The World We Used to Live In: Remembering the Powers of the Medicine Men
272
The World We Used to Live In: Remembering the Powers of the Medicine Men
272eBook
Available on Compatible NOOK devices, the free NOOK App and in My Digital Library.
Related collections and offers
Overview
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781555918477 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Fulcrum Publishing |
| Publication date: | 01/01/2016 |
| Sold by: | INDEPENDENT PUB GROUP - EPUB - EBKS |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 272 |
| File size: | 2 MB |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
The World We Used to Live in
By Vine Deloria Jr.
Fulcrum Publishing
Copyright © 2016 Vine Deloria Jr.All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-55591-847-7
CHAPTER 1
Dreams — The Approach of the Sacred
Initial and unexpected contact with the Great Mysterious power must have come prior to the development of ceremonies and rituals for seeking a relationship with the spirits. We can imagine the surprise of the first person having an unusual, and perhaps prophetic, dream and then discovering that it accurately described an event that came to pass in his or her daily life. Surely, here was reliable information, but from an unknown source that could not be summoned at one's pleasure. How eagerly people must have yearned for similar dreams that would guide them in their daily lives!
Today, we place special emphasis on the experiences of the vision quest, but surely dreams must have preceded this ritual. That the experiences of the vision quest had a close relationship with dreams is certain, since many tribes refer to the vision quest encounters as "dreaming." This nomenclature, of course, makes it nearly impossible a century later to distinguish between the ceremonial and ritual experiences and the messages received in dreams that come to us at night. Sometimes, an elder, relating his dream, would emphasize that a vision appeared to him while he was in a waking state; other times, there was no clarification. Thus, when we are reading the old accounts of unusual happenings, unless there is qualification, we simply have to guess how the experience came about.
Not unexpectedly, dreams represent a significant percentage of the materials we will examine and lead us to conclude that in the old days, the ordinary person had as much opportunity to receive special messages as did the people who sought out the experience in visions. One common thread of the people interviewed seems to be that having received some powers in a dream, the benevolent spirit would continue to provide information and songs that would enhance the individual's capability. A person might well be told in dreams that it would be necessary for him to undertake a vision quest to expand his knowledge and receive more powers. Let us look at some of the messages received in dreams by our ancestors.
Eagle Shield's Dream
A man appeared to me in a dream, showed me a plant, and said, "My friend, remember this plant well. Be sure to get the right one, as this is good." It was a badger who appeared to me in the form of a man and said this. It was the first time that the badger came to me, but afterwards he brought me other herbs. There were no songs with any of the herbs which the badger brought me. In return for the kindness of the badger I took tobacco, cut it up fine, and dug a hole in the ground. I buried the tobacco and said, "Badger, I give you this in return for what you have told me. When the badger is alive he eats this herb. Whatever herb the badger introduces is especially good. Some consider his medicine stronger than that of the bear, as he digs deeper and farther into the ground. Eagle Shield said that he buried a little tobacco as an offering to the badger whenever he dug any of these roots.
How would the average person respond to this kind of dream? Familiarity through observation with the behavior of the badger would not necessarily lead one to conclude that any plant the badger used was anything more than his natural food. That the badger would or could transmit its particular knowledge of the natural world to a human being and recommend food that would be useful to people would not necessarily follow from observation. The little additional information provided by the badger in the dream changes completely the human's ability to confront the natural world. The dreamer now has a first insight into the real nature of the world and its interlocking set of relationships.
Some dreams had considerably more complexity when it came to establishing a relationship between humans and the higher powers as mediated through other creatures. These dreams often provided the dreamer with powers that could not have been imagined or developed as a spiritual exercise. It is important to note that the animal and not the human takes the initiative, although the moral profile of the human seems to be the determining factor that caused the animals to choose this individual. The animals observe the human, and if he or she treats other animals kindly, they want a friendship with the human also.
Brave Buffalo's Dream about the Elks
The dream came to me when I was asleep in a tent. Some one came to the door of the tent. He said he had come for me, and I arose and followed him. It was a long and difficult journey, but at last he led me to a beautiful lodge. All the surroundings were beautiful. The lodge was painted yellow outside, and the door faced the southeast. On entering the lodge I saw drawings on the walls. At the right of the entrance was a drawing of a crane holding a pipe with the stem upward, and at the left was a drawing of a crow holding a pipe with the stem downward. I could see that the occupants of the lodge were living happily and luxuriously. I was escorted to the seat of honor opposite the entrance and reached it with difficulty, as the lodge was filled with brush, and I was not accustomed to making my way through thickets. [At this point, the occupants of the lodge seem to have been recognized as elks.]
