The Soul of the Indian · 15 of 29

Chapter IIIf

In all the war ceremonies and in medicine a special pipe is used, but at home or on the hunt the warrior employs his own.

The pulverized weed is mixed with aromatic bark of the red willow, and pressed lightly into the bowl of the long stone pipe.

The worshiper lights it gravely and takes a whiff or two; then, standing erect, he holds it silently toward the Sun, our father, and toward the earth, our mother.

There are modern variations, as holding the pipe to the Four Winds, the Fire, Water, Rock, and other elements or objects of reverence.

There are many religious festivals which are local and special in character, embodying a prayer for success in hunting or warfare, or for rain and bountiful harvests, but these two are the sacraments of our religion.

For baptism we substitute the “eneepee,” the purification by vapor, and in our holy communion we partake of the soothing incense of tobacco in the stead of bread and wine.

§ Ask Guru about this passage →

Themes

◆Animismcosmology

The doctrine and worldview that natural phenomena, places, and objects possess inherent spirit, soul, or personality — and that the cosmos is populated by countless local, plural, embodied divine agents: kami in mountain and tree, sidhe in cairn and well, landwights in field and stone, nymphs in spring and grove, haltija in forest and lake, lares and penates in household and threshold, Iamblichean daemons in element and place. Distinct from monotheism (single transcendent God), pantheism (one underlying substance), and emanation_hierarchy (cascading single source); animism's signature is the plurality, locality, and embodied-in-landscape character of the divine.

The passage explicitly describes a worldview where natural elements (Sun, Earth, Winds, Fire, Water, Rock) are revered as divine agents or parents, embodying the core definition of animism.

All passages →

◆Prayerpraxis

Direct address to the divine, whether petitionary, contemplative, or liturgical; speech and silence offered upward.

The passage describes the act of holding the pipe toward elements as a form of worship and explicitly mentions festivals embodying prayers for success and harvest.

All passages →

◆Ritual Puritypraxis

The maintenance of a state of cleanliness—physical, moral, or spiritual—required for encounter with the divine.

The text details the 'eneepee' (purification by vapor) as a substitute for baptism, indicating a central practice of ritual cleansing.

All passages →

Related passages · 1 parallel

◆greek_mystery|Orphic Hymns|Front Matter, p. 4 (part 9)

“For we preserve as sacred to those divinities, a perpetual fire in our temples; since this element is most similar to their lucid frames. But with respect to fumigations from herbs produced by the earth, they called the censer or pan, in w…”

Both passages describe ritual practices involving the use of plant materials (tobacco and various herbs) in sacred ceremonies, highlighting the importance of these elements in connecting with the divine or natural forces. They share a conceptual parallel in the use of these materials as a means of communication with higher powers or the natural world.