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Lakota Spirituality
Topic Started: May 8 2006, 12:24 PM (153 Views)
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A BRIEF INTRO TO LAKOTA METAPHYSICS
As with many a metaphysical topic, there often is much debate and contrary thought within the same principle. Extensive reading about any Indian culture's religion or philosophy will no doubt bring forward differing views, to the extent that one elder or holy man may directly contradict another on any given topic. This has become particularly true in the last few decades with the wave of cross-cultural interest in American Indians - a time when suddenly everyone and his uncle, Indian and non-Indian, is a "shaman" and writing books, teaching seminars and hosting sweat lodge on board cruise ships.

While individual spin is commonplace on the cusp of a new millennium, there are some general basic concepts that remain fairly universal, concepts that appear the purest among the elders teaching at the turn of the last century. Fortunately, some were very prolific. Lakotas like George Sword and George Bushotter wrote extensively in the Lakota language of their personal experience and others, like Thomas Tyon and Ivan Stars, interviewed nonliterate Lakotas to record their stories. This, combined with Lakota narratives taken down by non-Indians such as James R. Walker, Edward Curtis, Frances Densmore, Aaron McGaffey Beede, Joseph Epes Brown and John G. Neihardt, who interviewed Oglala holy man Nicholas Black Elk extensively, give us a fair picture of things as they are without having been tampered with by egos or ulterior motives.

The following writings are intended as a brief introduction to some traditional concepts of Lakota belief and religion and are based largely in the sources named above and focus on the 19th and early 20th century teachings, rather than any contemporary writings. In these times religion was an integral part of day-to-day life.

LAKOTA: THE CIRCLE
One of the most profound symbols in the Lakota culture is the circle. Being keen observers, the people realized the circle appears on many things no matter where you look in the world and beyond. The Sun is round. The Moon is round. The Earth is round. The seasons follow each other in a perpetual circle. And life itself is a circle, from birth to childhood to adulthood to old age to death, only to have another born to take the place of the one gone. It is for this seemingly endless circle of life that the Lakota sometimes call their existence "the hoop."

Years ago, the living space within the tipi was round, made from a circle of poles. The tipis were set also in a larger circle, and when there were many people and many tipis, the homes were set a circle within a circle.

The words of Lame Deer on the subject of the circle...

With us the circle stands for the togetherness of people who sit with one another around a fire, relatives and friends united in peace, while the pipe passes from hand to hand. All the families in the village were in turn circles within a larger circle, part of the larger hoop of the nation. The nation was only a part of the universe, in itself circular...circles within circles within circles, with no beginning and no end. To us this is beautiful and fitting, symbol and reality at the same time, expressing the harmony of nature and life. Our circle is timeless, flowing; it is new life emerging from death - life winning out over death.

Aspects of everyday life embrace the circle. Art includes the image in many different medium. Dance is done in a circle. Games, tools, hunting and war strategies, adornment, many things, all based in the round.

The symbol of the circle also suggests the concept of family. The traditional Lakota family is called tiyospaye and includes extended family - aunts, uncles, grandfathers, grandmothers, cousins and friends that were "made family." So one is a member of an immediate family, a broader circle of family and finally, the entire nation. Beyond that is the circle of the universe, which includes plants, animals, rocks, stars and all things, which also are considered "family."

This circle can be seen as one cohesive, harmonious organism that can be summed up as "life." The phrase "all my relatives" is common and heard often, and explains simply but profoundly the concept of interrelated being.



LAKOTA: FOUR DIRECTIONS
When praying or engaging in anything sacred, the Lakota look to the four directions. Everything in this world comes from these four directions. The four directions also represent the four sons of Tate, the wind. Each direction has a representative meaning, and often the four directions are depicted as a cross that resembles a plus sign within a circle, and a color.

If you begin to study the four directions you may notice quickly that the colors equated to each may appear differently from reference to reference. For example, in the book Sioux Indian Religion authors Raymond J. DeMallie and Douglas R. Parks depict the correlation between the direction and color this way:

<DIR>
Black for the west
Red for the north
Yellow for the east
White for the south </DIR>

And, they add blue for the sky and green for the earth, as is often done.

The issue of attributing color to the four directions may be baffling. Just about every book you read may line out the color/direction relation differently. The differences may even go beyond the generality of different books to the specifics of individual Lakotas or Lakota groups or bands. For example, the American Indian Science and Engineering Society, a group that uses the four directions and their corresponding colors to identify their organization, describes them this way:

<DIR>
White for north, for wisdom gained through winter stories
Red for east, and enlightenment
Yellow for south, and innocence
Black for the west, and its power </DIR>
All the diversity is intensified by the fact that many a "sham shaman" contributes yet more spin on the issue.

