Table of Contents
On Aubrey Marcus’s podcast, Chief Bear Cross and Chase Iron Eyes speak from Lakota practice about a way they say is still alive. The lodge, Bear Cross teaches, is a womb of the earth, the fire stands for the sun, and entering that dark is a rebirth along the buffalo road. A grandfather who survived the 1890 killings at Wounded Knee and the ghost dance carries a peace for Turtle Island. Animals each have a task, and so does the listener. Star people, a wind cave, and the Black Hills belong to one story of coming from the cosmos. A vision quest means days on a hill without food or water. Stone torn from where it should have stayed brings shaking and fire from the earth. Chase Iron Eyes says nations need not live as dependents of the United States, and he credits Sarah Jumping Eagle with winning a sacred site back in the digital age. Bear Cross speaks of large hairy beings and oversized tracks on Pine Ridge as part of that living world.
Key points
- Bear Cross teaches the lodge as an earthly womb and a rebirth onto the buffalo road.
- He links a grandfather who survived the 1890 killings at Wounded Knee and the ghost dance to a peace meant for everyone.
- Star origins, a wind cave, and the Black Hills belong, in his telling, to one story of where the people come from.
- He says the earth answers with shaking and fire when stone that should have stayed is torn out.
- Chase Iron Eyes says indigenous nations need not live as dependents, and he describes a digital age return of a sacred site.
- Large hairy beings and oversized tracks on Pine Ridge are offered as part of the living world, not as a stunt.
Short quotes
When you go into mother earth's womb, you are reborn into the buffalo way of life.
Chief Bear Cross, Lakota Teachings with Bear Cross and Iron Eyes
Bear Cross says entering the lodge is a rebirth onto the buffalo road. Watch at 8:35
There's no reason why we should exist in a state of dependency visav the United States.
Chase Iron Eyes, Lakota Teachings with Bear Cross and Iron Eyes
Chase Iron Eyes rejects the idea that indigenous nations must remain dependent on the United States. Watch at 12:49
The eagle, buffalo, coyote, spider, snake, everything is has an important purpose in this world, including you, my brother.
Chief Bear Cross, Lakota Teachings with Bear Cross and Iron Eyes
He says each animal has a real task, and that the listener does too. Watch at 18:31
The connection we have with the star people is stores in our sacred black hills.
Chief Bear Cross, Lakota Teachings with Bear Cross and Iron Eyes
Asked about origins among the stars, he places that link in the Black Hills. Watch at 26:50
Mother Earth had to fight back somehow so she will shake so she'll let her fire out with the volcano.
Chief Bear Cross, Lakota Teachings with Bear Cross and Iron Eyes
He says the earth answers harm with shaking and with fire from below. Watch at 40:14
Sarah Jumping Eagle initiated land back in the digital age, and we saved a sacred site that is inseparable.
Chase Iron Eyes, Lakota Teachings with Bear Cross and Iron Eyes
He credits a named doctor with bringing a sacred site back through a digital age effort. Watch at 1:15:48
Video by Aubrey Marcus. Watch on YouTube.