THE EARTH PEOPLE PHILOSOPHY
CHAPTER 3
From: Black Elk: The Sacred Ways of a Lakota, Wallace H. Black Elk and William S. Lyon, Harper Collins, San Francisco, 1991, 199pp.
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The Earth People Philosophy
If takes a lot of courage to talk about these powers. It takes a lot of courage to be a witness. Back in 1905 and 1908 some commissioners came from Washington, D.C., to investigate the Chanunpa. They wanted to know if it was true or not--whether it was witchcraft or really from God. They had those kinds of thoughts. So we do have a little piece of paper somewhere about that visit. Then they wrote laws about our using these powers. For instance, Congress wrote a law that it was illegal for us to practice soul-keeping. So they wrote it that way. "Release all those spirits. That's an order. That's a law."
But whether there's a law or no law, we could still go out there. We don't need a piece of paper to contact those spirits. We go out there and crawl in the stone-people-lodge. Then we send a voice to the Creator--Yoohoo"and somebody responds and comes in. Even if somebody drags me out there with no Chanunpa or anything, I could still say, "Yo-ho. I'm lost. I need help." Then a spirit comes there and takes me some place. They'll fly you there. They'll take you any place. If you want to visit the moon, they'll take you up there. If you want to visit the star-people, they'll take you up there. They'll put you in one of those little flying saucers, and they'll zoom you up there in no time. Then, they'll bring you back.
They say that at one time we were civilized and educated. My
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grandfather told me that. They say we could talk to the trees and all the green. They say we could talk to the winged-people, the four-legged, creeping-crawlers, mammals, and fish-people. They say that at one time we could all talk to each other. No matter how many countless languages, forms and shapes, and symbols there were, they say we all spoke the same mind. That is called civilized, or educated. Well, we kind of drifted away from there and drifted over here. Now we call ourselves the civilized, Christianized world, but we just formed a little world all of our own. Then we got ourselves caught over here without spirit, and we ended up with zero.
But some people still have those powers. Some people just toy around with those powers, but they have no power to cure cancer, polio, tuberculosis, or anything. They just demonstrate a power. You know, like lifting a ball from the earth, then releasing it from their hands, and it goes down part way. It stops midway or goes back up into their hands. We know and understand those powers, but to us they are sacred. You don't take part of those powers and use it for hogie-pogie. A lot of people expect that from us, but we don't use those powers that way.
We have a spirit that comes in and displays those powers. They'll do it in a good way to heal and let you know that you are a part of the spirit. They help us in many ways. We have one ceremony we perform to have those spirits help us find special rocks that have sacred paints in them. We have to go to the Badlands to get that powdered paint. Layers of rainbow colors lie there. Those colors are inside the rocks that lie there. They are little lumps. On the outside they are grey, but when we take them home and crack them open, that paint is there on the inside. It's like a little compact.
So we go there and pray. We go there in the night when there is no moon. Then the spirit comes in and directs us where to go to find them. Then we take our Chanunpa and go over there in the pitch dark to look for those rocks. Then we pray, and you can see those special rocks glow in the dark. They look like little colored lights in the dark. You can see the colors that are on the inside. So we go there and take the colors that we need.
There were some young guys that heard we went there to pick
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those rocks. They were educated. So when they heard about this, they ran down there with their little pick hammers. They started breaking up all those rocks to find those paints. They were all over the mountain breaking rocks. But they didn't find any, because they didn't go there with that spiritual knowledge. So those rocks hid. They just left. Those guys just saw those rocks with their naked eye, but they didn't see the colors. When you have the spiritual knowledge, those colors sing. So the spirit will educate you that way. You don't go there and just pick out your favorite color. It's not that way. You don't say, "That's the only one I love," or, "I don't favor the other colors." You don't talk like that. You can't just separate them and pick your one favorite color. So the spirit will come and educate you how to use those colors. I think the spirit uses colors in many different ways.
Anyway, I learned from the spirit how to find those rocks that contain the sacred powdered paints. I learned their songs, but there are many songs out there. There are countless songs. Like the fire, it has a song. That fire shapes and forms all life, and each shape has a song. And the rocks, the rocks have songs. Like this rock I wear around my neck, it has a song. All the stones that are around here, each one has a language of its own. Even the Earth has a song. We call it Mother Earth. We call her Grandmother, and she has a song. Then the water, it has a song. The water makes beautiful sounds. The water carries the universal sounds. Now the green. This tree, every green has a song. They have a language of their own. There's a life there. You say there is a chemistry language there. So each green has a song. There's a lot of songs we don't know yet. One man could never get to know all of them.
