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