Fourth Universe

by One Who Wins, Bear Clan

retold by Richard L. Dieterle

There once was a man who was born among another people, and one day he "stumbled upon the warpath" (was killed in action). Since he died honorably in battle, he was able to enter the spirit village of Earthmaker. Every now and then, the man would ask Earthmaker if he could return to mortal life, but the Creator replied, "The moment is not yet right." However, after many entreaties over a period of time, Earthmaker finally asked the man where he wanted to be reborn. He replied that he wished to be among Hōcągara, for these are a holy people and their ancestors are as numberless as the stars. When the man descended to earth, he grew in the womb of a Waraxi(Potawatomi) woman, in a village of that people where they called him "Dawn." As a boy he always visited the Winnebago village, and when he came of age, he married a Winnebago woman and lived in her village as a member of the tribe. They renamed him "Fourth Universe." Fourth Universe fasted rigorously during his vision quest, and received not only great blessings from the Nightspirits, but also knowledge of his past lives. They revealed that he had begun as a Nightspirit who lived in the sky village of the coming sun. The Nights also gave him the prophetic vision in which he saw himself as the founder of a new Winnebago lineage. And so it came to pass that Fourth Universe became the progenitor of the Black Bear Subclan.

After a fulfilling life, Fourth Universe had a vision that Earthmaker would summon him back to his lodge. So near the summer solstice, he gathered together his kinsmen, and told them that he would soon die, and that they should not mourn for him, as he would leave behind something that would benefit them. That evening he died, and they took his body to a hill, and placed it sitting upright, facing the setting sun. When the Nightspirits had walked their course, the sun rose on high to a clear day, but suddenly the sky darkened, and a terrifying thunderstorm enwrapped the earth, so that all who suffered it feared for their lives. Over the thunder and wind could be heard the clear voice of Fourth Universe: "Fear not, I but leave this earth." As the storm died down, the sun reëmerged, and where the body of Fourth Universe had been, they found a tall, white flower. In this flower resides the powerful medicine of the Bear Clan, the magical force by which they master war, and convert fear itself into their ally.¹

Commentary

"Waraxi" — why specifically was Fourth Universe a Potawatomi, and not some other local tribe? The magical psychedelic plant with which he is identified, as discussed below, was not native to eastern North America. It was introduced in the early 1600s in Virginia, and spread westward. The Potawatomies were pushed out of Michigan and into Wisconsin and Illinois by the Iroquois as early as the 1650s or 1660s. The death of Fourth Universe may have been around 1700, by which time it is quite plausible for the plant to have established itself in the region.

"Dawn" — a prophetic name inasmuch as dawn is the beginning of Light and Life foreshadowing his destiny to (re)create the Black Bear Subclan.

"Fourth Universe" (Jōbᵉną̄giwį̄́xka) — today the name of Fourth Universe is given as Jōbᵉną̄gį̄́xka, a contracted of Jōbᵉną̄giwį̄́xka, which Shiela Shigley analyzes as jōp ną̄-giwį̄x, "four(th) of it’s own accord-whirling." Jop is "four," and ną̄- is "an obsolescent prefix used to indicate that what occurs is very forcibly of its own accord," and Shigley adds, "There is also a quality of suddenness to the ną̄-." Lipkind cites the example of ną̄paraš, "to explode, burst of its own accord (as with a balloon)," as in the Dipper, where ną̄paraš refers to the sudden explosion of a bad spirit's stomach. "Jōp Ną̄giwį̄x might be better thought of as an act of a universe spontaneously and suddenly and forcibly appearing in the form of whirling energy." This is exactly what had happened when Earthmaker created the world: due to the holy power of this act of creation, the earth spontaneously went into a furious spin. This circular motion is holy because a circle is a figure that has neither beginning nor end. The earth was brought under control by affixing to its four quarters four corresponding Island Weights, who were generally supposed to be Waterspirits. The Waterspirit Clan was considered by the Thunderbird Clan to be its “opposite” and therefore the chief clan of the Lower Moiety; but this is contested by the Bear Clan, who is in charge of the earth, and who incidentally function as the mą̄́ną̄́pe responsible for establishing lawful order. So it is they, it is said, who have (shared ?) positions as the four Island Weights. This is stated more than once in the Medicine Rite.

