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tribe

content

pp.

000

--

Universe of Spirits

xxiii-xxxii

1

--

Dreams

1-2

1:1

Teton

badger-god

2-3

1:2

Teton

about Elks

3-5

1:3

Oglala

Vision/Dream

5-6

1:4

Dangers of Day-dreaming

6

1:5

Day-dream

6-8

1:6

Shared Dreams

8-9

1:7

Sacred Intrusion

9

1:7:1

Teton

invulnerable antelope; skeleton

10-1

1:7:2

Sisseton

Buffalo Spirits

11-2

1:7:3

Oglala

being blessed while in pit

13

1:8

Nature of the Medicine Man

13-4

(1:8)

Cheyenne

assistance from spouse

14-5

(1:8)

Apache

becoming a spiritual leader

15

1:8:1

Teton

being chosen by the spirits

15-6

1:9

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Men’s Vision-Quaest Experiences

16-8

1:9:1

Hnnkpapa

Explaining the Vision-Quaest

18-19

1:9:2

Brule

Explaining; Experience

20-1

1:9:3

(Que’bec)

Experience

21-2

(1:9:3)

Micmac

acquisition of shamanic powers

23

1:9:4

Hnnkpapa

vision-quaest; dream of bird-folk

23-5

1:9:5

Crow

deliberations by spirits

25-8

1:9:6

Crow

visitation by Morning-Star god

28-9

1:9:7

?

taking a spirit’s name

29

1:9:8

Oglala

antelope favoring pacifism

30-1

1:10

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Women’s Vision Quaest Experiences

31

1:10:1

(New England?)

dream of being acupunctured

31-5

1:10:2

Crow

dream of emmets

35

1:10:3

Pawnee

bear-god

36

1:10:4

Pawnee

catskin and glass

36-7

1:10:5

(Nor. Rockies)

grizzlybear-goddess

37-9

1:11

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Visions in Transition

39-40

1:11:1

(Wash.)

Vision

40-1

1:11:2

Sisseton

Vision

41-2

changing the course of physical events through a relationship with the higher spirits".

p. xxiv

"the communications received in dreams ... led people to devise ways to open themselves to the high powers."

p. xxv

"Often in dreams, a bird, animal, or stone would speak to them, offer its friendship and advice, or reveal the future ... . ... If a plant told them how to harvest it and prepare it for food or use as a medicine, they followed the pant’s directions, and they always found the message to be true."

p. xxvi

[Teton (TSM&C, pp. 207-8)] "I had a dream, and in my dream one of these small stones appeared to me and told me that the maker of all was Wakan tanka ... . The stone said ... that if I were curing a sick person I might ask its assistance, and that all the forces of nature would help me to work a cure."

p. xxviii

[Teton (TSM&C, pp. 72-3)] "When a medicine man says that he talks with the sacred stones, it is because ... these ... most often appear in dreams and are able to communicate with men."

"A man appeared to me in a dream, showed me a plant, and said, "My friend, remember this plant well. ..." It was 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."

p. 3

"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. ... he led me to a beautiful lodge. ... The lodge was painted yellow outside, and the door faced 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. ... The elks in the lodge ...

p. 4

said that they had heard that I was a great friend of the buffalo, and that they wanted me to be their friend also. ... They then said that they were going to sing a song and wished me to learn it."

p. 6

"Once I napped the daytime, I had a dream, and it was like this :

p. 7

A dark cloud appeared across the west, and it was drawing near. And out of that cloud, I heard the shouts of a scout. ... it was someone painted up in fantastic designs, who was walking away from me, entirely nude.

