REMEMBER THE SACRED



I recently listened to a podcast with Jasper Young Bear.  He is the wisdom keeper and Elder of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation and lives on the Fort Berthold reservation in North Dakota. He brought the remembrance of the sacred so easily into the conversation. 

In the film, The Creation Story, he shares his people's origin story. He did this to remind us that we are not separate, that we are not alone, and that creation lives within each of us. He explained how we are all connected to the Earth, to Spirit and to each other.    

Jasper Young Bear also spoke about drumming, that it provides spiritual connection and unity and that his people would perform ceremony to solve problems and to remember the sacred.

His words reminded me of an experience with the sacred I had while visiting the Taos Pueblo in New Mexico.  It was the first time I had visited the pueblo. A young man approached me and asked if I had been to the water.  When I said no, he pointed in the direction of a small creek that came down from Blue Lake, the spiritual heart of the Pueblo.          

The last thing this young man said to me was, bring your gaze to the water. There will be a blessing for you.  I did as he instructed and began to feel quiet and still as though in trance.  When I stood up my eyes naturally moved upward to the mountain.  In my inner vision I saw elders performing ceremony within the mountain.  And as I watched the drumming, dancing and chanting it was communicated to me that they would continue doing ceremony until there was peace on Earth.

When I felt my feet back on the ground, I began walking to the other end of the pueblo and as I walked, I continued to hear the sound of the drumming, insistent, powerful, following me.