Black Elk
Oglala Lakota wičháša wakȟáŋ (holy man), Heyoka, second cousin of Crazy Horse, and witness to the central tragedies of nineteenth-century Plains Indian history — the Battle of the Little Bighorn (which he witnessed at age twelve), the imprisonment of Sitting Bull, the Ghost Dance movement, and the Wounded Knee Massacre of 1890. Born around 1863 on the Little Powder River, Black Elk received as a child the great vision that became the spiritual core of his life and that John G. Neihardt rendered into the 1932 book Black Elk Speaks — one of the foundational texts of the global engagement with indigenous spirituality, in print continuously for nearly a century and recognized today as among the great religious autobiographies of any tradition. The Sacred Pipe, written with Joseph Epes Brown in 1953, gives Black Elk's account of the seven sacred rites of the Lakota. He also became, late in life, a Catholic catechist named Nicholas Black Elk, holding both traditions without contradiction. He died on Pine Ridge Reservation in 1950.
quotes in library
Quotes by Black Elk
108 quotes“And the bow with thunder, that I might destroy the enemies of the people.”
“The grandfather of the North gave me the herb for healing.”
“And the white wing of cleansing.”
“The grandfather of the East gave me the morning star and the sacred pipe.”
“That I might walk in light.”
“The grandfather of the South gave me the bright red stick that flowered into a tree.”
“That I might give life and growth to my people.”
“The grandfather of the Sky gave me the spotted eagle.”
“That I might see far and high.”
“The grandfather of the Earth gave me the power that holds the people together.”
“All these gifts I received in the vision, and all these I have tried to use for my people.”
“It is in the stillness of your own mind that you find the road home.”
“Every step we take should be a prayer.”
“Grandfather, Great Mysterious One.”
“You have always been, and before You no one has been.”
“There is no other to pray to but You.”
“You Yourself, everything that you see, everything has been made by You.”
“The star nations all over the heavens are Yours.”
“And Yours are the grasses of the earth.”
Explore More Teachers
Discover wisdom from 500+ spiritual teachers across all traditions.
Browse All Teachers