Wahya Circle
Tuesday Travels

World Studies: North America

Indigenous from around the world have their own versions of origin stories. Each group of people have their own rich, beautiful, deeply meaningful stories that they shared throughout history. However, most of these stories are in daily conflict with waht the western hemisphere’s understandings of the world beginnings are considered by the majority. Much of western science insists on the theory of “Asian” origins for Indigenous Americans and that the Bering Strait theory accounts for how Indigenous people came to exist in North America (Brownlie, 2009). Some say people were already here. In a way, they were, they simply came at an earlier time in human history and established themselves, such as the Dorset People.


Dogmatically, “modern religion” does not go back into human history far enough as most do not believe in evolution, something we see evidence of in our own species the further back in historical record we go. There are people who have stories of oral tradition that go back even further and hint at Knowledge that is tens of thousands of years old. Not to mention we have obvious things like the appendix, which has an active role in natural immunity but we no longer have a crucial need for it to survive. We have seemingly evolved past its need. This has happened to several human organs, as it does with all Plant and Animal Allies on Mother Earth.


Indigenous people, First Nationers as many sometimes call themselves when they are amongst the colonizers, have their own versions of how they came to exist in North America. For those stories, we are going to explore the Directions of the Four Winds and a creation story from a Tribe in each direction before we move on to Central America.

PLEASE NOTE: ALL of this Lesson is in play for your Gogeyi (Spring/Vernal) Knowledge Check. (including videos)

World Studies 101
East - Tsalagi
Seven Nations
of the Four Directions

Ani'-Yun'wiya
Although the Indigenous Nations of the East resided from today’s Canada to Florida, there were dozens of working, trading, and thriving tribes. One of the most powerful were and still are the Tsalagi, or Cherokee. The Cherokee, who call themselves “Tsalagi” or “Principle People” today, once lived amongst the Iroquois of what is now called the Eastern United States.  Although amongst the Iroquois, they developed their own written language and had established trade with other tribal nations long before the colonizers came.  As time passed, they settled mostly in the Southeastern US. We know much of this as one of the items often passed amongst traders were stories.

One of those stories is their Creation Story. While there are many versions depending on the tribe, around the world, the story is essentially the same. This story, as with all of the others, is VERY similar as well. Each tribe, of each Nation, on each continent, has their own derived names for “things” in how Earth came to be.

This is the Tsalagi, or Cherokee, story.

The Story of Corn and Medicine begins with the creation of the Earth and animals as it is told. Earth was created out of mud that grew into land. Animals began exploring Earth, and it was the Buzzard that created valleys and mountains in the Cherokee land by the flapping of his wings.

The Earth was cold when the people came. Depending on who is telling the story, here is what you get:

Cherokee Creation Story:
The First Fire

World Studies 101
North-Anishinaabeg
Four Winds

We now move to our Kindred in the North, the "Anishinaabe," which means the "True People" or the "Original People." Other First Nationers and Europeans call them "Ojibwe" or "Chippewa," which meant "puckered up”, because the Anishinaabe traditionally wore moccasins with a puckered seam across the top. The word “Ojibwe” is also considered pejorative in tone, much like “gypsy” and “nigger”. NOT good words to have roll out of your mouth around those who descend from the people the word relates to. The Anishinaabeg (plural form of Anishinaabe) live from the Ottawa River Valley west across Northern Ontario and to the plains of Saskatchewan south to the northeast corner of North Dakota, northern Minnesota and Michigan, as well as the northern shores of Lakes Ontario and Erie.

They speak a form of the Algonquian language and were closely related to the Ottawa and Potawatomi. This group of Indigenous have a moving Creation Story. They refer to North America as ‘Turtle Island.’ There are many versions of the ‘Creation Story’ that describe how ‘Turtle Island’ was created. Although the stories will vary from one community to another, however, the meaning of the story is similar.

One version of the story is that the Creator placed Anishinaabe on the Earth. As time went on, the Original People started to fight with one another. The Creator decided to purify the Earth and sent a great flood. Only Nanabush and a few Animal Allies remained. The Creation story describes how Nanabush worked with the animals to create a new world. All of their Creation Stories contain teachings about the importance of connection to the land (the natural environment) and all of creation.

Here is a link to hear the story:

Anishinaabe Creation Story 

World Studies 101
West - Dine'
Four Seas

The Indigenous of the Far West are the Dine’, or Navajo as many know them today. Navajo is not correct and it was a name given by the Spanish. (Dine' means “the people” in their native tongue. Prounounced “di - nay”) In the Southwest live the Apache which were also in the Plains Indians tribes at one time. The Indians in the Southwest and Far West, such as the Dine’/Navajo, lived in what dwindled to became Arizona and New Mexico. (Northeastern Oregon was home to the Nez Perce tribe.)

The most populous amongst these tribes remains the Dine’ to this day. According to the Dine’ creation story, the First World was small and pitch black. (Which it was, scientifically speaking.) There were four seas and in the middle an island where a single Pine Tree existed. Many Insect Allies lived there too. Ally Ant, Dragonfly, Locust and Beetle were all there and made up the Air-Spirit People of the First World.

As with many other indigenous people of the world, the Dine’ believe there was another world before this one. But the people of that world did not behave themselves and live in accordance with Earth. While many agree there may have been a “first world”, some Practitioners feel this “fighting” may be an influence upon early creation stories by missionary proselytizing. Displeased, the Great Spirit set out to make a new world. He sang several songs to bring rain, which poured stronger with each song.

As he sang the fourth song, the Earth split apart and water gushed up through the many cracks, causing a flood. By the time the rain stopped, all of the people and nearly all of the animals had drowned. Only Kangi - Crow - survived.

Kangi pleaded with the Great Spirit to make him a new place to rest.

Here is another version of the same story:

Dine' Creation Story

World Studies 101
South (of the Arctic Circle) - Lakota
Buffalo Nation

As we understand the Indigenous of the North American region were very similar people, the cultures blended at the borders of all tribal nations. Hence, The “south,” or Plains included the tribes Blackfoot, Arapaho, Assiniboine, Cheyenne, Comanche, Crow, Gros Ventre, Kiowa, Lakota, Lipan, Plains Apache (or Kiowa Apache), Plains Cree, Plains Anishinaabe, Sarsi, Nakoda (Stoney), and Tonkawa. Of all of these tribes, the Lakota became the most powerful and advanced over the others.

Lakota, or Dakota, are translated to mean “friend” or “ally” and it is what they prefer to call themselves. Many Lakota people today now prefer to be called Lakota instead of Sioux, as Sioux was a disrespectful name given to them by their enemies. There are seven bands of the Lakota tribe.

The Lakota have one of the most deep and meaningful Creation Stories of all the Indigenous of North America. They speak with clear wisdom and Focus. The Lakota continue to have some of the strongest indigenous Magick and Medicine to this day.  

Listen to these other stories FIRST, then listen to Elder Hollow Horn Bear tell the Lakota story.

Lakota Creation Story

Creation Contemplations

Whether you believe we were created from “above”, or you believe we were created from “below”, all early people believe we came from “somewhere else”.

The thing that ALL creation stories agree on is the Earth was once covered with Water. Which, scientifically we have proven that it was. How could early humans know that, unless they told each other, over and over and over again?

Do you hear the connections in these stories? Do you hear the similarities? What examples do you see? While not taking any of the stories “literally”, not even the Australian Indigenous, what do you feel or think about these stories?