If you see a tree, it doesn't move. It doesn't talk or walk. You just see it. You just see a tree. That's all. But the trees talk. They have a language of their own. So all this green that you see, they communicate. There's a scent produced. I think over here you call it air or oxygen. So there is a communication going on, see? So each one of these green gives out a particular odor or scent. Then a little creature comes here and eats. There are many beautiful butteflies, but one of them eats this particular green. Then one of the winged creatures comes and eats the butterfly, but there's
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a poison inside. So he will detect that particular odor, because the butterfly also has a scent. The scent, the communication, it talks. So when they see that nice breakfast sitting there they detect that scent, so they don't eat it. But some go put it in their mouth. Then, "Oh, I tasted that one, and it really tastes awful." So the next time they see that color it's a warning. So there is a communication. Some are edible, and some transfer the power from one to another. So one could survive from the other, see?
So each one of the winged-people has a song. It is the same with the four-legged and creeping-crawler creatures. So that's how come we have an eagle song, a buffalo song, and even a serpent song, a serpent language. And it is there for those mammals and fish-people also. So recently the scientists discovered that the whale also sings. They listened to see if they had a language, and they had a sing-song. So every creature has a song. Every two-legged spirit and each one of the Thunder-Beings has a song. Even that spider, we call him iktomi, he walks, he rolls, he flies, and he sings a song. So we have medicine songs for that spider, iktomi songs. So I want to tell you that you have a lot to learn. What you know today, it's just a little bit--like the blink of an eye. So that power is immense.
We used to use those powdered paints to make our prayer ties. We call them tobacco ties or prayer ties. We would take a little piece of hide and place a pinch of tobacco in it. Then we would bring the outer edges together and tie it off into a little bundle. Each bundle was a prayer. ?hen we would paint each of those tobacco ties the colors the spirit had instructed us to use. Today our prayer ties are different. We don't use hides or those powdered paints any more. Instead we use small squares of colored cloth. The cloth has to be too percent cotton. So it's a substitute. We started using substitutes back four or five generations ago. So most of my people come from three generations ago, and they use those little substitutes. My grandfather was the first one to use those colored cloths. The spirit told him to use that substitute, because the buffaloes were gone.
So if you go to the Rosebud [Indian] Reservation [in South Dakota] today, you'll find eight thousand of us that look like me. But there are only forty-seven families that are real, are
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traditional. The others look like Indians, and they call themselves Indians, too. They are proud of that. If you ask them what they are, they'll say, "I'm Sioux," or like that. They talk about these powers like they knew all about them, but they never went to a stone-people-lodge. They never went to a vision quest and they never went to a Chanunpa ceremony. In fact, they really don't believe about these powers, because they are Christians. So they denounced their own language, and they think these powers are devil's work. They talk like that. So you are going to find that some of the people look like me, but that they are educated and really don't believe in these powers. But we are the Earth People. We are steadfast and honest. We are true to our commitment, and we stay right in there. So the spirit comes to us.
So with me it's entirely different. Grandmother, she gave us this fire, and she gave us this rock, and she gave us this water, the rivers, lakes, and oceans, and she gave us all the green. She gave us a birth and a life. She put enough food here on this table [land], and she even put food inside the water. So those people that live in the water, they own that water. So they have the right to live there and eat the green. They breathe also.
And so on this long island [North and South America] she put all the food here. So we could sit here and eat. Our buffaloes could eat grass, so they could go anywhere. And we could go anywhere--park or hitchhike or pack a backpack. So we could go any place, and we didn't need a permit. You could sit down and enjoy this creation. When this Earth Man goes to a bubbling brook, he just sits there and drinks and admires. He listens to that wind whistling through the green and talks about the beautiful sounds made by the winged-people and all of life. That is the philosophy of the Earth People. But if a scientist goes to that same place, the first thing he will think of is how to make that "damn" water work for him. He'll want to put a dam there and a high-turbine generator. But the Earth Man will just sit there and listen to that bubbling brook and the wind. So that is our philosophy.
