Tuesday 5 March 2024

#MeToo #JusticeforVictims #EndAbuse

2023 was a year of great change. For Nathan Chasing Horse, it was a year of reckoning. Many indigenous professionals were conned and manipulated by his trickery. It will take years to unravel the insane teachings and for his followers to reflect on why they supported such a trickster. As we lead up to May 2, 2024, Nathan's next court update, we cannot forget the girls who grew up into women and found the courage to disclose the abuse they lived through. It was public exposure that brought safety into the community and a space for women to support each other. Together, we stand to ensure that justice is served. #JusticeForVictims #EndAbuse #MeToo  

Tuesday 5 December 2023

December 5, 2023 Marina Ann Crane


 

Wednesday 22 November 2023

My opinion on what was missing with Nathan Chasing Horse's Yuwipi Ceremonies

 A Dakota Conjuring Ceremony Wesley R. Hurt, JR., and James H. Howard Vol. 8., 1952., Southwestern Journal of Anthropology, Volume 8, Number 3. 


An elder leader prepares the room with people waiting for the Healer to enter


The elder leader with the help of assistants help bind hands and fingers behind the Healer



The Healer stands showing the people his/her hands are bound.


The Elder Leader with the help assistants wraps a Starblanket around the Healer

The Healer is bound with rawhide rope wrapped around the Starblanket

The Healer is placed facing up with hand bound behind him/her. The Elder Leader proceeds to sing with the help of his assistants.

When the singers are done singing and the questions are asked and completed by the person who hosting the Yuwipi Ceremony, the are turned on to reveal the Healer is unwrapped.

The following Article is a description of an Yuwipi Ceremony from 71 years ago. The highlights are my personal experience with such ceremonies that Nathan Chasing Horse conducted. Even as far back as 81 years ago rumors of people using these ceremonies for their own personal gain were reported.

A
Dakota Conjuring Ceremony Wesley R. Hurt, JR., and James H. Howard Vol. 8., 1952

AMONG several highly acculturated American Indian groups there appears the tendency for institutions concerned with native medical practices to linger after many basic features of their culture such as economic institutions, material culture, and forms of social organization, such as clans, have virtually disappeared or have been very much modified. A present-day Dakota conjuring ceremony, Yuwipi, (ceremony of binding a medicine man performed for purposes of finding lost objects or cause of sickness, the medicine man is untied by spirits.) curing diseases and locating lost or stolen objects, furnishes an example. (Yuwipi sounds out - You- We-Pee) My understanding of the Yuwipi within my late mother’s people, Sioux Valley, Manitoba. She would tell me about her grandmother going to a ceremony were puppy soup was eaten. As talking or taking part in any basic features of our culture was criminalized, so not much was talked about amongst adults to their children. This is of my opinion.)

Another example can be found in Redfield's account of the medical practices surviving in highly acculturated Tepozlan.' Likewise, the Wisconsin Oneida, though having lost almost all of their aboriginal social and religious institutions, retain a false-face medicine man and use several native herb medicines. (When I was a child, I would collect medicinal herbs with my late mother. My mother used herbs to heal burn wound of mine. My grandmother also used herbs. I remember my mother’s father; my grandfather, he’s hung medicine pouches in his granaries to ward of bad spirits from spoiling his crops.)

Some of the Tiwa and Mexican Indians of Tortugas village, south of Las Cruces, New Mexico, follow certain native medical practices. While it is not the purpose of this paper to explain the long life of native medical customs, an obvious answer is that the services of the modern physician are not yet readily available to all native groups. (When my late mother was fifteen her mother died. She died from cancer. My mother remembered how thin and in how much pain my grandmother experienced. There was no morphine or doctors to help her relieve my grandmother’s pain. A medicine woman was brought in to help. It’s from this experience and the witnessing my mother experienced as she watched her mother die that I believe in was taught to believe in Wakan Tanka, the Creator.) In addition, even when a physician is available, the medicine man is called upon and is able to effect cures. This seems to be especially true in the case of psychosomatic illness. (My grandmother was not cured of her cancer; however, I would not call the relief she received for her pain management was psychosomatic.  Forensic psychologists would say I was insane for believing my mother’s story or what my mother’s experience was a result of grief and was delusional. I know when people heard my mother’s story, they were sceptical, but my mother didn’t sense their skepticism like I observed from those who listened without hearing what she was saying.)

