Muscogee Creek Spirituality and Meaning of Death

Abstract

This qualitative, collective case study involves interviews with 27 members of the Muscogee Creek Tribe to explore spirituality as related to death and bereavement. Results yielded that Creeks are generally open to the existence of inexplicable supernatural events. Creek spirituality encompasses awareness of spiritual beings, both good and bad. Participants believed that spirits exist alongside people and can send and receive messages from people to guide and inform them. Creeks have ongoing, though not constant, relationships with loved ones and others who have died. Spiritual attunement can occur at every point in the life cycle but seems to be especially astute in children and animals. Results are discussed in terms of continuing bonds and meaning making perspectives.

Perceiving those who are gone: Cultural research on post-bereavement perception or hallucination of the deceased

“…He defended the equivalence of these experiences to the waking ones, involving perception, and categorised them as a culture-bound “ghost illness”. As Walker and Thompson (2009) have highlighted, dreaming and wakefulness are not mutually exclusive in American Indian culture.…”

Ways of Grieving Among Ojibwe Elders

“…In some respects, our findings echo those of other studies. For example, many of the elders who participated in our study described encountering spirits of deceased family members, an experience described in studies of other AI/AN groups (Walker & Thompson, 2009). In addition, the collective experience of grief has been observed on other reservations (Dennis, 2014) as well as in other non-Native rural communities (Randall, Clews, & Furlong, 2015).…”

“…They may also employ soul-searching or meditation to discover meaning in their loss (Cacciatore, 2009). Within some AI/AN cultures, encounters with spirits of the deceased are commonly reported (Walker & Thompson, 2009). Spirits may appear during waking hours or in dreams, often bringing comfort to the grieving and offering reassurance that relationships continue beyond death.…”