The lizard, specifically the Gila monster, is the god or medium of divination by sensation in some rites, as in the wind chant. Pg. 156
The hand trembler passes his or her trembling hand over
the patient's body as he or she says prayers to Gila Monster; the answer comes
either through the interpretation of the motions of the diagnosticians's shaking
hand, or as a direct revelation from the Gila Monster. Stargazing may involve
sandpaintings or fetishes; the dried and powdered lenses from the eyes of night
birds with keen sight may be applied to the eyelids of the stargazer, the
patient, and those who could assist in seeing something. The stargazer and his
or her helpers then go outside to say prayers and, with the use of a quartz
crystal, interpret flashes of light or images for information about the cause of
illness and the proper ceremonial and chanter for treatment. Listening is
similar to stargazing but does not use sandpainting or fetishes, which may be
used in stargazing. The dried and powdered eardrum of a badger may be placed in
each ear; the listener then leaves the hogan to say prayers and then to
interpret the cause of illness from something heard, such as the rattling of a
rattlesnake or the roar of thunder. There is considerable variation in each of
these techniques. Pgs. 39-40
Stargazing, deest'ii, is used to determine
the etiology of illness, the source of misfortune, or the location of missing
objects. The patient may contact a stargazer, deest'ii'ii'lini, before he hires
the chanter to perform a ceremonial. There are several kinds of diagnosticians,
or diviners, among the Navajo: hand tremblers, listeners, and stargazers. All of
these, in contrast to chanters, acquire power through personal contact with the
supernatural and perform their rituals in a trance state. Thus, the stargazer is
technically a shaman, while the chanter is technically a priest, in the sense of
having learned standardized ritual through apprenticeship to an older chanter.
Because shamanism, by its very nature, is a far more individualistic enterprise
than chanting, the following descriptions of stargazing ritual are far from
standardized. In some cases, the stargazer gazes through a crystal at a star of
the first magnitude (deest'ii `ashleeh means "to do stargazing"). The colors
that are refracted through the prism indicate the answers to the questions posed
by the diagnostician, who then relays this information to the patient. The
specific information regarding causal factors indicates not only the cause of
the illness and thus which particular chant needs to be performed but also what
sandpaintings, branches, and subrituals need to be performed for the restoration
of the patient of a state of health and harmony. Matthews, on of the first
ethnographers of the Navajo, reported only that the patient and his friends
determined "what particular rites are best suited to cure the malady." More was
known about diagnosis when the Franciscan Fathers described the various forms of
divination and mentioned "divination by sight (dest'i) . . . . or star reading
(sotsoji)." Morgan was the first to stress the distinction between chanters
(whom Morgan refers to as "shamans"), who know the myths behind the ceremonials
and are responsible for their performance, and diagnosticians, who reveal the
cause and prescribe the cure of illness.
A man is sick. A stargazer is
called in. He comes into the hogan. The patient is there. Others are there. He
talks to the patient and others. They discuss the illness. The fire is put out.
The stargazer chants, then he says, "Everyone must close his eyes. No one must
move or speak. Everyone must concentrate on the illness and try to see
something." The stargazer takes a man from the hogan, and walks away some
distance. He performs movements with his body. Any horses or sheep are
frightened away. When there is no noise, the stargazer places a crystal or stone
on his hand. He chants. He prays to the Gila monster. He does not pray to a
lizard, but a lizard beyond the lizards, a larger one. Then the stargazer holds
out his arm and hand in line with the moon or some star, and gazes unwinking at
the crystal. Soon he sees something. He closes his hand upon what he has seen in
the crystal. Also there may seem to be a line of light which is "lightning" from
the star to the crystal or to the ground around him so that the ground appears
light. The stargazer sees the hogan and the sick man, even though his back is
turned to it. . . . . . He sees a man, or a bear, or a coyote, or perhaps the
head of a coyote, or perhaps the bear is biting the patient. Then he goes back
to the hogan. The fire is lighted. He asks what the others have seen. This is
talked about. He tells what he has seen . . . . . If the illness is serious the
stargazer will prescribe a ceremony and the shaman who can give it.
Wyman provided a description of events inside and outside the hogan
during one stargazing ritual. He first described the procedure inside the
hogan.
In the complete ritual the diagnostician first makes a
sandpainting in the dwelling . . . about two feet in diameter. It represents a
white star with four points toward the cardinal directions. Between the points
of the star are four heaps of sand representing mountains, the southeast
mountain being white, the southwest blue, the northwest yellow, and the
northeast black. Around the whole, with an opening to the east, is a zig-zag
line representing lightning. Then the diagnostician makes ready the dried and
powdered lenses from the eyes of the five nightbirds with keen sight who acted
as lookouts in the legend of how stargazing was first made known to the people.