The Bear Clan Jōbᵉną̄giwį̄́xka should not be confused with the well known Thunderbird Clan forefather of the same name who was blessed by the Nights and by Disease Giver (1, 2).

The name implies that there had been three "universes" (or creations) prior to his entering the world (tribe?). It is not too difficult to infer to what this refers. As the founder of the Black Bear Subclan, the fourth universe would seem to be this subclan itself, as there are four such subclans that make up the Bear Clan. Why would it be necessary to create a new fourth subclan? A comparison of the clans of Hōcą́gara to its closest relations makes this clear:

	The Black Bear Emblem		Harvey Barrison
			A Black Bear

It seems highly likely that the Winnebago-Chiwere proto-tribe had a Black Bear Clan, and that Hōcągara innovated in having a Bear Clan. All four colors exist among black bears. An atavism exists among Hōcągara who say that the chief of the Bear Spirits is called "Black Fur," which would make him a black bear. The original Black Bear Clan ought to have had a Black Subclan. For unknown reasons, it appears that the Black Subclan went extinct, perhaps as late as the early XVIIᵀᴴ century. It was around this time that a certain "tall, white flower" was introduced. Since everyone in the Hōcąk Nation had a tribal clan to which they belonged, the new subclan could not be created by a member of the tribe. So it became necessary to find someone who was part of the tribe, but had no clan affiliation by birth. This necessity was satisfied by finding a naturalized Potawatomi. It was inferred that he must have been a Nightspirit in a previous life, as this aligns with the shared color of black exhibited by the darkness distributed by the Nightspirits and the color of the fur of the nocturnal black bear.

BAE 37, Plate 47

Deerskin Offering to the Nightspirits

"Nightspirits" — as a reincarnated Nightspirit, Fourth Universe, had the power to create plants that possessed strong medicine. This suggests that he originated as one of the Happy Nights, since it is among them that this unusual power resides.² The spirits called "Happy Nights" are especially powerful in their war blessings, but they also control certain plants through which they can dispense the blessings of medicine.³ The nature of the happiness of these Nights is obscure, but many of their plants are said to be misused for "fun" (wišgac), leading to the conclusion that they may be intoxicating.⁴

"thunderstorm" — as a reincarnated Nightspirit, Fourth Universe returns to the realm whence he came. The Thunders, who are the mates of the Nightspirits, have darkened the sky and embraced him. He will have rejoined the host of the Nightspirits when, with the rising sun, they march to the western horizon where the Thunders dwell.

"thunder" — the word Potawatomi means in that language, "Keepers of the Sacred Fire." The keepers of the sacred fire among Hōcągara are the Thunderbird Clan. They are the inheritors, if not the descendants, of the Thunders themselves, who wield the original sacred fire of the heavens in the form of lightning. So it seems appropriate that a Potawatomi Hōcąk of Nightspirit extraction should leave this earthly life during lightning filled thunderstorm.

	Patrick J.Alexander, USDA		Charlie McDonald
	The Jimsonweed Flower (Datura stramonium)		The Thorn Apple Flower (Datura wrightii)

"a tall, white flower" — this flower is very likely that of the Jimsonweed (Datura stramonium and Datura wrightii), whose seeds have the psychedelic effects described in the next entry. This plant is relatively tall compared to other flowers, and runs from .5 to 1.5 meters tall. Also sometimes called "Jimsonweed" is the related Datura wrightii, better known as the Thorn Apple. It has the same white flower and hallucinogenic properties. Datura plants are called Moonflowers because they open in the evening, making the white flower of this genus nocturnal like bears and Nightspirits.⁵

