Sunday, March 22, 2026

Charlie Thom used to call me "Starman"

I was never entirely sure whether he meant I was from the stars or whether because my son's name was Star and he also knew my son or something else than that. Charlie was a Karuk Tribal Medicine man of his tribe and he lived in Happy Camp in Northern California north of Mt. Shasta up nearer to Yreka on Interstate 5. He often sweat with White people in the Mt. Shasta area and in places like Carmel at the Carmel River Beach but then the sweat lodges would have to accommodate between 50 and 100 people. Whereas most of the time it was around 25 or 30 people in Sweat Lodges in the Mt. Shasta area. 

This was mostly between 1983 and 2003 even though he lived until 2013 I just found out.

Here is what I found about him: begin quotes:

Karuk medicine man Charlie "Red Hawk" Thom passed away on
October 8, 2013, at the age of 85 at Madrone Hospice in Yreka, California. Born on April 4, 1928, he was a revered spiritual leader who resided in Yreka, California, and was buried at the Fort Jones Cemetery.

 

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