Fancy posting during these strange and surreal times! Somehow I did not foresee a global pandemic complete with “shelter-in-place” mandates!
🌎 🌍 🌏
So, as a non-essential worker under quarantine, I’ve taken a detour and have been organizing and cleaning on many levels. That goes for my house, my studio, my yard and my computer files…the messiest place that I reside by far!
That’s how I came across “Inner City Ghost Dance”, and I realized it carried significance for these times we’re in…
“Inner City Ghost Dance”
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Historical Context
Historically, the Ghost Dance of 1890 was a new religious movement incorporated into numerous Native American belief systems.Â
According to the prophet Wovoka’s teachings, proper practice of the dance would reunite the living with the spirits of the dead and bring peace, prosperity, and unity. The basis for the Ghost Dance, the Circle Dance, is a traditional ritual which has been used by many Native Americans since prehistoric times.
Green Screen Technology
In this photo I have inserted green screen photos of myself into a photo I took of a wall in downtown Durham. Notice I’ve even walked through a crack in the wall here…and there is a “spirit vapor” wafting through the window and circling around above me.
In this piece I’ve inserted green screen poses of myself into a photo I took of a wall in downtown Durham. Notice, as a dancing ghost, I’ve even moved through a crack in the wall here…and there is a “ghost vapor” wafting through the window and circling around above me.
This singular inner city ghost dance signifies my desire to connect with the spirit world in this day and age where the predominant paradigm has been running rough shod over the spirit side of life, numbing the mind and “steam rolling” the soul.
Sky Dwellers, Water Dweller, and Earth Dweller!
More On the Original Ghost Dance, by Cathy McCarthy (Huron)
The Ghost Dance is a particularly relevant thing to ruminate over during a time when something beyond our control is taking the lives of our Elders and of our younger brothers and sisters. The dance was done to call the ancestors, especially those who had died at the hands of another uncontrollable force, back to the dance of life. Included were prayers for the return of the buffalo -the principle sustenance of Plains tribes as well as other people.
The dance itself comprised a circle of people moving east to west, like the daily journey of the sun. In some cases people joined hands as they circled, chanting to the drumbeat in a slower version of a round dance (if you have ever been to a PowPow or inipi ceremony you would have seen this dance form). They would dance in this way without food or water until they collapsed into a state where they would dream (hallucinate?). This is how they could intermingle with their dead ancestors.
To Native people, dancing is a prayer. Each dance type speaks to a different prayer. For example, the jingle dress is a dance for healing, physical and emotional. That’s why you are seeing so many Native communities posting videos of jingle dancing lately.
The ghost dance was a prayer to heal the earth, to bring back the buffalo, bring back the ancestors and the way of life that had sustained them since the beginning of time. This was interpreted by the white authorities as seditious and led to the massacre at Wounded Knee on December 29, 1890. The ghost dance shirt symbolizes the union of the 4 earth elements, the 4 directions and the 4 races of man. It’s another way to say BALANCE. That is the balance that the dancers were praying for. Prayers are most powerful when the supplicant sacrifices something important, in this case by fasting and seeking the meeting place between the material world and the spirit world. If the ghost dance is occurring today, it is in secret to honor the ultimate sacrifice of the Miniconjou Sioux who were killed at Wounded Knee. With all that is going on to destroy our natural world today, we can sure use these prayers.
-Cathy McCarthy
Spirit Is Manifest in the Laws of the Universe
Currently, due to COVID-19, many of us are being forced to hit the pause button on our lives…and for those of us who live alone, go on a solo journey inward. This can be an opportunity to reflect more and cultivate our connection to spirit…to contemplate the “Great Mysterious.”
As Einstein himself said (which has been kept under wraps for years):
“Everyone who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in the laws of the universe – a spirit vastly superior to that of man.”
…WOW!
I hope you enjoyed this post…and I thank you for your continued interest in the “Art of Transformation” newsletter.
Please stay well, and may peace and patience be yours for the unforeseeable future.
Alyssa Hinton