... and then one day the thunders did strike me, and burned me in odd designs, but I recovered."

p. 10

"I heard a voice speaking three times, then a fourth time, and the voice said it was going to sing something, and I must listen. The voice was above me and commanded me to look at the sun. I looked and saw that the rising sun had the face of a man and was commanding all the animals and trees and everything in nature to look up. In the air, in front of the sun, was a booth made of boughs. In front of the booth was a very bright object and between this and the booth was a man, painted and wearing an eagle-down feather, while around him flew all kinds of birds. The bright object was a sacred stone, and it was heated red hot. After seeing this I heard another voice telling me to look and receive what would be given me. Something in the form of a bird came down, and where it touched the ground an herb sprang up. This occurred three times. The voice above me said that I was to use these three herbs in the cure of the sick. The fourth time the descending object started in the voice of a bird, but a human skeleton {cf. [Aztec bird-god appearing as a human skeleton] Huitzil-opochtli} came to the ground. ... I then saw blood run into the skeleton, and a buffalo horn appeared ... and drew the blood out of the skeleton. The voice above

p. 11

me said that this was a sign that I would have power ... to cure disease of the blood. The voice came from the sacred stone".

p. 11

"on the Knife River a man ... sought a vision from the buffalo spirits; and he thought to make himself suffer so that the spirits might pity him. He tied four buffalo skulls in

p. 12

a train, one behind another, and ... he came to the Little Missouri ... . He stood on the bank and cried : "O gods, I am poor and I suffer! ..." ... he had to swim; he struck out. ... The four buffalo skulls were swimming about him, buoying him up; but they were no longer skulls! Flesh and woolly hair covered them; they had big blue eyes; they had tongues. They were alive!" {cf. [Norse god] To`rr angling with a fishing-line baited with an ox-head}

p. 14

"A man cannot become a doctor by himself; when he receives the power, his wife – who afterward is his assistant – must also be taught and receive certain secrets. ... If the wife of the man who is receiving the power does not wish to become a doctor, the man must find another woman to act with him. A man may become a doctor through a

p. 15

dream, thus receiving spiritual power directly from above, but even in this case he must have a woman to help him."

"Hanble (a vision) is / may be __"

"or __."

a communication from Wakantanka

a spirit

relative to the one that receives it

to another

communicated in Lakota

handloglak (language of the spirits)

come directly from the one giving it

sent by an akicita (messenger)

come unsought

come by seeking it

to walk on water and the like."

p. 23

"a medicine man ... painted my face white, and ... he told me of his own dream ...,

p. 24

and after leaving him I went to this hilltop to follow his instructions. ...

p. 25

Just before daybreak I saw a bright light coming toward me from the east. It was a man. ... He said, "Follow me," and in an instant he changed into a crow. In my dream I followed the crow to a village. He entered the largest tent. When he entered the tent he changed into a man again. Opposite the entrance sat a young man, painted red, who welcomed me. ... He told me to lift my head. I did this and saw dragonflies, butterflies, and all kinds of small insect, while above them flex all kinds of birds. As soon as I cast down my eyes again ..., I saw that the young man had become transformed into an owl, and that my escort had changed again into a crow."

p. 26

"Early the fifth morning a person rose above the horizon until I saw his entire body. As he walked toward me, fires burst out where he stepped. At last he stood next to me and delivered the message that Bird Going Up was coming to me. He was wearing strange moccasins, the left upper made from a silver fox’s head, the right from a coyote’s head. The ears had been left ... . The right heel was painted black and the left red. ... A little rain woke me {is this a dream of false awakening?} and my dream became a real vision. My dream person was standing next to me {as typical of Homeric and of Sumerian-Akkadian dreams of apparently false awakenings} when I heard the little coyote head on his moccasin bark, flames blew from his mouth. ... He carried a coup stick with a raven sitting on it. This raven tried to teach me in the language of the birds ... . Suddenly I heard a thunderclap. I seemed to be picked up and dropped ... . ... Landing unhurt on the mountain slope with my head downward, I saw a bird’s big tail and large claws, but could not see the body. Red streaks of lightning shot from each claw, leaving trails on the rocks. I noticed hailstones on the bird’s spread-out tail. ... My dream person told me that this bird was great, that the noise from its throat sounded like thunder. ... Then the raven disappeared and I looked again at my dream person. A large red circle was painted on his face,

p. 27

broken by two other circles scratched into the red paint. The raven returned to its perch on the coup stick and my dream person told me that Bird Going Up had told him not to let the ravens teach me the language of the birds. Instead, he said, he would teach me some of his medicine songs and sang ... . After the first song he blew several times on an eagle-bone whistle. ... His last song went : "My child, I am living among the clouds and there is nothing impossible for me.""

