Synopses & Reviews
Chapter 1The Old Ones
You know, straight across the board, hardly anyone really knows what is Indian. The word Indian in itself really doesn't mean anything. That's how come nobody knows anything about Indians. So I want to tell you how I grew up and who I am. I've never read books. I wasn't educated that way. What I am saying here is based on my life. That's what I am telling you. I grew up with this Chanunpa, this Sacred Pipe, and I have a spirit guide with me all the time. He leads me in and out of all the difficulties, all the obstacles I have to go through. The spirit always finds a pathway. The Chanunpa [Sacred Pipe] Ends a pathway. It's like a deer trail. If you find a deer trail and follow that trail, it's going to lead you to medicines and waterholes and a shelter.
At that time we were warned that an unknown power would come to us and would cause in us that little shadow of a doubt. That shadow of a doubt would lead to nothing but hurt and destruction and even to death. For us, death means you are gone forever. For the white man, death means physical death, but to us that is a sleep. In the real death, the spirit is gone forever.
So I learned all this little bitty, kindergarten stuff when I was five years old. We have a biological father and mother, but our real Father is Tunkashila [Creator], and our real Mother is the Earth. They give birth and life to all the living, so we know we're all interrelated. We all have the same Father and Mother. That is why you hear us always saying milakuye oyasin. We say those words as we enter the sacred stone-people-lodge [sweat-lodge] and also at the end of every prayer. It means all my relations. It helps to remind us that we are related to everything that exists. So I was educated that way, and it was prophesied nineteen generations ago that that gift would be given to me at the age of five. The old people were waiting and ready for me. So when I was five years old, I became an adult. I was just a little guy, but in my mind I was an adult.
When my old people talked, I always sat right in themiddle. I was just a little guy, you know, but I listened to them. It's really hard to hear an old man talk. You have to have a lot of patience to hear those people talk, because when they talk, they talk about the motivation, the feeling, the unsound that is around in the universe. They explain everything to one understanding. They bring it all together, and when they finish, just one word comes out. Just one word. They might talk all day, and just one word comes out. The next day they'll talk again, and then another word comes out. So for three or four days of talking, there might be just three or four words that come out. But once you hear that one word, you hear it and understand it. You'll never forget it because your subconscious mind will see and understand it. That silent communication will come in, and you will receive it. One side of the hemisphere will receive it, and the other side will record it. It will remain with you for the rest of your life. It will go even further to your generation, and generation after generation. It will even go to four generations. So that is really hard for this society here to really understand.
So you have a little tape recorder back there in the mind. I call it color TV, and it records. So if you turn up the volume, the electrical power will come in and hit those little water bubbles or molecules and make a sound. If you turn it down, you could have silence. So that's the way my mind works. So I used to sit there with the old people and turn on my video. Then I would go to sleep, and it would record. So while I was sleeping, the electrical power would come in. It records, runs my heart, pumps my breathing, keeps me living. So when I wentthere and turned on my video and went to sleep, I could still hear, because this was a spiritual power that came from the wisdom given to us by the Creator and Grandmother the Earth.
Synopsis
The Zuni have traditionally used small stone carvings of animal figures as power objects and mediators between themselves and the spirit world. Any object that has special meaning can be used as a fetish. In this fascinating, informative, and beautifully illustrated guide to the fetishes of the Zuni people of New Mexico, Hal Zina Bennett explores key principles of Native American spirituality and how early Zuni teachings can benefit us all today. He provides an excellent guide to Zuni traditions and an intriguing picture of their early life, along with detailed instructions for using fetishes for mediation, reflection, and insight in modern life. He describes key fetish figures, including the Guardian of the Six Regions, their legendary meanings, and the personal qualities each figure can support and help its owner develop.
In explaining the nature of fetishes and the psychological and spiritual benefits that we can gain from their use, Bennett provides illuminating cross-cultural comparisons, stimulating exercises, and journaling opportunities.
Synopsis
In a first-person narrative, a Lakota shaman blends an explanation of the mystery and ritual of the sacred pipe with a lively account of growing up Native American.
Synopsis
"An unprecedented account of the shaman's world and the way it is entered."
STANLEY KRIPPNER, PH.D., coauthor of 'Personal Mythology: The Psychology of Your Evolving Self' and 'Healing States'
"Black Elk opens the Lakota sacred hoop to a comic