I have just come back from a weekend at Pow Wow, which is the highlight of my year. So many things are happening at Pow Wow. It is a time of celebration, a time for people to get together and turn the wheel of life as a community. The drumming is the heartbeat of the circle. The dancers turn the wheel. All around the outdoor arena, people are sharing food and conversation and having a grand family reunion.

People come to Pow Wow for many different reasons. I can’t speak to anyone else’s experience but my own. I have a job to do (I run the first aid station) but I dance whenever I get the chance.

While I am dancing, I am honoring the earth. Each time my toes touch the ground, I am giving My Mother a kiss of thanks. I look up and honor the sky, grateful for the opportunity to be on this earth, under the sky’s loving umbrella. Dancing honors the gift of life. As I flow along with the other dancers, we create a vortex of energy, turning the wheel around and around and around and around. As the weekend progresses, the river of life becomes visible. The grass under our feet all runs in the same direction, like it is under water in a stream.

And I feel the songs, the dancing, the flow of energy, in my blood. I feel the flame of life kindling skyward, out of my crown. I feel myself become the beautiful Northern Lights, and know that that is where I will be when I pass into the next world.