#john swanton

[kaccvcate]

I recently added some things to my recommended reading list (in my pinned post.) I read a lot of things but only add what I find really life changing, mind opening, or feel is easily accessible to the uninitiate (for example, I've enjoyed many works by Aleister Crowley, but for someone interested in approaching his work for the first time I would probably recommend Magick in Theory and in Practice, or perhaps his "autohagiography.")

Zulu Shaman by Vusumazulu Credo Mutwa is partly autobiographical about the holy man who wrote it, and partly traditional folk stories. I had no idea that pre-Christian African religion was so similar to the native religion I was raised with. Some stories are extraordinarily similar. The way it's written most reminded me of Creek Indian Medicine Ways by David Lewis Jr., which I read a while ago, but my mind was too blown to write about it (I was always taught not to talk about religion publicly, so it also felt weirdly private, which is silly because the book was published a minute ago.)

The last book I just finished is Tell My Horse by Zora Neale Hurston, which is about the lives of voodoo practitioners Haiti and Jamaica (published in 1938). This is one of the most intense books I've ever read, her voice is so incredible, and her descriptions are so vivid. It was like being transported to another world (for me anyway.) her descriptions of race relations in Jamaica reminded me strongly of my experiences among mestizos in Mississippi, and her descriptions of rituals she witnessed are untouchably badass.

Today I picked up Voices of Our Ancestors by Dhyani Ywahoo, which is about the practices of the traditional (pre-Christian) Tsalagi/Cherokee priesthood. So far it is really far out and groovy, I'm only a few pages in. More than anything her writing reminds me of Dr. Timothy Leary or Robert Anton Wilson, or even Crowley. It has the same pervasive tone of consciousness expansion that those cats have, and she describes meditation and rituals in a similar way. I think it would be best to read this one after Myths and Tales of the Southeastern Indians by John Swanton (or similar) because she makes a lot of references to traditional mythology without telling the stories she's expanding on - maybe she gets to that later, though.

Tell My Horse I bought online at a friend's recommendation, the other two I picked up at McKay's, a used book and record store in Greensboro, North Carolina that had one of the most interesting occult sections I've ever seen.

[dailyhistoryposts]

Skaay

An important storyteller of the Haida, Skaay (born c. 1827) was an important figure in protecting the stories of Haida mythology.

The Haida are one of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America (now Canada and Alaska). Skaay (in church records, his name is written as "Robert McKay", "Sky", and "John Sky") was born at Qquuna and lived in the village of Ttanuu. Skaay was blind and physical disabled, and he was completely illiterate. He kept stories in their original oral tradition, but in 1900 allowed John Swanton and Henry Moody to write them down.

In particular, Skaay dictated the Qqunna Cycle, the longest known Haida epic poem, the Qquuna Qiighawaay, the history of Skaay's family, and Raven Travelling (many indigenous American religions, including Haida, had a trickster Raven as a central figure).