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Rolling Thunder

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Rolling Thunder (birth name John Pope; b. 1916, d.1997) was a Native American medicine man. He was born into the Cherokee nation and later moved to Nevada and lived with the Western Shoshone. He essentially married into the Shoshone tribe when he united with his first wife, Spotted Fawn, who preceded him in death.

273 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1974

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About the author

Doug Boyd

21 books11 followers
Douglas Wright Boyd was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. When he was 9 years old, he moved with his parents, Elmer and Alyce Green, and his three sisters, Pat, Sandra, and Judy, to Canada. They later moved to California, where he attended school, high school,and a couple of years of college. One of his first jobs was using his wonderful voice as a radio announcer. He left California as an army enlistee stationed in Korea. He reenlisted in order to attend the Monterrey language school, more thoroughly learn Korean, and then served in Intelligence in Korea, where he was discharged. While making many friends, Doug remained in Korea for eight more years, founded a language school, taught English, and mentored several students, helping them through college.

Doug was a dedicated humanitarian, researcher, lecturer, teacher, activist, internationally known author, and founding director of the Cross-Cultural Studies Program, a long-range investigation of traditional and esoteric ideologies. He traveled all over the world and was a student and friend of adepts and healers of many traditions and cultures. Possessed of incisive wit, he was a master storyteller who shared personal tales of telepathic experiences and communication, rainmaking, and psychic healing from his many years of experience working with and learning from culturally diverse yogis, monks, psychic healers, and medicine people. He was a student of some, a mentor to many, and a friend to more.

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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
Profile Image for Tom.
11 reviews2 followers
July 30, 2011
Rolling Thunder (birth name John Pope; b. 1916, d.1997) was a Native American medicine man. He was born into the Cherokee nation and later moved to Nevada and lived with the Western Shoshone. He essentially married into the Shoshone tribe when he united with his first wife, Spotted Fawn, who preceded him in death.

I met Rolling Thunder at The World Symposium on Humanity in Vancouver, BC in 1976 where I attended a few talks by him as well as some smaller "workshops". He was an amazing man, soft spokena and unassuming yet amazingly present and powerful. He "knew" things and caused things to happen that had no obvious ratioanal explanation. Such as the time he casually announced that he wouldn't be able to be filmed. Although all the cameras seemed to be functioning for all the other previous speakers talks and the crews ran then throughout his entire talk, when they went to edit them later every one was blank! I found Rolling Thunger to be much more interesting in real life than in this book although the book did contain some interesting information.

John Pope is the subject of Rolling Thunder (1976), a book by the American journalist and author Doug Boyd, and Rolling Thunder Speaks A Message for Turtle Island (1998), a narrative edited by his second wife, Carmen Sun Rising Pope. Rolling Thunder also figures prominently in Mad Bear (1994), Boyd's follow-up book to Rolling Thunder, which chronicles the life of Tuscarora medicine man Mad Bear Anderson, a peer and mentor to Rolling Thunder.

In film
Rolling Thunder is credited in the 1971 film Billy Jack, starring Tom Laughlin. In the film, Rolling Thunder leads the snake dance that serves as Billy Jack's rite of passage, via an encounter with a Western diamondback rattlesnake.[2]. He later portrayed himself in the film's sequel, The Trial of Billy Jack, and in Billy Jack Goes to Washington[3].

In music
Rolling Thunder appears on Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart's album Rolling Thunder, a 1972 release. In 1975/76, Bob Dylan organized and headlined the Rolling Thunder Revue, a nationwide series of concerts. Rolling Thunder himself was said to have appeared at some of the shows.

Life and legacy
Rolling Thunder was a lifelong proponent of women's rights (although not, by current definition, a feminist), care for the environment, and Native American rights. His message, as related through the books about his life, is one of togetherness and inclusiveness. In 1975 he and his wife Spotted Fawn founded an inter-tribal, inter-racial, non-profit community on 262 acres (1.06 km2) of land in north-eastern Nevada (just east of the town of Carlin) called Meta Tantay (Chumash for "Walk in Peace"). There he served as leader and healer. Meta Tantay operated until 1985, and included both Native and non-Native members; visitors over the years included Buckminster Fuller, Mickey Hart and The Grateful Dead, and Tibetan monks. I had a friend who live at Meta Tantay for almost a year.