The elks in the lodge watched me with interest and encouraged me to go on, saying they had something they wished to tell me. At last I managed to reach the seat assigned me, and when I was seated the elks rose and said they had heard that I was a great friend of the buffalo, and that they wanted me to be their friend also. They said they had tested me by requiring me to reach this difficult place, and as I had succeeded in doing so they were glad to receive me. They then said that they were going to sing a song and wished me to learn it."
At this point, Frances Densmore becomes the narrator, summing up the consequences of the dream.
After teaching Brave Buffalo this song the elks gave him numerous instructions. He noticed that every elk had a downy white eagle feather tied on its right horn to indicate that it could run as fast as the eagle flies. He was told to wear a similar feather on his head, and at the time of giving this narrative he had a downy eagle plume fastened on the right side of his felt hat. The elks told him to paint his tipi in a manner similar to theirs, yellow outside with drawings of the crane and the crow on its inner walls, saying that these birds would protect him. This manner of painting the tipi he faithfully followed. The elks told him further that before he would be entitled to request help from them he must conduct a Performance which he himself should devise, by which he would show the people that he was acting under their patronage.
On reaching home Brave Buffalo made a mask of elk hide, using for this purpose the skin of the head with the horns. He then painted himself yellow and held in each hand a hoop wound with elk hide and decorated with an herb which is much liked by the elks. ... The young men chiefly on account of its fragrance used this. Eagle Shield used another variety of the "elk herb" in his practice of medicine. Brave Buffalo made also a hoop which he said was similar to the one he carried when enacting his dream. As the flowers of the "elk herb" were not then in season, he used flowers resembling them as nearly as possible, and also such fur as was available.
Brave Buffalo related that after arraying himself as described he went around the camp, passing close to the tents. Two virgins preceded him, carrying his pipe. As he was making this circuit and imitating the actions of the elk a thought occurred to him: "Now I have done everything as I was directed to do it, and I wish I might show these people that I have the power of the elk. There is a spot of damp ground before me. I wish that when I step on this damp ground I may leave the footprints of an elk."
A crowd of people followed him, and after he had passed over this spot they saw the footprints of an elk instead of those of a man.
One suspects that this dream was not Brave Buffalo's first encounter with spiritual things. His power was certainly unique, and the use of the watered ground in which to imprint the elk's feet indicates that he had given considerable thought to how he could demonstrate the acquisition of these special powers and decided that the tactic he chose would demonstrate beyond doubt the validity of his dream.
Black Elk's Dream/Vision
Readers familiar with the great vision of Black Elk will remember that his initial vision occurred when he was a small boy and stricken with a mysterious illness. His experience could therefore be classified as either a vision or a nighttime dream, depending on how one interpreted the substance of the experience. Black Elk felt he had glimpsed a different world because, on waking to consciousness, he remembered: "As I lay there thinking about the wonderful place where I had been and all that I had seen, I was very sad; for it seemed to me that everybody ought to know about it, but I was afraid to tell, because I knew that nobody would believe me, little as I was, for I was only nine years old." The power of his vision manifested itself in his response. He noted: "everything around me seemed strange and as though it were far away. I remember that for twelve days after that I wanted to be alone, and it seemed like I did not belong to my people."
This vision could also be classified as a near death experience, and considering that he was in a comalike state for twelve days, there would be merit in arguing that it was simply a near death experience. However, his subsequent remembrance of the details in a highly complex experience suggests the experience be included as a vision.
Most unusual was the experience of Two Leggings, the Crow war chief. He seems to have fallen asleep during the night of his fifth day on his vision quest. He dreams until a little bit of rain awakens him and then steps directly into a vision in which his medicine person sorts through the possible gifts he could be given.
The Dangers of Daydreaming
As much as possible, the Sioux elders tried to discourage people from taking naps during the daytime. They felt that people became inordinately vulnerable to the Heyokas and other spirits that might require them to do shameful and embarrassing things. There was an uncompromising mischievous aspect of the Thunder powers, and if a person did not do as they instructed, there were often dire consequences. A mixed blood named George Schmidt became a victim of daydreaming and found himself torn between obeying the Thunders' commands and listening to his white father, who soundly rejected the tribal traditions.
