The Sacred Circle

The Lakota think of the circle or hoop as one of the really great symbols.  It can be seen everywhere and gives us inspiration.  The sun is round.  The moon is round.  It comes as no surprise that even the earth is round.  The seasons come and go, each one following the other like a circle.

The tipis were round like nature.  They were made from a circle of poles, and the whole village was a wider circle made up of the small tipi circles.  That is one of the reasons that the life of the people is called the “hoop” of the nation. 

There is a deeper reason for that, too.  The life of the people is like a great circle without end.  Young ones are born, grow up, become old and die, and soon more young ones are born to take the place of the old ones.  Lame Deer has some words about all this.

“With us the circle stands for the togetherness of people who sit with one another around a fire, relatives and friends united in peace, while the Pipe passes from hand to hand.  Once all the families in the villages were in turn circles within a larger circle, part of the larger hoop of the nation.  The nation was only part of the universe, in itself circular….circles within circles, within circles, with no beginning and no end.

“To us this is beautiful and fitting; symbol and reality at the same time, expressing the harmony of nature and life.  Our circle is timeless, flowing; it is new life emerging from death – life winning out over death.”

                                           *Lame Deer: Seeker of Visions.