Our Grandmother of the Shawnee: Messages of a Female Deity

Principles of narrative analysis provide the foundation for a study of messages from the Shawnee female deity. The Shawnee hold a unique theological conception of their Creator, a female deity known as Our Grandmother. The purpose of this study is to investigate the origin and nature of the Shawnee female deity and reveal mediums of communication She has used to communicate with Her Shawnee people. This study provides an overview of Shawnee narratives, folklore, and spiritual beliefs. A major goal of this paper is to investigate Her unique messages to the Shawnee and the powerful impact Her words have had on Shawnee culture. The paper demonstrates the Shawnee female deity, Our Grandmother, had four separate, discernable message revelation techniques for chosen Shawnee individuals and four general message revelation techniques for Her grandchildren, the Shawnee people. Introduction Spirituality remains a cornerstone of Native American cultures (Thorton, 1998, Rogers and Steinfatt, 1999, Voegelin, 1936). One must investigate the spiritual beliefs of a people group in order to better understand their culture (Rogers and Steinfatt,1999). This study explores the Supreme Deity narratives of an Algonquin people known to English speakers as the Shawnee. Although the Shawnee have always been historically included in the Algonquin language group, their particular and unique beliefs about the Creator of the world merit closer inspection. Many Native American tribal groups generally ascribed the masculine gender to