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Mother Earth Spirituality: Native American Paths to Healing Ourselves and Our World - Paperback | Diverse Reads

Mother Earth Spirituality: Native American Paths to Healing Ourselves and Our World

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"A rich panorama of our native heritage which allows the seeker access to the heart of the Path of Beauty. Ed McGaa has walked this path so that all people may live in harmony."

Samie Sams, Hancoka Olowanpi, author of Midnight Song: Quest for the Vanished Ones

"Ed McGaa is one of the first persons who can write about 0glala religion in the first person because he has lived it. For years anthropologists have hoped a Native American would portray that society from the inside out. Ed McGaa has. It's about time."

William K. Powers, author of 0glala Religion

"Fascinating as well as inspiring reading. Ed McGaa makes an excellent spiritual guide and intellectual teacher . . . The information stimulates the mind, the drawings delight the eye, and the ideas soothe the spirit."

Jack Weatherford, author of Indian Givers

"Profound and insightful . . . Mother Earth Spirituality will be of great importance to those of us, both 'rainbow' and non-Indian people, who walk over land in search of a deeper spiritual life . . . For us, this book is an invaluable guide showing us how to do it."

Fred Alm Wolf, Ph.D., author of Taking the Quantum Leap

ISBN-13: 9780062505965

Media Type: Paperback

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

Publication Date: 05-10-1990

Pages: 256

Product Dimensions: 6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.64(d)

Series: Religion and Spirituality

Ed McGaa, J.D., was born on the Oglala Sioux reservation in South Dakota and is a registered tribal member. He served in Korea as a Marine Corporal before earning an undergraduate degree at St. John's University in Minnesota. He then rejoined the Marine Corps to become a Phantom F4 fighter pilot in Vietnam, where he flew in more than a hundred combat missions. Upon his return McGaa danced in six annual Sioux Sun Dances. The Sun Dance led him to the seven Mother Earth ceremonies under the tutelage of Chief Eagle Feather and Chief Fools Crow, two Sioux holy men. Eagle Man holds a law degree from the University of South Dakota and is the author of Red Cloud: Biography of an Indian Chief; Mother Earth Spirituality: Healing Ourselves and Our World; Rainbow Tribe: Ordinary People Journeying on the Red Road; Native Wisdom: Perceptions of the Natural Way; and the novel Eagle Vision: Return of the Hoop.

Read an Excerpt

Chapter One

Buffalo Calf Woman:
The Coming of the Sacred Pipe


The Sioux were taught and understood that all things are of the Great Spirit. Trees, rivers, mountains, grass, four-legged animals, two-legged animals, and winged creatures all came from the Great Spirit, called Wakan Tanka, who is the Supreme Being. In modern times, traditional Sioux still practice their Way. Holy men and holy women can be found on the reservations, and the ceremonies are still conducted. Some of these ceremonies are now taking place in the non-Indian world.

Before the appearance of the Buffalo Calf Woman, the Indian honored the Great Spirit. But among the Sioux, the coming of Buffalo Calf Woman brought a most important instrument, the pipe, which is now used in all ceremonies.

The sacred pipe came into being many, many years ago. Two men of a small band of the Sioux tribe, the Sans Arc, were hunting and saw something approaching in the distance. As the figure drew close, they observed a beautiful maiden, dressed in white buckskin, carrying a bundle wrapped in buffalo hide.

Behold me.
Behold me,
For in a sacred manner
I am walking.<