Åke Hultkrantz (1920–2006)

Two dominant strands of religion existed in North America. First was the religion of the hunting tribes. These emphasised the carnivore spirits and Father Sun which tended toward individual empowerment. Second was the agricultural religion which emphasized the plant and tree spirits along with Mother Earth. This tended toward a collective empowerment. There was thus, no ability to reconcile the one and the many. Neither maintained a written record of history because life was viewed as show more cyclical. The result of a cyclical view of life is the deninal of purpose as well as any hope of progress and direction for history. This left the Native American without hope, and the dominant religious trait became the Peyote Cult (drug cult) that abandoned life and meaning all together. show less

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> Si les croyances et les pratiques relatives à la médecine, la santé, les soins, la guérison, les rites chamaniques, ont été abordées dans certains ouvrages sur les Indiens d'Amérique, aucun n'a jamais traité ces questions de façon systématique et significative. C'est le travail magistral et irremplaçable auquel s'est attaché Ake Hultkrantz dans ce livre de référence.
—Nouvelles Clés, (5), Printemps 1995 (NS)