As a young child of the Oglala Lakota Sioux, Black Elk had been given a mighty vision which would lead him on a personal journey that lasted his entire life. Although Black Elk's vision was a prophetic message telling the terrible future of his tribe, it also held positive aspects that must be reclaimed. It is through this reclamation that the guiding beacons given to him reveal an ancient pathway woven into the images of the West. By exploring Black Elk's eyewitness account of the crucial events of that time, the author discovered a series of metaphorical footprints that show us the way toward inner strength and a balanced life…125 years later. To help with an interpretation of Black Elk's account, the author invoked the insight of Joseph Campbell, one of the world's foremost authorities on societal ideologies. Through his understanding of symbol and metaphor Campbell was able to examine the metaphorical footprints and provide us with a twenty-first century "spin" that a simple man generations before could only imagine. This book offers a new look at Black Elk's footprints and together with the insight of Joseph Campbell, presents an inward path to the positive forces within each of us, waiting for discovery.
As a young child of the Oglala Lakota Sioux, Black Elk had been given a mighty vision which would lead him on a personal journey that lasted his entire life. Although Black Elk's vision was a prophetic message telling the terrible future of his tribe, it also held positive aspects that must be reclaimed. It is through this reclamation that the guiding beacons given to him reveal an ancient pathway woven into the images of the West. By exploring Black Elk's eyewitness account of the crucial events of that time, the author discovered a series of metaphorical footprints that show us the way toward inner strength and a balanced life…125 years later. To help with an interpretation of Black Elk's account, the author invoked the insight of Joseph Campbell, one of the world's foremost authorities on societal ideologies. Through his understanding of symbol and metaphor Campbell was able to examine the metaphorical footprints and provide us with a twenty-first century "spin" that a simple man generations before could only imagine. This book offers a new look at Black Elk's footprints and together with the insight of Joseph Campbell, presents an inward path to the positive forces within each of us, waiting for discovery.