"powerful medicine" — the effect of this drug on undisciplined whites is detailed by the historian Robert Beverley (ca. 1673-1722):

The James-Town Weed (which resembles the Thorny Apple of Peru, and I take to be the Plant so call'd) is supposed to be one of the greatest Coolers in the World. This being an early Plant, was gather'd very young for a boil'd Salad, by some of the Soldiers sent thither, to pacific the Troubles of Bacon; and some of them eat plentifully of it, the Effect of which was a very pleasant Comedy; for they turn'd natural Fools upon it for several Days: One would blow up a Feather in the Air; another wou'd dart Straws at it with much Fury; and another stark naked was sitting up in a Corner, like a Monkey, grinning and making Mows at them; a Fourth would fondly kiss, and paw his Companions, and snear in their Faces, with a Countenance more antick, than any in a Dutch Droll. In this frantick Condition they were confined, lest they should in their Folly destroy themselves; though it was observed, that all their Actions were full of Innocence and good Nature. Indeed, they were not very cleanly; for they would have wallow'd in their own Excrements, if they had not been prevented. A Thousand such simple Tricks they play'd, and after Eleven Days, return'd to themselves again, not remembring any thing that had pass'd.⁶

The name "James Town weed" became corrupted into our present word for the plant, "Jimsonweed." These soldiers are militia and lack the discipline and focus of Bear Clan mą̄́ną̄́pe.

"they master war" — among the warlike Aztecs, "Datura was also one of the ingredients in an ointment made of venomous insects burned to ashes, and tobacco. The priests who were anointed with this salve are said to have lost all fear and to have become bold and cruel enough to kill their sacrificial victims" (see below). This also recalls the famous Viking berserkers, who were believed to "go berserk" in battle from ingesting a psychedelic drug, perhaps the amanita muscara (fly-agaric) mushroom.⁷ Beserkers were believed to be possessed by a Bear Spirit during their frenzy.⁸ Recent work has suggested that the Vikings used henbane as a stimulant.⁹ Although Datura generally acts as a suppressant, paradoxically it can also function as a stimulant:

Plant parts can be brewed as a tea or chewed, and seed pods, commonly known as "pods" or "thorn apples," can be eaten. Side effects from ingesting jimson weed include tachycardia, dry mouth, dilated pupils, blurred vision, hallucinations, confusion, combative behavior, and difficulty urinating.¹⁰

The tendency towards "combative behavior" may make Datura a suitable drug for stirring up the warrior spirit. In one case, "A 67‐year‐old male, with no significant medical and drug history, presented with severe agitation that required restraints." In another case, "A 32‐year‐old female presented with agitation, hallucination, and nausea. ... She received four doses of midazolam, but her agitation did not resolve." In another case, "a 22‐year‐old female presented with severe agitation, hallucination, and drowsiness," and "a 15‐year‐old male presented with severe agitation, dizziness, and hallucination"; and finally, "a 50‐year‐old male with no known comorbidities presented with restlessness, dizziness, and drowsiness."¹¹ We are told furthermore, "About an hour before admission to the hospital, six members of this family developed symptoms of hallucinations, agitation, and disinhibited behavior (playing with imaginary objects, trying to pick imaginary things off the carpets, trying to throw things out of the closed window)."¹² This reminds us of what was said about the incident at Jamestown above.

