Role Of Symbol In The Onikare

The Role of Symbol in the Onikare Understanding the Purification Rite of the Plains Indians through a Discussion of Symbolism

Eric Hoefler With special thanks to Jacquelyn Bralove for her knowledge, time and encouragement.

The Role of Symbol in the Onikare Understanding the Purification Rite of the Plains Indians Through a Discussion of Symbolism Outline of Thesis Eric Hoefler

I.

Thesis: An understanding of symbolism as reification of the sacred is essential for understanding correctly the onikare purification ceremony of the Plains Indians.

II. A.

B. C. D.

E. III.

Description of the onikare Construction 1. Dome 2. Fire 3. Central Altar 4. Path and Dome Leader enters for initial purification and preparation of lodge All enter for first smoking of the pipe--recollection of White Buffalo Calf Woman Four Ages (steam, prayers, open door and water, pipe) [Invoking of powers, remembering all powers to be ultimately one power] 1. Rock Age: Power of the West 2. Bow Age: Power of the North 3. Fire Age: Power of the East 4. Pipe Age: Power of the South Exit lodge (sweet grass over coal)

Ceremonies in general Based on revealed knowledge of the workings of a higher reality (the celestial realm) Purpose of ceremonies: 1. participation in the higher reality, walking according to it, sharing its life. 2. Cooperation, not control. C. The Onikare 1. Importance: purification before other sacred undertakings 2. Gives strength to participants and tribe A. B.

IV.

Precautions on approaching symbolism generally Too diverse to speak of generally Not one-to-one correspondence or decoding (if this were possible, then there would be no need for the symbol) C. Must be approached within context A. B.

V.

Studies in Symbolism Religious Studies 1. All religious studies imply symbolism (the symbol engenders the ineffable, the domain of religion) 2. Development of symbolism from a need to communicate with and express the experience of the ineffable 3. Most similarities; Generally understood to be “representational” B. Psycho / Linguistic Studies 1. Some similarities 2. Subjective synthesis (between unconscious and conscious mind attempting to relate to external reality) A.

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C.

Two important distinctions Non-subjective: not through imposition of meaning upon but revelation of meaning inherent within. 2. Not merely representational, but actually is that which it symbolizes. 1.

VI.

Not Merely Representational Sign: reality only on one level; representational; arbitrary [ex: eagle and MWC] Symbol: meaning on all levels of reality; one with its object; necessary [ex: eagle feather > eagle > sun > Creative Principle] 1. Levels of reality a) Three levels: Celestial, Intermediate, Corporeal (Hierarchical and Interior) b) Source at center, giving reality to all levels through emanation. (1) Source = Wakan-Tanka (Great Spirit, Great Mysterious); immanent and transcendent [Ate and Tunkashila as distinctions in metacosm] (2) Not a pantheistic religion c) Emanation = spirit, breath, wakan 2. All things interrelated through breath and four elements a) Four elements, on all levels of reality, give inner structure (connection to other realities along the horizontal) b) Breath fills that structure, giving it reality (connection to source along the vertical; across the horizontal by virtue of sharing one breath) C. Symbols contain and reflect some aspect of the Divine Source (through the principle of emanation, interrelation and connection to the source). This aspect is known as the sacred (wakan, spirit, breath). A. B.

VII.

Non-Subjective Revelation of inherent meaning 1. Revelation of Structure and Order of an object (process of expansion “up through” the inner realities of an object) 2. Revelation of the aspect of the source present in the object (aspect = the sacred) [the “song”--the breath as it moves through the inner structure, the “name.”] Ultimately = revelation of the source (union) 3. Micro / Macro correspondence a) Universe is mirrored in the individual b) Three levels: spirit, soul and body c) Man, as created last, can contain the fullness of all previous creation. (“You are that bluff.”) B. Not culturally determined, but culturally specific 1. People given a certain land, created specifically for each tribe 2. Land encodes the sacred reality within itself (natural symbols--necessary quality; not subjectively determined) 3. Knowledge of the sacred and eventual union with the Source possible through the encoded messages of the sacred within the land. a) Separation from land = separation from sacred b) Distinction between imposition and revelation of encoded sacrality (Navajo vs. Eskimo) A.

VIII.

Reification of the sacred = making concrete of the ineffable. The sacred, the breath of Wakan-Tanka, is made concrete or embodied in the macrocosm. Access to the divine source possible through a symbol by virtue of the sacred made concrete within that symbol.

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IX. A. B. C. D. X.

Symbols in the Rite Lodge = Universe Individual = Universe Sacred Pipe (too much for mention here) Steam

Symbol of the steam Combined power of the four elements: rite of purification in which “. . . each of the four elements--earth, air, fire and water--contribute to the people‟s physical and psychical purification.” Brown. 1. Proximity to the source (purest manifestation of the source) since they compose all other realities. 2. Each power combines and is included in the steam. B. Breath of the Great Spirit: “The steam, actually conceived as the visible image of the Great Spirit, acts as in an alchemical work to dissolve both physical and psychic „coagulations‟ so that a spiritual transmutation may take place.” 1. Reification of the Sacred in its purest and most potent form (the breath moving through the four elements = name and song) 2. Great Spirit present within the lodge, filling the macrocosm and microcosm 3. Power may be directly transferred: individual passive to the form A.

XI.

The Purification on All Levels through the Steam Physical (elimination of waste through sweat) Psychical (remembering higher realities = detachment; expansion) Spiritual (remembering all realities are ultimately one reality, revelation of the sacred; union) 1. Individual as part of the whole 2. Aware of highest reality and ultimately of the Source, aware of interrelatedness of all things, aware of self as microcosm of and present in the macrocosm. D. The Rebirth 1. Impurities left behind in lodge 2. Walking according to higher reality 3. Walking here on earth, in awareness of the whole (as part of macrocosm = humility) 4. Takes a whole lifetime to walk out, purpose of myths and other ceremonies, another story . . . A. B. C.

XII.

The steam as purest and most potent reification of the sacred: power working into the individual on all levels; expansion through the inner realities of the symbol (transparent to Source); harmony through union in the universal--self as part of whole. This is the outworking of the purification.

