The Thunder Beings
"A Gift of Power" by Archie Fire Lamedeer
The moment you dream of thunder or lightning, or of the Wakinyan, the Thunderbirds, you become a Heyoka whether you want to or not. Even if you merely dream of one of the many symbols of lightning (a grey horse, for instance, or a dragonfly, snowbird, or frog), you are turned into one of these contraries. You become a sacred clown, an icy-hot, forward-backward, upside-down creature.
A Heyoka is a Thunder Dreamer. The Heyoka is, at the same time, less and more than a medicine man. He is the "contrary", the man who does everything backward. People fear the Heyoka and he is even a little afraid of himself and his strange powers. He is sorrow and laughter rolled into one, sacred and ridiculous at the same time.
Heyokas are powerful. They can cure certain illnesses, and they can also change the weather. They can change a blizzard into a clear day, and a summer breeze into a hailstorm. They can part the clouds to let the sun shine through, and they can protect people from getting hit by lightning.
The Heyoka gets his power from the Wakinyan, the
Great Winged Ones, which the whites call the Thunderbirds. Wakinyan Tanka, the Chief Thunderbird, once made his home in the Paha Sapa our sacred Black Hills, but moved away because he could not tolerate the white gold-seekers and tourists who defiled his sacred land.
Our elders say that Inyan, or Rock, created Wakinyan Tanka to be his companion. In Inyan or Tunka our earliest sacred immortal, dwells the spirit and power of Rock, who lives forever and who will still be here when everything else is gone. But, of course, both Inyan and Wakinyan Tanka are parts of Wakan Tanka, the Creator, who is one but also many.
Thunder Beings: a Conversation with WolfWalker
by Wolfwalker (Written by Jamie Sams)
"It is a story told by the ancient Storytellers
from grandmother to grandchild on down the line...."
"Tonight I wanted to speak of some of the
spirit beings that Native Americans look to for guidance and direction. The Thunder Beings are one such grouping of spirit beings that are mighty teachers and bring with them a time
of renewed energy and creativity. In fact, they are currently also attending this gathering, BTW, because there is a great storm right outside my window ...gggg....so if I suddenly pop off , its 'cause of their fire sticks came a little too close....
The Thunder Beings speak of the Divine Union, which in
the personal sense is the marriage between the male and female in each of us. This marriage creates usable energy or enhances our natural growth potential by providing us with the get up and go we need to make our dreams a reality.
The Thunder Beings make up the love call of the Sky Nation, the fire sticks or lightening bolts, are a rare gift from Father Sky to his lover, Mother Earth. The Thunderers who accompany a storm carry the mating call that announces the Divine Union of Earth and Sky. The Thunder Beings are the host of lovers who give energy to the Earth Mother.
The Thunder Chief proclaims the beauty of the love between Father Sky and Mother Earth. The Fire Sticks create a bridge between the two lovers and are a physical expression their love for one another. Through this intricate mating dance, the Earth Mother is reenergized so that life may continue through the nurturing rains who feed her body.
Since the Earth is magnetic, she needs the electric energy supplied by the Thunder Beings. The Rain People recycle the moisture of Sky World and give back to the Earth Mother so that her body may feed all the things green and growing. It is the cloak of Father Sky that covers the Earth Mother in a mantle of blue each day, and the Cloud People manifest his love for her every day when they form and the thoughts of their combined ideas take shape. It is the Hail-lo-way-ain, or the Language of Love in Seneca that Father Sky speaks to the Earth Mother.
When Mother Earth needs the love and warmth of GrandFather Sun to support the needs of her children, we see thunderstorms, lightening, rain, as their bodies dance the Sacred Dance of the Divine Union. The Thunder Chief calls out in the Hail-lo-way-ain, the ancient language of love, for the Earth Mother to prepare herself for her bridegroom....the Fire Medicine, the passion, that comes between them, is the Fire Sticks, the lightning that returns needed energy to the Earth Mother. This act of love between Father and Mother can be gentle and tender, or torrid and passionate. This lovemaking is experienced as climatic shifts and weather changes by the Children of the Earth.
Floods, and fires, hailstorms and tornadoes, hurricanes, and typhoons are the freedom of nature. In every case it is the fulfillment of our Earth Mother's needs and must be looked at from the viewpoint of the greatest good for all living creatures. Great Mystery has a hand in all acts of the Universe and this world and each act supports the need for growth and change.
How the Thunder Beings can help each of us when called upon?
The Thunder Beings, as I said earlier, are mighty teachers of change and renewal. They are powerful medicine and should not be called upon lightly to aid a person. There are times in our lives when change is inevitable. Growth is needed but is difficult for a variety of reasons, mostly what we see in our own minds.
