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White Bison's Hoop
Journey IV is about to begin. The first of 16 Wellbriety Days
gatherings takes place in St. Louis, Missouri on Friday April
4. The Journey concludes more than six weeks later in Oneida,
Wisconsin on Tuesday, May 20. All in all, the Hoop will be
carried over 6000 miles to 16 different Wellbriety Days events
in cities and towns East of the Mississippi. (Please see the
cover of this issue for a map) What's Hoop Journey IV about
and what will happen during each Wellbriety Day?
This year's Journey
of the Sacred Hoop is focused on Healing Native Men and Children.
Just as last year's Journey offered ceremony, presentations,
and wellness resources for Native women and children as it
traveled West of the Mississippi, this year's pilgrimage has
something for Native men. A typical Wellbriety Day gathering
looks like this:
9:00am-10:15am
Entrance of the Sacred Hoop and introduction of Sacred Hoop
Journey IV: Healing of Native Men and Children
10:15am-11:00am
The Wellbriety Movement: Hoop Journey III Video
11:05am-11:50am
Open microphone—sharing what you saw, heard, felt
12:00pm-1:30pm
Lunch (Pot Luck)
1:30pm-2:30pm Speaker
or Panel #1
2:30pm-3:30pm Speaker
or Panel #2
3:30pm-4:15pm Closing
Ceremony
During the entrance
ceremony, the 100 Eagle Feather Hoop of the Nations will be
carried in by members of your own community to begin the day.
The Hoop carries the gifts of Healing, Hope, Unity and the
Power to Forgive the Unforgivable. It has traveled Turtle
Island so many times since 1995 to communities like yours
that seek healing from substance abuse, domestic violence,
and other struggles of Indian and non Indian people. The Hoop's
Grand Entry marks the start of a day of miracles for the community.
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| The
100 Eagle Feather Hoop at home in the White Bison
office prepares to embark on Hoop Journey IV |
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A documentary video
that shows what took place during last year's Hoop Journey
begins the morning learning session. Then it's time for anyone
present to come up to the mic and share their heart with all
those present.
After a luncheon
feast there will be two special presentations on the theme
of Healing Native Men and Children. What happens at this time
is different for each and every community. This is an opportunity
for those in your community to present what they, or their
Circles and organizations are doing. It's a chance to learn
about men's wellness and what the men are doing with and for
local youth. Contact your local coordinator (see
next article) if you or your Circle of Wellness would
like to get on the program.
| "The
Hoop carries the gifts of Healing, Hope, Unity and the
Power to Forgive the Unforgivable. It has traveled Turtle
Island so many times since 1995 to communities like yours
that seek healing from substance abuse, domestic violence,
and other struggles of Indian and non Indian people." |
When the learning
events of the speaker or panel discussions are complete, it's
time for the Hoop to exit in ceremony. But there are usually
some surprises at this time because good things have been
happening for participants all day and there is often something
more to be said before the day is complete.
Making Relatives
is one of the themes that will come up during Hoop Journey
IV this year. Men will be encouraged to seek out children
who might not have a male role model in their life. If they
feel able, individual men might consider making a commitment
to some youngster who could use a little more help. How will
this work in each tribal community? It's up to the local traditions
and ways to make it happen in a manner that is appropriate
for each area. This will be one of the topics of discussion
during each Wellbriety Day event.
The success of each
Hoop Journey IV visit depends on your own local community.
There are coordinators in each community who will find a location
for the visit and will bring together other community volunteers
to make it happen. Not all communities have coordinators as
we go to press, so there is still opportunity for individuals
to take on that role or to assist established coordinators
as a Hoop Journey Volunteer.
| "Making
Relatives is one of the themes that will come up during
Hoop Journey IV this year. Men will be encouraged to seek
out children who might not have a male role model in their
life. If they feel able, individual men might consider
making a commitment to some youngster who could use a
little more help." |
Susan Leading Fox
is Program Manager for Recovery Services for the Eastern Cherokee
Nation in Cherokee, North Carolina. She is currently planning
for the coming of the Hoop on Wednesday, April 9 to the Nation,
the southernmost visit. She says, "I think it's going to be
great. We're really excited. We've already started planning
for the day. People want to know what is White Bison? Why
are White Bison's programs important to us? There isn't yet
the exposure here that there needs to be or could be for the
Wellbriety Movement. It's an opportunity for us to learn about
the White Bison wellness resources that are offered."