The Dakota Yuwipi rite is a variant of a ceremony, widespread in northern North America, called the "Conjuring Complex" by Ray and the "Shaking Tent Rite" by Cooper. The rite involves the "calling of spirits" by supernatural means and usually features the shaman demonstrating his prowess and contact with the mystic powers by freeing himself of tightly tied bonds. (I’ve heard it called the Night Ceremony) The Dakota ceremony is basically native in origin although a few Christian elements have been added in recent years by some of the leaders. (Understand this from the stories of my grandfather, who if he lived today would be 120 years old. He raised his children teaching them that these ceremonies were not good anymore cause of the Christian elements that were being incorporated into by his people. My late uncle, if he were alive today would be 97 years old, he was a lay minister for the Anglican Church. It is of my opinion, that since the Canadian government made such Yuwipi ceremonies illegal that it was the matriarchs that kept these practices going, as they were preformed in secret. If a man were caught doing these ceremonies he would be jailed, imprisoned, but not the women. Agan, this is of my opinion. I believe they had to have Christian elements to appease Christian converts within the tribes.)

The Yuwipi ceremony of the Dakota has been somewhat neglected in the literature, although brief accounts of it, or of similar ceremonies, have been written by several students of Dakota culture. Lynd describes a Yuwipi type ceremony of the Yankton, Sisseton, and Mdewakanton Dakota, and Pond describes one for the "Eastern Dakota." Densmore also describes ceremonies of the Yuwipi type for the Standing Rock Dakota (Teton and Yanktonai). MacGregor gives a brief account of Yuwipi as performed by the Pine Ridge Teton Dakota, and is the only author to describe it under the term Yuwipi. He states that it is "the only continuing cult of the old religion." It thus appears that at one time or another all seven division of the Dakota tribe have possessed some form of the Yuwipi rite, although at present shamans are apparently found only among the members of the Teton division, living on the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Reservations in South Dakota. The Teton Dakota are probably the most conservative of any of the seven divisions of the Dakota tribe at the present time. (The appropriate name for the Sioux is the People of the Seven Council Fires (Oceti Sakowin Oyate). They speak one of the three dialects of the same language, Siouan. Within the Oceti Sakowin are seven bands: Wahpekute, Sistonwan, Ihanktown, Ihanktowana, Tetonwan, Wahpetonwan, and Mdewankanton. There are now various groups who descend from the original seven and maintain autonomy over the governing of their oyate (tribe).)

Eyewitness accounts of Dakota Yuwipi ceremonies have been secured from eight Dakota, one Arikara, one person of mixed Mandan-Hidatsa-White descent, and another of Mandan-Arikara- White descent. Additional details have been secured from several White and Indian informants. By a comparison of these accounts with one another and with those in the literature a fairly complete picture of the Dakota Yuwipi ceremony is obtained. It should be realized, however, that there was, and still is, a certain amount of variation in the rite as led by different leaders.

The word Yuwipi in the Dakota language apparently means "wrapped." It is not listed by Riggs in his Dakota-English Dictionary but the verb yuwi, meaning "to wrap" is listed by Williamson in his English-Dakota Dictionary."

It ostensibly refers to the wrapping and binding of the Wapiye (Healer),(Healer, traditional healer) or shaman, in a blanket.

The ceremony is given to locate lost or stolen objects and to cure the sick. It is of a somewhat secret nature, and unbelievers and strangers are not welcomed. Those who are allowed to observe the ceremony are warned against skepticism. (I was raised that these ceremonies are very powerful and that entering such ceremonies requires a total investment to the healer’s abilities. There must be no skepticism of the healer’s power. It was for this reason why when attending NCH’s ceremonies not once did, I ever offer him tobacco. The consequences of offering him tobacco meant I did not believe in his powers. He knew I didn’t trust him from the very beginning; however, he couldn’t refuse me attending as I was instrumental in finding financial assistants from him and his followers) Meaning If a person wished the Yuwipi ceremony to be performed, it was formerly the custom to approach the Wapiye (Healer) healer with a pipe. If this pipe were accepted and smoked, a feast was prepared as the preliminary to the ceremonial. (Today, we give tobacco rather than a pipe to smoke to the healer. I believe its why so many people today think having a pipe makes them approachable to a healer, as so many today want a pipe at any cost. Understanding that this article was written 71 years ago with the last ceremony documented 81 prior. Fragments of the tradition are just that fragments. For most healers today, a small gift of tobacco is given for the healer’s services and should not be anymore than that.) At the present time the use of the pipe is sometimes dispensed with. It is the custom after the rite to give presents to the Wapiye (Healer) for his services. Little Warrior was given a horse, food, and clothing after a performance he led at Pine Ridge about ten years ago. Albert Six Feathers, a Dakota from Martin, South Dakota, stated that "after four nights" a horse would be the proper fee for a Wapiye (Healer)'s services. This may indicate that the ceremony is customarily performed in cycles of four as is sometimes the case in peyote doctoring. (In the case of NCH’s ceremonies, one ceremony for each client was given for those to could invite as many peoples as possible as he or she wished. 71 years ago these ceremonies were closed. It was this client who offered the tobacco to NCH who used his pipe to smoke with his client and the invitees. The client did not have a pipe of their own, so NCH used his. Understanding that it skepticism of the client that is not tolerated and not the invitees. Today, NCH’s ceremonies are not a four-day cycle and this was never was never customary for him. The only time I saw him do a four-day cycle was during his Sundance in Wolf’s Point, Montana USA. Today, our four-day cycle ceremonies are held in combination with Christian elements during funerals. These practices are different and vary throughout each tribe. We light a fire on the day the person died until he or she is buried. Some have sweats on the first day of the death, others have yuwipi and others sing drum songs during the evenings with tobacco offerings for the visitor who come to pay their last respect to the decreased. We try to bury our dead within this four-day cycle.)

