Native American Spirituality

[Spirit Dancer]

True peace between nations will only happen when there is true peace within people’s souls.



No matter how hidden a force is, it will attract some kind of resistance.


Lakota Proverbs

[Spirit Dancer]

Don't be afraid to cry. It will free your mind of sorrowful thoughts. - Hopi

Day and night cannot dwell together. - Duwamish

It is better to have less thunder in the mouth and more lightning in the hand. - Apache

[Spirit Dancer]

Peeling The Onion
Breaking Through Barriers
The human psyche is almost infinitely complex, made up of layers upon layers of thoughts, experiences, emotions, fears, loves, and goals. Those who seek to find the true essence of being or to move past a fear find that there are many intermediate steps along the way. When we first look inward, we look at ourselves as a whole, when in fact we are only seeing the surface. Like an onion, if we move past the surface, we will find another layer. Moving past that, we find yet another layer. These layers are barriers and everyone has them. You may work past one fear only to be confronted with a deeper, underlying fear. Or you may fully assimilate a revelation only to find other aspects of that revelation that you had not discovered. How many layers you will confront before finding a resolution is unknown. This is the journey, this is life.

But the journey to the center of the onion - what they called sunyata in Sanskrit or mu in Chinese - can be an enlightening experience in and of itself. As you break through each barrier, you gain a more profound understanding of your own mind and come to learn the unique facets that make up who you are. You will become intimately acquainted with your needs and wants, reactions, aversions, pleasures, and pains. You will discover qualities within yourself that have been buried by the years or by old hurts. This knowledge is cumulative. As you break through one barrier and confront the next, oftentimes more powerful, barrier, you will be equipped with the knowledge of self that you have gained during your searching.

During the "peeling of the onion," you may feel frustrated because it can seem like progress is slow or nonexistent. But don't let the multitude of layers bother you. Many of the qualities that make us who we are may be hidden at first. The process can continue indefinitely, for with self-discovery comes growth and thus further discovery. The more you learn, the more you will inevitably find, as you travel deeper and deeper within your soul.

[Spirit Dancer]

Time To Integrate
Spiritual Plateaus
It is a natural part of spiritual development to have periods of activity and growth followed by periods of relative quiet. Sometimes we need to rest in order to integrate a new vision of the world, or ourselves, taking time to assimilate new realizations and to let old patterns and habits fall away. The purpose of times like these is to stabilize our new growth. While it may appear that nothing is happening, these can be necessary periods of rest and integration.

Sometimes, though, slow growth or no growth can actually be stagnation. We may have become attached to keeping things as they are, afraid to invite more change. And yet, change is the nature of reality and when we resist it, we fall out of sync with what is. Just as a plateau is a good place to get our bearings, to see where we've come from and where we might go next, it is also a place we must not be afraid to leave if we are to move to the next level.

There is a Zen expression: Practice as if your hair were on fire. What this is meant to inspire is the sense that there is no good time not to be on your spiritual path. This doesn't mean that you can't ever rest, or stop. It is not about overachieving or overworking yourself. It is just about challenging yourself to always be awake in your life, to keep showing up in the moment. If you need to rest, rest in the moment. But if you are stagnating-numbing out, escaping, or being unconscious-it is up to you to acknowledge it.

Often, stagnation settles in just before an important breakthrough. It may be a symptom of fear, one last wall thrown up by our small self in order to protect us from a life-changing realization. Sometimes it helps to explore the stagnation in order to move beyond it. Have compassion for yourself as you work to remove the obstacles to your progress. With persistence, you will be on your way to the next plateau.

[Spirit Dancer]

"Mothers must protect the lives they have helped to bring into the world."





--Haida Gwaii, Traditional Circle of Elders



Every child is subject to the seeds each adult plants in his/her mind. If we plant praise and "you can do it", the child will grow up with certain predictable behavior patterns. If we plant ideas that there's something wrong with you or you're good for nothing, the child will grow up with predictable behavior patterns. We need to honor and respect the mothers who protect the children and plant positive seeds for their growth.


Great Spirit, bless each mother and give her courage and faith.

[Spirit Dancer]

A Place For Worries
Surrender Box
There are times when our minds become too full. Our to-do lists, worries, plans, and dreams may be so crowded together in our heads that we don't have room to think. We may believe that we are somehow taking care of our desires and concerns by keeping them at the forefront of our minds. In maintaining our mental hold on every detail, however, we may actually delay the realization of our dreams and the resolution of our worries because we won't let them go. At times such as these, we may want to use a surrender box.

A surrender box allows us to let go of our worries and desires so the universe can take care of them for us. We write down what we want or need to happen and then place the note into a box. By writing and placing our thoughts in the box, we are taking action and letting the universe know we need help and are willing to surrender our feelings. We give ourselves permission to not concern ourselves with that problem any longer and trust that the universe is taking care of it. You may even want to decorate your box and place it in a special place. Your surrender box is a sacred container for your worries. Not only do you free up space in your mind by letting go of our worries and desires and dropping them into your surrender box, but you are giving your burden over to a higher power. Once we drop our worries and desires into the surrender box, we free our minds so we can be fully present in each moment.

Surrendering our worries and concerns and placing them in the hands of the universe doesn't mean that we've given up or have been defeated. Instead, we are releasing the realization of our desires and the resolution of our worries and no longer concerning ourselves with their outcomes. It's always fun to go back and pull the slips of paper out of the box once your requests have been granted. And it's amazing how quickly problems go away and dreams come true when we finally let go and allow a higher power to help us.

[Spirit Dancer]

"A sundance woman is like the morning star, filled with spiritual beauty, wisdom and knowledge. Men and women are the most powerful of the polarities. We walk beside men as equal partners. It takes men and women who have respect and love for one another to live within the embrace of Father Sky and Mother Earth."





--Dr. Henrietta Mann, SOUTHERN CHEYENNE



Our ceremonies bring out the best in us. It's in the ceremony that we find the place of honor and respect for each other. The place where the men honor the women and the women honor the men. We dance for each other. The ceremony helps us remember our responsibility toward each other. Men and women need to be strong, to love one another and be faithful. Only by doing this can we give our children knowledge of good relationships.


Great Spirit, today I will notice the power of the women; today I will notice the power of the men