This man is one of the funniest closet Elders you will ever meet. Right off the top he will tell you in truck driver slang “ I ain’t your Grandpa, Your Uncle, Your Holy Man or your Healer..... I’m just a guy you met while taking a Sacred Journey. And that he is, and a rather impressive guy at that.

This man shows up wearing his fighter pilot jacket covered with memories of his many tours to Viet Nam. His mouth spews superlatives that make the Nuns blush. He wants them to. His storytelling goes on for endless hours, and no one moves. His presence os both Sacred and profane. He means it to be that way. He is both with equal measure and his dance is divine. He is playful and his lodges , sometimes with only a couple of stones, can heat up the universe with shake up your world. He is magic in every way, and will deny it all the way to the Holy ground.

We came to know Ed before we came to meet Ed. He was a mythical story of the last man Sun Dancing with Fools Crow before the passage of the Freedom of Religion Act. He was spoken of in reverence of the great warrior and pride of the renown Lakota Grandfather that we came to know quite well in the 70's. Ed took his love of earth mother into his legal practice. He shared the wisdom of both worlds; of the Red Road and the gentle walk upon the Mother. Then he would also share the deeper aspects of what was happening as the planet is being raped of resources and the many practical and Spiritual ways to assist in the transformation to a more balanced way of living. As he brings an understanding of responsibility to the Earth Mother, he also brings a joy and creation of beauty and magic.

We finally caught up with Ed at Camp Ronora in Michegan. Our awesome host whom we will tell you about later, had brought together a group of Elders for a Sun Bear event. This new best selling author was to join us as a teacher, and someone we snagged to bring home to Hawkwind, right off. Not only did we love his stories and his lodges, we were also doing a great deal of work with Vets at that time and he had much to teach us. We spent as much time with him as we could and delighted in his lifestyle and humor. Come on, this guy started the morning with a can of sardines and powdered sugar donuts! His caustic humor fit right in at our house and we loved taking him on tour from bookstore to bookstore. Folks flocked to hear his wisdom, and his magical presence set the South on it’s ear. He and Tarwater were a perfect match, and the hours of listening to his tall tales kept us moving through several seasons of laughter, together. Of course there was his constant insistence that he had no wisdom to share, other than how to walk gently upon the earth. LIKE THAT’S NOT ENOUGH!

Many was the weekend that this guy could be found, flight hat cocked on his head, beads scattered in every direction as he welcomed groups to sit with him and make a powerful Medicine Necklace. He would explain the meaning of the animal totems that one might select or the power of the stone being used and a few ways he might use it in prayer. He would help people find their Spirit names and connect with allies they have always wanted to better understand. The whole time telling you that he is NOT a Sacred Holy Man and he is just offering you a good afternoon, where maybe some healing might happen, but he AIN’T NO HEALER. We all laugh and honor the healing as we watch it happen all around him.

So we have to fess up here, that the best time we ever had was when he and Sun Bear got together at a particularly obnoxious camp center and became pranksters together. It was honestly like watching Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, only Indian style. Those two counted coup from cabin to cabin and refrigerator to shower house and back again. The humor of those stories always make us smile on a cloudy day...but hey, he’s just a guy who happened to be part of our journey. He left a great deal of healing at Hawkwind..and for myself I will always honor the day he taught me that I could stand next to a Veteran Warrior and Sing for Peace. I do honor the Warrior and Warrioress, without having to be part of honoring War. Together we poured a few lodges and he taught me the respect of the balance of male and female is working the healing, that of course, he did not do.

Ed’s books are great. We have given them away for years and keep them in every prison library we can find. Ed still shares his magic from circle to circle and we are told he has quite a cool gig going on at the Crazy Horse monument as he welcomes the tourists in to hear the real stories of the Sacred Nation. He beads with them and shares his non-healing - healing practice with folks that would never show up for a gathering but ready and willing to meet this warrior on his own terms in his own back yard. We highly recommend his early books for those of you who want to know what the ancient healing rites are about and how to work with the culture in a fully respectful manner. You can find Ed at: www.edmcgaa.com. We highly recommend and afternoon with him, beading and listening, laughing and feeling the Great Spirit that walks next to this trickster soul. Give him a big hug for us.

Mitakuye Oyasin

Rev. Charla Hermann