Cheyenne: Buffalo Robe Meditation

acrylic on canvas – 18″ X 24″
© 2015 Sandra Ware

Put on the buffalo robe
Put on the robe of meditation

Within the folds, the heart of Hotóae
Inside its tent, the heart of prayer

Be one with thanksgiving
Be at peace with silence

From the dark void
Let Spirit speak

Lay open a brave heart
Honor the Messenger

Love is fierce
Truth has talons

The arrow flies
To your Sacred Space

© 2008 Sandra Ware 2015

Inspired by a John Curtis photograph, this portrait depicts a Cheyenne man wrapped in a buffalo (hotóa̋e) robe. As explained in Thomas E. Malis’s The Mystic Warriors of the Plains: buffalo robes were worn or carried in traditional ways, and had a language all their own. A [man] wore it one way when he was addressing an audience, another to show a change in attitude, another to indicate meditation, another to display anger… The man in the portrait wears the robe folded in the manner of meditation. Behind and above him, materializing from the Void, are the raven messengers of Spirit.

Much of this painting was created at the house in Sedona overlooking Thunder Mountain. Daily, as I painted, the ravens played in the sky all around.