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My Walk Within "The Medicine Way" The following will be the first in a series of articles about my understanding of Native Medicine and how I have come to reach that understanding and connection to Spirit. When I was a boy growing up in Tulsa, Indians were either the ones in 10 cent movies chased away from the wagon train by the 7th Calvary’s bugle charge, drunk good for nothings down on 2nd Ave, people in history books or a few Indian kids in school, who were kids just like me. Most importantly though, were the stories I grew up hearing from my "Creek" Grandmother about our family. With that said, understand that at that time she was just my grandmother and somehow the stories were just that, stories. It was only after I read Black Elk Speaks in the late 60’s that the full impact of being part Native American really hit me. I began to remember little by little parts of my grandmother’s stories and thus began my journey of understanding into this mysterious puzzle of things just beneath my surface. During these last 25 or so years I didn’t have a clue what drove me on, nor any idea of a destination. I only knew this was a path I must walk. During this time I didn’t just look at Native ways I also looked at and participated in all kinds of religious "ways" because somewhere/somehow I knew I must have a broad view. One of my major understandings came in Idaho during the early 70’s, where I was part of a Forest Service fire fighting crew. At that time I was pretty burnt out on "religion" and society as a whole and had escaped from the city to Idaho fearing society would come unglued in the near future. The fire crew had a couple local Indians on it that lived on a small reservation near the Forestry Station. I became close friends with Bill, one of the Indians on the crew. There was just something about him that attracted me. We used to spend hours talking and he would tell me about his life, understanding of nature and his Spiritual beliefs. At that time I was not much interested in any Spiritual talk but listened as a friend. One time Bill asked me if I would like to come to his village and be part of a Spirit Celebration. I refused and told him I wanted no part of "Religion" because I was tired of all of the rules, regulations and expectations. He laughed, walked on and said no more about it that day. About a week later he walked up and looked at me with a gaze that went right to my core. With our eyes locked he told me that he did not have a religion but a personal walk with Spirit and that if anyone ever told me that they were the spokesperson of God or that they knew the "way to God" that I should run away fast and he then turned and walked away. He later told me that he was the Medicine Man of the village. This man had become my second teacher (my Grandmother being my first). Even though his pivotal sentence was the key to my "head twist" I remember to this day our talks and his teachings about Earth, Sky and Spirit. In all these years Bill’s sentence has been a personal yardstick in my journey with Spirit. I have been on Personal Quests, Vision Quests, part of Ceremonies and in many Sweat Lodges. I have had several Native and non-Native teachers and yet Bill’s sentence has always been a part of my guidance. So how does a term like the "Way" in Medicine Way fit Bill’s sentence? On the surface "Medicine Way" sort of reminds me of a Bible we have that has The Way written across the front of it. The Medicine "Way" here isn’t prescribed methods or a certain Spiritual practice or even a set of qualities you should live up to. The "Way" here is simple but very hard to explain to someone who hasn’t grown up with or understand it as part of his or her ancestry. The "Way" lies in the full understanding of Bill’s sentence. We have no religion only a personal relationship with Spirit. Yes, each tribe across this continent had/has its Spiritual Ceremonies and Traditions but these practices vary from tribe to tribe, even Medicine Person to Medicine Person. Most of my ancestors understood that Ceremony and Teachings had to be "Transparent to Spirit" and ones personal walk with Spirit. Native group Ceremony is like the amplification and combination of each of our personal walks together. Even within our, past and present a few persons have desired to tell us when or how Spirit should be. But we have always known it is for them, the tellers, to reach a place of Peace and Spirit within themselves. If anything we have learned, that by living within our natural surroundings with respect, we have gained a universal set of understandings of the Earth, Sky and Spirit and how we each live with it and fit into it. I want to make one point here. I do not mean to say we lived in a state of chaos because we followed the Spirit within, with all of us going in our different Spirit paths. We did have strong tribal mores and social structure that was all held together by this powerful Respect for the Spirit Walk of all that existed on Earth Mother. So I guess you can say we saw Spirit as the glue that held it all together. One time I was asked by another Medicine Man to define Native Medicine and I have also asked this question in my teaching to others. Those I asked and I myself gave a very similar answer to that question. We explained about how a Medicine Person would use specific herbs and Ceremonies to heal or cure someone. Simple huh! But in truth this is very naive and far from the truth…sort of! True all Medicine People work to heal! And some use herbs (Plant Beings) as part of their healing or curing practice. But the truth is the Plant Beings themselves are the ones who choose to be there if needed. And the Medicine Person, who uses and knows the Plant Beings, hears their voices calling to him or her and knows if there is a need of them. So "Medicine" by itself has nothing to do with plant beings unless there is a need. I sometimes help a person to deal with lets say, anger and if that anger is large a Native will look knowingly at that deeply angered person and say "Ugh Big Medicine" to describe what that person is going through. Therefore Medicine though simple in meaning is complex in its understandings. There are many different kinds of Medicine People! There are Yuwipis, Orendas, Speakers, Daydreamers, and Coyotes such as myself, Owl Medicine, Stone Medicine and on and on and some of these Medicine People do not work with Plant Beings at all. Medicine is Medicine and we do what we do because "Medicine" is our Spiritual connection to body, mind, emotion and the world we live in…..You know, Life itself!
This is the first article in the series that lays out some of the groundwork for later articles. I will talk generally about some other Medicines, Medicine Circles and about healing and curing. I wish to say that I will not be talking about any Nation or Medicine Persons specific Medicines or Ceremonies. I will be only writing about general understanding of Native Medicine with the exception the explicit understandings as regards to my Medicine. I have neither the desire nor permission to speak for others. Jim TwoFeathers |