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Supernatural Beings and Powers
The Oglala universe is controlled by supernatural beings and powers. They have no beginning and no end. They created or helped create the universe, and they are responsible for the appearance of man on earth. Some of these beings are benevolent, others are malevolent. Intermediate between the two is the culture hero, Iktomi, 'the Spider'. Their relationship to each other and to mankind will be discussed further in ritual and mythology. Wakantanka represents the embodiment of all supernatural beings and powers in the Oglala universe. It has sixteen aspects in the sacred language and is referred to as Tobtob, 'four-four'. The sixteen aspects are hierarchically ranked in groups of fours, the major classes being (1) Wakan akanta, 'superior wakan'; (2) Wakan kolaya, 'those whom the wakan call friends or associates'; (3) Wakan kuya, 'lower, or lesser, wakan'; and (4) Wakanlapi, 'those similar to wakan'. The superior are comprised of the Wi, the Sun; Škan, the Sky; Maka, the Earth; and Inyan, the Rock. The associates of the superior are Hanwi, the Moon; Tate, the Wind; Woĥpe, the Falling Star; and Wakinyan, the Winged, or Thunder-being. The superior and their associates are thus linked in the following way: the Sun and Moon; Sky and Wind; Earth and Falling Star; and Rock and the Winged. Together, these two classes are called Wakan kin, 'the sacred'. In the cosmology, they had no beginning, and they were responsible for creating the universe and man in it. the lower, or lesser, wakan are comprised of Tatanka, the Buffalo; Hunnunpa, the Two-legged (both bear and man); Tatetob, the Four Winds; and Yumni, the Whirlwind. Those similar to wakan are Nagi, the Shade, or Apparition; Niya, Life or Breath; Nagila, the Shadelike; and šicun, the Potency. Together these two classes are called Taku wakan, 'sacred things'. they were created by the Wakan kin and are at the same time part of them. In addition to the sixteen aspects of Wakantanka, there are other supernatural beings and powers which figure prominently in Oglala belief, some benevolent, some malevolent. There is Wazi, the Old Man, and later in cosmological time, the Wizard; and Wakanka, the Old Woman, his wife, who later is transformed into the Witch. Their daughter, Ite, Face, is the most beautiful of supernatural women, and in the first period of time she is married to Tate, the Wind, and they have four sons, the Four Winds. Later, she is transformed into Anukite, Double-Face, and given a horrid countenance to complement her beautiful one as punishment for adultery. There are also spirits which inhabit their respective parts of the universe: the Unkteĥi, Water Spirits; the Unkcegila, Spirits of the Land; the Canoti, Forest-swelling Spirits; and the Hoĥgica, the Spirits of the Lodge. These are all dangerous spirits that threaten mankind, but they may be warded off by the proper rituals, and especially by the aroma of sweetgrass and sage, and the smoke of a pipe. Iya, sometimes called the Giant, or the Glutton, is the youngest son of the Rock and Winged. He is associated with the cold of the north. During the winter he consumes people, and in the myths he is finally overcome by fire, which causes him to regurgitate the people he has consumed. His older brother is Iktomi, the Spider, who is the culture hero of the Oglalas. It is the Spider that gives culture to man and entices him out of his subterranean world, only to trick him once man cannot find his way back, Iktomi himself is both human and non-human, and just as man emerged from the earth, he too, as a trap-door spider, occasionally comes out of the earth carrying his scampering children on his back. To conclude, the Oglalas recognize themselves as part of nature, yet somehow distinct from it, just as the lesser wakan are part Wakan kin, but distinct from them. Together, the supernaturals abide in the universe, and specialists may call upon them so that the common people may live in harmony with that which is otherwise inexplicable.
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