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Becoming an apprentice… learning traditional medicine
“I have consistently found that it is very important to listen, observe quietly and refrain from questions. Native people are very keen observers. They do not barrage their teachers and elders with questions. Instead, they watch and listen. It is a cultural learning modality born of experience and one worth noting.”
With all the years that Michael Bastine spent with Mad Bear (Medicine Man), he never once heard him say what anyone should or shouldn’t do. Mad Bear would give caution at times, but he respected free will. Mad Bear never tried to portray himself as an authority figure.
Due to this mutually respectful relationship, Michael and Mad Bear’s other apprentices had the opportunity to learn traditional medicine ways in an environment that was sacred and built on trust.
OBSERVATION
As Mad Bear allowed his apprentice Michael Bastine to observe his life and see with his own eyes what he was doing, Mad Bear really didn’t give a lot of answers. Michael learned by making the connections on his own. This is how he received the answers to his many questions. This is the only real way of learning the traditional way.When you make the connections on your own, you discover things by yourself, it is a lasting achievement. This is how Michael Bastine began to understand the inner workings and all the elements that were a part of Mad Bear’s medicine work. Mad Bear blended these elements and they all began working in unison. His medicine work was like an orchestra; so diverse and on so many levels.
Michael defines “medicine” as being the life force that exists in creation and the life force that exists in the person. The interwoven relationship between these two life forces develops over time. This is why the title of a “medicine man” is usually not given until the practitioner reaches the age of 70 years old. Even then, the practitioner will usually not refer to himself as being a “medicine man”.
Traditionally a student of native medicine does not make verbal requests to learn specific things; instead the teacher intuitively picks up on the requests, and when the time is right, and if deserving, the student is shown and his learning advances. This requires patience on the part of the student, genuine humbleness and reverence for all things sacred.
LEARNING TAKES TIME
It took a number of years for Michael Bastine to gain the trust of Mad Bear. He had to demonstrate to Mad Bear that he was trust worthy and his ego was in check. It was very important to Mad Bear that Michael would make use of his medicine teaching in the highest and most respectful way.
It also took years for Michael to absorb & process the information he picked up from Mad Bear along the way. Mad Bear was always on the run. Michael would often leave town with Mad Bear at a moment’s notice.
Michael learned from his apprenticeship with Mad Bear that taking in too much information too soon can overwhelm and impede our progress. He said that learning is a gradual process; we have to grow with it.
NATIVE AMERICAN TEACHINGS RUN PARALLEL
Michael Bastine is Algonquin. He was raised a Christian. His conversion towards Native American Spirituality was primarily influenced by Mad Bear and the Haudenosaunee people. Michael had a chance in 1990 to speak with William Commanda, a respected Algonquin Elder, spiritual leader and Band Chief of the Kitigan-zibi Anishinabeg First Nation in Quebec (near Maniwaki) about this possible contradiction.
William Commanda assured Michael, “You are learning things which are very similar to the teachings and the traditions of the Algonquin. There are a few differences, but that’s what they are ‘differences’. They still have the same understanding and the same premise of approach that parallels with all the Native American teachings.”
[Post by Mackboogaloo]
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Recommended books on Native American Spirituality
“You were chosen to be a Medicine man long before you came into this body on this Earth. You have a duty and a responsibility to follow the calling. If not you will hurt your family, your people, and the spiritual function and design of the Universe. Sure, it’s a tough life. Your own Indian people will make fun of you, they will talk bad about you; they will probably even call you a phony or something. But the Great Creator Knows, The Mother Earth knows, your relations in Nature knows, the numerous people from all walks of life you will help, heal and teach will know; and you will know. That is all that really matters. And when things get tough in life you will just have to grin and bear it. That is one of the ways for a true Medicine Man. You take on the suffering, the fear, the hate, the anger, the pain, the confusion, and the sickness of the people. That is why you are different. And you can’t run and hide from it. You were put here on the Earth to do a job for the Great Creator. Like it or not, you’ve got to be strong and just do it.”
Today the image of the Native American medicine man or women is a media icon, often romanticized by Hollywood, with idolized characteristics of being respected, impressive, patient, transcendent & nearly omniscient. This can be the case, but these people are still human and they have flaws like all humans do. Author Doug Boyd, who wrote books on Mad Bear (1994) and his west coast medicine companion, Rolling Thunder (1974), made a life study devoted to long-range investigations of traditional & esoteric ideologies. He knew very well what differentiated the iconic medicine man from the real McCoy.
Doug Boyd (1935-2006) was a close friend to both Mad Bear & Rolling Thunder (R.T.). He traveled all over the world and was a student & friend of adepts & healers of many traditions & cultures. Doug possessed incisive wit and was a master storyteller. He could share personal tales of telepathic experiences & communication, rainmaking & psychic healing from his many years of experience working with and learning from culturally diverse yogis (like Swami Rama), monks, psychic healers, and medicine people. He was a student of some, a mentor to many, and a friend to more.
A good place to start, to grasp the role of a medicine person and the road he or she must travel, is Doug Boyd’s combined books on Mad Bear & Rolling Thunder. These classic biographies paint a definitive picture, in short and in brief. Of course, it would take many books & years of study & sacrifice to learn the intangible secret art behind the medicine craft.
Rolling Thunder’s medicine in many ways was complimentary to Mad Bear’s and they were very close friends & allies to the end. They sometimes traveled together, giving lectures & doctoring others. Mad Bear & R.T. even went to Australia together to speak at a conference.
Rolling Thunder was about 10 years older, so he was a mentor to Mad Bear, although in many ways they were equals on the medicine path.
Rolling Thunder’s grandfather was a traditional Cherokee chief. R.T. early on learned medicine from Amoneeta Sequoyah, the last grandfather herbalist of the Eastern Band of Cherokees.
Later on in Nevada, he learned more medicine from 2 renowned teachers in Nevada, Silver Wolf & Phillip Grey Horse. Even later, he received additional teachings from Frank Fools Crow (Oglala Lakota), Amoneeta Sequoyah (Aminitus Sepuoia) and David Monongye (Hopi). Once Rolling Thunder married Spotted Fawn (Shoshone), his 2nd wife, he began to learn the medicine ways of the Shoshone as well.
Around 1966, Rolling Thunder, Semu Huaute (Chumash), Craig Carpenter (Mohawk) and occasionally, Thomas Banyacya (Hopi) & Mad Bear, in recognition of the Whirling Rainbow Prophecy, reached out to the hippie counterculture emerging in San Francisco & Los Angeles. This also attracted the support of the Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and other cultural icons of the late 60’s.
It was Doug Boyd’s book on “Rolling Thunder” and the appeal of his native (Algonquin) Catholic parents that persuaded Michael Bastine, in 1976, to skip out on his attempted conversion to Pentecostalism, and become an apprentice for Mad Bear so he could learn the traditional Indian ways.
There are additional books written on Rolling Thunder’s incredible journey that expand upon Doug’s work and indirectly provide greater insight on the discipline that Mad Bear must have followed in order to obtain the high degree of proficiency that he was able to display with indigenous medicine.
Dr. Stanley Krippner & Sidian Morning Star Jones (R.T.’s grandson) wrote “The Voice of Rolling Thunder”. R.T. himself, along with his last wife, Carmen Sun Rising Pope, wrote, “Rolling Thunder Speaks”. In this book, R.T., in his own words, referred to Mad Bear as being “one of his greater teachers”. This was quite a compliment!
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