Post by blackcrowheart on Jun 17, 2007 22:32:50 GMT -5
American Indian Chief Performs Healing Ceremony for Upper West Siders
www.nysun.com/article/48491?page_no=1American
By GABRIELLE BIRKNER
Staff Reporter of the New York Sun News
From: Scotttreaty@aol.com
A fragrant mix of smoky sage and red willow bark filled an Upper West Side meeting room that's windows were covered with blankets and plastic sheeting and whose door jams were sealed with duct tape. Standing near the center of the room, an American Indian chief and medicine man, Harold "White Horse" Thompson, chanted and waved stone-filled rattles that pierce the darkness with streaks of light.
About 30 men and women who had come to the Children of Life interfaith center sat around the chief. They had come to participate in an American Indian healing ceremony called a Lowampi.
A small but growing number of New Yorkers are embracing Mr. Thompson's holistic healing philosophy and making periodic trips to meet with him in South Dakota. In November, some of his adherents paid for him to travel to New York City, and last week they brought him back for another two-week stint.
"It's not about slowing down the pace of New York but bringing a different perspective on life and how we make decisions," a resident of the East New York section of Brooklyn who is studying to become a Lakota medicine man, Omar Miller, said on Sunday. " New York needs this kind of energy."
Mr. Miller, who was reared Episcopalian, said he first became convinced of Mr. Thompson's healing powers eight years ago, after the chief treated a friend suffering from liver failure. Ultimately, Mr. Miller, a 46-year-old registered nurse, said he hopes to balance a career in nursing with practicing as a Brooklyn-based medicine man.
It took Mr. Thompson, 44, a lifelong member of the Lakota tribe of the Sioux Nation, more than 15 years of studying Lakota hymns and natural remedies to receive the title of medicine man. He now treats cancer with poisonous gourd extracts and illnesses such as arthritis, glaucoma, and diabetes with a proprietary concoction of plants and herbs — remedies that, he said, lose their potency near dogs, cats, and menstruating women.
www.nysun.com/article/48491?page_no=1American
By GABRIELLE BIRKNER
Staff Reporter of the New York Sun News
From: Scotttreaty@aol.com
A fragrant mix of smoky sage and red willow bark filled an Upper West Side meeting room that's windows were covered with blankets and plastic sheeting and whose door jams were sealed with duct tape. Standing near the center of the room, an American Indian chief and medicine man, Harold "White Horse" Thompson, chanted and waved stone-filled rattles that pierce the darkness with streaks of light.
About 30 men and women who had come to the Children of Life interfaith center sat around the chief. They had come to participate in an American Indian healing ceremony called a Lowampi.
A small but growing number of New Yorkers are embracing Mr. Thompson's holistic healing philosophy and making periodic trips to meet with him in South Dakota. In November, some of his adherents paid for him to travel to New York City, and last week they brought him back for another two-week stint.
"It's not about slowing down the pace of New York but bringing a different perspective on life and how we make decisions," a resident of the East New York section of Brooklyn who is studying to become a Lakota medicine man, Omar Miller, said on Sunday. " New York needs this kind of energy."
Mr. Miller, who was reared Episcopalian, said he first became convinced of Mr. Thompson's healing powers eight years ago, after the chief treated a friend suffering from liver failure. Ultimately, Mr. Miller, a 46-year-old registered nurse, said he hopes to balance a career in nursing with practicing as a Brooklyn-based medicine man.
It took Mr. Thompson, 44, a lifelong member of the Lakota tribe of the Sioux Nation, more than 15 years of studying Lakota hymns and natural remedies to receive the title of medicine man. He now treats cancer with poisonous gourd extracts and illnesses such as arthritis, glaucoma, and diabetes with a proprietary concoction of plants and herbs — remedies that, he said, lose their potency near dogs, cats, and menstruating women.