So which is correct? How can you tell bogus interpretations from time honored ones? Well, you can't.

The metaphysics and religion of the Lakota are as subjective as those of any religion. Maybe even more so because of the emphasis on individualism, i.e. one's own vision. No where is this more true than among the Lakota holy people and interpreters. The variations in the colors for the directions can easily and readily differ from individual to individual, as each is guided specifically by their own visions. Perhaps humor is part of the spiritual picture as well, as Wakan Tanka no doubt would take delight in watching some people try as they might to codify the colors en masse while knowing that the information was attained in a highly specific and individual manner.

In accepting all interpretations as truth, it is easy to see that the spirits work in mysterious ways. Perhaps they also are trying to encourage a looser, more eastern way of looking at things rather than have something as central as the four directions fall to tendencies of codified and dogma-ridden western religions. Inconsistency may actually be the way to a fuller understanding of the Great Mystery.

If you have a desire to conform, however, it may be noted that the second set of correspondents listed above - white/north, red/east, yellow/south, black/west - seems to be seen in a majority of references. A sample of representative meanings for these corollaries might include:

<DIR>
The black west as the place where the rain originates, and a place that represents the end, or finality, as things done in the dark are final things. People with an affinity for the west may become heyoka, or sacred clown that does everything backwards or in a contrary manner. The bald eagle is associated with this direction.
The white north offer a cleansing, purifying and strengthening power. Operating as winter does when it cleans the earth of the weak, the white north sends tests and teaches the courage, endurance and wisdom that comes with the trials of life. The white eagle is associated with this direction, and it is said that those who have a vision of the white eagle become healers.
The red east is a place where peace, light and new life rise up each day. Blood and birth are from the east. The spotted eagle, being all these things, represents this direction and its feathers are said to bring insight and visions.
The yellow south sees a sun that is strongest when facing this direction. The yellow south, like its representative bird, the golden eagle, stands for the peak of life, warmth, understanding and ability. </DIR>


LAKOTA: SOME WORDS ON WAKAN
To try to describe the Lakota (Sioux) concept of "wakan" would be much like trying to put down a few paragraphs and accurately and amply sum up "God." It can't be done. Wakan is so faceted in nature it would be impossible to describe it all in words, but the following is an attempt to convey just a inkling of what it is all about.

In the world of the Lakota, the word wakan means many things, yet nothing that is easily understood. Even among the Lakota themselves a great deal of thought and study is necessary in a quest to understand the concept of wakan.

Those who travel among the Lakota hear them speak of their beliefs in wakan by many names: Wakan Tanka, Tunkashila, Taku SkanSkan, Great Spirit, Grandfather. The traveler might ask "Are these names for one being or for many?" The answer would have to be both.

To the Lakota, those which made everything are Wakan Tanka. Though wa and kan have separate meanings unto them selves, Wakan Tanka can be loosely interpreted as "wakan" as "mystery" and "tanka" as "something great." And being the "creators," the Wakan Tanka also are Wakanpi, those things above mankind. They are never born and they never die. The Wakanpi, spirits, have power over everything on earth and control everything mankind does. There are benevolent Wakanpi that will bestow the wishes man asks of them, and evil Wakanpi that are to be feared.

Man uses songs, ceremony and gifts to honor and appease, all under the auspices of the holy man or shaman, wicasa wakan. Prayers offered to the wakan beings as a whole are addressed to Wakan Tanka, but prayers offered to a specific being should address the being by name.

Music is a good vehicle of prayer, and it is said the Wanka Tanka always give attention when they hear the drums and rattles. While the good wakan beings are fond of prayers that reach them on the smoke of sweetgrass, the evil wakan beings fear the smoke of sage. All the Wakan Tanka are pleased with the smoke of the Lakota pipe.

White culture sometimes refers to the Lakota medicine man as a "medicine man," or as the Lakota say, wicasa wakan, when he is performing ceremonies, and believe he is making medicine when doing so. This is incorrect because the Lakota call something a medicine only when it is being used to tend to the sick or injured, and so the proper term would be pejuta. So a man of medicine among the Lakota, a "doctor," is a pejuta wacasa, which is not to be confused with wicasa wakan, which is a holy man, or shaman. A wicasa wakan is wise, one who knows and has power with the spirits and can communicate with them. He knows the songs and the ceremonies and can interpret visions. He can tell people what the spirits expect of them, predict the future, speak to nature...to everything on earth. So one, the pejuta wacasa, tends to the physical being, while the other, wicasa wakan, tends to the spiritual.

