SHAMANS
of
SAN DAMIANO
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SHAMANS |
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Introduction |
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YOU ARE |
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Biography |
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Enter Shamans |
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Discoveries |
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Farewells |
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Synopsis |
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Generations |
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Contents
NOTE: Click on the following Title page iDedication ii About the Arthur iii Thanks to... ivPreface v Contents vi Prologue ixSan Damiano Cross xii01 Awakening… 102 Groundwork 23 03 Enter the Bear 36 04 Dream Worlds 67 05 Shamans of Old 72 06 The Apprentice 92 07 Discoveries 103 08 The Arrival of Spring 118 09 Šipa·puli·ma Found 131 10 Sacred Offerings 15311 The Messenger 171 12 Zuńi Bound 18913 Commemorations 20914 Encounters 22515 The Pilgrimage 246 16 Powerful Medicine 270 17 After the Fact 290 18 Synopsis of the Age of Reality 302 Shamans’ Genealogy 309
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J. Lamah Walker
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Copyright
© 2001 by: All
rights reserved under International Library
of Congress Printed
in the United States of American Cover
image by Lawrence W. Lee |
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The
ailing And
the lonely who
are too often in a
hopeless search for
healing and love
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John
for his enduring love Diann
for her loving friendship Barbara
for always being my sister Lawrence
w. lee for his artist Joanne,
for her shoulder David
for wanting me to live Dennis
for his friendship Loving,
Caring Friends NONA,
don, Jan, Doris, Rita, RONA
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We all struggle just to subsist in this often-crazy world of ours that is all too recklessly full of innumerable illusions that we have simply come to accept and too easily believe that they are all actually established, believable and well-founded realities. This present bit of rather intriguing and inspiring oral history has been in the most thoughtful and critical formulation for some sixteen years before it was ever and finally committed to the written page. This otherwise quite extended and previously unexplained passage of time was due in large part to the indispensable manifestation of many of the story’s more current revelations, discoveries and events that serendipitously needed to have ultimately and inevitably manifested themselves as well as the perceived self-imposed necessity for the author to have conclusively resolved his own ethical/moral struggle dealing with the possible appearance of serious incongruence between that of relating a story with such authoritative certainty on the one hand and at the same instance my having no real sources of information that may have in any manner actually substantiated or authenticated the historical elements or characters of this intriguing tale. One might easily suspect that there has been entirely too much literary license employed in certain affected portions of this story; I can only assure you that those particular incidences that are often related so dramatically and may even appear to have no true-life historical basis, may in fact, be far more compelling in their essence than many of those more convincing but often totally unsubstantiated illusions that all of us are repeatedly subjected to on such a commanding and relentlessly consistent basis. I wish to be extremely clear about one literary license that I have taken advantage of and that has to do with the use of the word, “Shaman” in the title of this book. Shaman is essentially a Russian or European word applied to describing any sort of Witch Doctor or Medicine Man. There are NO Witch Doctors here amongst our own revered Native American Spiritual Leaders or Medicine Men. I took the liberty of using this term strictly for the marketing of the book; I apologize to any Native American that I might have offended as I am very sensitive to any and all Native Americans. After all, what is reality? And, aren’t we all too often guilty of simply choosing that path of least resistance just so that we won’t remotely appear to be “rocking the boat’ or possibly disappoint some loved one by choosing a road less traveled? This rather poignant tale is in essence a story that is all about the power and significance of love that may have well had portions of its earliest development deceptively cloaked in what our Western culture might refer to as some form of carnal lust and passion. It all begins in the very closing years of the Eighteenth Century and had its final and most poignant installment of inspirational and spiritual muse dramatically manifested during the mid-Nineteenth century. The source and inspiration for this most loving tale is, for the lack of any other rational explanation, this earthbound disembodied soul of unprecedented spiritual substance. This loving soul remained in spirit close to the geographic origins of this prophetic story until the very end of the Twentieth Century, where several conspiring and sometimes even tragic circumstances brought together two initiated and spiritually gifted Medicine Men whose actual lives in this living Garden of Eden were necessarily separated by the passage of more than a hundred or so years. Only that most poignant expression of love has that immutable power of transcending any and all obstacles of life if aptly yielded to in that true character of giving and charity. Its rightful consignment in each of our individual lives has perhaps too often and so sadly been covertly subjugated to those conspired and grand illusions that have otherwise been deviously created only to enslave our free-born spirits and that naturally imbued appetite for the lust of a bountiful life that should be so naturally full of personal contentment. These gifted Medicine Men of San Damiano dedicated most of their modest lives to the healing of others’ spirits through that immutable power of love, a love that was and should always remain necessarily unconditional and always boundless.