This state of "agitation" is well known from the Scandinavian berserks whose drug addled state of extreme agitation was called wōð, which forms the stem of the name of the supreme and magical Germanic god Woðen. An identical concept is found among Hōcągara. Here the state of possession, of frenzied agitation, is call xōp. Xōp is a kind of frenzy that takes over the consciousness of otherwise rational beings, the apparent product of an influx of religious power beyond the measure of mortal control.¹³ It causes a kind of temporary insanity, but one whose chaos is channeled like a dry stream bed that receives a violent influx of waters, the flood itself being chaotic in its nature, but the channel forming a direction and purpose expressing the divine source whence it came. This immense, mind-seizing power, originates with the Waxōpini (Spirits) and marks the essential divide that separates them from the limits of the impoverished human condition. Xōp is discussed by Radin, where it ". . . seems to be associated, in the eyes of the Winnebago, with the intensely emotional aspects of religion, where self is completely forgotten. Those ceremonies, in which the performers work themselves into a frenzy of excitement and dance naked, are always referred to as xōp."¹⁴ Elsewhere xōp is rendered as "powers," but clearly it is a kind of supernatural power that completely takes over a person. This kind of frenzy is also expressed in the word xō, of which xōp is apparently an expansion. The word xō means "wrong, crazy." Both xō and xōp describe a state of possession. When xōp passes on to a person to whom it is not native, they tend to go crazy (xō). Certainly, an epileptic seizure, in which the victim falls to the ground and quivers, is not distinguishable from possession by a Spirit (Xōpini), as we see in the word xóp’óx, an unknown kind of seizure. A distinction between illnesses and possessions would have been considered a fine point. Both xō and xōp describe a state of possession. We see this kind of frenzied possession at warbundle feasts where a holy person is called upon to recount his war exploits.

As they do this, some become crazed (rujánįgirega) by the Night Spirits. [Intense holiness] comes over them (Wakącą́kjį wa'ųgé). All their clothes would be cast off, it is said. All naked, without apparel, would the man dance around the lodge. ... Even if the kettle was boiling over the crazed ones (rujánįgiràjega) would stick their hand in it.¹⁵

Here we discover that the Night Spirits are at times instigators of the xōp that takes possession of the affected. Without doubt, xōp could be induced by such drugs as Datura, which can propel someone to such a frenzy as to require "restraints." When confronted with actual combat and the discipline imposed upon soldiers (mą̄́ną̄́pe), Datura intoxication can be harnessed to cause Black Bear warriors to go berserk.

The main competing candidate for the white flower is henbane (Hyoscyamus alba), which the berserkers used in Scandinavia. "The side effects of henbane ingestion are dryness in the mouth, confusion, visual illusions, bizarre thoughts, locomotor and memory disturbances, and farsightedness, similar in style to those of other tropane-based deliriants, such as plants of the New World genus Datura."¹⁶ This is said of black henbane, whose flowers are yellow. White henbane isn't as tall as jimsonweed, the former goes as high as 3 feet, while the latter grows as high as 5 feet. Its flowers are not nocturnal, so white henblane does not have a special connection to nightime, or therefore, to Nightspirirts. Furthermore, no usage is given in the Native American Ethnobotany by any tribe.¹⁷ This may be due to the fact that the plant was introduced to what is now the United States around the middle of the XVIIᵀᴴ century, somewhat later than the introduction of Datura.

So the preponderance of evidence is that the white flower that staunched the fear of combat in the Black Bear Subclan was that of the Datura genus.

Comparative Material

Algonquian

"The Algonquin and other tribes of northeastern North America also employed datura, calling it wysoccan. At puberty, adolescent males were confined in special longhouses and for two or three weeks ate nothing but the drug. During the course of their extended intoxication, the youths forgot what it was to be a boy and learned what it meant to be a man."¹⁸

Hokan

The Chumash also have a Spirit being whose alloform is the Datura plant. This being was a grandmother figure named "Momoy." The word momoy means Datura in Chumash, so she was a personification of the Datura plant just was was Fourth Universe. She was the grandmother of the twin Thunders who make lightning and thunder, recalling the episode in the Hōcąk myth of the Datura flower appearing after a thunderstorm. Her story also features a great downpour: "Momoy turned into the plant Datura after the flood which marked the transition between mythical times 'when the animals were still people' (as myths often begin) and the advent of the world order familiar to the Chumash." Momoy could see distant places and perceive the future, and those who drank momoy (Datura) could do the same.¹⁹

