The Offering of the PIPE

"When you go back to Europe, tell your people that John Wayne didn't kill all my people, tell them we are alive and struggling for our rights. Tell them we are not dead but to survive we need to keep the traditions alive, you can help us do that! Go back to your people and run powwows, sing, dance and pray with your Chanupas "

words of Grandfather Fools Crow spoken to me (Keith Lord) in August 1970

SURRENDER TO BE FREE

PART II: LESSONS FOR MR. CROW

OK, so now comes Part II…much more challenging for me to share this with all my relations. In doing so I live some of the principles of Sun Dance Way and the 12-Steps of AA (most of you already know I am a grateful alcoholic/addict with more than 28 years of wellness). This summer I sensed it was time for me to no longer pierce in order to dance and/or pray. So I decided …no more… to myself, my wife and Creator. I might pull skulls, but no more holes up front where scar tissue abounds. It‘s kinda fun listening to piercers trying to find a virgin square inch of flesh. You might ask why? After all isn't my body the only thing I really own, the most precious thing I have to offer Creator? Yes that is true. The spirits told me at the Chief Moon Sun Dance in early July, however, that I had honored how committed and sincere my prayers are to Creator. The spirits said that I no longer needed to use the form of giving flesh. They said I understood that the substance or essence is beyond physical reality…it lies in the realm of spirit. I had given enough flesh, I could do other things to make strong prayers and show gratitude to Great Mystery. Further, these same spirits told me after this last piercing to dance off my rope with love not anger.

A little back-story is appropriate here. My first time as an Eagle or Warrior Dancer began in 1995 at Dance For Life (in Goldendale that first year of DFL). I hadn’t pierced before and did not know what to expect when it was time to break…in fact I was scared. By the 4th day I had already seen men bungee-cord-bounce and struggle to break. I heard that if you did not break clean the following year would be hard and full of misfortune. While I did not believe that, it put more fear into my head. Finally the last round of the fourth day came. Just this round and then an exit round to a quick lodge and then to food and water at last! All of the Eagle dancers were to go 3 times to the tree and on the 4th come back and break. I was moving as fast as I could backward and pop, wow much pain but still attached to the tree…oh no what will happen to me know? I tried again with the same result. Then a helper, Dream Seeker, came over and said, “we will help you.”

“No, I cried, I’ll have a bad year.”

He laughed and told me there were many superstitions around Sun Dance ceremony. For Dream Seeker, asking for help from your brothers is a sign of courage and humility…consistent with AA principles and as I believe integral to living the way of Sun Dance. He and Bruce held me by the arms and pulled off my rope…kind of like going for a touchdown in football. With a little help from my friends I had made it…now I was to turn around and get back in line! Suddenly I was aware that my umbilical cord was gone…I felt deep sadness even though I knew water and food were at hand. After that dance I bounced many times, even had to be pulled off the rope when I hung from the tree, and never ever thought about pulling skulls (how that began is another story).

I came to acceptance of being pulled off my rope…acceptance of things I cannot change is powerful medicine. Then at Durwin White Lightning’s dance (Takilma, 1997) I watched him pierce, pray for a while and then dance off his rope. Wow, maybe I could do that an avoid bouncing? The next dance I participated in was the first Chief Moon Piercing Sun Dance (1998) on the Blood Reserve in Alberta. Here I witnessed another different way to break. Jordan Chief Moon simply walked back the 4th time in a dignified manner, held the knot where his harness began, pulled back and released the knot… and pop, he was off. When I was hooked up to the center pole, I tried some dancing-off moves. Maybe pop just one side…nope, not that easy. On the last day when it was time to break I held a picture of myself doing as I had seen…pop, it worked!

I did the graceful walk…knot hold…pop at the next few dances. Then one time honoring someone else’s rope (just another part of being a helper) I felt anger. Not that I had to suffer, but because some wanted to shame this man. I felt he had shown courage to say “enough, I’m finished, I've done my best,” and left his rope on the tree. Using this focused anger I danced off quite easily. A new approach to breaking was mine and I used it every time until 2013 and once again at the Chief Moon Sun Dance. Not only was this to be my last pierce, I was told by the spirits not to use anger. Since I do my best to listen to and not challenge spirits, as I danced in the northeast of the arbor (the same location I first danced in) I thought of how much I love sun dance, to be connected with the Medicine Pole, feeling the flow of medicine down my rope (which is why I keep it taut so no medicine drips off), to be able to close my eyes, lean back, pass through the veil and go into the unseen world - and almost without thought the rope released me…the end of an era for me.

