Lightning Bolt Chichakos

Greetings Brothers, Sisters, Children and Grandchildren of Mother Earth. The ways that I have been given to carry have been traditionally passed to me (FOR FREE), as my former teacher explained "Like, from father to son." I take very seriously the responsibility and moral obligation that comes with carrying such knowledge and power, and I do my best to walk with it in a good way. I am not important, Creator is what is important. I do not cater to New Age romanticized and glamorized, preconceived, absurd, notions of what Native American spirituality should be. There is the way people think it should be, then there is the way it is.

If you do not want the real thing please do not waste my time. My time is very valuable, I do not have time for games or New Age grandiosity. So, if you are looking for New Age glamorization of "Shamanism" please go to someone who "Trained" at one of those New Age foundations, or anyone that provides "Shamanic Practitioner's Workshops." For the right amount of money they will sell/tell you anything you want to hear. Such people are guilty of cultural appropriation or as I call it "Cultural Hijacking", and cultural religious and spiritual exploitation. I do not sell ceremony or sacred knowledge nor exploit Native American culture or spirituality, I will leave that to the New Age Charlatans who are in to such exploits, such as selling "Psychic readings" and exploiting the gifts of the Great Creator. Unlike New Agers, I understand that the power belongs to the Great Creator and is therefor not mine, therefor I can not sell it or charge money for spiritual services.

If you ask me for any kind of assistance please approach me with an open mind, and you need to present Tobacco and an offering (what ever that may be), as is traditional protocol and accordance with the spiritual law of reciprocity.

I am not a certified M.D. (western world trained doctor) and ceremony should never be sought in place of professional medical attention (my disclaimer). My approach to healing is medico-religious and spiritual in nature. Please do not seek my council or advice if you are not prepared and willing to hear the answer. I am reluctant to perform healing ceremonies as I have learned from experience and observation that some people say they want healing but are not willing to take responsibility for their behavior or other influences on their part that have created, or contributed to, their sicknesses, and therefor not willing to make the changes in their life that the healing requires. This is because as above so below. Physical ailments are usually a manifestation of a spiritual ailment or imbalance. If I just "Wave the magic wand" (figure of speech) and heal someone, which I can do, without taking the time and skill to get down to the brass tacks of why a person acquired the ailment, and I don't identify and correct the problem at the root level, then the chances are the ailment will just come back. Nor will the person learn what they need to learn from the experience of the ailment, or repay their karmic debt if that is the case. IN REMISSION IS NOT HEALED! When I work with the Great Creator to heal a person I aim for that ailment to never come back. HEALED! And of course, some people I am not supposed to heal. They have their ailment for a reason and I cant interfere with the flow and design of the Universe, lest I create an imbalance myself stepping where I am not supposed to!

I do not approve of selling the sacred in any way shape or form. Please, for your own safety, do not attempt to duplicate any ceremonies, or mannerisms you witness me conducting in or around ceremonies without the PROPER training. I am not responsible for any harm to you or your loved ones resulting from such behavior and blatant disrespect. I do not claim credit for any "Healings" or "Miracles" resulting from the ceremonies I conduct. All credit goes to the Great Creator of the spirits of the Earth and the Universe, for I am but a little hollow bone that the power passes through. I do not have any desire to be anyone's "Guru." Someone once told me, "The fastest way to ruin a holy man is to give him one follower."

I do not claim to be a "Shaman" or "Medicine Man" as these terms are not indigenous anyway. My Native American blood lines have been documented and traced back to the 1800's. I am of direct Native American descent and therefore Native American by blood. I am enrolled with a Native American tribe in the Southeast U.S. and am enrolled with that tribe as a "Teacher." I will keep my tribal affiliation anonymous so as not to imply that my tribe or band endorses my actions or words. I stand on my own. I understand that 4/5 of the real Native Americans aren't enrolled as tribal members anymore (as mentioned in a Manataka American Indian Council News Letter), "This is just more evidence that about four fifths of the American Indian population cannot even call themselves Native American or Indian without violating the laws of the land." This is due to one bureaucratic black balling scam or other, and even their own tribal governments kicking them out over greed for Casino money (paper genocide by pro government Natives). Also many tribes today are Kicking out their own tribal members over Casino money greed and corrupt politics. Brothers and sisters keep your chins up!!