The Yuwipi ceremony is always held in a dark place, i.e. a dwelling with all the windows and cracks covered. Formerly a tipi was commonly used. No wires, ropes, or cords are permitted except those to be used in the ceremony. Rawhide ropes are preferred for binding the shaman (Wakhan Ieska – a spiritual interpreter, to be endowed with spiritual power, be sacred, holy, spiritual Yuwipi wichasta – medicine man who practices the yuwipi ceremony). Several hundred bags of tobacco are strung together, going around the inside of the house in front of the spectators, who are seated next to the wall. (These bags of tobacco are called tobacco ties with each bag having a different color with different sequences arranged inches apart tied together in one long string.) The men sit cross-legged on the floor; the position of the women is not important. (NCH’s ceremonies were held in the dark with no light coming through any spaces. Everything was checked to make sure no light entered.)

There are four flags or "drapes," one in each corner of the room. These are colored red, white, yellow, and black. Wallace Walking Bull, a Dakota informant from White River, South Dakota, stated that they represent the four winds (directions). Thomas Goodall, an Arikara, stated, however, that a Dakota leader had informed him that they represented "the four great races of mankind": the American Indian, Caucasian, Mongolian, and Negro. The latter interpretation may be an individual variant received in a dream by the Dakota leader. Flags were not used in all the ceremonies described to the authors. (NCH’s ceremonies had four flags as described here 71 years ago)

Walking Bull mentioned an altar or "sacred place" of yellow sand, encircled by a line of "smokes," but this feature is not mentioned by other informants nor in the literature. The Wapiye (Healer) draws the face of the "spirit" on this sand in small dots, according to this informant. On each side of this altar are "nests" of sage in which two wamnuha (Grourd Rattle) or sacred gourd rattles are placed. The Wapiye (Healer) healer has a bed of sage on which to lie. Gifts to the spirits, which disappear during the ceremony, are placed about this area. Four singers are seated in the one corner. They accompany their singing with small hand drums. (Before my mother was dressed for burial, I washed her corpus with sage water and when my mother was placed in her coffin, I placed a bed of sage for her body to lie. As her coffin was carried throughout the burial ceremony, her grandsons, her pallbearers walked onto of a spray of sage wherever her coffin went, right up until her body was placed in the ground. A spray of sage was thrown into the grave. Her grandsons sang with their small hand drums. These were the instruction given to me by a Healer. Understand this, this healer did not know about the gift my mother was given when she was a child by my great-grandmother. My great-grandmother took my mom to many ceremonies and gifted her an eagle-staff symbolizing the transfer of her gifts to her granddaughter, my mom. My mom shortly after was taken away from her family and lived the next sixteen years in an Indian Residential School. I am forever grateful for this healer who saw who my late mother’s gifts were. Throughout her life my mother was afraid of non-indigenous people, white privileged people. I told her that I would be with her every time she entered the hospital, and I told the doctors I was staying with her cause of her fear of them. It triggers me to think of what she experienced to cause such fear throughout her entire life.)

Diagram insert from my sketches that not as detailed as described here. The Yuwipi ceremony of Little Warrior (Kyle, South Dakota, 1940). 1, Shaman (Wapiye (Healer)); 2, medicine bag of wapĂ­ye; 3, rattles; 4, calumet pipe; 5, helper's drum; 6, helper;7, members of audience; 8, tobacco pouches.

Little Warrior, of Kyle, South Dakota, used a variation of this arrangement at a ceremony which he led in 1940. He sat in the center of a room facing westward toward a single assistant who sat beside the wall. The assistant placed a drum in front of his feet and further forward a calumet pipe oriented north and south. Little Warrior placed his medicine bag to his left and built a small altar in front of his feet. First, he made a square border of a series of small stick about the size of clothespins. The center of this altar was filled with a matting of sage brush twigs. On the matting were placed two rattles with their handles toward Little Warrior. (NCH built a small alter in front of his feet. There was sage, rattles, and his pipe place on this small alter with round shaped rocks on either side of the alter. I am sure that the variety of what was placed and used by NCH changed for each client.)

