I arrived the day before the dancers went to get the Tree. My friend, has pledged to dance the Sundance for four years. This was her first year of dance. She was quite nervous and at odds with her surroundings, preoccupied with the coming dance. She was grateful to see me arrive and two of her other supporters had arrived just hours earlier.
It is a different world preparing for a Sundance. The property is in the desert and off the beaten path of town. Teepees had already been set up the weeks before by those who own them and others, including myself were arriving to set up tents. My friend had already set up her tent and a canopy that would give us shade. The day was already hot and the foretold the weather for the rest of the week.
The next day I made my prayer ties that are tied to the tree after it is raised to recieve the prayers of the dancers and the people. After that I helped set up the community kitchen. I found a little frog hiding among the coolers and picked it up and placed it safely outside the kitchen area so it wouldn't get stepped on.
Fairly soon after that I found a butterfly on the ground and asked it to crawl up on my finger so I could take it to safety outside the kitchen. 
It flew away. It made me wonder what it meant as things that happen at Sundance often have meaning. So I wrote it in my journal.
It took most of the day to arrange the kitchen with a break that happened when the tree came to the arbor. Everyone at the Sundance goes to the arbor to greet the tree and our prayer ties are tied onto the tree. It is then raised into position with much drumming, singing and dancing. The next day is the beginning of Sundance.
The next morning we are awakened by the camp singer, she beat a drum and walked around camp. I look at my cell phone and it is 5:15 a.m. Time to arise, dress and go to the arbor as the ceremony always begins with the greeting of the sunrise.
The women wear dresses or skirts with modest blouses. A woman can also wear a ribbon dress which is a traditional Indian dress. We must wear a shawl in the arbor. The arbor is sacred space where the people gather under pine branches for shade. In the middle of the arbor is the Tree and the most sacred space where the dancers will suffer for the people. They will have no food or drink for four days. The rounds go on all day and end at sundown or close to it. We sing with the drums and we dance. You never know how long a round will go as it is led by the spirit. In between rounds we visit and rest in the arbor or if it is announced take a break to eat. We can eat and drink for the dancers back at the kitchens. They will rest and prepare for another round.
The grass in the arbor was long this year and I felt like a prarie dog sitting in it between rounds, popping my head up to see where my friends were.
I have not been to Sundance for two years but it was really a good feeling to be back. I feel like it is a spiritual renewal for me each time I go to one. I have Cherokee ancestry and even though this is a Lakota tradition it feeds my need to return to my native roots.
My friend danced for three days in the heat then she went moon, meaning she got her period. When a woman goes moon she goes to a moon lodge as she has moon magic that can interfere with the magic of the Sundance, it is considered more powerful. She left the dance to go to the moon lodge. The women at moon lodge support the dance in a different way. They are treated very nicely there and get teachings and can rest and relax while the rest of us dance long periods of time in the arbor supporting the dancers. The funny thing is there were four of us at the dance. Three of the women I was with went moon and that is the way Sundance goes for me. I always end up camping alone at Sundance as I don't go moon. It is a big joke between all of us.
During this time period I had several visions, one was an eagle spread out on the back of one of the peircers and the other was of a spirit bear cloud dancing in the sky. This dance was very much a bear dance for me. There was a woman I met there who was given the bear skin to sit in as she needed healing. She indeed became the bear in that skin, it was uncanny. I called her Bear Woman and that will be how I think of her when I meet her again. I helped her many times as she was also and Elder. Elders are taken care of by everyone and given much respect. In two years I will be considered an Elder. This makes me feel wierd!
I also dreamt that I was in the middle of the Tree of Life and that all the songs and prayers of the dancers were making the Tree grow larger and larger until it covered all the people with its shade. A beautiful dream indeed.
I got my first Eagle feather this year. Someone was giving all the women a small one to put in their hair. Eagle feathers are sacred and it is an honor to wear one. It is kept in red cloth and is treated as a sacred item. One does not wear one lightly or without regard for tradition. A friend gave me a holder to put it in. So that it will be kept safe and sacred in between wearings.
The Sundance ended and we had the feast day along with the traditional giveaway. I got some nice things mainly crafty things and a few childrens books. My friend who danced took us to the story teller as he had a story he wished to tell us. I learned that gay people are called Winktes, a person with both female and male sides. Many gay Indians describe themselves as two spirit, which is a term that I was familiar with, Winkte is a Lakota term for it. Most tribes have a word to describe a two spirit person.
In the past Winktes were considered special people, so much so that if a tribe didn't have one they would go out on a raid to gain one to live in their camp.
Anyway, the story teller described a visit with the thunderbeings where he was told that we are children of the thunder beings and that we should be treated as special and valuable people. There was more but that was the gist of it. I was very touched by the story and the story teller pledged to protect and keep us in his heart. If we had a need he wanted us to contact him and he would help in anyway he could. I cried, as it is not often that someone pledges to keep me safe and to pray with me in times of need. I visited him later to talk with him some more.
Our camp was only one of a series of camps that were composed of Winktes. My friends and I camped next t0 a camp that had two gay men. They were so sweet and I have invited them to stay with me anytime they visit Seattle. There were others too. This nation accepts us and we are welcomed. Imagine a world where being gay is accepted and revered.
The last night I was there, we had a thunder and lightning storm.
The Thunder Beings were in fine form and I pulled up a chair and sat and watched as lightening streaked across the sky. The storm stayed far away for a while and we could not hear the thunder at all. Then it moved in a little closer and so the light show was joined by the music of thunder. With each beautiful displayed you could hear the people of the camp holler, trill and show their appreciaton to the Thunder Beings for such a great show. It turned out to be my fourth of july show a day early as I didn't attend any festivities on the fourth. It was so hot there, some of the days were in the 100's I left a few days early, on the fourth, after the ceremony as it was too hot for me. I tend to be an otter and my otter self was craving water!
During the ceremony water is sacred and you can drink all you want but you don't shower, or bathe, or wash your hair. (I used a commercial sponge bath towel product during the Sundance) So I really wanted to get home and take a really really long bath and then a shower.
However coming home us always strange and different after Sundance. I had been immersed in another spiritual world. I drove home on the fourth of July. It was difficult and traffic was scary. One guy in a pick up truck merged into my lane and I had to slam on my brakes to avoid him clipping my front fender.
I was going 70 miles and hour and my little Scion fishtailed all over the place. I honked and he sped away. Had I not been able to avoid him I don't think I would have lived through it. The interesting thing is a hawk, which I consider a special sign, flew right in front of my car as if guiding me, right before the event happened. I think it gave me fast reflexes as a gift to avoid the crazy guy in the pick up.Upon entering the city my nose was assailed by the smell of desiel fuel. I spent the rest of that day at home trying to come back to the mundane world. It is hard to do at times. I am just now getting more and more attuned to this world again.
I have the rest of this week off as part of my vacation. I am glad I took the rest of this week as vacation as it will give me time to do mundane chores. Gotta clean up the camping gear, wash clothes and put things away.
I have a massage certificate that I got for my birthday. So I am going to call and set that up.
Hopefully I will do a few more fun things too besides rest before returning to work on Monday.
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