Laguna Pueblo Author Leslie Marmon Silko

Ceremony
I will tell you something about stories,
[he said]
They aren't just for entertainment.
Don't be fooled
They are all we have, you see,
all we have to fight off illness and death.
You don't have anything
if you don't have the stories.
Their evil is mighty
but it can't stand up to our stories.
So they try to destroy the stories
let the stories be confused or forgotten
They would like that
They would be happy
Because we would be defenseless then.(1)

The above passage is from Laguna Pueblo author Leslie Marmon Silko's acclaimed 1977 novel Ceremony. The excerpt emphasizes the essential role that storytelling plays within the Pueblo culture. It also sums up the repeated attempts of colonial invaders to erase Pueblo culture by destroying its ceremonies. Despite these attempts, which began in 1540 and continued until the 1930s, the core elements of Pueblo myth and ritual have survived. However, as Silko reveals in Ceremony, the years from World War II to the present have brought new threats to the Pueblos, which, although more subtle than the early Spanish conquests, are even more insidious, and must be confronted if the Pueblo culture is to survive.

In Ceremony, Silko portrays the endangered state of the Laguna reservation following World War II. The land has been damaged by runoff from the uranium mining, and a generation of young Pueblo men has been devastated by the war. Ceremony tells the story of Tayo, a wounded returning World War II veteran of mixed Laguna-white ancestry following a short stint at a Los Angeles VA hospital. He is returning to the poverty-stricken Laguna reservation, continuing to suffer from battle fatigue, and is haunted by memories of his cousin Rocky who died in the conflict during the Bataan Death March of 1942. His initial escape from pain leads him to alcoholism, but his Old Grandma and mixed-blood Navajo medicine man Betonie help him through Native ceremonies to develop a greater understanding of the world and his place as a Laguna man.

In his search for healing, Tayo seeks a cure from Ku'oosh, the old medicine man. Ku'oosh realizes that he cannot heal Tayo because, "Some things we can't cure like we used to...not since the white people came." While the return to the old ways helps Tayo, something else is needed to complete his healing ceremony. This is where Betonie, a new kind of healer, comes in. Betonie still wears the traditional clothes of a medicine man and uses the traditional paraphernalia, such as prayer sticks, gourd rattles and sacred herbs. But Betonie also uses contemporary items as healing tools, such as coke bottles, phone books and old gas station calendars with pictures of Indians on them, all common objects on the reservation. When Tayo questions the use of such non-traditional items for his ceremonies, Betonie responds, "In the old days it was simple. A medicine person could get by without all these things. But nowadays..."

Betonie provides Tayo with the blend of tools and faith Tayo needs in order to undertake the completion of the ceremony, which can cure both himself and his people. The key to survival of Pueblo culture, as Silko demonstrates in Ceremony, may be found in allowing traditional Pueblo ceremonies to change to meet the present-day realities of reservation life. It's in this fusion of old and new that the Pueblos may find the healing they so desperately need after suffering nearly 500 years of colonialism.

Ceremony gained immediate acceptance when returning Vietnam war veterans took to the novel's theme of coping, healing and reconciliation between races and people that share the trauma of military actions. It was largely on the strength of this work that literary critic Alan R. Velie named Silko one of his Four Native American Literary Masters, along with N. Scott Momaday, Gerald Vizenor and James Welch. Her publications include Laguna Woman: Poems (1974), Ceremony (1977), Storyteller (1981), Almanac of the Dead (1991), Gardens in the Dunes (1999) and The Turquoise Ledge: A Memoir (2010).

1. Leslie Marmon Silko, Ceremony (Viking Press, 1977), p. 2.

The Navajo Storm Pattern Rug

An excerpt from my soon-to-be released memoir, Riding Spirit Horse: A Journey into Shamanism. 

Years ago, one of my shamanic mentors gifted me an old Navajo "storm pattern rug," recognizable by its large central rectangle connected by zigzag lightning lines to smaller rectangles in each corner, which represent the four directions, winds and sacred mountains of the Navajo. The central rectangle symbolizes the Lake of Emergence, the portal through which their ancient ancestors first emerged to enter the present world. The lightning bolts carry blessings back and forth between the mountaintops, bestowing good spirits on the weaver and her household.

Navajo rugs and blankets are textiles produced by Navajo people of the Four Corners area of the United States. Weaving plays a role in the creation myth of Navajo cosmology. According to Navajo mythology, a spirit being called Spider Woman instructed the women of the Navajo how to build the first loom from exotic materials including sky, earth, sunrays, rock crystal and sheet lightning. Then Spider Woman taught the Navajo how to weave on it. Because of this belief, traditionally there will be an intentional mistake somewhere within the pattern. It is said to prevent the weaver from becoming lost in Spider Woman's web or pattern.

