Wisdom of Indigenous Peoples = Lakota Spirituality

 

Wisdom of Indigenous Peoples = Lakota Spirituality

Victor. Arturo. Cabello. Reyes.

 

Dedicated to the Lakota Grandparents: Treaty Chief Richard Grass (q.e.p.d.), and Wicaphi Wanjila Leroy Curley, brothers, friends and powerful.

(Wakan Hoye Yapi=sending sacred voices) 

"You want to know who's a real medicine man? He's the one who doesn't ask you to come to him. You've got to go and ask him. And you'll find he's always there among his own people.''

(Louis Farmer, Grandfather-Onondaga) 

The red road is the path of the heart and ancestral way.

Like, it is medicinal circle since the cycle of life is sacred in full representation of the knowledge and wisdom of the universe.

 ''Everything the power does, it does in a circle.'' 

The medicine wheel is used to enter into rhythm and balance, as the cycle is an equilateral cross divided into four equal parts representative of the same cycles and changes inherent in nature.

4 phases in every cycle = Courage-Fortitude-Generosity-Wisdom.

Prayer path spiritual celebration ceremony. Kola ho uwa yelo he=! Friends I'm calling you!

Tunkashila wakantanka heya hoye wayelo= (Grandfather, Great Mystery, Iam sending a voice).

Camino de La Tortuga.

'Niýa tanin'yan mawáni ye. Oyáte le imáwani na hótanin'yan'' ''Walúta le iwánani ye''= With the visible breath I walk.

Nation that walks forward and listens: "this Purple relic is the one I walk through."

However, our ancestors recognized that the earth is sacred and a living entity.

Respected and venerated by the Indigenous Peoples.

In any case, there is no concept of division of land; Just like today.

Now, for the Navajo brethren;'' Nahasdzaán Shimá =The Earth=My Mother.

It is also known that among the Original Peoples of America, there are valuable traditional legends strongly preserved and transmitted within the ritual rigor of certain orders or clans.

But, on the other hand, through certain ceremonies = ritual structure -, a particular relationship is established with spiritual beings within the ritual conceptualization of sacred space = The circle.

In this same sense, through the ritual process and proper spiritual direction, a series of ways of offering to receive from the 'spirit world' are considered through the creation of 'receptive conditions' of kindred spiritual beings. (1)

Some spiritual experiences can be properly assimilated through rigorous and arduous processes of transmitted teachings.

Others are traditional legends handled with great style and commitment on the part of the so-called Powerful Clown = the Heyoka.

("haokah"="heyokha'') = sacred clown.

Divine Clown unparalleled teacher of spiritual teachings.

Son of the beings of thunder, lightning and lightning.

Their actions, behaviors and performances are fully charged with the singular Power of the Mysterious = Wakan.

But it is not only that: it is Power that has conditions to be able to heal and bring healing to the immediate community. (2)

Powerful energy and blessing emanating from the celestial breath.

And more particularly reception of the powerful and unique vision medicine; consecrated and active in reading and interior assimilation of the wonderful personal power; =The Wakan; acquired by unraveling hidden messages in the sacred winds.

They went to certain places, distant and lonely among high mountains, caves and deserts, which could contain or be charged with wakan-urakanic sacredness.

Immersed and fruitful this dynamis within the power -not ordinary-, of lightning, thunder and magnificent lightning.

The Heyoka, for example, is a dreamer of thunder.

''The Indian Way is the hard way.' (3)

Now, from there, one can begin to search for the vision and possibly emotionally approach the divine inspiration of the power of thunder and lightning=(Wakan-man)

Direct and personal communication with the magnificence of the Great Spirit.

A journey into the silence of the voice of the spirit.

Now, this personal and cultural transformation can be accomplished in order to vigorously undertake a new and life-giving harmonious relationship with the Great Mystery = Great Spirit.

It is the path of the visionary in the search for his "own church" = The Heart.