XIII. A. B. C.

Concluding Remarks: The Difficulties Inherent in this Paper Symbols not meant to be fully explained, hence their necessity Native Americans do not talk of the sacred in these analytical terms Meant to be lived, not explained (non-duality of action as a support for contemplation)

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The Role of Symbol in the Onikare Understanding the Purification Rite of the Plains Indians through a Discussion of Symbolism Eric Hoefler (Revised June 21, 2008)

All these things . . . must be understood deeply if we really wish to purify ourselves, for the power of a thing or an act is in the meaning and the understanding. -- Black Elk1 We Indians live in a world of symbols and images where the spiritual and commonplace are one . . . -- Lame Deer2

To a traditional Native American, every act and word, every living thing, every element of creation is latent with symbolic meaning, and therefore, with the Sacred--that „unknown mysterious‟ which cannot be fully known or understood. 3 To assert this, and to understand it, is to grasp the meaning of symbolism in Native American spirituality. This understanding is the ground over which the Native American forges a path in the quest for the divine, and the first step on this path, almost invariably, is that of purification. These concepts undergird the Plains Indians‟ onikare, or sweat lodge ceremony, possibly the most significant and most powerful of Plains Indian ceremonies. 4 This rite relies extensively on symbolism in achieving purification and a “rebirth” into the domain of light and wisdom. It is the goal of this paper to bring some understanding to this act of purification, and to do so through a discussion of the meaning of symbolism within the context of Native American thought. An understanding of symbolism as reification of the Sacred is essential for understanding correctly the onikare purification rite of the Plains Indians. Through a consideration of the manner in which the symbolic elements within the onikare facilitate the goal of purification, an understanding of what is meant by “reification of the Sacred” and how it can be said to serve as the proper understanding of symbolism in Native American thought will be explained.

1 Joseph Epes Brown, The Sacred Pipe: Black Elk‟s Account of the Seven Rites of the Oglala Sioux (Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1953) 32. 2 Beck, Peggy V., Anna Lee Walters, Nia Francisco, The Sacred: Ways of Knowledge, Sources of Life (Arizona: Navajo Community College Press, 1977) 74. 3 Jacquelyn Bralove, Lecture Notes (guest professor at Mary Washington College, Aug. 23 - Nov. 28, 1994) 8/25. 4 For support of this claim, see page 7 below.

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Description of the onikare5 The ceremony is held within the structure called onikare, the sweat lodge. The frame of the lodge is constructed of twelve to sixteen young willow trees, set around a circumference, and bent to form the walls and roof, creating a dome. Over this frame, buffalo hides are placed (or more likely in modern times, thick blankets), leaving an open flap for entry to the east. The completely cover the frame so that, when the door flap is closed, the inside becomes extremely dark and the air thick. Once the lodge is constructed, a fire is built outside the lodge to the east. This is where the rocks for the ceremony will be heated, and this fire is called Peta-owihankeshni, or “fire of no end; eternal fire.” Four sticks are placed running east and west, four running north and south, and more sticks leaning against each other form the shape of a tipi. Rocks are placed around the sticks at each of the cardinal directions: west, north, east, south. Finally, more rocks are piled on top, completing the Peta-owihankeshni. Prayers to Wakan-Tanka are offered during the construction and lighting of the fire. 6 The central altar within the sweat lodge is constructed next. First, a stick is placed vertically in the ground at the center of the lodge. Around this stick, a circumference is drawn, again accompanied by prayer. The area marked by the circumference is dug out, and the dirt from the hole is used to form a path out the door to the east. A small mound is constructed at the end of the path, before the eternal fire, and prayer is again offered. Once the construction is complete, the rite itself can begin. The leader of the ceremony first enters the lodge alone and sits at the west. Four pinches of tobacco are placed at the corners of the hole, and one glowing coal is placed at the center. On this coal, he burns sweet grass, rubbing the smoke on himself and allowing it to surround the sacred pipe and fill the lodge. He then invokes the Powers of the west (the winged power from where the purifying waters come), the north (the purifying winds), east (the sun and wisdom, light), south (the beginning and end of life), the Heavens and Mother Earth. He then leaves the lodge by way of the path and places the pipe on the mound, the stem facing east. All participants in the ceremony now enter, the leader going first. Each must bow low in order to enter the lodge (which is not high enough to allow standing), and offer prayers to Wakan-Tanka. Each moves sun-wise around the lodge and sits on the sacred sage scattered over the floor, the leader sitting at the east. A helper hands the sacred pipe into the lodge, and it is given to the leader. Rocks are then passed into the lodge and placed in the hole at the center. Each time a rock is introduced into the lodge, the pipe is touched to it. Once the hole is filled, the pipe is offered in six directions (the cardinal 5 For descriptions of this ceremony, see Brown, Sacred Pipe, 31-42., Joseph Epes Brown, The Spiritual Legacy of the American Indian (New York: Crossroad, 1993) 42,43., Arthur Amiotte, “Eagles Fly Over,” I Become a Part of It (San Francisco: Harper, 1992) 211-213., and Wallace Black Elk & William S. Lyon Black Elk: The Sacred Ways of a Lakota (San Francisco: Harper, 1990) 67-86. 6 Wakan-Tanka is the name of the Supreme Being for the Sioux--the Source of life. Literally, “Great Mysterious.” Petaga Yuha Mani describes Him as being “. . . all that is wondrous, awesome, powerful and infinite, and yet he is also personal, compassionate, loving and tender. Perhaps this is why we call him Great Mystery.” Amiotte, 206.

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directions, up and down), lit and smoked. Each person takes a few puffs on the pipe, rubbing the smoke on himself, and passes it around the lodge clockwise until it returns to the man in the east, is emptied, and handed back out of the lodge. It is refilled by the helper and again placed on the mound, stem facing the west. This first smoking of the pipe is done in recollection of White Buffalo Calf Woman who once came to the people, met them in a great tent of meeting, and gave to them the sacred pipe. 7 The door is now closed, and those inside are in darkness. Cries for help are offered to WakanTanka, and the leader sprinkles water on the heated rocks. This creates the steam which fills the lodge, making it intensely hot, but also aromatic as the steam mixes with the sage and sweet grass. Prayers are offered to the powers of the west and to Wakan-Tanka,8 and sacred songs are sung until the door is opened. This represents the first age of darkness and the first revelation of light by Wakan-Tanka.9 Water is passed around for all to drink, a reminder of the purifying forces of the west. The pipe is brought in, offered to the six directions and smoked by all as before. Once the pipe has been smoked, it is removed, refilled, and placed again on the mound, this time with the stem facing north. This pattern is repeated three more times, representing four ages of darkness and enlightenment. Each time, the person to the west, then north, east and south leads the prayers and begins the smoking of the pipe. Each time the pipe is removed and refilled, it is placed with its stem facing the direction to be invoked next. In this way, the four cardinal directions are represented and addressed within each of the four ages of darkness and enlightenment. After the door is opened for the fourth and final time, a coal is placed just outside the lodge and sweet grass is burned on it. Each man then leaves the lodge, the leader going first, stopping to offer prayer as they purify their hands and feet over the smoke from the sweet grass.

