Thursday, January 20, 2022 為學日益，為道日損。 Learning consists of adding to one's stock day by day. The practice of 道 consists in “subtracting day by day”. 道德經第四十八章 TIL

"There is much to be unlearned. There is much to learn."  Edgar Cayce reading 3660-1

Tiyóspaye, Making-of-Relatives

"Our First Nations People have to earn the right to pour the mini wic'oni (water of life) upon the inyan oyate (the stone people) in creating Inikag'a – by going on the vision quest for four years and four years Sundance. Then you are put through a ceremony to be painted – to recognize that you have now earned that right to take care of someone's life through purification. They should also be able to understand our sacred language, to be able to understand the messages from the Grandfathers, because they are ancient, they are our spirit ancestors. They walk and teach the values of our culture; being humble, wise, caring and compassionate" (cf.道三寶).

— Lakota spiritual leader Arvol Looking Horse

Seven Sacred Rites of the Lakota people

• Nagi Gluhapi — Keeping of the Soul
• Inipi — Rite of Purification (Inipi means 'to live again')
• Haŋblečeya — Crying for a Vision (a vision quest is undertaken in an isolated area, generally without food or water. The "seeker" remains isolated as long as it takes to achieve the desired goal; the quest may last up to three or four days. Anyone can "cry for a vision" or what Black Elk calls "lament," but only the worthy will receive one. To undertake a Vision Quest in the proper way, a Wičasa Wakan — Holy Man — should advise the seeker and interpret the vision.)
• Wiwanyag Wacipi — Sun Dance (a time of renewal for the tribe, people and earth)
• Hunkápi — The Making of Relatives (Being painted on the 7th day, symbolizes change, indicating a person is reborn and has taken on new responsibilities and a new relationship. Past troubles between the new relatives are forgotten. Every Lakota person has many relatives. All of them are part of his/her Tiyóspaye, the name given to indicate a person's circle of relatives, which includes mother, father, grandfather, grandmother, aunts, uncles, cousins and all relatives from marriage and adoption. One becomes part of a Tiyóspaye either by birth, marriage or by the ceremony of hunkápi, adoption. When one knows her/his relatives, one knows where one comes from and who they are. The Lakota word Tiyóspaye is made up of two shorter words: 

• Ti — a shortened form of tipi, meaning dwelling or living place        

• Óspaye — A cluster of dwellings or a group.

• Isnati Awicaliwanpi — A Girl's Coming of Age
• Tapa Wankaye Yapi — The Throwing of the Ball (four directions, four teams, one ball)

Chanunpa (čhaŋnúŋpa, Chanupa, or Canupa), is the Lakota language name for the sacred, ceremonial pipe and the ceremony in which it is used. The pipe ceremony is one of the Seven Sacred Rites of the Lakota people. Lakota tradition has it that White Buffalo Calf Woman brought the chanunpa to the people as one of the Seven Sacred Rites to serve as a sacred bridge between this world and Wakȟáŋ Tȟáŋka Wakan Tanka, the "Great Mystery" 玄之又玄.

A long time ago, the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Woman came to Earth and gave the Lakota people a Sacred Pipe and a small round stone. These gifts were to be used in the first rite, Keeping of the Soul, which she taught them. She also said six other rituals would be revealed to them.

Then, she left the people saying,

"There will be four ages, and I will look in on you once each age. At the end of the four ages, I will return."

As she left, she changed from a beautiful maiden into a black buffalo … then a red-brown buffalo … then a yellow buffalo … and finally into a white buffalo. And then, she disappeared into the clouds.

The bowl of the pipe she gave the Lakota was made of red stone, representing the Earth. A buffalo head was carved on the bowl, symbolizing all of the four-legged animals of the Earth. The stem was wood and represented all that grows on the Earth.

Twelve eagle feathers hung from the place where the bowl joined the stem; this symbolized all the birds. The round stone was made out of the same red earth as the pipe and had seven circles on it representing the seven rites.

When a Lakota smokes a sacred pipe, his or her voice is sent to Wakan Tanka — the Great Spirit. A central part of each sacred rite is smoking the sacred pipe.

A song first sung by the White Buffalo Calf Woman — and still sung today — begins:

"With visible breath I am walking ..."

The smoke from the pipe is the visible breath.

The chanunpa is one means of conveying prayers to the Creator and the other sacred beings. The various parts of the pipe have symbolic meanings, and much of this symbolism is not shared with those outside the culture. While sacred pipes of various designs are used in ceremonies by a number of different Indigenous peoples of the Americas, chanunpa is specifically the Lakota name for their type of ceremonial pipe and ceremony. Other nations have their own names for their pipes and ceremonies, in their particular Indigenous languages.

