I believe that this is the eighth year that I will be going to do the Sun-Moon Dance, a prayer dance established by Joseph Rael, also known as Beautiful Painted Arrow, at Sweet Beautiful Waters Peace Chamber in Tucson Arizona.
I have written about the dances Joseph Rael established, and my experiences with dancing them in this book. If you know me, and are in touch with me, I'd be glad to give you a copy. Or you can buy it on Amazon. The book explains why I dance, and how I got involved in these dances, and what is involved.
My sister's blog article. My sister, Mathilda Wheeler supported me back in 2018, and described her experience with the dance.
But suppose you don't have time for all of that, and just want to know what I will be doing.
We gather on a Thursday morning at the dance site in the Sonoma Desert, which is about as close as a desert can get to being a forest. A double circle of posts has been set into the ground around a small tree. We spend most of the day preparing this area for the dance. The dancers will all be sleeping and resting within the double circle of the posts for the duration of the dance. We hang shade cloths, and we mark out the individual sleeping areas for each dancer. We decorate the posts and the tree with prayer ties and strips of cloth in the traditional colors of the medicine wheel. A team is sent out into the desert to collect wild flowers to make an "eagle's nest" that is tied into the tree.
We meet and talk about the dance. People who will be supporting us in various ways meet to talk about the dance.
We prepare ourselves for the dance by praying in a sweat lodge ceremony. The sweat lodge and door are particularly beautiful at Sweet Beautiful Waters.
When everyone is almost ready for the dance, the Dance Chief leads each of us to the spot that will be our home until the dance is over. Then we gather all of our stuff--prayer ties we have made in preparation for the dance, our clothes for the dance, our sleeping bags and sleeping mattresses or pads, all of our gear. We move in. We get ready for the long fast. Among other things, we brush our teeth well. During the dance, we will fast from food, water, and talking.
There are no photos of the dance. This is a sacred time and sacred space.
During the. dance, when the drummers are drumming and chanting, the dancers move from their individual places to the tree, and then turn around and dance back. We dance blessings to the tree, which represents the source of all life. For me, that is God, and I think particularly of Jesus on the cross. Then we dance blessing out to the world. And turn around to repeat the process. There are no prescribed steps. You dance in whatever way your heart leads you.
You dance for as long as the drum is playing. We don't have watches. But I think it is never much longer than an hour at a time, and sometimes much less than that. When the drum stops playing, the dancers freeze in place, and given instructions. Usually, we are told to go back to our places until the drum calls us once again. In our places, we can attend to business (bathroom breaks, suntan lotion, organizing our things), think, pray, and sleep. I find that I do a LOT of sleeping during the dance. Chairs are not allowed, so we are encouraged to lie still. We are not allowed to write. It's a time to be in the moment.
When I see that the drummers are returning to the circle, I try to get ready to dance again. Get my shoes on, and my hat and sun glasses. Get my whistle ready. Whatever else is needed. Sometimes I am sleeping so soundly that I don't notice that they are arriving, and the first beat of the drum catches me off guard. Then I have to scramble to get myself up and ready to dance again.
We only dance during the light part of the day. When it's getting dark, we will be told, "Go to your places, the drum will call you in the morning. Sometimes one of the people supporting us will play soft music as we are drifting off to sleep. Outside the circle there is a fire that is kept burning all night by support people taking shifts.
In the morning, we'll be wakened by a soft drumming encouraging us to wake up. The gentle smell of sage will fill the air as the circle is smudged. A number of ceremonial blessings go on. Warm wet towels are passed out to all of us, so that we can wash our faces and wake up. When we are all ready to begin dancing, we will get a handful of cornmeal with which to bless our path.
We dance from Thursday late afternoon, all day on Friday, all day on Saturday, and then at some point on Sunday morning, the dance is finished. When the dance is finished, the dancers all gather in a line for the water ceremony. We kneel, and the dance Chief pours water over our heads, thanks us for our dance, and hands us a cup of water. We drink slowly and gratefully. Some of us pour out an offering of part of that first drink. We sit in our places as we adjust to not being in the dance. Eventually we are given watermelon to eat. Eventually, we are released to talk with each other and to talk with our support person.
Things happen slowly.
Hugs are exchanged, and sometimes small gifts. The dancers adjourn to the Peace Chamber to talk (and not talk) about the dance. We are warned not to talk about the particularly deep experiences we may have had. It is better to let these ripen in our spirits for a time (6 months is recommended). We are warned not to "give away our dance" by sharing too much. We are also warned that we need to keep saying to ourselves "I am visible" because people can tend not to see us on the road or in a crowded place.
There is much more to the dance than this shows, since what is really going on is spiritual.
All I can really say is that God has met me every year through this dance.
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