Secrets: The Truth is Slowly Revealed

“Before we go to sleep,” I began while looking at the haatali, “I want you to answer a question for me.  When did the first skinwalkers come into existence and how were they created?”

“That is a very good question and I will answer it for you, but please allow me to explain a few other things first.  You may not know this, but I am not the only haatali my people have, so when Isaac first came here and stated who he was, I knew I had to speak with him before he approached one of the other haatalis.  That is because I knew how my fourth great-grandfather had rewarded him for what he had done, and I also knew what he is now capable of doing.  The other haatalis have no idea about any of this and I was afraid they might react inappropriately, possibly even hostilely, if they were to discover the truth.” 

“You mean no other Diné know that Grandpa Isaac and the other males in his family are all skinwalkers?”

“No, and they do not even know there is such a thing as a good skinwalker.  As far as they are concerned, all skinwalkers are evil.”

“Oh, that explains a lot.”

“And for that reason, the secret about Isaac’s abilities were only passed on to my fourth great-grandfather’s descendents that were haatalis in order to keep the secret from the rest of our people.  That includes all of the other haatalis that have no relationship to my fourth great-grandfather.” 

“Are there a lot of haatalis that are descendents of your fourth great-grandfather?”

“No, it is just my son and I.  Many of the other haatalis just learned about what Isaac did for our people, but they do not understand how he was rewarded, other than he was made a member of the Diné Nation.  That is why I was so quick to pull him aside when he came here on your behalf, because I could not take the chance that he would say something about being a skinwalker to anyone else.  They may not look upon his ability the same way that I do and I wanted to avoid any problems.  I also wanted to be able to test Isaac to see how proficient he has become.” 

 

 “So, if there are multiple haatalis on the reservation, is there a hierarchy and are you the chief haatali.”

“No.  We have many haatalis, just as in your world there are many doctors, but we are all equals in rank.  The older haatalis may be slightly more respected and proficient, due to their age and how long they have been a haatali, and our abilities may also vary slightly due to experience, but we are all equals.” 

“Oh, so you aren’t considered by the rest of the Diné as being a better haatali?”

“That is correct.  For example, my son, whom I trained personally, is also a haatali, but I am more proficient at some rituals than he is because I have performed them more often, but we are still equal in rank.  There is no such thing as a chief haatali, although I find your terminology interesting, since you chose to put it that way instead of saying either lead haatali or head haatali.  You will soon discover it was the fact that we are all equal that became the primary issue that led to the creation of the first skinwalkers, but I will explain this in more detail as we go along.”

“Then how do you become a haatali?”

“It is usually a skill passed down from one generation to the next, but there are other ways to become a haatali as well.  You just have to demonstrate that you possess the necessary qualities for the position.” 

“And what qualities are those?”

“The person must be able to communicate with the Sacred Holy People, because they help us heal others.  The person must also be able to communicate with different animal spirits, because we often call on them for assistance as well.  In addition to those qualities, they should also have some artistic ability, since the use of sand paintings in our rituals is crucial.”

“So, if they have those qualities they can become a haatali too?”

“If they have those qualities and manage to successfully go through the training and prove they can use the qualities I have mentioned to heal others, then they will eventually become a haatali as well.  The entire process will take several years to master, however, just as it takes a long time for those who wish to become doctors.”

“In that case, I don’t suppose there are many who choose to follow through on the opportunity.”  

“Being a haatali is a great honor and it takes a long time to become one because there is much to learn.  In my family, the first born of each haatali is usually trained to become a haatali as well, and it does not matter if they are male or female.  My people believe that both sexes are equal in such matters.”

“But what if that person doesn’t want to become a haatali?”

“If they do not wish to become a haatali or do not possess the necessary skills, then the honor is passed to the second born.  My family has provided a haatali to take care of our people for many generations.”

“I see, but what does that have to do with the skinwalkers?”

“As I said previously, there are many haatalis, but we are all considered to be equals.  We are all healers, or medicine men if you prefer, and our job is to take care of the other members of our community.  We use our rituals and ceremonies to call upon the Sacred Holy People so we can heal and care for the Earth People.”

“Aren’t we all Earth People?”

