Mitákuyepi. My name is Daniel Garber. An elderly Lakota sun dancer once gave me the Lakota name Wakhúwa Wičákȟa, which in English means “Seeker of Truth.” My family is from the great plains of Montana in the USA. I grew up on a family farm that was homesteaded on land that lies on the border between pre-treaty Blackfoot and Nakota lands. Lakota and Crow peoples probably left their energies there as well. I am an ikče wičaša, which means I am a simple man, but I am a wašicų (white man) and I suffer from ancestral guilt.
The preceding is something like the customary Lakota way of introducing oneself to strangers.
The literature on old Lakota philosophy is based on interviews done with Lakotas since the nineteenth century. Much of that early work was recorded not by anthropologists, but by trappers and traders and agents of the US government, who happened to find themselves living next to old Lakotas. This means that much of that information did not come directly from the source, but rather through the interpretation of outsiders, who were sometimes not sympathetic, and who certainly were not products of the culture upon which they were reporting. This means the work was not professionally disciplined. Much was probably lost in translation.
Much was also lost due to colonial practices of repression and oppression, which sought to tame and civilize what they saw at the time as savage peoples. This was accomplished through enforced re-education of Lakota children in boarding schools and the criminalization of traditional ways. For example, it was illegal to practice traditional Lakota religious ceremonies in the open until The American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978. (Some contemporary Lakota practitioners do not like to refer to what they do as religion, due to the negative associations, but rather refer to it as spirituality.) As a result, many modern Lakotas do not know or practice their own ways. They have been acculturated into the dominant culture, but not always well.
The Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota is the home of the mighty Oglala Lakotas. Per Capita Income on Pine Ridge is $7,773. The unemployment rate on the rez is 80%. A recent study found the life expectancy for men to be 48 years; and for women to be 52 years. The Pine Ridge Reservation has the highest infant mortality rate in the United States. Only a small minority population of the Lakotas still speak the language. Even this is not the “old” Lakota. It is a newer version of the language. It seems the dominant culture did its job well — if their goal was to destroy the old Lakota ways. But they didn’t wipe them out completely. Some practices survived by going underground, including the iconic Lakota Sun Dance. But how can we reliably determine what those practices and beliefs were when those who did and had them are now all dead and gone?
The best surviving window we have into the old ideas of Lakota philosophy is through the writings of Dr. James R. Walker. Walker spent eighteen years, from 1896 until 1914, living in South Dakota as a physician on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Three volumes of documents have been published (Walker 1980, 1982, 1983) that have become primary sources for the study of Lakota spirituality. Walker’s notes were filled with conflicting and confusing accounts from his sources. The published material is the end result of weeding out much of Walker’s conflicting notes. So again, much has been lost. There is even speculation among some contemporary Lakota scholars and writers that Walker’s informants were purposely misinforming him, partly because the material was banned and illegal, and partly because they didn’t trust such knowledge to a representative of the dominant culture, even though he claimed to be an initiated Lakota shaman.
Some modern anthropologists, and First Peoples, object to calling these people shamans. The word comes originally from the Siberian Evenk. Some go so far as to say that Native Americans do not have strictly shamanic practices, but are better described as “Animists.”
“A shaman is someone chosen by the spirits; and who can go into a controlled and repeatable, deliberate trance state, during which they:
A) experience ‘spirit flight’, where they go to the spirit worlds and meet spirits, who they either fight with, negotiate with, or trick, in order to create change in this physical world.
B) are often taken over by the spirits (normally ancestral shaman spirits, or local land spirits) while in this physical world – the spirits using the shaman’s voice and body to heal, or give advice to members of the shaman’s community.”
— Nicholas Breeze Wood, Sacred Hoop Magazine
The Lakota practitioners that I personally know were chosen in their childhood by the spirits. They were trained since childhood to go into a trance state. They are known to do “spirit travel.” And they are often taken over by spirits, in order to heal patients. By the preceding criteria, the Lakota practitioners I know are undoubtedly shamans and what they do is shamanic.