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Preface vi Prologue ix 01 Awakening… 102 Groundwork 23 03 Enter the Bear 36 04 Dream Worlds 67 05 Shamans of Old 72 06 The Apprentice 92 07 Discoveries 103 08 The Arrival of Spring 118 09 Šipa·puli·ma Found 131 10 Sacred Offerings 15311 The Messenger 171 12 Zuńi Bound 18913 Commemorations 20914 Encounters 22515 The Pilgrimage 246 16 Powerful Medicine 270 17 After the Fact 290 18 Synopsis of the Age of Reality 302 Shamans’ Genealogy 309 "Dancing With Sunsets"
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This beautiful and intriguing Land of Enchantment has for many many years drawn to its intuitively perceived mystical province, peoples in search of a unique and often unconventional spiritual milieu. It is a most distinctive land that is so naturally diverse in both its indigenous and immigrant human inhabitants, as well as possessing every ecological biome level with the singular exception of arctic tundra; what a naturally wonderful and miraculous diversity! The spiritual fabric of this compelling story is equally diverse and most dramatically illustrates that at the very core of every human being is a common quintessence that recognizes nothing of the multiplicity of labeled-differences that are too persistently and often unjustly imposed upon every human, whether they be in regards to one’s race, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, personal appearance, gender, sexual orientation, disability or age in their naturally diverse origins. The varied social, political, cultural, spiritual and most certainly the personal elements of this compelling story could have only been appropriately narrated by one whose own life experiences so closely paralleled these too often contrasting constituents of human circumstance. There is no substitute for fully understanding our neighbor’s uniquely exceptional condition except our actually standing in their sandals; for many of us, that’s simply a virtual impossibility. One of Buddha’s reflective instructions to the judge was most simply and yet profoundly stated as, “do not pass judgment until you have stood in the defendant’s sandals.” Is this not of the very same essential quintessence contained in one of Jesus’ more divine pronouncements on the Mount that one should not judge others less they should run the awful risk of being so judged themselves? “JUDGE NOT, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged; and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” We will and should all ultimately reap what we so willingly sow in this often meager and struggling life of ours, and the only assurance of any real joy comes solely from our exerted ability to knowingly cast aside our learned and often unjustified prejudices, and in their place, establish an attitude towards others that is based solely on love. If I were to have fully accepted some of the moral condemnations of my own culture’s basic Judeo-Christian religious despots, I would have already condemned myself to the same hellish conclusion that is so tragically attended by one-third of all teenage suicides in American; homosexuality. Many of these same tyrannical authoritarians also deny the equality of women and relegate their gender to some lesser station that is necessarily below that of a man; where would the human race be without this gentle member? There are certain portions of this story that manifested themselves in such a dramatic fashion that I was initially hesitant in relating them, most simply because they might unnecessarily offend the very reader that may actually benefit the most from contemplating the ultimate message of this tale. In that light and to those who are too easily offended by those sometimes perceived misgivings of their own neighbors, may I suggest that you reserve any final judgment of this bit of intentionally spiritual literature until you have completely read the entire story to its most inspirational conclusion. Come walk with me in my own sandals, visualizing and experiencing this southwest Land of Enchantment through my eyes, and even more importantly, walk with me in the buckskin moccasins of these initiated Shamans as they innocently and sometimes tragically discover the spiritual mysteries of the human spirit. This story could have only taken place in this marvelous land of human and spiritual enchantment and in that unusual period of Southwestern history where two totally diverse cultures collided head-on and still miraculously managed to ultimately converge through the shared experiences of two Nineteenth Century Shamans and an exceptionally loving Jesuit priest for the singular and compassionate purpose of uncovering and preserving the Truth; the only ultimate and legitimate source for our spiritual and personal salvation. Those boisterous and often righteous claims of religious salvation that is even partially devoid of any demonstration of unconditional love is simply the harsh evidence of a creed that is totally unworthy of any human and/or serious consideration. The better part of this story takes place at a time in the history of this southwest territory when English just wasn’t the prevailing language. In fact, most of the story is centered on that specific period of history that is referred to as the Mexican Period following Mexico’s independence from Spain and just when that infamous Santa Fe Trail was first established as a “trade route” for the purpose of commerce with a foreign country, Mexico. Were I to have written this story in the Zuni language, not that these noble people ever had a written form, and the European Spanish of that period, none of us would aptly understand the essence of what was taking place at any given point. Please bear with me in that I have of necessity imposed my own vocabulary and sometimes that of my computer’s thesaurus to best relate the intimate feelings and the essence of what these unusually passionate and intelligent characters so freely shared with one another. And lastly, is this a true story? You bet your life it is!
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