“Yes, as the white man looks at it we are all Earth People, since we all live on the earth.  But to the Diné, the Earth People were created by the Changing Woman and then the Sacred Holy People taught them to live the Diné way.  During many of our rituals, we call upon the Changing Woman and Sacred Holy People to guide us, but as I mentioned earlier, sometimes we also call on the spirits of different animals to assist us as well” 

“Why do you do that?”

“We may call on them to share their physical strength so the sick person will grow stronger, or we may ask them to share a specific attribute they possess.  For example, we are aware that opossums are immune to snake venom, so we may call upon the spirit of the opossum to help us heal someone who has been bitten by a coral or rattlesnake.  In fact, my fourth great-grandfather used that knowledge to save Isaac’s life after he was bitter by a rattlesnake.” 

“Wow, that’s really interesting and Grandpa Isaac told Devin about that, and Devin told me.  What else do you do?”

“We also perform some minor magic, such as using the ability to temporarily become invisible.  We can also do other things, such as what my fourth great-grandfather did when he turned Isaac into a skinwalker and gave him the ability to change into many different animals.  I will be performing the same rituals on you that were performed on Isaac, so you will soon learn what I am talking about.” 

“I already know about some of it, since Devin and the others have shown me a lot of what they can do.”

“Then they have demonstrated great faith that you will not betray them.”

“Yes, they know I’d never do that.”

“Some of our chants and rituals also allow us to cast spells and curses, such as when we place a curse on a person who has harmed my people or on a parcel of land that has been taken from us.  We may also cast a spell on someone for a perceived wrong, such as we did with the Utes.”

“Why?  What did the Utes do to you?”

“During your Civil War, the Utes were the main group that worked with Kit Carson as he led a campaign against my people.  For that treachery, we cursed those involved in this act, along with their homeland.  Since that time, the evil skinwalkers prefer to live on that cursed land because the Utes and Diné both avoid that area at all cost, even to this day.  That’s why many people associate the evil skinwalkers with the curse, and since the evil skinwalkers were also once haatalis, the Utes often refer to them as witches.”

“Ah, I didn’t know that.  So, did they just happen to be a haatali before they became evil skinwalkers, or did that ability actually play a part in what happened to them?”

“It was due to their abilities that led to them to become the first of the evil skinwalkers.  Many centuries ago, even before the white men came to our lands, a group of haatalis became corrupt and wished to use their positions to gain power and influence over the rest of the tribe.  Even though all haatalis are considered to be equals, these haatalis wanted to become the most powerful and influential of all the haatalis in the eyes of our people.  This desire led them to become even more corrupt as they sought to gain more influence within the tribe in order to become the most powerful of all the haatalis.  This, in turn, led them to experiment with other ways to gain power.” 

“What do you mean by ‘other ways’?  What other things did they do?” 

“Each haatali who wanted to be the most powerful would place spells and curses on the other haatalis that were also attempting to become the most powerful, in order to eliminate the competition.  As the spells and curses began to manifest in the other haatalis, they slowly began to change.  Since each haatali was doing the same things against the other haatalis they were competing with, they all began to take on a similar and unappealing appearance.  They began to appear as something monstrous and hideous, and it also gave them the ability to change into equally monstrous and deformed animals.”

“Did they all change into the same animal?”

“No, but each one was now able to transform into a much larger and deformed version of either a wolf, a coyote, or a bear, and most of them were able to change into more than one of those animals.  Not only could they take on animal form, but the animals they transitioned into were able to do things that were virtually impossible for those species.”

“Like what?” 

“Such as when they were a wolf or a coyote they could walk on their hind legs, which would immediately signal to you that you are dealing with a skinwalker.  Those animals might also be far larger than the largest known animal of that species, which would be another clue as to what they are.”

“They sound absolutely horrible.  Are there any other differences?”

“Yes, there are, because they may also have either red or totally black eyes, instead of the normal color eyes for that species.  And once these changes began to occur in them, they were unable to revert back to the person they once were or take on a normal human form again.  From that moment forward, they would appear only as horrible and disgusting in their human body as they were as animals.” 

“So, that always happens even when they revert back to their normal human form?”

“Yes, and as humans they will still have either red or totally black eyes and they will retain the long claws on every finger of both hands and every toe on both feet.”

“Damn, they must look hideous then.  Are evil skinwalkers capable of having children?”