p. 28

"Just before dawn he awoke. {a dream of false awakening?} He was wide awake and was gazing toward the east ... . Then suddenly, in the clouds overhanging the sky, a man appeared. He came nearer and nearer. Finally he appeared to step out of a cloud upon the toes [of the dreamer]. ... The man then stepped down beside his couch. As his feet touched the ground a blaze of fire issued from the points of contact. The earth seemed to be aflame and a column of smoke ascended skyward. {"Then the angel ... touched ...; and there rose up fire out of the rock" (S^pat.i^m 6:21).} Then the man spoke. "My child, arise from your bed of torture. I have come to adopt you as my son. ... On you I will bestow my power." Then, apparently from nowhere he produced a hoop. Holding it in front of [the dreamer] he told him to look through it. When [the dreamer] did so he saw all the ... tribes just as if they were close to him. The spirit man then told [the dreamer] that he was the Morning Star .., and ... to make a hoop medicine for himself. ...

p. 29

He told [the dreamer] that whenever any ... party approached the camp in which he was staying, this medicine would [indicate] of their coming before their arrival."

A medicine man "left me alone on a high hill to fast, dance, and pray. Each evening and morning he came and ... exhorted me to greater efforts. ... By the third ... night ... I saw Smoking-Star. Then I heard a voice, "My son, why do you cry here?" Then I saw a fine warrior sitting on the ground before me, smoking my pipe. {cf. Maya pipe-smoking god} At last he said, "I will give you power. You are to take my name. ... Always pray to me and I will help you.""

p. 30

"He painted his face black; then seeking out a cavern in a sequestered part of the Black Hills, he lay for several days, fasting and praying to the spirits. In the dreams ... he saw supernatural revelations. Again and again the form of an antelope appeared before him. The antelope is the graceful peace spirit of the Ogillallah ... . ... At length the antelope spoke. It told the young dreamer ... that thenceforward he was to guide the people by his counsels, and protect them from the evils of their own feuds and dissentions. ...

p. 31

From that time [he] ... devoted himself to the labors of peace."

p. 33

I followed the path till I could see that it led up to an opening in the sky, when I heard a voice, and ... saw the figures of a man standing near the path, whose head was surrounded with a brilliant halo, and his breast was covered with squares. He said to me, "Look at me; my name is O-Shau-wau-e-geeghick, or the Bright Blue Sky. I am the veil that covers the opening in the sky. ... I am going to endow you with ... array that you may ... endure." Immediately I saw myself encircled with bright points, which rested against me like needles, but they gave me no pain, and they fell at my feet. This was repeated several times, and at each time they fell to the ground. ...

p. 34

As soon as I got back, ... I ... went to my lodge and lay down. I again saw the vision, and each person who had before spoken to me, and heard the promises of different kinds made to me, and the songs. I went the same path which I had pursued before, and met with the same reception."

And even more the ants help me. I listen to them always."

"I had a vision. I saw Bear-Chief wearing the bear robe over his shoulders and the bear claw neckpiece around his neck. He was painted with yellow earthen clay and had black streaks from each eye down the face. He said, ‘My sister, Father (Bear) and Mother (Cedar Tree) ... are watching for our people to have the ceremony. ... I ask that you tell the people so that they can have the ceremony, for it is time.’ I woke up".

p. 36

"One night the woman dreamed of a man with a bundle on his back. He placed the bundle on the ground and walked around it ... . Then he sat behind the bundle, which he opened, and took a cat skin from it. The skin had hooves of ponies and buffalo painted on it. ... Then he took out of the bag ... something clear like glass ... . ...

p. 37

She dreamed of the man again. He told she was his sister".

p. 38

[dream by a little girl] "A woman and two children were coming. ... The mother was a middle-aged woman, well dressed in buckskin. Around her shoulders the buckskin was painted red, and she wore trinkets. ...

p. 39

Then the mother said, "... When you grow up, you will be a good medicine woman. ... These two are you little brother and little sister. I am your mother." I glanced away and when I looked back, ... a grizzly bear sat there beside me, with two little cubs. The mother bear stood up and said, "Now get on my back." I did."