7 In Brown, Sacred Pipe, 3-9., and in John G. Neihardt, Black Elk Speaks (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1972) 3-5., Black Elk relates the tale of White Buffalo Calf Woman. This applies specifically to the significance of the sacred pipe, and to the Sioux understanding of the end of the age, and so will not be discussed in this paper. 8 Though powers of each direction and specific beings related to these directions are invoked, they are all ultimately only manifestations of Wakan-Tanka, and this is noted by the Native American in the prayers: “O Grandfather Wakan-Tanka, You are above everything! . . . All these powers, are Your power, and they are really one;” Also, in a footnote, Brown gives as an example the Thunderbird as only an expression of Wakan-Tanka “as the giver of Revelation.” Brown, Sacred Pipe, 39. “When people perceive the universe as a unit . . . the single godhead stands in focus. When human attention is drawn to the particular acts of the divine . . . particular powers [spirit beings] appear that express the activities referred to. The Supreme Being fades into the background, unless he is especially bound up with one of these activities.” Åke Hultkrantz, Native Religions of North America (San Francisco: Harper, 1987) 26. This is true from a sociologist‟s viewpoint, but to the Native American, the Supreme Being is always present and never forgotten, always “bound up” in their activities, even when invoking individual powers. This is demonstrated on frequent uses of “we remember” and in the words of their prayers (Brown, Sacred Pipe). If Wakan-Tanka really is forgotten, then there is ignorance (no Light) and the result is idolatry. 9 The significance of the opening and closing of the door four times is found, not only in the four directions, but also in the four ages: “this reminds us of the four ages, and how through the goodness of Wakan-Tanka we have received the Light in each of these ages.” They are the rock age, bow age, fire age, and pipe age; each object constituting the main ritual support for each age. They represent the four ages of a man‟s life, and every creature must pass through these four ages in the journey from birth to death. More information in regards to the four ages and the Light given by Wakan-Tanka in each is beyond the scope or interest of this paper. Brown, Sacred Pipe, 36, 65.

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Ceremonies: Their Purpose and Importance To traditional Native Americans, all ceremonies are based on revealed knowledge of a higher reality, namely the celestial realm. 10 This realm is the first of three levels of reality in the macrocosm. It is the realm of the gods, of the holy people. To use Western terms, it is the realm of the pure intellect, the archetypes, the angels. As the highest reality, the celestial realm is unchanging, sharing the life, power and reality of the divine Source. 11 Knowledge of the celestial realm is not simply knowledge of its existence, but knowledge of its nature—its structure and order, the rules and principles governing it. The purpose of a ceremony is to make this knowledge explicit by cooperating with the higher reality, and thus participating in the life found there. As such, these ceremonies are imitations of the gods, participation in their presence, re-living of primordial time.12 Blackhorse Mitchell, a Navajo, asserts: “We are imitating what the gods or holy people have done. It is a return to the beginning.” 13 Distinct from a stereotypical understanding of the purpose of ceremonies, they are not attempts to control and influence the lower realms of existence, but are attempts to cooperate with the higher realms. Huston Smith, in his book The World’s Religions, states: “Rather than being attempts to produce extraordinary effects or control nature magically, primal rites work mainly to maintain the regular and normal; they are rituals of cooperation.” 14 The onikare, as a purification ceremony, is carried out in preparation for all other major rites or other important undertakings. The reason for its primacy is stated clearly by noted authority Joseph Epes Brown: If union with Truth (which is one of many possible names for God) is the ultimate goal of all spiritual disciplines, then it is evident that what is impure cannot be united with that which is all purity. Hence the necessity for the first stage of purification. 15

Black Elk echoes the significance of the rite, saying, “[all things] must be purified before they can send a voice to Wakan-Tanka . . . [T]hese rites . . . are used before any great undertaking for which we wish to make ourselves pure or for which we wish to gain strength.” 16 The ceremony brings purity and strength not only to the individual participants, but also to the tribe and to all of creation symbolically. 17 Black 10 Bralove, 8/23/94, 9/6/94, 11/29/94. 11 This may be claimed on the basis of the principle of emanation. As the source and origin of all things emanates out into manifestation, that which is closest to the source participates in the most reality, while that which is further from the source participates less in the reality of the source. Huston Smith, The World‟s Religions (San Francisco: Harper, 1991) 372-373. Also see Huston Smith, Forgotten Truth: The Primordial Tradition (New York: Harper & Row, 1967) 34-59. 12 Mircea Eliade, Rites and Symbols of Initiation: The Mysteries of Birth and Rebirth (New York: Harper & Row, 1958) 129. 13 Beck, 76. “Beginning” should be understood as the original structure and order of things, and as proximity to the divine Source, not as an event occurring in linear/historical time past. See Smith, Word‟s Religions, “Eternal Time,” 372-374; and Brown, Spiritual Legacy, 84-85. 14 Smith, World‟s Religions, 375. 15 Brown, Spiritual Legacy, 45. 16 Brown, Sacred Pipe, 32, 43. 17 “Symbolically” in the Native American sense of symbol. The whole is represented in an image. Therefore, the single individual, as a part of the whole, can represent all of the tribe. Likewise, the sweat lodge, as a symbol of the universe, can contain within itself all of creation in an image, as Black Elk states in the following quote. See pages 14-15 below for a more complete discussion of the whole being present in an image.

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Elk: “[T]he whole lodge is the universe in an image . . . and all things of the world are contained within it, for all these peoples and things too must be purified. . .” 18 When the leader enters the lodge, he cries to Wakan-Tanka as a representative of the people: “O Wakan-Tanka, behold me! I am the people.”19 Thus, the onikare is a powerful ceremony, bringing both purification and strength to the individual participants, to the tribe, and to all of creation. This establishes the power and importance of the rite, but an understanding of how the rite imparts strength and brings purification must be found within the meaning of symbolism in Native American thought.

Symbolism The meanings of symbols are so diverse from context to context that it may be pointless to speak generally or abstractly of the study of “symbolism.” 20 The attempt to create definite correlations between symbols and their meanings may also be inherently flawed, even disastrous. As Mircea Eliade notes: To translate an image into a concrete terminology by restricting it to any one of its frames of reference is to do worse than mutilate it—it is to annihilate, to annul it as an instrument of cognition . . . any exclusive reduction is an aberration. 21

Likewise, no genuine understanding of the sacred ways of Native Americans can be found by merely decoding the symbols of a particular ceremony. The fact that a symbol engenders meaning which otherwise could not be expressed gives the symbol its significance. Any attempt to clearly explain a symbol is inappropriate and ultimately impossible, for if a symbol could be clearly explained, it become unnecessary and lose its usefulness. Approaching a symbol from within its context is also essential, remembering that a symbol can encode more than one meaning. To remove a symbol from its context is to empty it of all possible meaning, and the symbol becomes useless. This could not be expressed more powerfully than in Huston Smith‟s statement concerning the importance of place in tribal thought: “Being in their place is what makes [objects] sacred; for if they were taken out of their place, even in thought, the entire order of the

As further support for the strength imparted and the benefit of the entire tribe, hear Black Elk: “[I]n many winters past, our men, and often our women, made the Inipi [rite of purification, i.e. onikare] even every day, and sometimes several times in a day, and from this we received much of our power. Now that we have neglected these rites we have lost much of this power; it is not good, and I cry when I think of it.” Brown, Sacred Pipe, 43. 18 Brown, Sacred Pipe, 32. 19 Brown, Sacred Pipe, 38. 20 “[I]t is not clear that symbolic phenomena may usefully be assembled and considered apart any more than all the . . . bi-syllabic words in French[!!!]” Dan Sperber, Rethinking Symbolism (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1974) 146. Sam Gill, Native American Religions: An Introduction (California: Wordsworth Publishing Co., 1982) 61. Rollo May, “The Significance of Symbols,” Symbolism in Religion and Literature, ed. Rollo May (New York: George Braziller, 1960) 18. 21 Mircea Eliade, Images and Symbols: Studies in Religious Symbolism (New York: Harvill Press, 1961) 15-16.