When a holy man uses an object in a ceremony that object becomes filled with something that best be described, for lack of an actual English term, as "spirit." The Lakota use the term tonwan or ton to describe it. Ton is the power to do the supernatural. Rattle, smoke, feather...once anything has ton it becomes wakan because the spirit is said to have entered it. Therefore, a wicasa wakan has the power of wakan beings, bestowed upon him by wakan beings. With that power the holy man can put ton into anything. He also has a place of his own where ton has been placed, called a Wasicun, from which the shaman do their work from. White culture would probably call this a "medicine bag," which is incorrect because there is no "medicine" in it. White doctors or Lakota pejuta wacasa would have "medicine bags," not holy men. Wasicun is actually a wakan being too, but the least powerful of all.

Like Wanka Tanka, which can be good or evil, this ton is not necessarily positive in the big picture either. For example, the roots of certain plants are wakan because they are poisonous or some reptiles are considered wakan because their bite can kill. Some animals are wakan because the stories handed down from generation to generation have said the wakan beings made them so. A person acting out of the norm, appearing "crazy," is wakan. Even alcohol, which makes one "crazy," is wakan. On the other hand, food is wakan because it gives life. Very old things are wakan because their origin is a mystery. Babies are wakan because they do not speak. Every object in the world has a spirit and that spirit is wakan, good or evil, put there by Wanka Tanka, good or evil.

Lame Deer served his people as a medicine man and ritual leader for many years and could easily be considered somewhat of an "expert" on concept and tradition among the Lakota. About Wakan Tanka he said:

You can't explain it except by going to the circles within circles idea, the spirit splitting itself up into stones, trees, tiny insects even, making them all wakan by his everpresence. And in turn all these myriad of things which make up the universe flowing back to their source, united in the one Grandfather spirit.



LAKOTA: SAGE, SWEET GRASS AND TOBACCO
Sage, sweet grass and tobacco are in used by the Lakota in prayer and ritual.

Sweet Grass: Sweet grass is as it sounds, a scent that is sweet and pleasant when burned as incense in a braid or thrown loose on a fire. It is used to honor the Wakan Tanka and bring blessings to those in prayer, while at the same time sending prayers above on the rising smoke, as the Great Spirit understands this language better than words. In addition to prayer it can be used for purification and for healing.

Sweet grass was introduced to the people by Okaga, the south wind. It grows in the plains and mountains and can reach five feet in height. It is cut and most commonly braided.

Sage: Burning sage sends a more bittersweet smell into the air when it is used in many different prayer and sacred rituals or for purification. It is used on the floor of the sweatlodge, as the base of a vision quest bed, in medicine bundles or at the buffalo skull altar. It is said burning sage keeps evil away.

Tate the wind, son of Skan, the sky, is said to get his power from sage.

The silver-leaf sage plant is the incense of the seven sacred rituals, and while used in almost every ceremony, sage is particularly important within the Sundance. The dancers chew sage to alleviate their thirst and wear crowns made from the sage plant.

Tobacco: Tobacco is smoked in the scared pipe, also rising to the sky as a visible prayer or breath on the wind. Tobacco offerings are made by taking a small amount of tobacco and wrapping it in tiny squares of colored cloth of the four sacred colors. These tobacco tie offerings are made to stand for a promise or request made to Wakan Tanka.



LAKOTA: SWEATLODGE
While the sweatlodge benefits the participants directly, the rite also helps all the people. It is done as a purification ritual to prepare for the help of Wakan Tanka, either for themselves personally or on behalf of others. Sweatlodge is used for purification before other ceremony as well, such as a vision quest or the Sundance. The lodges are generally constructed close to the home, so they can be used frequently and easily, even in bad weather.

The sweatlodge is made from willow poles, 12 to 20, bent in arcs over each other and stuck in the ground at either end to form a dome shape. The dome is then covered with blankets or hides. Representative of the universe, the lodge door usually faces west, where the clouds and rain come from.

Inside, a round fire pit is created at the center of the universe. Rocks are heated in a fire made outside the sweatlodge and bought in with forks. Sage is sprinkled over the entire floor inside, and a path that leads out from the door leads to a small mound of dirt where the sacred pipe is kept.