“Shamanism is a hotly debated and contested concept in anthropology today (see Atkinson 1992; Geertz 1973:122; and Taussig 1986). Neither shaman nor priest is completely adequate in the Lakota case. Practitioners seem to inhabit an intermediate, overlapping space between classical anthropological definitions of priest and shaman. While contemporary Lakota religious leaders are increasingly full-time practitioners, they also clearly utilize helper spirits, mediate between worlds, and are believed to leave their bodies and enter into trance states. Labeling Lakota ritual practitioners as shamans has met with some resistance and criticism, but I believe there is substantial evidence supporting the notion that Lakota ritual practitioners may be better understood as shamans as opposed to priests.”
— David Posthumus, Transmitting Sacred Knowledge: Aspects of Historical and Contemporary Lakota Belief and Ritual, p. 352.
Situated Animism is practical modern animism. In Situated Animism human beings are at the bottom of the natural pecking order; not at the top. When humans are at the bottom of the natural order, then it is crucial to have “allies” who are non-human persons in order to survive and to prosper.
“In the Western tradition there is a recognized hierarchy of beings, with, of course, the human being on top — the pinnacle of evolution, the darling of Creation — and the plants at the bottom. But in Native American ways of knowing, human people are often referred to as “the younger brothers of Creation.”
— Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass
This “new-animism” redefines a person to include rocks, animals, supernatural entities, ancestors, medicine bundles, and more. Does this mean everything is a person? Although everything might not be a person, everything has the *potential* to be a person.
“I once asked an old man: Are all the stones we see about us here alive? He reflected a long while, and then replied, ‘No! But some are.’”
— Hallowell
Non-human persons live like human persons do. They live in groups like humans do. Some spirits live in a collective. A collective mimics the lifestyle of humans who live in tribes (oyatepi) and camps (tʿiyošpaye) and families (tʿiwahe).
In addition to the existence of non-human persons, the natural world is not separate from the civilized world. There is no separation. The Lakota maxim mitakuye oyasʾį — We Are All Related — or Everything is Related — summarizes this worldview, but almost trivializes it.
“The realms of Lakota mythology (ohųųkaką), dreams and visions (ihąųblapi), and ritual or ceremony (wicʿoȟʾą, woecʿų) were peopled by a diverse cast of characters, mainly various animal species and spirit persons commonly encountered in the plains environment in which the people lived. In these domains human-nonhuman communication and exchange is still possible, as it was in the primordial subterranean world. Aside from Iktómi and a few other key personalities, the literature suggests that the nonhuman persons of Sioux cosmologies should not be conceptualized as monolithic, timeless, immortal, singular entities but rather as a class (oicʿaǧe) of persons, a tribe-species or collective, an oyáte.”
– David Posthumus, All My Relatives: Exploring Lakota Ontology, Belief, and Ritual, p. 53.
In Lakota mythology, Iktomi is a spider trickster spirit.
“[Iktómi] named everything that was to be found all over the world. . . .Whatever moved upon earth [i.e., animals] got its name from Ikto. We believe that he was the first to speak by using the words with which we express ourselves. Wherever there are here and there some animals that are peculiar, they were made so by Iktomi; and we believe too that he made all wild fruits. . . . He long ago named all the organs found within a man’s body, and to this day we follow those names. . . . And in the olden times, Ikto was good friends with all sorts of animals, being related to them; and they took their orders from him. . . . He was able to converse with animals who cannot speak.”
– Bushotter, 1887– 88
Walker’s old Lakota informants from the nineteenth century describe four parts of the soul. These four parts of the soul are themselves part of what is known as the “Sixteen Wakan Tankas” or the Tobtób Kį. The Tobtób Kį are the Four Times Four (a term used in reference to the sixteen manifestations of Wakʿą Tʿąka).
Walker calls this “the secret lore of the shamans” and gives credit to these old Lakota informants — Little-wound, American-horse, Bad-wound, Short-bull, No-flesh, Ringing-shield, Tyon, and George Sword. All of these gentlemen were deceased at the time of his writing, which was 1917. Bad-wound, No-flesh, and Ringing-shield were the principal informants on the subject of doctrine. Tyon was the interpreter of the shamans, although his knowledge of English was admittedly poor. Sword wrote out his knowledge in old Lakota and that had to then be translated into English. Walker’s account of this process, and his discovery of “the secret lore” sounds eminently plausible.
