Copyright © 1995 NLThomas
All Rights Reserved

The January 1995 issue of Spin magazine has a fine article on Miracle, the White Buffalo, written by Senior Contributing Writer Elizabeth Gilbert. Gilbert visited the site with virtually no background or preconceptions, yet she shows a keen understanding and appreciation of this Miracle in writing one of the best articles on this subject that I've seen yet. Lakota medicine man Floyd Hand and writer Elizabeth Gilbert evidently had some very good discussions. Hand is quoted extensively in the article, saying some very bold and inspiring things. Some excellent photos are also included. For this article alone, the January issue of Spin is well worth the $2.95 (USA) cover price!

For the benefit of all, especially those who cannot get the magazine due to local availability, finances, etc., some exerpts follow. But if you're interested in Miracle and would like to see a fine piece of writing that practically takes you there, if you'd like some great color photos, if you can spare the three bucks, if you'd like to support good journalism, pick up the January issue of Spin (while current) at any major newstand!          --Michele Lord

Exerpts follow....

"'This is like the Second Coming of Christ on this island of America', a Lakota medicine man named Floyd Hand told me. 'She's a beautiful lady.'"

"At the farm, Dave Heider was leaning against a gate, watching the crowd. I introduced myself and asked how everything was going. He said, 'A Saskatchewan Indian from Canada told me that 500 years ago they saw this coming. He says they knew the calf would be born to a white man, too. That's the part that gets me.'"

"'She's like the Madonna of Chrisitanity,' Floyd Hand the medicine man explained to me. 'I had my first vision of her in 1968. I told the priest on our reservation about it, and he laughed at me. He said, "We don't see the Lady here in North America, Floyd. We only see her in Italy."

"In March of 1994, Hand had a vision of the Lady again, in which she said that she would be returning when the cherries are black, which happens to be in August. Like a train on time, that's just when she pulled up. Part of White Buffalo Woman's original prophecy was to divide the future into seven fires, or ages. She promised to return during the last fire, and bring with her a new and final chance for reason. 'During the seventh fire,' Hand said, 'a new Red Nation can be formed -- red being the union of red, white, black, and yellow. We will be able to retrace our steps and examine what we have done wrong. We are not preserving what has been given us to care for. We are polluting the Earth. We've become our own enemy. During the seventh fire, the light-skinned man will be given a choice between his technologies and his nature. If he chooses his nature, there is still a chance for harmony in this world. If he makes the wrong choice, he will bring on the destruction of all of us.'"

"Circuses and carnivals have made tall bids. Ted Turner, who owns America's largest private buffalo herd, has expressed interest. Hunter S. Thompson says he'll beat anyone's offer. There have been book and movie proposals. The marketing possibilities are absolutely fat. Think corporate sponsorship. Think Disney. But the Heiders only sell dollar photos of the buffalo. They could easily start hocking T-shirts or mugss or sacred white buffalo commerative key chains. They could, at the very least, ask admission. They could make a sweet stack of change off their little girl.

"'I have to admit,' Dave Heider said, 'when I first saw the white coat, all I saw were dollar signs. But I'm not selling her. She was put here for a reason. I'm not sure what the reason is, but she belongs here with her family. What the hell! I was born poor, I'll probably die poor. In the meantime, we'll do the right thing...'"

"I called Mark Heckert, who runs the InterTribal Bison Cooperative South Dakota, an organization dedicated to returning buffalo to Indian land. I asked him if anyone out there was wishing the Heiders would just donate Miracle to the Native American community. 'There's been some talk of that,' Heckert said. 'But who should he give her to? The animal is sacred to thousands of people across the country. If God had wanted her born in South Dakota, he would have put her there. You have to understand that this calf is on the level of a biblical event. Even though it's not their culture, the Heiders are respectful of this, so she must belong there. And that means everything to us.'"

"Obviously, a model for white buffalo growth and development doesn't exist, so nobody's too sure about what's going to happen to Miracle's color as she ages. Bob Morris, a geneticist who consults for the American Bison Association, says, 'She could turn brown. I don't know. She could turn orange.'

"And what exactly would that mean? Depends on how you look at it ... As for the prophecy, though, it technically might not change anything. The sacred protent is the white -calf-, the infant animal. Nobody ever said she had to wear that famous coat for a lifetime. Even little baby Jesus left the manger eventually, grew a beard, made friends, and had a career.

"You could say she's done her work already..."

"The Heiders rarely allow cameras, which is a refreshing event in the history of American wonders. This means that the crowds of tourists have no choice but to look, to study, to talk quietly among themselves and to remember what they've seen. Most of them seem moved. Most of them seem to be packing emotional frankincense and myrrh. Some of them seem ignorant or goofy, sure, but they have come out here, no less. They have made the trip.

"A salesman named Richard brought his aging mother to the Heider's farm on Sunday after church. Richard is not a worldly man. He saw all the Native American feathers and beads and holy gifts hanging from the buffalo pasture gate, and he asked someone if those nice Indian artifacts were for sale. Now, you can wince at that kind of blunder if you like, but the guy didn't know better. He comes from a culture where people instinctively try to make money off of crowds. He had spent his life in the buying and selling racket, ad he could not possibly have been expecting to find a place where nothing was for sale.

"Richard didn't know anything about what he was seeing, but he thought to ask someone else to explain it all. He happened to ask an Oneida Indian man named Ernie, who was standing right beside him. So Richard the salesman, his mother Helen, and Ernie had a long talk about the meaning of the white buffalo calf. 'The days of racism and bigotry are over,' Ernie concluded. We're together now, and it's time to teach our children that we are all free. I feel healthy and released now, and completed. This buffalo gift is not just for me and my people. This is for all of us.'"