Estanatlehi (es-tan-aht'-lu-hee) is most commonly known as Changing Woman, but may also be referred to as Turquoise Woman, White-Shell Woman, Painted Woman, Self-Renewing One, Spinning Woman, or Weaver of Cycles. She is a Navajo and Apache Native American Goddess. There are many myths surrounding her and I have included the major points and some interesting fun here.

Changing Woman created the first Rites of Passage or Blessing Way ceremonies for Navajo's and Apache's. The Native American word is Kinaaldá (Kee-hahl-dah'). Actually First Woman (Altsé Hastin) designed Changing Woman's Becoming Woman or puberty ceremony and Changing Woman took off from there.

In the myths, Changing Woman matures very fast. In fact, everyone in the myths grows rapidly. Depending upon the myth, she grew to puberty in four, eight, twelve, or fourteen days. Her sons grow to maturity in eight days.

Changing Woman never grows old. When she sees herself aging, she walks to the East through the seasons and as she does, she becomes younger. One myths says she cycles through all ages in one year. In spring she is a child, summer she becomes a young woman, in fall she is mature, and in winter she prepares for her death so she may rebirth in the spring.

Here she describes her birth, "As the fluid waters draped over Dawn's sky, I was found lying on a bed of flower petals wrapped in a rainbow by First Man (Altsé Asdzáá)." In another, "... she survives the Great Flood by floating in an abalone shell, and then wanders the land as the waters recede." In another she is found by Coyote, "... after being born of Darkness and Dawn on Spruce Mountain, she was covered with a blanket of clouds and rainbows, and secured to her cradleboard by lightning and sunbeams."

She describes her Blessing Way ceremony: "I was dressed in jewels, white shells, turquoise, abalone, and jet and blessed with pollen from the dawn and from the twilight." In another, "My hair was washed with the morning dew and songs were sung in my honor."

She takes the Sun as her lover and births twin sons; Monster Slayer and Born for Water. In her words, "I was walking in the woods, gathering berries when I was visited by someone so sparkling that I had to look away. When I looked back he was gone. This happened two more times. On the third occasion, I had fallen asleep with my head in the East. This time he lay beside me and I took the Sun as my lover." In another version, "When her parents looked on the ground and saw only one set of footprints, they knew their daughter had taken the Sun as her lover." In the myth where she survives the Great Flood in the abalone shell, "Atop a mountain she is impregnated by the Sun and gives birth to a son, which she names Killer of Enemies. Later she is impregnated by the Rain and gives birth to Son of Water."

The first Marriage (Bonding) ceremony was actually marrying the masculine and feminine energies of corn to bring abundance to the people.

It's not long before Monster Slayer and Born for Water have rid the Earth of all monsters except age, poverty, famine, and winter. They take off to build their mother a house made of turquoise (some say crystal) on an island "cradled in the salty waters where Earth and Sky meet." Here Changing Woman receives the Sun into her bed each night.

Soon she is restless and ... "Brushing off the dust from my breasts - white flour from the right and yellow corn meal from the left - I created the first of my people; the first of the Navajo clans." In another myth she molds first man and woman and covers them with a magical blanket. "In the morning they are alive and breathing. For the next four days, the pair reproduce constantly, forming the four great Navajo clans." In another, after she creates the clans she is still restless, so she brushes dust from her nipples, and the women she creates were, "thereafter famous for their nipples."