Embracing the Sacred Hoop

By Black Elk, Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux 1863-1950

"Have you noticed that everything an Indian does in a circle, and that is because the Power of the World always works in circles, and everything and everything tries to be round.
 
 In the old days, all our power came to us from the sacred hoop
 
 of the nation and so long as the hoop was unbroken the people
 flourished. The flowering tree was the living center of the hoop,
 and the circle of the four quarters nourished it. The east gave peace
 and light, the south gave warmth, the west gave rain and the north
 with its cold and mighty wind gave strength and endurance. This
 knowledge came to us from the outer world with our religion.
 Everything the power of the world does is done in a circle.
 
 The sky is round and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball
 and so are all the stars. The wind, in its greatest power, whirls.
 Birds make their nests in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours.
 
 The sun comes forth and goes down again in a circle. The moon
 does the same and both are round. Even the seasons form a great
 circle in their changing and always come back again to where they were.
 
 The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is
 in everything where power moves. Our teepees were round like the

nests of birds, and these were always set in a circle, the nation's hoop, a nest of many nests, where the Great Spirit meant for us to hatch our children."

Black Elk, Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux 1863-1950