From the work
The Spirals of Kemush Blog
Essays on the twelve Modoc origin myths, the figure of Kemush, and the song that opens the app. Written by H.L. Delaney, published by Basalt Sea Press.
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They Are Not Gods: How to Read the Spirits in Klamath and Modoc Stories
English readers flatten Klamath and Modoc origin stories by force-fitting them into god, creator, and pantheon categories. How to set those categories down and read Kemush as witness.
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Crater Lake (Giiwas) in Klamath and Modoc Tradition
Crater Lake, known to the Klamath as Giiwas, is a sacred place. The recorded Llao and Skell tradition, the collapse of Mount Mazama, and how that memory meets the geology.
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Why Modoc Origin Stories Still Matter | The Spirals of Kemush
Modoc origin stories carry a people's relationship to a specific land and its beings. Why they remain living tradition, how they teach responsibility and belonging, and why sharing them with care keeps the cycle alive.
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The C'waam: The Lost River Sucker in Modoc Story and the Fight to Save It
The c'waam, or Lost River sucker, was a first food of the Klamath Basin and is now endangered. What the fish is, its place in Modoc life and the origin world, and the fight to save it.
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Modoc and Klamath: Two Distinct Peoples of the Same Basin
Modoc and Klamath are distinct peoples. They held different territories and kept their own identities. Here is what that distinction actually means, and why it matters for reading Modoc history and oral tradition accurately.
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Origin of the Maklaks: Why the Book Uses the Modoc People's Own Name
Maklak is the Modoc people's own word for themselves. The subtitle of The Spirals of Kemush uses it deliberately. Here is what that choice says about whose frame the book is standing in.
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What Is a Modoc Origin Story? A Reader's Introduction to The Spirals of Kemush
A Modoc origin story explains how the world and its forces came to be. This reader's introduction covers Modoc mythology and how The Spirals of Kemush gathers the twelve told whole.
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Teaching Modoc Mythology: Using The Spirals of Kemush in the Classroom
A guide for instructors on teaching Modoc mythology with The Spirals of Kemush and its draft-your-own-origin-myth exercise. Desk and exam copies available.
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Who Is Kemush in the Modoc Origin Cycle?
Kemush is not a creator deity. In the Modoc origin myths, he is the witness and mediator who carries the memory of the cycle. That distinction matters for understanding the cosmology.
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The Twelve Spirals: How the Modoc Origin Cycle Fits Together
A guide to the twelve origin myths in Spirals of Kemush, the forces at work in each one and what changes when you read them as a single sequence.
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The Last Song and what it carries
The Last Song is a Modoc song as old as time immemorial. Its words translate closest to "new beginnings." Here is where it comes from and why it opens the app.
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