Our personal renewal, which Nature reflects, can be brought about by cleansing our fears, cultivating new growth, releasing old habits, or allowing ourselves to be loved and protected. The Thunder Beings bring us raw energy we need to renew and change, reshape our lives. We humans are Catalyzers, electromagnetic bodies, receiving and giving energy. We are the bridge that connects Earth and Sky when we are in harmony.
Like Mother Earth and Father Sky, we are both male and
female in nature. The command of usable energy comes when male and female are in balance within us. By asking the Thunder Beings to assist us in tapping into this raw energy and utilizing it creatively, we learn how to reshape and renew, creatively grow and change.
When one comes to the Thunder Beings to seek assistance,
one must come in humbleness and humility, with the intent of being an empty vessel or channel through which the energy may flow through us to be used as we need, but also to return to the Earth Mother once it is no longer needed, as we receive, we must give back as well.
It is in using the language of love, the Hail-lo-way-ain, that we learn to walk in balance and to love ourselves, as well...the
male and female of us each. It is only in loving ourselves, bringing the male and female side of each of us, into harmony that we can begin to walk in Beauty on the Earth Mother. The Thunder Beings can show us the way, but we must remember that what we take, we must give back threefold, as well, and that what we do now on this plane will affect 7 generations of our children and our children's children.
To take without gratitude or acknowledgment is imbalance. To give too much to others without replenishing the self is imbalance. To wait for energy to come to us without actively seeking what we need is imbalance.
The Thunder Beings teach us this balance, there is neither hoarding, misuse, neglect, leaking or denying the energy from Father Sky to Mother Earth. When her need is fulfilled, the storm is ended. When she requires more rain and energy, then Father Sky sends the Fire Sticks with the Thunder Beings to replenish his
bride. This then is the circle of the Creative Life-force that naturally flows between us the Original Source, Great Mystery. Use it properly or lose it.
First, energy is neither good nor evil..it just is...its all in how we use it....such also is the power and energy of the Thunder Beings, also called Wakinyan. Wakinyan brings storms that cut like a knife through the building heat of day. Wakinyan sends the lightning, the Fire Sticks, that flash and sear. The booming voice of Wakinyan can either give courage or instill deep dread.
Great Mystery created Wakinyan to oversee the caretakers
of the Earth...to assist them in their role....Wakinyan is electric energy and courses through all things. Wakinyan cleanses and destroys. His great wings bring sudden and terrible winds. The raw energy of Wakinyan's eye changes the vision of a human. Wakinyan
is also the force of truth: he strikes down anyone who does not speak the truth when holding the Sacred Pipe. His spirit eye opens with the flash of lightning and sound of thunder. Careless use of Wakinyan's gift of energy means imbalance."
<Jack> The NA symbol for lightening is a zigzag line with a fork at the end. It has tufted feathers at the tips to denote the winged power. The belief is that lightning branches out into a positive and negative offsetting balance. The balance of life.
"Yes, it is also seen with a cup at the bottom of that lightening bolt, ready to accept and hold the energy sent by the Thunder Beings. This symbol is often carved on staffs, or seen on medicine shields as a symbol of power. Yes, balance is always the key. One must be in balance, in harmony in order to walk the path of Beauty."
<Jack> Any path you choose must be walked in balance.
<Diana> Just a comment that that balance is the key here.
<Krakers> As I listened to your story - I was struck by it's similarity to the symbolism and structure of the I Ching. All of the central themes and "characters" are also found among the metaphors used by the ancient Chinese Taoists. Although the compiler's of the I Ching did not anthropomorphize the powers to the extent that native Americans did -they still covered the same ground and relations.
<Jack> Actually Krakers, there are many
similarities between the Eastern and Western ancient beliefs. Even in many cases the linguistics are so close as to defy coincidence. "All roads lead to Mecca!"
"I am not surprised, as there is much similarity
between Eastern thought and Native American. It is only in the more modern Christian, Jewish and Muslim religions that this thinking of nature based balance and harmony shifted from the individual doing for the self to the individual being done to. Yes, that is the
path of Beauty, Jack. There are many roads to the same place."
<Jack> The art is finding your road and staying on it.
<Diana> All true paths run parallel, but arrive at
the same place.
"Just as there are any number of different experiences for each person traveling that path. No two experiences will ever be the same. The thing to keep in mind, is that is it a journey, a process and not a stationary state of being. We learn to walk in balance when we begin to reconnect to ourselves, our roots,
our Mother and all the spirits of this plane. The more of us that walk in balance, the more we can heal our Mother and keep her beautiful and healthy. It that energy from the Thunder Beings that can help in our own healing process."