First the Wapiye (Healer) healer makes a speech, telling the reason for holding the ceremony and asking that everyone present concentrate on this purpose. He warns unbelievers that their presence may bring evil consequences. (For me, this reasoning of bringing evil consequences meant to those who offered NCH the tobacco, must truly believe in the power of their prayers, and not his. Since I didn’t offer NCH any tobacco in this manner was my way of respecting Creator, no matter what the outcome of the client’s request.) No one may leave once the ceremony has begun. According to Six Feathers, during this speech the Wapiye (Healer) acknowledges his inferiority to Christ. The Wapiye (Healer) is then wrapped in a blanket, quilt, or a piece of canvas and thoroughly bound in several feet of rawhide or hemp rope. All accounts of the ceremony describe the thoroughness with which this binding is done. Some accounts mention that even the individual fingers and toes are bound together. (In NCH’s case, his fingers were individually bound together.)

The leader then sings songs addressed to the spirits, and perhaps his own dream songs as well. He calls to the spirits for assistance in achieving the desired purpose of the ceremony. Ceremonial "crying" of the type which occurs in the Sun Dance and during ritual fasting also occurs here. The Wapiye (Healer) is then laid, face down, upon the bed of sage. At this point all of the lights in the cabin are extinguished. (In NCH’s case, there was no leader who sand any songs prior to NCH being bound with rawhide.)

The four assistants then begin to sing, accompanying themselves with hand drums. (In NCH’s case there were only three assistants. The songs used are called Taku Wakhan Odowan (something sacred’s songs) and are known to only a few individuals. With the first song, ideally, small blue or green lights resembling electric sparks appear. These lights are said to be caused by inyan wasicu, (spirit stone) or holy stones, knocking together. These stones, small, usually round rocks, are considered to be the embodiments of spirits. Although they are termed inyan wasicu generically, they all seem to have specific names. These stones enter the room, often by way of the stovepipe, and fly about. Sometimes each one falls to the floor in turn with a heavy thud, thus enabling the spectators to count their number. (My understanding in what I witnessed in terms of trickly, were sparks appearing around where the tobacco ties lie. This is from the account of his helpers who later left his cult. A round rock that NCH brought with him rolled across the floor, but I believe the floor was uneven. I never saw the sparks; however, those closest to the tobacco ties reported seeing sparks and sounds. I believe they may have inhaled cannabis or hashish.)

Next, the gourd rattles are heard to stand up in their "nests" and dance, and soon are dancing about the room. They keep strict time with the drums all the while. Sometimes the drums are levitated as well and continue beating from up near the ceiling. According to Six Feathers and his wife this portion of the ceremony may last an hour or more, depending upon the seriousness of the occasion. Six Feathers stated that the "spirits" bring the gourd rattles and rub them on the body of the sick person, thereby removing the pain from the afflicted part. (From the six ceremonies I attended, my niece who was eight years old at the time, had a rattle hit in the head. I believe NCH did this, as prior to the ceremony he seemed annoyed with her. In hindsight, I believe this was his propensity for girls that aroused him not her fidgeting. Again, this is my opinion.)

The spirits, as manifested by the flying sparks or stones, are addressed by the wapiye, (Healer) who calls them by the ceremonial term thunkásida, or grandfather. He asks, if the meeting has been given for a sick person, what the cause of the disease is, and where a medicine for it may be found. If the ceremony is being given to recover a lost or stolen object, he asks where this object is. The spirits reveal this desired information to the Wapiye (Healer) in an archaic, rapid, speech, which is  incomprehensible to anyone else. (The rapid speech of the spirits was not heard by me; however, again those closest to the smudge cans did report hearing a high-pitched sound. In my opinion again, as I was furthest away from this alter I was not drugged or induced to see or hear such sparks or sounds. People may say I went into these ceremonies a skeptic; however, I did not. I totally understood the consequences of giving tobacco. As I didn’t offer NCH tobacco the said contact with him and the Creator & NCH’s client was between them alone and not with me, an observer.)

Sometimes persons other than the Wapiye (Healer) receive advice from the spirits. If this occurs the Wapiye (Healer) informs the person to be so visited beforehand, and this person then offers tobacco to the spirit. A Hidatsa woman reported having been visited by the spirit of her deceased sister during this portion of the ceremony. (Understand that many people who developed a distrust to therapeutic practices may only trust an intuitive individual. Modern therapeutic practices will use intuitive method to make their clients feel comfortable rather than alienating them for the values and beliefs. I use intuitive method to make people feel comfortable around me.)

