LPPM MMV "Windigo Psychosis"

[Dave Monroe]

"'You must remember that this group lives forever at
the brink of starvation,' Mitchell said in that
deprecating, apologetic tone which implied that for
him all cultures were equally mad; it was only the
form that differed, never the content. 'It has been
said that the Ojibwa ethos is saturated with anxiety,'
and simultaneously 50 pens copied the sentence
verbatim. 
   "'The Ojibwa are trained, from childhood, to
starve; the male child's entire upbringing is
dedicated to a single goal: that of becoming a great
hunter. Emphasis is on isolation, self-sufiiciency.
There is no sentimentality among the Ojibwa. It is an
austere and bleak existence they lead, always one step
away from death. Before he can attain to the state of
manhood a boy must experience a vision, after starving
himself for several days. Often after seeing this
vision he feels he has acquired a supernatural
companion, and there is a tendency to identify. Out in
the wilderness, with nothing but a handful of beaver,
deer, moose and bear between him and starvation, for
the Ojibwa hunter, feeling as he does at bay, feeling
a concentration of obscure cosmic forces against him
and him alone, cynical terrorists, savage and amoral
deities--' this time a smile in self-reproach--'which
are bent on his destruction, the identification may
become complete. When such paranoid tendencies are
further intensified bv the highly competitive life of
the summer villages at ricing and berry-picking time,
or bv the curse, perhaps, of a shaman with some
personal grudge, the Ojibwa becomes highly susceptible
to the well-known Windigo psychosis.' 
   "Siegel knew about the Windigo, all right...."


"the Ojibwa ethos"

Cf., perhaps, ...

"Revolutionaries of the Zero, they mean to carry on
what began among the old Hereros after the 1904
rebellion failed. They want a negative birth rate. The
program is racial suicide. They would finish the
extermination the Germans began in 1904.

[...]

"There was a tribal mind at work out here, and it has
chosen to commit suicide....  Puzzling." (GR, p. 317)


"Windigo Psychosis"

Social events were occasions for the elders to tell
stories about the past and about supernatural figures
like Nanibush, the trickster and spirit who put all
living and non-living things into their present form,
and Windigo, the spirit who waited in the dark cold
woods of winter for some human flesh. Most
frightening, an Ojibwa could turn into a Windigo,
himself, during conditions of starvation.

http://collections.ic.gc.ca/nativepeoples/algo.html

The Windigo is considered to be biggest fears of
Native Americans. The Windigo is a creature of the
Algonkian people ....

Description
There are many descriptions of the Windigo, but very
few illustrations. The Windigo is the feared
personification of both physical and spiritual famine.
It can be a personality disorder or mental illness
that causes its victim to become crazed and perform
acts of cannibalism....

[...]

History
The name is derived from the Algonkian root word
witiku, and means 'evil spirit' and 'cannibal'. Its
pronunciation varies from tribe to tribe, as are its
spelling, but 'Windigo' is the most common way,
followed by 'Wendigo'. 

The Windigo dates back to the earliest of Indian
legends, where it is described as a phantom of hunger
that stalks the forests, hunting for lone Indians to
eat. It is a creature of the Algonkian people's
experience and imagination. Its origin spawned from
the fear and disgust of cannibalism. This act is seen
to be so horrid that persons who commit it can only be
explained by possession of a supernatural evil, for it
is inconceivable that a healthy man, with full control
of his mental facilities, will eat the flesh of his
fellows by choice or by desire.

http://www.heatherandpatrick.com/heather/windigo/

And see as well, e.g., ...

http://www.occultopedia.com/w/windigo.htm

http://www.cryptozoology.com/glossary/glossary_topic.php?id=15

And, esp., ...

http://www.legionmagazine.com/features/canadianreflections/03-01.asp

Not to mention ...

http://www.hulklibrary.com/hulk/comics/comic-show.asp?Id=TIH2&Issue=162

http://www.hulklibrary.com/hulk/comics/comic-show.asp?Id=tih2&Issue=180

http://www.hulklibrary.com/hulk/comics/comic-show.asp?Id=tih2&Issue=181

You know, I'd at least held these in my hands back in
the day ...

Cf. (?) ...

"'You will have the tallest, darkest leading man in
Hollywood.'" (GR, p. 179)

"... inspired by a wave of Bigfoot sightings ..." (VL,
p. 44)

And, archivally, e.g., ...

"... this running amok business ..." (M&D, p. 148)

http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9708&msg=19041

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