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Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux

This book is a first-hand account of the author's spiritual awakening and his role as a medicine man within the Oglala Sioux tribe. It offers insights into the culture, traditions, and spiritual beliefs of the Oglala Sioux people. more

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Black Elk
Black Elk

Black Elk, whose real name was Netsahihoka, was a medicine man of the Omaha Sioux tribe. Born on December 1, 1863, and died on August 19, 1950, Black Elk is known for his profound spiritual insight and contributions to the Sioux culture. more

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“The love of dirt is among the earliest of passions, as it is the latest. Mud-pies gratify one of our first and best instincts. So long as we are dirty, we are pure. Fondness for the ground comes back to a man after he has run the round of pleasure and business, eaten dirt, and sown wild oats, drifted about the world, and taken the wind of all its moods. The love of digging in the ground (or of looking on while he pays another to dig) is as sure to come back to him, as he is sure, at last, to go under the ground, and stay there.”

“I find that a real gardener is not a man who cultivates flowers; he is a man who cultivates the soil. He is a creature who digs himself into the earth and leaves the sight of what is on it to us gaping good-for-nothings. He lives buried in the ground. He builds his monument in a heap of compost. If he came into the Garden of Eden, he would sniff excitedly and say: "Good Lord, what humus!"”

“Thus you can throw yourself flat on the ground, stretched out upon Mother Earth, with the certain conviction that you are one with her and she with you. You are as firmly established, as invulnerable as she, indeed a thousand times firmer and more invulnerable. As surely as she will engulf you tomorrow, so surely will she bring you forth anew to the new striving and suffering. And not merely "some day." Now, today, every day she is bringing you forth, not once but thousands upon thousands of times, just as every day she engulfs you a thousand times over.”