After this episode the lights are again put on. The Wapiye (Healer), who was so tightly bound, is now seen to be standing in the center of the floor, completely free of his bonds, which have supposedly been untied by the spirits in the darkness. The ropes which bound him and the blanket in which he was wrapped are neatly rolled into tight balls. The knots have not been untied. (This is what happened in NCH’s ceremonies. Again, reported by his assistant that they performed trickly and assisted him in freeing him from his bindings. Again, this is of my opinion.)

The Wapiye (Healer) then reveals what the spirits have told him, either concerning the nature of the ill person's disease and where to find the correct medicine, or the location of a lost or stolen object. If the spirits have visited some of the spectators, they also tell what they have learned at this point. In some cases, one of the small round "spirit stones" remains with the Wapiye (Healer) and is given to the sick person to carry home with him. This stone predicts coming events for the owner. In certain instances, herbs may be given to the sick person. (NCH from my observation never came anything away freely like any of his rocks or medicines he used in ceremony. When he was tied up he told his client in front of everyone witnessing this ceremony what the spirits were saying, but not once did I hear him ask the witnesses or his client’s family or friends what they learned. Questions were asked, but nothing was directed in finding lost objects or what or where to find medicine. I would explain to witnesses that it fine to participate in ceremonies finding alternative methods of healing; however, I also advised them to continue with what medicines they were already using. Nevertheless, people did not listen to what I understood. As within these ceremonies, and not outside these ceremonies are these conversations to happen. What NCH did was listen to what people talked about with each other outside of ceremony that for me was totally inappropriate. In my opinion, it was his way of learning their weaknesses and their strengths. From these moments afterwards that he would appear sexually frustrated listening and would immediately leave. In hindsight, little did I know what he could do to children.)

According to Six Feathers a pipe is passed around after the lights are put on again, but Walking Bull states that this is done only in meetings led by older leaders, and that younger Wapiye (Healer) do not require this feature. (Again, there were no older leaders who lead the songs nor were there any to pass around the pipe. Only NCH non-indigenous assistance sat watching as the client lit the pipe and passed it around. In this ceremony, the client is not the leader as he or she is the individual who needs healing or helping in finding a lost object. A young Wapiye like NCH is not required to light a pipe rather an older leader. I was wondered why my late mother didn’t feel comfortable around NCH. She probably saw how disrespectful he was around older people like myself and her. Understand this, my mother is she were still living would be 96 years old. She was 79 years old when she met NCH and she was raised around Dakota leaders who knew these songs and ways.)

At the close of the meeting food is eaten after having been blessed by the Wapiye (Healer). This feast consists of dog, wild peppermint tea, and "fry bread," with possibly other foods, such as wild cherry pudding, added occasionally. The dog used is painted with wase, or native paint, from the tip of its nose to the end of its tail. It must be killed by being strangled with a rope pulled around its neck. Its mouth is tied shut to keep it from howling. The hair is singed off and the meat cut up and boiled. The head, tail, and feet are not used. Of the entrails only the liver is eaten. (As I was growing up other indigenous people would make fun of me identifying a Dakota Sioux and would call me ‘Dog eater! Little did they know that dog was only eaten after a Yuwipi ceremony was completed. My mother told me about a puppy she had as a child that went missing. It was after her grandmother returned from Yuwipi ceremony that she was told this puppy was fatten up and kept healthy for ceremonial purposes only. Understand this again, I say. These practices were outlawed. If a man was caught practicing these ceremonies he would be jailed or imprisoned; however, its our Dakota, Lakota and Nakota women, the matriarchs, who kept these ceremonies going. They were never suspected as conducting such ceremonies in secret. My great-grandmother made sure my mother attended ceremonies. )

