0:38 people need to understand what the old
0:40 ones believed about death and why they
0:44 believe such things it has been said
0:46 that we came from the stars and that we
0:50 will return there we will go back to the
0:53 Stars it's the great mystery it is the
0:57 place from where we came and the place
0:58 we are destined to
1:03 go we will all go there someday but time
1:07 war and disease have made us forget it
1:09 it is time to [Music]
1:28 [Music] remember
1:30 remember
1:32 these are the most visible remnants of
1:35 America's ancient mound builders they
1:38 made hundreds of thousands of Mounds
1:41 some of them were pyramid shaped and
1:44 others were massive conical [Music]
1:53 heaps the largest pyramid shaped Mounds
1:55 were as tall as 10-story buildings with
1:58 a base larger than the great pyramidic Giza
2:00 Giza [Music]
2:30 the mound builders also construct
2:32 thousands of Earth and Effigy Mounds
2:34 depicting various
2:36 animals and they made thousands of
2:39 complex geometric Earthworks that defy simple
2:40 simple
2:42 descriptions the largest and most
2:44 complex geometric Earthworks in the
2:47 world were made by these enigmatic
2:49 people thousands of years [Music]
2:58 [Music]
3:01 ago the first Mounds in America were
3:05 constructed nearly 6,000 years ago but
3:07 about 3,000 years ago the practice of
3:11 mound building increased to astonishing
3:14 levels many of their dead were cremated
3:17 and buried in simple conical Mounds
3:19 these burial mounds were sometimes
3:22 erected over special Mortuary buildings
3:24 where the dead were prepared and given
3:27 ceremonies to send them on their
3:30 way the buildings were usually burned
3:32 when the bodies were cremated and the
3:36 mound was made on top of the ashes then
3:38 another Mortuary building was made and
3:41 the process was repeated these Mounds
3:51 time some of the Dead especially those
3:53 of the elite ruling classes and the
3:56 priests and the shaman were placed in
3:59 elaborate Stone tombs with huge Mounds
4:01 erected over them they put the most
4:04 important people in the stone tombs and
4:06 sometimes arranged the remains of those
4:09 who served them in circular patterns
4:11 like wheel [Music]
4:15 [Music]
4:18 spokes the elite were often described as
4:21 Giants a hereditary class of rulers and
4:25 Priests who were 7 to 8 feet tall over
4:27 30 of them have been found in Mounds
4:30 constructed several thousand years ago
4:33 their origin is a mystery but it's close
4:35 to being
4:39 solved in the 1800s and 1900s tens of
4:41 thousands of America's Mounds were
4:44 excavated the skeletal remains of the
4:47 Dead were often displayed in museums and
4:49 millions of artifacts were found with
4:52 burials many artifacts displayed
4:54 incredible symbols that have long been a
4:57 complete mystery to
5:00 archaeologists symbols of crosses
5:04 circles snakes feathered serpents Raptor
5:08 Birds Fork dyes and people dressed as
5:12 various animals were found on
5:14 artifacts single bones were often
5:16 depicted on artifacts along with
5:19 wide-eyed skulls and skulls with
5:21 fire-like protrusions coming from the
5:23 mouth but one of the most interesting
5:26 symbols found on many burial Goods is
5:37 the vast majority of these symbols were
5:40 found at Mound complexes in the South
5:43 initially the symbols were attributed to
5:46 a southern death cult today it is known
5:49 as the Southeastern ceremonial [Music]
5:56 complex the true meaning of the symbols
5:58 was long thought by archaeologists to be
6:00 an insolvable mystery
6:03 but starting in the 1990s an annual
6:05 Workshop was held at Texas State
6:08 University by a large group of
6:10 archaeologists anthropologists and
6:13 ethnography experts they found the
6:16 answers they sought but astonishingly
6:18 the answers were found primarily in
6:21 books from the 1700s and
6:24 1800s books that were ignored by modern
6:26 archaeologists who had focused on
6:30 Excavating and collecting burial mounds
6:32 my ancestors had shame in medicine men
6:35 and Medicine women holy people who knew
6:38 the secrets of life and death when the
6:41 white man came most of our people died
6:44 or were forced to move many have
6:45 forgotten the
6:49 secrets many no longer cared they only
6:51 wanted to [Music]
6:55 [Music]
6:58 survive some of the old ones told the
7:01 whites the secrets
7:04 the whites wrote it down in books books
7:13 Time the mystery starts with our mother
7:16 earth the substance from which all
7:20 things are made all things are alive all
7:23 things contain the spirit from the
7:27 mother the soil the trees the plants the
