Nemenhah Religion, referred to formally as the Sahaptan Healing Way, and embodied within the Sacred Order of Lehb, was founded by Dr. Phillip R. "Cloudpiler" Landis through his translation of the Ayahtkuhyaht Nemenhah (Sacred Records of the Nemenhah People, previously known as the "Mentinah Archives"), a principle text which forms the basis for Nemenhah religious practice and ministry today. Deriving wisdom from the lives and teachings of our Native American ancestors, as restored to modern times through our Sacred Records, we aspire to bring healing and relief of suffering to the Individual, the Family, the Community, Society, and the Planet.
Presiding Office
TEHK TIWEHKTHIHMPT - PRESIDING HIGH PRIEST
Head of The Nemenhah Church: His Eminence (H.E.) the Tehk Tiwehkthihmpt, Phillip R. "Cloudpiler" Landis, Duke of Ahkehkt of the Kingdom of Tago of the Federation of Royal Maya.
Ordinations: Ordained by Holy Commission of the Peacemaker, Ayahtsuhway Sahnhehmpeht, as ratified by the First Mothers' Council of 2002.
Term: life.
Head of The Nemenhah Church: His Eminence (H.E.) the Tehk Tiwehkthihmpt, Phillip R. "Cloudpiler" Landis, Duke of Ahkehkt of the Kingdom of Tago of the Federation of Royal Maya.
Ordinations: Ordained by Holy Commission of the Peacemaker, Ayahtsuhway Sahnhehmpeht, as ratified by the First Mothers' Council of 2002.
Term: life.
Core Beliefs
We Nemenhah claim the writings found in the Ayahtkuhyaht Nemenhah to be sacred writ and a holy record of the distinct ancestral bloodline and traditional heritage of our People, which has been restored to modern times through the Yuhwihkihn ("Windwalking") of our esteemed Pehli and Founder of the Nemenhah Religion, the Tehk Tiwehkthihmpt of the Church, Dr. Phillip "Cloudpiler" Landis. We derive our traditions, customs, ceremonies of healing, and our cultural practices almost exclusively from these records.
Practitioners of Nemenhah Religion do not subscribe to the dichotomy of spiritual exclusivity, wherein a member of the Church must abrogate their affiliation or association with another religion, or any practices thereunto pertaining. There are "lay" followers and practitioners of the Sahaptan Healing Way who seek out only those portions of our Religion that directly concur with elements of their original faith. While this is not inappropriate, our Pehli do not recommend such lay practitioners for Spiritual Adoption into the Nemenhah People, for whom the covenant of Spiritual Adoption constitutes distinctive rights, privileges, and duties within the Nemenhah Constitution.
A true Sahaptan Practitioner, however, is one who has taken the sacred writings and teachings of our Ancestors and incorporated them into his or her life as part of his or her own identity and heritage. This individual has committed him or herself to not only the study of the ancient customs but also to restoring the Sacred Sahaptan Healing Way to modern times through ritual practice and regular ceremony.
We Nemenhah believe in the necessity of regular holy communion with the Creator and our Ancestors and Traditional Practitioners of the Sahaptan Healing Way do frequently walk in spirit upon "The Way" with their kindred dead for guidance and mentoring through ritual prayer, meditation, Itsipi (Sweatlodge) Ceremony and Yuhwihkihn ("Way-Walking").
We believe in the Creators, which our Ancestors called the "Aylohhihm" named "Tsi Aylohhway" (the Heavenly/Sky Father) and "Pah Aylohhway" (the Heavenly/Earth Mother), who, with the aid of the Haymehnay Spirit and His People, and the Peacemaker (firstborn of the Aylohhihm whom our Ancestors called "Ayahtsuhway Sahnhempeht," or the "Anointed One"), created the cosmos in which we do presently live. We believe that our purpose in this life is to emulate our Creators and learn as much about this creation as possible within the time we have been given on this earth, expanding our knowledge of the universe and further connecting with our Makers through the study of the natural world around us. We do this to emulate the Creators in order to, in the fullness of time, become as They are and join Them in the sacred work of Creation. To this effect, we Nemenhah are scholars of natural, philosophical, scientific, and esoteric wisdom and we are diligent in the application of this wisdom to the sacred emergence of the mind, body, and spirit and the essential relief of suffering.
