Navajo Hataalii's (Healers)

[bootycall4u_PREV (deleted)]

`rebelyell08 U B KOOL!! and absolutely right no one cares about funny post, they just slide on by!

U 2 CLOWNWAY

[rebelyell08_PREV (deleted)]

hey Coolbreeze:) praise be to the Navajo then here!

[(deleted)]

`I'll be back to fight another day..

es mentiroso y mal comerciante

[(deleted)]

`THank you clownway for your words. I understand what you say.

[clownway]

`no problem..! :P

[hstreet_PREV (deleted)]

`I apologize for butting in late and speaking over people, but I just want to say that clownway knows what he's talking about... then again his name is clownway, so he could be a heyoka, hehe.. ;)

[pahinhwinh]

Hanh mitakuyapi. Across Indn Country there is a real danger of losing our Traditional healers, not only in Dinetah. I spent some time in Dinetah in the 1980s when I did business with whites off-Rez & remember that there was great respect for the Hataalii, but not many adults of any age wanting to learn the Ways on the premise that it is too time-consuming. I was much concerned about this then - by now, it's more like an ache.
Up here in Lakota country, respect for Traditional healers seems to be about zero. I've actually had whiteman-style doctors who also have enrollment cards pat me on the arm & tell me that I 'believe in myths' - despite that I am one who Walks with a Pipe in addition to being a Traditional healer of our People, trained by my grandmother who was trained by her grandmother, etc. And not that it makes any difference, but I have a whiteman degree in chemistry as well. Myths? What arrogance! But then, that is the majority culture way - ignorant, arrogant, & sophomoric .. and proud of it. Such sell-outs they are. Truly 'apples'. Sad! And dangerous to our cultures' continuation.
Diabetes is a whiteman disease, brought on by their dietary habits, which our Peoples have adopted. We didn't have diabetes until the invader government "gave" us commodities & welfare-as-lifestyle in 1934. Our first case of diabetes showed up in 1939 & today, it's epidemic.
But look at what our People eat: chips; pop; canned instead of fresh, frozen or dried; and lots of fat with little fiber or exercise - even walking. Canned food has no enzymic activity, while fresh has "100%" & dried & frozen have over 90%.. And processed "ready made" "foods" of the western-style diet are full of High Fructose Corn Syrup, which has been shown in a number of studies to greatly irritate the Islets of Langerhans, which are the parts of the pancreas that make insulin. More than that, the insulin produced from them is then abnormal & doesn't work as well. The answer is obvious, but how many people - Indigenous Turtle Islanders (ITI) or not - do the sensible thing & change their diets? Very few.
Diabetes does not exist in 3rd world countries where the people eat their Traditional diets.. Their diseases are nutritional-deficiency & pathogen-caused diseases, but there is no diabetes with all its related diseases.
Diabetes is curable in many cases - but the cure is dietary. And of course doesn't make tons of money for "medical" "doctors".
My Ina (mother) was diabetic for 30+ years. She asked me if I could cure her. I told her what to do & when she did it, her sugar levels dropped below 100 & stayed there, & when she didn't, they rose. You should have heard the "medical" doctor holler - at me - when she quit taking her chemical medications because she didn't need them any more.
I don't doubt that other healers have gone thru the same crap - which may be another (lesser) reason why so few Indigenous people apply to us Traditional healers for training. The old Teaching, "It's a hard go to be a real Indn" applies more today than ever.
"Instant" or "fast-fast-fast" solutions to problems of every size are the watchword of modern western-style society, & much of that has slopped over onto us ITI. Got a TV? Turn it off! Got a radio? If you can't get the closest Indigenous Station, but you have a computer, turn on streaming music online - & make sure it's our music, preferably Traditional / powwow - anything but whiteman stuff.
Small wonder that some of us let non-Indns learn our Ways - if our own People won't, at least by teaching wannabes there is a chance of not losing the knowledge completely. Lousy choice, in my mind, but still better than losing the knowledge. The trick is to make sure that the students learn to show respect - for the teacher, the cultures, & the Ways & not simply learn them as a parlor trick or to use to make money from the ignorant..
As my Ate' has taught us, "We don't heal anything. We assist it to happen." Humbling thought, & true. And not 'fast-fast-fast'..

"What have YOU done TODAY to HELP HEAL the Sacred Hoop, of which you, too, are a part?"

[spirit9999 (deleted)]

`I am late finding this forum, and sorry that the original person starting this has seemed to have left already...

First of all: AHNEE! OSIYO! and all other greetings...

I have been priivileged to have learned how to be a small part in Wakan-Tonka's healing work... and I agree COMPLETELY, with those that say it is wrong to make money & profit from Grandfather's work... I believe it is also wrong for those who "call themselves" shamans & medicine people, when they have had no oral teachings whatsoever, and have just gotten their knowledge from a few books and/or a three day seminar somewhere of: "How To Become A Shaman"... Not saying that there is NO knowledge in some of these things, but to hold these titles, requires WAY MORE than a few hours or days...

By the way..., I find many fellow Indigenous people don't know that there were BOTH shamans AND Medicine People, in certain tribes here in North America... The over-use of the word "shaman" has made a mockery of this position, with so many New Age people trying to make a profit off of something very Sacred. Also... most who are Shaman and/or Medicine Persons (and yes... a very few are BOTH).. do not broadcast there titles to everyone, because of humbleness... and also because of the hatred that exists in some people towards them... (The Great Chief Frank Fools Crow, is a good example of how even our own kind can turn against someone very special... in his last days on Pine Ridge, when his house & belongings were ransacked...).


