Sacred Hills – Mother Earth

For the Lakota people, the Black Hills, or PAHA SAPA. as they have been called for generations hold a special place in their hearts and spirituality.  They are also referred to as the “center of everything that is” and have been a place of prayer and spiritual renewal for thousands, of years. The high peaks have been the site of many Vision Quests and fasting. The earth of PAHA SAPA  contains the dust of our ancestors.  It should be understandable that these Sacred Hills have a meaning which makes it impossible to accept to sell them for any price.

The Hills are regarded with such great awe that Dakota/Lakota/Nakota have never put up permanent abodes in them, but have only visited them to pray.  From them they cut tipi poles; they put offerings in place and bury the dead.

Reverence for PAHA SAPA leads to reverence for the Earth.  The Earth is sacred to the Lakota, because it is the Mother of all living things.  From the Earth altars are made.  In the womb of the Earth the Vision Seeker rests, waiting God’s message to him.  Man belongs to the Earth where he was born.  The Earth is one of the seven directions to which the Holy Man prays with the Pipe.

INYAN, Rock of the Earth, is the oldest thing the Creator made.  Rock has all the elements from which other creatures are made.  The Red Rock, and in some places the Black Rock, is dug from Mother Earth and, as the Sacred Pipe, becomes the instrument of prayer and blessing.  Stones and Rock are prominent in INIPI.  Rock is heated; it comes alive with color.  On it water is poured, the breath of life rises.  The breath is inhaled.  The whole person, interior and exterior, is cleansed.  INIPI, they live again.