Friday night I smoked some weed, probably more than I ever had at one time, and watched The Doors movie. As stupid as it sounds to have a spiritual experience while watching a movie, I did. I've been raised as a Catholic, been a strong atheist for several years now though. Anyway, with some of the Native American scenes in The Doors, I began to think more of Native American traditions and such. Of course though, I really have no information on the likes. I know a few tribes would often use drugs such as peyote to reach different spiritual levels, and that seems more like something that would be like me. If anyone could tell me about any Native American religions of sorts that could perhaps interest me, please share. Thanks.
* Firstly that's an absurdly broad question. 'Native American' encompasses a vast number of people/cultures which are all very unique. It's like saying European. * You can google and whatever, that'd get some info. Not necesarily totaly authentic but that doesn't seem to bother most people who get into this shit. * There is a possibility that there are Native Americans out there who will be willing to mentor you. But well if someone came to me and said 'hey I got stoned and decided your religion was cool, so teach me everything about it', to be honest my response would not be that complimentary. I don't think it's silly to have a 'realisation' whilst watching a movie, but am sure being off your face might have been a bigger factor. Try again when you're clean, then you'll know for sure. Look if you want to get high that's lovely, but don't belittle other peoples' long and deeply held traditions to do so. I think you'll find drugs play a very small part in the practises anyway. So yeah good luck with that.
Cool...she said it for me...i couldnt type...my nose was bleeding after reading the original post....had to stop before my ears started..
peyote is not a part of most native american religions and was only started being used regularly when the catholic church tried converting them the vissionquest that is a part of most is a seeking of vissions naturaly, without the influences of drugs..so are true vissionsm not halucinations native american pilosophy and spirituality is practicaly the opposite of athiesm.. and recognizes all things as sacred, rocks trees earth sky sun moon all have spirit and relation with everything all my relations.. recognizes a connection not only to all people, but all things as well if your really interested, start by researching the histiry and philosophy of the medicine wheel, another source of info a spirit warrior named iron bear had turned me onto a book called lame deer; seeker of vissions by john fire lame deer another source you can look into is the woman who named me's teacher and mentor, twilah neitze or neitchy or something like that (nee-chee is pronoinced) who is the wolf clan mother of the seneca tribe of the iriquise (sp?) nation however, there are several hundred tribesand nations, each one has theyre own unique culture and beliefs, although there are certain beliefs that span the full spectrum of native american spirituality
That's a good answer, see we aren't all bad. I do find it all quite interesting in abstract, don't have a drop of native American blood so wouldn't feel right following that path. *bows* Glad to be of service Would you like a tissue? lol
ah well, i dont 'follow that path' and neither do i have any NA blood, just have been exposed to alot i supose..well when i say alot i probaby really mean alittle..or some most of the native americans i know tend to be more upset about those within the tribe abandonning theyre traditions then they are about others outside the tribe adopting or emmulating theyre beliefs..however certain cerimonies and practices are still for the most part tribe only, and are almost never exposed to anyone outside the tribe interestingly enoughto the OP often the best candidates to become medicine/spirit cheifs are often drug addict/alcaholic troublemakers in youth.. he best medicine men/shamen should 1st fully understand the troubles of everyday life before moving into becomming more spiritualy aware, because someone whos more purely spiritual without going through a life of trouble is too unaproachable and doesnt understand the issues of those who are in need of guidance and healling i've actualy been concidering asking skip if it was possible to add a native cultures forum
http://www.shannonthunderbird.com/medicine_wheel_teachings.htm theres an interesting explanation of the meannings of the medicine wheel interestingly my freind four owls teaches the medicine wheel as a 12 step program simular to alcaholics annonomouse, but based on the 12 steps of the seneca medicine wheel.. and when you compare the 12 steps of the medicine wheel, they are very simular to the 12 steps of AA but the AA version when compared seems diluted and weakened
I can understand where Heron and Sage-Phoenix are coming from, and I hold no hostilities, but try to see it from my perspective. I know extremely little at all about any Native American tribes, culture, and spiritual practices, but I'd like to change that, so in the future, I won't have to appear as ignorant and unknowing as I once was. And soaringeagle, thanks for you're help. Hopefully I'll have some time in the next few days to research that.
another thing ya might want to research are the hopi prophesies which arevery relevant to everything going on today
Ok Echelon..in that case...I will think up some things that might help...in the mean time, if you would like to know more about the tribal European myths and beliefs, that is more my cup of tea...and might be just as gratifying to your curiousity.
