Lakota Rituals and Ceremonies::

Vision Quest (Hanblecheyapi)

"The [vision] quest is a ritual entry into sacred time and space. It recreates a unified experience of time and eternity, nature and supernature, of first and present creation" (Epes Brown 1992:x-xi).¹

"It is through the vision quest...that the individual opens himself in the most direct manner to contact with the spiritual essences underlying the forms of the manifested world" (Epes Brown 1973:61).²

People vision-quest, or 'lament', states Black Elk, if they have a problem and wish to understand it better; they may lament prior to taking part in an ordeal such as war or the Sun Dance in order to gain courage; they may lament to ask a favour of the Wakantanka; or lament as a form of thanksgiving. "But perhaps the most important reason for 'lamenting' is that it helps us to realise our oneness with all things, to know that all things are our relatives" (Epes Brown 1953:46).³ Black Elk asserts that a vision-quester yearns for a sacred relationship with all things of the universe, including with the rivers, brooks, springs, trees, grasses and all peoples (Epes Brown 1953).

In Powers's account of the vision quest, the shaman escorts the participant up a sacred hill. They carry with them tobacco and flag offerings, four willow canes and the pipe bag containing the sacred pipe. At the top of the sacred hill they find the sacred vision-questing site. This vision pit is the sacred space in which a participant will stand and pray and rest for the duration of his or her vision quest (1982).⁴

The vision pit is prepared. Long grass is pulled away to reveal a trench big enough for a large man to lie in. Coloured cloths, or "spirit banners" as Walker (1980:85)⁵ calls them, are tied to the willow canes which are stuck in the earth at the four cardinal points: black for west, red for north, yellow for east, white for south.

A long string upon which are tied tobacco bundles is tied around each of the four willow canes delineating a square space. This will be the space in which the vision quester will remain, being careful not to fall asleep during the ordeal as "the vision would come to him only when he was fully awake, praying with the pipe to the Four Directions, the Above, the Earth, the Spotted Eagle, and all the Tunkasilas who might appear to instruct him about his future, and the future of his family and other kin in the community" (Powers 1982:50).

The shaman instructs the participant: he is not to spend too much time in the pit; each time he comes out he must offer his pipe to each of the four directions, beginning with the west and walking clockwise from flag to flag until one circuit has been made.

The shaman fills the sacred pipe with tobacco, lights it and begins "the prayer on the hill" (Powers 1982:50). He offers the pipe to Tunkasila Wakantanka then prays for the vision quester that his or her problems be solved and that he or she gains wisdom. He also prays that the participant is protected during his vision quest - watched over by Wakantanka and by the animals who are the friends of human beings.

Finally the shaman hands the participant the pipe and tobacco pouch saying that Wakantanka and the sacred pipe will protect him against evil, and the shaman leaves the hill.

According to Epes Brown (1992), spiritual relationship between the natural, supernatural and human worlds is central in the vision quest during which the initiate seeks wisdom and guidance from an animal helper, guardian or teacher.

During the vision quest "one must always be attentive and listen, for it is believed that the sacred powers may manifest themselves through any form or being of the natural world, which may appear visually or which may wish to communicate through some audible message" (Epes Brown 1992:xi). Even the smallest, most seemingly insignificant creature of nature, for example the ant, may communicate a little of the power of Wakantanka to the vision quester. For Wakantanka resides in every being, form, thing and event. Even though the vision encounter can involve seeing or hearing any form, it is more common to hear and see a wide range of animal and bird beings.

All the powers and beings of the world wish to communicate with humankind, but in order to establish a relationship the novice must be "attentive with all his being" (Epes Brown 1992:xii) and be in a state of humility. To facilitate such a state of being, sacrifice in the form of fasting is often necessary. The novice must neither eat nor drink for the duration of his or her quest. He must reside on a mountain in solitude. Through exposure and suffering the novice will come to feel the force of the elements.

