The Medicine Bull

Closed another deal today! As I signed the final papers I glanced up at my office wall for the millionth time. What I saw this time was the same that I see every time. What my grandfather called the Medicine Bull. It was his gift to me before he passed. Along with it came the stories and encouragement he received from his grandfather.

One of the things he explained to me is the concept of “medicine”. For Native Americans, the word medicine means something much bigger than the Anglo or English word. Medicine as we hear it used today in a clinical or medical context means the stuff you take that’s supposed to make you feel better. Or it’s a pharmaceutical concoction designed to treat a specific illness or disease.

For American Indians that definition makes very little sense. The “medicine” they refer to is difficult to explain in English words. I will do my best. To start with, a person’s total experience and how they interact with the planet, other humans, the animal world, and the spirit goes into their “medicine”. Certain experiences, an understanding of how things fit together, knowledge of plants and animals… these can all make up the medicine you have. A traditional “medicine man” can also use their medicine to help others. But, not everyone has the ability to use their medicine for others, many simply have their own medicine which they develop and use as part of their daily living.

For those who have the learning and the ability to share, their “medicine” can be imparted onto or into objects, other people, part of the earth, or the spirit. Sharing or using their medicine becomes a way to help others – people, animals, spirits, and so on.

This much broader context around the term “medicine” always comes to mind when I look at the Medicine Bull on the wall. One of the things my grandfather explained about the skull and its artwork is that it embodies the “medicine” of a distant relative. My grandfather’s great-grandfather was a well-known medicine man in the Blackfoot Nation.

As I understand the story, the Medicine Bull brings prosperity, abundance and peace to whoever has it. But I can’t say too much about the “medicine” involved. My grandfather cautioned that to talk about “medicine” is to lose its power. He said, “My grandfather once knew a man who bragged about the medicine he learned from his bear spirit animal. It took him 2 years to find his medicine again after he lost it.”

What I can tell you is that the Medicine Bull works for me. Every time I think about that bull skull and the symbols on it, a sense of anticipation arises. I know that whatever deal I’m working on has a great chance of success. The symbols on the skull include the medicine wheel, top center. The medicine wheel captures the four colors of peoples on the Earth – red, yellow, white, and black. It also represents the embodiment of your four controlling animal spirits – the bear, the eagle, the wolf, and the buffalo. If you are tuned into the animal world and know your animal spirit, you can easily find your place on the medicine wheel. Once you know your place on the wheel, life begins to make a lot more sense.

The feathers and leather thongs hooked around the horns also bring value to the medicine of the skull. Those are eagle feathers which symbolize strength, courage and leadership. Each thong holding a feather has beads in the same four colors as the medicine wheel. All you have to do is look at the Medicine Bull in person and you can feel the power embedded there.

It’s also very important to understand how this particular bison bull was killed and used by the Blackfoot medicine man. In the upper Great Plains, which is now southern Canada, the Blackfoot tribe lived. Buffalo or bison were a mainstay of their diet, survival and way of life. Every part of the animal was used. The meat and some internal organs – liver, tongue – are pretty obvious for food. Hides were tanned and made into robes or other clothing. Bones were used to make tools, spoons, and bowls and so on. Every buffalo hunt and the resulting kills fed many families. And the Blackfeet only harvested or killed the animals they needed. Nothing was wasted.

One particularly harsh winter the tribe my distant relative was part of was low on food and was getting hungry. Naturally, there were arguments and disagreements about what to do. The hungrier you get the shorter your fuse, and the easier it is to quarrel and argue.

So the medicine man decided he had to do something. Using all of the medicine he could muster, and using traditional methods – songs, dances, smoke – he prayed for a successful buffalo hunt. Note this is in the middle of winter, in Canada. Not your usual time of year to see many buffalo.

After a night of prayers and medicine, many people in the tribe had given up and were doing their best to find ways to make it through the winter. As the sun came up to light the day, everyone could see one old bison herd bull walking slowly toward the outer edge of the camp. He walked to within about 100 feet and just stopped.

When that old bull stopped, my distant relative emerged from his tipi, bow and arrow in hand. As a matter of faith, he was ready to hunt buffalo, believing his medicine was strong. As my grandfather explained it the old man’s tipi was a buffalo design incorporating the medicine and symbols the tribe relied on to live.

With other members of the tribe watching, the medicine man approached that bull slowly, offering thanks for the animal’s sacrifice. A carefully placed shot felled the large bull with one arrow. The rest of the tribe started yelling and quickly went to the downed bull, partly to ensure its demise but also to offer thanks.

To give you a sense of how big this bull was, I took the picture below last summer. You can imagine what power this bison shows even when he’s resting. Naturally I used a telephoto lens so I didn’t have to get very close to the actual animal to get this picture.

Processing the huge animal followed traditional methods like any other buffalo kill. The meat was harvested, the hide saved for tanning, bones were cleaned and set aside for later use. One difference with this kill, though, according to the stories I heard was cleaning and saving the skull. This old herd bull’s skull was cleaned and presented to my relative.

And the horn caps were cleaned and placed on the skull as well. The horn cap is the hard, colored outer shell that protects the more sensitive interior of the horn. Once removed and cleaned, the horn caps will be hollow on the inside. If polished they show a fine, shiny finish and can be a variety of colors but are typically darker than the cleaned or bleached skull.

When the buffalo was completely processed the tribe had meat to get through the rest of the winter. My distant relative spent the rest of the winter imparting his “medicine” into the skull. The decorations you see today are the reflection of that “medicine”, including the medicine wheel, the feathers and the beads.

Knowing the story of the Medicine Bull in some detail now, you can imagine how I feel when I look at the skull on my office wall. Not only do I get the benefit of the Blackfoot medicine and all of the attributes embodied therein but I also get a sense of personal history. The knowledge passed down by my grandfather, his grandfather and the original medicine man is priceless. I fully intend to pass on the legacy to my own grandson one day, along with all the blessings that go with. For now, though, it’s back to work on the next deal, knowing full well the old Medicine Bull is right there beside me.