THE ATOM: Propitiation

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In Arizona, Navajo medicine men came to terms with the atomic age. Uranium mining operations, now the main support of hundreds of Navajos, had put a welcome $300,000 into the coffers of the tribal council in the last fiscal year. Up among the sacred Lukachukai Mountains, however, the shamans had heard the disturbed voices of the Ye-ei, the souls of the mountains, who were angered because the miners had disturbed the dwellings of the Talking God and his brother, the Calling God. Last week, after a worried council, the medicine men announced their decision. At the time of the next full moon, the Navajos of the Lukachukai region must hold a Hozhooji (Blessing Way) ceremony with all-night chanting and sand painting "to offer profuse apologies for the act of permitting both Indians and non-Indians to take ore from Mother Earth without permission."