The images in this online publication were designed by Turtle Heart, Ojibway artist.

Water Woman’s Morning Song (above)

Eagle is the instrument, the living prayer of our contract with the Creation to live in balance and cooperation with nature. Water Woman, shaped like the Moon, is from the Woodlands teachings passed on by the clan mothers regarding the proper caretaking of water. She pours the river of life from an Eagle Feather, gathering it from the four directions, and it passes over and through every living thing on the earth. The plant life indicates the responsibility we have to the roots—to that which is below the surface of our immediate attention. The River ends where the clouds begin, and there we find the Heart-Dreaming Serpent that is the link between our life close to the earth and the open heart of the Creation, the world of nature. Thunder and Rain, at the end, are symbols of what the elders have called “the waiting world”—perhaps the outstretched hopes of the generations yet to be born. Following the place where the Sun rises, Turtle appears from the disk of the Sun and Moon, exercising patience and deliberate movements in its celebration of life. The image concludes with the partly revealed Turtle, symbol of the earth itself. Turtle is partly revealed to symbolize our incomplete journey through this life, as well as our need to know more and do more to take care of the earth’s rich resources.

Peeps

This image represents the harmony of working together to face the possible and the unknown.