Rolling Thunder (person)

Rolling Thunder aka John Pope, 1916–1997) was a hippie spiritual leader who self-identified as a Native American medicine man. He was raised in Oklahoma and later moved to Nevada.[3] He has been considered an example of a plastic medicine man, with little or no genuine connection to the culture or religion he claimed to represent or study.

Rolling Thunder
Born(1916-09-10)September 10, 1916
Stamps, Arkansas, US
DiedJanuary 23, 1997(1997-01-23) (aged 80)
Elko, Nevada, US
NationalityAmerican
Known forNew Age spiritualist
Spouses
Spotted Fawn
​
(died 1984)​
[1]
    Carmen Sun Rising
    ​
    (after 1984)​
    [2]
    Children
    • Mala Spotted Eagle
    • Buffalo Horse
    • Ozella Morning Star
    • Patty Mocking Bird[1]

    Controversy

    Rolling Thunder worked for most of his life as a brakeman under the name John Pope.[4] Going by his chosen name, Rolling Thunder, he appears in taped interviews with John Trudell and Michael Chosa in which he discusses the contemporary treatment of Native Americans.[5] At times he claimed to be part Hopi, at times Cherokee,[3] and at other times Shoshone and that he could represent the Western Shoshone Nation.[6] He never provided proof of any Native heritage, nor have any Native people claimed him. He has been cited as an example of a plastic medicine man.[7][8] Rolling Thunder is mentioned in a number of books on the New Age, 1960s counterculture, cultural appropriation, cultural imperialism, and neoshamanism.[9][10]

    Death

    Rolling Thunder died in 1997 from complications associated with diabetes. He also suffered from emphysema in the later years of his life.[3]

    Legacy

    In 1975 he and his wife Spotted Fawn founded a non-profit community on 262 acres (1.06 km2) of land in north-eastern Nevada (just east of the town of Carlin) that they named Meta Tantay. It operated until 1985; visitors over the years included Mickey Hart.[11]

    Bibliography
    • Native Healer: Initiation Into an Ancient Art by Bobby Lake-Thom and Robert G. Lake – 1991 (Foreword by Rolling Thunder) Quest Books ISBN 978-0-8356-0667-7
    • Rolling Thunder by Doug Boyd - 1982 (Foreword by Dee Brown) Bantam Doubleday Dell ISBN 978-0440574354

    Discography
    • Rolling Thunder – Mickey Hart (1972)
    • Rolling Thunder Speaks: the Owyhee Confrontation (Audio Book)
    • From Alcatraz to Chicago - with John Trudell and Michael Chosa (Audio Book)

    Filmography
    • The Trial of Billy Jack (1971)
    • Rolling Thunder: Healer of Meta Tantay – UFO TV – DVD Release Date: February 22, 2005

    Notes
    1. Laszlo, Ervin (February 12, 2009). The Akashic Experience: Science and the Cosmic Memory Field. Inner Traditions. ISBN 978-1594772986.
    2. The Shamanic Powers of Rolling Thunder: As Experienced by Alberto Villoldo, John Perry Barlow, Larry Dossey, and Others. Bear & Company. 15 November 2016. ISBN 978-1591432272.
    3. Rolling Thunder (1999). Rolling Thunder Speaks: A Message for Turtle Island. Santa Fe: Clear Light Publishers.
    4. Crawford, Suzanne J.; O'Brien, Suzanne J. Crawford; Kelley, Dennis F. (2005). American Indian Religious Traditions: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 1043. ISBN 978-1-57607-517-3. Retrieved 28 October 2022.
    5. http://www.worldcat.org/title/from-alcatraz-to-chicago/oclc/5578494
    6. Rolling Thunder speaks : the Owyhee confrontation
    7. Churchill, Ward (June 2003). "Spiritual Hucksterism:The Rise of the Plastic Medicine Men". Cultural Survival Quarterly Magazine. Retrieved April 14, 2021.
    8. Aldred, Lisa (Summer 2000). "Plastic Shamans and Astroturf Sun Dances: New Age Commercialization of Native American Spirituality". American Indian Quarterly. 24 (3): 332. doi:10.1353/aiq.2000.0001. JSTOR 1185908. PMID 17086676. S2CID 6012903. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
    9. Jenkins, Philip (2005). Dream Catchers: How Mainstream America Discovered Native Spirituality. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-518910-0 – via Internet Archive.
    10. Hobson, Geary (1978). "The Rise of the White Shaman as a New Version of Cultural Imperialism". The Remembered Earth. Albuquerque, NM: Red Earth Press. pp. 100–108. ISBN 9780918434036 – via Internet Archive.
    11. Mickey Hart at Meta Tantay
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