The World We Used to Live in: Remembering the Powers of the Medicine Men

by Deloria Jr., Vine; Deloria, Philip J.

• ISBN13: 9781555915643
• ISBN10: 1555915647
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-03-01
• Publisher: Fulcrum Publishing

Summary

"In his final work, the Native American scholar Vine Deloria Jr. takes us into the realm of the spiritual and reveals through eyewitness accounts the immense power of medicine men. The World We Used to Live In, a collection of anecdotes from tribes across the country, explores everything from healing miracles and sacred rituals to Navajos who could move the sun. In this work, which draws upon a lifetime of scholarship, Deloria shows us how ancient powers fit into our modern understanding of science and the cosmos, and how future generations may draw strength from the old ways."--BOOK JACKET.

Author Biography

Vine Deloria Jr. was named by TIME magazine as one of the greatest religious thinkers of the twentieth century. He was a leading Native American scholar whose research, writings, and teachings on history, law, religion, and political science have not only changed the face of Indian country, but stand to influence future generations of Native and non-Native Americans alike. He has authored many acclaimed books, including Evolution, Creationism, and Other Modern Myths; Red Earth, White Lies; God is Red; Spirit and Reason and Custer Died for Your Sins. Vine Deloria Jr. passed away on November 13, 2005.

Table of Contents

Preface	xiii
Philip J. Deloria
Prologue: Traditional Religion Today	xvii
Introduction: The Universe of Spirits	xxiii
Dreams---The Approach of the Sacred	1	(42)
Eagle Shield's Dream	2	(1)
Brave Buffalo's Dream about the Elks	3	(2)
Black Elk's Dream/Vision	5	(1)
The Dangers of Daydreaming	6	(1)
George Schmidt's Daydream	6	(2)
Shared Dreams	8	(1)
The Sacred Intrusion	9	(4)
Goose's Experience	10	(1)
Bush's Buffalo Spirits	11	(2)
Horn Chips's Blessing	13	(1)
The Nature of the Medicine Man	13	(3)
Lone Man---Teton Sioux	15	(1)
Men's Vision Quest Experiences	16	(15)
Siya'ka Explaining the Vision Quest	18	(2)
Lame Deer, a Brule Sioux Medicine Man, Explaining the Vision Quest	20	(1)
Lame Deer's Experience	20	(1)
The Jesuit Account of the Vision Quest	21	(2)
Siya'ka's Vision	23	(2)
Two Leggings's Vision	25	(3)
Blows Down's Vision	28	(1)
Smoking Star's Name	29	(1)
Le Borgne's Vision	30	(1)
Women's Vision Quest Experiences	31	(8)
Catherine Wabose's Vision	31	(4)
Pretty Shield's Vision	35	(1)
A Pawnee Woman's Dream	36	(1)
Another Pawnee Woman's Visions	36	(1)
Mary Sdipp-shin-mah's Vision	37	(2)
Visions in Transition	39	(4)
John Slocum's Vision	40	(1)
Minnie Enemy Heart's Vision	41	(2)
Powers Conferred on the Medicine Men	43	(40)
Healings	43	(4)
Thunder Cloud Receives Healing Powers	44	(1)
Navajo Diagnosticians	45	(2)
Finding the Cure	47	(2)
Dr. Perry of Massachusetts	49	(8)
Sitting Bull's Self Remedy	50	(1)
White Crow's Healing	51	(1)
Instant Nautical Healing	52	(1)
Reviving the Dead	52	(1)
Northern Barred Owl's Remedy	53	(2)
Healing Severe Gunshot Wounds	55	(1)
Black Elk's Experience	56	(1)
Eagle Shield's Triumph	56	(1)
Omaha Buffalo Medicine Men	57	(8)
Beyond Hope	60	(1)
Healing Witchcraft	60	(1)
Southwestern Healing Practices	61	(1)
Pawnee Injury and Treatment Incidents	62	(1)
Sun's Road's Discovery and Recovery	63	(1)
Plenty Crows's, A Famous Medicine Man of the Cheyenne, Healing	64	(1)
The Horse Doctor	65	(2)
Locating Lost Objects	67	(8)
Goose Finds a Rifle	67	(1)
White Shield's Tasks	68	(2)
Bear Necklace's Stones	70	(2)
Young Bird's Psychic Powers	72	(1)
John Fornsby's Guardian Power Boards	72	(3)
Dr. Jim's Song	75	(1)
Unusual Predictions	75	(8)
Predicting for the French Soldiers	76	(1)
The Tobacco Prediction	76	(2)
Predicting the Traders' Arrival	78	(3)
The Blackfeet Prophet	81	(2)
Continuing Communications	83	(24)
The Yuwipi Ceremony	84	(4)
The Yuwipi Spirits	85	(1)
Red Bird's Yuwipi	86	(2)
The Spirit Lodge Ritual	88	(19)
Jesuit Report	90	(1)
Andrew J. Blackbird's Account	91	(1)
Henry R. Schoolcraft's Report	92	(1)
