All Kinds of Flak

Kwai kwai nidobak,

OK, I'm going to rant and rave for a while - please bear with me for a short while. Lots of folks have questioned me over the years as to whether I have permission or the right to pour water for the sweat lodge. It seems that every Indian has an opinion as to who should do ceremony and who should not. Some say you must be a medicine man to do so. Others say you must be a pipe carrier, or have done four Sun Dances, or done four Hanbleceya (Vision Quest) ceremonies. There are some Indians who claim the sweat lodge belongs to their nation alone and only members of their nation can conduct ceremony. Or any of a number of other reasons. Some Indians also have the same requirements of Pipe Carriers. To all of these people, I would like to kindly and gently remind them of a few of facts.

1.) Pipestone, which is commonly used to make sacred pipes, has always been considered neutral ground and any Indian has always been allowed to quarry there so as to carve a pipe for ceremony as prescribed by their particular nation. Further, the pipe ceremony is so old that no one single nation can claim it as their own. Those Indians who claim the Pipe Ceremony as their own are either ignorant of the oral traditions of many other nations, or have been brainwashed by others around them to ignore the facts.

2.) The Sweat Lodge ceremony is nearly universal among aboriginal peoples all over the world since time immemorial. Again, no one single nation can claim the Sweat Lodge as their own.

3.) Indians have always shared ceremony and customs with family, friends, relatives, and visitors of good heart. Many Lakota medicine men have white sage only because I personally gift it to them (and most of them don't know it is coming from me). It only grows here in Southern California/Mexico. I have been doing so for over ten years. I have never asked anyone for a single cent.

4.) When it started to become obvious that most Indian nations were losing their ceremonies and their heritage, Chief American Horse felt compassion for them and said "Anyone may dance the sun dance if he will do as the Oglalas do," - Chief American Horse (Sept. 14, 1896). My Kumeyaay Indian elders, Mikmaq Indian elders, and Abenaki Indian elders, as well as many other medicine people, have interpreted this to also apply to the Lakota Style sweat lodge and Lakota style Pipe Ceremony.

5.) Arvol Looking Horse has said, "*I-ni-pi (Purification Ceremony): Those that run this sacred rite should be able to communicate with Tun-ca-s'i-la (our Sacred Grandfathers) in their Native Plains tongue. They should also have earned this rite by completing Han-ble-c'i-ya and the four days and four years of the Wi-wanyang wa-c'i-pi." - March 13, 2003

6.) Arvol Looking Horse also said, "They must have a calling that is interpreted in ceremony, to at least begin to learn the language and not give in to English. The language is very important in communicating with the Grandfathers. When I attended the UN Indigenous Day with representatives from indigenous nations from around the world, they discussed the criteria to maintain our voice in the protection of our sacred sites and cultural identities. All agreed it was to maintain the language. Don't give up your ways because you don't know how to speak yet. You can learn as you go along and this sacred language will come back for your Tiospaye." - Posted: July 07, 2003

7.) Arvol Looking Horse also said, "We are the only indigenous nation in the world that has opened our sacred ceremonials, of the altar, out to the public. Now we are seeing the abuses and violations. Anyone can read a book or get close to our ceremonial people, then go out and practice our ways without proper protocols." - Posted: July 07, 2003

As I have told you many times before, I am Indian, specifically I am Wobanaki Metis. I was taught to do Lakota style sweat lodge by my elders here. I have been firekeper for over five years at four different lodges for several lodge leaders and medicine men. I have done Hanbleceya, and Sundance for six years. I was not given a vision to dance but I was a singer and drummer on the big drum. Since I only lived a few miles from the Manzanita Sun Dance, I was one of the primary people all four years to set up the arbor, sweat lodges and all other grounds preparations. This would all start several months before each Sun Dance. I also poured water in the Sweat Lodges we had built for the Sun Dancers several times a day. I also went to the Casa Blanca Sun Dance for several years and sang on the drum in support of the dancers, and again poured water for the dancers there. I know the Lakota sacred songs and their meaning, and am doing my best to learn the Lakota language. I have been given permission to pour water by my elders both here and in eastern Canada, and have been doing so for almost ten years. I know the sacred medicines, regularly gift them to medicine men, and teach the medicine plants to the local Indians. I carved my own sacred pipe, which was blessed by my medicine man, and carried it with me on all of my Hanbleceyas and Sundances. I was gifted the chanupa for the healing of the people and given permission to conduct sweat lodge and the pipe ceremony in visions. These visions have been interpreted by my elders and medicine man. I am alcohol and drug free and enforce this of the participants in the lodge. I have never charged for ceremony and never will. I have learned the sweat lodge ceremony and pipe ceremony through direct participation and the teachings of my elders and medicine man. I am not a medicine man nor am I a plastic shaman. I am just a common ordinary man - ikce wicasa - who happens to know the medicines as taught to me in the traditional way by my mother. I am also an old man - wichahcala - who happens to know the songs and how to properly conduct the sweat lodge ceremony. I carry a chunupa not because I am a great man but because Wakan Tanka has gifted it to me in vision so He can use me to minister to the sick - wowakangle.

Walk in Peace,
Steve

Copyright © 1995-2008 Stephen L. Miller