4.7.1.5 Strong Sun Moon: Flicker (Sun Bear MWEA 70-78)

• June 21 - July 22
• Carnelian Agate as mineral kingdom totem
• Wild Rose as plant kingdom totem
• Color is the pink of the rose and the flicker
• Frog elemental clan
• 4.7.1.5.1 Mineral Kingdom: Carnelian Agate
  • Like the moss agate, a chalcedony, a cryptocrystalline variety of quartz
    • Carnelian is a clear chalcedony which ranges in color from pink to red to yellow
    • The yellow variety is usually referred to as sard
    • In proper usage the term "carnelian" is only applied to translucent stones
    • The opaque form of these stones is jasper
  • Widely used from early times for jewelry and other ornaments
    • May be the first hard stone that was engraved in ancient times
    • Because of its color, it has been associated with blood
    • Considered to be an emergency stone useful in healing those accidentally injured
      • Said to have the property of stopping the flow of blood from wounds
    • In emergencies it was suspended from a string or thong
      • Used pendulum style over the wound
  • Because of color and properties, also associated with the heart
    • A gift of carnelian was a gift from the heart
    • The stone thus often given to represent a pledge of love
    • In older times, believed that carrying a carnelian would help keep heart healthy and open to all the emotions that center in it
    • Mothers often carried carnelian to ensure their hearts remained open to needs of their children

• 4.7.1.5.2 Plant Kingdom: Wild Rose
  • A beautiful bush that has inspired reams of poetry and untold stanzas of song
    • An erect shrub with thorny stems; compound leaves of 5- to 7-tootehd leaflets
    • Leaves similar to domesticated rose leaves but smaller
    • Flowers have 5 petals around a large yellow center; from pale to bright pink
    • After flowers disappear, roses begin to form fruit, called hips
      • Orange, look like berries
      • Many have fleshy outer rind and small white seeds; others seedless
      • Rind either bland tasting or has a subtle spicy, quite distint flavor
      • Rose hips are among richest sources of vitamin C
    • Bloom May until July, deliciously scenting land around them
      • Hips ready to harvest in fall
  • Hips may be eaten raw all fall and winter, as Native peoples did
    • Or dry and make into tea, grind for meal or flour
    • Or use in jam or soups
    • Boiling the hips extracts about 40% of the vitamin C, dray extracts about 65%
    • Recipes may be found in older cookbooks, if not available in modern ones
    • Excellent for cold remedies, sore throats and flu because of vitamin C content
  • Rose petals steeped in boiling water, make a delicate tea
    • Said to have a slight astringent and tonic effect on body
  • Peeled twigs and roots can be boiled to make tea reputed helpful for colds
  • Rose hip tea once used to dissolve and remove gallstones and kidney stones
    • Also to cleanse bloodstream of those with blood or liver problems
    • Distilled water of leaves and flowers also used to strengthen heart
      • Refresh spirits, help with problems requiring a gentle cooling effect
    • Used along with mint and raspberry by Native Americas to make a children's tea
      • Helped keep them healthy and happy
    • Indian prophecy related by a Mohawk herbalist:
      • After Europeans came to this continent there would be a great need for a cure of malignancies that would otherwise cause the downfall of their civilization
      • This cure for cancer would come from a hybrid rose developed by a person of Indian descent
    • Rose water from the flowers once frequently used in eye lotions
      • And to give relief from eye discomfort caused by hay fever
    • Rose also used to cover the smell of less pleasantly scented herbs for ingestion
    • Rose petals made into an oil used for a perfume or hair rinse
    • Dried petals a main component of sachets, used to scent clothes, drawers, closets
  • Flicker people are like the wild rose and can learn from it
    • Variety of abilities available to them when properly flowing with energy of life
    • Can be truly beautiful people, capable of inspiring others - beauty, usefulness
    • Have wild quality about them, special attractiveness in a natural setting
    • When lives in flower, bring happiness to all
    • When flowers of one stage wither, replaced with hips of wisdom from that stage
    • Are most sought out for their outer rinds, their abundant visible attributes
    • Inside is deeper knowledge just as useful as visible one
    • When not in balance, may appear bland like some say the rose hip is