“I suppose they are, although I can’t imagine who would be willing to mate with them, at least not willingly.” 

“And if they did have children, would they only be allowed to have one son and would he be an evil skinwalker as well?”

“I suppose that is also possible, although we will never know for certain unless we are able to discover a women or an animal that has been impregnated by a skinwalker to see how the offspring turned out.”

“If that’s how the evil skinwalkers were created, then how is it possible to create a skinwalker that isn’t like them?”

“Although not many others are aware of this fact, it is due to the steps some of the other haatalis took while hoping to counteract the evil skinwalkers.”

“What did they do?”

“The other haatalis attempted to devise rituals that would drain the evilness out of those skinwalkers and eliminate the threat they posed.  They weren’t certain if they would be able to change the evil haatalis back to the way they were before they became evil or if it might kill them instead, but at this point they felt it really did not matter.  They merely wanted to get rid of the evil skinwalkers, either by turning them into the person they once were so they can banish them from the tribe or by killing them outright.”

“Did it work?”

“Not in the way they hoped.  After those haatalis collaborated and came up with a ritual that they felt would either drain the evil or the life from the evil skinwalkers, the group had to come up with a plan about how to put it into action.  They had to find a way that the rituals would be able reach the evil skinwalkers and do what it was designed to do, but they realized it wasn’t going to be easy.  The main problem was that they did not know where the evil skinwalkers were or if they were all together.  The other haatalis debated about which of several different methods would elicit the desired effect, no matter where the evil skinwalkers were at the time.”

“What did they do?”

“They finally agreed that the best plan would be to have multiple haatalis perform the same ritual at the same time, but from different locations.  However, no matter how hard they tried or how loudly they chanted, it did not seem to have any effect on the evil skinwalkers.”

“Maybe it would have worked better if they all did it from the same place, instead of them doing it at different locations.”

“That was one of the other options they had debated, but they chose to do it from different locations for a specific reason.  They had no idea where the evil skinwalkers might be at the time they were performing the ritual, so they felt that by doing it from different locations they’d have the best chance of reaching some, if not all, of them.  Since they did not have an evil skinwalker in captivity to deal with directly to see how effective the chants were, they thought that doing it this way was the only chance they would have to make certain they reached at least some of the evil skinwalkers.” 

“The haatalis didn’t even know if this would work?”

“No, and their best chance of being successful was to call on the Sacred Holy People to help them with the ritual they devised, and they hoped that would be enough.  They would have probably considered it a success if it had only reached one of the evil skinwalkers and either changed or killed him so they’d know for certain, although they were hoping it would work on all of them.”

“I guess it was worth giving it a try, but what did they do when that did not work?”

“Even though the effort proved to be unsuccessful, there was an unexpected byproduct of the ritual.  Instead of drawing all of the evil intent out of the evil skinwalkers, it drew the evil out of the haatalis performing the ritual instead and gradually changed them.  Although they did not realize it right away, it turned them into a different kind of skinwalker – one that wasn’t evil.”

“How did they finally discover that had happened?”

“The haatalis only discovered the changes to them a little at a time, and most of it was learned accidentally.  For example, a few days after they began performing the ritual, one of the haatalis left his hohrahn early in the morning and went outside to urinate.  It was a hot day, and since he was in an area where he was basically alone, much as we are here, he didn’t wear anything while he was doing this.  As he was finishing up, he turned around and spotted an emaciated lone wolf staring at him and it began to snarl.  The haatali realized it was about to attack and make him its next meal, when suddenly something totally unexpected occurred.”

“What happened?”

“The haatali suddenly transformed into a wolf as well, but his wolf was larger and stronger than the other wolf.  It not only stared down the lone wolf, but it snarled at it as well, so the lone wolf turned tail and ran away.”

“Why wasn’t that other wolf hunting with a pack?”

“It was assumed that it had either left its pack or been chased out of the pack, and it apparently was finding it difficult to survive on its own.”

“But how did the haatali change into a wolf if he had never gone through the training?” 

“Do you remember what I wore at last night’s ceremony?  I even brought it with me when we came here.”

“Oh, yeah, you were wearing a wolf’s pelt with the head still attached to it.”

