Chapter 17 and 18: The First Cure and the Powers of the Bison and the Elk “You have noticed,” Black Elk says, “everything an Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the Power of the World always works in circles, and everything tries to be round […] The sky is round, and […]

Chapter 16: Heyoka Ceremony In this chapter, Black Elk describes the role of the heyoka (the sacred fool) in more detail. He says, “Only those who have had visions of the thunder beings of the west can act as heyokas” (117). In the Heyoka ceremony, they would have thirty heyokas (one for each day of […]

Chapter 15: The Dog Vision In this chapter, Black Elk mentions the town of Fort Yates. Upon my first reading of this chapter, I wrote in the margins: “was just there yesterday – 11/4/16.” While at Fort Yates, I visited the burial site of Sitting Bull, whom Black Elk also mentions in this chapter: “Sitting […]

Chapter 14: The Horse Dance In the Gospel of John, the author recounts a “voice from heaven” which is interpreted by some listeners as thunder and by others as an angel (12:28-29). Previously, I have discussed this heavenly voice as the divine voice that defends and protects society’s victims. For those who enjoy political and […]

Chapters 12 and 13: “Grandmother’s Land” and “The Compelling Fear” “While I was lying there in a bison robe, a coyote began to howl not far off, and suddenly I knew it was saying something. It was not making words, but it said something plainer than words…” (94) “…Father, I have heard a coyote say […]

Chapter 11: The Killing of Crazy Horse “[Crazy Horse] was brave and good and wise. He never wanted anything but to save his people, and he fought the Wasichus only when they came to kill us in our own country. He was only thirty years old. They could not kill him in battle. They had […]

Chapter 10: Walking the Black Road In this chapter, Black Elk laments the signing of the 1876 Black Hills Agreement, in which Lakota chiefs and headmen were intimidated into signing an agreement that not only ceded the Black Hills but also all claims to lands outside the Great Sioux Reservation. “News came to us here […]

Chapters 8 and 9: The Fight with Three Stars and The Rubbing Out of Long Hair In these two chapters, Black Elk recounts the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876. As I mentioned in a previous post, this Battle is also known as the Battle of the Greasy Grass to the Lakota and as Custer’s […]

Chapter 7: Wasichus in the Hills In this chapter, Black Elk describes his relative Crazy Horse, who also had a mystical vision as a young boy. He said, “Crazy Horse dreamed and went into the world where there is nothing but the spirits of all things. That is the real world that is behind this […]

  Chapter 6: High Horse’s Courting In this chapter, Black Elk describes the universal human experiences of young love, infatuation and courting. He talks about seeing a young girl that looks so beautiful that a young man starts to feel sick whenever he thinks about her (42). He also talks about feeling so nervous in […]