dawn
in the house made of evening twilight,
in beauty may I walk,
with beauty above me, beauty below me
I walk with beauty all around me,
I walk with beauty it is finished.
 
.......Navajo (Dine) chant
 The Navajo word for sand-paintings means "place where the gods come and go." 
Sand-painting has been used for centuries in religious rituals and healing ceremonies performed by Navajo medicine men.  A sand-painting is made  in the ceremonial hogan and destroyed at the end of the ritual, in much the same way that Tibetan sand paintings are also destroyed.  In order to preserve this  tradition in the 1940's, Navajos began to create permanent sand-paintings, changing the design slightly to protect the religious significance when these paintings were shown publicly.
 
I've been feeling very unsure, this summer, about where to go from here.  I putter around the house, take care of my mother's needs, and spend a lot of time looking back, since I don't know what is foreward. 

Yesterday I was listening to the Ode to Joy, of all things, pondering The Question, when I felt something crawling around my mouth.  Wiping my mouth with my hand, I found a tiny spider, which quickly disappeared when I set her down on the table.  I've had many strange synchronicities with Spiders, and tend to think of them as Spider Woman's little reminders.  Perhaps the meaning of this is to speak - and indeed, I've been thinking that the next step for me is to teach and share whatever bits of wisdom and experience I may have.

I turned to the very beginning of this Blog, which was the day I began my cross country trip  to pursue my Spider Woman Project.   I found this little article I had written just prior to leaving for Michigan (I began my Community Arts Project "Spider Woman's Hands" in Midland, Michigan with a fellowship from the Alden B. Dow Creativity  Center.  Midland is the home of Dow Chemical.  It was a strange place to end up weaving a "Web of All Life" ritual art project..........but, maybe not........)

Friday, June 1, 2007

If synchronicity can be the touch of the Spiderwoman, if a synchronicity or two could be touchstones along the path,  I'm off to a good start as I pack my car. Just two days ago I was helping Randy Ford to move.  I was reading that morning about Spiderwoman as She occurs in Navajo mythology, reading as well some of their beautiful chants that are used by Singers in various curing ceremonies. Randy needed boxes, and so I went to U haul to purchase a few. Standing in line, I saw I was behind a couple with a little girl.  They were heading for Window Rock, Arizona, and I could hear that they were speaking in Navajo.

"As opposed to the other Navajo [Diné] Chant Ways, which are used to effect a cure of a problem, the Blessingway [Hózhó jí] is used to bless the "one sung over," to ensure good luck, good health and blessings for all. It is sometimes referred to by English speaking Diné as being "for good hope." The name of the rite, Hózhó jí, is translated as Blessingway, but that is certainly not an exact translation. In the Navajo language (diné bizaad) the term encompasses everything that is interpreted as good - as opposed to evil, favorable for man. It encompasses such words as beauty, harmony, success, perfection, well-being, ordered, ideal. The intent of this rite is to ensure a good result at any stage of life, and therefore the translation of Blessingway.”
 

So, let the journey begin as a "Blessing Way".



....................................................


Post Script in the Now:   I remember that when I got back to Tucson at the end of that summer,  as I headed for my house, car still packed, I had a very sudden need to go to the bathroom and stopped at the nearest convenience store.  A young woman was standing by the entrance when I came out, and she begged me for a ride.  Of course I took her, and on the way to where she was going, she told me she was Navajo from Northern Arizona, and she wanted to go home.  It's not that common to meed Navajo people in Tucson.  That kind of "wrapped" the trip for me.  A ritual, a Blessing.