The Religious Systems Of The Huron And Cheyenne

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h part of the body had its own name for that part of the soul. The other soul was the andionra, or intellectual soul. It is associated with self- awareness, knowledge, memory, and the powers of reasoning. The intellectual soul could travel in thoughts, dreams, or visions far beyond the body. Thinking and dreaming did not occur in the mind, “ instead it was involved the intellectual soul traveling away from the body to visit the people or things that were the objects of its attention.” (The Huron p. 107) The oki, or supernatural powers or spirits, animated the universe and possessed powers that ordinary man did not. The intellectual soul was able to communicate with the oki. Spirits resided in earth, the sky, rivers, lakes, and elsewhere in nature. These spirits controlled, trade, travel, disease, war, fertility, and every aspect of human life. The sky spirit controlled the seasons and kept in balance the winds and waves and assisted human beings in time of need. For these reasons the sky spirit was the most important of these spirits. They Huron believed in a thunderbird that when he flew down for feeding caused thunder. He also controlled insects, and rain. They believed that certain large rocks on major route traveled were the home of powerful spirits and would leave offerings at these spots. The Huron had evil and good spirits. Some caused storms and feed on the corpses of those who had drowned. Iouskeha, who had charge of the living and Aataentsik, who was the...