Native American Stories: Voices of the Winds

What happens when sacred stories are told without soul? 

In this episode of Beyond the Book, I explore Voices of the Winds: Native American Legends, a wide-ranging collection of tribal myths from across the United States. 

While the book offers a glimpse into the ancient wisdom of Native American cultures, it also left me questioning what was lost in translation. 

Was this book a gateway into deeper understanding, or a well-intentioned misstep? 

I share my honest thoughts, spiritual takeaways, and the stories that still managed to speak despite the book’s shortcomings. 

Join me as we reflect on: The missing voices behind the legends 

Why authorship and cultural stewardship matter Powerful spiritual insights still worth listening to Why legends like these deserve reverent retelling 

Subscribe for more weekly videos on spiritual exploration, sacred texts, and inner transformation. Drop a comment: What Native-written works should I read next? 

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Transcript

0:34

Some stories are so old they feel like they came from Earth itself. But what happens when those stories are told without any soul? Today I'm reviewing voices of the winds, a collection of Native American legends. And to be honest, I have really mixed feelings about this. I talk about my experiences reading Braiding Sweetgrass on this channel quite a bit. It deeply moved me, and I've been looking for another book on the Native American traditions for a long time, something that could give me more insight or add to what I learned from Braiding Sweetgrass. That book was not this book. It did not deliver. And it's it's not a total loss. I did learn some things. It's an ambitious project by Margaux Edmonds and Ella Clark. The two authors traveled around collected stories from all around the country, and it's a wide collection, and they organized it by region of the country and tribe. And I appreciate the scale and intention of their work. There was obvious passion in this project. I particularly respect Ella Clark's past work and her original vision for this project. After doing a little research before this video, I discovered that Ella Clark had died several years ago. Prior to the publication of this book and before it was even started down the publication route. And not only that, but even before her death, she had suffered from a stroke and had kind of taken her out of the process, many years ago. And so it seemed like a lot of this work was put together after her death by the other author, Margot Edmonds. And it feels to me we have a situation here where if Ella Clark had been present, there would have probably been significantly, altered makeup of the finished product. And my research does indicate that it would have had a whole lot more heart and soul in it. And Ella Clark wasn't an anthropologist, and she wasn't a folklorist by training, but she was a very educated and learned woman. She attended Northwestern University, she taught at Washington State, and her passion was to go out and interact with Native Americans. She visited tribes and set around fires with them. Her life's work was to save their stories and preserve them, and I think that's an extremely noble effort, and it makes it even harder not to enjoy and kind of like this end product. I think the lack of her input is probably why so much seems to be lost in translation here. The exact events that I'm talking about aren't available online. It's just what I've been able to reconstruct based on the best research that I could do. you'll definitely get value out of these stories. It's just that you're not going to get the flavor that you would get, from the source material. They're worth knowing. And you're going to get more context and knowledge of some of these Native American legends. I thought I was getting some highly curated anthology with this book, and I wanted it to be that it didn't feel like I was hearing an authentic voice as I was reading this book. The authors aren't Native American, and there was no real cultural core I think because of that. I'm not here to debate, progressive or any social issues. That's not what this review's about. But from a common sense approach, we need tribal involvement in the presentation of these stories. It's tough to know the heart and soul of someone's history without them participating in it in some way. There's probably ways around that, to get important information across to diverse groups of people. But that wasn't this book's only issue. There was kind of a dead tone, you know, when you're reading a book and you're like, I'm not getting anything from this. That was part of the problem. And it also needed, a much better editor. There were grammar issues and there was, questionable writing and a lack of flow in the end product and their researching ability and their ability to bring information together, I think was amazing. It just wasn't put together in the way that would have been best for us as a reader. It's like there was an inability to convey the stories in a manner that was consistent with the source material, that's hard when some of these stories are coming from oral traditions. And they were that have been been passed down generation to generation to generation. It's not just that you translate that and write it down and the story is told. There's a whole lot more to it than that. It's about the truth and the soul of the story shining through to us as a reader. And honestly, that process is hard as hell. it's not just style, it's stewardship of this sacred knowledge. And that leads me to something I feel I have to say every time we make a video about Native Americans and their history is a violent one, and we deserve to continue to discuss it. They deserve it. Manifest Destiny was the genocide of Native Americans because we wanted more land and we did it all in the name of God. It's not something that we have to dwell on constantly, but it deserves some intentional thought. And so please sit with that for a minute, and if you have time, read up about it because it deserves your attention. Despite this book's flaws, these legends still do carry truth and power. I learned about the coyote as a trickster and a teacher. If you've ever been around coyotes in the wild or on a farm or ranch, you can probably relate to this. They look up at you and they kind of have this sparkle in their eye, and it's a mischief. And I'd have a sparkle in my eye if you'd subscribe to our channel by hitting the watermark in the lower right hand corner. I grew up in Oklahoma with Native Americans all around me, there was no shortage of stories growing up about animals turning into people, and vice versa, or animals that were part person. And this book tells more of those stories, and I've personally seen things that I can't explain. And specifically, when I was a kid, there was this very large owl creature casting a shadow into my bedroom where I grew up. And so, have you ever seen anything that you couldn't explain or that people wouldn't listen to you about? Hit me up in the comments with your unbelievable story. Animals. As people speak to the interconnectedness with everything around us, it goes back into that theme of living, breathing Mother Earth. It reminds us that we're not just in nature or around nature. We are nature itself. We're part of this circle of life, this great reciprocity of this living, breathing world. And in the book it reads, long, long ago, when the world was young and people had not come out yet the animals and the birds were the people of this country. They talk to each other just as we do. And that's from the Wasco tribe in the northwest. These stories remind us that the world was once in conversation with itself. And maybe if you listen close enough and more deeply, it still is. You can still hear the conversation of nature, of earth, of Mother Earth. The Navajo have a story about the dreamer breaking away to the gods and bringing this great knowledge back to the tribe before again returning to the gods. Maybe nonconformity and an open mind win the day when it comes to seeking the beyond and understanding the divine. There are other stories in this book about ignoring those who are different or don't conform. we turn away what's different from us. And when we do that, we completely lose sight of these huge parts of the universe that are out there. I don't want you to think that there isn't real beauty in these stories. Again. There is. I found in these stories concepts of manifestation and law of attraction. I found conversations about the wisdom and balance of the human body, and there were indications that people centuries ago saw the future we're living in right now. There were indications that intention and consciousness played critical roles in these people's lives. Even the possibility that we came from the sky and the implications that go along with all of that. Sometimes we read a book for the content and not for the container. And maybe this is my own mistake, thinking that this wide anthology could be pulled off and that it would be enough. And again, when it's possible, read indigenous stories that come from indigenous sources and voices. I give this two out of five stars for execution. But honestly, I would give this project, this book, five out of five for what it could have been. I'm still looking to learn from native wisdom and honor it. If you've read any Native American stories that is stuck with you, drop them in the comments. I'm always building a reading list. We review books sometimes here, and I'd like to reemphasize the amount of amazing work that went into this book by these authors. It had so much potential, I feel for them that it didn't connect in the way that it could have. Even if a few stories did shine through it. There's some great stories in this book, I know more today than I did yesterday about native Americans. From having read this book. And that's to its credit, Native Americans have so much that they can teach us. Their contributions to the spiritual and religious world are often overlooked and disregarded. Their history is our history, and we can honor that. And the conversation doesn't have to end here. Come be a part of a community that gets it at Kishar.org. And please like this video if you want us to keep making content just like this. And until next time, I wish you peace on your journey.