Keshi | Zuni Animal Medicine

Bat

The only mammal that flies, glides through the blackness, listening with the keen perception of sonar to the soft sounds of the night. While feeding on insects and fruit, bats fertilize the plant kingdom. Bat medicine pollinates the seeds of our dreams. Bat (Ehshots’i) enters and leaves the cave, suggesting symbolic or shamanic death and initiation. Times of transition can bring fear, but remembering that bat sleeps hanging upside down gives us new perspective. When we emerge reborn from the cave, we can soar through the darkness, hearing hidden messages from Spirit.

Bat Power by Frankie Eustace

A mighty fine pen shell Bat carved by Frankie, ready to fly away! With turquoise inlay for the eyes it is just over 2″ long, 3/4″ tall and wafer thin. Bat medicine pollinates the seeds of our dreams. Bat (Ehshots’i) enters and leaves the cave, suggesting symbolic or shamanic death and initiation. Times of transition can bring fear, but remembering that bat sleeps hanging upside down gives us new perspective. When we emerge reborn from the cave, we can soar through the darkness, hearing hidden messages from Spirit.

via Keshi | Zuni Animal Medicine.

Native American Animal Medicine – (Bat Medicine)

MEANING: Rebirth, Initiation, Extra-Sensory Hearing

Bat People are learning to sense their way through the dark, only to come out of the darkness reborn into a “new” person. In the darkness is the “old” self, the “old” habits, and the “old” behaviors. You may have found that if a bat has come before you that you have been going through a dark time in your Life when you “must” let go of who you used to be in order to become who you desire to be.

When Bat Medicine grabs your attention it is asking you to take yourself through a ritualistic rebirth. As a Native American (Cherokee) ritual resonates with my spirit. I’ve taken myself through this ritualistic rebirth after a long-long-term relationship ended. My desire was to change myself and move forward quickly so I would not slip back into an old relationship pattern or behavior. I consistently changed by routine, habits and behaviors for 40 days. My ritual consisted of daily yoga, prayer and meditation, rebirthing and rolfing sessions, colonic irrigations and severe dietary changes for 40 days. Needless to say, I emerged from the darkness without looking back. Considering that the “old patterned relationship” was 12 years long, drastic rebirth was necessary in order to move through the Life change. I WAS GREAT!!!

via Native American Animal Medicine – (Bat Medicine).

Lynne Allbutt: Why we should all be batty about bats – Lynne Allbutt – Wales Online

Bat facts

Bats are not blind. They can also “see” in the dark by listening to the echoes of their high frequency calls. With this sophisticated sonar system, called “echolocation” they can pick up insects as tiny as mosquitoes.

Bats’ wings are giant hands, with skin stretching between elongated fingers.

Bats can live for up to 30 years.

In Britain it is illegal to disturb bats or the places where they roost. I always remember when I was a child, Mum and Dad found they had bats in the attic and contacted the Bat Conservation Trust to find out relevant information.

via Lynne Allbutt: Why we should all be batty about bats – Lynne Allbutt – Wales Online.

International Bat Night taking place this weekend – Jersey News from ITV Channel Television – channelonline.tv

This Saturday, the Jersey Bat Group will celebrate International Bat Night.

The group will lead a walk around Val de la Mare Reservoir where participants can experience the countryside at night.

Bat detector machines will be used to hear the ultrasonic calls being made by bats.

Members will also be talking about bat biology and ecology and will also be on hand to answer any bat questions.

Participants will be able to watch the bats whizzing backwards and forwards across the reservoir hovering up midges.

Their ‘feeding buzzes’ will be heard as they hone in on their prey.

via International Bat Night taking place this weekend – Jersey News from ITV Channel Television – channelonline.tv.

When patients have ‘music emergencies’ – 12 News KBMT and K-JAC. News, Weather and Sports for SE Texas

CNN) — Brian Jantz marched down the hallway of the hospital with his guitar, accompanying a 4-year-old oncology patient with a maraca and a drum. He remembers they were singing their own creative version of “Itsy Bitsy Spider.”

