IN JANUARY 2017 I PARTICIPATED IN AN EXHIBITION “BLACK ELK, LAKOTA WARRIOR, MIGHTY VISIONARY” AT THE CANYON CROSSROADS MUSEUM AT CELEBRATION PARK IN IDAHO. I CREATED THIS TARPAGE “GREAT CIRCLE OF LIFE” INSPIRED BY THE FEVERED VISION BLACK ELK HAD WHEN HE WAS JUST 9 YEARS OLD.
HE SAW SPIRIT HORSES GALLOPING FROM THE FOUR SACRED DIRECTIONS — FROM THE WEST SNORTING LIGHTNING, FROM THE NORTH SWIRLING IN SNOW, FROM THE EAST GLOWING LIKE THE MORNING AT DAWN WITH STARRY EYES, AND FROM THE SOUTH WITH MANES FLOWING LIKE PRAIRIE GRASSES. AS THE HORSES VANISHED A FIREY RAINBOW ARCED ABOVE HIM AND HE SAW SIX ANCIENT GRANDFATHERS WHO GAVE HIM GIFTS OF POWER — A WOODEN CUP OF WATER WITH THE POWER TO GIVE LIFE, A BOW AND ARROW WITH THE POWER TO DESTROY, A RED STICK WHICH SPROUTED GREEN LEAVES REPRESENTING THE TREE OF LIFE WHICH WOULD FLOWER IF ALL PEOPLE SHARED THE VISION.
BLACK ELK WAS JUST A LITTLE BOY WHEN HE HAD THIS VISION AND IT TOOK A LONG TIME FOR HIM TO HAVE THE COURAGE TO SHARE IT WITH HIS PEOPLE, THE OGLALA SIOUX, A TRIBE IN THE LAKOTA NATION. WHEN HE WAS ABLE TO SHARE, A CEREMONIAL TIPI WAS SET UP AND IMAGES FROM HIS VISION WERE PAINTED ON IT.
IMAGINE THIS TARPAGE IS LIKE THE MATERIAL THAT TIPI WAS MADE FROM, AND THE IMAGES ON IT ARE LIKE THOSE WHICH WERE PAINTED ON IT. AND THE EYES? BLACK ELK’S, MINE, YOURS. MAY WE ALL SHARE THE VISION.
The Great Vision by Black Elk
(A BLACK OUT POEM redacted by SASI)
The summer I was nine years old
a voice came and said:
“It is time; now they are calling you.”
I was lying in our teepee and I could see
through the opening two men coming
from the clouds.
They said: “Hurry! Come!
Your Grandfathers are calling you!”
I went outside the teepee.
A little cloud was coming very fast.
It stooped and took me to where
there was nothing but the air,
the swiftness of the little cloud,
and those two men.
Suddenly there was nothing
but a world of cloud.
We three were alone in a great white plain.
It was very still; but there were whispers.
Then the two men spoke together and they said:
“Behold them! Their history you shall know.”
I looked, and there were black horses.
Their manes were lightning
and there was thunder in their nostrils.
There were white horses.
Their manes flowing
like a blizzard wind.
The sorrel horses stood abreast
with eyes that glimmered like
the daybreak star,
and manes of morning light.
And yonder, buckskins
with manes that lived and grew
like trees and grasses.
The sky was filled with glowing
clouds of manes and tails.
Crowded with many colored,
happy horses, nickering.
A whole sky full of horses
dancing round me.
I looked up and saw the rainbow leap
with flames of many colors over me.
There was a wooden cup full of water,
and in the water was the sky.
Then the Grandfather of the North spoke:
“On earth a nation you shall make live.
Yours shall be the power
of the white giant’s wing,
the cleansing wing.”
Then the Grandfather of where the sun shines
held in his hand a peace pipe
which had a spotted eagle outstretched
upon the stem, fluttering.
Its eyes looking at me.
I saw a bright red stick that was alive.
It sprouted at the top and sent forth branches,
and leaves came out and murmured.
“The black horses,” a voice said, “have given you
the cup of water to make live the greening day.
The bow and arrow to destroy.”
The sorrels had morning stars upon their foreheads.
And the voice said: “They have given you
the sacred pipe,
the power that is peace,
and the good red day.”
“The buckskins,” a voice said, “have given you
the sacred stick
and your nation’s hoop,
and the yellow day.
In the center of the hoop you shall set the stick
and make it grow into a shielding tree, and bloom.”
So I took the bright red stick
and at the center of the nation’s hoop
I thrust it in the earth.
It leaped mightily in my hand
and was the rustling tree,
very tall, full of leafy branches,
and of all birds singing.
The animals were making happy cries.
The women raised their tremolo of joy.
The men all shouted together
“Here we shall raise our children.”
The flaming rainbow door was growing dimmer.
I went through the door
And the sun leaped up and looked upon me.
I heard the sun singing as it arose.
It sang:
“With visible face I am appearing.
In a sacred manner I appear.
For the greening earth,
a pleasantness I make.
With visible face, behold me!”
“The four-legged and two-legged,
I have made them to walk.
The wings of the air,
I have made them to fly.
With visible face I appear.
My day I have made it holy.”
The singing stopped.
“Look back!” a spotted eagle
hovering over me spoke.
I looked and where the
flaming rainbow and cloud had been,
I saw only the tall rock mountain.
I was all alone now
with my feet upon the earth.
I could see my village far ahead.
I walked very fast.
Then I saw my own teepee,
and my mother and father
bending over a boy that was myself.
I was coming to.
Then I was sitting up,
and my mother and father
didn’t seem to know I had been so far away.
HERE’S A LINK TO THE GREAT VISION BY BLACK ELK.
I’VE PHOTOGRAPHED THE 8 PAGES FROM WHICH I BLACKED OUT THE POEM SO IF YOU’RE INTERESTED YOU CAN COMPARE THE BLACK OUT WITH THE 13 UNTOUCHED PAGES IN THE LINK ABOVE.
A Maze of Chambers 