Talking Leaves

http://photos2.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/e/7/7/4/event_265979252.jpeg Talking Leaves

First Wednesday of the month (10/2, 11/6, 12/4) at 7:00pm to 9:00pm $20

with Grandfather Rick McBride

This is a book study evening to discuss the book “Soul of the Indian” written by Charles Alexander Eastman (1858 - 1939), whose Native name is Ohiyesa. He was a mixed-blood Sioux. During the Sioux Uprising of 1862 he became separated from his father (his mother died soon after his birth), and fled from the reservation in Minnesota to Canada where he was brought up in the way of the Sioux. At age fifteen he was reunited with his father and moved back to South Dakota. Eastman earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Dartmouth College in 1887, and three years later a medical degree from Boston University. He served as physician on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota and witnessed the conditions and events that led to the Wounded Knee Massacre of 1890. He dedicated his life to bringing understanding between Native and non-Native peoples in the hope of creating a lasting peace.

In this book, Ohiyesa has "attempted to paint the religious life of the typical American Indian as it was before he knew the white man." “Soul of the Indian” was first published in 1911 and stands out as a text documenting the earlier spiritual and cultural traditions of Indian Country before they were impacted by the breathtaking changes of the twentieth century. We will continue meeting the first Wednesday of every month. You can get a good condition used copy from Amazon, in many cases for less than $5.

Grandfather Rick is a mixed blood Tsalagi (Cherokee) who has been a life-long student of American Indian Lifeways, actively following the Red Road and participating in Native American ceremony for 30 years. He was formally taught advanced principles of the Medicine Wheel by Cheyenne Elder Hyemeyohsts Storm in 1994. He is a sundancer and is traditionally trained and authorized to lead Native American Ceremony including Inipi (sweat lodge), Pipe Ceremony and Drum Healing. Grandfather Rick sees his place as that of "translator" of the Native American Lifeways to help anybody sincerely interested in learning how to become a better human being, his hope being to help achieve a proper balance in human race consciousness. His Spirit name is Cante Lute in the Lakota language, meaning Red Heart; this name was passed in ceremony at Sundance. For further information, visit his website: http://www.mixedblood.info