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universe would be destroyed.”22 These important precautions regarding symbolism are summarized by Sam Gill, a scholar of primal religions, and are worth being quoted in full: [W]hile symbolism of Native American religions is significant, it is not because it bears a message we can satisfactorily decode and translate . . . the significance of Native American religious symbols is not something we can determine by isolating and decoding particular symbols--that is, by finding out what they stand for--but that they are inseparable from the performance of which they are a part . . . While one cannot decode the message of religious symbols, they serve to make life itself significant, and they do so by their ability to grasp, to express, and to engender the transcendent, as well as the paradoxical and inexplicable. If one could completely and efficiently explain what a symbol communicates, the symbol would be unnecessary; but precisely because that cannot be done, the symbol is significant and creates significance.23

Native American symbolic thought within the context of the onikare, concentrating on the steam as a major symbol, is the focus of this paper, not a symbol-by-symbol exposition of the rite. Nor should the comments made regarding the steam be taken as an exhaustive exposition of the symbol, but rather as a gate through which an understanding of Native American symbolic thought may be acquired.

Studies in Symbolism Nearly all human activities imply symbolism. Religion is the proper context for symbolic thought since religion is the domain of the ineffable, and symbols serve as a vehicle of human efforts to make contact with ineffable reality. 24 As Eliade says, . . . every religious fact has necessarily a symbolic character . . . and every religious act, from the moment that it becomes religious, is charged with a significance which is, in the final instance, „symbolic,‟ since it refers to supernatural values or forms . . . any research undertaken on a religious subject implies the study of religious symbolism. 25

Religious studies tend to view symbols as having developed out of a need to communicate with and express the experience of ineffable reality. Erich Kahler, in his article “The Nature of the Symbol,” writes: “All forms of cultic representation, religious or traditional, are intended to carry on and revive the communication, indeed communion, of present man with his mythical or perennial sources of life.”26 Theodore Ludwig, in his text on the world‟s religions, explains the use of symbols as a means of expressing the ineffable and offers a brief definition of the sacred: We encounter the sacred as Mystery, as the Wholly Other that remains completely „other‟ even when experienced within the human world. It cannot be completely held by humans, either with their hands or with their reason . . . the sacred both encompasses and transcends human realities.

22 Smith, World‟s Religions, 372. All things have an inner structure and order and relate to the grand structure and order of the macrocosm. The harmony and unity of the macrocosm depends on everything being in its rightful place. Thus, to remove an object from its place is to destroy this structure and order. See Beck, 106-111. 23 Gill, 61, 81; italics added. 24 Reese, William L. “Urban, Wilbur,” Dictionary of Philosophy and Religion: Eastern and Western Thought (New Jersey: Humanities Press, 1980) 25 Mircea Eliade, Mephistopheles and the Androgyne: Studies in Religious Myth and Symbol (New York: Sheed & Ward, 1965) 199. This also applies to the Native American, of course. “Native American religions are inseparable from a highly developed symbolism.” Gill, 62. 26 Kahler, 63; italics added.

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For this reason, religion expresses the experience of the sacred not only by words but also by a variety of other symbolic forms . . .27

Some, perhaps even most, characteristics of symbols noted by religious scholars fit well with a Native American symbolic understanding. 28 For instance, myths and symbols bring synthesis to thought, uniting concepts in a concise form that may otherwise be unmanageable or impossible. 29 They also serve as a means of instruction, as Brown notes of Native American symbolism: “[E]ach form in the world around [Native Americans] bears such a host of precise values and meanings that, taken all together, they constitute what one would call their „doctrine.‟” 30 Linguistic and psychoanalytical studies have also reached conclusions similar to a Native American understanding of symbolism in some respects.31 However, two important differences between a general understanding of symbolism and Native American symbolic thought demand notice. Broadly speaking, psychoanalysis tends to view the development of symbolism as a formulation brought about in the interrelation between the unconscious and the conscious mind attempting to relate to the external world and to understand it. 32 The formation of the symbol itself is thought to be determined by the psychological and social situation of the group or individual, making it an almost exclusively subjective synthesis.33 To the Native American, however, the process is not a subjective one. A symbol gains relevance not through self-imposition of meaning upon an object, but through revelation of the meaning inherent within the object.34 Nor are symbols merely a means of representing some other form or idea— they are not merely “sensuous representations of transcendent reality”35—but actually are in some sense that which they symbolize. Brown writes: The generally understood meaning of the symbol--as a form that stands for or points to, something other than the particular form or expression--is incomprehensible to the Indian. To the Indian‟s cognitive orientation, meanings generally are intuitively sensed and not secondarily interpreted through analysis; there tends to be a unity between form and idea or content. Here the symbol is,

27 Theodore M. Ludwig, The Sacred Paths: Understanding the Religions of the World (New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1989) 5; italics added. 28 See Eliade, Mephistopheles, 201-206, Tillich, “The Religious Symbol,” Symbolism in Religion, 75. 29 See Eliade, Mephistopheles, 201-206., and Joseph R. Royce, ed. Psychology and the Symbol: An Interdisciplinary Symposium (New York: Random House, 1965) 75. 30 Brown, Spiritual Legacy, 37. Also see May, 45. 31 As an example, both psychoanalytical and Native American thought agree that symbols tend to motivate the subject to action. “In my judgment the distinguishing characteristic of genuine symbols . . . is that they always involve this orientation toward action.” Rollo May, “Significance,” Symbolism, 16. Brown, Spiritual Legacy, 69-81. 32 Rollo May, “The Significance of Symbols,” Symbolism in Religion, 15. For psychoanalytical definitions of symbolism, see Joseph R. Royce, ed. Psychology and the Symbol: An Interdisciplinary Symposium (New York: Harper & Row, 1967) 29, 55, 75. May, 1-74. A discussion of each of the various parts of these definitions in the context of Native American symbolism would be helpful in clearly distinguishing between the two, but is not possible within this paper. However, based on the material presented later, such an analysis should be possible by the reader. 33 Tillich, “The Religious Symbol,” Symbolism in Religion, 78. 34 This is similar to Erich Kahler‟s term of descending symbolism: a symbolism which descends to us from a reality which determines its own symbolic meaning. Kahler, “The Nature of the Symbol,” Symbolism in Religion, 65-67. 35 William L. Reese, “Symbol,” Dictionary of Philosophy and Religion: Eastern and Western Thought (New Jersey: Humanities Press, 1980)

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in a sense, that to which it refers . . . [it] is not thought of as representing some other and higher reality, but is that reality in an image. 36

A more complete discussion of these two distinctions is necessary for understanding the process of purification in the onikare.

