EATP is
pleased to dedicate this issue of our eNewsletter to members of
the Walker River Paiute Tribe who are reviving the Ghost Dance
ceremony. It was on their tribal lands in approximately 1889
that Wovoka, a Paiute Holy Man, envisioned the Ghost Dance.
His
prophesy foretold of a new world characterized by peaceful
relations among all beings. It was through the Ghost Dance
ceremony, also called the Dream Dance and Dance of Prophesy,
that transformation would take place.
The living
relatives of Wovoka and the Tribe believe that his message and
prophesy are critical in this new millennium. Working with Gary Spanovich,
Executive Director of the Portland, Oregon-based Wholistic Peace Institute, the Tribe is developing the Wovoka
Ghost Dance and Peace Center to be located on the Walker
River Paiute Reservation in northern Nevada.
Mr.
Spanovich is the Executive Director of the
Wholistic Peace Institute, a non-profit organization that works with Nobel peace
laureates to identify creative solutions to the world’s most
dangerous conflicts.
He is on the adjunct faculty of Marylhurst
University, the University of Portland, and Western Oregon
University. He has written a book on meditation, and edited a
book with six Nobel Peace Laureates on how to achieve world
peace.
AN
INTERVIEW WITH GARY SPANOVICH EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WHOLISTIC
PEACE INSTITUTE
“THE PAIUTE GHOST DANCE REVIVAL”
“There are different ways to shift consciousness and dance is
one of them. The indigenous people of the world know this but
we don’t tend to…” -
Gary Spanovich
EATP: How did you get involved with the Ghost Dance?
SPANOVICH: In about 1985 I participated in a workshop led by
Dr. Michael Harner Director of the Foundation for Shamanic
Studies. He had studied the Ghost Dance ceremony for years and
he led us in a dance. Dr. Harner’s Foundation seeks out
indigenous shamans around the world and supports them in
preserving their work so that ancient practices and knowledge
don’t die out – the Ghost Dance ceremony is one of those.
EATP: What was your experience of the dance?
SPANOVICH: It’s really hard to describe but I felt utterly
called. It was an emotional and spiritual experience and I felt
with absolute certainty that this dance ceremony was
extraordinarily powerful - and that is was something that I
would continue to work with.
EATP: What happened next?
SPANOVICH: Over the next few years I led the Ghost Dance many
times. But the most transformative experience for me took place
in 1987 when I was meditating and praying in the desert. I
heard a still small voice speaking from within and it told me to
meditate daily on the Creator. Several years later I went back
to the desert with a colleague who invited me to visit Wovoka’s
gravesite. At the site I prayed and heard the inner call to
restore Wovoka’s burial site and to build a memorial center. I
went to the tribal office and met Vernadine McClaine - she was
the assistant tribal chair - and told her that I wanted to offer
my services to help accomplish these things. That was in 1999.
She was very grateful and that’s when the doors opened.
EATP: Tell us a little about Wovoka.
SPANOVICH: He was a Paiute and a mystic. In about 1889 he had
a vision in which he was told to teach his people to love each
other, live in peace, and work hard. He also saw a ceremony
that became known as the Ghost Dance. It was a bit of an ordeal
– a four day ceremony of dancing through the night, then
feasting, and sharing the visions that came forth from the
experience. It was kind of a miracle how quickly the ceremony
spread throughout the tribes of the west. Unfortunately it was
short lived as the American government put an end to it within a
few years.
EATP: How does the Peace Institute factor in to this revival?
SPANOVICH: Well, it was about the time I met with Vernadine, I
was also involved in coordinating the Dalai Lama’s first visit
to Portland. During this time I felt called again – to have a
world peace conference and involve Nobel Peace Laureates. We
did this and six Nobel laureates participated. The day after
the conference three separate organizations offered to help
create a non-profit organization to continue doing peace work.
It just flowed out – it was never my intent or idea to create
the Institute – much like the work with the Tribe and the Peace
Center.
EATP: Why is the Ghost Dance relevant today?
SPANOVICH: There are different ways to shift our consciousness
and dance is one of them. The indigenous people of the world
know this but we don’t tend to. We see dance – like most art
forms - only as a cultural offering but they see it as a
cultural and spiritual offering. We sit in church and pray or
whatever and then go to a concert hall or gallery for
entertainment. They do the dance and they are in church. So
the dance expresses the whole – the emotional, the cultural, the
spiritual. You must understand this first before you can
understand indigenous culture. It is a transformative
experience, a shift in consciousness. This shift, or trance
that occurs during the dancing, brings healing and this is
needed more than ever today. The indigenous peoples can teach
us.
EATP: Where do you start?
SPANOVICH: Well, the Institute’s motto is Peace with Ourselves,
Peace with Others, Peace with the Earth - and I believe we start
by reconciling within our own country. The Ghost Dance was
obliterated by the United States Government in 1890 in spite of
its intent to bring peace and unity. The American people have
not reconciled with indigenous Americans. We must formally
reconcile. The proposed Wovoka Ghost Dance and Peace Center is
part of this reconciliation. We must do what we did with the
Japanese-Americans - we must apologize – we have never
apologized. We as a people have a hole in us due to this lack
of reconciliation.
But
our work is more than just restoring a dance ceremony of one
tribe – the ceremony has great potency and I believe we can use
it for global healing. Could we bring the ghost dance to the
United Nations? Would it have potency? Yes. Would they be
willing to do it? We’ll see.
EATP: What has happened to date?
SPANOVICH: The Tribe first revived the dance in May 2006 for
any tribal members. It was repeated in May again of this year.
The larger plan is to offer it to the world – to frame it in
terms of global issues and earth changes. Our goal is to have
the Peace Center completed within five years. We hope it will
act as an inspiration to Native American youth across the
nation, and that the dance ceremony will spread across the
country and the world.
But
we also recognize that the transformation of consciousness
doesn’t necessarily come readily – to any one. So one of our
goals is to develop a cultural experience that will give some
sense of the healing power of this dance without the participant
or viewer having to dance straight through four nights.
EATP: Do you have an idea of what that would be?
SPANOVICH: We’ve talked about a Ghost Dance Opera that
could be staged in concert halls. We’d start in Portland with
Aaron Meyer and the Oregon Symphony, perhaps bring in the
Whitebird dancers out of Sante Fe, perhaps 100 Native American
drummers. The dancers would tell the story of Wovoka and the
Ghost Dance. We hope to stage this as early as next year
assuming we can find the funding for it.
This Native American dance like many Tibetan dances – they’re
more than simple entertainment – they have a much deeper
meaning, deeper intent. I hope that we’ll be able to touch that
spiritual chord with this work. We can bring the spiritual
right downtown to mainstream America.
EATP: Well, we wish you the best of luck in this endeavor and
look forward to hearing more about the Ghost Dance very soon.
Editor’s Note: For more information on the resurrection of the
Ghost Dance contact Mr. Spanovich at
worldpeace@canby.com
