Medicine and Miracles in the High Desert: My Life among the Navajo People

by Erica M. Elliott, Joan Borysenko (Foreword by)

Overview

An intimate look at the mystical world of the Navajo people


• Details the author’s time living with the Navajo people as a teacher, sheepherder, and doctor and her profound experiences with the people, animals, and spirits

• Shows how she learned the Navajo language to bridge the cultural divide

• Reveals the miracles she witnessed, including her own miracle when the elders prayed for healing of a tumor on her neck

• Shares her fearsome encounters with a mountain lion and a shape-shifting “skinwalker” and how she fulfilled a prophecy by returning as a doctor

In 1971, Erica Elliott arrived on the Navajo reservation as a newly minted schoolteacher, knowing nothing about her students or their culture. After a discouraging first week, she almost leaves in despair, unable to communicate with the children or understand cultural cues. But once she starts learning the language, the people begin to trust her, welcoming her into their homes and their hearts. As she is drawn into the mystical world of Navajo life, she has a series of profound experiences with the people, animals, and spirits of Canyon de Chelly that change her life forever.

In this compelling memoir, the author details her time living with the Navajo, the Diné people, and her experiences with their enchanting land, healing ceremonies, and rich traditions. She shares how her love for her students transformed her life as well as the lives of the children. She reveals the miracles she witnessed during this time, including her own miracle when the elders prayed for healing of a tumor on her neck. She survives fearsome encounters with a mountain lion and a shape-shifting “skinwalker.” She learns how to herd sheep, make fry bread, and weave traditional rugs, experiencing for herself the life of a traditional Navajo woman.

Fulfilling a Navajo grandmother’s prophecy, the author returns years later to serve the Navajo people as a medical doctor in an underfunded clinic, delivering numerous babies and treating sick people day and night. She also reveals how, when a medicine man offers to thank her with a ceremony, more miracles unfold.

Sharing her life-changing deep dive into Navajo culture, Erica Elliott’s inspiring story reveals the transformation possible from immersion in a spiritually rich culture as well as the power of reaching out to others with joy, respect, and an open heart.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781591434191
Publisher:	Inner Traditions/Bear & Company
Publication date:	12/14/2021
Edition description:	2nd Edition, Revised Edition
Pages:	208
Sales rank:	698,280
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Erica M. Elliott, M.D., is a medical doctor with a busy private practice in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Referred to as “the Health Detective,” she has successfully treated patients from across the country with difficult-to-diagnose health conditions. She served in the Peace Corps in Ecuador and lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Read an Excerpt

From Chapter 3: Spirit
Guide Southern Utah. Spring 1972

The last manmade structure shrank to a black dot in my rearview mirror as I drove down the cracked, potholed highway without a car in sight. The unmarked turnoff to the left was barely visible between juniper trees and sagebrush, the place where the pavement turned to dirt. I had already explored this region of southern Utah once before during my time off from teaching, but this particular turnoff had escaped my attention.

Although I spent most of my weekends taking the students in my class to their remote homes in and around Canyon de Chelly, this weekend I had decided to return to Utah to explore the backcountry.

After I left the paved highway behind, the next forty miles of deeply rutted tract led me into vast stretches of high desert wilderness. Red rock slabs, towers, pinnacles, and cliffs soared into the cobalt blue sky. The crisp air smelled pungent with the essence of piñon pine and cedar.

I could tell from the faintness of the ruts that this stretch of road had not been traveled for a long time. As I meandered along, daydreaming about my new life among the Navajo people, I saw something tan out of the corner of my eye. A coyote with a long bushy tail darted in front of my slow-moving Bronco.

Farther down the road, I suddenly remembered what one of the kids in my classroom had told me during our informal discussion about Navajo mythology. He said, "If Coyote crosses your path, turn back and do not continue your trip. If you keep traveling, something terrible will happen to you. You will get in an accident and get hurt or killed."

I wondered if I should turn around and go home. But I decided that the Navajo cultural beliefs didn't apply to me.

The rutted tract ended at a little spring. I kept driving a few more miles until I came to what looked like a sanctuary of rock formations, a perfect place to stop and explore.

After scrambling around the rocks, exploring caves and crevices, I came upon a little pool of water, a catchment basin for the infrequent rains—a natural bath in the middle of the desert. I slipped into the pool and pointed my face directly at the sun with eyes shut but still feeling the brightness streaming in.

When the sun went down, a chill quickly settled over the rocks. In my bare feet, I hopped from one slab to the next, keeping clear of the sharp spines of the cactus.

Having no flashlight, I wanted to be sure to find the perfect sleeping spot on a flat rock to spread out my pad and sleeping bag before it got dark. But it actually never got dark—the moon was full overhead, bright and electrifying.

I sat up in my sleeping bag and sang love songs to the moon until sleep overpowered me.