My mentor suggested that I sit on the rug whenever I journey into the spirit world. I took his advice and journeyed at home while sitting on the rug. When I entered a trance, the rug became a mandala-like portal before me. I went through a doorway at the center of the undulating geometric pattern. I came out beneath a numinous web of light that surrounded the planet. The web emanated a blue glow against the black night-time sky above it. Spider Woman descended from the web on a strand of light and stood before me. She looked menacing and I feared being trapped in her web. She told me that I had nothing to fear. She conveyed that she was the weaver of the web of life. She said the Navajo rug would serve as a portal for me to journey into the spirit world.  

I thanked Spider Woman and returned through the portal to my body. When I opened my eyes, I saw a large spider on the rug beside me. I thanked the spider for being there to support my shamanic journey. It was a good omen

Singer, Songwriter Annie Humphrey

Annie Humphrey is an Ojibwe singer, songwriter and visual artist who was born and raised on the Leech Lake Reservation in Northern Minnesota. Her father was a singer and musician and her mother an artist and poet. They showed her that she carried their gifts in her hands too. She has been recording music for three decades. Humphrey's music career began out of pure necessity. With two young children to care for, she began performing at coffee houses and local events. Over the years her songwriting has focused on a specific theme with a message to "Be brave and have a good journey."
 

One of my favorite Humphrey songs is "Spirit Horses" from her first solo release, The Heron Smiled. Activist and poet John Trudell performs with Humphrey on this powerful, moving song. The Heron Smiled won her national recognition as Female Artist of the Year and Best Folk Recording at the 2000 Native American Music Awards. A true form of modern folk music, this album is simply one of the purest, honest and beautiful collections of music I have heard in many years. In 2004, her second recording, Edge of America was released. It's a little darker than her debut album but an inspiring five star release. The title track from this recording was later featured on acclaimed Native American filmmaker Chris Eyre's film Edge of America.
 

Her latest album, Eat What You Kill, was released in 2019. It features poetic lyrics that speak of accountability and gratitude. Her powerful voice pours out over her piano playing, sweeping listeners up in a whirlwind of emotions and feelings. On one of her songs Humphrey sings, "show your babies all I know, live by the stories my mother told." She uses her music and lyrics to pass down stories and a way of life. Another song, "Now She Dances," is about sexual assault. The song is also about climate change. The way women are treated, and the way the earth is treated, are the same. The last track, "Aadzookaan," speaks about the apocalyptic prophecies to the generation coming up. It says don't be fearful because these things are going to happen. The last verse of the song talks about how everything we need is on our land--the medicine, the resources, the food, everything we need. This is why we're going to be okay.
 

Today Humphrey is happily married and has four children and two grandsons. They inspire her spirit and her art. Her special interest is Turtle Heart, a group she founded that works with youth in her community to promote positive lifestyle choices. She continues to write music and perform. In a recent interview she spoke about her music career, saying, "I have more songs I will finish. I don't have a plan in the music field. I've never marketed aggressively. I just plan to keep writing and playing."

Why Do We Fear Death?

65 million people die each year in the world. That is 178,000 each day, 7425 each hour, and 120 each minute. Unfortunately, many people are so removed from death that they are unprepared for their own death and the deaths of loved ones. The stories we have been told about where we go when we die shape our reality about death. Millions of people are terrified of death because they have been told a story of hell and damnation. When a person fears retribution for misdeeds, the soul may turn away from the bright light. However, it is not the divine that judges us -- we judge ourselves and condemn ourselves to the hell of separation from the divine source.
 

The truth is that dying is part of life; it's just that simple. Death, as we understand it in scientific terminology, does not really exist. As Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, a pioneer of the hospice movement, explains in her best-selling book On Death and Dying: "Death is simply a shedding of the physical body like the butterfly shedding its cocoon. It is a transition to a higher state of consciousness where you continue to perceive, to understand, to laugh, and to be able to grow." The only thing you lose is something that you don't need anymore: your physical body. That's virtually what death is all about.
 

Death is not an end; rather it is a new beginning. When death is accepted as a natural part of our journey, an extraordinary amount of previously diverted energy can be redirected toward finding your calling, following your heart and helping others. Shamanism shows us that the end of our life is just as important as our birth at the beginning. Living in fear of death distorts our lives, robbing us of death as a great ally for how to live well. "It is not death but an unlived life that should terrify us," explains shamanic teacher and author, Christina Pratt. "When we understand how our unlived lives and unreconciled relationships bind us here at death, we understand what is needed to live well."
 