“Yes and every haatali has one just like it that he wears during certain ceremonies and rituals.  Sometimes he wears it over his clothes, like I did last night, but most of the time he does not wear a shirt when he’s using it and the pelt comes into direct contact with his skin.  Over the many times he had used it, the pelt must have allowed the haatali’s body to draw enough clues from it so he was able to transform into a wolf when necessary.” 

“Ah, I see,” I responded simply, rather than trying to explain about DNA to the shaman.

“In fact, up until this happened, the haatalis merely talked about the evil skinwalkers changing into animals and never imagined they could do the same thing.”

“Did they all start doing it then, and did they try to see if they could transition into other animals as they became good skinwalkers?”

“No!  First of all, they did not realize there was such a thing as a good skinwalker and the first haatali it happened to didn’t tell the others.  However, after similar things happened to more of the others, they began to talk about what was happening.  Most of the haatalis did not even attempt to transition, because they felt they would eventually turn evil.  In fact, it took a while before a few of those haatalis finally worked up the courage to see if they could also transition, although they were still afraid about what might happen to them.  Even after they made a successful attempt, they quickly decided they should not do it again.”

“Damn, it might have helped them against the evil skinwalkers.”

“Yes, it might have, but they all feared they might unintentionally transition into a wolf or another animal when they didn’t mean to and then attack someone else from the tribe.  They were even more afraid that they might kill someone, possibly a child, and they didn’t want that to happen.  Their main concern was that the ability would end up corrupting them the same way it corrupted the other haatali and they would end up becoming evil skinwalkers as well.”

“Did their children use the ability when it was passed down to them?”

“No, because those haatalis chose not to have any children after they had acquired this trait.  They may have had children before they acquired the skill, but they made certain they did not impregnate their wives after they acquired this skill and used many methods, including spells and rituals to prevent it.  They did this because they were afraid of passing the trait along to the children born later and then those children might become evil if they accidentally used the ability.”

“Does it mean that I or the others might eventually become evil?”

“No, that will not happen because I took special precautions to remove all evil intent from you, along with any evil in the animals you transition into.” 

“You mean I wouldn’t become evil if I accidentally transitioned into a mass murderer?”

“No, because that part of him would not transition into your body and you do not actually become him, only a copy of him.”

“Then if the other haatalis never used their ability, how did they find out how to become good skinwalkers?”

“Not all of them refused to use their ability and one brave haatali, who happened to be an ancestor of mine, decided this ability might prove useful.  He thought it would give him better insight into the evil skinwalkers and then he might be able to either use this ability to help or destroy them.”

“Ok, then what did he do?”

“Since he wasn’t sure if he had the ability yet, he intentionally placed himself in dangerous situations and hoped it would cause him to transition into a wolf”

“Ok, but what if doing it eventually caused him to become evil as well?”

“He took a precaution to make sure that didn’t happen.  He asked one of the other haatalis who was a close personal friend to go with him when he did this.  He even ordered the other haatali to kill him if the experiment started to go badly and it appeared he was about to become evil as well.”

“I take it that didn’t happen?”

“No, and after a while he decided to try it by transitioning into other animals.  He thought that since he’d been able to transition into a wolf due to the pelt he wore when performing the rituals and ceremonies, he would wrap his body in another animal’s pelt that he wanted to change into.  He decided that since he already had a bearskin, he’d try wrapping himself in that for several consecutive nights, and then he took his friend with him when he attempted another experiment.  This time he placed himself in a situation where it would be best if he changed into a bear, rather than a wolf.”

“What did he do?”

“He confronted another bear, and his friend was willing to use several arrows to kill the other bear if this didn’t work.  They could always eat the bear meat and use the bearskin for a winter robe, but his friend was also prepared to shoot him with the arrows instead, if that was also necessary.”

“And did it work?”

“Yes, as soon as the bear took up an aggressive posture, the haatali transitioned into a larger bear.”

“Wasn’t he concerned that he might have to fight the other bear?”

“No, he knew that bears avoided confrontations and generally took up posturing stances to scare the other bear away whenever possible, especially if they could tell they were outmatched.”

“Ok, that makes sense, but how would the haatali teach others how to do this without them becoming evil?”

