Way of Wakan: Reflections on Lakota Spirituality and Grief

Following the sudden death of his 27 year old daughter Felicity, in Way of Wakan, David Mathieu shares a moving personal understanding of Lakota (Sioux) beliefs surrounding death. Learned decades earlier from two Lakota medicine men on the Cheyenne River reservation in South Dakota, the author reflects on what he experienced long ago and how the death of Felicity has led to a deeper understanding of Lakota spirituality. Formerly a professor of American Indian Studies and teacher of Lakota language, David’s newfound grasp of the Lakota notion of Wakan (mystery) reveals much that is universal about death and grief. Beginning as a funeral eulogy, Way of Wakan becomes an elegy, not only about the death of a beloved young daughter, but on the profound comfort that can be found in accepting the “not knowing” understanding of death and afterlife as with the Lakota.