Black Elk was a ‘wichasa wakhan’ — medicine or holy man — of the Oglala Lakota, born in late 1863 on the Little Powder River in Wyoming. He had been taken ill at age nine, unresponsive and lying in a coma for several days. During that… Read More »
Black Elk was a ‘wichasa wakhan’ — medicine or holy man — of the Oglala Lakota, born in late 1863 on the Little Powder River in Wyoming. He had been taken ill at age nine, unresponsive and lying in a coma for several days. During that… Read More »
For a long time now I’ve been immersed in, and guided by, the Heroic Journey archetype. I’ve taught its outline in preparation for vision quests, used its organizational structure as a template for writing a book, and applied it as a master… Read More »
Hearing each day about wildfires raging across the West, I thought to share this piece… written on a vision quest while a fire raged on a mesa above us…
It’s a new beginning, a new day. A barrel cactus blooms, an eruption of vermilion splashed on the sage-green palette of this desert… gentle, subtle, and quiet in its beauty. Sunlight dances on spider webs, and a prickly pear raises its… Read More »
For a long time, I’ve tried to apply the mantra, “Energy flows where attention goes,” to my life, and considered my attention as perhaps the only thing I actually could control or take credit for. In service of that, for 30+ years I’ve begun most days by lighting sage and giving thanks to the world around and within me.
I recently read a blog post written by a local friend… Read More »
The waters break as pregnant clouds let loose and shower the desert with cold and drenching rebirth. The river swells and bursts with life, the current rising as brown mud and silt slide over sandbar and gravel. Staunch in its power and resolute in its course, it envelopes the banks and swallows the thirsty grasses and shrubs.
The harsh summer of drought is soothed in this watery fall, the fever… Read More »
