Black Elk The Sacred Ways of a Lakota

Chapter 1The Old Ones You know, straight across the board, hardly anyone really knows what is Indian. The word Indian in itself really doesn't mean anything. That's how come nobody knows anything about Indians. So I want to tell you how I grew up and who I am. I've never read books. I wasn't educated that way. What I am saying here is based on my life. That's what I am telling you. I grew up with this "Chanunpa, this "Sacred Pipe," and I have a spirit guide with me all the time. He leads me in and out of all the difficulties, all the obstacles I have to go through. The spirit always finds a pathway. The Chanunpa [Sacred Pipe] Ends a pathway. It's like a deer trail. If you find a deer trail and follow that trail, it's going to lead you to medicines and waterholes and a shelter.P" began when I was five years old. That sacred power was given to me. It belonged to my forefathers and foremothers. My grandfather and grandmother decided they wanted to leave something with our people so that in future times there would be little guys behind me. So it was for the unborn to come, and we had a prophecy about that nineteen generations before. We can't remember back any further than that. Every seven generations we have a family reunion. You call our family the Sioux, but we call ourselves "Lakota. We are "Earth People because we live close to our mother, the Earth. At first we all spoke the same language and the same mind. At the end of seven generations we had a big family reunion, and we spoke many different languages. Then everybody went off again. They went in all directions. At the end of that seven generations we had a family reunion, and we spoke even more languages. Each time ourpeople came together they had to unanimously understand where we came from. They had to understand that we are a part of the fire and a part of the rock, or earth, and a part of the water and a part of the green, or living. That way we were able to communicate with all the living. And so we spoke many different languages, but we still spoke the same mind. So we know where we came from. We still know our roots. At that time we were warned that an unknown power would come to us and would cause in us that little shadow of a doubt. That shadow of a doubt would lead to nothing but hurt and destruction and even to death. For us, death means you are gone forever. For the white man, death means physical death, but to us that is a sleep. In the real death, the spirit is gone forever. So I learned all this little bitty, kindergarten stuff when I was five years old. We have a biological father and mother, but our real Father is "Tunkashila [Creator], and our real Mother is the Earth. They give birth and life to all the living, so we know we're all interrelated. We all have the same Father and Mother. That is why you hear us always saying "milakuye oyasin. We say those words as we enter the sacred "stone-people-lodge [sweat-lodge] and also at the end of every prayer. It means "all my relations." It helps to remind us that we are related to everything that exists. So I was educated that way, and it was prophesied nineteen generations ago that that gift would be given to me at the age of five. The old people were waiting and ready for me. So when I was five years old, I became an adult. I was just a little guy, but in my mind I was an adult. When my old people talked, I always sat right in themiddle. I was just a little guy, you know, but I listened to them. It's really hard to hear an old man talk. You have to have a lot of patience to hear those people talk, because when they talk, they talk about the motivation, the feeling, the unsound that is around in the universe. They explain everything to one understanding. They bring it all together, and when they finish, just one word comes out. Just one word. They might talk all day, and just one word comes out. The next day they'll talk again, and then another word comes out. So for three or four days of talking, there migh