At the beginning of a sweat, the participants enter and offer a prayer to Wakan Tanka for all provided and help in the past, present and future. Everyone sits on the sage, in a circle, silently watching as the hot rocks are brought in and placed in the fire pit. Once the pit is filled, whoever is leading the ceremony offers the pipe to the four directions, to the sky and to the earth. The pipe is then lit and passed among those in the circle. When everyone has smoked, the pipe is placed in the outside altar with its stem facing west.

Then the flap is pulled shut, the inside darkens and the leader pours water on the hot rocks, filling the entire lodge with steam. The leader prays to the west, asking for the Great Spirit to look upon them all and offer help with all they need to live.

In awhile, the flap is lifted and water is passed around for everyone to drink. Then the pipe is brought in again. This is repeated until the leader has prayed to all four directions, which represent many things (see Four Directions). Each time the pipe is brought in for smoke, when put back in the outside altar its stem is placed in one of the other directions until the ceremony is finished.

After the prayers to the four directions are complete, the leader speaks about Wakan Tanka, how blessed the people are and how they depend on Wakan Tanka for all things.

Then the flap is opened and everyone prays once again to Wakan Tanka, this time in a spirit of thankfulness. As each person leaves the lodge, they say All my relatives.



LAKOTA: VISION QUEST (CRYING FOR A VISION)
For generations, the vision quest has been an extremely important part of Lakota life and ritual. Until recent times, all young men sought this experience, sometimes as young as 10 or 11 and never later than their early teens. Later in life, men would often return for another vision quest when seeking guidance in the affairs of life. Women would vision quest too, but not as regularly as men. The practice, though not as prevalent, has never been abandoned by the people and is still carried on today.

Besides the young, who vision quest at the beginning of the path to adulthood, a person might choose to cry for a vision in order to better understand another vision they already had, or to prepare for the Sundance, or ask a favor from Wakan Tanka, or as a thank you to Wakan Tanka for gifts received or simply to realize a closeness with the Great Spirit.

When it is time for a vision quest, the seeker brings a pipe to a holy man to ask for help and counsel. If the holy man thinks this is a good idea and agrees to help, a day is set aside. Often times questors were accompanied by a holy man or guide, sometimes they went alone.

On the day of the vision quest, the holy man and assistants go into the sweatlodge with the person making the quest. The object is purification. The one seeking a vision or the holy man would have already selected a place that was rugged and remote that would lend itself to spiritual thought without distraction.

After the sweat, the holy man and assistants prepare a place while the seeker waits. A rectangular place, approximately four- to six-feet wide and six- to eight-feet long, is cleared and a pole with tobacco offerings is put at the center. Other smaller poles are placed at the four directions, with offerings and the representative colors of the four directions tied to each of them. Sage is spread near the center pole as a "bed" for the seeker rest on when tired.

When the place is readied, the other leave and the seeker arrives with pipe, buffalo robe and offering sticks, praying as he approaches. He goes to the center pole and faces west, and then walks to the pole that has been placed in the west. Here he prays again with his pipe in his hands. He then returns to the center pole and goes to the north and repeats the process. Same with the east and the south, taking as much time as needed in any or all directions. When finished with all four, he starts prayer again, all day and into the night. Sometimes he may just stand and face the Sun, other times he may sit and meditate, facing east. During these times the pipe is placed at the west end of the rectangular space as a point of focus.

The seeker may sleep on the bed of sage, with his head at the center pole, but the entire duration of the vision quest he does not eat or drink. Many vision quests last just a day and a night, but others seeking a vision may stay two, three or even four days. Rarely is a quest longer than four days and four nights.

The idea is for the seeker to pray hard from the heart and pay attention to the world around him. If he does, messages from Wakan Tanka will come to him. Sometimes a message or instructions come through nature in the form of an animal or bird. Nothing should be discounted as the Wakan Tanka can, and does, speak through all things. And generally some physical representation of the vision or message (feather, fur, rock) is collected and placed in the seeker's medicine bag to ensure the power of the vision would stay with the individual to remind, protect or guide him.

When the time is up, the holy man and his assistants come to get the seeker and they all return to the sweatlodge. During the sweat, the seeker tells them of what he saw and heard, being careful not to leave anything out. Sometimes, a vision does not come, and that is reported too. When finished, the holy man prays and gives thanks to Wakan Tanka for all things given and for having pity on the person seeking the vision.

Vision quests are not generally discussed openly, but sometimes the details come out long after, only to amaze and astound the listener of the tale.


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