"The Way We See the World"
- Updated July 27, 2020
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Boozhoo, aaniin, hello,
This blog story is the tenth in a series titled Teachings Of The Eagle Feather, featuring works of art that provide an insight into the unique world view of the Anishinaabeg Peoples.
Today's story features three acrylic paintings by Simone McLeod, a unique graphic illustration by Ahmoo Angeconeb - and three sets of storytelling rings (or rather three versions of the same set) designed and handcrafted by myself.
The rings, which are not available for purchase, feature stylized feathers of the eagle and the hawk. A hawk and an eagle soaring together, it's one of my favorite metaphors when referring to the ancient stories and worldview of my ancestors, and also in exploring how the love and the mutual responsibilities between two people relate to this old worldview...
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An age-old concept
The title of the simple yet elegant set of white gold overlay rings, Izhinamowin, expresses an age-old concept based on Anishinaabe culture that, depending on the context, holds multiple layers of meaning. Izhinamowin, or ishinaamowin, can mean mental or spiritual perception, dream, or vision, or world view. Its literal meaning is “the act of seeing the world in a certain manner.”*
The concept of izhinamowin does not so much refer to vision with the eyes, but rather to ideas associated with mental perception; of course, the eyes may be the gateway for that mental perception. From of old, ANISHINAABE IZHINAMOWIN interprets the countless phenomena, forms, and forces of the natural world specific to man’s immediate environment purely in a cosmological context.
Gete-aya’aag, our ancestors, had an equally great respect for all entities within the cosmos, even for those that are more remote to mankind. They saw all life forms as animated and inter-related “persons” or “relatives” (called inawemaaganag) possessing a consciousness, rationale, and a will of their own. They saw the world as as a living, harmonious, interdependent system, a gigantic web of social relations - kind of like an extended family -, where the relationship between humans and the nonhuman and spirit world was one of continuous interfusion and reciprocal exchange. All these indinawemaaganag or “my next of kin persons” were often described as gakina gegoo, “everyone and everything” or “all living things.” Everything and everyone was alive and created for a purpose!
The gete-aya’aag saw the cosmos as basically consisting of three spheres or layers connected by a huge coniferous Tree of Life (in the form of giizhik, the northern white cedar): anaamakamig (Underworld), agidakamig (the middle world, the earth’s surface called Mikinaakominis or Turtle Island), and gizhigoong (Sky world). See below illustration, a graphic representation of Waawiyekamig, the Anishinaabe Universe by the late Ojibwe Anishinaabe artist Ahmoo Angeconeb.
The concept of izhinamowin does not so much refer to vision with the eyes, but rather to ideas associated with mental perception; of course, the eyes may be the gateway for that mental perception. From of old, ANISHINAABE IZHINAMOWIN interprets the countless phenomena, forms, and forces of the natural world specific to man’s immediate environment purely in a cosmological context.
Gete-aya’aag, our ancestors, had an equally great respect for all entities within the cosmos, even for those that are more remote to mankind. They saw all life forms as animated and inter-related “persons” or “relatives” (called inawemaaganag) possessing a consciousness, rationale, and a will of their own. They saw the world as as a living, harmonious, interdependent system, a gigantic web of social relations - kind of like an extended family -, where the relationship between humans and the nonhuman and spirit world was one of continuous interfusion and reciprocal exchange. All these indinawemaaganag or “my next of kin persons” were often described as gakina gegoo, “everyone and everything” or “all living things.” Everything and everyone was alive and created for a purpose!
The gete-aya’aag saw the cosmos as basically consisting of three spheres or layers connected by a huge coniferous Tree of Life (in the form of giizhik, the northern white cedar): anaamakamig (Underworld), agidakamig (the middle world, the earth’s surface called Mikinaakominis or Turtle Island), and gizhigoong (Sky world). See below illustration, a graphic representation of Waawiyekamig, the Anishinaabe Universe by the late Ojibwe Anishinaabe artist Ahmoo Angeconeb.
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The Anishinaabe cosmos
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Anishnawbe Miinigozwin ("Anishinaabeg Gift”) silkscreen by Ahmoo Angeconeb, 1973. Giizhik, the northern white cedar, connects the underworlds with the middle world (earth) and the sky worlds. The figures in the image represent the inawemaaganag (including the humans) that inhabit Aki, the world.
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According to the traditional Anishinaabe worldview, Anaamakamig, the Underworld of the rivers, lakes, and seas, house a myriad of manidoog (spirits) and aadizookaanag (spirit grandfathers; shapeshifters). Both categories, manidoo and aadizookaan, are represented by fish and the fish spirits (gihoonhyag), including Makadeshigan (Black Bass), mishi-bizhiwag (Great Underwater Panthers), mishi-ginebigoog (Great Underwater Snakes; see the figure depicted in the bottom left corner), nibiinabekwewag (Mermaids), and nibiinaabewag (Mermen; see the figure depicted in the bottom rigth corner).
The second layer of cosmos is called Agidakamig, the Middle World, the earth’s surface often called Mikinaakominis (Turtle Island) that houses countless corporeal and incorporeal beings; represented in the image by Anishinaabeg (humans), mitigoog (trees), a makwa (bear), and a ma'iingan (wolf).
The third layer of cosmos is Giizhigoong, the Sky World and all of its beings represented in the image by aadizookaanag (spirit grandfathers, muses) that represent the physical orders of the universe: giizis the sun, dibik-giizis the moon, anangoog the stars, muses and shapeshifters in human form, and animikiiwaanakwadoon (the thunderclouds), as well as by bineshiwag (taloned birds of prey; hawks, falcons, and eagles).
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The eagle and the hawk
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The white gold ring to the left shows an image of a feather stylized in a somewhat angular fashion; it's the feather of Gekek, the Hawk. Then there is the ring to the right, whose more fluent design depicts the feather of Migizi the eagle. The hawk feather embodying Gekek’s virtues like reflection, deliberation, and foresight, and the eagle feather representing Migizi’s courage, strength, and preknowledge, complement each other in a symbolic way; just like partners for life are supposed to complete each other, physically as well as spiritually. Additionally, both feathers of the rings also symbolize the Spiritual and/or Academic Learning Path that we, as humans, although very individual to every one of us, must follow together as we walk the Road of Life toward a happy and rewarding life and toward a bright future for our children and grandchildren (see also the below images, a painting and a triptych canvas by Simone McLeod).
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| Sterling silver, oxidized version of the Izhinamowin ring set. |
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| Migizi Babaamaadiziwin ("Migizi's Journey") by Simone McLeod. © 2014 Simone McLeod _____________________________________________________________ |
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| Bicolor gold version of the Izhinamowin ring set. . |
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| "Learning Series": Triptych by Simone McLeod. © 2013 Simone McLeod. |
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Giiwenh. That´s how far this blog story goes. Miigwech for reading and listening!
Bi-waabamishinaang miinawaa daga: please come see me again!
*Miigwech Charles Lippert for explaining in detail the multiple meanings of the term izhinamowin/ishina(a)mowin.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
My name is Zhaawano Giizhik.
As an American artist and (non-commercial) 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.
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