Category: Sun Moon Dance

Shhhhhhh…

October 2nd, 2025

When you intentionally enter into space, into silence; and you sit with it, one of the things that begins to happen is that all those things that we keep buried down beneath the crushing weight – the purposely assumed crushing weight – of all the noise and activity in our lives, without any of that there, those things begin to stir. And if we really sit with the silence, they can come up.

Even the mind is going to turn against us. The Monkey Mind starts to chatter, to jam as much stuff, disconnected thoughts, whatever, between us and that silence. But eventually, if you can get beyond it, and you can really begin to work at it – to slip into the silence, those things move. We can find ourselves experiencing old body memories, somatic releases, emotional memories.

And that’s the other thing silence will do for us. It can act as a container. It can act as a vessel. And so those things that now have room to move, and to come up, now, because we’ve eliminated all the external noise – all of the external static – they have room to come out.

And we get to see that. And we get to feel that…
Sacred space…

June 25th, 2025

I’m at the point in my life where cashiers younger than I am call me “Sweetheart”. Thankfully, I’m also at another point in my life: the one where I can graciously accept it. For a while, I wasn’t sure about this whole getting older thing. It was all kind of weird, actually – sort of a second teenagerhood. I was too young to fraternize with the Elders, and too old to hang around with the young’uns.

But sixty-two has proven to be something of a magic number; almost a kind of sweet spot. My body certainly doesn’t lie; I’m sixty-two not twenty-two. And I occasionally have to rest between rounds of yardwork…especially when the heat index approaches anything north of ninety-five degrees. But instead of catching myself thinking, “Shit, I must be getting old,” as I often used to do, now I simply smile and think, “Well, it’s not like I have a deadline…“

Those of us with garages or sheds that double as workshops understand that free space is a privilege. Mine, for example, is packed to the rafters with odd-sized lengths of various kinds of wood, tubs of billets waiting to be turned into spoons, carving tools, a meager but appropriate assortment of power tools, a lawnmower, a couple semi-retired bikes, a rolling shop table, other bits of assorted stuff too numerous to mention, and a nearly ready-to-braid harvest of this year’s garlic. I’ve gotten used to walking – and working – in there through dedicated practice. It’s easy for things to pile up after a while. Still, with a bit of adjustment, I can find the room to put my feet up with a craft beer or a cup of coffee, look upon my work, and call it good.

There’s a sacredness to the spaces in between things. They’re little doorways that allow the Medicine in. They give us time to rest and breathe, to harvest what was planted in the action, to take it in and let it nourish these bodies of ours which move, perhaps, just a little bit slower these days…
Nice work, if you can get it…

June 5th, 2025

A few days ago, I found myself standing on sacred ground. Not that it isn’t all sacred, of course. But this specific piece of ground carries with it a particularly personal sense of sacredness and grace, as it also happens to be the arbor where we hold the Sun Moon Dance every July.

The Dance itself is one of the teachings passed onto us by Grandfather Joseph Rael (aka Beautiful Painted Arrow). During the course of the Sun Moon Dance, the Dancers move back and forth to a tree at the center of a circular arbor. As they do, they receive the Creator’s descending Light and release it into the world for the highest good of All Our Relations. The ceremony is often difficult, as the Dancers are also conducting a silent fast.

I’ve no way of knowing on a cosmic level what the results of all this might be. However, having danced several times myself, I can honestly say without any exaggeration that this Dance has not only transformed my life, but saved it.

In preparation for this year’s ceremony, a few of us got together to make some well-needed repairs to the arbor. We shored up some timbers and laid in a bunch of new purlins across the top.

As we gathered for the day’s work, one of the stewards of the land pulled me aside and took me over to where some of the trees had been dropped along the edge of the driveway. A few of my spoons see frequent use in their kitchen, and he’s always quick to offer me some additional material for my craft. This time, I came away with some beautiful cuts of Maple. Overall, there was enough wood for sixteen good-sized billets, which are now sitting in my workshop, patiently anticipating the hook knife and the carving axe.

There’s something deeply rewarding about spending the non-refundable minutes of one’s life in service. It presents us with an opportunity to give back to the Creator – and out to the whole of Creation – the only true currency we really have. Even though some of the blessings we receive might not make themselves readily apparent, others inevitably do. And it is these obvious milestones which keep us moving forward along the path…
Watering the garden…

May 13th, 2025

As I write this, a gentle rain soaks the garden.

I’d planned to get out to the workshop today, but somehow that turned into sitting on the patio and editing the second draft of a writing project I’ve been working on since a year ago last February.

It’s a funny thing, this process of recovery. Learning to sit and allowing the work to proceed of its own accord. Days of deep and soulful stillness following days of wildly untethered ambition. There’s dancing and resting at the heart of it. Putting it out and taking it in. The ebbs and flows of the tides of self-discovery.

The rain is falling a little bit harder now, and there’s more of a wind behind it. At the end of the yard, a Cherry tree spreads itself against the unbroken grey of a cloud-filled sky. Birdsongs and sirens intermingle with the constant patter of raindrops against the awning.

My coffee is empty. My heart is full. And the garden is sufficiently watered…

Category: Sun Moon Dance

Shhhhhhh…

Sacred space…

Nice work, if you can get it…

Watering the garden…