I had no desire to walk this path and adamantly resisted, and the more I resisted and fought it the more my life fell apart. The name Lightning Bolt was gifted to me from "The Grandfathers" (the spirits) through Fools Crow, to be used with the music. I have another name that is sacred and private (and it is not flashy or fancy) that was gifted from my former teacher, and Creator, that I do not share with the public, for it is between myself, my former teacher and the Great Creator. I will not disclose the forced upon "Christian" or "European" name of my former teacher Coyote or his federal tribal affiliation out of respect for his privacy and anonymity.

There are no "Holes" in the interviews I have done with Heyoka Magazine. The only holes are in peoples interpretation and understanding of the information presented in the interviews. Some of the things in my experiences I am not allowed to share with the public. They would not believe it or understand it even if I did. Any attempts to manipulate, exploit or take advantage of myself, or some one such as myself, will only result in your own self created destruction (I have seen it happen). For as you know life moves in a circle, what comes around goes around. I do not intend for this message to sound harsh in any way. However, I would like your experience with the ways I've been passed to be real and true and respectful, and I care for your safety and happiness.

I am not affiliated with, and neither oppose nor endorse A.I.M. (the American Indian Movement), and I try to avoid political controversy. I understand that there were, and are, many people who are envious and jealous of Fools Crow. Due to this he had many enemies such as the people in A.I.M. who burned his home down, which is why I want to vomit when people say that people in A.I.M. loved Grandpa Fools Crow. (They burned his home down because they thought if they did then they could keep him from coming back!) When ever you have an incredible amount of power you have enemies automatically. I knew that for me to come forward publicly and announce having trained under him that I would inherit his enemies, all though I do not look at them as enemies even though they may not feel the same towards me. I understand that there are those who stand against Fools Crow's teachings (particularly all colors of the Human Race having a welcomed place in Native American ceremony) and want to turn Native American spirituality into an elitist club, and in their arrogance and ignorance they forget that Native American spirituality is inclusive NOT exclusive. I will firmly stand by Grandpa Fools Crow and what he stands for regardless of the negativity that is directed at me. Grandfather Martin High Bear (A SunDance leader) said, "How can we not allow White people into that SunDance Arbor when all four colors of the human race hang in that arbor." The same can be said of Sweat Lodge. I was instructed to help and be open to people of all colors, after all all four sacred colors of the human race are a sacred part of our sacred Medicine Wheel. I also understand that some people are upset that I do what I do because I was trained outside of "the box" but they should not have an issue with this since Native American spirituality is circular anyway! As Ben BlackElk said, "There is no power in a square." So I am blessed to have been trained outside of the box! I feel greatly blessed that I have the courage to walk the path that others fear to tread.

I find it laughable when people use the word "tradition" like a banner when it suits their own agenda. I also find it comical that some people, especially Native American people, will readily and willingly adopt Western European's consensus reality when it suits their own agenda as well. For example, the closed and narrow minded false concept and belief that a spiritual being cannot reach from beyond the grave to pass on spiritual teachings, for death is but a doorway and time is but a window.

I do not, nor have I ever, advocated the overthrow of the U.S. Government. I advocate the restoration of the U.S. Government to its LEGAL AND PROPER PLACE, as its founding fathers laid out. I pray for the healing of the people and all living beings, and the healing of Mother Earth, in love and respect for all living and spiritual beings.

