Peter M. Gardnerin forest streams. People became excited when they saw my aerial
photo of one such overflow quite near us. The yellow liquid was, of
course, monster urine.
There was understandable fear of small relatives of the huge beasts
as well; even bold teenagers would not touch or approach frogs, which
their classificatory verb stems told me they regarded as living but un-
conscious beings. They would look at one, shiver, and retreat. For our
neighbors, then, there was ample evidence of the creatures of a lower
realm, and it was all around us.
DreamsDreams are a means for getting knowledge, and this, in turn, can be
a source of power. It is understandable, then, that dreams are valued
and sought. Although dreams often come to us at night, we may also
be visited by them when unconscious, a valued state. Unconsciousness
was achieved in a variety of ways in the past. Since the 19 th century
there has been the easy path of alcohol intoxication. I once watched
a playful twelve-year-old with a Pepsi bottle in his hand staggering
realistically down our street and telling a buddy in a slurred voice,
“Maybe I pass out tonight.” A game? Certainly so. But it reflected the
goals of the adults around him. People who drank to achieve uncon-
sciousness were labeled “alcoholics” by two welfare staff with whom
I discussed this, a diagnosis that makes no sense medically if intox-
ication occurs only a few times a year. One has to bear in mind the
value of trance states for many Native North Americans. I acknowl-
edge that inebriation can be a source of problems, but we are talking
here about religion, not problematic recreation.
The settlement had two wells. Authorities wondered why Dene used
well water for washing clothes but went down to the river’s edge for
drinking water, regardless of whether it ran clear or thick with silt. But
we noticed our neighbors going to the wells when they fetched water
for making home brew. The explanation was simple. The subterranean
world, including its water, is dangerous because of the power found
down there. Remember the monsters. Yet, how attractive that power
becomes when one is pursuing the world of important dreams.
Except for the New Year’s Eve dance—a drunken, but Western-