The sacred hoop of any nation is but one of many that together make the great circle of creation. In the center grows a mighty flowering tree of life sheltering all the children of one mother and one father. All life is holy.
Black Elk [Heȟáka Sápa]
The Sacred Hoop
Topic: The Natural World
“The sacred hoop of any nation is but one of many that together make the great circle of creation. In the center grows a mighty flowering tree of life sheltering all the children of one mother and one father. All life is holy. People native to this land have long lived by the wisdom of the circle, aware that we are part of the Earth and it is part of us. To harm this Earth, precious to God – is to upset the balance of the circle – is to heap contempt upon its Creator. Therefore, with all our heart and mind, we must restore the balance of the Earth for our grandchildren to the seventh generation.”
Heȟáka Sápa (Black Elk) (December 1, 1863 – August 19, 1950) was a famous wičháša ...
Wilson, Andrew, editor. World Scripture II. Universal Peace Federation, 2011, p. 155 [Black Elk (Heȟáka Sápa)].
Black Elk [Heȟáka Sápa]
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Black Elk
Black Elk [Heháka Sápa] was a wičháša wakháŋ (“medicine man, holy man”), heyoka of the Oglala Lakota (Sioux) people
Black Elk’s childhood vision
“Then a Voice said: “Behold this day, for it is yours to make. Now you shall stand upon the center of the earth to see, for there they are taking you.” [Excerpt describing a childhood vision he had while very ill and near death.]
“Then I was standing on the highest mountain of them all , and round about beneath me was the whole hoop of the world. And while I stood there I saw more than I can tell and I understood more than I saw; for I was seeing in a sacred manner the shapes of all things in the spirit, and the shape of all shapes as they must live together like one being. And I saw that the sacred hoop of my people was one of many hoops that made one circle, wide as daylight and as starlight, and in the center grew one mighty flowering tree to shelter all the children of one mother and one father. And I saw that it was holy.
I saw ahead the rainbow flaming above the tepee of the Six Grandfathers, built and roofed with cloud and sewed with thongs of lightning; and underneath it were all the wings of the air and under them the animals and men. All these were rejoicing, and thunder was like happy laughter.
As I rode in through the rainbow door, there were cheering voices from all over the universe, and I saw the Six Grandfathers sitting in a row, with their arms held toward me and their hands, palms out; and behind them in the cloud were faces thronging, without number, of the people yet to be.
A good nation I will make live.
This the nation above has said.
They have given me the power to make over.
Song of power he sang towards the end of a childhood vision.”
–Black Elk Speaks, by John G. Neihardt (New York: Washington Square Press, 1972), originally published in 1932. [WelcomeHome. org].
What My Vision Showed Me
“It was the pictures I remembered and the words that went with them; for nothing I have ever seen with my eyes was so clear and bright as what my vision showed me; and no words that I have ever heard with my ears were like the words I heard. I did not have to remember these things; they have remembered themselves all these years. It was as I grew older that the meanings came clearer and clearer out of the pictures and the words, and even now I know that more was shown to me than I can tell.”
–Black Elk Speaks, by John G. Neihardt (New York: Washington Square Press, 1972), originally published in 1932. [WelcomeHome. org].
Black Elk’s Lament
“Hey! Lean to hear my feeble voice
At the center of the sacred hoop
You have said that I should make the tree to bloom
With tears running, O Great Spirit, my Grandfather,
With running eyes I must say
The tree has never bloomed
Here I stand, and the tree is withered.
Again, I recall the great vision you gave me.
It may be that some little root of the sacred tree still lives.
Nourish it then
That it may leaf
And bloom
And fill with singing birds!
Hear me, that the people may once again
Find the good road
And the shielding tree.”
–Black Elk [Oglala Lakota (Sioux)].