Now, back to Spirit of the Wind Sun Dance. In a lodge one of my (I do my best to treat each dancer with the same parental love as I do my Chanunpa, hence the possessive “my”) dancers talked about how for him piercing would be from his ego, his ego felt he SHOULD do it …perhaps not a good reason to pierce. I heard, acknowledged and honored what he has shared, feeling that this is something I need to heed. Yet when the tree was being painted, fed and then dressed with prayer ties, robes and ropes, I wanted to put a rope on Her. Ah, the spirits work in mysterious ways indeed. Doc was hanging a rope for the Veterans round; it was 100 feet long so we cut it in two. I just sauntered up to the tree and calmly tied the rope on. Oh, not for me, one of the veterans or drummers will need a rope…I’m just being a thoughtful helper… denial is a powerful disease indeed.

On the second day of dance after the long break I got painted for the piercing round. Once on my rope I felt the joy of being connected to the tree connecting Mother Earth to Father Sky, the Star nation…all above and below…the universe. Then I began to do my usual moves to dance off the rope…feeling a deep abiding love for this way to pray. Alas, as hard as I pulled on one side I felt no sense of breaking free….hmmm same results on the other side. At times I pulled hard enough to make the tree dance to-and-fro with me, Her top swaying several feet. Silently I appealed to her, “It’s beautiful to dance with you, but come on, the round is almost over.”

She said, “I’m not letting you go. Why are you here, was it a strong prayer or just a whim of Mr. Ego? Further, you shared with others your plan to not pierce, but that left you no room to live in the moment like you did by pulling skulls at the Chief Moon Sun Dance this year.”

At that ceremony one of the dancers had been hurt while getting the tree. When we were in the arbor some of the men were concerned about what was going to happen now. I suggested we send strong prayers for his health. I was guided to pull skulls for him although I had not intended to pull…I was free to act in the moment.

I told the helpers I needed to stay with the tree and go ahead and finish the round. After the arbor was empty, I sensed I needed to make amends to the Medicine Pole…I was connected to Her under false pretenses. I went over to Her, touched Her and felt I needed to do something I almost never do, get on my knees and pray. That was humbling and I felt a great sense of release. I asked how could I make amends for my mistake? She asked me to recall my first time piercing…I need to ask my brothers for help. When the prayer round began, I told the helpers that I would break at the end of the round with their help. The 2 men who would stand next to me I have danced with dozens of times and the third who would stand behind me completed his four years when I was a helper and had been one who pierced me. Before the time to break came, I tried one more time to break…”no”, I heard Her say…you must surrender to be free. How many times as a dancer did you need to get to that place of acceptance that you cannot so it alone, ask the spirits for help and then complete your dance?” With a vigorous yank I was free. One of the men who pierced me said he was trying to give me a pierce that would allow me to easily dance off my rope. For those who don’t know or believe it, this supports my belief that the spirits guide the piercer’s hands. Here several weeks later the scabs have just come off and the piercings are still very tender…just to make sure I learned my lesson. I think I did!

I told the other helpers I needed to stay with the tree…finish the round I’ll break during next one. After the arbor was empty, I sensed I wanted to make amends to the Medicine Pole since I connected to Her on a whim. I went over to Her, touched Her and felt I needed to do something I almost never do: get on my knees and pray for HELP! That was humbling; I felt a powerful sense of release and forgiveness. I asked how could I make amends for my mistake?

She asked me to remember my first time piercing…I needed to ask my brothers for help. When the prayer round began, I told the helpers that I would break at the end of the round with their help. I have danced with Red Tail (my piercer), and Jim Eagle had picked me up and gone for a touchdown dozens of times. I asked Josh to stand behind to hold space. I was a helper as he had completed his four-year commitment, and he was the other who had pierced me this time. Before the time to break came I tried one more time to break on my own.

”No”, She said…”you must surrender to be free…give up to win. How many times as a dancer did you get to acceptance that you cannot do it alone, then ask the spirits for help and complete your dance? You completed 9 Eagle/Warrior dance commitments going through the same process each time.”

I was pulled hard and the vigorous yank they gave me set me free. One of the men who pierced me said he was trying to give me a pierce that would allow me to easily dance off my rope. For those who don’t know or believe it, this supports my belief that the spirits guide the piercer’s hands. Sun Dance contains much mystery.

