Hand Trembler

Hand Trembler is about one man’s emergence through Native rituals as he travels through the mythical underworlds of the Navajo. Actual Hand Tremblers, though few exist today, do live on the Navajo reservation and they still perform their ancient art of divination: finding the cause of illness, lost objects and even missing people. The narrator is a hand trembling diviner whose particular art involves shapeshifting. This dangerous skill leaves him trapped between worlds and shifting identities while being hunted by a brutal extra-terrestrial enemy. As the novel progresses, the narrator encounters his long lost friend Etienne, the French/Filipino healer; Joogii, the mind reading Navajo artist and mythologist; and Al-lan, the star traveller. In a series of amusing and suspenseful misadventures, the author takes us on a spin through the intricate cosmology of the Navajo, giving us yet another close look at the deities who inform this mysterious and beautiful culture. “The eccentricity, lunacy, magic, and malevolence that lurk beneath the surface... The memorable characters, out-of-sequence narrative, and cockeyed viewpoint.”—The Horn Book “Ghosts, demons, fearsome predators, and wise old men who take the innocent in hand—fantasy and fable, humor and heart.” —Not Since Mark Twain: Stories, Stay Thirsty Press “Hausman honors Native American philosophy and spirituality even as he reveals it.”—Pat Monaghan Booklist

"In the second part of the book, Holiday details the family and tribal teachings he has acquired over a long life. He tells his grandparents' stories of the Long Walk era, discusses local attitudes about the land, relates Navajo religious stories, and recounts his training as a medicine man. All of Holiday's experiences and teachings reflect the thoughts of a traditional practitioner who has found in life both beauty and lessons for future generations."--BOOK JACKET.

According to traditional Navajo belief, seizures are the result of sibling incest, sexual witchcraft, or possession by a supernatural spirit—associations that have kept such disorders from being known outside Navajo families. This new study is concerned with discovering why the Navajos have accorded seizures such importance and determining their meaning in the larger context of Navajo culture. The book is based on a 14-year study of some 40 Navajo patients and on an epidemiological survey among the Navajos and among three Pueblo tribes.

Shakespeare, Tolstoy, Joyce, E.M. Forster and Ingmar Bergman all made the paranormal essential to their depiction of humanity. Freud recognized telepathy as an everyday phenomenon. Observations on parapsychological aspects of psychoanalysis also include the findings of the Mesmerists, Jung, Ferenczi and Eisenbud. Many academicians attribute such psychic discoveries to "poetic license" rather than to accurate understanding of our parapsychological capacities. The author--a practicing psychoanalyst and parapsychologist, and a lawyer familiar with Navajo culture--argues for a fresh appraisal of psi phenomena and their integration into psychoanalytic theory and clinical work, literary studies and anthropology.

All royalties from the sale of this book are being donated to Warfighter Advance, http://www.warfighteradvance.org Moral Injury has been called the “signature wound” of today’s wars. It is also as old as the human record of war, as evidenced in the ancient war epics of Greece, India, and the Middle East. But what exactly is Moral Injury? What are its causes and consequences? What can we do to prevent or limit its occurrence among those we send to war? And, above all, what can we do to help heal afflicted warriors? This landmark volume provides an invaluable resource for those looking for answers to these questions. Gathered here are some of the most far-ranging, authoritative, and accessible writings to date on the topic of Moral Injury. Contributors come from the fields of psychology, theology, philosophy, psychiatry, law, journalism, neuropsychiatry, classics, poetry, and, of course, the profession of arms. Their voices find common cause in informing the growing, international conversation on war and war’s deepest and most enduring invisible wound. Few may want to have this myth-challenging, truth-telling conversation, but it is one we must have if we truly wish to help those we send to fight our wars.

“A knowledgeable and sensitive description of some of the basic aspects of traditional Navajo teachings, thought, and language.” —Utah Historical Quarterly Traditional teachings derived from stories and practices passed through generations lie at the core of a well-balanced Navajo life. These teachings are based on a very different perspective of the physical and spiritual world than that found in general American culture. Dinéjí Na`nitin is an introduction to traditional Navajo teachings and history for a non-Navajo audience, providing a glimpse into this unfamiliar domain and illuminating the power and experience of the Navajo worldview. Historian Robert McPherson discusses basic Navajo concepts such as divination, good and evil, prophecy, and metaphorical thought, as well as these topics’ relevance in daily life, making these far-ranging ideas accessible to the contemporary reader. He also considers the toll of cultural loss on modern Navajo culture as many traditional values and institutions are confronted by those of dominant society. Using both historical and modern examples, he shows how cultural change has shifted established views and practices and illustrates the challenge younger generations face in maintaining the beliefs and customs their parents and grandparents have shared over generations. This intimate look at Navajo values and customs will appeal not only to students and scholars of Native American studies, ethnic studies, and anthropology but to any reader interested in Navajo culture or changing traditional lifeways.

For the Navajo, who call themselves the Din頨literally, "the People"), the story of emergence--their creation myth--lies at the heart of their beliefs. Gerald Hausman collects this and other stories with meditations that together capture the essence of the Navajo people's way of life and their understanding of the world--a world that thrives only on harmony and balance.