He dips the tip of his finger in this material and then draws it along his lower
eyelids. It is similarly applied to the patient, to the one man who will go out
with the stargazer to assist him, and to anyone else present who is "smart" and
may be able to assist by seeing something. The eyes of the five birds mentioned
are the main ones, but eyes of other birds may be used if available. Then the
fire is covered and from now on the people who remain inside do not move or make
any noise, but they concentrate and try to see something in addition to that
which is seen by the diagnostician, sometimes gazing at a star through the
smokehole. . . (The stargazer and another person then leave the hogan to do the
actual stargazing.) Outside he (the stargazer) prays the star-prayer (so'dizin)
to the star-spirit, asking the star to show him the cause of the sickness. Then
he begins to sing star-songs (hotso' biyiin) and while singing gazes fixedly at
a star of at the light of a star reflected in a "glass rock" or quartz crystal
which he holds in his hand. Soon, it was said, the star begins to "throw out a
string of light and at the end of this the star-gazer sees the cause of sickness
of the patient, like a motion picture." If these strings of light are white or
yellow the patient will recover; if red, the illness is serious or dangerous. If
the white light falls on the house and makes it as light as day around it, the
patient will get well. If the house is seen burning or in darkness he will die.
If a certain medicine man is the proper one to cure the sickness the star will
throw a flash of light in the direction of his home, or on his body if he is
present. Places faraway may be see. After the diagnostician has obtained enough
information is this way he returns to the house and tells what he has seen. If
anyone else has seen anything, his experience is also considered.
Stargazer A indicated that while the individual must have an aptitude
for diagnosis, the power of diagnosis resides in the crystal itself. When asked
if he had to have an overview of all the ceremonies in order to prescribe the
appropriate one for the patient, Stargazer A responded, "The crystal tells me if
the patient needs a specific ceremony or a doctor or if I can help the patient
myself with herbs. The power is in the crystal." Haile illustrated the power of
rock crystal in locating missing children:
Now this Rock Crystal Talking God
kept himself well posted on events by means of his dreams. In addition he would
place twelve layers of rock crystal one above the other (like a magnifying
glass). By sighting through them (like a telescope) he kept himself posted at
the east, south, west, and the north. . . . . His two children were occupied in
playing games . . . (Later) the children were missed. . . . . Without a delay he
looked . . . with his twelve rock crystal eyepiece . . . toward the west he
realized that here they could be found. . . . . Through an eyepiece of twelve
rock crystals nothing is hidden.
Wyman's footnote to this passage
emphasized that this powerful crystal differentiates this Talking God from other
Talking Gods: "Unlike others . . . he has his rock crystal eyepiece which
enables him to detect everything, even to the ends of the earth and sky, of
mountains and water." Reichard referred to the rock crystal held by stargazers
as a "symbol of illumination." Remington described how the stargazer puts water
or mucus from birds with the best eyesight on his lower eyelids and on those of
the patient and the one who goes outside the hogan to help in stargazing. The
stargazer prays and sings to the star-spirit while outside. Remington explained,
"He gazes at the star, the star group, or the moon and holds the crystal out to
reflect the light. A light beam comes down and lights up the crystal. The
stargazer is illuminated, the hogan is illuminated, and the stargazer can see
far away or back to the hogan, without looking." Pg. 143-148
Hand
Tremblingway is used for any illness caused by practicing or overpracticing hand
trembling divination or stargazing, or otherwise becoming infected with
overdoing of divination. Such illness may be manifested as tuberculosis,
nervousness, mental disease, paralysis of the arms (from overdoing Hand
Tremblingway), or impaired vision (from overdoing stargazing). The Paintings of
Hand Tremblingway are made only on buckskin. Pgs. 151,152
diagnosis is done by "listening," "stargazing," or "hand
trembling." Listeners and stargazers are rare, are always men, and have learned
the procedures. By far the most common method of diagnosis is hand trembling,
which is practiced by both men and women although, in our experience, women
outnumber men as hand tremblers. Hand trembling is said to be an unsought gift
signaled by the shaking of the right arm. The person so chosen is thought to be
possessed by the spirit of the supernatural Gila Monster. A ceremony must then
be performed to control the involuntary shaking so that it does not become a
disease and, at the same time, to introduce the individual to the status of
diagnostician. The hand trembler is a shaman because he is thought to be
possessed while in a trance, although this method of diagnosis and the
Hand-Tremblingway ceremony were borrowed after 1860 from the Apaches. All
diagnosticians, however, are said to be in a trance state while practicing their
art, and the origin of the stargazing rite mentions that it was caused by Coyote
possession. Pgs. 30 31
Ndishniih, to tremble or move the hand about (for
the purpose of diagnosing), does not connote a state of wildness or excess
despite the fact that the trembling is always thought to be involuntary, may
vary from a fine tremor of the hand to rather violent motions of the arm, and
can become uncontrollable. It is only used to refer to the behavior displayed by
diagnosticians and caused by possession by Gila Monster. Pg. 41