Miguel Sague Jr's Blog (288)

Four Days of Vision Questing on the Indian Center hillsite

quester's lonely hilltop campsite

Takaji My Relatives

I presently find myself on the secluded 20-acre hilltop site of Pittsburgh's Council of Three Rivers American Indian Center for four days and nights. I am performing my responsibilities as guide throughout the course of a young woman's Vision Quest experience.

I have moved many of my books that I normally work with and my Mayan Calendar paraphanelia which is always… Continue

Added by Miguel Sague Jr on July 19, 2009 at 12:38pm — 6 Comments

Taino Tradition Guanara in Georgia

Tau My Relatives

This past Saturday, June 27 I had the honor of leading the first Taino kansi sweat ceremony in the state of Georgia. I was invited to build the traditional thatched roofed guanara lodge in the manner of the Caney Indigenous Spiritual Circle at the home of Boriken Taino couple Johnny and Lupe Negron near Canton, Georgia.

Lupe is a remarkable healer in her own right. Practicing professionally in the Canton area, I… Continue

Added by Miguel Sague Jr on June 29, 2009 at 2:01pm — 11 Comments

Summer Solstice 2009

Tau My Relatives

In spite of the forceful weather that prevented us from celebrating our Summer Solstice Ceremony outside at the public park in Youngstown, Ohio this past Saturday the Sague family and the Simmons family did get together and we did celebrate the sacred seasonal event at my house in the Pittsburgh suburban community of Verona. Because the ritual was a much more intimate and private one as compared to the more elaborate ceremony celebrated during a public Summer Solstice… Continue

Added by Miguel Sague Jr on June 24, 2009 at 3:30pm — 4 Comments

Our sister Janie got married

Tau My Relatives Our Canadian Cree sister Janie, known to many of us by her screen name "BlueSkyWoman", got married to her fiance Ramon this past Friday here in Pittsburgh and I had the pleasure of performing the marriage ceremony in the tradition of the Caney Indigenous Spiritual Circle. Janie asked me to perform the ceremony for her marriage to Ramon way back in March amd I was honored and happy to accept.

We picked a particularly…

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Added by Miguel Sague Jr on June 18, 2009 at 12:30am — 4 Comments

The Persistance of Our Tradition

Tau My Relatives

We often refer to something called "Taino Resurgence", a movement that awakened in the hearts of many of our relatives the fervent desire to return to the roots of their Indigenous heritage. The Resurgence has taken many paths and like many such social movements it suffers from growing pains, the greatest of which is disunity. That is not abnormal, and in a sense, there are many in the movement who are making great headway in… Continue

Added by Miguel Sague Jr on March 2, 2009 at 9:04am — 10 Comments

Jaguars in the Caribbean??

photo of jaguar in French Guyanan jungle credited to Dr Zoltan Takacs, original drawing of Caribbean Indigen wearing a jaguar tooth necklace and montage "Taino Jaguar Spirit" by Miguel Sague

Tau My Relatives

Not long ago the BBC television programing unit called NATURE featured a series entitled "SPIRITS OF THE JAGUAR". This beautifully photographed sequence of programs was narrated by David Attenborough and focused attention on…

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Added by Miguel Sague Jr on February 23, 2009 at 1:00am — No Comments

Tying the Knot; the tradition of tying sacred objects together in ancient Taino culture

My Relatives

As many of you already are aware, we in the Caney Indigenous Spiritual Circle celebrate the Spring Equinox with a ceremony that includes the act of separating two traditinal Taino sculpted images which have been kept tied together throughout the winter season.

One of those two images is the sculptural item popularly known by scholars as a "stone collar". We in th Caney Circle call them Coa Hoops. Coa Hoops were… Continue

Added by Miguel Sague Jr on February 22, 2009 at 10:00am — 6 Comments

Upcoming Significant Mayan Venus Cycle Date

Tau My Relatives

We are arriving at a very important nexus date of the on-going Maya Calendar Venus Cycle. The Venus Cycle is a significant series of astronomical events which manifest themselves in asociation with the repetitive movements of the planet Venus, one of the brightest objects of the night sky. The series in question includes a significant, regularly predictable number of days that the planet appears as a morningstar… Continue

Added by Miguel Sague Jr on February 16, 2009 at 8:00pm — 7 Comments

New Era Of Far-Reaching Change

Tau MY Relatives

This weekend the South American continent will witness more of the same phenomenon that is sweeping this hemisphere since the early 1990's. This new installment on what appears to be a region-wide movement comes fast on the heels of the miracle that took place this past November in the U.S., the miracle that saw one of the last true Apartheid nations of the world actually elect a black man to the highest office of government. In… Continue

Added by Miguel Sague Jr on January 22, 2009 at 5:30pm — 6 Comments

We celebrated Winter Solstice in Pittsburgh and Miami

Tau My Relatives

The Caney Indigenous Spiritual Circle celebrated its annual Winter Solstice Ceremony in two separate locations this month. On Saturday Dec 20 we participated in the traditional Solstice rituals at the Council of Three Rivers American Indian Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. On the following Saturday, December 27 we celebrated the same Return To The Divine Womb… Continue

