Black Elk Speaks: The Complete Edition

Reviews

Mike Lewis

I guess it's nice to know that someone as respected as Black Elk was just as clueless as I was, half the time, haha. Like him, I often didn't understand a great deal of what I saw, or what to do with the knowledge and power. Still, the book really helped me make sense of a few strange matters that had been puzzling me for many years.

Anyway, if you have ever had any personal dealings with the Higher Powers, this can be a fascinating and instructive book. For instance, he describes how a powerful vision can stay with you your entire life, and how you can draw upon its power to do other magics later. Most people read this as an historical account, and it's a good one, but I wanted to understand Black Elk's metaphysics: his visions, his rituals, his magic. I have done this, any number of times, although I never quite understood how it worked before I read his descriptions of the process.

I grew up having similar otherworldly experiences like him, meeting and talking to higher beings, and I still do on occasion.