The tradition will not die, IF... respect and understanding is used, along with a huge tablespoon of Love... Also.... there needs to be a very obvious healing, of the"Riff" between the two kinds of people calling themselves "Traditional". Discrimination and hate have no place in the TRUE understanding of being "Traditional"... To act like (what I see) as a "brown skinned wasichu" demanding money & land, and hating all other cultures..., ,because of some "payback".., is no better than the early settlers from Europe who monopolized the Indian friendship & assistance. Goyathlay (Geronimo) and MANY others have spoken how we are "all brothers & sisters"... and how there is "only ONE God that hears all our prayers"... (see my Forum posting on WISE WORDS OF ELDERS).

To cause more separation is not the answer... To comply to everything the powers of society want, is also not the right answer... To "walk your own path" with your head held high WITHOUT violence & anger, is a test for us all... and in my opinion... a way of showing "peaceful demonstration"... The ones who take the knowledge of medicine people & shamans, and try to use it for monetary purposes... (again, in my opinion) have no power... The successful ones are usually very good at hypnotizing & using illusion to make their "patients/clients" THINK they are better, or learning something.., but I have seen that their results are very poor..., in long term success. Therefore...., they really haven't learned anything, have they? A TRUE Medicine Person and Shaman has better results, because they do everything with "respect & thanks" and they also know that it is not THEM who is doing the actual healing, but the ONE above... who utilizes many parts of Spirit & Creation to "assist" in the healing & teachings... When a person believes that it is "themself" who has all the power..., they are the ones who have NONE....

Chi Meegwetch, from Canada... AHO!

[hupp]

Hi
just on the subject of the elders not trusting the white man , I wouldn't blame them, However I will say I am white and IRISH, our people were also ripped from their homes, our children left to starve, the nation left to starve, so I wonder is it more the national politics of the person/people that commit such atrocities or their colour,
Hupp

[itsallgoodinaz (deleted)]

One of the most important things I was taught was that all the information is out there that you desire. In another time, it was given to us by others around us. In our tradition, Navajo, you are also chosen, so to speak if you are to be in the healing arena. The gifts are recognized and then so forth and so on. What I am saying is I have found many details of out ways in books and research papers. In a way, the dominate people did have insight into our future, in that they recorded many things, mostly on paper. These recordings can be accessed and used or learned, thats I all use it for. Yes, the ceremonies are there too. Just be careful, the desire for power and instant healing is always present and it could turn on you. This I have seen and we as people of all walks have witnessed it, even today. In short, if you want to learn the ways, you merely have to look, its there, just not in the form we were accustomed too.

[whollyheretic (deleted)]

`I agree with itsallgoodinaz.
We came to knowledge of healing by able individuals
discovering for themselves,
and passing it on to those who showed ability.

Re-discovering the knowledge enables us to discard
what has gone stale or lost its cultural context.

Ritual may call forth the consciousness of those who can assist, but some of the confusion and cynicism about healing is caused by those who disappoint.

Healing is done by the power of focussed awareness, rather than by ritual.
The herbs which help, they do so by the properties of their being,
as much as by the "active ingredients".

[patsydecline (deleted)]

`I'm also late to this forum...as far as whites finding a thread of healers within our own culture, it will be a very tough call indeed, but there was one in Germany who was even respected by the church(!) which was kind of unbelievable, but anyway, her name was Hildegard of Bingen. She was a true nature visionary and healer, and a nun! Maybe we can still recover this knowledge from within our own culture, after all, we have our libraries! If not, it's our own fault for letting it slide into obscurity. I hope with this post, I can at least stress the importance of carrying on the traditional knowledge of your healers! Best of luck to you all!

[patsydecline (deleted)]

`As I think on it more, i'm beginning to 'get' it. Native people keep telling us over and over again to look to our own culture...perhaps it would be a form of respect to imagine that y'all may be right? Perhaps our endlessly annoying anthros were on a long, misguided attempt to find a spiritual connection to the earth of their own. Our anthros would be better served if they would help by examining our own culture. Academia is an obstacle, if you seek to acheive it's respect. Hildegard of Bingen was smart to say that her visions came from god, otherwise they surely would have killed her.

[patsydecline (deleted)]

`here i am AGAIN...
With thoughts on actual vs. real shamans....I'm pretty sure that the people who would normally serve as our shamans for us in our technological culture we have wrongly labelled as 'schizophrenics', we have locked them up, called them diseased, and done all kinds of horrible things to their minds in order to eradicate this knowledge that modern culture fears and has no idea how to deal with. I have done quite a bit of personal research on schizophrenic art, and these people are really in touch with something universal, which shamanism, after all, really was!

[walkingbadger (deleted)]

`the ways of the traditions, "to forget or ignore basic Native values, traditional values, human values, natural law---is a crime". i am always seeking wisdom & the appreciation of beauty, from my mother the earth & the Creator, my father. the ways of believing & having harmony within myself. the hataali (singer) will always be with us & heals us in many ways. i am from the old ways & i do not believe in shamanism or medicine men. hataali are singers & their gifts are to speak for us to Diyin' (Creator) on our behalf. it is Diyin' that does the healing. Diyin' gives this gift to the hataali to perform the ceromonies of healing. it takes many years to become a hataali because of the sacredness & learning involved. we, Dine' are a strong nation & we have the strong traditions that many other nations have lost or are losing. it is because we still hold onto our traditional values & our young ones are learning the true way again & the hataali is one of the big reasons why. nihi ti'hooshniih honishlo (we sacrifice to exist).