Tag: blue heron

A Cherokee Story of Blue Heron

When learning the medicine of Native American Totems it sometimes helps to relate a story about the animal, plant,Great Blue Heron Poster print or mineral that the lesson is coming from.  The First People of Turtle Island (North America) have left us with wonderful stories that help us understand more about a messenger who has come to us on our journey.  Yesterday, I blogged about the Blue Heron and how it teaches us about self-reflection.  Here is a story about Blue Heron from the Cherokee tradition.

I have heard that a very long time ago there was a race of Little People.  These people were very small, perhaps only  5 or 6 inches tall.  The Little People enjoyed a good life for the most part. They did suffer from the occasional attacks from visiting birds, though.  You see, my friend, these birds were larger than the Little People and it caused them much worry that they might be mistaken for food.  One day a Cherokee hunter, whose name has long been forgotten,  gave the Little People a gift.  He showed them how they could make little bows and arrows to defend themselves against the birds. They were very grateful to this friendly hunter.

For the next hundred years the Little People lived by the marsh in harmony with the world around them.  One day a flock of Blue Herons came.  The long legs of the Heron caused the arrows to fall  short and they did not scare the Blue Herons away.

The long beaks of the Great Blue Heron frightened the women and children and they fled, screaming into their homes at the sides of the marsh.

The tiny warriors stood their ground  and faced their fears of these enormous foes.  The Great Spirit saw that these Little Men had faced the challenge bravely and were using the skills they had.  So, a punishment was given to Blue Heron for terrorizing these Little People. It is why the Blue Heron has to feed alone and is never seen in flocks to this day. This is why Blue Heron brings us the message of self-reflection as it has to feed alone.  Alone we have to face our fears, look at our gifts, and be in harmony with our world.

I love to find these tribal stories and see how they relate to the Native American Totems that work with us in our journey on Mother Earth.

~ Mitakuye Oyasin ~ We are all related

Native American Totems: Blue Heron

When the Sacred Waterbird, Blue Heron, comes to you in the Native American Totems tradition it gives you a lesson of self-reflection.  Heron medicine teaches us about the power of knowing ourselves so that we can discover our gifts and face our challenges.  We learn to accept all of our feelings and opinions and not to deny the emotions and thoughts that go with them.  Blue Heron encourages us to follow our intuition and to take the empowering journey into self-realization.

I chose this totem message today (or perhaps it chose me) because in the last few days I’ve been on a journey of Blue Heron Reflection printself-reflection. As much as I work with the lessons of the Native American Totems, one would think that I would have recognized that the Sacred Waterbird was flying over me.  Sometimes we two-leggeds can be a bit dense when it comes to the messenger totems that enter our lives.  When I sat down to free my mind and decide which totem to write about today, the majestic Blue Heron landed in my mind’s eye.  Let’s just say it was one of those “Ahhh” moments.  Let’s explore the message that Heron is bringing to me personally and probably to you too if you found this post today.

Blue Heron comes to us encouraging us to dive into the world of our feelings and to look for our truth.  If we only look at ourselves in a negative frame we never understand our true potential or recognize the opportunities that come our way.  We don’t want to get stuck in the notion of self-importance.  We should not think of ourselves as having little or no worth nor should we wallow in self-pity.  Heron says to reflect on your feelings and get to know ourselves intimately to find our true calling.

The Sacred Waterbird tells us not to blame others or point a negative finger at the situations of life. This majestic bird says to claim responsibility for our own actions and to face the enemy within us all.  We need to find a balance to our inner truths, work on our inner weaknesses, and develop our strengths to know our own spiritual essence.  This takes courage to make this journey because it isn’t easy to look at ourselves in an honest way.

We can find wonderful healing for our souls, truly allow ourselves to make our dreams come true, and live our lives to their greatest potential if we listen the the messages of our Native American Totems.

~ Mitakuye Oyasin ~ We are all related