Macgregor states that an older member of the Yuwipi cult mentioned that the worshippers believed in the Sun and the Daylight--that is Wakan, our god (the chief god). Then we worship Darkness (the creator god); that is why we sit in darkness in the tepee at a Yuwipi ceremony. The women think of sexual things and later they go home with their men. That is creative; that is not bad; the Darkness is holy. (When I think of all the healing properties of our ceremonies in healing trauma. I think about ‘sex addiction.’ This form of addiction is as old as time itself. Just as in modern time when people deal with alcohol and drug addiction, it’s this adrenaline and hormonal sexual rush that is more addictive than alcohol and drugs combined. These Yuwipi ceremonies deal with grief, isolation and depression. These are the key triggers in relapse and recovery of any addiction. Being intuitive in a ceremonial practice was not barbaric or hedonistic. It’s found that the sounds and the frequencies of movement and sound helps restructure the traumatic brain. It    is a terrible flaw of NCH’s own childhood trauma and that of his family. A healer must create a safe, protect and healing environment. I hope people understand the healing practice of indigenous peoples is good when combined with the rest of humanity.)  Then, there is a rock (the executive god). The leaders have a little bundle of sticks in their hand when they are tied up and a blanket is thrown over them. The rocks make sparks and lightning shoots all over the tepee. The Rock is hard and steadfast and that is what our faith must be. It is like the earth. Then there is Wakinyan or Heyoka (an associate god). It flashes through the sky, and storms come, and strong winds, and floods that wash away the soil. The Yuwipi people say that it is cleansing them and cleansing the earth. Wakan washes away everything and makes everything clean and new. (My great-grandmother was blind in her later years and would request the help of my mother. Who was a child. My great-grandmother never missed a day of going outside and praying in all the sacred directions with her woman’s pipe. She’d says to my mom, ‘granddaughter, what does the sky look like? If it was cloudy or clear or it there was a sign of storm coming. My grandfather respected the Wakinyan and was fearful every time there was lightning. My grandfather was a great farmer. These were the ways of those that came before me. The government took my mother away from her people because they thought we were savages.)

As noted above there is a certain sexual element in the Yuwipi ceremony. Black Elk, the famous medicine man (the subject of Neihardt's book Black Elk Speaks) is said to have been a Wapiye (Healer) famous for making "love medicine" in the Yuwipi ceremonial. (As in the behavior of Limerence, this deep infatuation or beyond infatuation is stemming from childhood trauma and this sexual element is called ‘love medicine.’ Understanding the energy we hold and we walk with this energy, is our individual responsibility. It’s a difficult path to be honest about one’s feelings for another human being; however, this ‘love medicine’ is in every culture, in every human being. It’s up to each of us to acknowledge this energy and in doing so we are honoring those who came before us. So many times I didn’t understand why my late mother found A-alon’s 12 step-program so helpful. As in these modern times, there are now 12 step programs in Limerence, or sex addiction. And, I don’t mean everyone goes around looking for a sexual partner to have intercourse. It means everyone goes around when they are triggered. They are triggered into seeking acceptance and validation. The more one practicing illuminating this self-defeating behavior the quickly one recovers from it. They say 10,000 hours of practice make one a master of any discipline. I can say I’ve done my 10,000 hour and more.)

According to Walking Bull, not all Yuwipi men unbind themselves in the darkness. Some have a committee which does this afterwards. This seems to indicate that the prowess of the Wapiye (Healer) in divesting himself of his bonds is merely a secondary feature of the Dakota rite, the calling of the spirits being the prime feature. Sometimes this calling of the spirits is not successful. (As in NCH, all of his ‘calling of the spirits’ was successful only because in my opinion, it held to do with money. The more he appeared to communicate with the spirits the more pleased his clients appeared. In my opinion, He never once admitted he ever failed to call the spirits.)

Sometimes children may be allowed to attend the ceremony. No person with a contagious disease is permitted inside. No dogs are allowed. (I saw how NCH despised dogs. In traditional times, as a healer he would be required to eat dog and so would his followers. Now, I ask you to think about it.) Persons who are skeptical are not welcomed. A Wapiye (Healer) is said to know exactly who is sincere and who is not. Once a Wapiye (Healer) knew that a certain man had to urinate and told him that he should not have come in. In another case a Wapiye (Healer), bound within a darkened tipi, informed a youth who was peeping under the edge of the tipi covering that he was aware of the youth's presence and that he must leave. At Kyle, South Dakota, during a ceremony, Little Warrior freed himself of his bonds and while the room was still darkened, threw the blanket upon a skeptical visitor. This person later stated that this had nearly frightened him to death. At another rite held near Pine Ridge, South Dakota, the Wapiye (Healer) halted the ceremony and stated that they would have to close it for a devil was coming. In a few minutes a car-load of drunken Indians arrived, confirming the shaman's prediction. (Again, not once did I every see NCH expel a witness, observer or a client from his ceremonies. I do know used threats of control over those he wanted to manipulate into thinking they were skeptics they didn’t obey him.)

Leonard Eagle, a youth of Mandan-Hidatsa and White descent, described attending a ceremony with a group of young men who were quite skeptical. When the gourds began flying about the room one paused, rattling loudly, before one of Eagle's companions. The companion asked him, "Should I hit it?" whereupon he struck the gourd with his fist. The gourd flew to the other side of the room, only to return and strike the youth several times around the face. "It really raised hell with him!" commented Eagle. (a Lakota friend, was brought into a Yuwipi ceremony by his grandmother. He said a rattle head him in the head. He said he reach above his head and grabbed the hand that held that rattle. He said he felt a ring on that hand and held onto to it so tight it came off. It was after the ceremony that his grandmother asks him for her ring back. She said that was suppose to grab at her. I know she probably was trying to teach him a lesson that he was safe, secure and protected in this ceremony with her, but for a child he didn’t understand.)

