Read Online Spirits of the Earth A Guide to Native American Nature Symbols Stories and Ceremonies Bobby LakeThom 9780452276505 Books

Product details Paperback 224 pages Publisher Plume; First Printing edition (August 1, 1997) Language English ISBN-10 0452276500

Spirits of the Earth A Guide to Native American Nature Symbols Stories and Ceremonies Bobby LakeThom 9780452276505 Books Reviews

• Fantastic book. I bought this for a child in foster care who wanted to learn more about his Native heritage. However, I discovered that my children and I loved this book. The simple and thoughtful explanations of how nature might speak to us in our daily lives was refreshing and enlightening. As one example, I used to have a hummingbird charm in my car and I found that the hummingbird in Native culture is associated with with healing and being a healer. I am in the healing and medical profession and this resonated with me. Please consider this book for your children who might also enjoy the symbolism of nature (think those kids who also enjoy the symbolism of literature and Greek mythology). This is a true treasure for your home.
• I got this book for my trip home. Although I had gone home many times over the course of my lifetime I had never experienced home like I did with this book in my hand. I had the most fascinating encounters with the dog, bat and some other small crawly creatures I cannot name. As I was walking to the store a butterfly started fluttering around my shoulder. At first I didn't know what it was brushing up against me until it rested on my purse. By the time I got to the store the butterfly still hadn't moved so I started talking to it. I was letting him know I was about to enter the store and that he would have to stay still until I left back out or be lost in the store. Then I'm narrating my movements to the butterfly as I made my way to the back of the store and back to the front to the checkout counter. The woman standing behind the counter was staring at me like I lost my mind because all she can see is me talking to the air. But then I tell the butterfly I'm about to go in my purse for my wallet and that we will be out of the store soon. That's when the woman looked down at my purse and noticed the butterfly. The look she gave me I couldn't described. It was like she had never seen a person talking to a butterfly before. I was half-way back to house before the butterfly flew away. A blue-tailed lizard hung around one the houses I stayed at. And while at another house a couple of family members who had passed visited.
  
  My cousin believes the butterfly was her father, my uncle, who came to watch over me as I walked the road to the store. The butterfly made its presence while I was passing where he used to live and left when I got back near it. My uncle was one of the family members that had passed who visited. It was the trip of a lifetime.
  
  The book isn't as detailed as I would like it to have been but it definitely served the purpose needed for the time.
• What an incredible book! I learned so much from it and it was worth every penny I paid for it. It is filled with useful information that sometimes seems far-fetched but when I started doubting, I'd remember just who wrote this book and remembered that this author is a holy man, shaman, medicine man, whatever you want to call him. He knows. He's been taught all of this since he was a child and has been brought up in the traditional ways.
  
  I took the time to do the exercises with the stories that were told and after I looked back at what I had written, it was like an epiphany. I had to read some of them several times, which he recommends you do anyway, and I was like, "I get it!" I was able to make the connection on most of them. A few of them, I am still thinking about.
  
  In the book, he talks about birds, animals, insects, reptiles and what they mean when you see them and how to handle them if they make a sudden, unwanted appearance inside your house. I will give you two examples of my own personal experiences
  
  Just yesterday, I was standing out in my garage smoking a cigarette when a tiny little spider lowered himself into my line of vision. My first instinct was to give him a fatal thwack. But no. After reading that part of the book, I knew he might be trying to tell me something. Spiders are messengers so as insane as this is going to sound, I asked him what was going on. Of course, he didn't answer me but now I am looking for something that I may have blown off before. He lingered there for a minute then he went back up and I haven't seen him since. But not all spiders are good.
  
  Another thing that totally made sense to me is the section on cockroaches. Never in my life had I had to live with cockroaches until I bought this house and then they came into my house from next door after the exterminator had gone in there and done his job after the slothful people who'd lived there before had been evicted and moved out. We definitely had a problem with them so we called the exterminator...twice. He came and he did his thing and they were gone for a little while but then they came back but not as badly. We took matters into our own hands then and got ourselves some Roach Prufe and sprinkled that around. That seemed to do the trick, too. But while all of this was going on, people were coming and going out of our house and some of them weren't the good kind of people. Once we got rid of the bad people, the roaches went away. A few of them were friends of our sons and one was a person who just pretended to be a friend of my mine and my husband's. Once these people were out of our lives, the roaches were gone and we haven't seen any since.
  
  I took this book very seriously and I learned so much from it. I now understand the sacredness of certain places on Earth even though I had a great idea before. I understand how we are all connected which really wasn't a revelation to me but this reinforced it for me. I no longer think that animals are a step beneath us. They are our equals and they are our relatives and should be treated with respect. They will talk to you if you choose to listen. Nature will talk to you if you listen.
  
  I also understand some of the ceremonies and someday hope to make my own medicine wheel. I also want to dream creatively. All of this and more is in this book.
  
  Yes, I am part Indian but probably not enough to make a big difference. But you don't have to be to understand this book. You just have to open your mind and your heart and be open to what's being said. Some will think it's hokey or just a big put-on but these stories have been passed down from generation to generation and have substance and standing.
  
  This is a life changing book and I know I will be referring back to it often.
  
  While I'm preaching this, I guess I would recommend Native American Wisdom, too. My oldest son is 11 and just got done reading his copy of Native American Wisdom and told me it was probably the greatest book he's ever read. Native American Wisdom is required reading for both of my sons when they turn 12 and I'm thinking I might be adding this book to their short list of required reading.
• This is one of the greatest books I have ever read. Why? Because it speaks the absolute truth. Human beings are nature. As time passes Western society drifts farther and farther away from Nature. It saddens me that so many people do not understand how beautiful the world is and how sacred she is. Get off your gaming systems, get outside and listen/connect to Nature, like the way humans are suppose to live. I am so glad this piece of literature exists and the knowledge can be shared with everyone. I wish I could rate it higher than five stars.
• It isn't exactly what I was expecting, but it's ok. This book has some good information in it, but it is so simplistic and nonspecific that it doesn't really live up to its publisher's review. There are native stories from different tribes, but I was hoping that they would have a bit of explanation to go along with them and they don't. It is more of here is a story and the story has meaning, but I'm not going to actually tell you what that meaning is or why this story is passed down.