“My ancestor developed a series of rituals that would make certain this did not happen.  He would make certain that every haatali who intended to use these rituals was trained exactly the same way, and then they would pass these rituals along to anyone they trained as well.  However, it was then that the haatalis realized there was another potential problem.”

“What was that?”

“It was that over time these rituals would end up creating too many good skinwalkers, especially if every haatali decided to do this.  They were also concerned that if the other members of the tribe found out about them, the rest of the Diné might turn on them, thinking they would eventually turn evil as well.”

“So, what did they do?” ‘

“The first haatali decided to only train his own descendents and insist they use the ability sparingly and only in extreme situations.  Preferably, they would only transition when no one else was around, and this is the way they’ve kept the other Diné from learning about the good skinwalkers.   

“And what if they died without ever using the ritual?”

“They agreed that before they died they would train one other haatali about the rituals, preferably a family member.”

“Did any of the haatalis ever use the rituals on anyone else?”

“No, not until my fourth great-grandfather used them on Isaac.”

“Then if they never used the rituals on anyone else before then, how could he be sure that Grandpa Isaac wouldn’t turn evil as well?”

“Long before my ancestor used the rituals on Isaac, his wife gave birth to a son, and after he trained the boy about how to use this ability responsibly, he realized that neither he nor his son had turned evil.  This gave him the confidence he needed that it would be safe to use the rituals on others, but only very infrequently.”

“Didn’t it also give him a much longer life span as well?”

“Yes, and that was a positive side effect of being a skinwalker, but only for those that actually became a skinwalker.”

“What about those who had already transitioned.”

“Since they did not want to live having the responsibility of controlling the ability, they would do things that would intentionally kill them instead.  For instance, they would always be in front during battles, hoping they would be killed.  If this did not work, they would do other things as well, such as going without eating or trying to expose themselves to one of the white man’s diseases.  If none of those things worked, then they would jump off of a high cliff in order to kill themselves.”

“So, only your family knows there are good skinwalkers?”  

“Yes, and that is how I learned about what my fourth great-grandfather had done with Isaac, but I had to dig out his notes so I would know exactly what to do.”

“Then are you positive there’s absolutely no way any of us will ever become evil skinwalkers.”

“You’ll be safe as long as you don’t seek excessive power or attempt to harm others by using this ability.  My fourth great-grandfather performed the ritual on Isaac because he could tell by his previous actions that he was a decent and honorable man.  Isaac has assured me that you are decent and honorable as well, and it is why I agreed to perform the same rituals on you.”

“And what will happen if we try to gain a lot of power or we harm others, even if by accident?”

“If you do it intentionally then you will probably become a disfigured and hideous evil skinwalker as well, but not if it happens accidentally.  Therefore, I would advise you to only do good things with this ability and never use it to harm another or take a life, unless you are doing it to protect someone else or if it occurs by accident.”

“That’s good to know, and I just thought of something else.  The way you’ve told me this story, it sounds as if you were there from the beginning.  If so, you said earlier that the other haatalis had become evil skinwalkers before the white man first appeared on this land, and if you were there at the time, then you must be really old.”

“You are very intelligent and extremely perceptive to have picked up on that detail, Michael, and you’ve exposed my deception.  I am the same person that developed the rituals in the first place, and it was me, not my fourth great-grandfather who performed the rituals on Isaac and I’ll do the same thing for you.”

“Then it means you have to be over 400-years-old.”

“Yes, you are correct, and that’s why it is becoming more difficult for me to do certain tasks.” 

“Then how old is your son?”

“He is a little over 200-years-old.”

“Then that would mean you probably had to start a new life a few times before he was born?”

“Yes, but it was easier to do back then.  There were many other Diné bands at the time and the different bands were not normally in close contact with one another.  Before I had a son, I would fake my death, such as being killed in battle, dying from a white man’s disease, or being killed on a hunt.  I would then change my appearance and my name before I traveled to one of the other bands.  When I arrived there, I would explain that I had been separated from my band during a battle or that my band had too many haatalis and I left because I felt I’d be more useful somewhere else.  Since I was a haatali, the new band was usually happy to take me in.”

“But you can’t possibly do that now, so how do you explain your longer life span to the other Diné?”