The Havasupai use the leaves or seeds to achieve an intoxicating state the lasts for a day or more.²⁰

The Kumeyaay (Diegueño) appreciate that the Datura is poisonous, but use it properly prepared for boys' initiation into the toloache cult. It is also made into a tea used for facilitating the instruction of young men in becoming ceremonial dancers.²¹

The Yavapai eat the leaves themselves or make a decoction from them believing that ingesting Datura will give them success in hunting deer.²²

Athabascan

The White Mountain Apache use Datura as a narcotic and intoxicating drink.²³

The Navajo use Datura in ceremonies where it is said that it "you drunk like from whiskey." It is said to be used by witches, but if the victim has knowledge of how to use the plant, he is protected from its effects. Hunters use the plant by mixing it with pollen and smoking it. This has the effect of making deer tame.²⁴

Uto-Aztecan

Although widely used and known in Mexico our fullest information is for the Aztecs,who used the drug for both religious and medicinal purposes. Here again Datura or toloache was regarded as holy. There were special officials who took Datura, along with peyote,to discover cures for illness, lost or stolen property, and the cause of chronic illness due to witchcraft. Sometimes the patient was given the drug instead. Datura was also one of the ingredients in an ointment made of venomous insects burned to ashes, and tobacco. The priests who were anointed with this salve are said to have lost all fear and to have become bold and cruel enough to kill their sacrificial victims. This ointment was also used to cure the sick who came from all parts of the land to be treated by the priests, and as an anodyne to set fractured bones.²⁵

The Cahuilla use Datura as an hallucinogen. Shamans take Datura to escape the profane world and enter that of the Spirits. The drug gives the shaman the power to transform himself into various animals, so that he may take flight to visit other worlds, such as the land of the dead. Datura is also used as hunting magic, allaying hunger, gaining the power to successfully track game, and increasing the hunter's physical strength, recalling the potency of the white flower to enhance the war powers of Bear clansman.²⁶

The Gabrielino also use Datura for medical and hallucinogenic purposes.²⁷

The Hopi realize the dangers of Datura, as it is sometimes used as a poison. They used it as a narcotic and as an hallucinogen. Ingesting the drug gave shamanistic doctors the visions they needed to diagnose what Spirits might be causing the patient's malady.²⁸

The Kawaiisu appreciated that Datura was poisonous, but used it as an hallucinogen to induce dreams and visions, as well as for their puberty ceremonies.²⁹

The Luiseño are acquainted with the psychedelic properties of the Datura plants. The roots are taken and pounded in a mortar to extract the juice which is used to create a state of stupefaction in the boys participating in their puberty ceremonies.³⁰

The Paiutes used Datura to gain visions especially with respect to the dead. Dead relatives could be summoned, and one could even discover one's own lifespan, as well as those whose days are numbered. The roots could be eaten to discover the whereabouts of things that had been lost or where things had been hidden. Therefore, it was useful in gambling to discover what an opponent's hand might conceal. It was appreciated that the plant was poisonous.³¹

The Shoshone make a decoction from the plant. When drunk, it induces unconsciousness during which visions may be had.³²

Penutian

The Costanoans (Ohlone) use Datura not only as an hallucinogen, but as an aphrodisiac.³³

The Miwok use the plant to induce a delirium in which they achieve supernatural power.³⁴

Zuñi

The Zuñi rain priests, who used the powdered roots of Datura to forecast rain, also used it as a tool for solving crimes. If a person had been robbed, he would be given pieces of the root to chew. This would induce "dreams," which is to say hallucinations. These dreams would focus on the theft. The priest would then interpret them and discover the identity of the culprit.³⁵

Links: Nightspirits, Black Bear, Bear Spirits, Earthmaker, Ghosts, Lake Winnebago.

