Medicine Man - Black Elk's story of The Great Circle

Black Elk (Hehaka Sapa) (c. December 1863 August 17 or August 19, 1950 (sources differ) was a famous Wichasha Wakan (Medicine Man or Holy Man) of the Oglala Lakota (Sioux). He was Heyoka and a second cousin of Crazy Horse. Black Elk participated, at about the age of twelve, in the Battle of Little Big Horn of 1876, and was injured in the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890. In 1887, Black Elk traveled to England with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show.

The Great Circle

You have noticed that everything an Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the Power of the World always works in circles, and everything tries to be round. In the old days when we were a strong and happy people, all our power came to us from the sacred hoop of the nation, and so long as the hoop was unbroken, the people flourished. The flowering tree was the living center of the hoop, and the circle of the four quarters nourished it. The east gave peace and light, the south gave warmth, the west gave rain, and the north with its cold and mighty wind gave strength and endurance.

This knowledge came to us from the outer world with our religion. Everything the Power of the World does is done in a circle. The sky is round, and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball, and so are all the stars. The wind, in its greatest power, whirls. Birds make their nests in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours. The sun comes forth and goes down again in a circle. The moon does the same, and both are round. Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing, and always come back again to where they were. The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves. Our teepees were round like the nests of birds, and these were always set in a circle, the nation's hoop, a nest of many nests, where the Great Spirit meant for us to hatch our children.

Black Elk - Oglala Sioux


Source of available pictures for use at::
http://www.firstpeople.us
American Indians
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Music was taken from free downloads at:
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Music by D Analihi song: Raise to the Spirits

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[fawjaw]

Don't be depressed. What happened to the Native Americans is now going to happen to the American people - we did not destroy the Native Americans - it was the wicked evil powers that be on this planet. If everyone would follow what these Native Americans followed it would be a wonderful world. We just need to get rid of all the rotten apples and theres boatloads of those in this world.

[ArcturiusfireW]

Yeah man I am Oglala Lakota and I was driving around north minneapolis the other day. I said to my sister, dang you look around there is lots of black people here lots of latinos there lots of white people everywhere else and so forth but, dang where are all the native americans? Then my sister said well, the whites tried to destory us entirely through genocide. This is why there are so few of us now.

[benitoabdul]

THE CIRCLE OF LIFE-6-6-6 OF THE WORLD

[wbworkout]

@pugdogy I agree totally. I planted 7 trees where there were none.

[beatriz15272]

una historia inolvidable!

[meloearth]

@pugdogy YES!

[pugdogy]

@meloearth kill the television, educate yourselves, and get back to living closer to the earth, worrying about what we ruin when we rape the earth of resources, striving always to put back more than what was taken, cut a tree and plant two,,,this is what we must strive to do,,,,,

[meloearth]

@fawjaw Well said...there's a bigger Wisdom to all of this that we miss when we focus on anger...we need to tune into the Power of Restoration that we have, along with Mother Earth, to restore Justice by changing how we live...it's always available to us through the beauty of choice. We do not have to choose the destructive and ego-filled ways. Change this world by changing your mind and your lifestyle...get balanced and you'll help Life to go back to Balance. Kill your television. :)

[jazzflutist]

@ArcturiusfireW : Looks like the Lakota people will now have to teach us before we kill ourselves (really). We know how to be smart, be do we know how to be wise? For instance, to build a nuclear reactor you have to be smart and unwise at the same time.

[jennhrt22]

we must preserve the ways of our Indian brother as they lived in harmony with mother earth as we now destroy our planet with no regards for what will happen when it is too late.

[nateburd]

@fawjaw One cannot separate the "wicked evil powers" from the people who perpetuate the crime. The hearts of countless immigrants to this country were turned by capitalism and the pursuit of resources. When you say, "we did not destroy the Native Americans", you may be actually saying you personally. This is probably true. But if you meant white Americans, then you are wrong. We did destroy the Indian's way of life. The goal is not be to get rid of the rotten apples, but to help them see.

[ungaretti73]

The latinos here will forever be Latinos not Americans because they have their box as you all do. The blacks will be blacks, the Asians Asians and they there the other box. America is their birthplace but they will never be considered Americans but hispanics other cultures as noted so where do they belong? There passports to travel say America but their box gives people a heads up.