Trickster, Renewal and Survival
Abstract
The nation was only a part of the universe, in itself circular and made of the earth, which is round, of the sun, which is round, of the stars, which are round. The moon, the horizon, the rainbow-circles within circles within circles, with no beginning and no end. - Lame Deer ... 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. - Black Elk If the universe could be distilled from its infinite complexity to one basic symbol, that symbol would be the circle. The circle is endlessness and unity, having no point of arrival or departure and no divisions. It underlies all matter-the shape of the earth, sun and stars, the nucleus of the atom-and all process-the orbits of the moon, planets and electrons, the rain cycle, the life of a man; anything, in fact, which ends where it begins. For Black Elk, the circle's end le ssness makes it holy, for therein lies the mystery of the world. "Everything the Power of the World does is done in a circle." Within the concentric rings of the universe man spends his life. The relationship between man and nature is represented by a Chinese ideogram showing a cross positioned between two arcs-heaven above and earth below. The cross represents opposition, sets up polarities, a matrix upon which life structures itself. These are the axes of physics, of time and space, against which man's captivity in linear time may he plotted; this is the crucifix, the struggle of the human with the divine, the struggle of the forces of the earth and sky between which man must find a place. The grandfathers in Black Elk's vision name these axes the red and black roads, respectively the spiritual and earthly paths, both of which his people must walk (p. 24).