Symbols as Not Merely Representational In Native American thought, something which only represents some other idea or form is a sign, and has meaning and relevance across only one level of reality—along a horizontal axis. 37 The definitions usually attributed to symbols actually apply to signs. A sign is only representational, pointing to another reality, and is not fundamentally connected to that to which it points. It is subjectively produced by the individual or culture. It is void of inherent meaning, except as meaning is imposed upon it by its subject. An eagle as representational of Mary Washington College, for example, is a sign. There is no necessary connection between the eagle and the school—the connection is arbitrarily imposed upon the eagle. A symbol, however, has meaning and relevance through all levels of reality—along a vertical axis. Symbols are fundamentally connected to their objects, which presupposes a unity and interrelatedness among the levels of reality. 38 Paul Tillich, in his essay “The Religious Symbol,” describes symbols as possessing a “necessary character”39 and asserts: “[S]ymbols „participate‟ in the reality to which they point.”40 A brief consideration of the metaphysics involving Native American symbolic thought will help explain and support these claims. Three levels of reality exist in the macrocosm. The first is the celestial realm, as mentioned earlier. The second or intermediate level is the psychic or animic realm. Below this is the corporeal realm, the physical plane of existence in which the essence of the higher realities become manifest in bodily form. In traditional thought, each successive level is not only above the former in an hierarchical arrangement, but is also internal to it. 41 For example, the intermediate realm is not only above the corporeal, but is also contained within the corporeal; and within the intermediate is the celestial. Imagine three concentric circles, the smallest representing the celestial realm, the next one encompassing it representing the intermediate realm, and the final, the corporeal realm. At the center, represented by a central point within the innermost circle, is the divine source, which emanates through these levels, giving each its respective reality.

36 Brown, Spiritual Legacy, 43, 72. Bralove, 8/25, 9/8. 37 Bralove, 8/25/94. 38 Lower realms share in the reality of the higher realms. Bralove, 9/8/94. There is an “absence of a line separating this world from another world that stands over and against it.” Smith, 377. 39 Paul Tillich, “The Religious Symbol,” Symbolism in Religion and Literature, ed. May, 75. 40 William L. Reese, “Symbols” quoted from Paul Tillich, Dictionary of Philosophy and Religion: Eastern and Western Thought (New Jersey: Humanities Press, 1980) 41 Bralove, 8/25/94, 9/8/94.

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The emanation from the source could be termed an “ontological ray.”42 Along this ray, every object in the physical universe is connected to the source through the inner realities. The Sioux call this emanation wakan—literally meaning holy or sacred. This is what is meant by Brown‟s statement, “[T]he total world of experience is seen as being infused with the sacred.”43 It is also considered the spirit or breath, which permeates and connects the realities with their source. The source itself, for the Sioux, is Wakan-Tanka, usually translated “Great Spirit,” but more accurately, “Great Mysterious.” He is often referred to either as Tunkashila, grandfather, or Ate, father. Tunkashila is the unmanifest, transcendent aspect of God. Ate is God as Being, the personal God, in relation to His creation. 44 It is Wakan-Tanka as Ate who is immanent within his creation. Tunkashila designates Wakan-Tanka as not limited to his manifestations,45 an important distinction, as Black Elk says: “We should understand well that all things are the works of the Great Spirit. We should know that He is within all things . . . and even more important, we should understand that He is also above all these things and peoples.”46 Charges of pantheism, often leveled at Native American religions, are understandable, since the focus is on Wakan-Tanka in his manifestations. However, such charges are inaccurate, since Wakan-Tanka is known to be both immanent within and transcendent to his creation. Carl Gorman, a Navajo artist, explains this point, as well as summarizes the belief that the sacred, as the spirit or emanation from the divine source, is present within all things: It has been said by some researchers into Navajo religion that we have no Supreme God, because He is not named. That is not so. The Supreme Being is not named because He is unknowable. He is simply the Unknown Power. We worship Him through His creation for He is everything in His creation. We feel too insignificant to approach directly in prayer that Great Power that is incomprehensible to man . . . so we approach Him through that part of Him which is close to us and within the reach of human understanding [that is, nature]. We believe that this great unknown power is everywhere in His creation. The various forms of creation have some of His spirit within them . . . as every form has some of the intelligent spirit of the creator. 47

If the emanation from the source is the breath, and this breath is what gives reality to every created thing, then it may be concluded that all things share one breath—that of the source. Hence, all things are interrelated and are unified by the one breath. The four elements—earth, air, fire, and water— compose the structure of every created thing. This must be understood on all levels of reality, not merely

42 Bralove. 43 Brown, Spiritual Legacy, 73. 44 “Ate refers to the Great Spirit in relation to His creation, in other words, as Being, whereas Tunkashila is the non-manifest essence, independent of the limitations of creation.” Brown, Spiritual Legacy, 39. This distinction between the transcendent and immanent aspects of Wakan-Tanka are evident in the words of Peta Yuha Mani (He Walks with Coals of Fire): “People and this world and all that is in it are only a part of Wakan Tanka. Wakan Tanka is all that is wondrous, awesome, powerful, and infinite, and yet he is also personal, compassionate, loving and tender. Perhaps this is why we call him Great Mystery.” Amiotte, 206; italics added. 45 “Although these natural forms may reflect aspects of the Great Spirit, and eventually cannot be other than the Great Spirit, they are nevertheless not identified with He „who is without parts,‟ and who in His transcendent unity is above all particular created forms.” Brown, Spiritual Legacy, 38. 46 Brown, Sacred Pipe, 38-39. 47 Brown, Spiritual Legacy, 70; Smith, World‟s Religions, 378. If at first this seems to lend credence to the charge of pantheism, notice the quote, “we approach Him through that part of Him . . .”