His grandson, Sidian M.S. Jones, is a founder of the Open Source Religion[7], and lectures on Open Source Religion, Shamanism, and his grandfather Rolling Thunder often with Stanley Krippner.

Death
Rolling Thunder died in 1997 from complications associated with diabetes. He also suffered from emphysema in the later years of his life(Like many native Americans he considered tobacco and the smoking ceremony to be sacred. It was customary to bring him a small poucc of tobacco as a gift.)
10 reviews2 followers
May 4, 2016
I read this book in the mid 1980's and a few years later I met Rolling Thunder at his home in Carlin, NV., we became friends and I know what a powerful Medicine Man he really was. I told him I wanted to learn how to make a Tornado and he grinned and said "You need to stay here and study with me for awhile before I will teach you how to do that" ... and he then invited me to stay. The book is very very good and it depicts Rolling Thunder very well.
Profile Image for Gregory Allan.
148 reviews
May 10, 2020
This book was fantastic. A wonderful insight into the world and how we relate to it. I bought this book from a fancy bookshop in Bangkok at a very good price and I believe was an original print. It looked old and smelt amazing - just like old books and reminded me of my Grandparents house.

The content is interesting and at points gets dragged out on parts I felt unnecessary but is written as a complete journey of one man meeting and spending important time with a genuine American-Indian Medicine Man. It has some fantastic parts and beautiful moments which make me appreciate the natural world and enjoyed the book even more.
Profile Image for happydog.
85 reviews82 followers
March 7, 2007
If you like reading about Native American philosophy, this is an interesting one.
Profile Image for Michael.
44 reviews1 follower
October 13, 2009
When the storms on the plain bring more than rain. Inspired me.
86 reviews
February 17, 2011
A marvelous true telling of a very spiritual experience that adds credence to the value of being one with nature. I was gifted this book some 18 years ago and have, in turn, gifted copies to others.
Profile Image for Vikki.
825 reviews51 followers
October 25, 2011
I loved this book! This is the true story of an Indian. It shows the metaphysical side of Indians. I would like to own this book.
Profile Image for Wickovski Steve.
56 reviews86 followers
August 21, 2012
I think this is one book you'll find hard to get. Its a great biography of Rolling Thunder a modern day First Nation man.
Well written and engaging.
1 review1 follower
February 18, 2013
Thoroughly enjoyed the book. I read it almost 20 years ago and I think of it every time I encounter mosquitoes. And I havn't been bothered by them since.
Profile Image for Aaron Kleinheksel.
252 reviews17 followers
September 28, 2021
RE-READ: I first read this book around 1993 when it was assigned reading for a psychology course I was enrolled in at university. Professor Roger Ulrich (who is in his 80's now) is a sort of disciple of Rolling Thunder and this book was part of his personal collection of "scripture" I would say. He was one of the early founders of the Psych dept. at WMU, and by the time I took his class, he was considered an eccentric in the Dept. He was also very charismatic and beloved by many of his students, for all his oddities, or probably because of them. He would contact former students every so often by mail soliciting interest / support for his farm community. He still operates that communal farm he started back in the late 60's-early 70's in the Kalamazoo area, so he lives his philosophy, if nothing else. All that to say, this book is only tangentially related to psychology, in the way that most things can be related to psychology when they involve humans.

Rolling Thunder (RT) was an American Indian Medicine Man - a mystic. The author is free in drawing parallels between the witch doctors, medicine men, and mystics of all indigenous and primitive peoples, and places RT within that milieu. It is apt.

Do not think Boyd is a critical or objective observer, however. Rather, he is a true believer. He spends far too much time writing narrative prose that is dripping with adoration, respect and almost abject worship of his subject. Reading this the reader is led to understand that RT is unassailable in his wisdom and ways. 25+ years have passed since my initial reading and I wish I could talk to my younger self about this tract. Reading RT is almost like sitting around a fire with the author while all present soak in the glory of a cult leader.

