Unraveling the Spreading Cloth of Time: Indigenous Thoughts concerning the Universe ed. by MariJo Moore and Trace A. Demeyer, and: Walking in the Land of Many Gods: Remembering Sacred Reason in Contemporary Environmental Literature by A. James Wohlpart (review)

In Indigenous studies there are many references to “every direction,” “all the relations,” and consideration of generations far into the future and the remembered past. Stories, songs, and ceremony elaborate on these themes in many languages and locations, but there is a need to connect the concepts to one another. Unraveling the Spreading Cloth of Time and Walking in the Land of Many Gods both explore how ancient ideas about place and relations lead to theories of energy, exchange, and sustainable wellness.

Unraveling the Spreading Cloth of Time is dedicated to Vine Deloria Jr. It begins with his quote “All the tribes say the universe is just the product of mind” and includes an eloquent exploration of science and philosophy from his book The World We Used to Live In. He points out that the elegant patterns central to so many disciplines have long been part of tribal tradition and are now also confirmed by recent scientific realization. Furthermore, he notes that Native people have a long history of exploring these patterns as a source of power and energy. It is on this premise that the spreading cloth of the title unfolds.

In five sections on cosmology, ceremony, story, spirit, and space, creativity is bent toward relativity as Native voices use words to describe the known and unknown. The diverse group of authors includes Alice Azure, Sidney Cook Bad Medicine, John Berry, Trevino Brings Plenty, Jack Forbes, Susan Shown Harjo, Basil Johnston, Denise Low, John Trudell, Keith Secola, Lois Red Elk, Georges Sioui, the editors, of course, Vine Deloria Jr., and more. This mix of voices represents many nations, modes of practice, and social positions. It is not a volume focused on a single perspective; it is an introduction to the potential of American Indian philosophy. It is a search for the way Indigenous people have explained the existence and evolution of the universe.

Unraveling the Spreading Cloth of Time offers a precise and simple summary of major theories in both Indigenous and Western intellectual history that have led to ideas about the cosmos including the relationship between the earth and sun and the presence of humans in various locations. As many of the authors admit, this is not a textbook with finite answers, only a record of eloquent, inventive individuals attempting to perceive the edges of their own experiences. “I am touching time,” writes Amy Krout-Horn as she contemplates the eons expressed by a fossilized clam (56). Taking a more linguistic approach, Sidney Cook Bad Moccasin uses Lakota words to describe scientific equations and social identity while Mary Black Bonnet sings of children and evolution. “I am singing transformation,” says Black Bonnet, “I am singing connection. . . . I sing to the world rich with mystery. I sing to the trickster state of being” (149).

“Time goes in a circle” according to Terra Trevor and her great grandmother, “everything that has ever happened, or will ever happen was going on all around me” (217). The essays, autobiographical experiments, and hypothetical portraits of the solar sphere we inhabit imply a universal infinity. As Denise Low concludes, “creation is unfinished . . . the cosmos is multidimensional and dynamic and humans are participant observers in the ongoing creation of the world” (230).

A similar motion of unfolding and evolving is emphasized in A. James Wohlpart’s Walking in the Land of Many Gods, which describes a literary presence cognizant of both the Indigenous past and global present. He suggests narratives able to resonate with both Heideggerian ontology and spiritual instinct can restore a connection between life and the...