The path to medicine, whether it be good or bad, begins at a very young age for the Navajo. When I try to explain it to my friends, I like to quote master Yoda from the Star Wars series, "He's too old to begin the training." Most medicine men are desended from a long line of medicine men. Their training begins at a very young age. In my experience, my family would always weigh heavy, the age and years of experience a medicine man has. A younger medicine man may not have enough "power" to undo the bad medicine that was put into place by a witch.

My grandfather shared a lot of information with me. He was not a medicine man, nor was he a witch. What he did have was an understanding of how things were for the Navajo. He was traditional and he knew the basic Navajo prayers and blessings. He had an understanding that skinwalkers were in fact the polar opposite of medicine men. The path to bad medicine also starts at a young age. I only state this because of the life I've lived out here on the reservation, my experiences, and the information I have collected from my elders.

A common misconception about skinwalkers is that they suddenly gain their abilities by making a pact with some dark force. It is very easy to come to that misconception in an attempt to explain what they do. I don't personally know any skinwalkers or witches, all I can say is what I know from my own experiences and what knowledge of them was handed down to me. In order to deal with an enemy it is prudent to understand that enemy. Their abilities come from many years of training, just like a child born into a family of medicine men would train to achieve abilities and knowledge. A child born into a family of the "Enemy Way", will train to achieve those abilities of their parents. The Navajo culture is handed down generation to generation. It has always been this way.

It does not require many words to speak the truth. - Chief Joseph