Dream Paths and Divination Practices among the Atna and their Northern Athapaskan Neighbors
Northern Athapaskan divination practices, as found among the Atna and the Nabesna people among others, are not very well known, partly because they were rarely documented in the past, and partly because they are rarely discussed with strangers or young people. Yet they form an important complex operating in multiples modes to foresee, perceive or even prevent future events. Some are simple and are part of daily life. Others are more elaborate and close to what we would call shamanic rituals but are generally considered by all the Dene people as aspects of dreaming. In fact, all Dene divination practices call upon on an articulation between the dream world (rather the dreaming perspective on the world) and the concrete waking world, a distinct perspective but on the same reality. Most divination techniques offer modes of passage from one perspective to another, and they often rely on communication received through the body. Embedded in the Northern Athapaskan worldview, they reflect its definition of the person and the idea that all living beings share the same mental space.