The Blessing Way (1970)

A naturally occurring mineral derivative that was, and remains, in use by many indigenous peoples around the world as a pigment for marking bodies, hand tools, ceremonial objects, animals, and cave walls or other ceremonial spaces. The two most often used ocher colors are red and yellow. The red is derived from hematite and the yellow from limonite, both of which are iron rich minerals.

An popular and iconic American newsmagazine that began its circulation in 1933 and was created by former Time magazine foreign-news editor Thomas J. C. Martyn. This magazine focused originally on politics, and only in 1961 did it begin to incorporate popular culture in its pages. As of 2013, this magazine ceased printing and adopted an all-digital format.

The plural form of the word nebula. Nebulae are interstellar clouds of gas and dust that exist outside the solar system. There are two kinds of nebulae: extragalactic nebulae, a huge collection of stars and dust or galaxies, and galactic nebulae, made of interstellar medium or a cloud of dust that exists between stars.

A state located at the margin between the Great Plains and what would become the Midwest region of the U.S., Nebraska was part of the territorial home- and rangeland for several indigenous groups, including the Omaha, the Pawnee, and the Sioux. Alternately claimed by the French and the Spanish, by the early eighteenth century, Nebraska was ceded by the French to the Spanish as part of the Louisiana Territory. By the early nineteenth century, the U.S. was pushing its western frontier beyond the Missouri River by establishing military forts in what would become known as the Nebraska Territory. In 1862, with the advent of the Homestead Act, the U.S. forced large numbers of Native Americans from their lands as the Act opened the territory to aggressive Euroamerican settlement with the offer of free land. By the late nineteenth century, because of its central location in the country, and because it was a prime location for both agriculture and cattle raising, Omaha, Nebraska, became the central hub for railroad transportation and shipping, the meatpacking industry, and other working class jobs, inspiring many African Americans, as well as other ethnic minorities, to migrate there in search for work at the turn of the twentieth century.

Today, the capital of Nebraska is Lincoln, which is also the location of the University of Nebraska. The largest city in the state remains Omaha, which holds the College World Series annually. Due to the vast treeless prairies, this state also experiences many tornadoes.

A small, mostly dry river that is located on the Navajo Reservation, in Apache County, Arizona. The Navajo name Nazlini means “Makes a Turn Flowing.” The name is shared by the Nazlini community, which is located about 30 miles south of the wash.

In Navajo, another word for "wolf" is "mai-coh," meaning witch. The Navajo fear of wolves derives not from the nature of the animal but rather from the potential for monstrous behavior from humans. Both the Navajo and the Hopi believe that human witches use or possibly abuse the wolf's powers to influence other people. While Europeans warned of a wolf in sheep's clothing, some Native American tribal beliefs cautioned against a human in wolf's clothing. Literally, the Navajo wolf, or witch, can also be referred to as a skinwalker. Not all Navajo witches are skinwalkers, but all skinwalkers are witches.

In some Native American myths, a skinwalker is a person with the supernatural ability to turn into any animal he or she desires. To affect this transformation, legends suggest that skin-walkers need to wear a pelt of the animals they desire to metamorphose into, though this is not always considered necessary. In addition to transforming into animals, the skinwalker has other powers. He or she can read others' minds, control people’s thoughts and behavior, bring forth disease, destroy homes, and even cause death. Trained in both physical medicine for the body and spiritual medicine for the spirit, skinwalkers braid the two practices tightly together, as most skinwalkers at one time served in the position of healer and spiritual guide for their communities. Initiation into the deviant life of a skinwalker mandates breaking the killing taboo and taking the life of a member of the skinwalker's immediate family, usually a sibling.

When Hillerman refers to “Navajo Way,” he is referencing the concept of hózhǫ́. Hózhǫ́ is the state in which all living things are ordered, in balance, and walking in beauty. This term encompasses the Navajo world view, one in which all things are peaceful and harmonious. The opposite of hózhǫ́ is hóchxǫ́ǫ́, which refers to disorder and chaos in one’s life. In Hillerman's work, chaos and imbalance manifest as an illness, sickness, or infection obtained from contact with the modern, predominantly White culture and values of the mainstream U.S..

A Navajo Nation highway that runs from U.S. Highway 491, near Twin Lakes, NM, to Crownpoint, NM. From here the route extends until it intersects with Highway 57. At this point the route continues until it intersects with Highway 197 near the Empedrado Wilderness Study Area. This route runs through both McKinley and Sandoval Counties and is a secondary two-lane highway that is maintained by the Navajo Division of Transportation.

On current maps of the Navajo Reservation there is no mention of Navajo Route 8. However, Bureau of Indian Affairs documents mention the construction of a portion of this route. In 1958, the Department of the Interior provided funds for a contract to improve 13.8 miles of Navajo Route 8 between Chinle and Many Farms in northeastern Arizona. In 1965, the Department of the Interior set aside more funds to construct 8 more miles of Navajo Route 8 running between Ganado and Klagetoh in Apache County, Arizona. In addition, a brochure about the Hubbell Trading Post mentions this route as a way to get to this historic trading post. Based on this inform and after consulting contemporary maps, it appears that Navajo Route 8 covers about 39 miles between Round Rock and Klagetoh and is now a portion of U.S. Highway 191.

A Spanish term meaning “the bad country,” used by early Spanish settlers in the Southwest to describe regions that have a rough barren landscape covered in un-eroded lava flows, areas that are profoundly alkaline, and places that exhibit profound extremes in erosion patterns. New Mexico in particular has a number of exposed badlands with craggy black lava flows. The most notable malpais in the state is found in El Malpais National Monument, a federal monument situated in western New Mexico. This monument contains 133 square miles of lava flows and is home to a number of lava tube caves and volcanic cinder cones. Other lava well known lava flows in New Mexico are, the Carrizozo Malpais in south-central New Mexico and Jornada del Muerto Volcano lava field in central New Mexico.

Lava flows are formed when molten magma is expelled from a volcano’s magma chambers below the surface of the earth and is forcibly expelled from the volcano. Once magma reaches the earth’s surface, its name changes to lava. Lava is molten rock often composed of basalt, silica, potassium, and sodium. Malpais formations are created from a more viscous form of lava known by its Hawaiian name, a’a or aa. Once cool, this type of lava is identifiable by its sharp, craggy, and rocky surface.