Description
The myth of Grandmother Earth, in true chimerical fashion changes from Mother Creator to Grandmother Creator and back again. The Pueblo Indians had Awonawilona; “the one who contains everything”.Awonawilona is rather a confusing creator concept in as much as it is both male and female. The Pawnee tell of Atira, the earth, “sacred mother of all living creatures”. The Alonquin had the original power: Gluskap who created Nokomis or Mother Earth, with some complications, since Gluskap was somewhat of a Trickster as well. Nokomis is interpreted as Grandmother or Sacred Earth Mother. Nokomis nurtures all living things. The Inuit have a counterpart to Nokomis in Sedna who is the Mother or Grandmother who lives under the sea. This concept of an old Woman living under the sea seems to form a myth in most parts of the world, and is in fact, a psychological phenomenon. The Indians of the Plains have the Great Corn Mother who lives under the earth. The Mound builders in the Southeast, of which we have wonderful local evidence at the Spiro Mounds in Oklahoma, also have a strong Grandmother Earth type who gave mankind maize.
In GRANDMOTHER EARTH III I created a composite of all these myth and show her as an old woman who watches everything, good, bad and indifferent with a bemused expression yet with compassion and calmness.