According to the older custom a man received instructions for becoming a Yuwipi leader in a vision. Thomas Goodall, an Arikara, stated that Black Thunder, a famous Dakota Wapiye (Healer), had received his power and the directions for running a Yuwipi ceremony only after a long period of fasting in the hills. (NCH said he fasted for four days and for four nights and then was brought down from Bear Butt to preform the Yuwipi as a teenager. Again, he didn’t go for a long period like this older person. In my opinion, I think his parents pushed him into this position for the sake of making money as NCH had already appeared in, “Dances with Wolves.”)

Densmore records a shaman of the Yuwipi type receiving power after falling from his horse head first into a pile of stones. The man was unconscious for nearly an entire day. Upon recovering he announced that all rocks and stones were “people turned to stone." (Many spiritual people go through some profound change in their life that takes them off the path they previous set out for themselves, never ever dreaming of becoming a spiritual person with gifts to help others.)

Apparently, a vision is not necessary at the present time. Black Elk, a Pine Ridge informant, claims that several of the present-day shamans have dispensed with these preliminaries. Walking Bull also stated that at present anyone who desired to practice the Yuwipi rite might do so. Although the position of the Wapiye (Healer) was not hereditary, apparently there is a tendency for a member of the same family to supplant a shaman at his death. After Little Warrior died at Kyle about a year ago, his son-in-law, White Wing, went on a vision quest and then took his place as the local Wapiye (Healer). (As in my later mother’s case, she was to inherit her grandmother’s rite, but was taken away to be raised in an Indian Residential School until she was sixteen years old. My mother was only five years old when she was taken. She would come home during summer breaks.)

Apparently, requests were sometimes made of the sacred stones, as Densmore notes that Sitting Bull, the Hunkpapa leader, offered a bison robe to the stones and asked to be made famous.

According to George Metcalf, the Dakota believe that the use of the Yuwipi rite is dangerous to the Wapiye (Healer). He states that the feeling is "Every time the power is used, the less the defense of the Wapiye (Healer) against this power." Bill Ginais, a mixed-blood Teton, gave up the practice because he considered it too dangerous. (In my opinion, some people call this karma. Whatever the behavior an individual is having difficulties manging, it manifests itself. It like the aging brain. The filters within the brain become thin and everything is exposed.)

Most of the Yuwipi men now practicing come from either the Pine Ridge or Rosebud reservations in South Dakota. These are the two most conservative of all the Dakota reservations. Well-known leaders are often called to distant reservations to conduct the ceremony. There are several Wapiye (Healer) still practicing, with a concentration around Kyle, South Dakota. Since some of the practitioners are young and middle-aged men, the institution seems destined to survive for some time. Furthermore, some of the younger Dakota still have the ceremony performed for sickness and the recovery of lost articles. A young Dakota girl had the ceremony performed for her sick mother near Pine Ridge in 1940. A Dakota college student stated that he believes the institution will survive for quite a while because it is a profitable business for the practitioners, and he has heard of several Dakota who are planning to become Wapiye (Healer) for mercenary reasons. Another Dakota college student stated that if the Whites have the Christian Science religion, why be surprised when some of the Dakota have their Yuwipi, especially when cures are affected. (I know in this article is calls these practitioners mercenaries. And, in some ways they are, do remember. The majority of Native Americans lived to be in their mid-forties because of the lack of health care and proper nutrition. When NCH was in the movie, the average income was $3,000.00 per year. From reports, his parents were living in poverty. They were teen parents too. I could see why they would manipulate their son. Just as women gave up their teen daughter to NCH, in my opinion, NCH’s parents did the same thing. I see lateral violence.)

There is apparently no conflict in the mind of the Wapiye (Healer) himself, or his audience, between the practice of the ceremony and the following of the Christian religion. Three examples of men being Yuwipi leaders while at the same time maintaining membership in the Roman Catholic church are reported. Two of the men were ordered to stop on the penalty of excommunication, while the other was whipped with a quirt for practicing the rite. (For decades, my late mother and myself supported my brother. We supported in the sweat and Sundance’s he attended. We did this encouraging to live a sober clean life. When I tell my cousins about what happened 17 years ago, they say ‘oh you turned Indian!’ This is I reply. With addictions being so high today as it was back in the 70’s, we would do anything to support a sober lifestyle for anyone who asked. Understand, prior to the 70’s indigenous people in Canda were not allowed to drink alcohol or buy alcohol over vote. Only after when the government knew what was happening in those Indian Residential School did they pass legislation hoping they could pass the ‘white paper’ without us knowing what it meant. From here on in, the prison system has risen with indigenous people. So tell me again, who determines who lives and who dies?)

