PREMISE
"The Circle has no beginning and has no end"! Hello, my family, I have come to ask permission to give you my humble opinion about the Sacred Circle. I want to start with a premise: first, we need to know that Native American culture is "a spiritual culture" where everything is united. Their spirituality is rich in topics without limits. It seems complex but instead it is quite simple. To try to understand it, we must first know ourselves and then go on the good path with a Native American heart. The Oglala words "Mitakuye Oyasin" mean mitakuye oyasin! You can not translate it exactly with the fullness of its meaning,you have to live it spiritually. We can translate it with these words for example; We are all relatives, we are all family, and even dare to say consaguineous but; they are just words that bring us closer to the true definition. And yet, if we meditate a bit on the concept, then we begin to understand what it means, without the need of words. To understand this well it helps a lot to know yourself, if you know who you are then for you mitakuye oyasin will be "Mitakuye Oyasin". The same goes for the Sacred Circle!.
Back to the premise: among many things, the Sacred Circle also teaches us that it resembles our existence from birth to death...
From childhood to old age. And old age takes you back to childhood!
An example to bring clarification:
I like children very much and I also become like a child when I am with them.
They thirst for knowledge and observe everything, nothing escapes them.
They have a beautiful imagination and are able to understand us and forgive us better than we do them.
A boy or girl may be surrounded by many toys but, if their attention is fixed on an object, which for us may be irrelevant, as for example; A twig, a small stone or a dry leaf, that object acquires "Life" in their little hands. And with their imagination they enter a wonderful world "around them" where this object becomes someone, the protagonist of the game and "everything that surrounds them" becomes part of the game and also acquires "Life", for Example: a chair, a table, the walls of the room or, a sneaker.
Very often they do not throw away this small object, rather they keep it and play with it again for many days, keeping "Alive" the story and many other details of their game.
I am sure you have observed this behavior in children.
Once again back premise; I want to share with you an experience of my past with a Native American friend. I do not remember the exact words of our conversation, but I do remember the message that he wanted to give me; He told me that for them everything is a circle and that even when they walk, think or talk, they are aware of everything that surrounds them. As if to say that they think at 360 ° almost as if nothing were excluded.
It may seem hard to believe, right?
He told me that I, on the other hand, thought in a straight line!
It looks like geometry isn't it? ...
He also told me: "you (the whites) often say that a picture tells more than a thousand words". "But how often do you stand in front of a picture to hear what it has to say?" And, "how many times do you stop to really listen to what surrounds you".
At that time I was 19 years old and he was my father's age.
SACRED CIRCLE
Native American nations are rich in traditions that are also very different from each other, but they share a wide range of symbols and concepts that belong to their "spiritual culture." One of these very important symbols, if not the most important one is the Sacred Circle. The Sacred Circle contains everything, it has no beginning or end. We do not live in a linear world. Rather, in a Great Universal Circle and everything it contains helps maintain the balance and harmony of everything. The CREATOR is the center! Everything is a circle, the world is a circle, the sun in its transit is a circle, the moon in its transit is a circle. Some time ago I read that, for this reason, the Lakotas were building their villages in a circle and also their tipis whose base is in the shape of a circle. In fact, they thought that the white man was not in contact with the world and that he was not even at peace with himself, an opinion that is reinforced by the preference of whites to have houses with corners, which are square or oblong. Now back to the subject, all the beautiful living creatures live together and are part of this Great Circle of Life. In it, the four fundamental keys of our existence coexist: awareness; harmony and balance; purpose and respect! The "awareness" of ourselves and the world around us.
THE 4 DIRECTION OF MOTHER EARTH
"Harmony and balance" are not abstract philosophical concepts for Native Americans, but are formulas for a good daily life. This important key is composed of 4 categories of harmonious balance that we can identify with the "internal" harmonious balance; that allows us to be at peace with our bodies, our thoughts and our emotions. The "social" that is necessary to help us live together and work together with everyone. The "natural" that helps coexistence between human beings and the natural world; The world of the animal "people" and plants "people" with the world of human "people" and as a whole, with all the natural characteristics that surround us. And lastly the "spiritual" harmonious balance that must be established between human beings and the spiritual world. And for many Native American nations even with the dead. In the Sacred Circle what goes away, comes back... In it there are the "4 directions" of Mother Earth. Our 4 stages of life; The physical, the mental, the emotional and the spiritual. When the spark of life, which is the Spirit, strikes the womb of our mothers, our "physical" life begins. The body begins to form and grow. After birth we enter the "mental" phase because we learn to speak the language and develop our senses. Then, as we grow up, we enter the "emotional" phase because we interact with the world around us and in what we become in our society. Finally we enter the "spiritual" stage that is personal and places its nest in the heart and in the mind. Each of these phases must be developed equally in each healthy and balanced human being through the stages of development of our life. Putting ourselves in balance in each area puts us in balance. The same emphasis of development must be given to each of the four directions of Mother Earth ... To walk on the good path in balance!
THE SACRED CIRCLE IS ENERGY
The Sacred Circle is energy, if we throw a stone in a pond, we see, after the impact, some circumferences that form and move away from the center ... The smallest form of energy has a circular shape. In the sacred circle are also the sacred colors of the world; Green, yellow, red, blue and black all connected forming unity. All things are interconnected and depend on each other. Although everything has its own character and occupies a special place, everything depends on everything else. This interdependence is the unity of the universe. Everything constitutes a unique part of the whole and without one of them, all the others are affected. If something is damaged in a section of the circle, it has an effect on something else in another part of the circle. If there is an imbalance in one area, it will cause imbalance in other areas. That is why we need to maintain and protect harmony and balance among all things. The Sacred Circle encompasses all aspects of the physical and spiritual world. EVERYTHING surrounds it! In the past, a very particular dance that was performed in private was danced by the Hoop Dancers. The dance was, in itself, a ceremony of prayers to honor the sacred circle and whose purpose was to help restore harmony and balance in the world. A way to restore positive energy to the universe! With dance and prayer it was important to go with the flow of nature by giving positive energy to the universe and restoring harmony and balance in the Sacred Circle. Going against this flow destroy this universal energy. We must always restore this flow because often the circle is damaged and broken ... Which is very often our fault!!! These dancers were true helpers and used large circles for their dances quite similar to those used by girls who play with the hula hoop.