Stories: about flowers: The Wild Rose, White Flower; mentioning Nightspirits: The Nightspirits Bless Jōbᵉną̄giwį̄́xka, The Nightspirits Bless Ciwoit’éhiga, The Origins of the Sore Eye Dance, The Rounded Wood Origin Myth, The Big Stone, How the Thunders Met the Nights, Battle of the Night Blessed Men and the Medicine Rite Men, The Race for the Chief's Daughter, The Daughter-in-Law's Jealousy, Ocean Duck, The Origins of the Nightspirit Starting Songs, The Red Medicine Dance, Black Otter's Warpath, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, Sun and the Big Eater; about the origins of Bear clansmen: Bear Clan Origin Myth; featuring (were-)bears as characters: The Bear Clan Origin Myth, Wolf Clan Origin Myth, The Woman Who Fought the Bear, The Red Man, Bear Offers Himself as Food, The Hocąk Migration Myth, Hare Visits His Grandfather Bear, Hocąk Clans Origin Myth, Hare Recruits Game Animals for Humans, How the Thunders Met the Nights, Creation of the World (v. 5), Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, The Race for the Chief's Daughter, Partridge's Older Brother, The Roaster, The Woman Who Loved Her Half Brother, The Shaggy Man; mentioning the Potawatomi: Trickster, the Wolf, the Turtle, and the Meadow Lark, Mijistéga’s Powwow Magic and How He Won the Trader's Store, The Masaxe War, The Annihilation of the Hocągara I (v. 2), The Annihilation of the Hocągara II, First Contact (v. 2), Little Priest's Game, Xųnųnį́ka, Introduction; mentioning Earthmaker: The Creation of the World, The Creation of Man, The Commandments of Earthmaker, The Twins Get into Hot Water, The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head, The Lost Blanket, Earthmaker Blesses Wagíšega (Wešgíšega), The Man Who Would Dream of Mą’ųna, The First Snakes, Tobacco Origin Myth, The Creation Council, The Gray Wolf Origin Myth, The Journey to Spiritland, The Resurrection of the Chief's Daughter, The Seven Maidens, The Descent of the Drum, Thunder Cloud Marries Again, The Spider's Eyes, The Boy who was Blessed by a Mountain Lion, Hawk Clan Origin Myth, Šųgepaga, The Fatal House, The Twin Sisters, Thunderbird Clan Origin Myth, Elk Clan Origin Myth, Deer Clan Origin Myth, Bear Clan Origin Myth, Wolf Clan Origin Myth, The Masaxe War, The Two Children, Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, The Petition to Earthmaker, The Gift of Shooting, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, Bluehorn's Nephews, The Stone Heart, The Wild Rose, Earthmaker Sends Rušewe to the Twins, The Lame Friend, How the Hills and Valleys were Formed, The Hocąk Migration Myth, The Necessity for Death, Hocąk Clans Origin Myth, The War among the Animals, Lake Winnebago Origin Myth, Blue Mounds, Lost Lake, The Hocągara Migrate South, The Spirit of Gambling, Turtle and the Giant, The Shawnee Prophet — What He Told the Hocągara, The Hocągara Contest the Giants, Ghost Dance Origin Myth II, Bird Origin Myth, Black and White Moons, Redhorn's Sons, Holy Song, The Reincarnated Grizzly Bear, The Blessings of the Buffalo Spirits, Death Enters the World, Man and His Three Dogs, Trickster Concludes His Mission, Story of the Thunder Names, The Origins of the Milky Way, Trickster and the Dancers, Ghost Dance Origin Myth I, East Enters the Medicine Lodge, The Creation of Evil, The Blessing of Kerexųsaka, Song to Earthmaker, The Blessing of the Bow, The Stench-Earth Medicine Origin Myth, The Origin of the Cliff Swallow, Little Red Bird's Story.