If the Yuwipi ceremony, as now practiced by the Dakota, is compared with the tent-shaking complex of the northern Algonquin tribes as described by Ray, Cooper, Flannery, and others, it is noted that the Dakota lack a fundamental trait, the shaking of the tent when the spirits enter. Several other western tribes also lack this element in their conjuring ceremonies, for example the Colville of Washington and the Mandan of North Dakota. Yet Pond mentions the tent-shaking trait in a Yuwipi type ceremony of the Eastern Dakota. As the Yuwipi ceremony is now often held in a house rather than a tent, it is possible that we have here the reason for the absence of this trait. Ray has mentioned this possibility in explaining the lack of tent-shaking among the Colville. Since the Mandan usually lived in substantial earth lodges except when on the hunt, their type of architecture could well explain the absence of the same trait.

The binding of the shaman, another basic and widespread element of the tent-shaking complex is found among the Dakota. This trait is found among a large number of Plains, Plateau, and Woodland tribes, such as the Cheyenne, Blackfoot, Assiniboin, Plains Cree, Atsina, Kutenai, Cree, Ojibwa, Montagnais, and Naskapi. It is also found among the Central Eskimo. Cooper has outlined the traits of two contrasting tent-shaking complexes. In the western division the Dakota share with the Atsina, the Blackfoot, and the Assiniboin, the

"Houdini" trick (loosening of bonds) and the dog-feast. The Dakota shares with the eastern division including the Cree, Ojibwa, and Montagnais--the "calling of spirits" rather than the invoking of human ghosts. Collier has noted that the Kiowa also invoke the dead rather than supernatural or animal spirits.

The Dakota shares the following traits with both of the tent-shaking complexes described by Cooper: ‘no trance or ecstasy by the performer, and performers not of psychopathic personality as such; spirits summoned primarily to obtain knowledge through them, chiefly knowledge on practical problems; absence of direct participation of Supreme Being in rite; rite as such concerned with personal beings, not with impersonal forces, and thus a religious, not a magical rite.’

Some of the other features of the Yuwipi are shared by one or more tribes. Thus, conjuring is practiced for curing among the Ojibwa of Minnesota, the Mandan, the Atsina, and the Ojibwa of Parry Island. The Assiniboin and the Atsina, as did the Dakota, wrapped the shaman in a blanket. The obtaining of power by vision is found among the Parry Island Ojibwa and the Mandan.

Although a detailed tribe by tribe distribution study of the traits connected with the tent-shaking complex has not been made, the Yuwipi rite of the Dakota appears to be close to an intermediate position between the Plains tribes such as the Atsina, Blackfoot, and Cheyenne, and the northern Woodland peoples such as the Cree, Ojibwa, and Montagnais. Such a conclusion should be no cause for surprise considering the intermediate geographic position of the Dakota.

In summary, it is observed that the present-day Yuwipi ceremony of the Dakota is an example of a widespread conjuring complex of the Plains, Woodland, and Plateau areas, commonly referred to as the "shaking-tent rite." As practiced in recent years it differs from the classic complex in the lack of the tent-shaking trait. Among the Dakota the conjuring ritual is performed for curing illness and the finding of lost and stolen articles. If a comparison is made of the traits in the Dakota rite and those of the Plains and northern Algonquin complexes described by Cooper, it is noted that the Dakota Yuwipi ceremony occupies an intermediate position. The Yuwipi ceremony has continued to the present among the Teton Dakota. Since participants in the ritual still include younger and middle-aged Indians it seems likely to continue for some time. Several reasons may explain its survival. Many Dakota are still not convinced that our medical practitioners are capable of curing all types of disease, while to others physicians are not readily available. In certain instances, cures are reported by Yuwipi leaders. This may be particularly true in the case of psychosomatic illnesses. Although not confirmed by the majority of native informants, certain of the Wapiye (Healer) apparently continue their practice purely for mercenary reasons. (As in the case of NCH, his primary reason was to have money and control over others with his money and influence. I hope you all understand that this article was written 71 years ago. Understand that my grandfather knew these practices were not good anymore because of these so-called mercenary reasons. Our people went through genocide. We helped each other heal for centuries. This conversion to a Christian element really destroyed our cultural practices. It’s only now after many indigenous people become educated and are sharing our understanding of honoring those that came before means knowing Creator’s will is being done constantly.)