Mitakuye Oyas'in (All My Relations)

-Lightning Bolt

Warning to people looking to do business with "Bond's Indian Supply." These people are making money selling bogus products to Native People and the public at large. Be very careful with what you purchase from this source. It is recommended that you buy products from sources which supply a PHOTO of the product, or a web site that you can verify their credibility with, even hear customer feed back.

SunDance is one of the seven sacred rites of the Lakota Sioux (but other plains tribes do it too). This ceremony was brought to them by White Buffalo Calf Woman, on the plains. This ceremony in fairly recent years has been brought to the Northeast and the Northwest coastlines of this continent where it does not belong. There are Lakota Sioux Elders who are upset that this ceremony has been taken away from it's Native environment (the Plains).

There are now people (many new age) who are going around saying that people who are not SunDancers are not qualified to run Sweat Lodge ceremonies (another Lakota Sioux ceremony), even though there are MANY other tribes all over this continent who traditionally sweat in lodges or cedar plank houses, who had nothing to do with SunDance. The point of taking SunDance out of it's Native environment and bringing it into areas where it does not belong creates an imbalance. It is mixing the spirits and powers and forces. The Natives on the East Coast and West Coast have their own ceremonies to keep their part of the world in balance. For people to say that another Native person is not "Qualified" to run Sweat Ceremony unless they do things someone else's way is arrogant and conceited.

There is someone in the Pacific Northwest (and I know who you are) who is going around and telling people that "Before a person can run Sweat Lodge they need to have SunDance'd for 4 years, and sponsored someone SunDancing 4 years prior to that." My former teacher and mentor Coyote, who knows the person that is saying this, said, "That message from the spirits was intended for himself, not the general public. Do you know how many people would be without a sweat lodge if that was true?" This has created an elitist club and is hurting Native spirituality and people at large. This is a perfect example of the dangers of people misinterpreting information from the spirits. I have been told by credible sources that the SunDances in the Northwest are not being ran properly, and as an elder said, "How can it be ran right when it is a plains ceremony and does not belong here." I have also heard credible reports of SunDance leaders allowing women on their Menses to count coup on the Sun Dance Tree (which is sacrilegious).

I encourage people to continue with their own tribal customs and traditions regardless of what other people say, unless specifically called to walk otherwise. People who are promoting SunDance in alien environments are turning SunDance into a monopoly on Native American spirituality. Every tribe is important and beautiful, not just the Sioux. Every ceremony is important, not just the Sioux's. I am not against SunDance. I fully support SunDance, and those who participate in it (the dancers and those who support the dancers if they are respectful and fully understand the meaning and responsibility of SunDancing), in it's right and proper place, where it belongs, on the plains.

Attention "Pipe Carriers"

I have been frequently meeting people who call themselves a "Pipe Carrier." As the spiritual people who trained me said, "Just because a person has a Pipe that does not necessarily make them a pipe carrier." It takes many years of training to even get close to acquiring the title of "Pipe carrier." In some tribes the Pipe Carrier does not even conduct the Pipe ceremony but are merely on call to bring the Pipe when it is needed (even at 3:00am if need be), and then they are not even the ones who conduct the Pipe ceremony but merely just "Carry" the Pipe. To those who want to be a "Pipe Carrier", be careful what you ask for, you just might get it, and all the burden and responsibility that goes with it.

So you want to be a "Shaman"?

Being a "Shaman" is not a game or a joke. In fact Native American people generally do not use the term "Shaman" because it is more associated with the act of "Sorcery" (bad and negative power and medicine) rather than healing and positive good medicine. If you are looking to be a "Shaman" I suggest you do not pay someone money. If they ask you outright for money for any kind of "Shamanic Training" you are probably being scammed. These kinds of people are usually predatory and parasitic in nature. If they try to use the justification of a "Return of energy*" for the training as a reason to charge money, there are other returns of energy. Money is just the only return they want! If you are truly meant to be a "Shaman" chances are you were born with the gift and you will meet the right person when the time is right, FOR FREE! So why pay someone money for something you already possess within you?

