Native American sand art is a beautiful experience and would appear to be a ‘happening’, more than art. Made by the Navajo Indians to remedy health issues of all sorts, it is a sacred ceremony. It is without a doubt a transformative experience.

Native American Sand Art and Ceremony

If you are at all a spiritual person, whether you believe the ceremony is effective, it never the less is one of the bulwarks of Native American sand art. Other types of art have taken their cues from such beautiful work, but of course these kinds of mimicry are only shadows of what can be seen from this fundamental and archetypal beauty.

The Purpose of Native American Sand Art

Native American sand art has been the source of much debate about its purpose, and use but only the Navajo themselves know its real truth and importance. There are a few artists who use sand from other regions to convey their story using this medium, but since it is nothing more than another means of visual communication, it is perhaps the difference in seeing something that is a living organism versus viewing a dead but beautiful object.

Native American Sand Art and How Illness is Cured

The characters within the paintings have ‘soul’ and absorb the illness of the person for whom the paintings are made, and that’s why they are destroyed after the ceremony. In addition, Native American sand art has archetypal meanings through symbols, best described by Carl Jung.

Native American Sand Art and Symbolism

He analyzed many of the symbols in other cultures, especially the Chinese, and found them to be universal in many ways. Native American sand art, although these symbols are abstract, they reach deep into the subconscious to communicate our needs to the ‘spirits’.

Native American Sand Art and its Communication

I hesitate to speak for the Navaho, things that they say better themselves in art and language. But mystical ideas are difficult to convey in language at all. In other words, Native American sand art is more than just art, much more.

Native American Sand Art as an Experience

Even a Native American dictionary of symbols can’t really explain all the meaning internal to this art, because a great deal of meaning in the various communities to Native America is lost due to the American conquest. That is not entirely clear regarding the Navajo however, and we hope that this ‘experience’ will last forever. At least some people will continue to understand its meaning for some time to come.

Native American Sand Art and Tradition

Native American sand art is a tradition in culture that has the benefit of stimulating others to think in alternative ways about the possibility of spirit in art.