George Sword wrote the following about Lakota spirits of the soul in about 1896:
“One’s Nagi is not a part of one’s self. One’s Nagi cares for them, warns them of danger, and helps them in difficulties. When a person dies it goes with that person’s Wanagi to the Wanagi Makoce ( Spirit World). The Wanagi Makoce is far beyond the pines.
There is no Nagi Tanka. How the spirits live in the Spirit land and what they do, that is Wakan Tanka. The Nagi are in the world all the time. They do things and talk to people. Then they are Wakan. The Wica Nagi ( the Spirit of a man) may come back to the world to see its people.
When a man dies, his Wanagi leaves his body. It stays near the body for a short time. It is well to please it while it lingers near the body so we must speak well and honor the Wanagi. If it is not pleased, it may do harm to someone. After a time, it leaves and goes on the journey to the Wanagi Makoce (Spirit World). Its Nagi goes with it to show the way. It is happy when it has company. If another Wica Nagi goes with it, it is better. It is happy if it can take the Wamaka Nagi (Animal Spirit) of one’s horse, dog or animal companion. It is happy if it can take Wo Nagi (Spirit of Food) with it.
The journey is Wakan. It is Wakan Tanka. He must cross a river on a very narrow tree. If he is afraid to cross the river, he returns to the world and wanders about forever. If he crosses the river, they enter the Wanagi Makoce (Spirit World).
The Spirits live in Spirit Tipi’s. They do only what gives them pleasure. Women no longer bare children, there is no illness, or famine. If a man is killed by an enemy than he must serve him in the Wanagi Makoce. A Spirit who is serving another in Wanagi Makoce may come to this world and do something that will give him his freedom. Some people can call the spirits.
There are good spirits (Nagi) and bad spirits; also (Nagi) the bad spirits are in this world all the time. They only do mischief. They were driven out of the Wanagi Makoce by the good spirits. A man’s spirit ( Wica Nagi) may become a bad spirit. The Spirit of animals ( Wamaka Nagi) may go into the Wanagi Makoce. The spirit of bad animals may not enter.
A Spirit is like a shadow; it is nothing and something. There are other beings that are not spirits. They belong to the World. They are Wakan. They have power over men and things. The are Wo Wakan ( Belong to the mysterious). They are Taku Wakan (Things Mysterious)
The Wakinyan (Thunderbird/beings) is one. The Tatanka (Great beast) is one; the United (One Who Kills), Taku SkanSkan (Changes things), Tunkan (Venerable One), Inyan (Stone), Heyoka (Opposite to nature), Waziya (Of the North), Iya : Tate (wind), Iktomi ( spider-like), These are all Wakan. The Sun, the Moon, the Morning Star, the Evening Star, the North Star, the Seven Stars, the Six Stars, the Rainbow – these are all Wakan
Anything that moves or does anything has a spirit. Men give the spirits things to get their help or they give them things to keep them from doing harm. If the Spirits would stay away from men, then the man would care nothing for them, only for the spirits of their own they would care. The spirits often do things against each other. The strongest or the most cunning win between their disagreements. A man may be Wakan and the spirits then become afraid of the man.”
The Tobtób Kį are sixteen distinct spiritual entities that make up what we call Wakʿą Tʿąka. Wakʿą Tʿąka is literally translated as Great Mystery. Wakʿą is mysterious. It is mysterious because it is incomprehensible to the limited minds of mere humans. Wakʿą is sacred because it is so mysterious. Tʿąka is great. Wakʿą Tʿąka is not translated as “God.” It is not the Christian God. It is not equivalent to Jehovah. The Lakota prefer the word “spiritual” to “religious.” The word religious has connections to organized religions that have not been kind to the Lakota.
The sixteen spiritual entities that make up Wakʿą Tʿąka are benevolent, that is to say they are the good guys. Other spiritual entities exist who are not so benevolent. Those are the bad guys. The bad guys make up something called wakan šica, which is still subordinate to Wakʿą Tʿąka. All of these spiritual entities are non-human persons, but they are immortal. The higher ones play primary roles in the old Lakota myths. Each of these spiritual entities has its own appearance and attributes. They can shape-shift and appear as human. They can even marry and have children with humans.
