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A Hopi
Prophet
In 1997, Bob Frissel
published a book, Something in this book is true, in which he
narrates a prophecy that was given by a Hopi Indian in 1958 to a minister named
David Young. Apparently, Reverend Young was driving along a desert road
during the summer of 1958 when he saw an old Hopi Indian walking slowly
beside the road. Rev. Young offered the man a ride.
Athough this story seems to be authentic, I
have personally been unable to find any other documentary evidence
relating to Rev. Young or to the original document
which is said to have been circulated among some Methodist and
Presbyterian churches in 1959 in the form of a mimeographed manuscript.
My personal ethos demands absolute integrity in everything that I do
and publish:
therefore, I will continue to seek further substantiation of this story
and I welcome any
insights and comments
that anyone might be able to offer...
What follows is the
alleged transcript of the conversation that ensued:
"I am White Feather, a Hopi of the
ancient
Bear Clan. In my
long life I have traveled through this land, seeking out my brothers,
and learning from them many things full of wisdom. I have followed the
sacred paths of my people, who inhabit the forests and many lakes in the
east, the land of ice and long nights in the north, the mountains and
streams of jumping fish in the west, and the places of holy altars of
stone built long ago by my brothers' fathers in the south. From all
these I have heard the stories of the past, and the prophecies of the
future. Today, many of the prophecies have turned to stories, and few
are left --- the past grows longer, and the future grows shorter.
"And now White Feather is dying. His sons have all joined his ancestors,
and soon he too shall be with them. But there is no one left, no one to
recite and pass on the ancient wisdom. My people have tired of the old
ways. The great ceremonies that tell of our origins, of our Emergence
into the Fourth World, are almost all abandoned, forgotten. Yet even
this has been foretold. The time grows short...
"My people await Pahana, the lost White Brother, as do all our brothers
in the land. He will not be like the white men we know now, who are
cruel and greedy. We were told of their coming long ago. But still we
await Pahana.
"He will bring with him the symbols, the
 missing piece of that sacred
tablet now kept by the elders, given to him when he left, that shall
identify him as our True White Brother.
"The Fourth World shall end soon, and the Fifth World will begin. This
the elders everywhere know. The signs over many years have been
fulfilled, and so few are left.
"This is the First Sign: we are told of the coming of the white-skinned
men, like Pahana, but not living like Pahana --- men who took the land
that was not theirs. And men who struck their enemies with thunder
(the white-man's
guns).
"This is the Second Sign: our lands will see the coming of the spinning
wheels of wood filled with voices. In my youth, my father saw this
prophecy come true with his eyes.
(The white men bringing their
families in wagons across the prairies).
 "This is the Third Sign: a strange beast, like a buffalo but with great
long horns, will overrun the land in large numbers. These White Feather
saw with his own eyes --- the coming of the white men's cattle.
(The Texas
longhorn).
"This is the Fourth Sign: the land will be criss-crossed by snakes of
iron.
(The railway tracks
that were built across the United States, and that propelled the white
man's expansionism).
"This is the Fifth Sign: the land will be criss-crossed by a giant
spider's web.
(The enormous
network of electric and telephone cables that stretches across the North
American continent).
"This is the Sixth Sign: the land will be criss-crossed with rivers of
stone that make pictures in the sun.
(The network
of roads and their effect of creating mirages in the sun).
"This is the Seventh Sign: you will hear of the sea turning black, and
many living things dying because of it.
(Predicting major
oil-based ecological disasters such as the Exxon Valdez in 1988, off the
coast of Alaska, as well as the Amoco Cadiz (1978) off the Brittany
coast and the Erika which poured oil into the waters off the Spanish and
French coasts in 2000).
"This is the Eighth Sign: you will see many youth, who wear their hair
long like my people, come and join the tribal nations, to learn their
ways and wisdom.
(The new-age hippy
movement that sought to learn 'new-age' lessons from the ancient wisdoms
of indigenous peoples around the world).
"And this is the Ninth and Last Sign: you will hear of
 a dwelling place
in the heavens, above the earth, that shall fall with a great crash. It
will appear as a blue star. Very soon after this, the ceremonies of my
people will cease.(This
could be a prediction of the Russian space station Mir falling to earth
or it could be the now destroyed Skylab, the US space station that fell
to earth in 1979 - Australian witnesses claim that it appeared to be
burning blue as it reentered earth's atmosphere...)
"These are the Signs that great destruction is coming. The world shall
rock to and fro. The white man will battle against other people in other
lands --- with those who possessed the first light of wisdom.
(It is difficult to
know with absolute certainty the location of the 'fountain of
knowledge', that which White Feather calls the 'first light of wisdom',
but it can be easily argued that this is the Middle East, what is today
Iraq, Iran, Israel, Lebanon... Do I need say more?)
There will
be many columns of smoke such
 as White Feather has seen the white man
make in the deserts not far from here. Only those which come will cause
disease and a great dying. Many of my people, understanding the
prophecies, shall be safe. Those who stay and live in the places of my
people also shall be safe. Then there will be much to rebuild. And soon
--- very soon afterward --- Pahana will return. He shall bring with him
the dawn of the Fifth World. He shall plant the seeds of his wisdom in
their hearts. Even now the seeds are being planted. These shall smooth
the way to the Emergence into the Fifth World.
"But White Feather shall not see it. I am old and dying. You --- perhaps
you will see it. In time, in time..."
Rev. Young
apparently never met the Hopi elder again, and he is said to have died
in 1976 so he did not see the latter part of this remarkable prophecy,
nor what is still to come.
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