“When your heart calls, you must answer.”
One is called to bear witness and not turn away from tragedy or great misfortune at Zen Peacemaker Bearing Witness Retreats. When your heart calls, you must answer for you are opening to your humanity and your interrelationship with all that is.
In the early afternoon of day 3 of our 5-day Native American Bearing Witness retreat, we drove into a small trading post parking lot just outside Matxo Thipila or Devil’s Tower National Monument. Called Devil’s Tower by Americans, it was the first designated national monument in the U.S. It is a sacred site for over 20 Plains Indian tribes.
We sat on wooden benches under the trading post’s awning to eat our sack lunches. Matxo Thipila (Bear Lodge Butte), also known as Gray Horn Butte, loomed in the distance. After lunch we caravanned following Manny and Renee Iron Hawk’s vehicle. We drove slowly through the ranger’s gate.
There was something mysterious and powerful about Matxo Thipila. I could not take my eyes off it throughout the drive. The open land was dotted with pines. Just past a prairie dog community, we turned in and stopped at Belle Fourche Park. Few humans were there besides us.
The land around Matxo Thipila felt clean to me. For two days, we sat at the foot of Matxo Thipila and listened to stories from the elders. I liked sitting on the ground - scruffy grass with hard dirt showing through. A few ants and other insects meandered about.
One afternoon we took part in a Buffalo Ceremony lead by Ivan Looking Horse. The buffalo ceremony shows us how to live in community and especially how to protect the vulnerable from danger. Ivan Looking Horse told us Lakota learned much from the buffalo, and that Crazy Horse learned war strategy from the buffalo. A lot of his strategy is still taught at West Point!
It is one thing to hear about the ceremony and totally another thing to be in the ceremony. It was a very powerful experience – but I will save that story for another time.
On the last morning a small group of us decided to meditate at a beautiful white marble sculpture called Circle of Sacred Smoke created by Japanese artist Junkyu Muto. It was quiet at 7 am. The sun had risen, and tall cottonwoods were casting shadows through the cool, fresh air. The sky was a clear blue. Magpies occasionally flew by from the cottonwoods.
Lots of open space nourished us as did a plethora of green and brown grasses, wild white sage, and yellow-green euphorbia. Nearby a prairie dog community sat in their own meditation over their homes, holes that lead to an underground network. Everything was just sitting - at one with the great Matxo Thipila.
In the late morning, we drove a couple of miles past Belle Fourche Park to Devil’s Tower National Monument Park. This park was crowded - teeming with tourists – with frenetic human energy. But when I looked up at Mato Tipila - that gigantic mass of igneous rock - something solid, ancient, and true was present.
In the early afternoon, the elders took us to their ceremonial grounds away from the national park. We were the only people present. It was wide open space with gentle rolling hills around the hallowed Gray Horn Butte. This was their place of ceremonies, the place for vision quests, sweat lodges, and the offering of prayers.
It was hot. We walked quietly through tall golden grass to sit under trees in a circle. Some sat on folding chairs, others on the ground. Mindfully, in silence, we made four prayer flags. We wrapped tobacco in one corner of each colored cloth: black, white, red and yellow. Then we tied all 4 bundles together as one. In prayer, we stood up and walked to a tree that called to us. We tied our prayer flags onto a branch. I prayed for healing of friends and family who were ill or suffering. I prayed for harmony, for peace.
We returned to Belle Fourche Park for our final circle. People shared from the heart and listened while others took their turn. We each experienced so much that it will take time to integrate and digest. I wanted to offer a hula but kept wondering if it would be all right to do so there at that place. My heart said yes, but my head didn't know.
When it came to my turn in the circle, I mentioned that I wanted to dance a hula, but I would need a few extra minutes. I shared my anxiety about not knowing if it would be appropriate.
After the circle was complete, retreat coordinator, Genro Gauntt, said that it would be good to end with a Native Hawaiian hula followed by a farewell shaking of hands. Slowly I stood up, a bit stiff from sitting on the ground for so long. Thankfully my body was able to sing, dance, and chant. It was my gift to Matxo Thipila and everyone there.
The song I offered was Make Strong by Hawane Rios. When I first heard it about a decade ago, the song moved me so much that I choreographed a hula to it. In both English and Hawaiian, it is about courage and love during difficult times. It is about listening deeply to the ancestors and to all that is around and within you.
We have a proverb, ‘A’a I ka hula, waiho ka hilahila I ka hale’ which means when one wants to dance the hula, bashfulness should be left at home. It is good advice to listen to your heart.
Mahalo nui loa and malama pono (take good care of body, mind and heart),
June Kaililani Ryushin Tanoue
Kumu Hula, Sensei
P.S. Here's a talk I gave recently about the 3 Tenets of a Zen Peacemaker and the Native American Bearing Witness Retreat.https://youtu.be/aOPiSmWMUNg
P.P.S. Link to Bearing Witness Slide Show https://youtu.be/klfdKPfYfAY with music: Meditation by Nawang Khechog with Carlos Nakai and Make Strong by Hawane Rios.
Renee Iron Hawk
Renee Iron Hawk was born in Los Angeles CA in the 1960’s. She and her husband Manny Iron Hawk were Lakota elders who helped coordinate the Zen Peacemakers' Native American Bearing Witness Retreat in July. They shared their lives culture, and sacred places. Renee is sensitive, warm, intelligent, down to earth, and humble. She is a woman of many talents helping her people. I'm happy to introduce you to Renee Iron Hawk.
My mother was Carrie Jewett Fasthorse and my father was Frederick Fasthorse. They have taken their spiritual journey. May they Rest In Peace. I have an older brother named Paul Fasthorse and I had a younger sister Michelle DeMarrias. She took her spirit journey in 2015. May she Rest In Peace.
I presently live out in the country with my husband Manny. We have eight children altogether. And the last younger two, have been out of the house for 6 and 4 years now, both going to college. So, we are empty nesters. We are adjusting to that…but this past summer, we kept grandchildren off & on.
I have an undergrad degree with a major in Human Services, a minor in Psychology and an emphasis in Chemical Dependency. Since my graduation in 1990, I’ve returned to my home reservation to work helping our oyate (nation) in the fields of alcohol & drug prevention education, mental health case management & home-based therapy, Adult Prevalence research involving Fetal Alcohol Spectrum & victim services assistance with my tribe. I have conducted a research project on teen alcohol use & safety issues, as well as a project in community health.
Presently, my Hasani (other half) and I are about one year into establishing our own business; Three Rainbows Consulting, Inc. We have a few projects that we are presently working on and with other organizations. One is a continuing project to provide equine therapy through traditional Lakhota horsemanship for youth. The other project is working with our Thiospaye descendants of Chief Spotted Elk to have personal items of the massacre site returned to us. And of course our liaison work with our hunka (adopted) relatives, the Zen Peacemakers, Inc.
What are the most important elements of your culture that you’d like to share?
I believe that one of the most important elements of our culture is WoLakota. Simply put it is harmony & balance in our everyday life as being related to every living thing in our universe. I truly believe that this element begins with living with true regard and respect for others and our environment.
What did you find meaningful in the Zen Peacemaker bearing witness retreat?
The ability of people to bear witness to tragedy without looking away. Truly a humbling act that reminds me of our Lakota value of humility.