Path of Souls - Journey to the Stars Part 1

There are many books that were written in the 1600s, 1700s and 1800s by authors who had interviewed native tribal people, shamans, elders and medicine people about their rituals, symbology and cosmology. These books were tucked away in libraries across North America, almost forgotten and neglected until Texas State University, after many years of research from 2004 - 2010, finally unraveled the symbols of the South Eastern Ceremonial Complex of the Mound Builders.

The constellations of Orion & Cygnus were central to the Path of Soul's Journey. This path is a 2-way journey. It is the path whereby the Soul comes from the Stars and the Soul returns to the Stars after death. Souls that reincarnate, go back and forth on this path. They believed that humans have two Souls. One is called the Life Soul and the other is called the Free Soul. This was the belief of the Native American Mound Builders. The Life Soul is the physical body. Everything in the universe has a Spirit. It has energy incorporated into it. But they knew that the body comes from the earth with its fluids and minerals. They believed that this physicality of the Life Soul had to be returned back to the Earth.

Artifacts found at mound sites depicted on pottery was a wide eyed skull with nothing in the eyes, as it looked literally lifeless as the Life Soul. These pottery artifacts were drinking bowls that were used in the rituals of the death journey ceremony. The Free Soul is what we describe as our Soul today. The Free Soul existed before we came into our body. It is what will continue to exist when we leave with it from the body. It lives on after the body dies. It is an expression of service to others or the opposite of self-servitude.

The Free Soul is depicted on their artifacts as shown as a wide-eyed skull with a speech box of fire coming out of the mouth. That fire out of the mouth was the representation of the Free Soul leaving the body in death. These drinking bowls used in the ritual were drank by the Shamans/Shamyn from one container bowl to another. Each bowl was filled with various substances for the ritual. Each bowl was set on a round stone that acted like a table for each bowl. These stones had carvings of a hand with an eye depicted in the palm. These flat, round stones with the hand and eye carved into them were about 18 inches in diameter. Sometimes there would be a rattlesnake carved around the hand.

The Free Soul was released to the Stars at the time of the Winter Solstice. This was documented to be around 1,000 B.C to 500 B.C. The ritual was done in a window of a few months of time. But the Free Soul had to be released just before the break of the sunlight morning at sunrise. The Soul had to make a leap of faith towards the western sky. At that exact moment in time, the belt stars of the Orion constellation could be seen right on the western horizon. It was seen as the stars sinking into the western horizon.

The Native American Mound Builders called Orion the Hand Constellation. They saw these 3 belt stars as forming a wrist of a severed hand with the fingers dangling downwards. In the palm of the hand, they saw a slit in the sky that they called the ogee. The Ogee was depicted as the eye in the hand. The Soul had to make a leap of faith across the water and into the ogee right before the stars set down into the horizon. The Ogee is actually Orion's nebula. The nebula can be seen in the eastern sky just above the 3 belt stars when Orion is rising at other times. But when it is descending down the western sky, the Ogee of Orion's nebula is seen just below the 3 belt stars. It is fuzzy looking and has color. This is the symbol of the eye in the hand. The Soul would have to leap into the eye of the hand. Then it would go immediately below the horizon into the underworld as the Sun would rise at the break of daylight.

The bodies of the deceased at the Ceremony were cremated on a bonfire. Some were just the deceased bones as their body maybe died months earlier. People would be there to participate by singing, drumming, dancing and blowing whistles. They would take certain plant medicine substances. The people whose loved ones were deceased were sent off to the stars with love. They partook in the Ceremony. Celebrations were carried on all night and following day.

Later that day when the Sun went down and night approached, Orion could be seen on the eastern horizon. Right behind it could be seen the Milky Way. The sky was darker back then compared to today. As Orion's nebula rose on the eastern horizon, the Soul had to come out of the underworld beneath the Earth to leap onto the Milky Way to its Cygnus destination in the north. Traveling along the way, the Free Soul would encounter trials and tribulations. The Soul had to prove itself with courage on its journey. Some Souls would slip and fall back to Earth where they might be reincarnated or cast back into the underworld.

The underworld was ruled by the feathered serpent. In the sky, this serpent was represented by the constellation Scorpius that we recognize today. We see it as a scorpion, but they viewed it as a feathered serpent. During the winter months, Scorpius is not seen in the southern sky. Other months of the year, it is seen just above the horizon. The Soul cannot make this Soul journey when Scorpius is in the sky because it will snatch the Soul when trying to make the leap. This was a good reason why these First Peoples would put the bones of the deceased in a bundle and store them. Then in the winter, they would bring them to the Ceremony that would release their Free Soul to the Stars in the Sky.

Inside the mounds, at the base were exquisite tombs of giants that were 7-8 feet tall. They were the elite peoples, held there until the time for the Free Soul to be released. This was similarly to the tombs of the Pharoahs in Egypt.

- Written by White Cloud Woman of the Four Winds

Excepted from YouTube Videos and Book by Dr. Gregory Little

Alabama

Moundville, Alabama Info >

- Excerpted from the teachings of the Book - Path of the Souls by Dr Gary Little

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