''I carried my own church within me. I went to Peyote meetings and had visions. I wanted to feel, smeel, hear and see, but not see with my eyes and my mind only. I wanted to see with Cante Ista=the Eye of the Heart.'' (4)

And in the meantime, they had an obligation to prepare in advance, often stimulated beforehand by certain small dreams and visions, to undertake adequately the hard task and task of proceeding to retire to special and secluded places; sacred places where power resides hidden.

As we have seen, it is in a solitary way, for it is from these sacred places that the complex restoration of his own spiritual vision would begin.

A dangerous and incognito journey directed directly and naturally towards the antipodes, The incognito interior of the mysterious spiritual world.

Constant search of his own soul for the concession and achievement of lucid, transparent and fruitful direction of Friendly Spirits = [Kola].

But, in principle, we must surrender and open ourselves to give ourselves totally to change. The first firm step is to stop before the unknown.

From that moment, the consequent courageous challenge of true transformation becomes the primary objective of vision.

Vision that renews and revitalizes the most hidden fibers of the human spirit. Giving new direction and gently healing all our relationships.

Since then, and more than ever, the vision must be realized with complete devotion and genuine desire; Pure.

For example, according to certain traditions, the sisters go to the mountain with a certain established schedule:

"Traditionally, women went up on the hill from sunup to sundown." (5)

Undoubtedly, these are ancestral cultural expressions that maintain the rigorous ritual lines of indigenous tribal groups.

It is power that chooses the visionary. Never the other way around.

The beautiful and harsh Tradition of the Lakota brothers call the process=Hanblecheya [Inhanblapi] "crying for a vision."

We can add that we must recognize and admit there are "many traditional ways" of achieving the vision=(Hanble) and this is not the exclusive and private activity of any indigenous group. Hay a correct way of doing things = [Original Instructions], following and respecting Tradition.

Of course, Wisdom comes from the will of the Great Spirit; Not from us.

Way of the Spirit of the Heart, only he gives answers.

On the other hand, let us remember that the old forms must be preserved and transmitted in a pure and faithful way.

The ceremonies facilitate the mental structure and physical availability to enter states of spiritual consciousness.

Indeed, it is the Vision known as hamdecya and hamdéjapi.

For in this way, the act of dreaming = (Hanmdepi) can be applied to the custom of seeking the elusive revelation of the spirit.

 [Dorsey 1894:436]

On the other hand, the Lakotas brothers, in their purification ceremony -prior to the vision- say: Ini Kaga [to do Ini] or Inipi [Inikagapi Wójeya] which is equivalent to making the spirit strong.

Without that inner strength, the process of achieving the vision can be a failure.

The ritual purification in the temascal or Inipi – as in the diet in Ayahuasca shots – is a fundamental part and of strict regulatory rigor.

In the same way certain sacred plants-peyote- of full respect and dominion of the officiant in ceremonies.

Consequently, If the spirit is not strengthened, the vision will not be fruitful.

It is also an ancestral and traditional way of obtaining the precious Wochangi, commissioned among the powers of the spirit to establish – thanks to them – a close relationship with the parallel world of fraternal spirits friends.

Wisdom of Indigenous Peoples = Lakota Spirituality

(Part 1 of 3)

Victor. Arturo. Cabello. Reyes.

(Photos)

Victor. A. Cabello. Reyes and David Bald Eagle, Chief Spiritual Leader of Lakotas (Congreso Indigenista de las Américas; 2004) and second photo: from left to right; Father Scott McCarthy, Arayws-Don Jacobs, U.S. District Judge Rudy Al James, Victor. Arturo Cabello. Reyes, Josee Bald Eagle-wife of Bald Eagle-, David Bald Eagle, Federal Judge Jim Bailey and Embert James. Down front: Lucindo Plácido Gómez (Cradles of Panama).

Back row at the end-WFH Klin James and Steve Brown.

Bibliography:

1. Heinze, R. I. Shamans of the 20th Century. New York:1991.

2. Somé, M.P., Ritual: Power, Healing, and Community, 1997.  

3. Lame Deer and Erdoes, 1992:92. 

4. Lame Deer, Seeker of Visions, p.32.

5. Understanding Hanblecheyapi, A. M. Czerwinski, 2003.