The World We Used to Live In: Remembering the Powers of the Medicine Men PDF
Preview The World We Used to Live In: Remembering the Powers of the Medicine Men
"Vine D eloria-that giant oak tree of a man-accomplishes what I would have thought impossible. It is the best book he wrote .Its virtues begin with its conception. Instead of summarizing what the visionar ies of his people saw and understood, he draws on his vast data bank vaster than that of anyone else's of our time, and very likely any time to let them speak for themselves . . .. This is a veritable library betw een two covers. Its conception, its scope, and its elo quence make it, in my judgement, the best single book on Native Americans that has been written. Novices and pundits will gain from it e qually. This book is a priceless addition to the history of humankind. " -Huston Smith, author of The World's Religions The World We Used to Live In The World We Used to Live In Remembering the Powers of the Medicine Men Vine Deloria Jr. Fulcrum Publishing Golden, Colorado Copyright © 2006 Vine Deloria Jr. All rights reser ved . No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any for m or by any means, electronic, mechanical , photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Deloria, Vine. T he world we used to live in : remembering the powers of the medicine men I Vine Deloria Jr. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN-13: 978-1-55591-564-3 (pbk.) ISBN-10: 1-55591-564-7 1. Shamans-North America. 2. Indians of North America -Medicine. 3. Indians of North America-Religion. 4. Indians of North America-Rites and ceremonies. I. Title. E98.M4D45 2006 299.7-dc22 2006000100 ISBN-13: 978-1-55591-564-3 Printed in the United States of America 0 9 8 7 6 5 Editorial: Sam Scinta, Katie Raymond Cover and interior d esign: Jack L enzo Cover image courtesy of Sam English Fulcrum Publishing 4690 Table Mountain Drive, Suite 100 Gold en, Colorad o 80403 800-992-2908 • 303-277-1623 www.fulcrumbooks.com CONTENTS Preface by Philip]. Deloria .........................xiii Prologue: Traditional Religion Today ....................xvii Introduction: The Universe of Spirits ...................xxiii One Dreams-The Approach of the Sacred Eagle Shield's Dream . . . . . . . . . . . Brave Bu ffalo's Dream about the Elks Black Elk's Dream/Vision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Dangers of Daydreaming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . George Schmidt's Daydream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shared Dreams . . . . The Sacred Intrusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . . . . . . . 2 . . 3 . . . 5 . . . . 6 . . . . . . 6 . . . . . . 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Goose's Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Bush's Bu ffalo Spirits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Horn Chips's Blessing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 The Nature of the Medicine Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Lone Man-Teton Sioux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Men's Vision Quest Experiences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Siya'ka Explaining the Vision Quest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Lame Deer, a Brule Sioux Medicine Man, Explaining the Vision Quest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Lame Deer's Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 The Jesuit Account of the Vision Quest . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1 Siya'ka's Vision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Two Leggings's Vision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Blows Down's Vision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Smoking Star's Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Le Borgne 's Vision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Women's Vision Quest Experiences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 1 Catherine Wabose 's Vision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 1 Pretty Shield's Vision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 A Pawnee Woman's Dream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Another Pawnee Woman's Visions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Mary Sdipp-shin-mah's Vision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Visions in Transition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 John Slocum's Vision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40 Minnie Enemy Heart's Vision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41 ,__,_.,.,1_, .. �, .. Two Powers Conferred on the Medicine Men . . . . . . . . . . 43 Healings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43 Thunder Cloud Receives Healing Powers . . . . . . . . . . . .44 Navaj o Diagnosticians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45 Finding the Cure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 7 Dr. Perry of Massachusetts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49 Sitting Bull's Self Remedy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 White Crow's Healing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 1 Instant Nautical Healing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Reviving the D ead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Northern Barred Owl's Remedy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Healing Severe Gunshot Wounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Black Elk's Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Eagle Shield's Triumph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Omaha Bu ffalo Medicine Men . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 B eyond Hope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Healing Witchcraft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Southwestern Healing Practices Pawnee Injury and Treatment Incidents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Sun's Road's Discovery and Recovery Plenty Crows's , A Famous Medicine Man of the Cheyenne, Healing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 The Horse Doctor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Locating Lost Obj ects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Goose Finds a Rifle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 White Shield's Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 B ear Necklace 's Stones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Young Bird's Psychic Powers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 John Fornsby's Guardian Power Boards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Dr. Jim's Song . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Unusual Predictions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Predicting for the French Soldiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 6 The Tobacco Prediction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Predicting the Traders' Arrival . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 The Blackfeet Prophet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 1 Three Continuing Communications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 The Yuwipi Ceremony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 The Yuwipi Spirits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Red Bird's Yuwipi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 The Spirit Lodge Ritual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 Jesuit Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Andrew ]. Blackbird's Account . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 Henry R. Schoolcraft's Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 Paul Kane's Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Saulteaux Conjuring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Catherine Wabose's Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 James W Schultz's Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 Sir Cecil Denny's Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 The Montagnais Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 ]. G. Kohl's Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 A. Irving Hallowell's Confessions Muskogee Practices . . . . . . . Cheyenne Spirit Lodge Ritual The Spirit Lodge Cure A Kiowa Spirit Lodge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 1 . . . . 102 . . . . 103 . . . . 104 . . . . 105 Four Interspecies Relations . . . . . . . Interspecies Communication-Birds Luther Standing B ear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 . . . . . . . . 107 . . . . . . . . 109 . . . . . 1 1 1 . . . . . 1 1 1 . . . . . 1 13 . . . . . 114 . . . . . 114 . . . . . 116 . . . . . 116 . . . . . 116 . . . . . 1 18 . . . . . 1 19 . . . . . 12 1 . . . . . 12 1 . . . . . 122 . . . . . 123 Interspecies Communications-Animals . . . . . . . . . . Black Elk's Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . White Bull's Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . William Rowland's Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jim Bridger's Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Coyote Helps the War Party . . . . . . . . . . . . Animal Powers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Luther Standing Bear's Experience . . . . . . . . . .. Yellow Fish's Tragedy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Buffalo of the Sun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Animals Admonishing Humans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Many Tail Feathers 's Father's Dream . . . . . . . . . . The B ears Warn the Hunter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rising Wolf's Protective Warbonnet . . . . . . . . . . Five The Land and the Cosmos . . . . . . . . . . Sons-in-Jah and Desert Potatoes . . . . . . . Making Plants Grow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Pawnee Corn Growers . . . . . . . . Growing the Cedar Berry . . . . . . . . . The Pawnee Blind Man . . . . . . . . . . Plenty Fingers Feeds His Children . . . Navaj o Corn Growers . . . . . . . . . . . Navaj o Seed Giving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 . . . . . . . . . . . 126 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 1 Pueblo Seed Grass Ceremony Zuni Corn Growers . Changes in the Weather Bringing Rain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chiricahua Apache Ceremony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Unfortunate Mexican . . . . . Chang ing the Nature o f a Storm . The Texas Alabama Tradition . Wooden Leg's Story Last Horse's Miracle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 32 . . . . . . 1 33 . . . 1 35 . . . . . . 1 37 . . . . . . . . . 1 37 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Blackfeet Medicine Men Contest . . Fulfilling Big Bear's Request . Enlisting the Weather as an Aid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Sin' -o-pah Weather Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 37 . . . . . 1 39 . . . . . . . 1 39 . . . 1 40 . . . . . 1 4 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chiricahua Storm Medicine . . . . . . . Ru ffled Feathers Calms the Waters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 42 . . . 1 4 3 . . . 1 44 . . . . . . . . 1 44 . . . . . . . . 1 45 . . . . . . . . 1 46 Rain as an Affirmation of a Blessing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 46 The Old Hunkpapa Sioux Chief . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 4 7 Six Sacred Stones and Places . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 9 Sacred Stones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 49 The Picture Rocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 50 Black Elk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 50 Inci dent at Cannon Ball . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 5 1 Old Mandan's Picture Rock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 52 Sweat Lodge Stones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 5 3 Medicine Stones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 54 Horn Chips's Stones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 55 Bu ffalo Stones That Call the Blackfeet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 56 Medicine Crow's Mother's Stones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 5 6 Healings with Stones-Frances D ensmore's Summary . . . . . . 1 5 8 Calling the Bu ffalo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 59 Listening to the Ground's Fossil Stone . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 59 Goose Calls a Bu ffalo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 60 Crooked Foot Finds the Buffalo Powerful Places . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 6 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 6 1 The Comanches Discovered a Sacred Site . The Pipestone Quarry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 62 . . 1 63 The Island Sacred Rock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 64 The Standing Rock Sun Dance Site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 65 Seven Unusual Exploits of Medicine Men Early Colonial Observations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Feat of Ice o r White Bull at Busby in 1 86 7 Ice's Account . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Aoutaenhrobi Fire Ritual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167 . . 1 6 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 69 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 69 . . . . 1 7 1 Holding the Jar with Feathers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 73 Calling up of the Waters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 7 4 Invulnerability to Arrows and Bullets B ear Claws's Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 75 . . . . 1 75 Brave Buffalo 's Feat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 76 Old Man S. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 7 7 B ox Elder's Exploit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 78 The Powers of Crazy Mule Powers of Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Choctaw Medicine Man Feat of Elk Left Behind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 78 . . . . . . . . . The Arickara Bear Medicine Society Buffalo Hunt . . . . . . . . . 1 79 . . 1 80 . . . 1 80 . . . . . 1 8 1 Eagle Feathers Dancing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 84 The Power of Invisibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 85 The Shawnee's Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 86 The Apache Invisibility Tactic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 86 Hiding from the Flying Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 8 7 The Invisible Woman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 88 Lame Medicine Man Causes Blindness . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 88 Producing Anomalous Things . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 89 Buffalo Lump 's Bullets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 90 A Unified Smoke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 90
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