The girl had been anxious about an upcoming X-ray, he said, and resisted going to the procedure. Hospital staff paged Jantz to help. He kept the music going even on the elevator; the girl’s parents, a nurse and a child-life specialist sang, too.

“I’m not completely sure that she realized when it was happening … because before you knew it, we were back on the elevator, back in the room, and the music just continued straight through,” Jantz said.

via When patients have ‘music emergencies’ – 12 News KBMT and K-JAC. News, Weather and Sports for SE Texas.

Colorful murals keep a daughter’s memory alive – The Washington Post

What started as a therapeutic window-painting project in her daughter’s room just before she died in 2011 has brought Weller back to paint her whimsical murals in eight other pediatric rooms.

The paintings are big, colorful and splashy — filled with birds, trees and fish — and they brighten the otherwise antiseptic rooms of critically ill children.

They make Weller, 56, of Gaithersburg, think of Lauren. And she hums as she paints them.

via Colorful murals keep a daughter’s memory alive – The Washington Post.

Native despair: face to face with ennui on a reserve – The Globe and Mail

I encountered it head on recently. I was at a northern reserve to deliver a workshop called Empowering Community Through Story. It was designed to allow native youth to gather and tell stories about themselves and their community in a variety of different media. The program offered the chance to use art, photography, video and oral and written story to create a comprehensive image of their home. It would have allowed them to see and share how they viewed their reserve in the past, present and future.

Because I believe so much in the healing power of story, I created the program so that native youth would discover that stories can be told in any number of ways. I designed it so they could choose how they wanted to tell them. I aimed it right at technology and art. If I had the relevant experience, I would have used dance, theatre and music to achieve the same goals. It was a grand initiative with incredible potential for change and empowerment.

via Native despair: face to face with ennui on a reserve – The Globe and Mail.

Ravens on Decks: The Art of Trickster Skateboards – ICTMN.com

A couple of innovative young artists are melding the ancient tradition of formline drawing with the hip canvas of skateboard decks. “The demand for Native art skateboards was made very clear by the popularity of my early hand-painted decks,” Rico Lanáat’ Worl (Tlingit/Athabascan) of Trickster Company said in a recent interview.

via Ravens on Decks: The Art of Trickster Skateboards – ICTMN.com.

The Georgia Straight proudly sponsors Artists in the Atrium: Aboriginal Showcase and Art Market | Georgia Straight

Artists in the Atrium will showcase Aboriginal dance and music artists and support the arts and culture of the Downtown Eastside. The corresponding art market will provide Aboriginal visual artists with an opportunity to promote and sell their original, handmade work, such as cedar bark weavings, drums, carvings, paintings, and jewellery. In addition, workshops will support local artists by helping artists to develop their portfolios, teaching social media as a way to promote art, and grant writing skills.

Artists in the Atrium will kick off with an opening ceremony on August 1 at 11 a.m. At 12:30 p.m., Chief Ian Campbell and the Squamish Nation Dance Group will share traditional songs and dances of the Squamish Nation. Chief Ian Campbell is the youngest of 16 hereditary chiefs of the Squamish nation, and he has travelled internationally, empowering audiences while sharing their rich, vibrant history and culture of his people.

via The Georgia Straight proudly sponsors Artists in the Atrium: Aboriginal Showcase and Art Market | Georgia Straight.

Siksika Singers – Owl Dance of the Siksika Nation (CR-6332)

Siksika Singers – Owl Dance of the Siksika Nation (CR-6332)

A prominent social dance of the Blackfoot people, the Owl Dance is a couples dance that moves to the swaying beat of the drum and lively melodies of the singers. In the past, Owl Dances were for courting and socializing. Performed rarely these days, the Owl Dance and its songs still inspire good feelings and camaraderie for the dancers and singers. The Siksika Nation, a division of the Blackfoot Confederacy, has been home to some of the best traditional singers of North America. This recording features members of three of the most respected singing groups representing the Siksika Nation; the Siksika Ramblers, Little Axe and the Siksika Boyz. many of the songs on this recording are older and some have not been heard in decades. The singers hope that the timeless beauty of these songs will be enjoyed again.

via Siksika Singers – Owl Dance of the Siksika Nation (CR-6332).