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the corporeal, since the four elements also have inner realities. Therefore, on all levels of reality, the four elements compose the structure of an object while the breath permeates that structure, giving it reality and connecting it with the source. All things, then, are interrelated by the four elements and the breath. This profound level of relatedness allows for the unity found in Native American symbolic thought. 48 Based on these principles, Brown‟s description of the eagle as a symbol—as opposed to the earlier description of the eagle as a sign—may be understood: “The eagle is not a symbol of the sun, but is the sun in a certain sense; and similarly, the sun is not a symbol of the Creative Principle, but is that Principle as manifested in the sun.”49 To carry the thought further, an eagle feather is the symbol of the eagle in an image, and thus also a manifestation of the Creative Principle. 50 The unity between the symbol and that which it symbolizes is the basis for understanding Native American symbolism. A symbol then is not merely a representation of another reality, but is that reality in an image—fundamentally united with its object, and containing the essence of its object within itself. If this is not the case regarding any “symbol,” then it is not genuinely a symbol, but rather should be designated a sign.

Symbols as Non-Subjective Nature is the grand theophany; it encodes within itself the sacred reality; 51 it is the mediator through which Wakan-Tanka may be known. This is the main reason for the inseparable tie between nature and the religion of the Native American. What may be known of Wakan-Tanka is possible only through his manifestations in creation. Brown explains: In [animals] the Indian sees actual reflections of the qualities of the Great Spirit, which serve the same function as revealed scriptures in other religions. They are intermediaries or links between human beings and God. This explains not only why religious devotions may be directed to the deity through the animals, but it also helps us to understand why contact with, or from, the Great Spirit, comes to the Indian almost exclusively through visions involving animal or other natural forms.52

Knowledge of the macrocosm—including all of its levels of reality, the principles that govern them, and their structure and order—is also ultimately knowledge of Wakan-Tanka, and constitutes the sacred knowledge of a people.53 Native American Barney Mitchell expresses this idea: “The greatest

48 There is an “. . . an absence of a line separating this world from another world that stands over and agains t it.” Smith, World‟s Religions, 377. 49 Brown, Spiritual Legacy, 72. A full understanding of this symbol involves understanding the relation between the divine and the celestial sun. In brief, the divine sun is God as Being (Ate), and the direct inverse reflection of the divine sun is the celestial sun (meaning the innermost reality of the created, physical sun). Therefore, the relationship between the sun and the Creative Principle (another way of saying God as Being / Creator God) is understood through the inner reality of the sun (celestial sun) and its relationship (inverse reflection) of the divine sun (Creative Principle). 50 “That which is pointed to becomes one with the vehicle that serves as the pointer. Thus, reality can become condensed in its symbol . . .” Robert Monk, et al. Exploring Religious Meaning, 4th ed. (New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1994) 78. 51 Taken from an interview between Jacquelyn Bralove and Joseph Epes Brown, 52 Brown, Spiritual Legacy, 38. 53 Beck, 106-111.

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sacred thing is knowing the order and the structure of things.” 54 A traditional Navajo saying asserts that all things are born with a name and a song. We can understand the name to mean its structure and order—its inner realities and its relation to the rest of the macrocosm—and the song to represent the breath of the Great Spirit as it moves through that structure.55 Attaining knowledge of the structure and order is a process of expansion, moving up through the inner realities. The power of a symbol is its ability to facilitate this expansion, as its inner realities open the individual to the universal and eventually to the Source, where union is possible. Eliade relates a similar understanding of symbolism: [A] man who understands a symbol not only „opens himself‟ to the objective world, but at the same time succeeds in emerging from his personal situation and reaching a comprehension of the universal. . . Thanks to the symbol, the individual experience is „awoken‟ and transmuted into a spiritual act. To „live‟ a symbol and correctly decipher its message implies an opening towards the Spirit and finally access to the universal. 56

Expansion is the result of revelation, not imposition of meaning upon an object. In a vision quest or some other similar circumstance the inner reality of an object is revealed to the participant.57 The individual experiences an expansion of consciousness as he or she “sees up through” the object. Union is then possible because the object is ultimately a manifestation of the Source. Huston Smith explains: “The symbolist vision sees the things of the world as transparent to their divine source . . . the world‟s objects are open to its light.”58 This is one reason for the power attributed to nature: it is a gateway to the Divine. Through the natural universe, knowledge of and union with Wakan-Tanka as the Source may occur. Expansion is possible for the individual because of the correspondence between the macrocosm and the individual as a microcosm. Remember that the things of the world are believed to be transparent to their divine source through the levels of their inner realities. The image of the eagle flying close to the sun is indicative in some Native American cultures of the individual approaching the source through knowledge of the inner realities. As he or she ascends through the inner realities, there is the potential for eventual union with the Source of these realities. The individual contains within himself or herself all the levels of reality—the universe is mirrored in the individual. The celestial realm corresponds to the spirit, or the pure intellect. The intermediate realm corresponds to the soul or mind; and the corporeal realm, to the body. This correspondence is what makes knowledge of the inner realities of an object possible. Brown relates this idea: [I]f each animal reflects particular aspects of the Great Spirit, human beings, on the contrary, may include within themselves all the aspects. A human being is thus a totality, bearing the Universe within himself or herself and through the intellect having the potential capacity to live in 54 Beck, 95. 55 Wilson Aronilth, Navajo Medicine man 56 Mircea Eliade, Mephistopheles and the Androgyne: Studies in Religious Myth and Symbol (New York: Sheed & Ward, 1965) 207. 57 For discussion of the vision quest, see Brown, Spiritual Legacy, 60; Beck, 23, 97-98. 58 Smith, World‟s Religions, 379.

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continual awareness of this reality. As Black Elk has said: “Peace . . . comes within the souls of men when they realize their relationship, their oneness, with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the Universe dwells Wakan-Tanka, and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us. 59

The individual has the potential to gain knowledge of the macrocosm—and through it knowledge of the Source—while still conscious that he or she is also a part of the macrocosm and intrinsically related to it. Petaga Yuha Mani comments on man‟s unique position: “Man is different from the ants [and all other things] for he must learn where his place is and what his life means.” 60 In order to learn these things, he or she must gain knowledge of the structure and order of things, as well as knowledge of his or her Source and Origin. In gaining this knowledge, identity and vocation are acquired—the quest present in every religious tradition. A profound example of the correspondence between the individual and the macrocosm is related by Oren Lyons. He and his uncle are in a boat on a fishing trip during Oren‟s vacation from college. His uncle asks him, “Who are you?” and, after several attempts to answer, none of which are acceptable, his uncle answers for Oren: “Do you see that bluff over there? Oren, you are that bluff. And that giant pine on the other shore? Oren, you are that pine. And this water that supports our boat? You are this water.”61 This not only emphasizes the correspondence between the macrocosm and the individual as the microcosm, as well as the interrelatedness of all things within the macrocosm, but also the Native American‟s sense of embeddedness in place. Native Americans share a strong sense of sacred place. They believe they were given their land by their Creator, and that the land was created specifically for them. Every aspect of the land speaks to them, and their identity is tied to it. The people maintain a “sense of place” and certain rights to special places or territories . . . “When we were created, we were given our ground to live on and from this time these were our rights.” [Spoken by a Yakima Indian] Each tribe suggested that the area it roamed or possessed was “right” or “perfect” for that particular group. . . Oral tradition often indicates that „the place‟ a tribe occupied was especially created for that tribe. [Geronimo (Apache)]: “For each tribe of men Usen created, He also made a home. In the land created for any particular tribe He placed whatever would be best for the welfare of that tribe. Thus, it was in the beginning: The Apaches and their homes each created . . . by Usen Himself. When they are taken from these homes they sicken and die.”62

