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The Midewiwin, or, as it is sometimes erroneously called, the "Grand Medicine Society" of the Ojibway Indians, is an association composed of shamans, whose supposed powers are much in request among these Indians of the northwest. Two other classes of medicine-men exist among them to a very limited extent, the Wabeno, " Men of the Dawn," and the Jessakid or "revealers of hidden things." The members of this latter class, who operate singly, are regarded as very dangerous and generally malevolent sorcerers, having the power to call evil spirits to their aid, and are even believed to practise the fearful art of drawing a man's soul out of his body, so that he either becomes insane or dies. The turtle is regarded by the Jessakids as the abode or symbol of the mightiest spirit. However, the Mides, members of the Midewiwin, are far the most numerous, and it is to them that the Indian looks for help and health. While they usually "treat" their patients in their own abodes, when the disease fails to yield to the might of ordinary incantations and spells, the assistance of the great magic stone in the Medicine Lodge or Midewigen must be resorted to. For this purpose the sick person is carried thither and is laid on the ground constituting the floor of the lodge, so that the diseased part of his body may touch the stone. In addition to this magic stone, which is set in the ground near the entrance, three magic wooden posts rise up, one behind the other, and at the end opposite the entrance is set a painted wooden cross, the base of which is cut four-square, each side having a different coloring, namely, white, for the East, the source of light; green, for the South, the source of rain which brings the verdure; red, for the West, where the red glow of the sunset appears and whither the spirits of the departed wend their way after death, and, lastly, black, for the cold and pitiless North, the origin of disease, famine and death.
The various adjuncts of the sorcerer's trade are carefully preserved by the Mide or Jessakid in his medicine bag. A good specimen of this was made out of the skin of a mink, Putorius vision, Gapp., and adorned at one end with two fluffy white feathers. Often a flat, black, water-worn pebble will be one of the great treasures in this sack. The virtues of a stone of this type are said to have been put to a curious test on the person of a Jessakid at Leech Lake, Minn., in 1858. The man offered to wager $100 that if he were securely tied up, hand and foot, with stout rope, but having his stone resting on his thigh, he could remove the bonds without assistance. The wager was taken up and the test duly applied; the Jessakid being left alone in his tent tightly and firmly bound. Before long he called out to those on the watch outside the tent that search should be made for the rope at a certain spot nearby. This was done and the rope was found with the knots undisturbed, while the Jessakid was to be seen calmly seated on the ground, smoking a pipe and still bearing his magic black stone on his thigh. |
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Precious Stones Guide Vol 8
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