Added by Miguel Sague Jr on December 28, 2008 at 3:00pm — 4 Comments

The Ceremonial Taino petaloid hatchet and its relation to the Maya hatchet god Kawil.........El Hacha Ceremonial Taina y su Relacion a Kawil, el Dios del Hacha Maya

Hachas tainas

The Ceremonial Taino petaloid hatchet and its relation to the Maya hatchet god Kawil

Miguel A Sague Machiran (published in Spanish and English)

EL HACHA CEREMONIAL TAINA TIPO…

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Added by Miguel Sague Jr on December 22, 2008 at 1:00am — 9 Comments

Survival of the Ancient Mother Spirit in Caribean Spiritual Tradition

Tau My Relatives

Cuba has the honor of maintaining a curious spiritual tradition which

nowadays is mostly recognized only within the narrow confines of Afro-

Latin circles. Those of you who are acquainted with the tradition of

Yoruba REGLA DE OCHA (sometimes popularly known as "Santeria") know

of one of the most important icons of this tradition, a female spirit

called "Ochun". This spirit (or orisha) is… Continue

Added by Miguel Sague Jr on December 16, 2008 at 4:08am — No Comments

What is Solstice

Tau My Relatives

Our Taino ancestors were attentive sky watchers and made accurate observations of the movements of heavenly bodies. These movements almost always express themselves in the form of cycles and the assessment of these cycles was as important to the Caribbean islanders as it was to their contemporaries living in the high Maya…

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Added by Miguel Sague Jr on December 12, 2008 at 6:00am — 13 Comments

Winter Solstice Ceremony in Miami FLA

Tau My Relative You are cordially invited to celebrate Winter Solstice by

participating in the traditional Taino Winter Solstice Ceremony of

the Caney Indigenous Spiritual Circle in Miami FLA

Our ceremony will include the sacred tying ritual in which a three-

point cemi sculpture of Yoka Hu will be tied to the oval-shaped stone

hoop that represents the divine uterus of Ata Bey our Cosmic

Matriarch. This ritual… Continue

Added by Miguel Sague Jr on December 3, 2008 at 3:00am — No Comments

Taino Soul Dog

Tau My Relatives

Many of us are aware of a sacred entity that our ancestors revered,

and who was very intimately associated with the respect and honoring

of the dead. This entity is the canine spirit who is considered to be

the guide that accompanies the souls of the departed to the after-

life.His name is Opiyel…

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Added by Miguel Sague Jr on November 29, 2008 at 7:30am — 18 Comments

New Evidence Concerning Columbus' Exploitation of Tainos

Tau My Relatives

Most of us who are interested in the history of our ancestors are

aware of the fact that the arrival of Columbus at the shores of the

Caribbean unleashed the tragic process by which the ancient Taino

culture was almost completely destroyed. We know what Columbus'

intentions were for the people that he found here on the islands

because of what he himself wrote in his journal. The eminent… Continue

Added by Miguel Sague Jr on November 27, 2008 at 6:37am — 5 Comments

Grand Gathering of the Indigenous Nations Alliance

Tau My Relatives

I was invited by a Taino brother, Maximus, to attend a gathering of

Indigenous people in New York City this past weekend of November 13,

14,and 15. From what I understand, these kinds of gatherings are, in

part, intended to promote a sense of unity and co-operation within the

context of sacred space among peoples of the earth who are sensing a

need to reconnect with our ancestral Indigenous… Continue

Added by Miguel Sague Jr on November 17, 2008 at 6:38pm — 2 Comments

The Day of the Ancestors

Image of the Sague family Day of the Ancestor's Altar

Tau My Relatives as I prepare to gather with my family this evening for our annual ceremony to honor those who have traveled to the Realm of Koa Bay (the abode of the departed souls) I realize that this year our ceremony will be particularly emotional for me. Our family here in Pittsburgh follows the Caney Spiritual Circle tradition of ceremonially observing the time of the year…

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Added by Miguel Sague Jr on November 2, 2008 at 5:00pm — 2 Comments

Guama Hu-Rakan Responds to Human Irresponsibility

Tau My Relatives

In a recent post I pointed out the presence this Fall season, of the cemi Guama Hu-Rakan, servant of the Cosmic Matriarch when she manifests in her forceful wrathful manifestation, Gua-Ban-Ceh.

Guama Hu-Rakan is the spirit of spinning storms, hurricanes, tornados, waterspouts, and whirlwinds. Along with the cemi Guama Guatauba, the herald, spirit of thunder-lightning, and his partner the cemi Guama Coatriskie, spirit… Continue

Added by Miguel Sague Jr on September 21, 2008 at 2:53pm — 4 Comments

The Taino Equinox Celebration

Tau My Relatives In behalf of myself, my family and the whole Caney Indigenos

Spiritual Circle community I want to wish all of you a blessed

Autumnal Equinox this weekend.

This season represents a special stage in the ceremonial cycle of

the cemies as seen from the perspective of the Caney Spiritual

Circle. We believe that Yoka Hu, the male spirit of Energy and Life

has a Life-Cycle just like any living entity. We believe… Continue

Added by Miguel Sague Jr on September 20, 2008 at 12:55pm — No Comments