Circles

You  have

noticed that everything

an Indian does is in a circle, and that

is because the Power of the World always

works in circles, and everything tries to be round.  In

the old days when we were a strong and happy people, all

our power came to us from the sacred hoop of the nation, and

 as  long as the hoop was   unbroken, the people   flourished.  The

flowering tree was the living center of the hoop and the circle of the

four  quarters nourished it.    The east gave  peace and light,    the south

gave warmth, the west gave  rain,   and the north with its cold  and mighty

wind gave strength and endurance.  Everything the Power of the World does

 is in a circle.  The sky is round and I have heard that the Earth is round like a

 ball, and so are all the stars.  The wind,  in its greatest power, whirls.  Birds

make their nests in circles.  The sun  comes forth and goes down again in a

 circle.  The moon does the same, and both are round.  Even the seasons

form a great Circle in their changing, and always come back again

to where they were.  The life of a man is a circle  from childhood

 to childhood, and so is everything where Power moves.  Our

 teepees were round like the nests of birds, and these were

 always set in a circle, the nation's  hoop, a nest of

 many nests, where the Great Spirit meant

 for us to hatch our children.

----Black Elk