Here several weeks later the scabs have just come off yet the piercings are still very tender… perhaps just to make sure I learned my lessons? What were they you might ask? I want to do my best to be impeccable with my words. There is no reason I need to share what I am gong to do in the arbor or elsewhere…expectations can be premeditated resentments. Another thing is to beware of making commitments. They are like telling the universe/Creator I know the future…some say making plans is how to make God laugh! Asking for help is a courageous act of strength, not pitiful weakness…glad to have this one reinforced. Finally, I want to do my best to live in the moment… future tripping holds little or no value. I think I have learned these lessons…I’ll let ya’ll know as time goes on. -told by James D Schumacher

SAGE MAN

INDIAN AFFAIRS

Grandfather says by * Tashunka Witko * [HQ]

Grandfather says this: “In life there is sadness as well as joy, losing as well as winning, falling as well as standing, hunger as well as plenty, bad as well as good. I do not say this to make you despair, but to teach you…that life is a journey sometimes walked in light and sometimes in shadow.” Grandfather says this...

Native American activist Jay Winter Nightwolf

Many tribes owe the Sioux nation debts. It won't ease the extreme poverty, the cultural alienation of their young, or abate the alcoholism ravaging their nation. It won't wipe from anyone's memory, nor will their gang problem go away. But many tribes, thousands of white people seeking to bringing healing to themselves owe the Sioux nation a debt. Somehow despite the relentless campaigns of Americans, and the might of their armies, the duplicity of their missionaries, and the laws written to protect whites interests in land grabbing the Sioux somehow managed to preserve their traditions, and ceremonies. Their language stayed in tact, and despite the laws against us Native folk practicing our religion the Sioux nation surfaced in the 1960's sharing their’ medicines', their Sundance ceremony, the Pipe, and their story-power with the world. They allowed the nations, like the Piscataway whom the whites stripped of identity, and custom, to share the Lakota ways of the Sundance, and their Chanupa ceremonies, and blessed them allowing them to practice these ways.

Jay Winter Nightwolf & grandson Alex

Many people connect with the Indian ways because of this turn of events. Because white anthropologists (love 'em or hate 'em) recorded so much of Sioux life, and because the Sioux fought so hard against the Americans somewhere within the American thought-patterns poverty was allowed to crush this nation into the dirt. Their nobility is often sung about, and held high as an example of the noble Red Man, but the abject poverty, if you ever visit Pine Ridge, for example, will crush your good will. There are people like public radio personality, and activist, Jay Winter Nightwolf, Eastern Band Cherokee, Shoshone, who work to provide the Sioux nation with food, heat, and clothes every winter. It is colder than a witch’s tit in the Dakotas, and people starve and don’t make it through the winter. Many drive to the edge of town to buy liquor from a store a few dozen feet from the border with food money for their families!

There is an enormous cultural and spiritual debt to be paid the Sioux. But they need food, heat, education, housing like so many other nations. They need the treaty money the US government holds from them, and uses as they see fit. These are my words. I am Gregory E. Woods, “Dawn Wolf”, Keeper of Stories.

http://www.facebook.com/jwnightwolf

Native teaching from Indigenouz Fellowzhip

The Sacred Pipe of the T'salagi

"Most all Nations have stories about the 'Sacred Pipe'. What many people refer to it as The Peace Pipe. Which is an incorrect Hollywood thought shown in the old west movies and cartoons. The Sacred Pipe is to the Native Americans as the cross is to christian cultures. The pipe, in one form or another, has come to most cultures arou\nd the world. Every group has used the pipe in one way or another and has stories of how they came to have it. The Lakota tell the story of the White Buffalo Calf Woman and how she first brought the pipe to them. Just as the T'salagi have this story.


It is not important how the pipe first arrived. Or who it came to first as all nations see themselves as the first to have this gift from creator. What is important is that the pipe is revered as a sacred item and also important is that it did come from The Creator. What is most important is that pipe was brought to all men of this world, for we all must share this world."

Long ago, but not long after the world was new, a tribe of red skinned people came to live on the lands which are around The Blue Smoke Mountains. At this time, the animals of the world still talked to men and taught them how to live on and care for the land. These people were called "Ani Yun Wiya" or the One True People. In this tribe lived a brave warrior woman. She was called 'Arrow Woman'. Arrow Woman was taught to use the bow, the spear and the knife. Even though it was a man's job to hunt and fight, Arrow Woman could shoot straighter with the bow than any man, she could throw the knife so as split a branch no bigger than your thumb and she could throw the spear into eye of a hawk in flight. Because of all this, no man would tell her to be like a woman.

