Listening Woman (1978)

Ogden is a small city located in northern Utah near the Wasatch Mountains. The Great Salt Lake, located to the west, can be viewed from the city. The city is known mainly for its outdoor recreation and winter sports activities, with several national parks within driving distance. In 2002, the city hosted some of the Winter Olympic's ski events.

The common nighthawk, also called a bullbat, is a small nocturnal bird that is not related to the hawk, although the two do share some coloring patterns. The nighthawk lives in woodlands, fields, and clearings across the continental United States, and feeds primarily on flying insects that it hunts at night. Nighthawks generally are solitary creatures, but occasionally, for foraging purposes, form flocks. The Southwestern nighthawks are recognizable by their dark gray markings and wings that have a white stripe that runs between the tip and the shoulder.

The Mountain Way, or the Mountain Chant, refers to a Navajo ceremony, performed by a singer or medicine man (called a hataałii in Navajo), that is performed to address mental uneasiness and nervousness (Reichardt 12).The Mountain Way, similar to other Navajo ceremonials, address individual unease in addition to antisocial tendencies, thereby bringing the group that participates in the ceremonial, including patients and their extended families, into an harmonial accord, or balance (Kluckhohn 169)

Navajo cures are targeted at body, mind, and spirit, calling on the patient, his kin, singer, and divine people to restore his harmony with the world. Before a singer, or medicine man (they are seldom women), is called, a hand trembler, or ndilniihii (often a woman), will diagnose the source of illness. Through prayer, concentration, and sprinkling of sacred pollen, her hand will tremble and pinpoint the cause, which then determines the proper ceremonial cure. Then a medicine man, or hataałii, meaning "singer," who knows the proper ceremony is called and preparations are set in motion.

There are nearly 100 Navajo chants of varying range and intricacy. Originating from the Creation Story, they are so nuanced and complex that a medicine man learns only one or two ways over many years of apprenticeship. Ceremonies last anywhere from one to nine days (the Mountain Way Chant lasts nine days) and include chants, songs, prayers, lectures, dances, sweat baths, prayer sticks, and sand paintings. In order for a ceremony to be effective, everything must be done as prescribed in the legends.

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.

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..

Also known as Tó Sido in Navajo, these hot springs were the site of a small community with a trading post until the 1950s. Prehistoric Chacoan roads have been discovered in the area.

This road, along with Rt. 64, form what is known as the "Dinetah Scenic Road" through the Navajo Nation in Arizona. From this route drivers can access Canyon de Chelly, Window Rock, the Lukachukai and Chuska Mountains, Fort Defiance, and Navajo Lake.

Now known as Arizona Highway 160, Navajo Route 1 is also the portion of US Route 160 that runs through the Navajo Nation in Arizona between Tuba City and Kayenta. From this route, drivers can access Black Mesa, White Mesa, Rt. 264, Preston Mesa, Red Lake, the Navajo National Monument, and Tsegi Canyon.