Cherokee Compass Cache *ARCHIVED 11-8-2021*
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This cache is placed at a unique land feature which fit the cache.
While this feature is NOT an actual Indian burial mound, I felt it would give cachers the feeling of what it might be like to be at one.
Note: Due to the nature of the land feature found here, the cache container is not right where you stand at the posted coordinates, but 26 feet due North. However, the cacher should stand at the posted coords to get a feeling of the lore presented in the cache.
Just to avoid any confusion, please park at the Mobil business (Moore & Balliew), Not the Terminix side. Do NOT go into the fenced area, you do not need to.
Placed with permission of Gene of Mobil Oil. Please PARK in a designated spot.
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The Cherokee traditionally recognize SEVEN directions, to encompass a
fully-dimensional world instead of one that is one-dimensional.
THE SEVEN DIRECTIONS OF THE CHEROKEE COMPASS
Certain numbers play an important role in the ceremonies of the Cherokee. The two numbers Four and Seven are sacred to the Cherokee and repeatedly occur in myths, stories and ceremonies.
FOUR represents all the familiar forces, and is also represented in the four cardinal directions. These cardinal directions are East, West, North and South. Certain colors are also associated with these directions.
The number SEVEN, which is the most sacred number, represents the Seven Clans of the Cherokee(Blue, Long Hair, Bird, Paint, Wild Potato, Deer, and Wolf - but those are for another cache), and, in addition to the four cardinal directions listed above, Seven represents three other directions: Up (the Upper World), Down (the Lower World), and Center (where we live, and where YOU always are).
These seven directions make up the CHEROKEE COMPASS.
Colors are also associated with the directions of the Cherokee Compass.
The Four Cardinal Directions:
East = Red = success; triumph
North = Blue = defeat; trouble
West = Black = death
South = White = peace; happiness
The three additional sacred directions:
Up (Above) = Yellow(Yellow)
Down (Below) = Brown
Here, (or Center) = Green
The Medicine Wheel, which is representative of American Indian Spirituality, also encompasses colors and directions. The Medicine Wheel symbolizes the individual journey we each must take to find our own path. Within the Medicine Wheel are the Four Cardinal Directions and the Four Sacred Colors. The Circle represents the Circle of Life and the Center of the Circle, the Eternal Fire. The Eagle, flying toward the East, is a symbol of strength, endurance and vision. East signifies the renewal of life and the rebirth of Cherokee unity.
In addition to the colors and directions in Cherokee are the Seasons which are associated with both the colors and directions.
Winter = go-la
The color for North is Blue which represents sadness, defeat.
It is a season of survival and waiting.
The Cherokee word for North means "cold" u-yv-tlv.
Spring=gi-la-go-ge.
The color for East is Red which represents victory, power.
Spring is the re-awakening after a long sleep, victory over winter; the power of new life.
The Cherokee word for East is ka-lv-gv.
Summer=go-ga.
The color for South is White for peace, happiness & serenity.
Summer is a time of plenty.
The Cherokee word for South means "warm" u-ga-no-wa.
Autumn=u-la-go-hv-s-di.
The color for West is Black which represents death.
Autumn is the final harvest; the end of Life's Cycle.
The Cherokee word for West is wu-de-li-gv.
Symbolism of the colors:
RED was symbolic of success. It was the color of the war club used to strike an enemy in battle as well as the other club used by the warrior to shield himself. Red beads were used to conjure the red spirit to insure long life, recovery from sickness, success in love and ball play or any other undertaking where the benefit of the magic spell was wrought.
BLACK was always typical of death. The soul of the enemy was continually beaten about by black war clubs and enveloped in a black fog. In conjuring to destroy an enemy, the priest used black beads and invoked the black spirits-which always lived in the West,-bidding them to tear out the man's soul and carry it to the West, and put it into the black coffin deep in the black mud, with a black serpent coiled above it.
BLUE symbolized failure, disappointment, or unsatisfied desire. To say "they shall never become blue" expressed the belief that they would never fail in anything they undertook. In love charms, the lover figuratively covered himself with red and prayed that his rival would become entirely blue and walk in a blue path. "He is entirely blue, " approximates meaning of the common English phrase, "He feels blue. "The blue spirits lived in the North.
WHITE denoted peace and happiness. In ceremonial addresses, as the Green Corn Dance and ball play, the people symbolically partook of white food and, after the dance or game, returned along the white trail to their white houses. In love charms, the man, to induce the woman to cast her lost with his, boasted, "I am a white man," implying that all was happiness where he was. White beads had the same meaning in bead conjuring, and white was the color of the stone pipe anciently used in ratifying peace treaties. The White spirits lived in the South.
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So, now that you have learned a little about Cherokee lore, go to the posted coordinates and peer around you, look to the Seven directions of the Cherokee Compass.
STAND AT THE COORDINATES WHICH REPRESENT THE CHEROKEE COMPASS DIRECTION REPRESENTED BY THE COLOR GREEN WHICH IS HERE or CENTER, LOOK TO THE CHEROKEE COMPASS DIRECTION REPRESENTED BY THE COLOR BLUE, WHICH IS NORTH.
WALK 26 FEET IN THAT DIRECTION AND LOOK TO THE CHEROKEE COMPASS DIRECTION REPRESENTED BY THE COLOR YELLOW(yellow) which is UP ABOVE(Up Above).
THERE YOU WILL FIND THE CACHE.
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HAPPY CACHING!!
FTF HONORS GO TO...Aginor8!!!
Additional Hints
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