While we do not restrict such beliefs within our congregations, Nemenhah Religion does not teach or endorse the notion of a great "ascension" of the natural world into a "higher plane of existence," which tends to obviate any personal responsibility for the health and longevity of our communities and the Planet. Rather, we believe that Nature itself is an embodiment of the highest consciousness and quintessential intelligence pervading all things and we eagerly strive each and every day to expand our minds with the very sublime intelligence with which Nature was endowed by the Creators. Through the manifestation of our faith in sacred works, we aspire to focus that knowledge in the work of the Peacemaker, which is to care for the planet and relieve suffering wherever and in whatever forms we may find it. In this way we emulate our Creators and raise up the hands that hang down with the same compassion and love with which our Ancestors do sustain us. We transform ourselves into students of Creation, Ethics, Right Livelihood, and caretakers of Nature capable, if and whenever necessary, of donning the "Medicine Shirt" to become healers and helpers- Pehli- to our fellow Man and to our beloved Earth Mother.
These, among many others, form a mere fraction of the core beliefs that comprise Nemenhah Religion, but through it all is the quintessential truth that sacred health of the physical body and our Mother Earth is, for we Nemenhah, equally as important as the health of the spirit; therefore we also believe that the study and practice of Natural Medicine and Earth Healing is unequivocally inseparable in every way from the right and essential practice of our Nemenhah Religion.
Practitioners of Nemenhah Religion do not subscribe to the dichotomy of spiritual exclusivity, wherein a member of the Church must abrogate their affiliation or association with another religion, or any practices thereunto pertaining. There are "lay" followers and practitioners of the Sahaptan Healing Way who seek out only those portions of our Religion that directly concur with elements of their original faith. While this is not inappropriate, our Pehli do not recommend such lay practitioners for Spiritual Adoption into the Nemenhah People, for whom the covenant of Spiritual Adoption constitutes distinctive rights, privileges, and duties within the Nemenhah Constitution.
A true Sahaptan Practitioner, however, is one who has taken the sacred writings and teachings of our Ancestors and incorporated them into his or her life as part of his or her own identity and heritage. This individual has committed him or herself to not only the study of the ancient customs but also to restoring the Sacred Sahaptan Healing Way to modern times through ritual practice and regular ceremony.
We Nemenhah believe in the necessity of regular holy communion with the Creator and our Ancestors and Traditional Practitioners of the Sahaptan Healing Way do frequently walk in spirit upon "The Way" with their kindred dead for guidance and mentoring through ritual prayer, meditation, Itsipi (Sweatlodge) Ceremony and Yuhwihkihn ("Way-Walking").
We believe in the Creators, which our Ancestors called the "Aylohhihm" named "Tsi Aylohhway" (the Heavenly/Sky Father) and "Pah Aylohhway" (the Heavenly/Earth Mother), who, with the aid of the Haymehnay Spirit and His People, and the Peacemaker (firstborn of the Aylohhihm whom our Ancestors called "Ayahtsuhway Sahnhempeht," or the "Anointed One"), created the cosmos in which we do presently live. We believe that our purpose in this life is to emulate our Creators and learn as much about this creation as possible within the time we have been given on this earth, expanding our knowledge of the universe and further connecting with our Makers through the study of the natural world around us. We do this to emulate the Creators in order to, in the fullness of time, become as They are and join Them in the sacred work of Creation. To this effect, we Nemenhah are scholars of natural, philosophical, scientific, and esoteric wisdom and we are diligent in the application of this wisdom to the sacred emergence of the mind, body, and spirit and the essential relief of suffering.
