THUNDERBIRD RISING Shield Campaign
✦ Overview
I am Stephanie Big Eagle, enrolled member of the Yankton Sioux Tribe, author of Thunderbird Rising, traditional handpoke tattoo artist, mentor, and mother.
The Thunderbird Rising Shield Campaign is a living invitation to all who have walked through distortion and still remember who they are. It calls to those who, like me, have endured lifetimes of exile and separation now transforming into awakening and return.
This campaign stands not in defense, but in renewal, and offers a way to turn what was meant to silence into a movement of remembrance.
The Thunderbird Rising Shield is both a symbol and a transmission, intended first and foremost as a tattoo design – a living talisman carried on the body as a mark of remembrance and protection. It affirms that distortion cannot destroy truth; it only refines it.
The campaign sustains the continuation of my creative and spiritual work so that the teachings, stories, and designs that emerge through this vessel may keep reaching others who are also rising in remembrance.
✦ The Purpose: The Great Awakening and the Thunderbird
The Thunderbird Rising Shield is an alchemical tool, created from years of traditional tattoo work, spiritual refinement, and dream guidance. It carries the medicine of the Thunderbird - the Sky Guardian who transforms chaos into clarity and shadow into power - and reminds us that we are never alone, nor powerless, even amid life's most ominous storms.
Offered to all who walk through distortion into remembrance, the Shield serves those reclaiming truth and sovereignty in this Era of the Great Awakening, when humanity, pushed to its limits, begins to rise together against collective injustice and spiritual distortion.
Lightning does not only destroy; it transforms and regenerates. From the ashes of what we’ve endured, and despite all odds, we rise renewed.
✦ Why This Matters
Across the world, many are being pressed by the same force of distortion - appearing as defamation, poverty, ICE raids, cyberstalking, war, or the sudden loss of aid. These are not random misfortunes; they mark the turning point of transformation.
The Thunderbird Rising Shield is created in service to all who are targeted or weighted by these upheavals. It stands for those who refuse to surrender their spirit in the face of chaos. The Shield remembers that what seeks to divide and destroy can also be the fire that refines and reveals.
Every line of the Shield was crafted to remind us of the strength that emerges from transformation.
✦ The Shield's Intention
Tattoos created with sacred intention become initiatory shields – living prayers and markings of remembrance, resilience, and energetic protection.
The Thunderbird Rising Shield calls upon the Thunderbird, a universal and cosmic guardian serving all who stand in integrity and courage. Its protection transcends race, culture, and boundary.
Those who feel called may receive the Shield in exchange through this campaign. A PDF download will be sent to your email once a contribution of at least $30 USD is made to the Shield campaign. It is for personal use only, as a tattoo design for an artist of your choice to anchor, a sigil, battle jacket patch, or altar piece; a living emblem of protection and remembrance.
The Shield's Meaning
The Shield itself is the face of the Thunderbird, called upon for its vast protection. Within, it contains:
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The Heart-Shield: the vessel of truth and endurance.
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Mirrored Thunderbirds: balance between spirit and matter, masculine and feminine, heaven and earth.
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Lightning Motifs: the initiatory strike of awakening; when pain becomes power and isolation becomes remembrance.
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Central Diamond / Star-Compass: the all-seeing vision that perceives beyond distortion, orienting us toward our ancestors and true home. It reminds us we did not originate in chaos but chose to enter it for a greater purpose. The spark of our home-source awakens as the flame within us, becoming the current that will lift this planet as we rise together in remembrance.
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Spiral Markings: the eternal return of those who remember who they are, the unending line of ancient ancestors and future generations.
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Feathered Points: grounding celestial energy into Earth.
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Inverted Chevron (Beak): the sharp point of spoken truth and embodied authenticity, ensuring that truth is protected and justice served.
When tattooed, worn, or meditated upon, the Thunderbird Rising Shield becomes spiritual armor and remembrance: You were not broken by what you endured. You were forged by it.
✦ Invocation to Receive the Shield
“The Thunderbird Rising Shield anchors a higher current of truth and protection on Earth. It restores balance, courage, and renewal even in the midst of distortion, using chaos and confusion as alchemical fuel for transformation. Through each bearer, the current of the Shield expands, turning what once harmed into the force that heals, remembering all beings who rise from the storm as light reborn.”
✦ Support This Work
By contributing, you:
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Deepen the impact of the Shield’s intention and invocation;
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Sustain my writings and creative works that protect and empower others.
Contribute directly below to join the circle of guardians and truth-speakers rising in remembrance.
Support the Thunderbird Rising Shield Campaign
✦ How Your Contribution Helps
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Creative Continuation: writing Book II and related works that promote empowerment, healing, and justice.
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Restoration & Energy Replenishment: personal, familial, and neurological recovery ensuring longevity of the work.
✦ Suggested Contribution:
A minimum $30 donation for personal use of the Shield as a tattoo, print, or sigil. Contributions are gifts of support for ongoing creative and spiritual work. The Shield is shared in gratitude, not sold as a product. This is not a transaction; it is participation in the Shield. (For personal, private use only — not for duplication, resale, or distribution.)
✦ Additional Ways to Support
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Commission a custom tattoo design or 1:1 mentorship.
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Enroll in my Introductory Handpoke Tattoo Course (pre-recorded).
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Purchase my book Thunderbird Rising on Amazon or IngramSpark.
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Visit the Temple of Return, a digital sanctuary of remembrance and protection.
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Contribute directly via Linktree if you prefer alternatives payment options like CashApp.
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Contact me here to receive your PDF download of the Shield, its invocation, and meaning after making a minimum $30 contribution. (You can also send your tattoo artist a picture of the design if you are opting for the Shield as a tattoo).
✦ Closing Message
This is bigger than one person’s story. It is a call to all who have endured distortion, who have been unseen or unheard, and who are ready to rise again in truth and authenticity.
Together we transform pain into power, shadow into sovereignty, and isolation into remembrance. Together we prepare for the crumbling now underway and the Great Awakening that ushers in the long-prophesied renewal.
Your support builds the Shield.
Your contribution strengthens the flame.
Carry the Shield. Remember who you are.
~ Stephanie Big Eagle
Artist • Author of Thunderbird Rising • Keeper of the Temple of Return