Native American Bearing Witness Retreat 2022

Praying for Sacred Harmony and Worldwide Peace | Day 4

"To Bear Witness is to have a strong glimpse into the truth that the life of the other is actually our own life itself, that we are, indeed, one body. Our Bearing Witness retreats take place in places where deep human trauma occurred and where healing is endlessly needed. With our retreats we intend to contribute to this healing."

This morning we moved on from South Dakota and to Devil's Tower, Wyoming.

The drive took about an hour and a half. The air went from hot and dry to hot and sticky. The raindrops threatened to pour down from the sky as soon as we got there.

Framed against the backdrop of the gray sky, Devil's Tower looked like a scene straight out of a Hollywood movie. This place is one of the many Lakota sacred sites we've been blessed to visit and the land is filled with prayers, stories, and their devotion.

I personally prayed we didn't get poured on like we had been drenched early this morning while circling up before we left South Dakoka because brown girl hair is a thing once it gets wet and I did not have the strength (nor the products) to go into stylist mode.

Miraculously, the rain held off long enough for us to sit Council, which is a way for people to come together and tune into individual and collective truths and to the land and nature.

So, in a field at the base of the tower, we went around one by one in the council circle sharing our respective truths about this experience of bearing witness with each other.

Truly, council is a practice in deep listening and empathy. I found it deeply healing because there's:

• No commentary about other's shares
• No intellectual analysis or interpretation
• No problem solving or strategic planning
• No "this is what you should do's"
• No "my way or will" vs. your "way or will"
• No "this is what you should've dones"
• No blaming or shaming
• No stomping off or lashing out because someone said something that rubbed you the wrong way or triggered you
• No partisan politics
• No binaries
• No "take this pill or drug" or "go see this healer" or "try this new age technique"
• No hiding out or slinking back into the backdrop
• No "there", only "here". Right now level here.

Just raw, heartfelt, complex emotions pouring out through words, tears, and whatever bubbles up from your heart.

When it's your turn to speak, it's about you AND yet completely NOT about you. Every share is about you yet also about a bigger collective bunch of "you's", which I found absolutely beautiful to witness and to participate in. After listening, I realized:

• Sometimes all we want and need is to share our world.
• Sometimes all we want and need is the space and time to bear our hearts to each other and to the Earth.
• Sometimes all we want and need is to be heard and witnessed while in relationship with the people that have hurt us the most and caused great pain both in the past and now.
• Sometimes all we want and need is for the Earth to hold us up, for the trees to bear our weights, for the birds to validate our existence with their chirps and songs, for the sky to cradle our weary heads, and for the sun to remind us that it's going to be okay while we try to figure out what the hell is going on, what we're going to do next, or how we're going to get back into right relationship with each other, ourselves, and the land.

For perpetrators and targets/victims of oppression & violence, participating in council begins to stimulate a total shift in perspective and is a reminder that it is possible trust in life again even when the world seems like it's going to spend right off its axis, or when forgiveness is slow coming, or when deeply entrenched systems are resistant to change.

It is a great gift to create space that brings people together and that provides them an opportunity to share their world and hearts with each other.

Everyone has their interpretation but the circle somehow remains intact.

As heavy wet drops of rain began to disband our council meeting, I hurried over to my car but secretly longed to sit and stay just a little while longer. The connection and healing were palpable and I longed to go deeper and explore:

"What could be possible for me and for you if we learned to trust that the circle will remain intact the deeper & more truthfully we are willing to both share our worlds and listen to each other's worlds?"

Day 5 coming soon...

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P.S. If you've made it this far, please consider making a donation to support my retreat costs. South Dakota and Wyoming are surprisingly expensive and retreat organizers encourage us to fundraise our costs as part of the bearing witness process. Venmo is best and you can donate to @Erika-Powell-3. Grateful in advance to and for YOU.