While we do not restrict such beliefs within our congregations, Nemenhah Religion does not teach or endorse the notion of a great "ascension" of the natural world into a "higher plane of existence," which tends to obviate any personal responsibility for the health and longevity of our communities and the Planet. Rather, we believe that Nature itself is an embodiment of the highest consciousness and quintessential intelligence pervading all things and we eagerly strive each and every day to expand our minds with the very sublime intelligence with which Nature was endowed by the Creators. Through the manifestation of our faith in sacred works, we aspire to focus that knowledge in the work of the Peacemaker, which is to care for the planet and relieve suffering wherever and in whatever forms we may find it. In this way we emulate our Creators and raise up the hands that hang down with the same compassion and love with which our Ancestors do sustain us. We transform ourselves into students of Creation, Ethics, Right Livelihood, and caretakers of Nature capable, if and whenever necessary, of donning the "Medicine Shirt" to become healers and helpers- Pehli- to our fellow Man and to our beloved Earth Mother.
These, among many others, form a mere fraction of the core beliefs that comprise Nemenhah Religion, but through it all is the quintessential truth that sacred health of the physical body and our Mother Earth is, for we Nemenhah, equally as important as the health of the spirit; therefore we also believe that the study and practice of Natural Medicine and Earth Healing is unequivocally inseparable in every way from the right and essential practice of our Nemenhah Religion.
Our Religious Practices
Ministers, Medicine Men and Women, and Practitioners of the Sahaptan Healing Way become agents of peace and emergence through the right and edifying practice of Nemenhah Religion. We learn to apply various elements of our faith through the diligent study of the Sahaptan Healing Way as provided in the Uniform Curriculum for Nemenhah Ministry (UCNM), and obligatory course all Members are required to complete. By attaining each of the three tiers of certification (Sahaptan Guide, Carrier and Shirt), joined with maintaining their annual "Voting Status" as an active Nemenhah Minister, our Ministers become duly qualified and competent to perform any, or all, bona-fide healing ceremonies of the Nemenhah ITO. These include, but are not limited to, the following:
Ceremonies of Healing
Cradle to Grave Blessings and Observances
Ceremonies of Healing
- Medicine Wheel Ceremony
- Sacred Pipe Medicine
- Sacred Breath (Smudge Medicine, Energy Healing)
- Itsipi Purification (Nemenhah "sweatlodge" ceremony)
- Kohhaht Ministry (Keeper of the Door)
- Sacred Modalities of Healing
- Consecration of Sacred Objects and Sacraments
- General Sahaptan Physiopathy (Nemenhah Naturopathic Principles and Ministry)
Cradle to Grave Blessings and Observances
- Childbirth and Ceremonies attendant with the Birth of Children
- Childhood milestones
- Blessings for Healing
- Naming and entry into Community
- The Receiving of Wyaykihn
- The "New Name" and Coming of Age
- The Commission of the Peacemaker
- Luminary Celebrations and Yuhnipi Sahbbaht (holy "sabbaths" of the Nemenhah)
- Marriage Covenants, Tokens and Performances
- The Four Pillars of the Tuhhuhl Nuhmihn (High Place)
- Death and Dying (Funerals)
Scope of Ministry
Nemenhah Ministers operate within various degrees, or Scopes, of ministry pertaining to their chosen status within the Nemenhah.
Tiheht - Student and/or Supplicant:
Tiwehk - Lay Minister, Pehli, and Spiritually Adopted Citizen of the Nemenhah ITO:
Tiwehkt - Vocational Minister and Pehli:
Tiwehkthihmpt - Presiding Officer and Pehli:
Tiheht - Student and/or Supplicant:
- Enrolled student.
- Current Supplicant to the Healing Ministries of a Vocational Minister.
- Care and emergence of self.
Tiwehk - Lay Minister, Pehli, and Spiritually Adopted Citizen of the Nemenhah ITO:
- Home and professional ceremonial practices (where authorized).
- Care and Education of children and immediate family.
Tiwehkt - Vocational Minister and Pehli:
- Home, personal and public ceremonial practices.
- Professional Vocational Ministries of Natural Healing.
- Care of supplicants and fellow Nemenhah Members.
Tiwehkthihmpt - Presiding Officer and Pehli:
- Holds leadership within Cabinet or Church Offices as Tiwehkthihmpt (president) or Ehlehk (counsellor).
- May be Ordained/Set Apart as Steward of the Tithe for Local funds and programs.
- May be elected as Talking Feather of Council.