The Sixteen Benevolent Wakan Tankas, or the Tobtób Kį are:
•Wí — Sun. The principal Spirit of the Wakan Tankas was created fourth by Inyą, after Makʿa and Šką.The solar spirit of bison. Also known as Aŋpétu Wi (Daytime Wi) to differentiate him from Haŋwí, who is also known as Wi. He is also the Spirit of bravery, constancy, endurance, fortitude, honesty, reliance, and contests. His color is red.
•Táku Škąšką — Motion, Sky (Great Spirit or Tȟuŋkášila) The motion of the universe. His color is blue. Šką was created third by Inyą to wrap around the Stone and the Earth.
•Makʿa — Maka-akaŋl. Earth. The earth Spirit created by Íŋyaŋ as his lover. Her color is green.
•Inyą — Stone. The primordial Creator Spirit. His color is yellow.
•Hąwí — The moon Spirit who accompanies Wi. Also known as Haŋhépi Wi (Nighttime Wi) to differentiate her from Wi. She is also the Spirit of mother hood, constancy, kinship, and feminine things.
•Tʿaté — Wind Spirit. Father of the Four Winds.
•Woȟpe — the Divine Feminine. The Spirit of peace and the wife of the south wind Okaga.
•Wakiyą — Thunder Beings. Thunder Spirits. Wakíŋyaŋ is believed to be a bird. Waukheon – The Thunderbird.
•Tʿatʿąka — Buffalo (Great Beast) The male buffalo spirit of plenty. Enemy of Mica.
•Hunųpa — The bipedal bear Spirit of wisdom. After Iktomi was made the trickster and he forfeited his position as the Spirit of wisdom, he became the lower Spirit of wisdom.
•Tʿatúye Tópa — Wanim, the Four Winds/Directions. The four elder sons of Tate who oversee the cardinal directions, the four winds, health, the weather, and fertility. They can be combined into a single figure.
•Wiyohipeyata, Eya — the West.
•Waziyata, Yata — the North.
•Wiyohiyanpa, Yanpa — the East.
•Itokagata, Okaga — the South.
•Yumní — A whirlwind Spirit, child of Anog Ite and Tʿaté. He is the Spirit of love.
•Niya — Spirit, living souls, Woniya. The breath of life. The first part of the Soul.
•Naǧi — Ghost, the appearance and character. The second part of the Soul.
•Naǧila — Spirit-like, tʿawacʿį, or mind. Consciousness. The third part of the Soul.
•Šicų — Tʿų is a kind of spiritual potency endowed in sacred things. The fourth part of the Soul.
The first twelve are primordial and the subjects of myth. The last four are the Four Parts of the Soul. Each of the sixteen can be assigned to one of the willow poles used to construct a typical Lakota sweat lodge, or initʿi. And so the lodge becomes a symbolic ritual object incorporating these Lakota beliefs.
All of the parts of the soul are given at birth by Táku Škąšką, also known as Tʿųkašila, Grandfather Sky or the Great Spirit. The Niya is the breath of life, the animating element. If it happens to leave, the body will become lethargic and die. The Naǧi is the ghost and contains more of the character of the person. If it leaves, the body will lose consciousness and be comatose, although it will continue to live because the Niya is present. A shaman’s diagnosis of a sick patient may indicate that one of these has gone missing. In that case his/her job is to spirit travel to locate the missing spirit and try to convince or compel it to return to its body.
At first, understanding the nuances of the four Parts of the Soul is daunting. Sometimes the Niya is referred to as the ghost. Sometimes the Naǧi is referred to as spirit. Some of the confusion is no doubt due to the difficulty of translating these obscure subjects. To me, it makes sense to call the Naǧi the ghost. When one dies, the Niya and the Naǧi travel back to the stars along the spirit trail. Waniya is sometimes used as a word for star and Wanaǧi is the word for the earth-bound wandering ghosts who fail to return to the stars.
The fifteenth of the Tobtób Kį is the Naǧila — the Spirit-like, tʿawacʿį, or mind. Consciousness.
