The white eagle is a spirit eagle, a traditional American Indian symbol of sacredness, transformation, and watchfulness for the well being of the coming generations. Some traditional elders say that there was once a great native American leader and spiritual leader named White Eagle, who traveled across this turtle island bringing a message of peace and unity to the people. As with the turtle and the sacred tree, the white eagle is a universal symbol, representing physical life taking spirit form and soaring skyward. The fourth entity is the sun, perhaps the most universally prominent of all symbols, which in unity with the earth is a giver of life. Its twelve rays represent the principles of three times four, which has many applications.
Unity is expressed through the children as the third element.
Also, there are legends among the native people here and elsewhere that tell of twelve clans, twelve nations, etc., that make up the whole of their kind, and great leaders are often spoken of as having twelve disciples. The sun is a great leader symbol. Turtle and tree of the land, eagle and sun of the sky. But there is also a fifth entity here, the rainbow, whose seven spectrum colors represent the principles of three and four together. As the fifth entity, it serves to unify the four, the duality of dualities, as the rainbow unifies the duality of earth and sky.