Having material wealth is kind of like a no-win situation on the reservation. I've talked about this already but apparently, some didn't pick up on it entirely. If there is no apparent cause for the wealth and especially if the wealthy one is a medicine man, the suspicion that they are dabbling in witchcraft is high. I remember walking with my husband passed an older Navajo man who was nicely dressed, with a turquoise bolo, his hair long and pulled back in a low ponytail under a nice cowboy hat, leaning against a brand new big truck. He watched us come out of the door of the Blake's Lottaburger in Tse Bonito, NM (on the outskirts of Window Rock) and I smiled at him (my mother taught me to smile at strangers who I meet eyes with as being polite). My husband then warned me to be cautious of overtly wealthy Navajo because one could never know how they got their wealth (poverty is alot more frequent out there). He said that the man could've been a witch. On the other hand, if a family is too well off or has too much luck, it's also believed that a jealous person may hire a witch to turn some of that luck to ill. So, success and overt material wealth are a no win situation on the reservation. It has an interesting effect on people living there. A person making over six figures anuually outside of the reservation would probably have a couple nice new cars and a nice home as well. A person on the reservation with similiar financial status will more likely to be living in an unimproved home that blends in with the rest of the neighborhood and maybe have one new or newer car but the rest will be older. Wealth alone doesn't dictate whether one is a witch though. I haven't heard any accusations in regards to President Shirley and witchcraft yet...It's wealth without apparent source.

So, overt material wealth can be a significant catch-22 on the reservation. Although the Navajo are generally a very loving people, they can have some significant problems with jealousy. I remember reading an editorial a couple years ago in the Navajo Nation Times on the topic of jealousy where a man was urging the tribe to let the jealousy go. Jealousy doesn't always result in accusations of witchcraft or even a skinwalker being hired on the reservation. It gets pretty gossipy out there and sometimes the gossip can take a terrible toll on a person.

Stephanie





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