7:30 Rocks the waters the animal of the
7:33 forest even the air we breathe all
7:35 things have [Music]
7:38 [Music]
7:42 Spirit we live in the middle world all
7:45 objects in the world come from the
7:49 Earth but there is also a world above in
7:51 the sky and a world
7:54 below each of these worlds has great
7:56 powers and they are connected together
8:00 by a great pole our shame and Medicine
8:02 people can move through these worlds
8:06 using rituals to gain knowledge and
8:08 understanding the power of the upper and
8:12 lower worlds also use this poll to
8:16 influence and enter our middle
8:19 world when a body is formed from the
8:22 earth it has a Living spirit that is
8:25 given to it by the Earth in your world
8:29 you call it the Life Soul This Life Soul
8:32 makes the body move and gives it energy
8:35 but it has no mind no memory our
8:40 ancestors showed it as a bone or
8:44 skull but there is another Soul one that
8:47 first came from the sky world it is what
8:49 you would call a free
8:53 Soul it has memory it has Free Will and
8:56 it is what many people would see as our
9:00 true Soul when we die
9:03 the free Soul leaves the body the old on
9:07 showed it is fire coming from the
9:10 skull the free soul will stay near its
9:13 body for a time after the person
9:17 dies but in 3 days it must take a sacred
9:21 Journey during this time the body with
9:23 its life Soul still clinging to its
9:27 bones must be handled with Care by the
9:31 living for some whoever died the body is
9:33 prepared by removing the Flesh and the
9:37 bones are eventually burned this Burning
9:41 Returns the Life Soul Back to the earth
9:43 when this is done the life soul and its
9:51 together when this ceremony takes place
9:54 matters much it must take place in the
9:57 winter so bones are sometimes stored by
10:00 the dead one's family until win time for the
10:02 the
10:04 ceremony sometimes the body of a dead
10:06 leader would be prepared and placed in a
10:10 tomb without being burned this meant at
10:13 a later time the free soul and Life Soul
10:15 of this person could
10:19 rejoin it meant that this person might
10:20 return to this world [Music]
10:27 someday the ideas revealed in these
10:30 beliefs incorporate the possibility of
10:32 reincarnation and are quite similar to
10:34 those of ancient Egyptians and other ancient
10:35 ancient [Music]
10:38 [Music]
10:40 cultures the origin of the death Journey
10:44 ideas is another mystery many modern
10:46 archaeologists and historical
10:48 researchers such as Britain's Andrew
10:51 Collins believe that the saluan culture
10:53 from Europe may have brought these ideas
10:58 to the Americas as early as 19,000 years ago
11:00 ago
11:01 Collins thinks that the beliefs about
11:04 the death Journey emerged when the
11:06 signis constellation served as the North
11:13 Pole star some 18,000 to 19,000 years
11:16 ago The Cremation of the Dead is often
11:18 seen as a way of returning the flesh to
11:21 its origin and thereby releasing the
11:24 soul from its imprisonment in physical
11:27 matter the soul is then released to
11:47 Source when the free Soul starts its
11:49 Journey from its body it goes to the
11:52 west where there are trials and task on
11:56 the Journey to the West but after a few
11:59 days the free Soul reaches a vast body
12:03 of water the water is the surface of the
12:06 underworld in the summer the underworld
12:08 is ruled by a feathered serpent who
12:13 flies in the sky in the South he is made
12:16 of stars and has a giant red eye in the
12:19 winter he goes back to the underworld
12:22 where he does not need wings so he is a
12:25 giant snake or a water [Music]
12:28 [Music] Panther
12:30 Panther
12:33 the constellation of Scorpius is now
12:34 known to be the Native American
12:37 depiction of The Feathered Serpent the
12:40 bright red star and terries served as
12:44 the Serpent's eye Scorpius is visible in
12:47 the nighttime Southern sky in the summer
12:49 but in the winter the constellation
12:52 doesn't rise above the Horizon the
12:54 mountain builders believed that the free
12:56 soul needed to make its journey in the
12:59 winter so that the feathered serpent
13:01 wasn't watching and
13:04 listening when the free Soul stands at
13:07 the water's edge it waits to the early
13:09 morning when a large hand is seen to
13:12 fall in the Western sky the soul must
13:16 Jump into the Sky or it will roam in the
13:19 Westlands forever as a ghost when the
13:21 hand is about to fall The Soul makes a
13:23 leap into a special spot in the palm of
13:28 the hand many people say it is an ie but