Reincarnation is a key belief within Hinduism, Buddhism and other eastern religions. All life goes through birth, growth, death and rebirth, and this is known as the cycle of samsara. Life and death are a continuous circle. Through reincarnation and maintaining an open mind, our souls can evolve and grow without limit. We are each on a long journey of the soul, however we can't move forward on this continuous path without a free and open mind. As soon as we close our minds because of religious dogma, fundamentalism or fanaticism, we stop evolving.

Shamanic Initiation Dreams

Many people in today's world are being called by Spirit to become shamans or shamanic practitioners. A yearning exists deep within many of us to reconnect to the natural world. It is a call to a life lived in balance with awareness of Nature, of Spirit and of Self. We live in a culture that has severed itself from Nature and Spirit. Humans have lost touch with the spirit world and the wisdom of inner knowing. The spirits, however, have not forgotten us. They are calling us to a path of environmental sanity, to rejoining the miraculous cycle of Nature. 

Spirit calls us to a path of shamanism in many ways. It can be as dramatic as a life threatening illness or as simple as a dream. Some people receive signs of a shamanic calling through their dreams. Future shamans may dream of spirits and ancestors or hear their voices. Others may have recurring dreams in which they meet certain animal or teacher figures that are manifestations of the very spirits who are calling them. Also, in dreams the candidate is sometimes given initiatory directives and learns which objects will be needed to perform cures. These instructions are given by the spirits and by the older master shamans and are equivalent to an initiation.

 
During a shamanic dream initiation, the candidate usually experiences suffering, death, and resurrection, including a symbolic cutting up of the body, such as dismemberment or disembowelment by ancestral or animal spirits. The candidate dies a symbolic death and is then restored and brought back to life, whole and empowered. Sometimes initiation dreams begin even in childhood. Usually, the premonitory dreams of future shamans are followed by mortal illnesses if they are not rightly respected.
 

The souls of the dead are regarded as a source of shamanic powers among some tribes like the Paviotso, the Shoshone, the Paiute, the Lillooet, and the Thompson Salish. In northern California this method of bestowing shamanic powers is widespread. The Yurok shamans dream of a dead man, usually a shaman. Among the Sinkyone the power is sometimes received in dreams in which the candidate's deceased relatives appear; the Wintu also become shamans after such dreams, especially if they dream of their own dead children. In the Shasta tribe the first indication of shamanic power follows dreams of a departed mother, father, or ancestor.

 
Among the Mohave and the Yuma of southern California, power comes from the mythical beings who transmitted it to shamans at the beginning of the world. Transmission takes place in dreams and includes an initiation scenario. In their dreams the Yuma shamans witness the beginning of the world and experience mythical times. Such dreams may include a mystical journey to the archetypal Cosmic Tree or World Tree. Among the Maricopa, initiatory dreams involve a spirit taking the future shaman's soul and leading it from mountain to mountain, each time revealing songs and cures. Ultimately, it is the spirits who choose and make the shaman.

Drum Divination

The drum can be utilized as a divination tool. The Sami peoples of northern Scandinavia and the Kola Peninsula in Russia were renowned for their drum divination skills. They used divination to determine the future, luck or misfortune, location of game, diagnosis, and remedies. The Sami practiced an indigenous form of shamanism until the religious repression of shamanic practices in the mid-seventeenth century. The runebomme, an oval frame or bowl drum, was an important trance and divination tool of the noaidi, or Sami shaman. The reindeer, which was central to Sami culture and livelihood, provided the hide for the drumhead, the sinew to lace it together, and the antler bone for the drumstick or hammer. The Sami believed that the reindeer’s antlers were conduits to the Upper World.

Sami drumheads are decorated with cosmological rune symbols and drawings of heavenly bodies, plants, animals, humans, and human habitations, sometimes divided into separate regions by horizontal or vertical lines. Sami drums are characterized by a central sun cross with arms protruding in the four cardinal directions. The cross symbolized the sun--the source of life. The terminal of the lower arm is often embellished, in many cases with a sort of (cave?) opening. This is, according to old descriptions, the starting position for the brass ring or antler piece placed on the drumskin when used for divination. The only other figures commonly found on this arm are the holy day men. These three figures (sometimes just one or two) are usually the most simplified of all human figures, frequently represented by simple crosses.

For divination, the drum is held horizontally with the drum face or table parallel to the floor. A metal ring or other kind of pointer is centered on the top of the drumhead. The drum is gently played with the drumstick so that the pointer moves across the drumhead, but does not fall to the floor. The diviner observes the movement of the pointer in relation to the symbols on the drum to interpret the answer. Detailed instructions on how to make and use divination drums can be found in Richard Webster’s book Omens, Oghams & Oracles: Divination in the Druidic Tradition.