We can now see that the common understanding of the formation of a symbol—that “. . . the psychological and social situation is decisive for the selection of symbols in all spheres”63—again does not describe Native American symbolic thought. The land is sacred, its characteristics encoding within itself the higher spiritual realities. 64 Through revelation, meaning inherent within these characteristics are discovered. We have seen from the above quote of Geronimo that the Creator made the land for a specific

59 60 61 62 63

Brown, Spiritual Legacy, 39. Amiotte, 206. Smith, World‟s Religions, 371. Beck, 68-69. Paul Tillich, “The Religious Symbol,” Symbolism in Religion 78.

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group of people, and their existence is based on that particular land. This is true not only on a physical level—for example, the knowledge to grow or otherwise obtain food possible for the geography and climate of the land—but also on a spiritual level. Each detail of the land is a description of the sacred reality.65 Therefore, knowledge of the Creator is possible only through the land—the forms and forces of the natural environment. Since a particular land is specific to a particular tribe, to move that tribe onto another land is equivalent to moving an English speaking individual to Japan without any translators. That is, a Navajo in Alaska would not know how to “read” the encoded message of the sacred in the Alaskan landscape, and vice versa. The Navajo was created by the Creator to understand the sacred through corn. The Eskimo was created to understand the sacred through the whale. This is a subtle distinction, but is important in understanding a symbolic sense of place. The sacred is not experienced and expressed in terms of corn for the Navajo because they happen to subsist to a large degree on corn, but rather because the sacred has encoded itself in the corn, and the Navajo were created to live with the corn, and therefore to understand the sacred through the corn. To remove an individual from their given land, then, is to separate them from the sacred, and ultimately from their ability to know their Creator. 66 Again, we have seen that the meaning attributed to a symbol is not a subjective synthesis, but rather revelation of its inner reality. Eliade, in his work with symbols, “. . . seeks to remove the arbitrariness from the symbol. In this way a path opens to understanding „natural symbols‟ . . .” 67 The expression “natural symbol,” and the necessary character of such a symbol, is precisely what is meant by proclaiming symbols to be non-subjective in Native American thought. We have examined the differences between a sign and a symbol, noting that a sign has arbitrary meaning and is not fundamentally linked with that to which it points. Symbols, on the other hand, are genuinely related to their object to such a degree that the symbol and the object are considered one. The basis of this claim is the interrelatedness of all things by the four elements and the breath, which is the emanation from the Source. Knowledge of a symbol implies knowledge of the inner realities and their relation to the Source. This knowledge is possible because of the correspondence between the levels of reality in the macrocosm and the levels of reality within the individual. Therefore, meaning gained from a symbol is not meaning which has been imposed upon the symbol, but meaning which has been received through revelation of the inner realities. Finally, symbols are not culturally determined, but are locationspecific, grounded in nature. The land encodes the sacred realities, serving as a symbolic scripture to be read, and providing access to the Universal—knowledge of the Creator. These ideas are fundamental for

64 Taken from an interview between Jacquelyn Bralove and Joseph Epes Brown. 65 “[E]ach being of nature, every particular form of the land, is experienced as the locus of qualitatively differentiated spirit beings, whose individual and collective presence sanctifies and gives meaning to the land in all its details and contours.” BrownSpiritual Legacy, 51, see also pg. 38. 66 This problem is evident in today‟s society as humanity cuts itself off from the rest of creation. See Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Man and Nature: The Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man (Malaysia: Foundation for Traditional Studies, 1976) and Brown, Spiritual Legacy, 29-32. 67 Mircea Eliade, “Symbolism,” The Encyclopedia of Religion (New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1987)

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understanding what is meant by reification of the sacred. “Reification of the sacred” is comparable to “making concrete of the ineffable.” The sacred—the spirit or breath of Wakan-Tanka—is made concrete or embodied in the macrocosm through the levels of reality. Knowing this, living this, requires expansion to genuinely “see” these truths through an image. This expansion takes the individual through the levels of reality, ultimately achieving union. Recalling the words of Joseph Epes Brown, this expansion and eventual union is made possible only through initial purification. 68 Through the image of the steam in the onikare, the process of purification, as well as the expansion through the levels of reality, will be demonstrated. From this point in the paper until the end, the term “symbol” will be assumed to include all the characteristics and distinctions discussed so far.

The Symbols in the Rite and the Purification There are four major symbols in the onikare, only one of which will be dealt with in this paper. The first is the lodge itself, as the universe in an image. 69 Second, the individual participants in the rite— each one a microcosm, possessing the macrocosm within themselves—are also symbols of the universe. Hence, the Lodge and the individual are symbols of the universe and each other, and together symbolize the purification of the universe and its contents through the rite. 70 The third major symbol is the sacred pipe, of which books can and have been written, so profound is its symbolism. 71 The final symbol, the steam, is the most helpful in understanding the process of purification and subsequent expansion. Each of the four elements plays a central role in the purification that occurs in the rite. Brown notes that the onikare is a rite “. . . in which each of the four elements—earth, air, fire and water— contribute to the people‟s physical and psychical purification.” 72 The steam is produced through a combination of the four elements. The rocks (earth), which have been heated in the fire, are sprinkled with water, which, combining with the air, produce the steam. The four elements compose the structure of every created thing, as noted earlier. 73 As such, they are the most anterior manifestations of the source, since all other manifestations consist of some combination of the elements. The closer an object is to its divine source, the more that object is considered to share in the reality and power of the source. 74 Hence, the four elements are the most pure and the most powerful manifestations of the Source. When they are combined, they produce the steam, which can be understood as the combined power of each of the four

68 Brown, Spiritual Legacy, 45. See page 4 above. 69 “[T]he whole lodge is the universe in an image. . . and all things of the world are contained within it.” Brown, Sacred Pipe, 32. See also, Brown, Spiritual Legacy, 42, 52, 58. 70 Brown, Spiritual Legacy, 35-37. 71 Brown, Sacred Pipe; Brown, Spiritual Legacy, 44-45, 75. 72 Brown, Sacred Pipe, 32. 73 See page 15 above. 74 “„[P]ast‟ means preeminently closer to the originating Source of thins. . . [and as things get further from the source], a certain enfeeblement has occurred. . .” Smith, World‟s Religions, 372-373.

