The Road to the Sundance: My Journey into Native Spirituality [Paperback]

Manny Twofeathers (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1997

A Native American spiritual elder shares many of his experiences of sacred Shoshoni and Lakota rituals, including piercing and buffalo-skull dragging and the Sundance, the rigorous four-day spiritual awakening. Reprint. 15,000 first printing."

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

In this unexceptional autobiographical account, Twofeathers, an Indian elder, describes his journey into spiritual awakening. Although he previously tried to find fulfillment in Catholicism and Buddhism, he says he remained an empty vessel. Twofeathers did not experience "rebirth" until he participated in the Native American sundance, the most sacred and guarded ritual of the Shoshoni and Lakota. The sundance is a ceremony in which participants undergo a spiritual healing; the dancers often make a commitment to self-sacrifice for others. Twofeathers describes many Native American sacred rituals, including Lakota body piercing, buffalo-skull dragging, and the building of the sacred arbor. He depicts the enlightenment and interconnectedness that the dancers feel during this experience and sheds light on the mysteries of the sundance. However, in the end his writing is flat and he does not involve or move the reader. For Native American and spirituality collections.?Vicki Leslie Toy Smith, Univ. of Nevada, Reno
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

A casual account of intensely painful ceremonial rituals that provide pathways to the spiritual world of the Shoshoni and Lakota peoples. The usual picture of religious self-flagellation pales compared with what Twofeathers, a Native spiritual leader and craftsman, undergoes to achieve a higher understanding. Writing in a relaxed conversational prose, Twofeathers describes how, at urgings from the spirit world, he began to immerse himself in the yearly Sundance rituals held throughout the West. At first, his participation in the Shoshoni ritual merely required him to dance nearly continuously under a hot sun for four days, whthout food or water. Graduating to the Lakota ceremony, Twofeathers has his chest pierced with bones to which ropes are affixed, tying Twofeathers to a sacred tree; running backwards at full speed is the painful means of seaparating from the tree. But there's more. Twofeathers also has his back piereced to enable him to drag up to eight buffalo skulls four times around a sacred arbor. As a veteran of these practices, Twofeathers comes to regard himself as a healer (to the amazement of doctors, he dissolves his agonizing gallstones and somewhat alleviates his high blood pressure and diabetic problems through spiritual medicine), a seer, and a counselor, whose services are sought after within the Native American community. Paralleling his account of these rites is the tale of his success as a craftsman of ``medicine wheels'' and ``dream catchers,'' which are eagerly snapped up at craft fairs and New Age gatherings, and the saga of his unhappy family life, which is finally stabilized, thanks in large part to his flesh sacrifices. A modest and likeable narrator, Twofeathers avoids the self- righteous polemics sometimes found in this genre, and while the gorier sections are initially jolting, his aplomb in withstanding pain and coming back for more lends a certain normalcy to this ritual. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 227 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion Books (June 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786882441
• ISBN-13: 978-0786882441
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,452,222 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For anyone who really wants to understand the Sundance, June 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Road to the Sundance: My Journey into Native Spirituality (Paperback)

As one who knows Manny and is a Sundancer I recommend this book to anyone who truely wants some understanding of this most beautiful and powerful prayer. Manny's descriptions of how he got to this road and the road he traveled are straightforward and descriptive without loosing the respect for the ceremony. He describes the heart it takes to follow the Sundance Road.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful and spiritual book filled with wonderful info!, January 14, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Road to the Sundance: My Journey into Native Spirituality (Hardcover)

Having met Manny Twofeathers, my hopes for the book were high when I heard he had written it. I was not disappointed; it's beautiful and heartwarming.

As a Sundancer, Manny is part of one of the sacred ways of many of the Plains tribes (as well as coastal and Southwestern tribes). He tells of the Sundance in honest and open terminology, of his experiences of it, and gives of himself while doing so. His story is accurate, as well, and tells in detail of many aspects of the Lakota Sundance, as well as some of the history of it.

For those who are interested in the traditional ways of doing things, I recommend this book. For those who are curious about Native spiritual ways, I recommend this book. For those who want to learn about the Sundance, I also recommend this book. And for those who want to hear an honest man's story of spiritual change, I highly and emphatically recommend this book.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Hard Road, An Inspiring Read, July 26, 2002

By 

J. C. Payne (Little Rock, AR USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Road to the Sundance: My Journey into Native Spirituality (Paperback)

A friend of mine suggested this book to me, I told me it would be worth the effort taken to find it. I couldn't agree more. The life story of Manny Twofeathers told in his words is a inspiration.

Manny is by no means a polished author, but the plain language and the raw presentation help to make this a much more compelling and effective book.

With some of the graphic descriptions of the sacrifices and ceremony involved in the Sundances,

I would suggest this book to anyone who is looking for some inspiration as they make there way through a long and troubled journey.