George Schmidt's Daydream
In the precepts of the old men, they preached saying, "Day-dreaming is bad; keep awake; instead of reclining, go walking about to rouse yourselves! As certain as anything, the sun will set in due time, and then at last is the time when man sleeps!" I have myself through personal experience, knowledge that that practice is a bad thing. Once I napped in the daytime, I had a dream, and it was like this:
A dark cloud appeared across the west, and it was drawing near. And out of that cloud, I heard the shouts of a scout. And then a little distance away I realized here was a man, so I fixed my attention upon him for a better view, and saw as I lay gazing, that it was someone painted up in fantastic designs, who was walking away from me, entirely nude. And then someonewhispered close to my ear, saying to me, "That is you!" And with that, there suddenly came over me the knowledge of what was implied in all this, even in my sleep and as this happened, I got this thought: "Alas, alas, and if I do not do as they want (appear as I see the man in the dream) I shall be killed by lightning!" and a panic overtook me and woke me up.
I had been lying face downward, so now I rolled over on my back, and, just to be doing, I glanced towards the west, and, there, lo and behold, a dark cloud lay across the west! The Thunders were really returning, so I grew very sad, and kept always within close range of where my father sat until in time the storm passed on. Because my father was a white man, I was reticent about telling him about it; because I knew he would instantly dismiss it as of no account, in a few words. But then, on the other hand, because he didn't believe in the thunders I found it comfortable to keep near him all the time. They went on past but it did seem that they repeatedly sent their bolts round our home, and it took them forever to go on.
And from then on I was always secretly in fear of the thunders, but I also feared my father because he ridiculed that sort of thing, and so between the two, I went about dodging; and because of fear of my father I never let myself enter into the Heyoka-woze ceremony. Thus I lived on until after I attained manhood; and then one day the thunders did strike me, and burned me in odd designs, but I recovered. If only I had obeyed in the first place when I was ordered to carry out the ceremony to the Heyoka, from then on I should not have been so unhappy."
Shared Dreams
People had ordinary dreams, ordinary people had extraordinary dreams, but, as far as I can determine, the dream images found in the Western context did not appear. Instead, the dreams were pretty much the same as the conscious life the people were leading. But Luther Standing Bear reported an instance where a dream or vision was apparently shared by several people, and I thought it had some relevance in this topic. It was, by all accounts, an unusual event and suggests that the sacred sometimes uses unusual ways to get a message to humans. Let us examine Standing Bear's narrative. At the time, he was responsible for recruiting Indians to go with Buffalo Bill on one of the Wild West tours.
I was loading my wagon and making all preparations to go to Ruschville [the departure station], there to take charge of the band of Sioux for the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show. Wakan Hunska came to me, and solemnly shaking hands, said: "Nephew, I don't see why you are going with the others and I ask you not to go. You may know why I say this to you."
While making ready, two young men, who had been with me on the previous trip to England, came and asked if I would consent to let them off and get two other men in their places. I inquired why the change of mind, since most young men were keen about the trip, and they explained that one night just before reaching Rushville they had made camp and gone to sleep in the tipi. About midnight, both had been suddenly awakened by a deafening crash and screams of terrified people. Rushing outside, they found the night perfectly calm and still, and they then and there understood what was bound to happen to those who took the journey.
Just before we reached Chicago the disaster occurred. Our train while stopped for a few moments, was crashed into by a swift traveling one, and a passenger car filled with Lakota braves was torn to splinters, and human bodies crushed in among the wrecked steel and timbers. When I returned home, recovering from what seemed fatal injuries, Wakan Hunska came to see me. "Nephew," he said, "what I saw came to pass!"
This warning dream/experience apparently happened to Wakan Hunska and the two young men. But Standing Bear himself had no dream event to warn him of the immediate future disaster. Had he been too civilized to pick up on the warning? Did Wakan Hunska have the same experience as the two young men? At what point does a dream/vision merge with ordinary life events? This account I believe stands between the power dream and the real-life intrusions of the sacred that have great clarity and are easily identified as the initiative of the sacred spiritual powers.
The Sacred Intrusion
The dream was not the only means by which the higher powers revealed themselves to people. Equally important were those intrusions of the sacred into people's everyday lives in ways that startled them. Being keen observers of the natural world, the people could quickly tell when something was amiss from the response of birds and animals to disturbances or the sudden changes of weather patterns. When an anticipated activity did not take place, people thought carefully that they might be dealing with some aspect of the supernatural. Instead of showing fear, they demonstrated curiosity and waited for the situation to unfold. In this manner, they were able to respond in the proper way to an approach by the higher powers. Goose reported a good example of this kind of event. While hunting, he suddenly found himself standing in a sacred place where ordinary expectations did not apply. He was given medicines and a mission to heal people of certain kinds of physical ailments. His experience is typical of the kinds of encounters with the sacred in the old days.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from The World We Used to Live in by Vine Deloria Jr.. Copyright © 2016 Vine Deloria Jr.. Excerpted by permission of Fulcrum Publishing.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.