skyeeagleday

I first read this when it was originally published in 1981, and have been meaning to re-read it since it was republished at the end of 2012. As an American Indian I was raised that one of the reasons we need to know our traditional stories is that they are a type of map that teach us where we've been, where we are, and where we should be going. It's very rare--it may happen only once in a lifetime--but at one point, you may realize you are actually living a story. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say there are times you are in the process of being told yourself. Just so, if you are not aware of The Story, you may feel your life is suddenly chaotic, or that you are going crazy. If you know The Story you are experiencing, you don't have to have a "breakdown," but you can have a "breakthrough."

A very common design element in Native Art can be described as an hourglass shape--two identical triangles that are touching at a point. One of the meanings of this design is "as above, so below," a reflection of a physical reality and the spiritual one. But the graphic design in two-dimensional. On a three-dimensional world, we understand things move in circles, and Black Elk explained the wind when it moves in its greatest power, moves in a circle. This means, since your own life is a small circle, when it "syncs" with the Great Circle of the Life, it won't be able to stay in "sync" for very long. It's also one of the reasons why this sort of overlap is rare.

This is one of the reasons why I was so moved by Ms. Silko's work when it first came out.  She is one of the finest writers I know who is able to show how The Stories one knows can shape and explain one's behaviors in the "real world." The best single example of this I have found, is "Yellow Woman."

When I was on faculty at The Evergreen State College, we required all first year students to read a series of books we felt would provide a foundation they would need to survive the college and its culture. Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony was one of those books. I actually prefer Storyteller.

I would highly recommend both books.