Paul Kane's Experience	93	(2)
Saulteaux Conjuring	95	(1)
Catherine Wabose's Experience	96	(1)
James W. Schultz's Report	97	(1)
Sir Cecil Denny's Experience	98	(1)
The Montagnais Practices	99	(1)
J. G. Kohl's Story	100	(1)
A. Irving Hallowell's Confessions	101	(1)
Muskogee Practices	102	(1)
Cheyenne Spirit Lodge Ritual	103	(1)
The Spirit Lodge Cure	104	(1)
A Kiowa Spirit Lodge	105	(2)
Interspecies Relations	107	(18)
Interspecies Communication---Birds	107	(4)
Luther Standing Bear	109	(2)
Interspecies Communications---Animals	111	(5)
Black Elk's Experience	111	(2)
White Bull's Experience	113	(1)
William Rowland's Story	114	(1)
Jim Bridger's Experience	114	(2)
The Coyote Helps the War Party	116	(1)
Animal Powers	116	(5)
Luther Standing Bear's Experience	116	(2)
Yellow Fish's Tragedy	118	(1)
Buffalo of the Sun	119	(2)
Animals Admonishing Humans	121	(4)
Many Tail Feathers's Father's Dream	121	(1)
The Bears Warn the Hunter	122	(1)
Rising Wolf's Protective Warbonnet	123	(2)
The Land and the Cosmos	125	(24)
Sons-in-Jah and Desert Potatoes	126	(1)
Making Plants Grow	126	(9)
The Pawnee Corn Growers	127	(1)
Growing the Cedar Berry	128	(1)
The Pawnee Blind Man	128	(1)
Plenty Fingers Feeds His Children	129	(1)
Navajo Corn Growers	130	(1)
Navajo Seed Giving	131	(1)
Pueblo Seed Grass Ceremony	132	(1)
Zuni Corn Growers	133	(2)
Changes in the Weather	135	(2)
Bringing Rain	137	(1)
Chiricahua Apache Ceremony	137	(2)
The Unfortunate Mexican	137	(2)
Changing the Nature of a Storm	139	(5)
The Texas Alabama Tradition	139	(1)
Wooden Leg's Story	140	(1)
Last Horse's Miracle	141	(1)
The Blackfeet Medicine Men Contest	142	(1)
Fulfilling Big Bear's Request	143	(1)
Enlisting the Weather as an Aid	144	(2)
The Sin'-o-pah Weather Control	144	(1)
Chiricahua Storm Medicine	145	(1)
Ruffled Feathers Calms the Waters	146	(1)
Rain as an Affirmation of a Blessing	146	(3)
The Old Hunkpapa Sioux Chief	147	(2)
Sacred Stones and Places	149	(18)
Sacred Stones	149	(1)
The Picture Rocks	150	(3)
Black Elk	150	(1)
Incident at Cannon Ball	151	(1)
Old Mandan's Picture Rock	152	(1)
Sweat Lodge Stones	153	(1)
Medicine Stones	154	(2)
Horn Chips's Stones	155	(1)
Buffalo Stones That Call the Blackfeet	156	(2)
Medicine Crow's Mother's Stones	156	(2)
Healings with Stones---Frances Densmore's Summary	158	(1)
Calling the Buffalo	159	(2)
Listening to the Ground's Fossil Stone	159	(1)
Goose Calls a Buffalo	160	(1)
Crooked Foot Finds the Buffalo	161	(1)
Powerful Places	161	(6)
The Comanches Discovered a Sacred Site	162	(1)
The Pipestone Quarry	163	(1)
The Island Sacred Rock	164	(1)
The Standing Rock Sun Dance Site	165	(2)
Unusual Exploits of Medicine Men	167	(26)
Early Colonial Observations	167	(2)
Feat of Ice or White Bull at Busby in 1867	169	(1)
Ice's Account	169	(2)
The Aoutaenhrobi Fire Ritual	171	(2)
Holding the Jar with Feathers	173	(1)
Calling up of the Waters	174	(1)
Invulnerability to Arrows and Bullets	175	(4)
Bear Claws's Power	175	(1)
Brave Buffalo's Feat	176	(1)
Old Man S	177	(1)
Box Elder's Exploit	178	(1)
The Powers of Crazy Mule	178	(1)
Powers of Animation	179	(6)
The Choctaw Medicine Man	180	(1)
Feat of Elk Left Behind	180	(1)
The Arickara Bear Medicine Society Buffalo Hunt	181	(3)
Eagle Feathers Dancing	184	(1)
The Power of Invisibility	185	(4)
The Shawnee's Power	186	(1)
The Apache Invisibility Tactic	186	(1)
Hiding from the Flying Man	187	(1)
The Invisible Woman	188	(1)
Lame Medicine Man Causes Blindness	188	(1)
Producing Anomalous Things	189	(4)
Buffalo Lump's Bullets	190	(1)
A Unified Smoke	190	(3)
The Spiritual Universe	193	(22)
Substance	195	(6)
Space	201	(5)
Navajos Moving the Sun	203	(1)
A Navajo Thunderstorm	204	(2)
Time	206	(9)
Geronimo's Power	206	(1)
The Length of a Lifetime	207	(1)
Brave Buffalo's Expectations	207	(1)
Black Elk's Expectation	207	(1)
Plenty Coups, Chief of the Crows	208	(1)
A Chiricahua Apache Prediction	209	(1)
Two Leggings	209	(1)
The Buffalo and Hillside	209	(1)
The Nighthawk Ceremony Prediction	210	(1)
The Circumstances of Death	211	(1)
Siya'ka's Death	212	(3)
Endnotes	215	(12)
Bibliography	227