"Walking The Sacred Path Of Life"
- Updated: November 3, 2018
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Gaawiin bekaanizid awiya odaa’aanjimokibidoosiin anishinaabemowinan gaye gagiikwewinan, giinawind gidaawimin...
"There is nobody else who can revitalize our culture and values except ourselves. Life is what we make of it."
- Anishinaabe proverb*
It's a story that has been told throughout history, its meaning deeply rooted in the collective memory and cultural consciousness of the Anishinaabe Peoples. It's also a story that's quintessentially universal in its scope and in its applicability to our everyday lives and relationships.
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| Mino-bimaadiziwin/Giizis-babaamaadiziwin (The Way of the Good Life/ Path of the Sun). Visit the website for details of the ring set |
The exterior of the rings display a stylized form of the diagram of the Midewiwin Miikana or Anishinaabe mino-miikana: the Good Life Road of the People. The interiors of the rings depict the daily path of Gimishoomisinaan giizis, our grandfather the sun, our Lifegiver who brings us light and warmth and energy.
Symbolically, the Life Path design of the rings runs parallel to the rotation of the earth around the sun as well as to the daily path of the sun from east to west. Gete-ayaa’ag, the ancestors, regarded the Road of Life as a cyclical path, like the changing of seasons and the cycle of day and night.
The orb-like overlay symbols inside both
rings represent the sun. The yellow gold
interior of the men’s ring symbolizes waaban, the morning light from the east,
and mookise giizis, the rising sun; the red glow of the
ladies’ ring interior stands for bangishimo
giizis, the setting sun in the west.
Thus, the ring set with its age-old Life Road
design in a cosmic way links the love between two life partners with the sun, the
seasons, and day and night. Teachings of the Midewiwin
For a Midewiwinini or Midewekwe - Mide man or Mide woman -, to depart from Bimaadiziiwin-Miikana, the true path of life, and to not return is equivalent to dying. But since digression has rarely a permanent character, he or she is expected to withdraw annually in vigil and prayer, to ask the aadizoogaanag (spirit helpers) for guidance, and to review his or her life to determine whether he or she is still on the true path.
A good way of life
The title of these Mide path wedding bands, Mino Bimaadiziwin, literally means "A Good Way of Life." Life as the People should live it in order to receive good fortune, good health, and peace of heart in this world; and to gain admission into the Land of Peace in the next world. Material wealth does not enhance the status of a person in Anishinaabe society. Only courage, skill, and respect for the children and the elders and the sacred web of life lead to mino-bimaadiziwin, a good way of life.
To live a good way of life is the central goal for the traditional Anishinaabeg. This goal cannot be achieved without one’s own personal efforts or the aid of specialists (medicine persons); nor can it be obtained without the effective help and cooperation of certain nonhuman persons called aadizoogaanag (“our grandfathers” or spirit-helpers), who inhabit all layers of the universe. Reciprocal responsibilities and mutual obligations, not only between humans, but also in connection with all life forces and beings of the world are simply taken for granted.
Inaabandamowinan (dreaming) or seeking waasayaabindamiwin (a vision) are the primary means by which one can enter into direct social interaction with persons of the nonhuman category. Maintaining a high moral standard within Anishinaabe society, honoring the principle of mutual obligations between all life forms, and obtaining power from both aadizoogaanag and bawaajiganag (grandfathers and ancestors appearing in dreams) are equally essential conditions for obtaining Bimaadiziwin.
Giiwenh. That's how far the story goes. Thank you for reading & listening.
Read the next episode in the "Teaching Stories" series: Heartbeat of the Earth.
*Source: The Seven Sacred Teachings
Image wedding rings by ZhaawanArt. "MINO BIMAADIZIWIN": overlay wedding rings, 14K white gold, red gold, yellow gold by ZhaawanArt.
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About me and my sources of inspiration:
My name is Zhaawano Giizhik.
As an American artist and jewelry designer currently living in the Netherlands. I like to draw on the oral and pictorial traditions of my Ojibwe Anishinaabe ancestors from the American Great Lakes area. For this I call on my manidoo-minjimandamowin, or "Spirit Memory"; which means I try to remember the knowledge and the lessons of my ancestors.
As an American artist and jewelry designer currently living in the Netherlands. I like to draw on the oral and pictorial traditions of my Ojibwe Anishinaabe ancestors from the American Great Lakes area. For this I call on my manidoo-minjimandamowin, or "Spirit Memory"; which means I try to remember the knowledge and the lessons of my ancestors.
The MAZINAAJIMOWINAN or ‘pictorial spirit writings’ - which are rich with symbolism and have been painted throughout history on rocks and etched on other sacred items such as copper and slate, birch bark and animal hide - were a form of spiritual as well as educational communication that gave structure and meaning to the cosmos.
Many of these sacred pictographs or petroforms – some of which are many, many generations old - hide in sacred locations where the manidoog (spirits) reside, particularly in those mystic places near the coastline where the sky, the earth, the water, the underground and the underwater meet.
Many of these sacred pictographs or petroforms – some of which are many, many generations old - hide in sacred locations where the manidoog (spirits) reside, particularly in those mystic places near the coastline where the sky, the earth, the water, the underground and the underwater meet.
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