Together, Linda & Rod founded the Earth & Spirit Council, and encouraged a lifestyle he called the Natural Way.
They hosted dozens of indigenous elders from around the globe to speak their truth to people from the dominant culture – many of those talks were recorded and saved for posterity.
They travelled around the US, Mexico, South America, and Europe leading ceremonies, connecting with other indigenous elders, and speaking to various groups.
Wherever he spoke, he would say, “You are all good people, you see I know that. You all breathe the same air and drink the same water that I do….” He said this in prisons, in schools, in churches, in Native American gatherings… everywhere. Rod’s words went deeper than tribal affiliation, deeper than race, penetrating into the very essence of what it is to be a human being. He taught people to Go Beyond their human limitations, to go beyond their suffering, to go beyond their own limits for themselves. In the lodge, each person felt like he was speaking directly to them.
Wherever he went, he talked about the sacredness of women’s voices, women’s leadership, and women’s spiritual lives. Rod was recognized as an elder in numerous communities, including Sungleska Oyate and the Portland-area urban Native community.
In his later years, he went beyond serious horse and car accidents, stage 4 lymphoma, and a debilitating spinal cord injury. He always maintained his sense of humor, and rarely complained, giving his full attention to anyone who consulted him.
As a friend said of him, Rod changed many lives and affected so many people by simply being quiet and minding his own business. He taught this:
Learn to Listen and Listen to Learn
It’s really very simple – we make it hard
You are all good people
Spirituality is being real
There’s no right way to pray
Learn about yourself, my children
We have to meet the Creator halfway
You are the medicine wheel
I’m just the messenger
We are all related – we all breathe the same air and drink the same water
You must follow your own guidance if you don’t want an ass-kicking
There will come a time when we can’t go into the sweat lodge, but that doesn’t mean you can’t pray.
Use the mind, don’t let the mind use you.
Don’t be too helpful.
The mark of a true leader is that nothing is beneath them.
Go Beyond
Rod became an ancestor on March 23rd, 2021, surrounded by members of his family and community who held him in love. He is survived by his wife Linda Neale, his children Jackie, Faye, Ivory, Casey, Myrna and Rosa, his stepdaughter Joanna, many grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and one great-great grandchild.
I was blessed to know Rod and Linda and pray with them on many occasions and participate in their wonderful gatherings of their Earth and Spirit Council. His big soul was grounded deeply in holy Mother Earth.
Thank you, Rod, for your generous life of teaching, healing, and bringing people together for deep prayer.
See Matthew Fox, “Native Teachings: Spirituality with Power,” and “Creation Spirituality and the Dreamtime,” in Fox, Wrestling with the Prophets, pp. 115-144.
Banner Image: Sweat lodge. Photo by Hvoenok, Adobe Stock
What have you learned from the stories and prayer of indigenous peoples?
Wrestling with the Prophets: Essays on Creation Spirituality and Everyday Life
In one of his foundational works, Fox engages with some of history’s greatest mystics, philosophers, and prophets in profound and hard-hitting essays on such varied topics as Eco-Spirituality, AIDS, homosexuality, spiritual feminism, environmental revolution, Native American spirituality, Christian mysticism, Art and Spirituality, Art as Meditation, Interfaith or Deep Ecumenism and more.
10 thoughts on “The Story and Teachings of Rod McAfee, continued”
Thank you, thank you for this!! Just what I needed…am still crying and now sending it out widely for others to get this every morning! What a service! thank you…
Love,
Tahdi
Dr. Tahdi Blackstone
“Joy is man’s noblest act!” St Thomas Aquinas
And we are grateful that we were able to give you “just what you needed!” And thank you for sending this message out to others. May God bless you, Tahdi!
You asked a very important question in this meditation. “Where is the power in our celebration?”
After I worship , I often come out feeling sad or depressed. It is a feeling of powerlessness and exclusion . We seem to be frozen people who respond to the priest with our well learned phrases and joy seems to be absent. How can we celebrate eucharist with joy when we know that this is a male celebration. I know you can’t provide me with an explanation that would satisfy my longing spirit but you did clarify something for me. “Where is the power in our celebration?” We know the Christ is present, that the Christ is present in all. Matter is holy as Teilhard would say. Perhaps the real question is “where is the joy in our celebration?”
and work with that. Amen
You’ve got it Theresa! More than, “Where is the power in our celebration?” “Where is the joy in our celebration?” And here is a hint of truth where you can move beyond male celebrants of the eucharist. Matthew teaches a view of God that is called “panentheism” which means God is in all things and all things are in God. And so God is in everyone who celebrates the eucharist, as well as in the people who partake of it, and in the elements of eucharist itself.
The indigenous elders of the world have so much to teach us.
That’s the truth Ron… and I am also grateful for the eldership of Matthew Fox and all he has to teach us.
Richard, I was born in 1939 in Kenosha, WI and Matthew in 1940 in Madison, WI. Two of Matthew’s books are in bibliography of my ebook on comparative mysticism:
“One River, Many Wells / Wisdom Springing from Global Faiths”
“Western Spirituality / Historical Roots, Ecumenical Routes”
Ron, I am grateful to know more about you because you often share comments on our site. I always think it is better to talk to someone knowing who they are. I was born in California in 1953 and I first heard Matthew speak at the Claremont School of Theology in 1988 the day before he was silenced by Cardinal Ratzinger. I have been a student of his ever since–and am a graduate of his University of Creation Spirituality.
Richard, click on my name Ron+Krumpos to see about my own introduction to mysticism. Religions have many differences, but their mystics have much in common.
Thank you, Matt, for introducing me to Rod McAfee. Beautiful!