Why did I keep this book all these years? RT describes pagan and earth-centered worship in ways that you might not get from a more critical scholarly or Judeo-Christian perspective, and I prefer to learn from those who actually believe and practice different religions. There are descriptions of "confrontations" with other "sorcerers" and practitioners of dark "medicine" that are illuminating from what I believe to be a demonic perspective. I actually do not doubt many of the descriptions of events contained in this book, I just doubt the source of the "power."

Overall I cannot recommend this book except to a small set of people who may, like me, be seeking to understand American Indian mysticism and eastern-style occult practices from those who practice them. There is virtually nothing contained in RT that I would consider beneficial enough to waste a reader's time.

I will end with one other interesting point when reading material like this. Originally describing events that occurred in 1971-72, a constant refrain throughout the book is the twisted and corrupt nature of the "white-man's" culture and works. Indians are help up as the noble first peoples who were living in harmony with nature and each other until the "white man" came and ruined their idyllic existence. This, combined with Boyd's distaste and loathing for his own culture add a sharp element of anti-white racism to the text that would fit right in with today's radical left. I make no excuses for the evils that have been visited on Native Americans or the environment by western culture, but many of the tropes that were repeated in this book could be lifted whole-cloth and placed in a PC handbook of the 90's or a SJW text of the 2020's. I do not exaggerate when I say that a direct line can be drawn from writings such as this to the pervasive and cancerous rot we have today throughout our educational systems, government bureaucracies, corporate boardrooms and religious institutions.

Well, I can now do something that goes against my natural grain and toss this book into the garbage where it belongs. Fitting, I think, that it will decompose in a landfill and become again part of the earth, sometime in the future nurturing new life and growth in the "great circle" of life.
Profile Image for Susan.
88 reviews
July 4, 2017
The story is of a boy who rides with his Vietnam vet grandfather on the 30th Rolling Thunder Ride for Freedom, done on Memorial Day each year. The story captures the importance the ride is for the grandfather who rides to honor friends lost. Riding in on a motorcycle, they arrive at a campground and meet up with others. In the morning, a long motorcycle convoy arrives at The Wall, where names are touched and prayers are said. The story is written in perfect rhyme and emphasizes the importance of Memorial Day and honoring those who fought for our freedom. The illustrations tell many other stories, featuring other soldiers, family members at the wall as well as a star-lit sky signifying the vastness of the lives lost and honor earned. A fresh story about the importance of the holiday.
Profile Image for John Fredrickson.
644 reviews18 followers
June 13, 2020
I found this book difficult to stay with because it lacks a central focus. It is simultaneously a memoir-ish account of Boyd's experience with parapsychology in the person of the Indian Rolling Thunder, while also accounting injustices done to the Indians by the white government. The bouncing focus of the book does not feel particularly well-handled.

The character of Rolling Thunder comes across as kind and enigmatic, and it is clear that he is in touch with forces that are outside of our normal perception and experience. Having said this, it feels odd that the book leaves us in this state of wonder without pursuing it further, perhaps by exploring the capabilities of the Mad Bear character or by delving further into what Rolling Thunder could do.
675 reviews30 followers
January 27, 2019
I enjoyed the simplicity of this book. It's certainly the most "field report"-styled work of spiritualism I've ever read, and maybe that makes it more American somehow. There's little in this world than speaking for those who cannot speak, speaking to those who cannot hear, based on the authority of those who will not speak.

This book functions as a glimpse into the Native American liberation movement of the 1960s and 1970s, from the point of view of their participants, in a way that grants tremendous respect and credence to the internal beliefs of the participants. It's more than that, but it's that too.
Profile Image for Jack.
272 reviews7 followers
January 21, 2023
I don't really like Boyd's writing style, but I did appreciate the content. I found Rolling Thunder really fascinating and appreciated the spiritual and philosophical messages (that you can put into practice). It is interesting how consistent they are with other sources (e.g. the Seth material, Abraham from Esther Hicks, and others).

