Four is a sacred number in Native American relationships
The fourth morning has a deep spiritual meaning. To the Native Americans, the number four is sacred. Many of their rituals last for four days. One such ritual is the bladder festival.
The Bladder Festival is celebrated in December to please the inuas, or souls of the animals that were killed during the preceding year. The Inupiaq of Alaska think that the animal souls rest in their bladders. They inflate animal bladders and paint them with colorful designs. The relationship between animal and human is special to the Inupiaq, as all Native Americans. Wild celery is burned for purification and on the fourth day, the bladders are thrown into the water, the Inupiaq hoping to receive a sign from the inuas that next year's hunt will be successful.
The four winds, or the four directions have great significance. East means healing, new birth, sunshine and new learning. West are new visions, quests, emotions, creative arts, the feminine, and goals. South represents faith, inner strength, awakening inner child, overcoming obstacles. change, protection, trust, self-sufficiency, and resurrection. North favors teachings, balance, sacred wisdom, gentleness, treasures, and intuition.
The earth's creation story of the Navajo describes the formation of the four mountain chains and the four distinctive peaks; Blanca Peak, Mount Taylor, San Francisco Peaks, and Hesperus Peak, which border the Navajo ancestral homeland at each quarter in the present day Four Corners region where the four states of Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona converge.
Sioux legend tells of how the morning star changes colors from red to blue to yellow to white. The four colors of the morning star represent the four stages of life; infancy, youth, adulthood, and old age, through which one must pass in their journey from birth to death.
In the science of numerology, four reflects foundations, patience, and builder. Four is synonymous with laying new foundations for shelter, building new careers, inner strength, and being patient with Nature to grow new roots.
There are four predominant trees in Colorado's backcountry; aspen, cedar, oak, and pine. The symbolic quality of Aspen equals determination and overcoming fears and doubts. Cedar is symbolic with healing, cleansing, and protection. Oak builds strength and endurance. Pine hammers out the balance of pain and emotions and spurs creativity.
Four is also symbolic to wolf. Although there are many sub-species, there are basically four species; arctic wolf, also known as white wolf, gray wolf, also know as timber wolf and tundra wolf, red wolf, and Mexican wolf.
She, the sage, moves her packs through many lands, developing strong directions along the way, padding toward personal growth. She says, "to howl in the wind and chase the scent of the new moon drifting across the pines is to have sore paws, and to have sore paws is to belong completely to nature, and when one is whole, one is healed."
Copyright 2006 Sage Sweetwater, firebrand lesbian novelist, brainchild of Sage Sweetwater Creative Properties, flagship of Stone Creek Woman
Since I've been a student of Native American culture my entire life, I truly enjoyed this piece, Sage. And I truly love visiting the Four Corners Region - it always inspires - and I love wandering its natural beauty.
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