“You are very bright, Michael, and this is how I have handled the problem.  By this time my son and I were both older and I knew I could not have another son, so I convinced my wife to fake a pregnancy and my son transitioned into his much younger sibling long enough for his birth to be recorded.” 

“So, how is it possible that no one else ever discovered your secret that this son never existed?”

“It is because this wasn’t always the ceremonial hohrahn.  It used to be my family’s hohrahn, and we kept it remote for that very reason.  It helped when we told others that I was home schooling my son and training him to be a haatali, so no one bothered us.”

“Then what did you do when you had to treat others?”

“I would use what is now my personal hohrahn for that purpose.”

“Ok, I see how you did it now.”

“I would also age my appearance so I looked like the others who were supposedly the same age, and then after my wife died I would take my younger son and go to visit distance relatives in another area of the Diné Nation.  I would leave very early in the morning so no one would see me, since I didn’t actually have a son to take with me, and on the way there I would transition into my son that never existed and take his identity.  I would then use that identity to take up residence with another Diné band as a haatali.” 

“Didn’t they want to know why you’d left your family?”

“Yes, and I would tell them my father and brother were both haatalis so I wanted to see if I could be more help to another Diné band instead.  You see, the Diné reservation is extremely large and covers northwestern New Mexico, northeastern Arizona, and southeastern Utah.  My son will do something similar and move to one of those other areas when he gets older.” 

“But how did you explain your death, now that you were your son?”

“Diné bury their dead quickly and far away from the living area, which helped in the deception.  If my son happened to run into someone from our original band later he would tell them I died on the way there and he buried my body quickly, according to Diné custom.  No one ever questioned his account.”

“So, your real son is already married and has a son?”

“He has been married, several times, but he used rituals to make sure his wives never gave birth.  His current wife is infertile, but she has faked a birth, and then I rode a horse to where he lived so I could transition into the baby long enough for the birth to be recorded.  My son also lives in a remote area of the reservation as well and he is supposedly home schooling his son and training him to be a haatali as well.  When his wife dies, he will do something similar to what I did and tell others that he is taking his son and going to visit distance relatives in one of the other locations.  He will change his appearance before he gets there and take on the identity of his son, and his son will claim his father died on the way there.”  

“Isn’t your old band going to get suspicious that the same thing keeps happening in your family?” 

“No, because each time we will be part of a different band when we leave and we will start over in a completely different band.  That is why I hope we never get the internet on the reservation, because that will make it much more difficult for us to start over.”

“Yes, it definitely would.”

I wasn’t about to tell him that’s pretty much what Grandpa Isaac and Grandpa Jacob do as well, because I didn’t feel it was my place.  Grandpa Isaac can tell the shaman himself, once he learns this is the same shaman that trained him after we meet the shaman’s son.  Then they can tell each other their stories.

“And where is your son now?”

“He lives on a different part of the reservation, but he was at the ceremony last night, since he wanted to meet Isaac.  I will make sure to introduce him to each of you before you return home.”

“I’m looking forward to that.”

“And he is looking forward to getting to know each of you as well.”

“I’m curious about something else.  Where you a Navajo Code Talker during World War II?”

“No, I didn’t join the army because I was too afraid that I would use my ability in tough situations and then expose myself and my family to exploitation or experimentation, and I didn’t want that.  If I had joined the army, I might have become a Code Talker, but that never happened.”  

“Did you work with any of those that were Code Talkers?” I asked, but the shaman cut me off. 

“No more questions tonight.  It is time we turn in, because I wish to get an early start in the morning and I want both of us to get a good night’s sleep.”  

“Ok.  I’ll ask you my other questions some other time.”

The ahaman then retrieved several items out of the smaller chest and handed three of them to me.  After I’d prepared my bed and laid down on the first blanket, the shaman blew out the lantern and also laid down to sleep. 

It took me a while to drift off for a couple of reasons.  Not only was this a strange place and I had to get used to the noises, or lack thereof, before I felt comfortable enough to close my eyes, but I also had to deal with the things the shaman had just told me. .That was a lot to cope with and the images from his story, especially visions of the evil skinwalkers, kept popping into my mind. 

The shaman was already snoring gently before I eventually fell asleep, and to my surprise I slept fairly well after I dozed off.  In fact, I didn’t wake up until the shaman gently shook my shoulder in the morning.