The sixteenth and last of the Tobtób Kį is the šicų. I find this one to be the most intriguing. The translations or descriptions about this are very confusing. This may be due to its very central and powerful nature. In the language of the shamans, “Ton” (tʿų or tȟúŋ) is “a kind of spiritual potency endowed in sacred things.”The šicų is given to the person, whether they be human or not, at birth by Táku Škąšką. But the šicų is literally very powerful medicine. It is the power that can be bestowed on a shaman by the high Spirits. A shaman can receive Buffalo or Bear or Thunder Being šicų, directly from the spirit, usually in dream vision or in ceremony. Medicine that is received in this way is kept in a medicine bundle, not surprisingly called a wašicų. The medicine that one might receive from the Eagle is the Eagle spirit’s šicų. Such a thing can reside in a relic or a fetish. (This is why, in my opinion, the šicų does not return to the stars with the other parts of the soul.) The šicų can be preserved in a lock of hair, such as in the Keeping of the Soul ceremony. One can capture the šicų of your enemy by taking his scalp. Animal parts can contain the šicų of the animal. Knowledge of and control of the šicų is crucial and central to the healing and curing practices of the Lakota shaman. Mitʿawašicų is the Lakota for “my spirit helper.”
“Medicine men accumulate šicųpi (plural form of šicų) mainly through multiple vision quests throughout the life cycle. In successful or correctly performed healing rituals the practitioner invests one or more of his šicųpi or part of his collective šicų in the patient or an object. This is necessary in order to renew or make over the patient (pʿiya or wapʿiya) and hence to cure (various forms of the stem asniya ‘to cause to recover, to cause to be well’), restoring wellness or balance.”
“Sicun means ‘leaving your spirit or your influence someplace.’ If you’ve ever read a book and got a sense of the author’s feelings, then that’s something like the meaning. The spirit of the author is in that book. Or it could be that somebody feels your presence when you’re not there; that’s your Sicun.”
— Albert White Hat in “Zuya: Oral Teachings from Rosebud” page 77.
When one dies, the spirit of the life force (Niya), the ghost (Naǧi), and the consciousness (Naǧila) leave the body — to make the voyage back to the stars on the spirit trail (wanaǧi tʿacʿąku). Another word for mind is tʿawacʿį. As a matter of fact, a Lakota phrase describing the “mind and soul” is tʿawacʿį wicʿanaǧi kicʿi.
The Wakan Tanka Sica are malevolent (or indifferent) spirits, and follow in rough order of rank:
•Iya or Ibom – Second son of Inyan and an Unktehi. Lord of the Malevolent Gods. Stupid.
•Iktomi – First-born son of Inyan and Wakinyan. A fallen god, doomed to wander the earth as a spirit. The clever trickster.
•Kssa – The Spirit of knowledge and wisdom. He invented language, stories, names, games, and the first lodge, in which fire from Wi was placed at the center. One story about Iktomi mentions that Iktomi was Kssa, but was stripped of his title for his trouble-making ways. The Oglala Lakota believe that Iktomi was the second manifestation, or degeneration, of Ksa, who hatched from the cosmic egg laid by Wakíŋyaŋ. He is the enemy of Unk.
•Unk – Goddess of passion. Maka’s sister. Banished to the underwater world.
•Haŋ – The ancient spirit of darkness; banished to be under Maka.
•Gnaski – Tatankan Gnaskiyan. A demon called the crazy buffalo. Daughter of Unk.
•Unktehi – Untunktahe. Underwater monsters. The enemies of Wakinyan. Formed from the wrath of Unk when she was tossed into the sea.
•Unkhcegila – Unk Cekula. Monsters of the land. Formed from the wrath of Unk when she was tossed into the sea.
•Mni Watu – Water sprites.
•Can Oti – Canotila. Forest dwelling elves.
•Ungla – Goblins who lurk in the night.
•Gica – cunning and malicious manikins who are visible or invisible.
•Waziya – (Blower From Snow Pines) The Old Man, or Wizard, who received his god-like nature from Iktomi, and is therefore doomed to a lonely immortal life on Earth. A Giant who guarded the entrance to the place of the Aurora Borealis. He fights against the south winds with his cold, icy breath. He also brings famine and diseases. Also said to be the purifier. The first man, banished to earth as the wizard Waziya with his wife Wakanka for helping their daughter Anog Ite to supplant Hanwi. Like his wife, he helps whomever he chooses.
