Mad Bear: Spirit, Healing, and the Sacred in the Life of a Native American Medicine Man

by Doug Boyd

Book Overview

A portrait of Mad Bear, a Tuscarora Indian, a medicine man and an Indian-rights activist, who was dedicated to the preservation of the Earth and to the integration of spirituality into everyday life.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0671759450
• ISBN13: 9780671759452
• Release Date: December 1994
• Publisher: Touchstone Books
• Length: 366 Pages
• Weight: 0.79 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.6" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

A great book about a true Native Medicine man.

This is another great book by Douglas Boyd. Mad Bear was one of Rolling Thunder's teachers. This book shows some insight to the common thread that medicine people share; it also shows their different personalities. Mad Bear had a special connection with people, he had a way of making people smile and be happy. I highly recommend this for anyone who is studying medicine people.

Tuscarora dreaming

This book follows Boyd after his meeting the eclectic Tuscarora medicine man and documents their travels across the country, with the aim of promoting inter-religious dialogue and cooperation. It is written well; Boyd managed to captureMad Bear's culinary and other idiosyncrasies in a way which is genuinely funny and, at the same time, filled with valuable information about modern native medicine. With native Americans information rarely comes in an explicit way; likewise, the most valuable stuff in the book is hidden between the lines: the Tuscarora/Iroquois dreaming practices, the practices used to take care of and obtain feedback from nature and the commitment to working together with spiritually aware people from all over the planet. The Native Americans understand (suggests the book) that these are important times when teachings have to percolate from their keepers to a wider, global audience, that we have to work together to neutralize the forces of chaos and greed that are destroying the fabric of life on this planet and that life can be an amazing and mysterious adventure if one allows it to manifest itself through us. These things are brought forth in an easy conversational style, especially in the first half; the second has to do more with specifics of Boyd's own participation in inter-Indian dialogue etc which I did not find as gripping. Still, this is a valuable book and if you want to learn how to speak (and keep your mouth shut) with the Indians, you will found it useful.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

Doug Boyd again, as in "Rolling Thunder", has shown us the everyday life of a remarkable man. Thank you Doug for reminding us how it is possible to live the sacred path with gusto. Since we are not all able to sit at Mad Bear's knee to learn his great wisdom, Doug shows us that the traditions still exist and are practiced. This is a book that should be read by everyone.