If you do not have it within you already, then you cannot buy what isn't meant to be yours in the first place (as Coyote said). People cannot buy Creators blessings, or its power, nor can they get it from a book or "audio tapes." They have to be earned! People cannot buy the power with money, they have to acquire it through intense sacrifice and excruciating suffering, and for people who will probably not even appreciate it and probably even spit in your face, and call you a "Phony" or "Plastic/Shake N' Bake Shaman." If people are promoting "Shamanism" as a beautiful way of life and promoting a cute little warm and fuzzy depiction of "Shamanism" they are probably seriously misguided and/or trying to scam you out of your money. I suggest you keep your hard earned money and use it for something worth while. In fact you would have better odds buying a lottery ticket and winning the jackpot, than paying for "Shamanic Training" and becoming a "Shaman." The biggest problem is people (including some Native people) live in a world that is so indulgent in instantaneous gratification that they think the spirits and Creator can be had on the same terms. If you think this, I strongly encourage you to think again.

*There are traditional donations OFFERED by a true student to a true teacher or mentor and that is acceptable, but for a teacher to set a "price" is to sell the sacred and charge money.

-Lightning Bolt

Being a "Shaman" is great fun and a real pleasure. For those who are eager to be a big wig "Shaman" expect this;

You will be laughed at, ridiculed, called crazy, ran out of town or flat out crucified. You will live on the fringes of society, if you can even call it living. You will experience a "Shamans' death" (as referred to by Anthropologists) and dance the spiral dance of madness into oblivion and ALL ALONE as you face your darkest side with nowhere to run but into it, all the while hoping to return to sanity with the power you acquire from the edge of madness where you meet Creator and make the connection all the while undergoing an excruciating metamorphosis sprouting wings and becoming like the Phoenix as you rise from the ashes of your own death! You will be slandered behind your back, and stabbed in the back. The more good you do the more you will be targeted and attacked even by your so called own people. You will have people come to your door and want from you with giving nothing in return. You will more than likely not even be appreciated or respected, and you will help people usually at your own expense. You will be demeaned, dishonored and defamed.

You will walk the most lonely and selfless path on the planet and suffer, suffer, suffer, sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice, giving everything you have for those who will more than likely not even appreciate it. You will enjoy the company of all kinds of spirits (good and bad) entering your home all hours of the day and night wanting help and tormenting you in waking state and dream state, until you do. You will experience the fun of the dark ones trying to stop your good works in any way they can. You will have great fun watching in visions those you love die a hundred times over, and the places you love destroyed, and the most terrible visions of future events you could possibly imagine, images burned into your mind that you will never get out of your head and have to live with for the rest of your life, and one by one watch them come true knowing there is nothing you can do to stop them from manifesting!

At around this point you will more than likely land on a Psychiatric ward that will sedate you with psychotropic medications which tear down your psychic defenses and leave you psychically and spiritually vulnerable, as you go insane from the visions and spirits that torment you, all the while trying to piece your mind back together in spite of the visions and spiritual forces (and doctors) you deal with on a daily basis.

Hey! Are you having fun yet? Isn't being a "Shaman" a wonderful way of life? If that is not enough, your family and loved ones will be targeted by the dark ones (evil spirits), and your own family will go through every kind of medical problem you could imagine just so the good spirits can fine tune you into a good healer, a good healer for people who will more than likely not even appreciate it or respect what it is you do for them!

And if you screw up bad enough??? The spirits kill your family members one by one picking them off like flies! But hey! Being a "Shaman" is a wonderful way of life!

So... You want to be a "Shaman"????

-Lightning Bolt

Photo Credits

Shoshone Sundance early 1900's - firstpeople.us

Plains Style Pipe, made and photographed by Lightning Bolt. Stem made from a Cedar Lightning strike, inlaid with fulgurite. "The Lightning Pipe"

"Shaman's Power" painting by JD Challenger - firstpeople.us