Spiritual Healing
-
Workshops & Retreats
-
Spiritual Journeys
-
Sweat Lodges
-
Drumming Circles
NELSON TURTLE
Nelson Turtle (November 19, 1937-February 11, 2010) was a traditional Southern Cheyenne elder of the Beaver Clan from Oklahoma, and a roadman for the Native American Church. His brothers, William (Bill) Ralph Turtle and Wayne Turtle, were also roadmen for peyote rituals. Nelson’s great, great, grandmother was Dog Woman, and her companion was Old Man Turtle, who spoke more than 30 different Native languages, and was an interpreter for the U.S. Calvary.
The Turtle family, along with six other families from six different tribes, was chosen by Quanah Parker, a Comanche chief and founder of the Native American Church, to begin running peyote ceremonies more than 150 years ago. When Dog Woman was given a peyote bundle from Parker containing his traditional peyote tools (a chief, or peyote button, staff, drum and gourd), she became the first woman to run peyote meetings among the Cheyenne people. The peyote bundle still remains in the Turtle family to this day.
The peyote religion and the Native American Church were never the traditional religious practices of North American Indian cultures. This religion developed in the nineteenth century, inspired by events of the time East and West of the Mississippi River, Parker's leadership, and influences from Native Americans of Mexico and other southern tribes.
If you are interested in listening to the songs of the peyote ceremony, please go to the MEDIA tab on my website, where you will find a list of recordings available by Nelson and Bill Turtle, Bill and Wayne Turtle, and Nelson’s daughter, Janelle Turtle, who was the first woman to receive the Native American Music Award for Best Native American Church Recording, “New Beginnings”, in 2008.
QUANAH PARKER
"The White Man goes into his church and talks about Jesus. The Indian goes into his tipi and talks with Jesus.”
Quanah Parker (ca. 1845 or 1852 – February 23, 1911) was a Comanche chief, a leader in the Native American Church, and the last leader of the powerful Quahadi band before they surrendered their battle of the Great Plains and went to a reservation in Indian Territory.
He was the son of Comanche chief Peta Nocona and Cynthia Ann Parker, a European American, who had been kidnapped at the age of nine and assimilated into the tribe. Quanah Parker also led his people on the reservation, where he became a wealthy rancher and influential in Comanche and European American society. With seven wives and 25 children, Quanah had numerous descendants. Many people in Texas and Oklahoma claim him as an ancestor.