Klaas-Jan BAKKER - AMORC

This diagram of a Lakota sweat lodge shows that it is a microcosm
of the world. The sweat lodge’s eight intersecting willow loops form
a star with eight points. In the diagram, the points of the star bear
the names of the planets (notice Pluto is included). The opening of
the sweat lodge faces west. Each direction has the traditional colour
associated with it in Lakota cosmology. The Sixteen Great Mysteries
represented in this microcosm are the different aspects of Wakan
Tanka, the Creator. Notice that this shelter presents a model of the
world that has order, beauty, and even symmetry.
while not like the spirit of man, are also wakan.
From Wakan Tanka came a great unifying
life force that flowed in and through all things,
Their concept of life and its relations
was humanising and gave to the
Lakota an abiding love.
flowers, wind, rocks, trees, birds and animals. This
was the same force that had been breathed into
everyone at birth. Thus all things were related and
brought together by the same Great Mystery.
The Lakota considered the earth to be their
mother. Wherever they went, they were always
with Mother Earth. No matter where they went by
day or slept by night, they were safe with her. This
thought comforted and sustained them and filled
them with gratitude.
Their concept of life and its relations was
humanising and gave to the Lakota an abiding
love. It filled their being with the joy and mystery
of living. It gave them reverence for all life. It made
a place for all things in the scheme of existence
with equal importance to all. The Lakota could
despise no creature, for all were of one blood,
made by the same hand and filled with the essence
of the Great Mystery.
Animals too had rights. They had the right of
man’s protection, the right to live, the right to
multiply, the right to freedom and the right to
man’s indebtedness. In recognition of these rights,
the Lakota spared all life that was not needed for
food and clothing.
The Sun Dance
The contemplative and spiritual side of Lakota
life was calm and dignified. One of the six great
ceremonies of the Lakota was the Sun Dance. The
Sun Dance, which is the best known of the Plains
Indian ceremonies, was neither a form of solar
worship nor a ritual ordeal or sacrifice. For the
Lakota, the Sun was a representative of the Wakan
Tanka, the Great Mystery, and was known as Wi.
However, the Sun Dance is not for the purposes of
offering blood or anything else to the sun; this was
not an ordeal in the commonly understood sense.
Instead, the “probationer” or dancer volunteered
to partake in the ritual in order to help put himself
and his band in harmony with the cosmos.
The Lakota still hold their Sun Dance very
year in late July or August. It is thought that the
timing of the Sun Dance had more to do with
the height of the buffalo herd population at that
time of the year, which was when all the nomadic
hunting bands could gather in one place, than
with any specific astronomical or calendrical
event. A vertical connection or axis mundi to the
sun and the cosmos was and is necessary for the
ceremony to continue, and this is symbolised by
A Lakota dancer painted by Regina One Star.
The Rosicrucian Beacon -- December 2007
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