I dreamed that I was in one of the sheep and goat corrals belonging to the family of one of my students. We were in the corral looking for a sheep to butcher for a ceremony. There were a few goats, including a Billy goat that smelled rank with the strong scent of musk that goats have during sexual maturity. We moved through them, trying to catch one of the sheep. The smell of the Billy goat grew stronger and stronger.

The smell became so strong that it overpowered all my senses. When I felt my back on the hard rock, I realized that I was not in a corral, but in my sleeping bag and wide awake. Yet the smell of musk had followed me out of the dream and was still filling my nose. Before I could open my eyes, I heard a sniffing sound right next to me.

Without moving, I opened my eyes, and—Oh My God, I am being sniffed by a mountain lion, inches from my face!

His head was so close that I could see his black whiskers in the moonlight, the white fur around his mouth, and the tawny-colored hair on the rest of his face. I closed my eyes, frozen in fear, waiting for his claws to dig into my skin and tear me apart. Nothing happened.

I barely breathed while my heart pounded loudly in my chest. I stayed paralyzed for what felt like hours.

By the time I found the courage to open my eyes, it was daylight; the sun had already appeared on the horizon. Amazed that I was still alive, I looked around. There were no tracks visible on the sandstone rock. When I began stuffing my sleeping bag into its sack, the hair on my forearms stood straight up. The distinct scent of musk wafted up my nose—the only remaining evidence of the lion’s presence.

I drove to the nearest town forty miles down the road and, at a gas station, I told the attendant of my experience. He said, “Ma’am, you’re one lucky gal to be alive. Them cats can rip you to shreds in no time. The reason that damn cat didn’t kill you is cause you were too scared to move.” The attendant said that if I had fought the mountain lion or tried to get away, I would for sure have been killed. “Mountain lions go after things that move.”

Mountain lions populated my dreams night after night for weeks. I awoke from these dreams with the feeling that the mountain lion was trying to communicate something to me that I didn’t fully understand.

A few weeks after my encounter with the lion, one of the Navajo teacher aides in the boarding school invited me to visit her grandmother, who lived alone in a hogan deep in the canyon.

The old Navajo woman took a few puffs from her tiny hand-carved pipe as my friend told the story of my encounter with the mountain lion. Toward the end of the story, a toothless smile lit up her ancient, deeply lined face. For the first time during the visit she looked right into my face and spoke directly to me, no longer diverting her eyes in deference. My friend translated her words.

The old woman said that the lion was my spirit guide. He came to me to give his courage, strength, and intense focus to help me face what lay ahead. She said I would encounter obstacles in my life, some big and life threatening, and, if I lived through them, I would have “a strong heart and powerful medicine to give to the people.”

Table of Contents

Foreword by Joan Borysenko, Ph.D.

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1 The Dead Medicine Man

2 Chinle, Arizona

3 Spirit Guide

4 Mystery and Medicine in the High Desert

5 A Walk through Time

6 Bilingual and Bicultural Education

7 The Puberty Ceremony

8 Terror off the Reservation

9 My Friend Marshall

10 Herding Sheep

11 Butchering Sheep

12 They Forget I’m White

13 Walking in Another’s Shoes

14 Goodbye for Now

15 The Peace Corps

16 Back Home in the States

17 Cuba, New Mexico

18 State of Siege

19 Road Man

Epilogue

Afterword

About the Author

Editorial Reviews

The most valuable lessons learned from Dr. Elliott’s writing come from her cross-cultural experiences while living and working among the Navajo people. It is a true adventure with many valuable lessons learned from another cultural lifestyle.

Navajo medicine man practitioner Johnson Dennison

What a wonderful book! Elliott’s voice mesmerized me. For weeks after I read this, I thought about her time with the Navajos. Such an inspiring, life-affirming, yet tough tale, woven through with a strong drive to realize her life path. Beautifully written. Elliott is an exciting new voice.

author of Writing Down the Bones Natalie Goldberg

Erica gives a perspective on the Navajo people that could not be authentic without her having taken a deep dive into our way of life. Medicine and Miracles in the High Desert is a recounting of experiences and everyday life in the beginning of tribal self-determination. She delves into the mindset as Navajos reach to the surface of a fresh new start. Erica captures the period with accuracy and detail. Her story is now a permanent part of the historical annals of the Navajo people.

business consultant and member of the Navajo Natio Deswood Tome

Erica Elliott writes fearlessly, with an original voice that grabbed me from the first page. Her true adventures on the Navajo Nation as a teacher, a shepherd, an emergency room doctor—and best of all, an open-hearted student immersed in a spiritually rich culture—make a great story. She leaves the reader with something to ponder: the abiding importance of reaching out to others with joy and respect. I love this book.

Anne Hillerman

This is a powerful and personal book about courage and compassion. Reading it, we are drawn into the web of Dr. Elliott’s extraordinary life of service and learning with the Navajo people of the American Southwest. We are fortunate for the chance to accompany her on her remarkable journey.

Rev. Joan Jiko Halifax