Joseph Epes Brown (1920–2000)

Brown lived for a year, 1948, with Black Elk and his family, Lakota Sioux, and produced a book for him, The Sacred Pipe (1953). Here Brown writes a wonderful pamphlet about the religious system and some traditions of the Plains Indians, especially the Sioux. This is brief, the language is from the 1960s, but it is a beautiful and respectful glimpse into the sacred vision of a far more spiritual culture than our own.

The low rating I am giving this pamphlet says more about me than it, probably. I didn't read any new ideas here. I don't know where I got the pamphlet from, unless Pendle Hill recently reissued it...but if they did, it is not noted on the title page.

Joseph Epes Brown spent time after graduating from college with Black Elk, a tribal leader of a Plains Indians tribe. Black Elk taught Brown, through stories, about Native American spirituality:
"In my first contacts with Black Elk almost all he show more said was phrased in terms involving animals and natural phenomena. I naively wished that he would begin to talk about religious matters, until I finally realized that he was, in fact, explaining his religion. The values which I sought were to be found precisely in his stories and accounts of the bison, eagle, trees, flowers, mountains, and winds."

If you are unfamiliar with Native American spirituality, this will be a good place to begin. show less

Not a favourite, a little dry of a read. Informative though.

Dr. Brown opens us to the core elements of American Indian sacred lore, spiritual rites, religious values, language, arts, dance, healing practices.