Apache Portrait Medicine Man

 

Meet Apache Medicine Man

Philip Cassadore's Apache name was, “Beshcone,” meaning “Sharp Knife.” He was an Apache medicine man and a renowned spiritual leader on the San Carlos Apache Reservation. He was a distant relative of the Apache chief Cochise. Cassadore ran for the presidency in 1972 to call attention to the economic problems faced by American Indian's. He withdrew from the race but not before asking boxer Muhammad Ali to be his running mate on the Geronimo Party ticket.

Philip was the son of the last “real Apache chief,” before the introduction of the tribal council system. His father, also known as “Broken Arrow,” taught Cassadore much about the Apache culture, and history through stories and songs. Philip was the grandson of the 19 th century Apache leader Chief Cassador of the San Carlos clans. Cassadore's great-grandfather is remembered for saving his people from massacre at the hands of the cavalry in 1872.

There is no written Apache language so Philip Cassadore spent most of his life passing down traditional tribal beliefs and history to younger Apache Indians. For nearly 20 years, he conducted a weekly Apache-language program on radio in Globe.

Cassadore spent a year as a consultant to the Smithsonian Institution and other research centers of learning and made frequent trips to Washington to speak in behalf of the tribe. He lectured extensively on college campuses about Apache life. He was a singer as well as a lecturer and recorded 10 albums of Apache songs for Canyon Records in Phoenix.

Philip Cassadore was regarded by many Apaches as the tribe's most knowledgeable medicine man and a key link with their traditional past.

Cassadore talking about the meaning of death said, “We believe we go into another world to the north when we die. A rainbow comes to take us to that other world.” He said, “If it rained after a person died, it meant that his soul went to the happy hunting ground.” It was raining the night Philip died, and lightning flashed all over.”

Philip believed that the culture of the Apache tribe was too important to lose, and that people of all races should somehow live in harmony. Cassadore firmly believed, for one thing, that organized Anglo religions were one attempt in taking away the Apache culture.

However, one of his greatest contributions is still being felt on the San Carlos Reservation. In the mid-1950s, the “Sunrise Dance,” or “Coming of Age Ceremony,” the traditional puberty rite for young women had all but vanished from the reservation.

In 1968 Cassadore helped to bring back the “Coming of Age” ceremonies, the story of the Apache tradition's rebirth after the flood.

Cassadore traveled to China, Peru, Europe, and across Latin America and the U.S., lecturing and singing about the Apache culture.

Cassadore was said to have had a “great consciousness of the past, present and future of the Apache people.” His greatest wish was that the Apache traditions would be carried on and taught to the young and non-Indians alike.