2023

 

A few insights are revealed to us each year that allow us to clarify what we do and how we do it.

Our attention has focused on the information we need to share to ensure that future dancers are well prepared for dance.

The goal is to foster harmony among us and avoid unnecessary suffering.

To be clear, dance generally comes after a vision quest cycle.

It is on the quest that we learn to know ourselves, to distinguish the inner from the outer, and to manage our inner states. The quest is intimate, and the leader has time for me. At camp, I learn the songs, how to make the purses, and how to pray.

During the quest cycle, we generally encounter the canunpa and their teachings.

We make it with the help of a teacher's instructions, or we receive it, or we ask a craftsperson to make one for us (in the group, there's Mathieu, Flavia, and Guigui, who I know can make them for people. No doubt others as well).

It's a slow process, lasting over years. This is how things gain value and rituals take on meaning.

Then, when we know better who we are, when we know how to pray, when we have grown in ceremony, we may want to dance and share our prayer in this way.

We can see the quest as a gestation, an inner and intimate work, and dance as a birth, an apparition, a sharing of our prayer for all to see.

 

First, we build ourselves through the quest, then we share ourselves through dance because we have something to share that we have built along the way. As much as the quest is intimate and the leader and the group take care of me, the dance is collective and each person is in charge of themselves.

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Of course, the Wolf Clan welcomes questers, but we come from different clans, families, or groups, as you've noticed. It's within these families or clans that the dancers prepare throughout the year. There's Farida's group, Bertrand, Patricia, Ron and Karen, Myriam, Gaya, David, Christophe and Florence, and others. Each clan, group, or family experiences wonderful moments of intimacy during the vision quest huts and camps throughout the year. Some of these clans or families prepare dancers from within their own ranks. It's beautiful to see this gathering of families every summer!

That's the basics. There are individual paths that lead to shorter stages. Some dance after their first quest. These are generally people who have the experience of age. (For me, it was after my eighth quest.) But generally, dancing comes after several years on the path. This time of gestation and observation has its benefits. It gives value and meaning to put things into practice over time.

So, remember:

- We generally dance after having gone on a vision quest enough times to be independent in our prayer.

- We come first, at least once, to support the dance in order to observe and thus have a year to prepare.

- The dancer is independent in their prayer and also materially (we help each other, of course, but we are ready).

- We prepare within a group with experienced people who support us.

The Sun Dance is the final ceremony of the Canunpa. It is the culmination of a journey of discovery about oneself, the world, and prayer. For us, it is the place of the highest expression of peace. Dance sets us on a path of truth that requires the inner means to live in peace. This requires experience.

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It's up to me, with the help of the leaders when I have doubts, to say yes to someone who wants to dance. It's also up to me to say no. I may have to ask you to give more support and prepare yourself further. I may also have to allow you to dance on the condition that you don't get pierced. I may also have to tell you to rest for a round or two if I find you weakened.

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It is not in my vision or my practice to integrate power plants. These (ayahuasca, peyote, San Pedro, etc.) are linked to altars, to people who devote themselves to them. Our dance is not the place where they are used. We use canunpa, song, dance, cedar, sage, and vervain. They are our landmarks, our friends, our connections. I use summer flowers, yarrow, and oregano for the healing day medicine. Any other medicine would be out of place in this dance.

 

Let us respect each altar and each vision. May Gray Wolf's vision of a sun dance for peace beneath his altar be supported. It is the place of his sincere expression. Other visions have their own place and time. Respect his songs and colors, his codes, his conditions, his suggestions, his inspirations.

 

 

2024

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A little more information and guidance for those who wish to dance or dance again. Giving meaning and value to our dance and tuning in even more precisely.

 

Drilling can be impressive, off-putting, and fascinating. Let's talk a little about it to summarize what is being said among dancers. Supporters also need information, after all, to digest the experience and, if necessary, talk to children about it...

 

Drilling is not required to dance. To dance, you have to dance! A Sun Dance without drilling is entirely conceivable, possible, and desirable. What brings us together around the tree to dance is dance! We dance our prayers to the sound of the music we love, and through movement, we contribute to the expression of our prayers and the response. Songs and dance are one of the elements of dialogue with Spirit.

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So, there's no need to be pierced, and some of Sundance's leading medicine men have never been.

Koblaya's vision of the piercing resembles a rite of passage. People throw themselves at this warrior, pierce him, and allow him to free himself from these leather straps called 'cekpa,' or umbilical cord. It's about being reborn, returning to life. One might think of it as a rite of support for warriors so that they can resume their place in life, that is, the daily life of the village. Prayer and piercing are used to deprogram themselves, to transition from warrior to adult, and to heal from post-traumatic stress.

 

The symbolism and effect of the piercing are powerful and produce a moment that surprisingly resembles childbirth, that most ardent moment of life and truth.

We can pierce ourselves to know ourselves, to experience our strength (perhaps the first time if we are young), to surrender to a very intimate prayer of guidance (a project) or a very generous prayer of connection (a sick person). We give a little of our blood and flesh because we believe in it body and soul, because we want to overcome difficulties and overcome pitfalls by dancing. Being pierced in this sense prepares us for a life that accepts the element of suffering and difficulty and trains us to dance, to sing, even when it is sometimes difficult.

 

These are some possible reasons for piercing. We can find connection and prayer through dance itself. For some of us, piercing has allowed us to grow and reach states of clarity and connection. We can then do without piercing and find these states easily. For others, piercing is never useful. For others, a piercing would do us good, heh heh. What we tell each other is that no one should tell someone they should get pierced, or go on a quest, or... It should come naturally to them.

 

Sometimes the opposite can happen. We develop a taste for the ardor of the piercing and no longer know how to dance and pray without giving blood. It's the role of leaders to judge this and suggest another path. Dancing without being pierced is considered an accomplishment. Piercing can be substituted for a pulpit offering. We value piercing as an experience of truth and self-giving. We are also sensitive to addiction to the intensity of piercing and value dancing for its own sake.

 

Give-aways

 

At the end of your cycle (4 or 7 or...), you may feel called to give-away. Express your gratitude through gifts you have gathered or assembled. We usually share gifts among ourselves in the dancers' resting place on the last day, and we may have more to share with supporters at mealtime on a blanket near the teepee. Often, the dancers who give away their gifts pool their resources to pay for the bison meat shared at the Saturday evening meal. Often, the dancers who give away their gifts give extra money in envelopes or to the association. This is done from a place of true abundance. It's not an expectation of the group. If you're thinking of giving away but are struggling financially or materially, it may not be the right time. The only expectation I can make this year is that I will ask the dancers who give away their gifts to share a few words of gratitude and an assessment of their cycle with the group. These few words are my favorite gift of all. On Sunday morning, by the tree, yum yum.

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We need whistles made of eagle, vulture, buzzard, heron, and swan bones so that the dancers can produce their share of music. We could try making them out of elder or reed wood, for example; our ancestors would appreciate that.

 

We need to give more clarity and value to the eagle dance. This commitment deserves to be explained before the clans gathered during the days of purification. What makes us want to live such an experience?

Mathieu