Themes: one of the Hocąk (sub)clans originated from another tribe: Snake Clan Origins, Pigeon Clan Origins, Fish Clan Origins, Bird Clan Origin Myth; a Hocąk (sub)clan was founded by a single foreign man: Bird Clan Origin Myth; a person's body turns into a plant: White Flower (white flower), The Boy who would be Immortal (tree), The Woman who Became a Walnut Tree, Aracgéga's Blessings (inverse: log > human), cf. The Wild Rose, Deer Clan Origin Myth (v. 2); someone is blessed with a medicine: The Stench-Earth Medicine Origin Myth, A Waterspirit Blesses Mąnį́xete’ų́ga, Great Walker's Medicine, Bow Meets Disease Giver, The Seven Maidens, The Blessings of the Buffalo Spirits, The Tap the Head Medicine, The Seer, The Healing Blessing, A Weed's Blessing, A Snake Song Origin Myth, Young Man Gambles Often, The Origins of the Sore Eye Dance, The Elk's Skull, Buffalo Dance Origin Myth, A Peyote Vision, The Sweetened Drink Song; ascending to heaven in a storm: The Shawnee Prophet and His Ascension, The Man Who Fell from the Sky, cf. Hare Retrieves a Stolen Scalp, The Glory of the Morning, Red Cloud's Death; ascending to heaven with a clap of thunder: Hare Retrieves a Stolen Scalp, The Man Who Fell from the Sky, cf. The Glory of the Morning.

Notes

¹ Walter Funmaker, The Winnebago Black Bear Subclan: a Defended Culture (Ph.D. Thesis, University of Minnesota: December, 1986 [MnU-D 86-361]]) 51-57, 180. Informant: One Who Wins of the Winnebago Bear Clan.

² Paul Radin, The Winnebago Tribe (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990 [1923]) 282, 286.

³ Radin, The Winnebago Tribe, 282, 286.

⁴ Jasper Blowsnake, "The Sore-Eye Dance (Hišjaxiri Waši)," in Paul Radin, Winnebago Notebooks (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, n. d.) Notebook 23, 1-195 (Syllabary with an interlinear translation) 110-111.

⁵ Illinois Grazing Manual Fact Sheet, SPECIES • POISONOUS PLANTS, Jimsonweed, USDA, electronic text, viewed: 1 May 2026.

⁶ Robert Beverley, "Book II: Of the Natural Product and Conveniencies in Its Unimprov'd State, Before the English Went Thither," The History and Present State of Virginia, In Four Parts (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, 2006 []) II:24.

⁷ a widespread view among Scandinavian scholars. See R. Gordon Wesson, Soma: Divine Mushroom of Immortality (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1968) 157-158, 176-178, 237, 306, 322, 324, 341-356. Wesson disagrees with this thesis.

⁸ Robert Eisler, Man into Wolf (Santa Barbara: Ross-Erickson, 1978 [1948]) 13.

⁹ Karsten Fatur, "Sagas of the Solanaceae: Speculative Ethnobotanical Perspectives on the Norse Berserkers," Journal of Ethnopharmacology 244 (2019): 112-151.

¹⁰ M S Dewitt, R Swain, and L B Gibson Jr, "The dangers of jimson weed and its abuse by teenagers in the Kanawha Valley of West Virginia," West Virginia Medical Journal, v. 93 (1997), #4 (Jul-Aug): 182-5.

¹¹ Niloofar Khoshnam‐Rad, Marziyeh Heydari, Keyhan Mohammadi, Mojgan Mashayekhi, Zahra Sahraei, Kheirollah Gholami, "Datura poisoning in a family: Case series and literature review," Clinical Case Report, 10, #7 (July, 2022): 60-91.

¹² Niloofar Khoshnam‐Rad, et alia, "Datura poisoning in a family: Case series and literature review," §2.

¹³ Paul Radin, The Winnebago Tribe (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990 [1923]) 234. Cf. the Osage xúbe, "holy, supernatural power," with the added meaning, "sanctity." Francis LaFlesche, A Dictionary of the Osage Language, Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 109 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1932) 221, s.v. xúbe.