The basis of the knowledge is the fire, rock, water, and green. But when that power was given to man, he used it to twist his own mind. Tunkashila gave man just one drop of that wisdom. But when you look up and see the power of Tunkashila, it's huge. It's
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immense. He wears a blue robe, and it's a huge robe. In the center of the heart of Tunkashila is that sun sitting up there. It's sacred. It's holy. We know he's the director of the universe of universes, and everything is a circle. So we know that everything was a circle from the beginning. The spirits took my grandfather to that sun. He told me that the sun has four holes in it, and that there is a land inside. We also know that the power was placed here for man, but man twisted his mind and took that [fire/nuclear] power into his own hands. That was like a naughty kid, so Tunkashila is going to spank him for that.
So man was given one drop of wisdom, one drop of knowledge, one drop of power, and one drop of gift or love (or talent). Tunkashila is the wisdom in itself. The knowledge is a woman, and we call it the Earth. We call it fire, rock, water, and green. So the basis of the knowledge is the fire. In our language we speak of the peta wicoicage--the "fire generation." All the shapes and forms of life originate from the fire. In your scientific language you call it the atom. The rock we call maka. Maka is the Earth. So we have Grandfather who is the wisdom and Grandmother who is the knowledge. But the wisdom and knowledge are really one.
So in the Earth People philosophy you have to understand this fire, rock, water, and green. For instance, the radioactivity is a part of the fire. So when man twisted his mind and took that fire, later he realized that he didn't know how to neutralize the radioactivity. The scientists still don't know how to neutralize the radioactivity. We Earth People do have a medicine that will neutralize it. But if we aren't careful with it, we could neutralize everything. Then all life would be destroyed.
So I have to learn, too. So I go back to the Earth People philosophy. I go there where there is the wisdom, power, knowledge, and gift. The fire, rock, water, and green are there, and all life is there, see! So when I'm there I really feel happy! I'm closer. But if I'm dragging around over here [in Western culture], it's really scary. When I come into this jungle, it's really scary. Somebody over here is watching every move I make. They are watching me to see if the spirits tell me something they don't want me to know. So I'm being watched. I know it, and I sense it. In between, I have to starve; I have to go without food and water
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in order to communicate with Tunkashila. So for doing that, the spirits gave me additional power so I could go in further and advance and lead my people. So this spirit came a few days ago and told us that more people will come to the Chanunpa now, because they sense and know that the world destruction is coming real fast now. So there will be a lot of tears.
When we Earth People call the medicine man, he comes in. So Like the spirits say, "Anyone who prays to me with tears, I will listen. I will go there and help. I'11 do anything he asks me. I will do it." So then he comes and reconstructs the human mind or reconstructs the human organs where the tokq [enemyl has done damage. Also, that medicine man is not racist. After all, he's the Creator. He created and formed all life. So he can't denounce his own creation. So he doesn't come in and say, "I'm a Commanche spirit," or, "I'm an Apache spirit," or, "I'm only going to come in just for Lakota." He never comes that way, but even some of my Lakota people think it's that way. But I don't have that [attitude] inside me when I go to that power. There's no time for that. I go there with a clear, conscious mind. So the spirit comes in for anyone who prays in a humble way. He comes over, "Oh, poor little doggy." He'll pet you. He comforts and consoles you. Then whatever you prayed for, he'll answer that prayer. So that is science, see? That is the real science!
So I was the first one to be hand-picked and trained in these powers by my grandfathers and grandmothers. My grandfather used to warn me, "Now you are getting to that point. So don't be asking for mink coats, diamonds, and things like that. It's not that way." So my grandfather was really smart. Really smart! He never went to school, yet he understood everything. So we have a chance to use this power to overcome the evil in the world. So where does the evil get its power! The evil in itself has no power. So where does it come from? It comes from us. It crawls and creeps into our brains. We twist our own minds. We take that sacred knowledge and use it to fashion a gun. Then we call that knowledge power. So there is all this traffic between our ears, and that is where the evil comes from.
Grandmother the Earth is asleep. At the same time she knows--she smells, tastes, feels, sees, and hears everything. The
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whole world is her eyes. The whole world is her ears, sense of smell, taste, and feeling. But at this time she's asleep. So we Earth People have to poke a little hole [build a stone-people-lodge] in the Earth so she could breathe and communicate with us. Then we put the fire [hot rocks] back in there. Put those stone-people in there. Then we offer a little green [burn cedar on the hot stones], and we offer a little water [pour water on the hot stones]. We always remember Tunkashila first. We always honor Tunkashila the Creator, because Grandmother and Tunkashila are one.
