A dramatic wooden Mask of The False Face Society best known of the medicinal societies among the Iroquois People
I knew I was good and cursed when, a few years back, life saw fit to make me the student of a teacher who was a true Lakota Heyoka. I say it in that way because I was actually quite fortunate to have had the experience, but the way of the traditional Lakota contrary is to talk, walk and live life backwards. You might be familiar with an artistic portrayal of these colorful characters, like the Cheyenne Heyoka Young Bear from the 1970 film Little Big Man, the warrior who bathed himself with dirt and rode his horse backwards. In traditional societies, the Heyoka offered more than just comic relief. Otherwise known as the trickster, the contrarian or the sacred clown, they were oddities, outliers on the edge of society who asked difficult questions, spoke of subjects others were afraid to, and held up mirrors to people’s actions, helping set boundaries of tribal behavior. Working a web of what may appear to be tangled opposites, Heyokas brought balance to their own lives as well as others, and by donning Ceremonial Masks possessed the ability to heal deep emotional pain.
Wicasa Itancan Tatanka Weitgo (also known as Chief Philip Aaron Crazybull also known as Phil) embodied the traits of the traditional satirist. He caused laughter in distressing situations and roused complacency by evoking chaos and controversy. Smack dab in the centre of contradiction is where he was often found, put there by his own hand or that of one greater perhaps he couldn’t even answer. A Thunder Dreamer is a medicine man who, like the Wakinyan or Thunder beings to whom he was connected, is both feared and revered for his power. Dancing underneath an impeccably blue, brilliant sky, he brought on the shadowy dark of cloud cover, the gray where black becomes white and white black. “What’s good for you can be bad for you,” he’d growl, one of the principles of his central teachings. “And what at first appears bad for you can be good.”
In light of the COVID-19’s devastating impact worldwide and our own Mask Up Michigan Executive Order, I got to thinking about crisis in life. Although the word crisis itself holds a certain frantic flavor, its actual definition is decidedly more neutral – “A crucial turning point in a series of events; a decisive change that is either favorable or unfavorable.” Crisis from this vantage point can be viewed as the spiritual device it is, a phenomena used by nature to effect needed change, breaking down resistance and breaking up stagnant energy patterns in the lives of human beings, known to the Lakotas as “The Five Fingered People.”
“What’s bad for you can be good for you.” Crisis starts early for everyone, from the breast to the bottle, through potty training and up into the early school years. Early crises are (hopefully) negotiated with the help of the gentle but firm guidance of one’s psychologically healthy parental figures. Later, where rock-solid, negative states of fear and ingrained resistance to change persist, crises can shatter walls of mechanical behavior, altering behaviors that cut adults off from progress, growth and freedom.
Remembering my Heyoka teacher’s admonition, it’s not so much the content of a crisis itself, but more one’s reaction to it. The nature of calamity is that it’s initially daunting and completely unexpected, but in time, its silver lining is its power to release the infinite potentials of the soul. Of course, the more open and accepting one is of the life changes a crisis demands, the less severe the pain and discomfort. Ask anyone about the unfolding of their spiritual life and a nice little crisis or two will often be found preceding significant changes or surges of growth. Residing in a material universe of constant flux and change, at times we forgetful spiritual beings can require the world-shaking discharge of a good crisis. For help and healing turning things around during this widespread time of transformation, check out our Monthly Ceremonial Overnight and our upcoming Mid-Summer Noble Silence Meditation Weekend Retreat July 24th-26th with late summer and Fall offerings coming soon.
“When a vision comes from the Thunder Beings of the West, it comes with terror like a thunderstorm; but when the vision has passed, the world is greener and happier; for wherever the truth of vision comes upon the world, it is like a rain. The world, you see, is happier after the terror of the storm… you have noticed that truth comes into this world with two faces. One is sad with suffering, and the other laughs; but it is the same face, laughing or weeping… as lightning illuminates the dark, for it is the power of lightning that Heyokas have.” – Black Elk