The mere whisper of the word “skinwalker” evokes fear and intrigue. Skinwalkers loom large in the folklore of some Native American tribes, particularly the Navajo. But what are skinwalkers, and what is their true meaning and significance?
We’ll explore their origins, alleged abilities, and meaning in Native American culture. Modern skinwalker accounts are also examined. Read on to unravel the mystery surrounding this sinister supernatural being.
Mythological Origins of the Skinwalker
Skinwalkers originate from Navajo witchcraft traditions. Navajo legends claim skinwalkers achieved their shapeshifting powers by breaking cultural taboos and performing witchcraft rituals.
Some Navajo associate skinwalkers with the yee naaldlooshii. This term refers to practitioners of harmful magic who manipulate weather and personal energy fields. Skinwalkers are the most feared type of yee naaldlooshii.
According to Navajo lore, aspiring skinwalkers must commit a cultural taboo. Examples include murder, necrophilia, incest, or grave robbing. They then gain skinwalking abilities through initiatory rituals and curses.
Witchcraft Origins
Skinwalkers stem from Navajo witchcraft traditions centered around harnessing supernatural power. This witchcraft, known as “Splitting the Witch,” involves complex rituals, animal sacrifices, and grave robbing.
Aspiring skinwalkers use corpses and animal pelts during initiation rituals. They chant incantations and invoke curses to gain shapeshifting abilities. Some Navajo believe skinwalkers still conduct these gruesome rituals today.
Skinwalker Meaning in Navajo Culture
To the Navajo, skinwalkers represent evil and corruption. Their existence is a reminder to follow cultural taboos and walk the “Beauty Way” of harmony and balance.
Violating Navajo cultural norms destroys beauty and invites witchcraft. Skinwalkers symbolize the many harms that transpire when individuals stray from the tribe’s ethical foundations.
As omens of destruction, skinwalkers communicate the high costs of wrongdoing. Their mythic status warns against using spiritual power destructively rather than cooperatively.
Embodiment of Cultural Taboos
By definition, skinwalkers are those who breach Navajo cultural taboos related to burial practices, sexuality, violence, and animal treatment. Therefore, they embody cultural corruption and imbalance.
Skinwalkers symbolize the deepest forms of wrongdoing in Navajo society. Their mythical status reinforces the gravity of key cultural prohibitions and the importance of virtuous conduct.
Skinwalker Powers and Abilities
According to Navajo legend, skinwalkers possess numerous supernatural powers and abilities.
Shapeshifting is a skinwalker’s definitive trait. Skinwalkers can transform into any animal, although coyotes, wolves, foxes, crows, and owls are common.
Some Navajo also attribute these powers to skinwalkers:
- Invisibility
- Telepathy
- Curses that cause sickness or death
- Ability to open locks
- Paralysis or hypnosis
- Mimicry of voices and sounds
- Travel through dimensional portals
- Witchcraft to control weather and harvests
While skinwalkers are powerful shamans, Navajo belief places limits on their abilities. For example, they are vulnerable to traditional chants and ceremonies. Skinwalkers also cannot enter homes uninvited.
Shapeshifting
Shapeshifting allows skinwalkers to assume animal forms. Navajo oral histories connect this power to initiation rituals using animal pelts and corpses.
Some Navajo believe skinwalkers wear the skins of their animal counterparts. The pelt acts as the “skin garment” enabling transformation between human and animal forms.
While in animal form, the skinwalker maintains human eyes. Many skinwalker accounts note glimpsing human eyes on coyotes, wolves, owls, and other creatures.
Becoming a Skinwalker: How and Why
The path to becoming a skinwalker is complex and gruesome. As outlined earlier, candidates commit acts violating Navajo cultural norms. Common examples include murder, necrophilia, incest, or grave robbing.
After violating taboos, candidates undergo secret initiatory rituals. These rituals may involve chants, curses, and the use of human remains or animal pelts. This process imbues skinwalkers with supernatural powers.
Why become a skinwalker? Navajo legends suggest several possible motives:
- Revenge or vengeance
- Power and control over others
- Wealth via witchcraft
- Curiosity or boredom
While these incentives beckon, most Navajo remain wary of skinwalkers. Only the most corrupt violate taboos and engage in witchcraft for sinister ends.
Initiatory Rituals
The path to becoming a skinwalker involves secret rituals only clan members know. These disturbing rites likely incorporate:
- Desecration of graves
- Chanting incantations in skinwalker language
- Sacrificing and blood rituals using animals
- Dancing while wearing skins of sacrificial animals
- Ingesting concoctions of human remains
Such rituals serve to break taboos while invoking skinwalker curses. Successfully performing these rites imbues the aspiring skinwalker with dark supernatural powers.
Modern Skinwalker Sightings and Beliefs
While originating in Navajo culture, skinwalker accounts now crop up worldwide. Internet forums feature many self-described witnesses sharing their skinwalker encounters.
Some report seeing creatures with human traits, like dogs walking on hind legs. Vocalizations like squeals, chattering, or mimicked human speech are also common.
Sightings are frequently ominous. Witnesses describe being stalked, chased, or attacked before the creature inexplicably vanishes. Bad luck or sickness sometimes follow encounters.
Whether literal flesh-and-blood beings, spiritual manifestations, or metaphors, skinwalkers endure in the modern imagination. They remain archetypal representations of destructive uses of power and taboo.
Modern skinwalker accounts depict terrifying paranormal encounters:
- Glimpsing animals with human faces or eyes
- Witnessing people transform into animals
- Unnatural modes of travel, such as running on two legs
- Hearing human voices or cries in the wild
- Finding mutilated animal corpses arranged in patterns
Though frightening, these accounts help sustain skinwalker mythology. They ensure skinwalkers will continue inhabiting the boundary between legend and reality.