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no real identity and are considered "fools". All the individuals
we will review later, quoted by Sedonia Cahill and Bird Brother as
teachers, are considered by real Indians as such fools and clowns. I have
personally worked with hundreds of dreams of Indian men and women, and the
images of "clowns" ("Heyokas" and "Mudheads")
often occur in Indian dreams in relationship to white "wannabe"
people. These dreams frequently depict those people as being very immature,
unruly children and associated with clown figures and acts. They also
appear as being dangerous, causing distress and wreaking havoc. In
addition, the dreams emphasize the grief of Indian people and the
necessity for women to protect the Pipe from such white children.
Indian people recognize that these individuals do not know who they are, have little sense of true identity, and need to borrow false names and false origins in order to impress others and obtain a following. Sedonia Cahill invokes the story of the Buffalo Calf Woman before her Pipe ceremonies on the vision quests, linking what she does to the tradition of the Sacred Pipe, which is specifically Lakota Sioux. The Buffalo Calf Woman brought a specific message to the Lakota people alone. Only part of the message is known to the general public. The ceremonies built around The Sacred Pipe have a context and a meaning for the Lakota people. When she appeared upon the Plains, the Sioux were a Warrior Society with ancient war rituals. The Buffalo Calf Woman emerged from the collective psyche of the Plains Warrior Society, and is meaningful in that context. To take this event out of context, and to assign arbitrary meanings to it today
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is
improper. If these people advanced that Moses brought corn to his people
in the desert, or Jesus taught his disciples how to build an igloo, it
would be just as ludicrous as to pretend that The Buffalo Calf Woman is
-watching over Sedonia Cahill's vision quests. "Medicine" names, and the granting of honor
feathers At the conclusion of some of her ceremonies, Sedonia Cahill, like Harley Swift Deer at the end of his "Hoksida Rituals" or so-called "Sun Dances," often gives her cusstomers and Indian name and a feather like a "prize." However many of the questers take a name on their own. In Native American traditions, a name is bestowed, not self-given. In real circumstances, Indian names are only bestowed upon non-Indians by Indians for specific, sustained and efficient work or contribution to an Indian community. An Indian name is an honor when it is thus acquired, meaningless if it is bestowed by a non-Indian such as Sedonia Cahill or Mr. Reagan. A feather is an honor which is rarely bestowed outside Indian circles. It acknowledges a specific contribution to the community, or a heroic deed for the protection of an Indian community. A feather and an Indian name given by a white woman to another white person carries no deep meaning. It is simply an imitative act without context or public communal significance. In Indian societies, the honor is a public honor, like a congressional medal. Socially, Sedonia Cahilll's act has no such value. She, and many like her, IMAGINE that this is a great spiritual gesture, not knowing that the real meaning of
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