All-Spirit
Cheyenne · deity · primordial · Recorded classification
Supreme creator/sky-spirit classed 'deity'. Cheyenne Ma'heo'o ('All-Spirit', also 'Sacred/Great One'); the doubled form Maheo is the conventional English rendering.
Domains
- creation
- sky
Powers
- create the world from the primal water
- give the people their sacred covenants
Epithets
- Maheo The All-Spirit; the supreme creator who made the world from the primal watersCheyenne oral tradition (Grinnell; Powell, Sweet Medicine) (secondary)
- Ma'heo'o All-Spirit / the Sacred (Great) One AboveCheyenne theology (everyculture.com); P. J. Powell, Sweet Medicine (1969) (secondary)
Relations
- mentor: Sweet MedicineIn the sacred mountain Noaha-vose (Bear Butte), Maheo gave Sweet Medicine the four Sacred Arrows and the Cheyenne law.Powell, Sweet Medicine (1969) (secondary)
- mentor: Erect HornsThe Sutaio prophet received the Sacred Buffalo Hat and the Sun Dance from the Creator within the sacred mountain.Powell, Sweet Medicine (1969) (secondary)
Sources
- Maheo (Ma'heo'o), the 'All-Spirit' or Great Medicine, is the supreme creator of the Cheyenne and the giver of their sacred covenants.: George Bird Grinnell, 'The Cheyenne Indians,' 2 vols. (Yale, 1923). (ethnography); Peter J. Powell, 'Sweet Medicine,' 2 vols. (Univ. of Oklahoma Press, 1969). (ethnography)