So I learned from the old people that those spirits that come are my relatives. They learned that from the spirit. The spirit told them, "This Chanunpa is your relative. The powers of the Four Winds are your relatives. Pray to them. Talk to them. They are your relatives. To the West, the Thunder-Beings, they are your relatives. Send a voice out there. These are your relatives. Look that way. These are your relatives. Look to the North, the Buffalo Nation, the White Buffalo-Calf Maiden, the Chanunpa, these are your relatives. To the East, the Elk Nation, Black Elk, and the Elk Nation Woman that brings joy and happiness, these are your relatives. To the South, the Swan, the two-legged spirits that bring joy and happiness, the medicine people that bring health come from there. These are your relatives. Above you is the Eagle Nation. They watch, control, govern. They control the weather. They are the true meteorologists. These are your relatives. Down to the Earth, the stone-people are your relatives. So when you go back, tell your people that these are all your relatives." That's what the voice said.
The old people say that we used to have that balance. Like we say we want to walk in balance. We want to live in harmony. We want our Mother Earth to heal. But these creatures, like the bird-people and the four-legged, they still have that balance. It's like a carpenter's level. You tilt it, and the bubble goes this way or that way to balance it. To balance it, you have to get that bubble right in the middle. It's the same with that magnetic balance in the brain, but man lost it. If it tilts this way, the bird has sense enough to go this way. If it tilts the other way, they bounce back. That's how come they go back and forth [migrate]. But man lost it. Man lost his navigation in this world. So he ended
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up not knowing which way was top or bottom or sideways.
These medicine people that come in are not just aspirin. They are spirits. They are plants. The enemy comes in and deteriorates some part of the human structure like the mind, heart, lung, bone, or blood. When you pray, whatever the enemy deteriorated, that is where the medicine goes to recreate and reform the human structure. In the Earth People philosophy our body is made up of four basic substances represented by water, corn, berries, and meat. This instruction was first brought to us by Elk Woman nineteen generations ago. She carries a drum and song that goes
with it. So in our ceremonies you'll often see four wooden bowls there [on the altar] containing the sacred food~the water, corn, berries, and meat.
Take, for example, the buffalo. He gave his life so we could wear his robe. We wear buckskins and moccasins. We use his sinews for thread and his bones for needles. He is a vegetarian and eats grass. But the same elements that are in that grass are also in our body. So the buffalo eats grass and turns it into flesh and blood. We digest his flesh and blood. In turn, we get strength from this four-legged. We also use his robe for our tipi.
That tipi also has a deep meaning for us. Those tipi poles are nations. They are people. They are the Tree of life. There will be a time that the strength of all nations will be tied together to form the tipi. Then those little pegs that we use to tie the buffalo robes together in the front of the tipi are like little children. We also pierce our skin during the Sun Dance. We put those pegs into ourselves to say thank you to Tunkashila, the Creator. We spill one drop of blood and one drop of pain in return to Tunkashila and Grandmother. It is the woman who gives birth to us all through pain and blood. So we return that with one drop of blood and one drop of pain.
So we all come from woman. Our Chanunpa consists of a stone and a stem. That stone is the female, the woman. Her blood ran into the ground and formed that red stone. That stem is male. It is also the Tree of Life. When the two are connected it produces the generation of life. At one time the Tree of Life towered here, but then it withered and fell over. However, my grandfather [Nick Black Elk] saw in his vision that the Tree of Life would
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come to bloom again. He saw that one tiny root of that tree was still alive. But over here in this other philosophy there is only the
Tree of Knowledge.
So I was explaining how this medicine man works. This little guy goes inside and investigates everything. He sees everything. So the enemy does damage to the brain or heart or liver or kidney or whatever. He goes there. He sees, like X ray. He sees it, and he goes there and repairs whatever is damaged. He recreates all the molecules, genes, organics, fibers, or whatever the enemy damages. He recreates and reforms it. That is why he has his name. That is why we call him Creator. So he reconstructs the human mind and physical body. He recreates the human spirit, so that the spirit could wear its robe and walk with a clear mind. So that is just one medicine man at work.
