Wounded Knee III

The Invitation

I really hope you are all sharing these posts.  It would be great to share in “Reclaiming the Heart of Our Humanity” on December 29th and Noon.  The more the merrier in this kind of global interfaith work.

In my last post I talked about cleansing and creating a sacred space.  In this one I’m going to talk about prayer, or ritual, or the working.

Transformation:  Fire is transformative, and since we are looking to transform from the 125th anniversary of a horror to a world where those things don’t happen fire seems like a good focus.

Depending on your circumstances, lighting a fire might not be easy or practical.  I have a fireplace, but even a candle will work.  If you’ve chosen to take time out on your lunch hour visualizing a fire can be effective.  There are Kundalini Yoga techniques that build internal fire energy.

build your fire with intent

However you choose to create fire, remember that this particular fire is sacred.  It is symbolic of the divine energy we are calling upon to manifest this transformation.  There is a Buddhist philosophy that says the first step to changing the world is changing yourself.  In doing this work the hope is we will transform our own understanding of our relationship to these events and carry that change out into the world.

Offerings:  The other nice thing about fire is that it will accept offerings.  We can offer up gifts, like additional candles or our incense or smudge sticks, in thanksgiving.  Expressing gratitude for the help fire gives us in transforming is very appropriate.

We can also offer our own emotions to the fire.  This can be especially useful if you can not work with an actual flame.  Sitting in meditation with the reality of our history can raise up powerful feelings.  Allowing ourselves to experience those feelings fully, and then give them over to the flame is a very transformative process.

Memorial at Wounded Knee

One thing I will encourage you to offer up is the names of those who died 125 years ago at Wounded Knee.   The fact is that we don’t have names for even the majority of those who were killed.  That is part of the great wound that needs healing.   But the names we do know deserve to be honored.   Here is a link

There are other things that can be offered as part of this working, part of this prayer.   Drumming would be appropriate as would singing and dancing.  As this is an interfaith working bringing something to offer from your own faith tradition is very appropriate.  Or you could simply allow yourself to be present in the moment and trust that your body, your heart will know what to do.

It is very difficult for white Americans to sing or dance or move directly from our spirit.  We tend to edit ourselves.  We wonder, “How do I look?”  We wonder,  “How do I sound?”  We ask ourselves, “Am I doing it right?”  But if we can find a way through to that child-like trust, If we can truly let go and allow spirit to move through us, that is also a very transformative act.

Two more days, and hopefully two more posts.