The title of this episode comes from a poem by Emily Dickinson that opens with the line "Tell all the truth but tell it slant...." The poem suggests that the complete and full truth may be so bright and dazzling that it would strike a person blind if you encountered it all at once. Instead, you might have to edge up to the truth, circle around it, to be able to take it in.
Heyoka is the Lakota word for the sacred clown; it is odd that an appropriate Cheyenne word for this type of person was not used.
Gary Farmer (the Contrary Warrior) was in The Dark Wind with Lou Diamond Phillips in 1991. He played "Cowboy" Albert Dashee, a Hopi sheriff's deputy.
Cassandra is the name of the psychic in this episode, it's also the name of a psychic in Greek mythology. Cassandra was cursed by the gods: every prophecy she was told was true but no one believed her.
Katee Sackhoff and Christopher Cousins (Calvin Cowley) have in common the fact they both worked on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.