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| Community
members carry the Hoop during a previous visit to
Cherokee, NC, during Hoop Journey II in the summer
of 2000 |
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The Hoop's visit
to New York City is likely to be an opportunity for healing
on a world wide scale. The planning is under way at this time
for the Hoop to go to the Ground Zero World Trade Center site
and for healing ceremonies and talks to take place.
Rosemary Richmond,
Executive Director of the American Indian Community House
in Manhattan, is helping secure a permit for this Native American
event at Ground Zero. She has assisted with Native American
visits to the site on numerous occasions since September 11,
2001 and has a large view of the importance of Ground Zero.
"It's important that
Native Americans have an opportunity to participate in the
blessing of Ground Zero," she says. "This impacted on everyone
in the country, however it impacted greatly on American Indian
people who were down there during the rescue period, primarily
the ironworkers who were doing the physical work. There were
Indian people from all over the country who came in and provided
assistance periodically from time to time throughout the long
period of recovery attempts."
Ms. Richmond talks
about the need for healing ceremonies at Ground Zero. She
says, "There are many people, spirits, who are there that
need the attention. The majority of the people who were killed
in that event were not Native American. But there were Indian
people who were workers in the restaurants, and who are for
various reasons undocumented, whose spirits are there that
need to have that kind of attention." The application for
a permit is with the New York City authorities so keep checking
the White Bison website for up-to-date information.
| "It's
important that Native Americans have an opportunity to
participate in the blessing of Ground Zero. There are
many people, spirits, who are there that need the attention." |
When the Hoop Journey
visits Buffalo, New York on Tuesday, May 8, it will receive
a big welcome from Six Nations people and coordinator Valerie
Staats. Valerie Staats runs the Native culture component of
the Freedom Way addictions treatment program at the Margaret
A. Stutzman Addiction Center in Buffalo. Sturtzman is a 33
bed state run inpatient facility that presently has three
Native Americans in residence. The cultural component of treatment
at the center uses the White Bison Medicine Wheel and 12 Step
video programs for both women and men, as well as books such
as The Sacred Tree, Wounded Warriors, and now The Red Road
to Wellbriety as core curriculum.
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| Three
books used in the culture-based Freedom Way Program
at the Stutzman Addictions Treatment Center in Buffalo,
NY |
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Looking forward
to the Wellbriety Day visit, Ms Staats says, "We are so honored
to have White Bison carry the Sacred Hoop through Iroquois
territories (Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and
Tuscarora original territories). We expect to have people
from all directions including Canada participating on that
day."
She goes on to make
a connection between the Peacemaker, who brought unity to
the Iroquois Nations long before the white man arrived on
Turtle Island, and the coming of the Hoop. "We're very grateful
that the Hoop is coming our way," she says. "It's very symbolic
that the Hoop is coming into our home. In our traditions there
were people who traveled from community to community to bring
the message. The Peacemaker came to us and went from community
to community. Through those travels and through that way of
walking through the communities and bringing to us the Great
Law of Peace and the principles of the Good Mind, people we're
able to become of one mind and to be able to sing the same
peace song," she concludes.
| "The
Peacemaker came to us and went from community to community.
Through those travels and through that way of walking
through the communities and bringing to us the Great Law
of Peace and the principles of the Good Mind, people were
able to become of one mind and to be able to sing the
same peace song." |
Valerie Staats also
talks about Making Relatives among the Six Nations peoples.
"Making relatives is integral within our Confederacy," she
says. "It's the children to whom were all responsible. In
our healing ways it's the formation of that whole network
of aunties and uncles. When our own immediate family is not
able to be there, for whatever reason, that network of support
for the children extends out because the children are sacred
in our tradition. It helps us answer the question, 'what role
can I play to leave this world a better place to children
for seven generations to come?'" Hoop Journey IV is the fourth
in a series of cross-country journeys for sobriety, recovery,
healing and Wellbriety that began in 1999. The Wellbriety
Movement expresses the desire of Native people and others
to find recovery from substance abuse and other unhealthy
behavior, and then to commit to making the life-long journey
to further wellness in a Red Road way.
Visit the White Bison
website, www.whitebison.org or call toll free 1-877-871-1495
to find up-to-the minute information and stories about Hoop
Journey IV, as well as to learn about White Bison's many programs,
books, videos, audiotapes and other tools for healing.
Richard
Simonelli
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