When that spirit comes in, he never comes in and says, "Office call. Ten dollars please," or, "Service call. Twenty dollars please," and like that. "What's your social security number!" "Do you have any Medicare or Medicaid?" He never questions us like that. He just comes in and comforts and heals. Then he leaves. So that is our medicine man.
So it's good that you hear about this medicine we have. I'm not a medicine man. Many people think that way, but that's not the way it is. The medicine is out there. Like I wear medicine. He's around here somewhere. So I say, "I need your help, my friend. I need your help." Then I fill the Chanunpa. "Hey, where are you!" Then he comes in, "I'm right here. What do you need?" So I tell him, "Well, this guy here needs your help." That way he gets help. The medicine man brings the help. Sometimes they bring health. So the two key words the Chanunpa carries are help and health.
Now the drugs. There are many drugs. They're countless. My people, my family, we held 311 different medicines. After the white man came, we went down to only 4 medicines. Now we're picking up our medicines again. So we're back up to about 28 medicines now. But me, myself, I only carry 4 medicines.
If you put all these medicines together into one pharmaceutical department, I divide them into only two classes. One class is
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the medicines to alleviate worries, sadness, problems, sickness, and death. They just temporarily alleviate those like nothing ever happened. Then you want to see soap bubbles and rainbow col-
ors. You call it going on a trip. So you neat around there, and you could be ten persons at the same time. Part of you is standing in L.A., part of you is standing in Chicago, and part of you is in New York. Like that. Then your body is wandering around. "What happened to my spirit!" You could be at ten places all at the same 'time, but your body is wandering around, see?
Then the other class is to block off all future. There's no future. That drug will bring you back to maybe four or five years old. Then you watch those little cartoons, like Star Wars or cowboys and Indians. Like John Wayne fires his little six-shooter twenty times and knocks the Indians off the horses. Everybody roots for John Wayne. So that drug will bring you back. All the bad things that you witnessed and heard, you are going to reenact. You are going to reenact all those crimes. So there are two classes of drugs. So I explained all of this when I visited the surgeon general's office.
So it's really funny how the Earth People talk. There is an everyday language, but the spiritual language I speak is different. When the spirits talk, they speak really deep. Really deep! When they gave me that power I could also speak and understand that spiritual language. So those people on the surface, they speak shallow. Their minds are really shallow, and their thinking is light.
I was told by the old people that when you hold that Chanunpa there will be bad words and thoughts blowing towards you. Like, a bad thought will come in through this room and go out. Such thoughts and words that come to you are shallow. That's what the spirit told them. They're shallow and light. They're nothing. They are like little shadows that come. But if you connect yourself with a quick thought, that will take you someplace where you will never find your way back. You will be totally lost. The old people told us that. Or, if you do find your way back, you'll be missing part of your mind or part of your body. Maybe you will lose an arm or part of your leg. Part of you will be missing. The old people told us that. But most people
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went that way, and now they're lost. So I learned not to connect myself with a quick thought. If those bad words come, I let them come in one ear and go out the other. I never let them come out of my mouth. If a bad word comes in your ear and then comes
out of your mouth, it will go someplace and hurt somebody. If I did that, that hurt would come back twice as hard on me.
Now, talking about people getting lost, the spirit came in and told us that there are people walking around here. You see them walking around or moving around, moving about--slow pace or medium or fast pace. Sometimes they go through here real fast, and you can't see who they are. You just see something go by fast, so you can't identify what they look like. Sometimes they go slow enough that a camera could catch them. If they go real slow, you think they are harmless, but it's just as deadly as the medium or fast. So the spirit told us that there are these two-leggeds moving about here. They're moving around, but they are dead. That's what he said. So there are a lot of two-leggeds walking around here that are dead. They are already dead. So some people walk around, and they are already dead. Their senses are dead, and they don't know about these sacred powers.