Indigenous Healing quotes

From the trilogy, Indigenous Healing, Returning to the Teachings, and Dancing with a Ghost, by Rupert Ross

1. Focus on Spirit

First Nation communities emphasize connecting to forces larger than the self, often not visible but felt, as part of healing. “Within aboriginal thinking, we are all sacred beings, sharing an identical spirit with all other aspects of Creation. With hard work we can manifest that spirit to greater degrees, building stronger, more respectful relationships. It is a strength-based vision that emphasizes the spiritual gifts and responsibilities we were given, and our duty to honor both.” (p. 228)

He contrasts this approach with “Western therapy,” which he considers based on weakness — focusing on what is wrong with a person and a continual fear of failing. Western therapy also emphasizes the mind, not the heart or spirit, making it "not worth very much" in the opinion of a First Nation healer Rupert Ross quotes.

2. Definition of a Healthy Person

Health involves establishing good relationships with everything in nature, accommodating with openness, humility, and respect. He quotes one therapist saying that within the First Nation world “power and status are measured not by the individual’s mastery of the environment but by his ability to calmly acquiesce and adjust to a shifting world. Dependency may be viewed as a sign of relatedness and acknowledgment of the importance of others from whom one draws self-worth. The value of the person lies not in his uniqueness or separateness but in his relatedness to a larger social entity.” (p. 213)

“Western therapies promoting individual self-definition, self-assertion and self-promotion will feel improper to Aboriginal people” (p. 230). Instead, the Aboriginal client feels that a person is "the sum of all their relationships within Creation, whether with other people, birds, animals, trees, rocks or rivers” (p. 229). A healthy person understands his nestedness, interconnectedness and interdependence, and the responsibilities he has to fulfill to the Whole. Whereas Western psychology perceives a set of “autonomous rights against all other life forms,” Aboriginal people perceive “life as an interconnected bundle of responsibilities” (p. 231)

Rupert Ross quotes native psychotherapist Dr. Joseph Couture saying: “Native mind is, therefore, a mind-in-relational activity, a mind-in-community” (p. 232)

3. Group Healing

Instead of a therapist meeting one-on-one with a client, First Nation healing practices are group practices. In the therapies mentioned above, people sit in a circle as equals with others suffering from the same abuse or abuse of others. People share personal stories as they will, passing the "talking stick" around the circle.

The process of sharing and being listened to, of listening to the unique journeys of recovery promotes healing and self-confidence. When offenders, who often do not realize the harm they have done, sit in a circle of those harmed by other offenders, they begin to let themselves start to understand and feel the suffering they have caused.

4. Individual Health Is Grounded in Social Healing

First Nation communities have been damaged as a whole and so it is vital that they recognize group trauma. Also, the community must participate in the healing of relations, providing a bedrock for recovery. Every person’s healing is socially situated, in the nest of relationships and responsibilities mentioned previously.

5. Restoring the Emotional

One’s emotions are central to being human and for tuning into spiritual and relational responsibilities. Lee Brown describes "the heart" as the root of the mind. Healing comes through “heart learning," and having a pure heart is central to living properly, relationally connected and tuned to spirit.

6. Ceremonies and Catharsis

For First Nation communities, there are many traditional ways for releasing emotion and for healing (e.g., sweat lodge) developed over thousands of years. These are complex sacred ceremonies that take many years to learn through experience and mentoring in the native language to which one must be invited.

7. First Nation Healers

Rupert Ross admits his ethnocentric reaction when he first encountered First Nation elders who talked about their own lives and choices — he thought they were egocentric because they did not offer an “objective” opinion. But in First Nation thinking, only an immature person would think he could understand the situation of others and tell them what they should do. Additionally, healing is primarily nonhierarchical though healers who are familiar with the local history, culture, and ceremonies and who can bring those to bear in the healing circles.

8. Respect for Everyone’s Worth

First Nation communities separate the person from her acts. There is no diagnosing or labeling of people (e.g., alcoholic, offender, freak). Each person is considered “born into sacredness, goodness and kindness” (p. 253), with “the potential to be strong creators of harmony in our relations with all of Creation, though few of us will ever achieve anything close to full relational harmonies” (p. 252). The view is that “With hard work, we can nurture our spirit, learn to recognize our gifts and being to honour our responsibilities” (p. 252). Instead of trying to change the person, the focus is on helping the person change ways of relating 易「道 」.

9. Talking Is Not Always Necessary

The primary focus of healing is on emotional and relational discernment, not cognitive understanding. The direct way to do this is in concrete activities like berry picking, making art or storytelling. The indirect way would be through talking, which is considered less effective.

10. The Importance of Land for Healing

The best place to learn accommodation to all one’s relations is on the land. We cannot defy the weather. One must compromise to survive and thrive. Experiencing the landscape helps one connect to something greater than the self, the more-than-human world, a “cathedral, full of life, promise, openness, and blessedness” (p. 261). The largest lesson is that “humans are small, unskilled, dependent and blessed with everything they’ll ever need” (p. 260).