The Cherokee Sacred Calendar: A Handbook of the Ancient Native American Tradition

. The first book to explain the ancient system of cosmology sacred to the Cherokees and how to use it in the modern world.

. Written by a tribal elder, The Cherokee Sacred Calendar makes this native wisdom available for the first time to those outside the Cherokee tradition.

. Provides an easy-to-use format for determining what signs and numbers rule the day of your birth and what influence they have on your destiny.

An essential aspect of Cherokee Religion is the belief that everything on Earth is the reflection of a star. This includes not only people and animals, but trees, rivers, stones, and mountains--all sentient beings to the Cherokees. Star lore has always played a strong role in Cherokee tradition because of this belief, but unlike our Western system of astrology, the Cherokee sacred calendar of natal days is based on a 260-day Venus calendar, which includes 20 individual day signs and 13 numbers. It was the task of the Cherokee daykeeper to coordinate this calendar with those of the Sun and the Moon to determine the most auspicious times for ceremonies, as well as to understand the star wisdom carried back to Earth by each newborn child. The day sign of a child explains his or her strengths and weaknesses; the number explains the individual's role in the great cosmic scheme.

For the first time, knowledge of this cosmology is made accessible to those outside the Cherokee tradition by Raven Hail, an elder of the Cherokee nation. She provides insightful descriptions for each of the twenty signs that identify characteristics of those born under a particular day sign, whether it be Turtle, Reed, Whirlwind, or Wolf, and gives the meanings of the thirteen numbers that determine the significance of that sign in the larger scheme of life. The author has translated the traditional Cherokee ephemeris into an easy-to-use format that allows readers to quickly determine which sign rules the day of their birth and which number has influence over it.

Raven Hail (1921-2005) was a member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. She was the editor of The Raven Speaks, a monthly journal of Cherokee culture, and also wrote The Raven's Tales, Windsong, and The Pleiades Stones.