Meeting the Medicine Men: An Englishman's Travels Among the Navajo

273 Pages·2008·0.7 MB·English

by  Charles Langley

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Meeting the
Medicine Men
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Meeting the
Medicine Men
An Englishman’s Travels
among the Navajo
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Charles Langley
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First published by Nicholas Brealey Publishing in 2008.
Nicholas Brealey Publishing Nicholas Brealey Publishing
20 Park Plaza, Suite 1115A 3-5 Spafield Street, Clerkenwell
Boston, MA 02116, USA London, EC1R 4QB, UK
Tel: + 617-523-3801 Tel: [phone]
Fax: + 617-523-3708 Fax: [phone]
www.nicholasbrealey.com
© 2008 by Charles Langley
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any
manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher, except in
the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
Printed in the United States of America
12 11 10 09 08 1 2 3 4 5
ISBN: 978-1-85788-507-1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Langley, Charles, 1950–
Meeting the medicine men: an Englishman's travels among the Navajo /
Charles Langley.
p. cm.
1. Navajo Indians—Religion. 2.Navajo Indians—Medicine.
3. Shamans—New Mexico. 4. Traditional medicine—New Mexico.
5. New Mexico—Social life and customs. 6. Langley, Charles. I. Title.
E99.N3L365 2008
978.9004'9726--dc22
2008002900
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S
OME READERS MAY FIND the events recorded within
these pages hard to believe and I certainly would not blame
them for that. Nevertheless, these things did happen and for the
most part they happened pretty well as I describe. The places I
name also exist and so do the people. However, those who al-
lowed me into their homes also trusted me to keep their secrets.
With this in mind I have deliberately jumbled people, places,
and events so that, while those who were present may occasionally
recognise themselves, no one else will. That aside, I believe I have
made a true record of at least one small part of the remarkable
spiritual life of the Navajo people. In these uncertain times many
of us from other nations might also wish we had the wisdom and
strength of our Paleolithic ancestors to gird around us.
—Charles Langley
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To all my relations
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Contents
Forewordby Emerson Jackson, Sr., Navajo Elder xiii
CHAPTER ONE
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Lucky Day
1
“By the time I washed up in the United States,
Ihad reached that stage in life where a man less
lucky than me might have found himself slipping
towards a graceless old age.”
CHAPTER TWO
The Skin-Walker
29
“For the next two weeks Reuben escorted me to the
remoter parts of Navajo territory and displayed me
to various Medicine Men.”
CHAPTER THREE
Blue Horse
53
“Whatever it was did not return the next night, nor
the night after, and even if it had, in deference to
my hosts’ wishes I would have taken no action.”
— ix —