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