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Cal Thunder Hawk

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Cal Thunder Hawk is currently reading

Fools Crow

by Thomas E. Mails

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Cal Thunder Hawk said: " When looking for useful solutions to apply to ones life, based on Lakhota traditions, it's sometimes helpful to be willing to examine aspects of it from a critical perspective in order to get a clearer picture of it. The spiritual aspects of the trad When looking for useful solutions to apply to ones life, based on Lakhota traditions, it's sometimes helpful to be willing to examine aspects of it from a critical perspective in order to get a clearer picture of it. The spiritual aspects of the traditional Lakhota culture provide a rich heritage which the Lakhota preserve primarily through the Lakhota language.
At the risk of appearing contentious, I focus on the spiritual aspect of the Lakhota from a perspective that neither accommodates the beliefs of popular non-Lakhota religions, such as Islam, Bahai, Buddhism, Hindu, Judaism, Christianity and etc. nor encourages beliefs about a supernatural dimension: After all, the Lakhota are practical people who not only survived in the wilderness but flourished within it. The Lakhota relied on facts of the natural world: Entertaining speculative ideas not based on observation was courting potential disaster and dangerous -- not just from threats to ones physical well-being but from potential psychological disorders as well.
Still, popular culture sometimes produces things that represent challenges to the Lakhota, such as the book "Fools Crow, pub. 1990."
There are some obvious problems with this book. Mails is a graphic artist not a writer. The difference between the two is that a graphic artist manipulates media and a writer relies on written words. In this case, Fools Crow uses Mails -- a non-indigenous graphic artist -- in much the same way that John Fire ("Chief Lame Deer") used Richard Erdoes, another non-indigenous graphic artist, to write a book about themselves. If Fools Crow and John Fire had the two non-indigenous graphic artists write only about them, as individuals, that would have been an entirely different matter. But Fools Crow and Fire's claims to prominent roles within the most intimate aspects of the Lakhota culture -- its spirituality -- are quite another matter. Those kinds of claims involve the rest of us Lakhota, i.e., those of us who do not share a fascination with their self-absorbed narratives exploiting the collective heritage of the Lakhota people in order to promote their self-interests The Lakhota who do not object may be mistaken for those who uncritically endorse the claims made by them.
I am only up to p. 54, so far, but here are a couple of problems:
The problem on p.52 is that the guy's name is Ed McGaa. References to him can be found at http://www.newagefraud.org/. According to an acquaintance who was at the Pine Ridge sundance in 1971, Ed is the reason that, thereafter, cameras were prohibited from sundances in the region. He was being filmed during that sundance. I heard about it when I went there the following year, in '72. The Pine Ridge sundance was peculiar in many ways but the thing that really got my attention was the fact that the sundance was surrounded by vendors selling carnival food. I don't recall if there was actually a carnival there or not. Anyway, according to McGaa, he was a Marine Corps, not Air Force, pilot during the Viet Nam war not WWII.
p. 52
"At the beginning of World War II, a young part-Sioux by the name of Ed Magaw came to my house to tell me that he was going to join the Air Force. ... He was sent to Europe, and made 110 flying missions, returning from all of them without a scratch. On his last flight he saw a huge American flag wrapped around his airplane. ... When he landed at his home airfield after that last flight, he was so happy he jumped up and down, shouting with joy. Then when he got back to Pine Ridge he vowed he would give thanks by participating in four Sun Dances over a period of four successive years. He did, and I think they were the dances of 1968, '69, '70, and '71. Later on, I asked for the return of his sacred stone to see what he would say, but he said, "No, uncle, it has brought me great luck. I want that to continue the rest of my life, and if I can, I'd like to keep it." So I let him. The last I heard he was an attorney, and if I remember correctly, the head of the Indian Studies Department at the University of Minnesota."

"Moose Camp" is actually "Moves Camp" ("Igláka" in Lakhota)
p. 54
" ... included among the great holy men were Horn Chips and Moose Camp. I mention all of these because I feel everyone should know who the true Sioux holy men of this century have been. They not only did amazing things in their ceremonies, but also their manner of life measured up to the high standards of what a holy man's life should be." ...more "

Jul 14, 2014 06:27AM · see review

Cal Thunder Hawk is currently reading

Quest for Harmony: Native American Spiritual Traditions

by William A. Young

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Cal Thunder Hawk said: " I'm only interested in things that relate to the Sičhą́ǧu. This book is another disaster that also pulls down the Lakȟóta with it. A sample: "Some judgments of Neihardt’s portrayal of Black Elk have been particularly harsh. Julian Rice, for example, ...more "

Jul 12, 2014 03:56PM · see review

Cal Thunder Hawk is currently reading

Rational Mysticism: Spirituality Meets Science in the Search for Enlightenment

by John Horgan

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Cal Thunder Hawk said: " This book was recommended to me regarding my interest in pursuing possible solutions to the problems of defining certain features and aspects of Lakhota ceremonial activities, traditionally relegated by Westerners into a dualistic "spiritual" domain, ...more "

Jul 06, 2014 06:01PM · see review

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