•Wakanka – the Old Woman, the Witch, the wife of Waziya, doomed forever to a lonely immortal life on Earth. Banished to earth as a witch with her husband Waziya for helping their daughter Anog Ite supplant Hanwi.
•Anog Ite – Daughter of Waziya and Wakanka. The mother of the Four Winds, whose father was Tate. Also the mother of Yumni. Because she intrigued with Iktomi against Hanwi, she is doomed to a lonely immortal life on Earth.
•To Win (Tow whih) – The Blue Woman who guards the road to the afterlife. Every act in one’s life marks one’s spirit with “tattoos” that the To Win can read. She is encountered on the Spirit Road (seen as the center of the Milky Way in the sky) and throws spirits back to earth if they aren’t prepared for the next life. To Win is most likely a play on the Siouan word for aunt, Tonwin. Also known as Hihankara (Owl-Maker) – The aged Spirit who stands upon the entrance to the Milky Way, admitting the nagi who show her the proper tattoos. Those who fail her test will be liberated from existence, where their memory and spirit will fade without honor.
•Wanagi – Rejected ghost spirits who fail the test of To Win, doomed to wander the earth. There is a kind of Wanagi that has never had a mortal tether to this world, it is connected to all that the Creator has gifted in life (like the Elements, Animals and Humans.) Some Wanagi “Feed” on the emotions of mankind and thus have the significant impact of either Benevolent or Malevolent natures based on the emotions that sustain them the easiest (Spirits that are “Evil” usually are attracted to humans with Anger, Wrath, Revenge, Sorrow or Sadness in their hearts and those that are “Good” attracted to Joy, Happiness, Love and Harmony.) Because they were not blessed by the Creator with a corporeal vessel, they have a difficult time showing themselves. This leads to some Spirits taking on the appearance of an anthropomorphic Animal, an Elemental figure, an incomplete human or a monstrous human figure.
•Hohnogica – Spirits of the home & hearth.
There are also a variety of other spirits in the world. These are sometimes indifferent to humans, but may cause harm, or be convinced to help humans.
•Wi Can – The Star People
•Pte Oyate – The Underworld Buffalo People
•Aŋpo – The spirit of the dawn, an entity with two faces.
•Čapa – The beaver Spirit of labor and taxes.
•Četaŋ – The hawk spirit of the east.
•Etu – The personification of time.
•Hehaka – The male Elk Spirit of sexuality.
•Hnaska – The Frog Spirit of Holy Medicine.
•Hogan – The purifying Fish Spirit of water.
•Keya – Turtle Spirit of health, safety, and healing rituals.
•Mato – Mischievous healer Bear Spirit of passionate emotions.
•Mica – Trickster Coyote Spirit.
•Sungmanito Tanka – Wolf Spirit of hunting and war.
•Sunka – Dog Spirit of companionship and faithfulness.
•Sunka Wakan – Horse spirit. Like dog only more so.
•Wambli – Eagle Spirit of councils, hunting skills, and battle.
•Zuzeca – Snake Spirit of hidden things, concealed knowledge, and outright lies.
•Iktinike – The son of the Sun Spirit Wi, who was banished to Earth for telling lies.
•Wamaka Nagi – Souls of animals, especially of domesticated types such as dogs or horses.They accompany their owners as they go to the Milky Way in the afterlife.
•Wo Nagi – Spiritual essence of food. Lakota’s have to give due reverence and gratitude to their provisions, to ensure that the Wakanpi will not be upset.
•Very Old People – have power which can be used for evil.
•Moon Women – Women on their moon are easily tricked or duped by Gnaski, Anog Ite and Iktomi.
•Tunkan (Tuh-kaw) – Spirits of the rocks. They are said to play a major role in the sweat lodge ceremonies.
•The 405 Stone White Men. Described first by Frank Fools Crow. These are divided into four groups.
Copyright © 2021 Daniel Garber
The content of this article continues to evolve, but first appeared in a highly edited form in the Spring 2020 issue of Sacred Hoop magazine. http://sacredhoop.org
Words of wizdom 
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