In yesterday’s DM I shared the story of Buck Ghosthorse who was kidnapped as a child from his reservation and whose life is a story of turning evil to good.
In my book on The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine, I share his story in the chapter on the “Spiritual Warrior,” for he was that. And I also elaborate on his amazing funeral.
There is so much to learn from indigenous people. They are wise in many ways that the modern world has shunned including ways of ritual and ceremony, of rites of passage and alternative manner of dealing with grief and with celebration.
Many people I know have profited profoundly from sweat lodges and vision quests, from Sundances and ceremonial chants. Jung said he never worked with a North American at the level of spirituality when he did not find an Indian inside. We have more indigenous blood and soul in us than we ever thought. We need to respect that and to nourish it.
It is not enough to ask forgiveness of indigenous peoples for the way the modern world treated them. We must also ask them to teach us. It is not that we do not have something to teach them also; it is simply that they represent so much of the shadow side of western culture that for us to be whole, a deeper marriage has to ensue between the indigenous and the post-modern. This does not mean that the dominant culture overcomes or destroys the indigenous ways still another time or steals from them. It is about listening and paying attention and learning.
A special happening occurred to me at Buck’s funeral when I was honored to be the last elder to speak about Buck. We were outdoors and the rain was falling gently from the sky and I said: “Good, Father Sky is crying. I don’t have to. And the Earth can absorb my grief as I stand on her.” And so it was.
When I stood up and spoke I had a powerful experience I have never had before—I felt my words were not coming from my mouth at all but directly from my chest. I was talking directly from my heart and Father Sky from above and Mother Earth from below were holding me.
It was one more special gift that the Native People have given to me in dances, sweats, vision quests, ceremonies, teaching, laughing, eating and just plain hanging out.
Adapted from Matthew Fox, The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine, pp. 264-266. See also, pp. 75, 84-88, 93, 95, 141.
And D. Schindler, MD, Flying Horse: Stories of Healing the Soul Wound (Santa Ynez, Ca: Tribal Eye 2020)
Banner Image: Sage is one of the four sacred medicines indigenous to Turtle Island that is used for ceremonies, particularly ceremonies of cleansing, renewal, and transformation. Photo by Ginny Rose Stewart on Unsplash.
Queries for Contemplation
What experiences have you had of sitting at the feet of indigenous teachers or participating in ceremonies they lead?
Recommended Reading
The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine
To awaken what Fox calls “the sacred masculine,” he unearths ten metaphors, or archetypes, ranging from the Green Man, an ancient pagan symbol of our fundamental relationship with nature, to the Spiritual Warrior….These timeless archetypes can inspire men to pursue their higher calling to connect to their deepest selves and to reinvent the world.
“Every man on this planet should read this book — not to mention every woman who wants to understand the struggles, often unconscious, that shape the men they know.” — Rabbi Michael Lerner, author of The Left Hand of God
By Donna Schindler, MD; Foreword by Matthew Fox
A white psychiatrist shares the truths she has learned about historical trauma in this book which has been called ‘prophetic’ by Reverend Matthew Fox. Starting with her childhood in South Texas and Bermuda, she takes us on a journey during which she had to confront her own racial biases and denial of the truth in order to work as a cross-cultural psychiatrist with a Maori mental health team in New Zealand, the Navajo Nation and California Native Americans.
9 thoughts on “At Buck Ghosthorse’s Funeral”
Matthew, Today you make the comment: “There is so much to learn from indigenous people. They are wise in many ways that the modern world has shunned…” Currently I am teaching a class on Shamanism at Spiritwind, the “Creation Spirituality Community” that I facilitate. I have one scientist who attends Spiritwind, and he thinks Shamanism is just primitive ignorance, and that we have nothing to learn from them. And yet you say, and I believe that, “It is not enough to ask forgiveness of indigenous peoples for the way the modern world treated them. We must also ask them to teach us…”
Queries for Contemplation: “What experiences have you had of sitting at the feet of indigenous teachers or participating in ceremonies they lead?” That is easy! It was a class I took took which was taught by Jose Hobday, entitled, “Native American Spirituality. ” She taught us Native American songs, dances, and rituals. And I was there when, she was pelted with flowers in gesture of honor and blessing.
Spirit, in my personal experience does indeed lead you to what you need for your souls healing. Following this leading in my own journey of healing from the trauma that I suffered as a child through the abuse and misuse of power… emotionally, mentally, physically, sexually and spiritually… brought me to the feet of the Indigenious people’s. I needed a holistic approach to my healing… talk therapy was not enough. Through my 10 year apprenticeship and the many teachings, rituals, gateway ceremonies, sweat lodges, eagle dances, sundances, drumming and singing of ancient prayer chants, rites of passages ceremonies and women’s wisdom circles… I received many blessings… not only the healing that I was seeking and searching for… but I also experienced a profound conscious awakening on many levels… all of which I am deeply grateful for.
This world truly has a great deal to learn from the Indigenious people’s… for their spiritual pathways not only offer the blessings of much needed healing… but they also teach us how to live in right relationship… in balance and harmony with the all and the everything… with conscious awareness of our interconnections, interdependence and inter-reliance with the Great Webb of Life and the Great Mystery, the Great Spirit’s presence and essence within all.
Jeanette, Thank you for sharing your experience with us !!!
The profound, yet simple way Eddie Kneebone spoke truth to those of us raised in a different mindset/culture spoke to me in a heartfelt and deeply wise way. I can sense our oneness and interconnectedness with each other in ways I had not been able to feel before. My hope is that his story will be heard by more and integrated into a more wholistic way for all humans to respect the dignity of the lessons we can learn from cultures different from the one in which each of us was raised.
Thank you Jeanette for your personal sharing and wisdom gained on your spiritual journey….
🔥❤️🙏
To be Lakota in heart and soul—
Pádraig Wanbli Iyotake
Thank you for these meditations – as well as the one you presented to the Deep Time Network. As a Canadian I was moved by your mention of the recent apology by Pope Francis – and the amount of work we have to do to learn from our Indigenous Brothers and Sisters. From time to time, I am sharing (stealing?) your wisdom on my own site – but always with credit.
Approximately 50+ years ago I went in what I thought was an ecumenical gesture to the wake of a Chippewan elder near Orillia Ontario Canada but instead of helping them with what I thought was “my helpful prayerful presence” I discovered a room full of people in profound silence…they explained they did not have any words for this mystery of death
What a contrast to The superficial chatter but often goes on in typical Anglo Saxon wakes where we stumble over shallow awkward devoid of much meaning.
Who is teaching whom? Your reflection is so correct
Oh can we please hear more about genocide In Ukraine? How do we deal with stopping so such horror?
Approximately 50+ years ago I went in what I thought was an ecumenical gesture to the wake of a Chippewan elder near Orillia Ontario Canada but instead of helping them with what I thought was “my helpful prayerful presence” I discovered a room full of people in profound silence…they explained they did not have any words for this mystery of death
What a contrast to The superficial chatter but often goes on in typical Anglo Saxon wakes where we stumble over shallow awkward devoid of much meaning.
Who is teaching whom? Your reflection is so correct
Oh can we please hear more about genocide In Ukraine? How do we deal with stopping so much horror?