Rolling Thunder (person)

Rolling Thunder
Born(1916-09-10)September 10, 1916
Stamps, Arkansas, US
DiedJanuary 23, 1997(1997-01-23) (aged 80)
Elko, Nevada, US
NationalityAmerican
Known forNew Age spiritualist
Spouses
Spotted Fawn
​
(died 1984)​
[1]
Carmen Sun Rising
​
(after 1984)​
[2]
Children
  • Mala Spotted Eagle
  • Buffalo Horse
  • Ozella Morning Star
  • Patty Mocking Bird[1]

Rolling Thunder aka John Pope, 1916–1997) was a hippie spiritual leader who self-identified as a Native American medicine man. He was raised in Oklahoma and later moved to Nevada.[3][better source needed] He has been considered an example of a plastic medicine man, with little or no genuine connection to the culture or religion he claimed to represent or study.

Controversy

Rolling Thunder worked for most of his life as a brakeman under the name John Pope.[4] Going by his chosen name, Rolling Thunder, he appears in taped interviews with Native American author and activist John Trudell, and Michael Chosa in which he discusses the contemporary treatment of Native Americans.[5][failed verification] At times he claimed to be part Hopi, at times Cherokee,[3][page needed] and at other times Shoshone and that he could represent the Western Shoshone Nation.[6] His status remains in doubt, because he never provided proof of any Native heritage, nor have any Native American group claimed him. He has been cited as an example of a plastic medicine man.[7][8] Rolling Thunder is mentioned in a number of books on the New Age, 1960s counterculture, cultural appropriation, cultural imperialism, and neoshamanism.[9][page needed][10]

Death

Rolling Thunder died in 1997 from complications associated with diabetes. He also suffered from emphysema in the later years of his life.[3][better source needed]

Legacy

In 1975 he and his wife Spotted Fawn founded a non-profit community on 262 acres (1.06 km2) of land in north-eastern Nevada (just east of the town of Carlin) that they named Meta Tantay. It operated until 1985; visitors over the years included Mickey Hart, a drummer with the Grateful Dead.[11]

Bibliography

  • Native Healer: Initiation Into an Ancient Art by Bobby Lake-Thom and Robert G. Lake – 1991 (Foreword by Rolling Thunder) Quest Books ISBN 978-0-8356-0667-7
  • Rolling Thunder by Doug Boyd - 1982 (Foreword by Dee Brown) Bantam Doubleday Dell ISBN 978-0440574354

Discography

  • Rolling Thunder – Mickey Hart (1972)
  • Rolling Thunder Speaks: the Owyhee Confrontation (Audio Book)
  • From Alcatraz to Chicago - with John Trudell and Michael Chosa (Audio Book)

Filmography

  • The Trial of Billy Jack (1971)
  • Rolling Thunder: Healer of Meta Tantay – UFO TV – DVD Release Date: February 22, 2005

References

  1. ^ a b Laszlo, Ervin (February 12, 2009). The Akashic Experience: Science and the Cosmic Memory Field. Inner Traditions. ISBN 978-1594772986.
  2. ^ The Shamanic Powers of Rolling Thunder: As Experienced by Alberto Villoldo, John Perry Barlow, Larry Dossey, and Others. Bear & Company. 15 November 2016. ISBN 978-1591432272.
  3. ^ a b c Rolling Thunder (1999). Rolling Thunder Speaks: A Message for Turtle Island. Santa Fe: Clear Light Publishers.
  4. ^ Crawford, Suzanne J.; O'Brien, Suzanne J. Crawford; Kelley, Dennis F. (2005). American Indian Religious Traditions: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 1043. ISBN 978-1-57607-517-3. Retrieved 28 October 2022.
  5. ^ "From Alcatraz to Chicago". WorldCat catalogue entry. Retrieved 2023-11-20.
  6. ^ Rolling Thunder speaks : the Owyhee confrontation
  7. ^ Churchill, Ward (June 2003). "Spiritual Hucksterism:The Rise of the Plastic Medicine Men". Cultural Survival Quarterly Magazine. Retrieved April 14, 2021.
  8. ^ Aldred, Lisa (Summer 2000). "Plastic Shamans and Astroturf Sun Dances: New Age Commercialization of Native American Spirituality". American Indian Quarterly. 24 (3): 332. doi:10.1353/aiq.2000.0001. JSTOR 1185908. PMID 17086676. S2CID 6012903. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
  9. ^ Jenkins, Philip (2005). Dream Catchers: How Mainstream America Discovered Native Spirituality. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-518910-0 – via Internet Archive.
  10. ^ Hobson, Geary (1978). "The Rise of the White Shaman as a New Version of Cultural Imperialism". The Remembered Earth. Albuquerque, NM: Red Earth Press. pp. 100–108. ISBN 9780918434036 – via Internet Archive.
  11. ^ Mickey Hart at Meta Tantay