I met a woman recently in southern Oregon who claims that she was married to a "Cherokee shaman" (*ahem*). I don't necessarily buy this of course (those who've seen my posts around the board mostly likely know where I'm coming from in this regard...I am and remain a healthy skeptic with a pretty decent BS-o-meter).
However, with this man dead, the woman still holds on to all his "tools" and such - beaded bags, articles of ceremonial significance, etc. This woman - who may be a PODIA herself - strikes me as kind of a psychic Typhoid Mary, if you will, in that disaster, pain and misfortune seem to follow in her wake wherever she goes. She claims that she has had several husbands, all of whom died of serious diseases not long after they were married.
What I wonder is this:
If, in fact this man - the dead "shaman", whom I didn't press her about because I didn't like the way she seemed to be repeatedly trying to use this tidbit as a way to get me talking about things I don't really discuss openly with people - was of Cherokee heritage and was indeed some kind of holy/medicine person, should those tools have been returned to his community for them to disperse or dispose of as custom would dictate? It just occurs to me that she may not want to be holding on to this stuff if she knows what is good for her.
Just curious what folks here have to say about it.