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elements.75 The steam is also understood symbolically to be the breath of the Great Spirit in manifested form. Remember the earlier explanation of the name and the song. The four elements constitute the name, providing the structure of a thing. The breath of the Great Spirit moving through this structure constitutes the song. This is the one breath which all share. The steam in the lodge is understood to be this one breath, coming through the four elements. The image, then, is incredibly powerful, containing within itself the essence of the Great Spirit. It is this power which brings the purification to the individual, and does so on all three levels of reality. Brown supports this: “The steam, actually conceived as the visible image of the Great Spirit, acts as in an alchemical work to dissolve both physical and psychic „coagulations‟ so that a spiritual transmutation may take place.”76 Purification takes place through the power of the steam, the breath of the Great Spirit, as that power is absorbed by the individual, bringing about the “spiritual transmutation” mentioned above. Brown explains: The power or quality, therefore [since a symbol is the reality in an image of that which it symbolizes], that a particular form reflects may be transferred directly to the person in contact with it, and there is no need, as with modern Western people, for any mental or artificial “reconstruction.” It may even be said that the Indian can be passive to the form, and is thus able to absorb, and become one with, its reflected power. 77

If this is accepted—and based on previous discussions can be legitimately accepted within the context of Native American thought—then it is evident how purification is understood to occur. By becoming passive to the form of the steam, itself a reflection of the Great Spirit, the power of the Great Spirit works in the purification as the individual is joined with that power. This occurs in all three levels of reality, remembering the correspondence between the microcosm and the macrocosm. 78 On the physical level, the heat of the steam purifies the body by causing the sweat. This removes waste and impurities from the body. Psychically, purification is realized in two stages. First, there is the removal of impure thoughts. The individual is to concentrate on thoughts in agreement with previously revealed sacred knowledge and eliminate thoughts which are in disagreement. Wallace Black Elk expresses these first stages of the purification: Then we tell our little problems, and that blows away. So we contaminate that air [with the impure thoughts]. Then, we open the door, all that contamination goes out. It expels out, and new, pure air comes in. The fresh oxygen comes in again. . . When the door is closed, the temperature rises, and that expels all that poison out of our body. We open and close that door four times during the ceremony. 79

The second stage of psychical purification leads directly into the spiritual purification. It begins with remembering the inner realities present within all things. This is a form of detachment, but not in a

75 “O ancient rocks . . . by receiving your sacred breath (the steam), our people will be longwinded as they walk the path of life; your breath is the very breath of life.” Brown, Sacred Pipe, 37. “The steam is living breath.” Gill, 32. 76 Brown, Spiritual Legacy, 58. 77 Brown, Spiritual Legacy, 43. 78 See page above. This purification occurs not only to the individual as the microcosm, but to the macrocosm, remembering the lodge is the universe in an image. See

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negative sense. The physical realm is nothing to be feared, and it is not inherently vile. However, there are realities other than the physical—higher realities, and these must be remembered. As higher realities, they are the realities which the individual must seek to walk in accord with, not the lower realities. The individual must remember that all these realities and powers are ultimately one. By remembering this, the individual remembers the spiritual or celestial realm. By also remembering that the One is within all things, but is also greater than all things, the transcendent nature of God is addressed, bringing the individual to the recognition of ultimate Union. Once this is achieved, the individual becomes aware of himself or herself as part of the totality of the macrocosm—he or she envisions himself or herself as a part of the universal, and no longer as an individual over and against the universal. This is the beginnings of the last stage of expansion—that of union. This truth may be realized within a sweat lodge ceremony, but a lifetime is necessary in order to actually live it. The steam, therefore, as an embodiment of the Great Spirit, brings purification on all three levels of reality within the individual. Physical purity is attained by removal of wastes through the sweat. Psychical purification occurs through the removal of thoughts which are not in accord with sacred knowledge. Spiritual purification comes by remembering the higher realities in a process of detachment. As a result, union with the universal is made possible. The power of the Great Spirit present within the steam is absorbed by the individual on all three levels, bringing the purity and the strength mentioned earlier by Black Elk.80 When the individual leaves the sweat lodge, he walks out of the heat and darkness within the lodge and into the light of day, representing wisdom. 81 He or she is now physically purified, impure thoughts and ignorance having been left behind in the lodge. The individual now walks according to the higher realities, and thus participates in the life of the celestial realm. Expansion and wisdom are the results of the stages of purification within the sweat lodge ceremony, as facilitated through the steam. Apart from understanding the steam in the Native American context of symbolism, this would not be possible. Symbolism as reification of the sacred—the Great Spirit present within the steam, the steam actually embodying the Great Spirit—is a crucial distinction for understanding correctly this rite of purification, and its subsequent stages of expansion and union. Without this distinction, the rite loses its significance and its power. Understanding this distinction, however, not only opens the sweat lodge as an incredibly powerful encounter with the divine, but fills the whole of existence with the presence of the sacred.

79 Wallace Black Elk and William S. Lyon, Black Elk: The Sacred Ways of a Lakota (San Francisco: Harper, 1990) 70-71. 80 See page 7-8 above.

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Concluding Remarks The content of this paper is something a traditional Native American would rarely, if ever, speak about in terms appropriate for scholarly consideration. The experience of the sacred is not meant to be explained, but lived; and it is difficult to understand without experiencing. Any explanation of the sacred that does occur takes place through the telling of myths and stories, and is always tied to action. The importance of participation in the presence of the sacred cannot be overemphasized, and pure contemplation—explanation of the type found within this paper—is not in keeping with the spirit of the Native American. Brown: In the Native American world there generally obtains what may be called a unity in experience wherein actions of all orders serve as supports for contemplation . . . It is perhaps this most important non-dualistic mode of experiencing and being that is very difficult for the non-Indian Western mind to comprehend. . . In my first contacts with Black Elk almost all that he said was phrased in terms involving animals and natural phenomena. I naively wished that he would begin to talk about religious matters, until I finally realized that he was, in fact, explaining his religion.82

In the words of Aua, an Iglulik Eskimo shaman, In our ordinary, everyday life we do not think much about all these things, and it is only now you ask that so many thoughts arise in my head of long-known things; old thoughts, but as it were, becoming altogether new when one has to put them into words. . . 83

This is the difficulty of this paper, and it is hoped that the understanding offered within it will provide a basis for relating to Native American sacred ways. What I am trying to say is hard to tell and hard to understand . . . unless, unless . . . you have been yourself at the edge of the Deep Canyon and have come back unharmed. 84 [An elder Tewa man from San Juan Pueblo.]

81 “Going forth into the light from the house of darkness, in which all impurities have been left behind, represents human liberation from ignorance, from the ego and from the cosmos. The person is now a renewed being entering symbolically into the world of light or wisdom.” Brown, Spiritual Legacy, 43. 82 Brown, Spiritual Legacy, xii, 37; italics added. 83 Beck, 8. 84 Beck, 3.

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