To get to these sacred powers you have to go through four stages. When you reach the top, the spirit will come and communicate with you. He will give you your instructions. That's the first power, and it takes four years to acquire it. Then you go another four stages to get the second power. And there's a third power and a fourth power, see? Each of them requires four years. So that is four times four years, or sixteen years, before you reach all the way through and obtain the real power. That is the first level of power. Then there is a second level of power. That also takes sixteen years. Then there is a third and fourth level of power. So you have to go on vision quest after vision quest. The spirit will give you instructions. As you go, you go deeper and deeper. Eventually, you will be there with them. When you pass the fourth level of power you will be in the hands of the Creator, and you'll be back in Grandmother's arms again. So a lot of people come to me and want this power right now. But it's not that way. I have one more vision quest to perform, and then I will have the fourth and final power. That is the impenetrable
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medicine. It can cure any disease known to man. So you have to have a lot of patience for this.
The last two vision quests I went on I prayed for all those bones collected in the Smithsonian and across the board in every museum. When those spirits came, there were countless people all the way around. Each group spoke a different language, but they changed me so quick I was able to speak their language and understand each group. Next there was a big thunder and flash of lightning, and they were all gone. Everything was gone. But they said they were spirits. They had come to help me. So they thanked me for remembering them. So all these people came from all over the world and converged here. So they came this way to
help me.
Then I heard the loudest voice I have ever heard in my life. The voice said, "Grandchild. I stand here watching and listening to you. Everything that you said is true. That will be so." That is what the voice said. So I was really glad. "Hey, somebody's here. Somebody's watching and listening." Then somebody said, "Now, Tunkashila is going to visit you." I heard this voice, and I heard his footsteps, but I never saw him. Then I went into this lodge and sat down. Somebody was sitting on the south side facing west. He was to my left. So I sat there for awhile waiting to see what he had to say. But he didn't speak. He didn't say anything. So I began to pray. So I kept on going. I was praying and praying. I prayed to the Four Directions, the universal prayer,
to the West, North, East, and South. Then I prayed upward to the Eagle Nation and downward to the stone-people. Then in a circle to the Eagle Bundle. the nations robe. When I finished, he said, "Oh, good. That is good. That is so." That's what he said. Then he said, "Yanka. (That means, "One moment," or to hold or pause.)I answered, "He." He got up and went to the door. Then he went a little ways and disappeared. So I was sitting there waiting. That is what he said to do. But I was getting impatient because he had disappeared, and I felt empty. My ears started ringing. Then there was a sound in the silence. It was a silent sound in the silence. So I got up and went out. I prayed to the Four Directions, then up and down. I made my prayer again, but he didn't come back. So I had an empty feeling.
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Anyway, I prayed again. Then I came back into the lodge. I sat down way in the back. I was holding the Chanunpa, and I started to pray inside. When I finished my prayer, he was sitting right next to me. He put his arm around my shoulder and kind of assured me that everything was okay. Then he rocked me. He was flesh and bones to assure me that he was there.
That was the first time. I had heard his footsteps and heard his voice many times before in my life, but I never saw him. But this time, now he appeared. I didn't see him come in, but he appeared right beside me. He had one arm around my shoulder, and he held his other hand on my hand and the Chanunpa. He said, "My name is Invisible Walks." I answered, "Oh, thank you."
Then he disappeared right there. But I felt comfortable because I knew that he was there. He appeared and disappeared, but I knew he was close by me. So, Invisible Walks, that was his name. It was the first time I saw him. You could hear his footsteps and hear him talk, but you couldn't see him. Even the stonepeople, stone-man couldn't detect him. So he was invisible to the spirits, too!
Then the other Thunder Spirit came. I was on a mountain, and the clouds below me were like the land. He walked on those clouds, and there was thunder and lightning. When he landed on the mountaintop, the whole mountain started moving. It was shaking. When he took a step, big rocks cracked underneath his feet and started rolling down the mountain--boom, boom, like
that. So it must have been a tremendous weight, because the whole mountain shook and big boulders cracked. It must have been tons and tons.
I was scared to look at him. He was lightning all over. His face, hands, everything was lightning. He came from West, and lightning also came with him. That lightning went right into the bowl of the Chanunpa I was holding and came out the mouthpiece. It made a loud explosion like a gun. It did that four times. I still have lightning burns, scorch bums, on that Chanunpa stem. That's why we wrap the stem with sage. That sage kept me from getting electrocuted. That sage is like clouds. A piece of sage is a piece of cloud. So I insulated that Chanunpa stem with clouds.
