The Iroquois culture and traditional Longhouse spirituality has a universal appeal, a ring of truth to it that resonates not only with other indigenous people, but also with non-Native people searching for their own spiritual roots. Raised in the home of a grandmother who spoke only Mohawk, Sakokweniónkwas (Tom Porter) was asked from a young age, to translate for his elders. After such intensive exposure to his grandparents' generation, he is able to recall in vivid detail, the stories and ceremonies of a culture hovering on the brink of extinction. After devoting most of his adult life to revitalizing the culture and language of his people, Tom finally records here, the teachings of a generation of elders who have been gone for more than twenty years. Beginning with an introduction about why he is only now beginning to write all this down, he works his way chronologically through the major events embedded in Iroquois oral history and ceremony, from the story of creation, to the beginnings of the clan system, to the four most sacred rituals, to the beginnings of democracy, brought to his people by the prophet and statesman his people refer to as the Peacemaker. Interspersed with these teachings, Tom tells us in sometimes hilarious, sometimes tragic detail, the effect of colonization on his commitment to those teachings. Like a braid, the book weaves back and forth between these major teachings, and briefer teachings on topics such as pregnancy, child-rearing and Indian tobacco, weaving the political with the spiritual. Through his recollections of "Grandma," and what she said, we also get an inside view of the life of a Mohawk man, and his struggles. Sometimes articulate and at other times inventive with his second language of English, Tom takes us on the journey with him, asking us to trade eyes, by "erasing the blackboard" to see if we "can understand what a Mohawk sees, feels, is happy about and is sad about." Chapter sections and headings include: The Opening Address, Colonialism, Creation Story, Language in 3D, The Clan System, Trading Eyes, Funerals and Contradictions, A Language Dilemma, The Fog, Where We've Settled, The Four Sacred Rituals, Atenaha: the Seed Game, The Four Sacred Beings, Three Souls or Spirits and Ohkí:we, Weddings, Pregnancies, A Spiritual Ladder, Child Rearing Methods, The Great Law of Peace, Some Notes on Tobacco and Other Medicine, The Leadership, Casinos, Prayer?, The Future and The Closing Address. There is also an appendix of interviews with Tom's children, entitled: What Grandma's Great-Grandchildren Learned. Written as it is, by someone raised predominantly by a grandmother, it contains teachings which might otherwise be lost. The Iroquois culture and traditional Longhouse spirituality (of which Mohawk is one of five - and more recently six - nations) has a universal appeal, a ring of truth to it that resonates not only with other indigenous people, but also with non-Native people searching for their own spiritual roots. Due to the suppression of indigenous spirituality and culture, not only in Iroquois country, but across North America, many are searching to recover the remnants of what has been lost. This book makes a significant contribution to doing that, having been written by one of the original leaders of the revitalization movement. During the 1960s and 1970s this Mohawk Bear Clan Elder traveled extensively across North America with a group called the White Roots of Peace, a group which has been credited as the original stimulus for the growing trend to return to traditional ways on this continent.

Brings the paranormal beings and places of the Iroquois folklore tradition to life through historic and contemporary accounts of otherworldly encounters • Recounts stories of shapeshifting witches, giant flying heads, enchanted masks, ethereal lights, talking animals, Little People, spirit-choirs, potent curses, and haunted hills, roads, and battlefields • Includes accounts of miraculous healings by shamans and medicine people such as Mad Bear and Ted Williams • Shows how these traditions can help one see the richness of the world and help those who have lost the chants of their own ancestors With a rich history reaching back more than one thousand years, the six nations of the Iroquois Confederacy--the Mohawk, the Oneida, the Onondaga, the Cayuga, the Seneca, and the Tuscarora--are considered to be the most avid storytellers on earth with a collection of tales so vast it would dwarf those of any other society. Covering nearly the whole of New York State from the Hudson and Mohawk River Valleys westward across the Finger Lakes region to Niagara Falls and Salamanca, this mystical culture’s supernatural tradition is the psychic bedrock of the Northeast, yet their treasury of tales and beliefs is largely unknown and their most powerful sacred sites unrecognized. Assembling the lore and beliefs of this guarded spiritual legacy, Michael Bastine and Mason Winfield share the stories they have collected of both historic and contemporary encounters with beings and places of Iroquois legend: shapeshifting witches, strange forest creatures, ethereal lights, vampire zombies, cursed areas, dark magicians, talking animals, enchanted masks, and haunted hills, roads, and battlefields as well as accounts of miraculous healings by medicine people such as Mad Bear and Ted Williams. Grounding their tales with a history of the Haundenosaunee, the People of the Long House, the authors show how the supernatural beings, places, and customs of the Iroquois live on in contemporary paranormal experience, still surfacing as startling and sometimes inspiring reports of otherworldly creatures, haunted sites, after-death messages, and mystical visions. Providing a link with America’s oldest spiritual roots, these stories help us more deeply know the nature and super-nature around us as well as offer spiritual insights for those who can no longer hear the chants of their own ancestors.

In the rich tradition of oral storytelling, Chief Irving Powless Jr. of the Beaver Clan of the Onondaga Nation reminds us of an ancient treaty. It promises that the Haudenosaunee people and non-Indigenous North Americans will respect each other’s differences even when their cultures and behaviors differ greatly. Powless shares intimate stories of growing up close to the earth, of his work as Wampum Keeper for the Haudenosaunee people, of his heritage as a lacrosse player, and of the treaties his ancestors made with the newcomers. He also pokes fun at the often-peculiar behavior of his non-Onondaga neighbors, asking, “Who are these people anyway?” Sometimes disarmingly gentle, sometimes caustic, these vignettes refreshingly portray mainstream North American culture as seen through Haudenosaunee eyes. Powless illustrates for all of us the importance of respect, peace, and, most importantly, living by the unwritten laws that preserve the natural world for future generations.

Presents illustrated retellings of nine ancient stories of the Iroquois peoples.

These essays, produced and published over thirty years, are prescient in the prophetic tradition yet current. They reflect consistent engagement in Native issues and deliver a profoundly indigenous analysis of modern existence. Sovereignty, cultural roots and world view, land and treaty rights, globalization, spiritual formulations and fundamental human wisdom coalesce to provide a genuinely indigenous perspective on current events.