Wisdomgiftingby Tamarack Song
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Their every breath and motion is so much a sacred enactment of their ancestral path that for them Ceremony and the regular activities of life are one. |
In the confusion of my deep and long-unquenched thirst for Balance, I often approached Ceremony only to be repelled by it. When neediness numbed my ability to give thanks, I would lose or forget something valuable, which became my offering. Once it was a special knife, another time it was a custom-made Kinnikinick pouch. When I came holding on to internal imbalances I wasn't willing to let go of, I either got sick or was asked to leave.
I've learned that if it doesn't feel right, whether I understand the reason or not, I don't participate. When I am given a petition (usually a pouch of Kinnikinick or some equivalent, which symbolizes a request) to conduct a Ceremony or be of some other service, I find my answer in the same way. If I lack clarity, I take the petition into the sweat lodge with me to ask the wisdom of the Stone Grandfathers. The sign of my acceptance to the petitioner is my keeping of the petition, which I give to the next sacred fire as an offering. My returning of the petition is my word that it is not my place to accept the requested honor.
When enacted as Ceremony, the gifts of legend are given substance and brought to life. By participating in the enactment we live the legend, bringing it into the realm of our lives. We stand with the ancients, sharing in the adventures and wisdoms of their time.
Activities-whether they be sustaining, such as the hunt, or ritual, such as feasts and namings-approached in a sacred manner become Ceremony. They are reenactments of timeless human activity-the substance of legend.
Our non-human kin are the constant living personification of Ceremony. Their every breath and motion is so much a sacred enactment of their ancestral path that for them Ceremony and the regular activities of life are as one.
Such is not the case with us; we need Ceremony as muscles need exercise. Ceremony brings us back to the hearth from which we venture-our longing for the warmth that keeps bringing us back. When we are too long from the hearth, balance eludes us. Rather than acting, we react, from whatever our current habit, mood or mental state dictates. Our Heart-of-Hearts cannot long sustain without ritual return to the clan Heart.
From Circle perspective, Ceremony is a return of the self to its source so that it can venture forth again in security. As planets rotating around a common warming star, we come together and let Ceremony draw us into one consciousness. We share a feeling of belonging and empathy that gives us the awareness of melding into something beyond the self, yet at the same time very much of the self.
One does not attend a Ceremony; one participates. A Native invitation to a Ceremony would translate to something like, "Will you please honor us by coming to help us out with the Ceremony?" The process of Ceremony actively and indiscriminately involves the spatial side of our brain independent of us, at times to such a degree that we may lose identity consciousness and actually become the Ceremony.
If we were to insist on being civilized by squelching spatial brain function so that we could merely "attend" Ceremony, we could come down with an affliction I (only half jokingly) label Toxic Ceremony Attendance Syndrome. We would all likely suffer to some degree, symptoms being blurred vision, edginess and a dull headache.
Each Ceremony has an essential core over which is wrapped the distinctive characteristics of culture, clan, and environment. A Ceremony is complete within its core (which can be determined by the test of 'Chi Debwewin), yet most need or desire the wrappings to lend color, familiarity and relevance. They also give a common basis for sharing, and procedural guidelines for continuity and sequence. Customs vary widely concerning these wrappings. One item of protocol is fairly common: The respectful way to leave a Ceremony (also a feast, game and other occasions) to which one has been invited is to excuse oneself with the person who extended the invitation.
The ritual expression of gratitude is the primal and most often performed Ceremony, and is a core element of virtually all other Ceremonies.
All groups practice Ceremony, yet some individuals within these groups may not. They haven't outgrown the need for Ceremony; they've grown into it and become its personification. In doing so, they've entered a familial kinship with the non-human people, for whom Ceremony is a metaphor to life. These individuals, long on their paths and fully walking their visions, will sometimes participate in Ceremony to gift it their power.
Tamarack, who lives in the Wisconsin forest, is a Native-approach counselor and dream interpreter, primitive skills instructor, guides quests and other rites of passage, and is author of the book, Journey to the Ancestral Self. Write to him at Medicine Lodge, Nishnazhida/Three Lakes, WI 54562-9333; (715)546-2944.