Sun Dancing

NATIVE AMERICAN STUDIES "Sun Dancing is a bridge that can take the reader into a deeper understanding of life and our human roles as we shape the new way of being that is offered humankind at the dawn of this century." --Jamie Sams, author of Medicine Cards "Michael‘s story is an inspiration to those in search of their truth, to those needing to find another way to live in this world today. . . . This story tells of a man who walked this earth separated from his heart, found it on the Red Road, and offers it back to the people." --Chief Charles Chipps, Lakota elder The Sun Dance is the largest and most important ceremony in the Lakota spiritual tradition, the one that ensures the life of the people for another year. In 1988 Michael Hull was extended an invitation to join in a Sun Dance by Lakota elder Chief Leonard Crow Dog--a controversial action because Hull is white. This was the beginning of a spiritual journey that increasingly interwove the life of the author with the people, process, and elements of Lakota spirituality. On his journey on the Red Road, Michael Hull confronted firsthand the transformational power of Lakota spiritual practice and the deep ambivalence many Indians have about opening their ceremonies to whites. Sun Dancing presents a profound look at the elements of traditional Lakota ceremonial practice and the ways in which ceremony is regarded as life-giving by the Lakota. Through his commitment to following the Red Road, Michael Hull gradually won acceptance in a community that has rejected other attempts by white America to absorb its spiritual practices, leading to the extraordinary step of his confirmation as a Sun Dance Chief by Leonard Crow Dog and other Lakota spiritual leaders. MICHAEL HULL, the first white man to be given a Sun Dance bundle and recognized as a Sun Dance Chief by traditional Lakota elders, has led Sun Dances in Texas since 1998. He works as a lawyer in Austin, Texas.