13:30 it is an oie a slit in the sky that
13:33 leads to the path of souls some call
13:36 this opening the hand
13:39 star there are several legends about the
13:43 hand in the sky and the OG in its Palm
13:45 some tribal stories relate that in the
13:48 distant past a set of twins tried to
13:51 block the OG one of them had his hand
13:54 cut off at the wrist his hand was placed
13:57 in the sky as a warning to others the
14:00 severed wrist of the hand is formed by
14:01 the three belt stars of the
14:05 constellation of Orion the thumb and
14:07 fingers of the hand are outlined by
14:10 various stars in the constellation and
14:14 the OG is actually Orion's nebula the
14:17 ancient Maya also believed that Orion's
14:20 nebula was a portal into the sky calling
14:23 it shil baba but reaching this portal
14:36 some tribes saw the henstar and the yogi
14:39 as a Spider Woman she can grab the soul
14:42 of those who lack courage or those who
14:45 don't reach the oi some of these souls
14:48 are cast into the underworld and some
14:52 are cast back to the Earth to live again
14:53 and correct their
14:56 errors but those who make the jump to
14:59 the yogi are soon moved to the true Ro
15:02 path the path of souls the river of
15:04 Souls and the Wolf Trail are all the
15:08 same thing it is a stream of stars that
15:11 moves across the sky when the spirit
15:14 makes it to the yogie and unto the path
15:17 it falls safely into the underworld
15:20 where it will arise the next night to
15:23 start the final [Music]
15:27 [Music] Journey
15:30 Journey
15:33 when the hand constellation Falls below
15:35 the Horizon in the early morning hours
15:38 the Milky Way is seen as a horizontal
15:41 band across the sky in the winter months
15:44 it descends like a wall falling below
15:47 the Horizon just as the sun rises the
15:50 Milky Way is the path of Souls and it is
15:53 believed that the stars of the Milky Way
15:57 are Souls making the journey the soul
15:59 has Many Adventures and trials on the
16:02 path these Adventures test the strength
16:04 and goodness of the Soul if the soul
16:07 stumbles and falls it can fall back to
16:11 the Earth or fall into the underworld to
16:13 be lost for all time but if the soul
16:16 passes these tests he reaches a split in
16:19 the road a place where it must decide to
16:22 go one way or the other one path is a
16:25 dead end where the soul is trapped the
16:29 other path leads on it is here where the
16:32 path splits the soul has its final test
16:35 a large creature stands most of us
16:38 believe it is a large bird an eagle
16:42 falcon or hog the bird judges the soul
16:44 on his bravery and
16:46 goodness it sees how well the soul
16:49 served its people and how it dealt with
16:52 its enemies those who fail this test are
16:56 blotted from existence they are erased
16:58 from the world their memories and
17:00 thoughts or blotted
17:04 out but those who pass the test are
17:06 allowed to pass through a great opening
17:08 in the sky world to join with their
17:12 ancestors who made the same Journey long
17:16 ago in the past this hole in the sky was
17:19 in the north where all revolved around
17:23 it now it is in the top of the sky
17:26 dome the spot on the path of souls where
17:29 there are two different ways to go is
17:31 located at the dark rift of the Milky
17:34 Way it was at this spot where the soul
17:37 had to choose a direction and also where
17:40 the soul encountered a creature serving
17:44 as a judge the judge described in tribal
17:47 lore as an adversary to the soul was at
17:50 the constellation of signis located at
17:52 the beginning of the dark rift the
17:55 actual portal into the sky world the
17:58 portal to the afterlife was probably the
18:01 star denb the brightest star of signis
18:03 many symbols that were once interpreted
18:07 as Sun worship iconography are now known
18:09 to represent the fork of the Milky Way
18:12 at the dark rift and the hole at the
18:15 center representing denb the fork was
18:18 depicted on many artifacts and on body
18:21 tattoos and face painting several key
18:24 artifacts that were found in Mounds show
18:27 all the elements of the death Journey
18:33 these beliefs are sacred knowledge
18:41 forgotten we are a conquered people a
18:44 forgotten people a people who have been
18:47 pushed from our land and made to forget
18:51 our ways there is truth in our ways and
18:54 our true destiny is revealed in the death
18:55 death
18:59 Journey it is time to remember
19:03 time to remember where we came from and
19:04 where we will [Music]
19:14 [Music] [Laughter]
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