Estsan Atlehi

This week, for the 13 Goddesses challenge, we are to represent a Goddess of the native American peoples. I have chosen ESTSAN ATLEHI....Changing Woman, Goddess of the Navajo and Apache nations.

There are several "confusions" with her story, depending on which peoples tell the story. She was found as a baby either on or under a mountain that was covered by a black cloud. She matured rapidly, and through the year she ages from infant to crone.....

and back to baby again. Other descriptions of this part of the story say she is married to the sun, and lives in a turquoise palace on the western oceans. Each evening she walks toward the east to meet her youthful self and renews.
She is also credited as the saviour of the peoples of the earth. Producing white flour from her right breast and yellow meal from her left breast, she formed a paste from which she moulded man and woman. Another version is that she was lonely and formed people from bits of her own skin.

Her many stories can be found HERE

I got so engrossed with all the story lines I forgot to take many pics, but hope you can see the Gold metalic sheen around the sun and her crown-headband :D

All said, she is the personification of the natural world order, bringing the changing of the seasons.

My Native American Goddess ESTSAN ATLEHI :D XXX