¹⁴ Paul Radin, The Winnebago Tribe (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990 [1923]) 234.

¹⁵ Radin, The Winnebago Tribe, 470-471.

¹⁶ Hyoscyamus niger > Effects. Wikipedia. Electronic text, viewed 5 May 2026.

¹⁷ Native American Ethnobotany Data Bank > Text Search: Datura, Jimsonweed, Hyoscyamus [null], henbane [null].

¹⁸ Wade Davis, The Serpent and the Rainbow (New York: Simon and Schuster, Oct 5, 2010) 39.

¹⁹ Richard B. Applegate, "The Datura Cult Among the Chumash," The Journal of California Anthropology, v. 2, #1 (1 July 1975) 16. Thomas Blackburn, Chumash Oral Tradition: A Cultural Analysis. Ph.D. Dissertation, (University of California, Los Angeles, 1974) Myths 15-20.

²⁰ Steven A. Weber, and P. David Seaman, Havasupai Habitat: A. F. Whiting's Ethnography of a Traditional Indian Culture (Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 1985) 239.

²¹ Ken Hedges, "Santa Ysabel Ethnobotany," San Diego Museum of Man Ethnic Technology Notes, #20 (1986): 17; Bean and Saubel, Temalpakh, 60.

²² E. W. Gifford, "Northeastern and Western Yavapai," University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology 34 (1936): 247-345 [261].

²³ Albert B. Reagan, "Plants Used by the White Mountain Apache Indians of Arizona," Wisconsin Archeologist, 8 (1929): 143-61 [151, 156].

²⁴ Paul A. Vestal, "The Ethnobotany of the Ramah Navaho," Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology: v. 40, #4 (1952):1-94, [42].

²⁵ Harold E. Driver and William C. Massey, "Comparative Studies of North American Indians," Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, v. 47, #2 (1957), 165-456 [273b].

²⁶ Lowell John Bean, and Katherine Siva Saubel, Temalpakh (From the Earth); Cahuilla Indian Knowledge and Usage of Plants, (Banning, CA. Malki Museum Press, 1972) 60.

²⁷ Bean and Saubel, Temalpakh (From the Earth); Cahuilla Indian Knowledge and Usage of Plants, 60.

²⁸ Harold S. Colton, Hopi History And Ethnobotany, in D. A. Horr (ed.), Hopi Indians (New York: Garland: New York, 1974) 306; Alfred F. Whiting, Ethnobotany of the Hopi, Museum of Northern Arizona Bulletin #15 (1939): 31, 89.

²⁹ Maurice L. Zigmond, Kawaiisu Ethnobotany (Salt Lake City. University of Utah Press, 1981) 23.

³⁰ Philip S. Sparkman, "The Culture of the Luiseno Indians," University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology v. 8, #4 (1908):187-234 [207, 229].

³¹ Julian H. Steward, "Ethnography of the Owens Valley Paiute," University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology: v. 33, #3 (1933): 233-250, [318]; Catherine S. Fowler, Willards Z. Park's Ethnographic Notes on the Northern Paiute of Western Nevada 1933-1940 (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1989) 126.

³² Edith Van Allen Murphey, Indian Uses of Native Plants (Glenwood, Ill. Meyerbooks, 1990 [1959]) 50.

³³ Barbara R. Bocek, "Ethnobotany of Costanoan Indians, California, Based on Collections by John P. Harrington," Economic Botany v. 38, #2 (1984): 240-255 [14].

³⁴ S. A. Barrett, and E. W. Gifford, "Miwok Material Culture," Bulletin of the Public Museum of the City of Milwaukee, v. 2, #4 (1933): 169.

³⁵ Matilda Coxe Stevenson, Ethnobotany of the Zuni Indians, BAE Annual Report, #30 (Washington D C: Smithsonian Institution, 1915): 88.