Silence is "the very voice of the Great Mystery" (Epes Brown 1992:xii) and thus silence is the quester's greatest support both during the vision quest and during the course of life itself. However, this does not prevent the novice from praying and singing aloud if he or she so desires.

During a vision a cognitive shift occurs during which the Oglala Lakota "is no longer encountering the phenomenal animal, but rather archetypal 'essences' appearing in animal forms" (Epes Brown 1992:3). Such animal and bird beings experienced in a vision can subsequently become the recipient's 'guardian spirit'. This spirit will often communicate a special message that will serve as a reminder and a guide throughout the person's life.

In a dream or vision ('waking dreams') the animal or bird 'spirit-form' may appear associated with aspects of the powers of the four directions such as the Thunder-Beings. Likewise one species of animal may transform into another or may take on a plant form which becomes a sacred medicinal herb later identified and used in curing. The spirit-form animal, bird or plant may also enter, in the vision, one's own body (Epes Brown 1992).

Following the vision the recipient seeks the type of bird or animal which appeared to him or her and such an animal is prepared ritually by a medicine man. The animal form, or a part of it (for example a bear's tooth or paw) is carried or worn in a special bundle which becomes a concrete expression of the bearer's vision experience. This medicine bundle is the physical symbol of his or her vision and is "the most sacred thing he can ever possess" (Epes Brown 1992:58-59).

Those medicine bundles owned by medicine men are used specifically for curing. Sanctions for both the ritual procedures and the specific makeup of the bundle are derived from dreams or visions. Epes Brown (1992) mentions Little Warrior, an Oglala yuwipi man who died in 1952, and who had had hundreds of remedies revealed to him by animal or bird spirit-beings during frequent spiritual retreats.

During the ceremony that follows the vision quest, the recipient is expected to sing songs which have been received during the vision, to enact the vision experience through dance and drama, and to display specific paraphernalia. This serves several purposes: the reintensification of the initial experience, the integration of the 'superhuman' experience, and the opportunity for the larger social group to participate in the experience (Epes Brown 1992).

Cults or societies came into being when groups of people had common visions of the same animal-spirit. Similarly if a person had a vision or a dream of a certain animal then this animal would determine to which society he or she would belong. Examples of such societies or cults among the Lakota Sioux included Elk Cult, Black-tail Deer Cult, Buffalo Dreamers, Bear Cult and Kit Fox.

Members of a society would take part in ceremonial dances wearing dress representing their animal spirit and masquerading according to their cult animal. For example, for a dance participant of the Buffalo Dreamers "there was an inner identity with the bison or with his spirit principle" (Epes Brown 1992:68). Of the medicine men of the Bear Cult, who wore the entire skin of the bear, Wissler recorded: "They may run about the camp growling and chasing people. They may sit around like bears, and feeling around upon the ground, dig up a turnip and eat it with grunts like the bear. They may even fall upon a dog, tear it to pieces, eat the liver and some of the flesh raw. Also in battle they may attempt to frighten the enemy by such actions" (1916:860).⁶

Notes::

• 1 - Joseph Epes Brown. Animals of the Soul: Sacred Animals of the Oglala Sioux. Shaftesbury, Dorset: Element Books Ltd, 1992.
• 2 - Joseph Epes Brown. "Modes of Contemplation Through Actions: North American Indians" in Main Currents in Modern Thought. Vol.30, No.2, 1973.
• 3 - Joseph Epes Brown, ed. The Sacred Pipe: Black Elk's Account of the Seven Rites of the Oglala Sioux. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1953.
• 4 - William K. Powers. Yuwipi: Vision and Experience in Oglala Ritual. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1982.
• 5 - James R. Walker. Lakota Belief and Ritual. Edited by Raymond J. DeMallie and Elaine A. Jahner. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1980.
• 6 - Clark Wissler. "General Discussion of Shamanistic and Dancing Societies" in Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History. Vol.11, Part 12. p.860, 1916.