Various cultures have endeavoured to relate to the four Great Powers by regarding them as gods.

But the American Indians related to them as Spirit ‘beings’. These four Spirit beings were depicted in their principal role as, quite literally, the care-takers of the universe and associated with what the American Indian call ‘the Four Winds’ of the four cardinal directions of East, South, West and North. They were understood to contain within themselves the power which keeps the universe and its life-support systems in existence, hence they were sometimes referred to as Spirit ‘Keepers’.

The Spirit Keepers thus have similarities with the Four Archangels of Judaeo-Christian traditions and with the Four Guardians of the Quarters of Western mystical systems. But whereas the Western entities are formidable and fearsome figures and rather difficult to imagine, the Spirit Keepers were presented as approachable, helpful and co-operating. Indeed, American Indians did not distance themselves from them but sought to establish a close and harmonious relationship.

In order to make this possible each Spirit Keeper was associated with a particular animal or bird species which best demonstrated some of the principal characteristics or qualities and thus helped to relate unseen powers to the realm of practical reality. This association was called a ‘totem’ and was an effective way of comprehending a non-physical power.

A totem is a symbolic sensor that serves as a connector between different levels of being, different life forms whether human, animal, vegetable, mineral or celestial, and different levels of mind, whether unconscious, subconscious, conscious or superconscious. Totems are links also with formative forces that are otherwise beyond the range of consciousness. Because totems express the qualities of something that is ‘alive’, they are more powerful symbols than geometric abstractions.