United Eastern Lenape Nation

The artist is a Lenape (Delaware) Indian descendant whose Indian name, Netamuxwe, is translated as "he who walks in the lead."  His knowledge of the traditions and folk-lore of his people is extensive, and this particular illustration is rich in Lenape symbolism.

 An owl in a shagbark hickory, symbol of Mah-tah-pah-se-kun ("bad medicine").

 

Below the owl is a planet, an Elder Brother who supplies light at night.  

 

Moving behind the tree, some shadowy Thunder Beings who live in mountains.

 

A forked drumstick, carved with a human face, which is used to beat the deerskin drum during the Big House Ceremony.

 

A prayer stick extending beyond the drumstick and crossing behind the illustration, the other end appearing at the lower left.

 

An Indian dressed in a bearskin robe, wearing a wooden mask and holding a turtle shell rattle.  He represents the M'sing, Keeper of the Game.

 

One of the twin bears that appeared in the Medicine Man's vision, and an egg, symbol of life.

 

Lower right, upside down, a ceremonial Big House with smoke from two fires escaping from the roof, and nearby a deer pole where meat is hung, all resting on a string of white wampum beads.

 

The second bear that appeared in his vision.

 

A turtle, signifying the earth, with a tree growing on its back.

 

A goose, another element from the vision, with a seashell halo -- symbol of the Indian attachment to both land and sea.

 

Kee-shay-lum-moo-kawng, the Creator, wearing an eagle-feather hat, his outstretched arms embracing the earth.

 

A buffalo on the moon, foreseeing the day when the Lenape would move from the East to the Western plains.

 

The lithograph is made directly from the pen and ink illustration drawn for the title page of the book Magic Medicines of the Indians, written by C.A. Weslager.