The Dream Seekers: Native American Visionary Traditions of the Great Plains (Civilization of the American Indian Series) [Paperback]

Lee Irwin (Author)

Book Description

Series: Civilization of the American Indian Series | Publication Date: September 15, 1996

In The Dream Seekers, Lee Irwin demonstrates the central importance of visionary dreams as sources of empowerment and innovation in Plains Indian religion.

Irwin draws on 350 visionary dreams from published and unpublished sources that span 150 years to describe the shared features of cosmology for twenty-three groups of Plains Indians. This comprehensive work is not a recital but an understandable exploration of the religious world of Plains Indians.

The different means of acquiring visions that are described include the spontaneous vision experience common among Plains Indian women and means such as stress, illness, social conflict, and mourning used by both men and women to obtain visions.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Lee Irwin, Department Chair and Professor of Religious Studies at the College of Charleston, is author of The Dream Seekers: Native American Visionary Traditions of the Great Plains and editor of Native American Spirituality: A Critical Reader.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press (September 15, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0806128933
• ISBN-13: 978-0806128931
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,053,495 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I have a life-long interest in religion, spirituality, and comparative phenomenology. In pursuit of that interest, I have studied the world religions intensively with a strong emphasis on religious experience, such as visions and dreams, and comparative myth and ritual. My areas of specialization are comparative religions of Native North American (including Maya and Aztec) and shamanism of Asia and Siberia. I also have a strong interest in eastern religions (MA thesis on Daoism) and in Islamic Sufism. As a psychic researcher, I am interested in studying the phenomenology of altered states, trance, mystical visions, OOBE, NDE and other non-ordinary perceptions. My most recent research has been in the area of Western Esotericism and contemporary Hermetic spirituality in relation to transpersonal theory. Interdisciplinary PhD,teach in Religious Studies Department, College of Charleston,

see: http://religiousstudies.cofc.edu/about/faculty-staff-listing/irwin-lee.php

You can check out other writings at:
http://www.sevenpillarshouse.org/people/detail/lee_irwin

http://www.scribd.com/Lee_Irwin_2984/shelf

Email: [e-mail]