• 4.7.1.5.3 Animal Kingdom: Flicker
  • The most numerous and mystical member of the woodpecker family
  • American name for woodpecker derived from Latin god Picus
    • With whom Circe fell in love
    • She asked him to accept the sun as a father-in-law
    • He refused and was turned into a woodpecker
  • Two kinds of flickers in the United States
    • Yellow-shafted flicker, named for his yellow underwings
      • Usually found east of the Great Plains
    • Red-shafted flicker, named for red, almost coral underwings
      • Lives west of the Great Plains
    • Both are grayish brown, with a white rump, red crescent on nape
      • Black crescent on breast and black spots below
    • Both found in a variety of places: woods, farms, even suburbs
    • Unlike other woodpeckers, spend quite a bit of time on ground
      • Will perch upright on limbs as songbirds do
  • Drummers, playing their song on dead limbs, tin roofs, wooden houses
    • Sometimes to extract insects, sometimes for sheer joy of playing
  • During mating, put on especially magnificent display of musical talents
  • Eat insects and wild seeds and berries, occasionally grain or corn
  • Several varieties of song
    • Yuk-yuk-yuk
    • Wicker-wicker-wicker
    • "Wake up, wake up" or "cheer up, cheer up"
    • Cook-cook-cook...
  • Their flight is strong and direct
    • After a take-off of a series of wavelike leaps upward and downward
  • Like other woodpeckers, it has a stout, sharp bill, a long tongue
    • Two toes in front and two behind with sharp, curved claws for clinging to trees
  • Digs a gourd-shaped hole in a tree trunk for its nest
    • This nest is often used later by other birds
    • Usually 8-25' high, with openings 2" in diameter
    • The flicker lays 6-25 eggs, usually about 8
  • They are good and caring parents, take proper care of young
    • Until time to cast from the nest to fly on their own
  • A special bird to many Native Americans; considered a courageous bird
    • Legend says he has red wings because he went too close to a fire
      • Set by the Earthquake Spirit to try to put it out
      • Flames from it colored his wings and tail red
    • Especially valued because of their drumming
      • Like beat of any drum, represents beat of heart, beat of earth
    • Considered special because of their song
    • Their feathers are used in many religious articles and ceremonies
    • Because feathers are red, associated with blood, often presented to war spirits
    • Red feathers on prayer sticks considered war offerings, against human or spiritual
    • Flicker feathers in hair designate the wearer as a member of a medicine society
  • Folks of this moon can learn of their latent mystical talents from the flicker
    • Only come out when balanced in very harmonious surroundings
    • have ability to pierce through this level of reality and see things differently
    • Very intuitive, these perceptions most help them decide upon proper direction
    • Don't realize what guides them, find it difficult to explain to others
      • Thought of as irrational thinkers who rely heavily on intuitions
    • Need to be able to sing their song in life, whatever they perceive it to be
      • Must have a comfortable nest before they feel balanced enough to sing
    • Have a true love of home, not happy in unharmonious home
    • Feel their beautiful dwelling is not complete unless shared by others they really love
    • Relationships very important, they give much energy to establishing and maintaining good relationships
    • Are good parents; lavish their children with love and deep feelings of security
      • Yet have difficult time letting little ones go when time to leave
    • They love their extended family, then their neighbors, then their country

• 4.7.1.5.4 Color: Pink of the rose and the flicker
  • Either the pink of immaturity or of universal, all-healing love
    • Depends on individual growth of the person involved
    • Those who have not yet found their balance
      • Will often find themselves consumed by the raging sea of their emotions
      • Keeps them from coming to a place of harmony and balance
    • Those who have found their direction in life
      • Able to channel their emotions and sensitivity to help those they touch

• 4.7.1.5.5 Moon: Strong Sun Moon
  • Governed by Shawnodese, Spirit Keeper of the South
    • Governs the time of rapid growth and the quality of trust
    • Natural inclinations strengthened even more
  • Strong Sun moon gives some stability, slows Flicker people down a bit
    • The season when we must grow quickly, but in proper direction
    • Sun saps strength for tangential activities as helps to grow in proper course
  • Moon of the summer solstice
    • Time when all things of earth begin journey toward flowering and bearing fruit

• 4.7.2.5.6 Elemental Clan: Frog Clan
  • They are compatible with their fellow members of the Frog clan
    • The Cougar and the Snake
    • And with those of the Turtle clan, the Brown Bear, Beaver, and Snow Goose
    • They especially compliment those of the Snow Goose

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Introduction: Page One ~ | ~ Page Two ~ | ~ Page Three ~ | ~ Page Four ~ | ~ Page Five ~ | ~
~ | ~ Sacred Altar ~ | ~ East ~ | ~ South ~ | ~ West ~ | ~ North ~ | ~
Inner Circle: Owl ~ | ~ Cougar ~ | ~ Hawk ~ | ~ Coyote ~ | ~ Wolf ~ | ~ Bear ~ | ~ Raven ~ | ~
Outer Circle: Snow Goose ~ | ~ Otter ~ | ~ Cougar ~ | ~ Hawk ~ | ~ Beaver ~ | ~ Deer ~ | ~
~ | ~ Flicker ~ | ~ Sturgeon ~ | ~ Bear ~ | ~ Raven ~ | ~ Snake ~ | ~ Elk ~ | ~ Blue ~ | ~

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