One day while on a hunt, Arrow Woman came upon the tracks of Yona the bear. She saw blood on the ground and knew him to be wounded so she followed his tracks. High into the mountains she followed. Soon she came to a place that she did not know. It was in this place, a place known only to the animals that she finally saw Yona the bear. He had a deep cut in his side and she saw him bowing down in prayer. She saw him bowing toward a large field of tall grass and speaking words that she had not heard before. Suddenly, the grass shimmered and became a lake. Arrow Woman saw Yona dive into the water. After a time he emerged from the water, his side was completely healed. Yona then saw Arrow Woman and walked to her. Yona told her, "this is the sacred lake of the animals. It is called, 'Atagahi' and it's location is known only to the animals. It is where we come for healing and strength. You are the first man creature to see the sacred lake. You must never tell your kind of it's location for it is the home of 'The Great Uktena'. With these words Yona the Bear turned and walked into the woods and disappeared.

Arrow Woman was tired after following Yona all day so she decided to rest a while by this lake. She built a small fire and sat down to eat a meal that she had brought with her. She took a drink of the water from the lake and felt instantly refreshed. She was amazed, she felt strong as Yan'si the Buffalo. She felt as if she run faster than Coga the Raven could fly.

The woods were quiet, Unole the wind was sleeping, Nvda the sun was shining bright but was not hot, the surface of the lake was completely calm, Arrow Woman began to get sleepy.

It was at this time that she saw Uktena. She had been told of him when she was a child, but no one in her tribe ever claimed to have seen him. High above the water he raised his great serpent's head, the jewel in his forehead glistening. He began to move toward her. Arrow Woman grabbed up her spear and stood up to face the great creature coming to her, standing proud, showing no fear, the way any warrior should. She raised her spear and prepared to strike the huge beast.

Uktena stopped a short distance from her. He smiled, his mouth was larger than a man was tall and full of teeth longer than man's forearm. He spoke to the brave woman on the bank of his lake. To her he said, "Put down your weapons for I mean you no harm. I come only to teach." Arrow Woman laid down her spear and began to relax, somehow knowing Uktena spoke truly.

Uktena told her to sit and to listen. Uktena dipped his head below the surface and came back up a moment later. In his mouth he had a strangely crooked stick and a leather pouch. These things he laid on the ground in front of Arrow Woman. Then the Great Uktena began to teach. He said,"This that I have laid before you is the Sacred Pipe of The Creator." He then told her to pick up the pipe. "The bowl is of the same red clay The Creator used to make your kind. The red clay is Woman kind and is from the Earth. Just as a woman bears the children and brings forth life, the bowl bears the sacred tobacco (tsula) and brings forth smoke. The stem is Man. Rigid and strong the stem is from the plant kingdom and like a man it supports the bowl just as man supports his family."

Uktena then showed Arrow Woman how to join the bowl to the stem saying, " Just as a man and a woman remain separate until joined in marriage so too are the bowl and stem separate. Never to be joined unless the pipe is used." Uktena then showed her how to place the sacred tsula into the pipe and with an ember from the fire lit the tsula so it burned slightly. He told her this, "The smoke is the breath of The Creator, When you draw the smoke into your body, you will be cleansed and made whole. When the smoke leaves your mouth, it will rise to The Creator. Your prayers, your dreams, your hopes and desires will be taken to Him in the smoke. Also the truth in your soul will be shown to Him when you smoke the pipe. If you are not true, do not smoke the pipe. If your spirit is bad and you seek to deceive, do not smoke the pipe."

Uktena continued his lesson well into the night teaching Arrow Woman all of the prayers used with the pipe and all of the reasons for using the pipe. He finished just as Moon was beginning her nightly journey across the sky in search of her true love. He told Arrow Woman to wrap the pipe in cloth, keeping the parts separate. With this done He told her that she would never again be able to find this place but to remember all that she had learned. Uktena then returned to depths of the lake. Arrow Woman saw the water shimmer and become again the field of grass. She left, taking with her the pipe and her lessons and a wondrous tale.

Ever since that time, The Ani Yun Wiya have used the sacred pipe and never again has any man seen the sacred lake of Uktena. The pipe is not a symbol of things that are sacred. The pipe itself is sacred. Not everyone is called upon to be a pipe bearer. The person who carries the pipe and practices the pipe ceremonies and traditions has a great responsibility to his brothers and sisters, his land and country and even to the Earth Mother. The pipe bearer does not 'own' the pipe he carries. He simply carries the pipe until the time comes for him to pass it to the next bearer. The pipe bearer is given certain powers of sight from the pipe as well as an ability to heal and purify. Should the bearer fall from grace and become a liar, thief, neglected his duties when asked, or become deceitful, the pipe would repossess these gifts and then the possibility of misfortune for the former bearer may exist. One should be ready to accept the responsibility of the pipe for it may make demands upon you. It will become your teacher and guide. It can also be your worst enemy if used wrongly.

I leave it to you to decide if these words are truly said. This is the way that I have learned. - Melanie Serttas