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Maybe I'm dumb. I was just standing there watching all of this. Maybe if I had had a little sense I would have thrown down the Chanunpa and taken off. If some five-year-old kid went there and heard that boom, he'd yell "Mommy! Mommy!" Like that. Maybe a five-year-old kid would have sense enough to run, but I just stood there wondering what was going to happen to me next. So I continued to pray.
It was pitch dark, but I saw him move around. Then a light came all around me. Even the robes [ceremonial nags] lit up. I could even see the stitches, like magnifying. I could see the green [plants]. I could see pine needles. Then he moved his arms, and there was a wall of darkness all around me. Then he opened it, like pulling back a curtain, and I could see medicine-people-plants [of one species]. He said, "There will be a time when you need help. These medicine-people are going to help you." So when I looked over there in the pitch dark I could see those plants standing right there. So I picked one and brought it back. I didn't recognize it. That way, I knew what it looked like. When I went back, I looked around, and I saw the imposters-those lookalikes. But I knew what the real medicine looked like because I brought it back with me from that vision.
There were people down below on the mountain that had come there to help and watch over me on my vision quest. When they saw all this lightning, they got scared also. One of those bolts of lightning went down there and went right through the lodge. Went right through them. It was really hot. There was a big ball in the front-purple, green, orange--and it was really hot. Some of those people standing there got wringing wet, it was so hot.
Pretty soon a tall spirit came there. He told them to go pick me up because the spirits were going to take me to West, and they were not going to bring me back [meaning he was going to die]. So everybody prayed. Then they came up the mountain and told me they had come to pick me up. They said that a tall spirit had told them to come for me because the spirits were going to take me to where West ends--back to my mom and dad and to see my grandpa again. So two of them started to help me down the mountain because they thought I was weak and tired. Then they
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both slipped and fell. Whoops. So I picked them up again. So I'm the one who holds them up. They laughed.
So I learned a lot from the spirits that way. So I bring this medicine to the ceremony and tie it there. Then that spirit is around some place. So I say, "Yo-ho," and he comes in. So we have a medicine man that comes in. He never carries a knife and carves out your heart, throws it away, and then takes somebody else's heart or a baboon's heart in there. He doesn't use an artificial heart either. We have one medicine man that comes in that does four things. He's a blood doctor. He's a bone doctor. He's a sinew doctor. You might call him a neurologist, because he recreates the nerves. And he talks and untangles your mind. He sets your mind straight--Four Directions, up and down, then in a circle, see?
We asked the spirit once how come people got so confused. One person came there for help. He had a headache for four years. They gave him all kinds of medicines, but it was still there. So we asked the spirit about that. He said it was like you take a subject. Then you string it across your mind. Then you take another subject. Then you string it across your mind. All those subjects overlap, and their ends are imbedded in your mind. Then there's another one on top of that. So after education, it becomes like a cobweb in there. But all of these subjects are not connected. They just overlap and tangle your mind. They are embedded deep in your mind. When you try to connect them together, you become confused and get a headache. So the spirit told us that.
When that spirit comes in, he untangles all of this and sets your mind straight. He eases your mind, and your headache goes away. He comes in by talking. He untangles and sets you straight; so you might call him a psychiatrist or psychologist. But we have a psychologist. He's a spirit. Those other psychologists, they can't do anything because their mind is tangled also.
So I learned all this from the Chanunpa. It takes prayers. It takes a lot of work. It takes a lot of courage. It takes a lot of patience. It takes a lot of endurance. So you could practice. You could rest your tummy for four days and see how it feels, because that's how many days you are going to go vision quest. Ninety-six hours is a mighty stretch! But what's really going to get you
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down like nothing is when you start thinking about time. When you go to Tunkashila, there is no time. There's no past or present or future time. Everything is the same. So when you understand that, then Earth time is nothing. It will just fly by you. You won't even know about it. But if you go there and start thinking about time, you're dead.
So it's going to take you eight years before you really understand what I am saying. What I'm telling you now is just like elementary class, like kindergarten stuff. So you can't understand everything in just three or four hours, or one day. And I'm trying to speak really simple English so any five-year-old could under stand what I'm saying. It's really hard because you are all full of anticipation. You jump to a conclusion before a paragraph is finished, and then you end up with a blank. Then afterwards you question--Why? Why? Why! That confuses you. When that spirit comes, we don't ever ask questions. If I don't understand, I just hold onto it. Then later down the road, maybe in a couple of years, I understand what that spirit meant.