Red was symbolic of success. It was the color of the war club used to
strike an enemy in battle as well as the other club used by the warrior
to shield himself. Red beads were used to conjure the red spirit to insure
long life, recovery from sickness, success in love and ball play or anyother undertaking where the benefit of the magic spell was wrought.
Black was always typical of death. The soul of the enemy was
continually beaten about by black war clubs and enveloped in a black fog.
In conjuring to destroy an enemy, the priest used black beads and invoked
the black spirits- which always lived in the West,-bidding them to tear
out the man's soul and carry it to the West, and put it into the black
coffin deep in the black mud, with a black serpent coiled above it.
Blue symbolized failure, disappointment, or unsatisfied desire. To say
"they shall never become blue" expressed the belief that they would never
fail in anything they undertook. In love charms, the lover figuratively
covered himself with red and prayed that his rival would become entirely
blue and walk in a blue path. "He is entirely blue," approximates meaning
of the common English phrase, "He feels blue." The blue spirits lived in
There are three additional sacred directions:
Up Above = Yellow
Down Below = Brown
Here in the Center = Green
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