Teaching stories, part 12

"The Cycle Of Life"

- Updated: April 13, 2020

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Boozhoo,

Today, I am pleased to present part 12 of a blog series connecting my jewelry and paintings by kindred artists with the Seven Grandfather teachings of the Ojibwe Anishinaabe People.

This blog post, like most of the teaching stories I write about, holds lessons that are based on the traditions that for thousands of years have been kept safe by and passed on by the lodges of the Midewiwin and Waabanoowiwin of the Anishinaabe Peoples. Both are age-old animistic-medicinal institutions conserving the ancient teachings on human conduct and a spiritual way for living.

Today's blog features images of a painting and a sterling silver ring that were designed and created in the spirit of these Grandfather teachings.

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Gakina gegoo bimaadad

Gakina awiya bimaadiziwag.

"Everything is alive

Everyone is alive."
: 

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Bagwaji-bimaadiziwin, storytelling men's ring by Zhaawano Giizhik reflecting Anishinaabe teachings. The ring is Zhaawano's personal ring and not available for purchase.

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Anishinaabe worldview

Nature's cycles offer numerous lessons.

For the Anishinaabe Peoples, bimaadiziwin, or life, has always been influenced by both material and spiritual elements. Anishinaabe izhinamowin - our worldview - along with the social structure of our communities and cultural traditions, is founded on the belief that existence is a dynamic and continuous interaction among all of creation. This mutual interaction between life forces is ever-changing, impacting and being impacted by everyone and everything around us, spanning the past, present, and future.

While all things and beings—natural objects and phenomena, humans, man-made objects, animals, plants, and spirit entities—are interconnected and transcend linear time and space, what sets certain beings apart is the manner in which they exist in relation to others in the world.*

This notion, of how everything in the world exists in relation to other beings, leads us to the topic of bimaadizi and bimaadad, two interconnected and complementary forms of existence that are both aspects of bimaadiziwin, or Life..

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Bimaadizi and bimaadad

The concept of bimaadizi and bimaadad* is most accurately expressed in Anishinaabemowin, the language spoken by the Anishinaabe Peoples.

The Anishinaabe, or Ojibwe, language consists of relationships and interactions involving two dynamic and interconnected forms of existence. These entities are known as bimaadizi and bimaadad (bimaadis and bimaadan, or pimaatis and pimaatan in the Northwestern Ojibweg language from Canada). Both terms originate from bimaadiziwin, which signifies LIFE and, in a figurative sense, CONDUCT FOR LIVING.

All entities and objects within the bimaadizi category possess a distinct life quality based on their existence in the world, where bimaadad entities and objects have a specific life quality according to their current (often "inactive") state of existence. Examples of the bimaadizi group include animals, plants, ancestors, certain minerals, flour, trees, kettles, and spoons; bimaadad entities include items like tables, meat, wiigwaas (birchbark), and wiigiwaaman (houses).

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An un-Western mind concept

The BIMAADIZI-BIMAADAD cycle encompasses not only environmental life cycles but also mental, spiritual, and temporal-spatial cycles. It serves as the basis for all interactions among Beings.

It is crucial to recognize that bimaadizi and bimaadad existences do not align with zhaaganash (western) worldviews. These concepts are frequently mistranslated by language scholars as “animate” and “inanimate,” a Zhaaganash-centric idea conveyed through formal grammar rules that inaccurately represent Anishinaabe languages by categorizing things as alive (having spirit) and dead (lacking spirit). It's no exaggeration to state that only through Anishinaabemowin (the language) has a distinct boundary between Anishinaabe worldview and Zhaagaanash thought been preserved. The key to understanding these relationships lies in the Anishinaabe language itself, and in the traditional stories, ceremonies, and philosophical teachings of the MIDEWIWIN and WAABANOOWIWIN.

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Bagwaji-bimaadiziwin 

This sterling silver storytelling ring, named bagwaji-bimaadiziwin which means natural cycle (literally: wild cycle), embodies the environmental cycles of life: the tree leaf and stamped flower designs symbolize the plant world, the turquoise stone signifies the sky, the red coral represents a seed and thus symbolizes mother earth, and the twisted wire and pearl-shaped balls on the ring represent all life cycles.

The idea behind the ring is that, when placed on your finger, its design helps you understand that we are all inherently connected to every aspect of Creation, not only physically but also mentally and spiritually. It symbolizes our cyclical connection to the past, present, and future.

Giiwenh. That's how far this blog story goes. Miigwech for reading & listening.

To read more about this topic please see Reflections on a Ceremonial Bundle.

Visit my blog story Teachings of the Tree of Life, part 6 to read about the Sacred Medicine Circle of our Peoples.

Read the next episode in the Teaching Stories series: The Spirit of Sunset.

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*Sources: 

Anishinaabe Ishinaamowin 
Anishinaabe Bimaadiziwin by D'arcy Rheault. 

Painting and jewelry photography by Miskwaabik Animikii (Norval Morrisseau) and Zhaawano Giizhik.

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About the author/artist:

Zhaawano Giizhik, an American currently living in the Netherlands, was born in 1959 in North Carolina, USA. Zhaawano has Anishinaabe blood running through his veins; the doodem of his ancestors from Baawiting (Sault Ste. Marie, Upper Michigan) is Waabizheshi, Marten. As a non-commercial artist and a blogger, Zhaawano draws on the oral and pictorial traditions of his ancestors. In doing so he sometimes works together with kindred artists with similar cultural and artistic backgrounds. 

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