I'm looking forward to reading his book about Mad Bear next.
Profile Image for Paul.
75 reviews5 followers
May 29, 2017
"We don't have to eat everything we see, and we don't have to say everything we think....We have a choice in those things, and we have to realize that and practice using that choice."

Be calmer, Paul, and you'll be okay.
Profile Image for Bern J.
181 reviews
July 26, 2020
This Indian is plugging into a resource that most of us can't access
7 reviews
August 25, 2022
An excellent book about a medicine man whose powers were used to not only help the Indigenous -people, but also to help heal and change the world around him. Rolling Thunder lived a life of non-judgement and this book shows that all things are possible and the only limits we have are those we put on ourself.
Profile Image for Erin Moore.
Author 3 books12 followers
July 31, 2013
Doug Boyd gives an illuminating account of the Shoshone medicine man, Rolling Thunder, known as John Pope to the rest of the world.

It details only a small section of the life of Rolling Thunder, including some of his difficulties with the white man's world, as well as some of his fights against other Indians who use a sorcerer to bring him down (and almost succeed.)

It is a compelling story, one that shows the persecution of the Indians even to this day. Guns and subterfuge still allow ranchers and industrialists to destroy the allotted lands of the Shoshone.

The most vivid portraits, though, are of the way that Rolling Thunder rises above the distractions around him to always become fully aware of the moment, even as far as predicting the next moment (or causing it to happen, in the case of rain storms and other events.)

I think that Mr. Boyd was very interested in proving to both the reader and his organization, the mysterious Menninger Foundation (maybe only mysterious to me...) that Rolling Thunder could actually perform these miracles. I was personally more interested in hearing about the history that put Rolling Thunder where he was in that period in history, as well as what could be done in the future. I feel like the book was very focused on the day to day narrative of what Rolling Thunder had done, without as much of a larger picture of where he was going.

All in all, though, this book is for anyone who has any appreciation for a spiritual journey or Native Americans in general. The connections between Eastern thought and what our Native Americans have always known are many, and it may be, as Boyd suggests, that these guardians of the Earth will bring us back to our own ancestral knowing. If we can only be present enough...



Profile Image for Shari.
57 reviews
October 24, 2021
I had heard a bit about Rolling Thunder and asked a friend who is part Cherokee if he had heard of him. He said he had and he was a controversial figure. Some articles I read said he wasn't Native American, others said he was part Native American. Seems there was a lot of confusion about Rolling Thunder. Doug Boyd was sent to write about him and I think he did a good job. The practices he describes are pretty much in line with what we would call shamanic practices from what I understand of it. After reading this book I felt Rolling Thunder was the real deal whether he was Native American or not. Yes, there is no doubt some showmanship, but that is also part of the shamanic pathways as it puts people in the mood so to speak and primes the climate for healing. One has only to look at what goes on in churches to know putting people in the mood for a healing or for something good to occur is part of the fanfare. I'm not saying there aren't charlatans and one has to use some discretion and discernment. In times past medicine people were examined and tested by their respective medicine society. Plus, their community would know if they were successful at healing, or finding water when their community needed it, etc. so over time they would show their worth or not. An interesting read if you're interested in such things.
1 review
December 12, 2013
I have read this book before about 15 yrs ago and back in started again back in april or may and life got in the way? So since I have not got back to it yet! But this book is for people more of the native,spiritual and natural way of thinking! If you don't in mind over matter, if you have to see it too believe it. Then isn't the kind of book that would appeal to you, But to those of you who do believe nature and every living thing has a spirit and is connected to all human beings then you my friend will totally LOVE this book. I will leave all the opinions till you've read it!!!!!!!
2 reviews
Currently reading
January 9, 2009
More confirmation that I am descended from fucking barbarians, IF they are REALLY my ancestors. Maybe I was lost. I was stolen from indigenous people. yes, thats it.
This book is about an amazing medicine man of the Western Shoshone.
Profile Image for Philippa.
Author 3 books5 followers
July 15, 2012
White man meets Native American and has cosmic experiences.
Profile Image for April.
44 reviews3 followers
July 5, 2008
a journey through the eyes of a skeptic into the world of shamanism
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews

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