Tales of Power

The history between the Native Americans and the Europeans need not be re-told for it is one that is known to all of us. It is common knowledge that the European conquerors that came to the New World not only brought with them disease and new technologies but also the end of a way of life that had existed for thousands of years.

What is not known, perhaps, is the reason why the two cultures clashed so violently and why even after the almost genocidal destruction of the Indians, the Whites furthered ensured that the survivors remained isolated from mainstream society by putting them on reservations and systematically eradicating the culture through the use of boarding schools – the latter being an institutionalized system that remained in place even through the 1950s. The result was a people that were internally fractured, riddled with problems like poverty, alcoholism, drug abuse, domestic violence, and suicide. But the destruction of the people specifically was not the ultimate purpose.

Life on the Res – modern day

While at first glance it may appear that the decision to eradicate the Indian peoples was similar to what is typically found in any other conquest, there is, I believe, much more to it – for the destruction of the Indians was not so much focused on eliminating a particular ethnic group or destroying a way of life but rather on eradicating a system of knowledge that posed a substantial threat to the dominant society.

The Indian people came to North and South America from Asia in various migrations, bringing with them much of the knowledge that was possessed by their ancestors in the Himalayas and Mongolian steppe. Among the things they brought with them were shamanistic practices that gave them the ability to traverse distances in ways that defied the principles of modern physics, the ability to channel an animal and acquire it powers, the ability to perceive and know things in mysterious ways, and the knowledge of how to affect people from remote distances - positively or negatively.

A Tibetan Shaman

This knowledge, if applied, posed a tremendous threat to White society not only because it meant they were subject to dangers for which they had no knowledge of how to combat but also because it challenged their understanding of the nature of reality and how they saw the world. To top it all off, it posed a serious challenge to Christianity – the theological foundation of European society - because only through the power of Jesus should one be able to do “miracles.” Anything else was inherently the work of the Devil. How could they explain, then, what these Indians were doing?

An Indian Shaman practices his craft

In essence, it was a Stone Age culture with “supernatural” knowledge caught in the midst of an industrialized society which neither acknowledged nor understood what these people, who were supposed to be more primitive, were able to do. And so, the decision was made to eradicate it.

The Lakota Sioux Medicine Man, Yellow Bird, lies dead after the Wounded Knee Massacre, 1890

Fortunately, despite their best efforts, the knowledge did survive in small pockets and has been transmitted down. Whether it remains as vast and potent as it once was, however, is impossible to say as it seems as if much has been lost along the way.

Lost in Time

So in the end, the ultimate aim of the Indian genocide was achieved: the knowledge that they carried was largely forgotten. This is not only confirmed by individual Indians but also by shamans well-known to White society like Rolling Thunder and Don Juan Matus. Fortunately, however, in the 1960s a renewed interest in the Old Ways led to increased awareness of the plight of the people and the system of knowledge they maintained and, as a result, efforts were made to ensure its survival - within limits. Now Indians are able to practice without fear of direct persecution and the younger generation is able to learn its ways. One can only hope they will be able to carry it on.