The 6-foot-5, long-haired Nakoda medicine man has innate Ignatian spirituality.
“His stories were like an oral composition of place where you can imagine being in the scene where all five senses are heightened to make the imagination real,” Herman wrote in his journal that night last winter.
Pointing a flashlight, Bigstone explains Christian symbolism in the skin-covered lodge. The structure’s frame is made of 12 tree shoots, representing the apostles. The poles cross at the apex, representing Christ, who holds everything together.
The space eventually is packed with Nakoda and White Clay tribe members of every age, surrounding the awestruck Jesuit guest.
The people and things in the lodge, the medicine man concludes in melodic tones, are connected to God through Jesus.
