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Included in National Geographic Traveler's TOP 50 Tours of a Lifetime
BEAR MEDICINE
BEAR MEDICINE
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Bear Medicine
Journey into the realm of the bear on this incredible trail into the physical and spiritual significance of the bear to the Plains Indians. A great healer, a potent symbol of power, a guardian and a grandfather who can engender fear - the bear is all of these and more.
Through traditional stories and explanations and by actually entering the grizzly bear's domain we learn of the power and gifts he brings to the people. A journey that leads you to the heart of indigenous homelands so inspiring they defy articulation, with the land’s true dimensional reality shared through the indigenous explanations relating to each prominent feature you experience.
We begin our journey by one of the most sacred sites on the Northern Plains – Mato Paha - Bear Butte, standing before the holy center of the Cheyenne universe to learn of the great prophet Sweet Medicine and the blessings he received for the Cheyenne. The Vore Buffalo Jump is regarded as one of the world's premier archeological sites, and here we learn of the mechanics of enticing small groups of buffalo from the herds to run over the edges of cliff formations; our interest reflects also the ceremonial journey that is linked to the sun’s passage through the constellations and the relationship between the buffalo and human beings.
At the Bear’s Lodge – Mato Tipila (Devil’s Tower) we hear tribal explanations of the rock’s creation and the connecting star world. In Cody, Wyoming at the world’s premier museum of the West, the Buffalo Bill Historical Society, we spend time in the Plains Indian Gallery, associating exhibits to what we have learned. Along the trail of the bear we learn that Yellowstone is Indian Country.
We explore the region’s history, cultures and enter the pristine domain of the four-leggeds among the awe-inspiring mountains and verdant valleys of the Greater Yellowstone region.
Heading north toward the Medicine Line, we follow the ‘Backbone of the World’, the ‘Shining’ or Rocky Mountains that define Glacier National Park; the traditional lands of the Blackfeet (Piegan) Nation. We experience sites such as Running Eagle Falls, Two Medicine, Heart Butte, the Sacred Sweetgrass Hills or Chief Mountain before winding our way back to northeastern Montana.
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Go Native America is a member of / promoted by:
American Indian and Alaska Native Tourism Alliance
Montana Tribal Tourism Alliance
American Indian Crafts Assoc.
Wyoming Travel and Tourism
Rocky Mountain International RMI Real America
Black Hills Badlands Association
Tour Members Say...
The sights, sounds, smells and sheer wonderment at the beauty of all directions has been with us ever since our return. Not a day goes by without our talking of some aspect of our adventure, and at night I am transported to those stunning plains and mountains, and the people we met. Gretchen, North Wales
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Indigenous Wisdom
If you look at the earth, there are certain places that seem to have power and we don't know what kind of power it is, except you have a different feeling, You feel energized... For most Americans, the Holy Land exists on another continent. But for Native people,
the holy land is here.
Vine Deloria Jr.
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National Geographic
Go Native America is included in National Geographic Traveler's "50 Tours of a Lifetime"
May 29 - June 8
" If you should find a path untraveled or a place unknown to you,
you must travel it until you know it "
Umcheega (Grandmother of Ohiyesa)
Plains cultures of the old days revered those who, through a special relationship with bear spirits, appeared to assume the bear’s strength in the heat of battle, even transforming into bears while they fought. ‘Bear Warriors’ joined Medicine Societies comprised of men who dreamed of and received these supernatural powers from bears and in the tribal reality, the Bear Warrior was the epitome of bravery and courage who would probably carry the mark of the bear’s claw on his shield …and was a man to be feared, and respected.
Wherever the bear roamed tribal cultures respected her for her ability to heal. The People have long watched and learned from the bear as she seeks out plants for her own healing. Think of ‘Bear Root’, a plant known for its antibiotic and insect repelling properties; bears dig up the roots, chew on them then rub them on their fur and indeed the common names of many other plants reflect their usage by bears, such as bearberry, bear’s paw, bear tongue, and bear clover.
As an animal that disappears in winter to reappear only in spring, the bear is also the symbol of renewal and rebirth, and the regaining of health is the gift that Grandmother Bear brings those who live in bear country.
Remarkably, all the ancient people of the North Pole refer to the same seven north pole stars as the ‘Stars of the Bear’ which is held by ‘experts’ to be an impossibility since apparently these ancient people had no contact with each other.
2010 Journeys
