Customer Reviews

The Night Has a Naked Soul: Witchcraft and Sorcery Among the Western Cherokee

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Alan Proctor is the son of the two very wonderful scholars: John and Anna Kilpatrick. In this book, he took their unpublished notes and add his own commentary. They obviously left this information unpublished because of the volatile nature of the subject. In his comments about Cherokee people and even his own relatives, Alan is both patronizing and insulting. He writes from an Anglo anthropological perspective that is out of touch with the Cherokee community. There are so many other books on Cherokee culture that are far superior to this book.

Alan Kilpatrick is the most recent in a short list of scholars (from the likes of James Mooney and Hans Olbrechts to Kilpatrick's parents Jack and Anna) to explore the magical practices of Cherokee "shamans". I use the word "shaman" loosely here and Kilpatrick addresses the reasons why by explaining the different cultural conceptions that non-Cherokee often group under that rubric (often undeservedly so).

Kilpatrick offers an excellent examination of the context of these texts from an anthropological perspecitive while being concomitantly sensitive to his Cherokee heritage. Others have said Kilpatrick is condscending and patronizing in his attitude . . . I've re-read this book again and just do not see the justification for this statement. I think he does a good job at turning the anthropological "lens" upon his own heritage to give it an honest investigation. Moreover, he leaves it to the reader to issue final judgement on the veracity of these practices and texts. Right where it should be. He is also very cognizant of the fact that the terms "sorcery" and "witchcraft" are culturally loaded. So he offers a nuanced examination in an effort to translate the seriousness of these texts for a predominantly non-Cherokee audience.

Overall, this was a fascinating read. The anthropological examination is informative and accessible. The texts themselves are very poetic and are worth reading for this quality alone. And the first person accounts of encountering current practitioners leaves the reader with a lot to think about. For anyone interested in learning about these oft misunderstood beliefs and practices I highly recommend this book.

For continued reading I also recommend
Walk In Your Soul : Love Incantations of the Oklahoma Cherokees
and
Run Toward The Nightland : Magic of the Oklahoma Cherokees

Cherokee mysticism was seldom whispered about in the outside world until James Mooney began his scholarly research in 1891. And there had been no comprehensive study of Cherokee supernaturalism since until Alan Kirkpatrick undertook this study. This is an excellent source book which examines in depth the Cherokee sacred formulas, the idi:gawé:sdi, which have been largely hidden and almost forgotten by this generation. Kirkpatrick discusses shamanic text which serves to cloak the spells in a "secret language whose meanings can only be deciphered by those who have the key and thus are initiated into the code." Some of the spells discussed include those for divining, for poultice making, to counteract evil thinkers, to forget the dead and to trap night walkers. I must add that these spells are considered "ritually dead" and can only be revived by observing certain well-guarded ceremonial purification rites. This is not a story book with a well constructed plot and a breath-taking ending. Rather it is an "instruction manual" geared to those on the Medicine Path who need help understanding the Way.

Even though this book was a requred text I was really surprised to see that Native Americans have beliefs in witchcraft. The book is really worth the purchasing and was really worth my time. Kilpartick made a hard subject simple and easy to understand.