You really should be more careful in the titling of your posts. If you want to learn about Indian Religions, I suggest looking up some good books on Hinduism, maybe checking out the Vedas and the Bhagavad Gita. Now, for Native American religions, seems like the first one anyone hears about is Black Elk Speaks. Of course, I don't recall a single mention of drug use in there (though it has been years since I last read it). On the other hand, if you're looking for a spiritual movement that will support your drug use and will even perhaps use drugs in a ritual setting, I'd suggest looking into some whitebread hippy religious movements (don't know the names of any off the top of my head, but I'm sure you could find some with a google search). I don't imagine most Native American elders taking too kindly to some white kid coming up and saying they just want a justification for getting high.
absolutely correct dawnsky i had read black elk speaks long ago when i was fairly young and didnt remember much, but my freind iron bear suggested lame dears book as a better alternative..more real then black elks and the comment id made about alcahol/drigs and being a troublemaker had come from that, but asall people have a path through life, that was the beginning of the path, not the end drug use is not a part of native american culture (untill more recently) to seek vission through suffering however is for instance, the vissionquest, your led out into the dessert, or mountains and are left there wihout food water or appropriate clothing.. and endure the heat and coldness..hunger and thirst.. disconfort of sitting in a hole for days on end..until you have your vission many sacred cerimonies like the sundance and others incorporate suffering as well.. only a small nimber of cerimonies at the shaman level use special combinations of herbs that may cause otherworldly experiences and are concidered deadly under most circumstnces additionaly, the few i know who do smoke herb, respect the spirit in all things, so treat herb with reverence and deep respect..the same respect they'd give theyre grandfather, for all things are related
While I know what you mean by this (native North American), I of course love to be contrary, so... That depends on where you look. Among the Aymara of South America (I think Peru and/or Ecuador area), the use of ayahuasca (a hallucinogen) has been around as long as there has been anyone to document it. Of course, that's a much longer journey if you want to go try to join in on that! Check out Hallucinogens and Shamanism, ed. by Michael Harner, chapter 2 -- The sound of rushing water -- for a nice description of that. Among the Yanomamo of the Amazon basin, they traditionally used a hallucinogen called ebene -- basically some plant that is ground up, so you have this green powder, which men then have someone blow up their nose. So you get a bunch of men running around high as a kite with nasty green snot dripping down their faces... I read about that in Napoleon Chagnon's "The Yanomamo, Fifth Edition". Earlier editions are titled "Yanomamo: The Fierce People". Chagnon paints them as very violent, but there has been quite a bit of controversy over that, as other anthropologists worked with other groups of Yanomamo in other regions and found them to be nothing like the ones Chagnon portrays (in terms of violence, still using ebene). But now I'm digressing into anthropologist nitpicking because I'm quite tired. Finally, we tend to discount tobacco as a drug, given that so many people abuse it and that the tobacco we buy at the store is nothing like the traditional strains grown before Europeans made it their own. I don't know much about use of tobacco as a hallucinogen in North America. But, if you're interested, Johannes Wilbert describes it in his chapter in the edited volume "Flesh of the Gods: The ritual use of hallucinogens," edited by Peter T. Furst. And now to conclude my excessive, not entirely on topic (since I'm assuming the topic is North American) rambling... Got a library card, OP?
dawn_sky, the reason I said Indian instead of Native American was simply because I didn't want the title to be any longer than it already was. If you noticed in the rest of my posts, I used the term Native American. And as for seeking an excuse to get high, I've been using drugs for quite a while now without ever needing an excuse. I've heard of people having spiritual experiences while on drugs, and I simply want to have spiritual experiences as well; I just didn't realize it until last Friday though. And soaringeagle, I read the page on the medicine wheel, and this weekend I'll go to the library and see if they have anything useful
i have lived on a reservatiion w my good chowtaw friend , he toaught me a lot of the ways , the biggest thing about the Red Road is community , the ways of healling come also from around, the biggest thing i rember is that if u are good at heart then so creator will watch over u , and will guide u , and givce u good mediince. yeah u can read books about it , but asking one who has lived and experinced is beetter than such . i loved the enter action i got to experince . making of fryed bread , going to sweat lodge , etc . i hoped that i helped out some
