| At that first Sundance, I was thrust into an alternate | | | | time there is a least one Inipi per day. One day is |
| reality. A brutal reality. The three counties that | | | | called "Tree Day," on which a tree is sacrificed and |
| compose the Pine Ridge Reservation are the poorest | | | | placed at the center of the arbor where the |
| in the nation. At that time, in 1991, the average life | | | | ceremony occurs. The following four days are the |
| expectancy of a resident on the "Rez" was 48 years. | | | | Sundance itself, which involves three Inipis or more |
| Infant mortality was at a rate six times higher than | | | | each day. Along with traipsing far into the hills and |
| the general US population. Alcoholism and drug use | | | | gathering hundreds of Stone People for the lodges, |
| and gunplay and car wrecks were rampant. All this in | | | | felling as many as 100 pine trees (sustainably!) to |
| America's Heartland!More than 85% of the population | | | | re-build the arbor which had a diameter of about 200 |
| had nothing to do with the traditional ways. They | | | | feet, and setting up camp sites, gathering sage, and |
| were oriented to Christianity, and had more than a | | | | tending fire for Inipis, I was working 14-hour days.I |
| little fear of the things they surmised were going on | | | | had been given no more spiritual direction than "Live |
| "up there." I was told, if I were to come out to | | | | your life as a prayer as you build a place for the |
| Sundance, to be prepared to die.They weren't | | | | people." I had to thrust myself into a world where |
| kidding, and it was not necessarily about Sundance | | | | my primary relationship was with Nature. And Nature |
| itself. It was about being on the rez. And being white | | | | told me what to do as it placed me closer and closer |
| -- wascicu (wa-si-chu) -- didn't really help, either. In | | | | to the thin line between this world and that which lies |
| their home town, Wanbli, one of the families ran out | | | | beyond death. As guideline, I used the principles I |
| of toilet paper. I volunteered to walk across the | | | | learned while tending fire for the Inipi, and just |
| street to their Auntie's to borrow some. It was night. | | | | expanded them to fit the size of accommodating |
| Six of the kids in the house gathered at the door to | | | | around fifty dancers and 100 supporters.My solace |
| watch. When I asked what's up? the eldest replied, | | | | was found by constantly turning to my relationship |
| "Don't you know you're going to get killed?"During | | | | with my Creator for strength and understanding, and |
| one six-week stretch while I was on Pine Ridge, | | | | the clarity to help others. There was so much to do, |
| which has a population of about 20,000, there was | | | | and the resources so limited. By actively giving thanks |
| one violent death each week.The Chips' home | | | | for everything that was around me that I did have, I |
| (inherited from Woptura) was about 640 acres on | | | | found that I received many "you're welcomes" from |
| the prairie adjacent to the Dakota Badlands. A log | | | | nature that were both deeply personal and |
| cabin built in the 1920s, a clapboard house with | | | | objectively obvious.Over the course of a number of |
| ceremony room, and a trailer were the family homes. | | | | visits to the rez over the next few years, I began |
| Water came from a persnickety hand pump, | | | | taking on the responsibilities of Chief Firetender for |
| outhouses were the only privies, and the roads were | | | | the Sundance. Charles Chips, the Spiritual Intercessor, |
| no more than splintered and sliced asphalt, if they | | | | prepared all aspects of the ceremony itself, including |
| weren't gravel and dirt. Winters were brutal, insulation | | | | choosing and working with the Dancers. I was |
| was sheets of plastic stapled to the inside of the | | | | responsible for everything that had to do with the |
| one-layer thick walls, and the diet was primarily | | | | physical aspects of the ceremony and grounds and, |
| canned and highly processed goods called | | | | since I was very familiar with the property, mobilizing |
| "commodities" dispensed by the government.Seeing | | | | and working with the supporters who arrived to |
| the Government's hand in everything, I have since | | | | assist the Dancers.In this role, I passed on the little I |
| come to believe that advancing "civilization" is not | | | | knew about moving people to "one mind, one heart." |
| interested in killing off the Lakota people (or Native | | | | What I did grasp was intention and an almost |
| Americans for that matter) it is hell-bent on | | | | incredible amount of respect for whatever snippets |
| eradicating their way of being, which is all about a | | | | of ancient tradition we were taught. Amongst the |
| heart-consciousness that acknowledge everything is | | | | most powerful experiences of my life were the |
| alive and all is to be shared.With the nearest hospital | | | | times when I got to go along to sacrifice a buffalo |
| over 100 miles away in Rapid City, I, as a former | | | | (tatanka) for the people's feast at the end of the |
| paramedic knew that I could easily die from | | | | dance. These were no hunting trips. At the time, the |
| something as simple as a badly broken leg. Perhaps | | | | sacrifice of buffalo was just beginning to be allowed |
| the strongest prayers of my life were prayed when | | | | again. They were almost eerie interplays between |
| I first understood the danger of the environment I | | | | species who understood their roles in the creation. I |
| was in. Actually, they were prayed specifically while | | | | also began to understand how sacred space works: |
| being a passenger in Charles' 1978 Olds while racing | | | | what you put in is what you take out.I found that no |
| through the partially paved, curved roads of the | | | | matter how daunting the size of the event, no |
| Badlands at 100 MPH riding on tires of half-rubber and | | | | matter how complex the details, or foreign the |
| half-splintered steel-radial belts!Arriving about two | | | | language or tradition, what allows things to happen in |
| weeks before the Sundance started, I was asked to | | | | a good way--what provides a home for Spirit and |
| tend fire for it with a few other people. That meant | | | | fosters the miracles happening in any spiritual |
| hauling firewood out of the creeks with no more | | | | orientation--is the focused intent of the people who |
| than a 1960s vintage pick-up, and chain-sawing up to | | | | participate in it to channel something Greater than |
| twelve cords for use during the ceremony. Every | | | | themselves toward the well-being of others. Out of |
| inch of my exposed body (and in the oppresive heat, | | | | that, the participants create the result.I found that |
| I could not cover what I needed to) was peppered | | | | regardless of the knowledge or use of the ancient |
| with itchy, swollen bites from thumbnail-sized | | | | prayers, as long as the intent of the participants was |
| mosquitos. I would usually stay at least another two | | | | clearly for the greater good, that is exactly what |
| weeks afterwards, half in recovery, half in clean-up | | | | happens.Next: ...and then, there's Ego.Russ Reina |
| and all about connection with the land -- so much a | | | | shares over 35 years of experience in the healing |
| part of the people, and now, inseperable from my | | | | arts through his web site It is a potent resource for |
| heart.Sundance lasts for an "official" period of nine | | | | those wishing to deepen their abilities in connection |
| days. Four days of this are preparation, during which | | | | and develop their powers as healers. |