teacup Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> From the Malcolm Brenner article Joanne linked:
>
> Navajos won't talk about witchcraft, because the
> power of the spoken word means talking about
> something will make it happen. Moreover admitting
> any knowledge of witchcraft is tantamount to
> admitting you practice it, because somebody who
> didn't know anything about it would be too
> frightened of it to talk about it.

This is absolutely correct. That's why I laughed at Brenner's writing of his skinwalker article. In the same hand, I would run the risk of being declared a witch as well for discussing the matter so openly as well as my husband.

>
> This double bind can make trouble for Navajo
> medicine men. The only cure for witchcraft in
> Navajo culture is through the intercession of the
> Holy People, as directed by a medicine man. While
> a medicine man is supposed to operate from
> spiritual motives, it's not uncommon for the
> Ye'ii-bi-chei patient to pay over $1000 for the
> ceremony, in cash or trade. Extended families
> often foot the bill. But there is no alternative -
> except to step outside the culture. This partially
> explains the inroads that Christianity and the
> Native American Church have made in Navajoland.

Yes, the only way to "fix" being visited by a skinwalker is the assistance of a medicine man. Of course, Brenner is citing one of the more expensive ceremonies out there. It lasts about 9 days, entails the hiring of many dancers for each day and also alot of costs in materials as well. It is only used when the problem is really serious, ie major illness and is very rare. A blessing way, on the other hand, is usually the first line of defense against skinwalkers. This is alot cheaper. Our blessing way cost about $20 to the medicine man along with the loss of a bowl and a swatch of fabric that the medicine man disposes of properly in case of taint. Our medicine man was a crystal gazer as well and we had a crystal gazing ceremony a week or so before the blessing way. I don't recall the fee for that ceremony but it was pretty inexpensive and covered part of the costs of the material used (ie probably half a cup of corn pollen, wood for burning, and herbs). Brenner is being grossly misleading here. IHS and medicine men have always had a bit of a bad standing towards each other.

>
> In order to effectively combat witchcraft, the
> medicine man must know something about the
> techniques of sorcery - but that in itself makes
> him suspect. So does the tendency to amass wealth.
> The archetypal Navajo nightmare is of a corrupt
> medicine man working hand-in-paw with a
> skinwalker: you hex 'em, I'll fix 'em, and we'll
> split the profits! . Medicine men often make a
> great show of humility and poverty; they drive the
> oldest trucks at the ceremonies.

Medicine men do live very frugal lives. If they acted solely for profit, they would be condemned by the tribe itself. It would be an abuse of the gifts given to them for personal gain and an affront to the beauty way. A rich medicine man could be considered a potential skinwalker. I have been to the residence of a medicine man (the crystal gazer). His house was rather typical of main off the beaten trail Navajo homes. An original very small home with plywood additions. His ceremonial hogan was almost larger than his house itself but hogans aren't that expensive to build. His outward signs of wealth was a couple horses, some chickens and a few sheep. A sheep goes for around $40 or $50 a head and sometimes, people will trade a sheep for services rendered instead of cash. Yes, a medicine man must know something about the sorcery done if he is to combat it just as a doctor must know something about poisons and venoms in order to combat them.
>
>
> At first sight the Navajo culture as whole seems
> to be driven by a sort of symbiotic relationship
> between Fear and Beauty... not corrupt as in "you
> hex 'em, I'll fix em" but more in the sense of a
> strange (to me, as an outsider) sort of Yin/Yang
> thingey. (???) Am I completely off base here?

Yes, in a sense it is a bit of a yin/yang. The skinwalker supposedly lives in direct opposition to the beauty way. They are perceived as vile, evil, corrupt--every bad thing in the book. However, there are aspects of medicine men that defy explanation and make a total symbiotic relationship rather unlikely. Our crystal gazing ceremony often took the turn of the inexplicable because he knew things that my husband and I never told anyone. This wasn't a cold reading at all because he spoke only in Navajo and didn't converse with us at all before the ceremony began. All he knew was that a skinwalker had visited us. These things were unrelated to the skinwalker entirely as well. Medicine men and skinwalkers will parlay but that takes another ceremony to have it done. I mention that one in my "origin" thread.

>
> There is a 2004 movie called The Village. It has
> nothing to do with the Navajo or with Indians, but
> the film explores a similar theme. Rent it if you
> get a chance. I thought it was well done.

We own The Village as well as The Missing. Both films have "skinwalkerish" themes.
>
> Also, I'm reminded of stories of how sorcerers are
> said to trick a potential student into believing
> that s/he is being attacked by other sorcerers so
> that the student will have a very urgent desire to
> learn. Could that play a part here? Surely the
> medicine men have secrets they keep even from
> their own people?

I'm sure that medicine men do have their secrets. The second origin story comes from a medicine man as well and it is less heard of than the Coyote tale. Skinwalkers make sure that their victims (and probably the rest of the neighborhood) know that they are present. Often there will be "noisy" skinwalkers while yet another skinwalker plants a medicine bundle or hunts for materials to make said medicine bundle. I think that knowing that they are there is part of their "magic". It's not alot different then having to tell somebody that they are cursed--one has to believe that they've been cursed in order to be affected. In my case, when I saw our lady skinwalker, I most definitely wanted to learn more because it was so peculiar.

Stephanie




In every man there is something wherein I may learn of him, and in that I am his pupil.--Ralph Waldo Emerson