The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in American Indian Traditions

ceremony, though it is common in western music. The ceremony
may be enacted before people who are neither singing nor
dancing, but their participation is nevertheless assumed.
Participation is a matter of attention and attunement, not of
activity.
Repetition is of two kinds, incremental and simple. In the first,
variations will occur. A stanza may be repeated in its entirety
four times—once for each of the directions—or six times—once
for each lateral direction plus above and below—or seven times
—once for each direction plus the center “where we stand.”
Alternatively, the repetition may be of a phrase only, as in the
Yei be chi, or of a phrase repeated four times with one word—
the ceremonial name for each of four mountains, say, or the
names of significant colors, animals, or powers—inserted in the
appropriate place at each repetition, as in this Navajo Mountain
Chant:
Seated at home behold me,
Seated amid the rainbow;
Seated at home behold me,
Lo, here, the Holy Place!
Yea, seated at home behold me.
At Sisnajinni, and beyond it,
Yea, seated at home behold me;
The Chief of Mountains, and beyond it,
Yea, seated at home behold me;
In Life Unending, and beyond it,
Yea, seated at home behold me;
In Joy Unchanging, and beyond it,
Yea, seated at home behold me.
Seated at home behold me,
Seated amid the rainbow;