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Personal Message from Hua:
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About This Newsletter
Summer is upon us - the time of year when our thoughts start to turn to Long Dance. Organization is well under way. The Home Lodge Meeting is this Saturday, July 16th starting at 10 am, followed by a Sweat Lodge and Potluck, starting at 4 pm.
This newsletter is the first of three Special Edition Long Dance newsletters that we will publish leading up to Long Dance. The idea is to provide important information that will help us as we transition to a larger, more diverse leadership that will lead the way to the next twenty years of Long Dance. We have some new changes we are excited to tell you about!
Thank you for all you do to honor the sacred traditions of our Earth Mother and to safeguard the future for the next seven generations. AHO!
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If You Are in Home Lodge...
If you are participating at Long Dance as a member of Home Lodge, there are some basic things you should do as part of your commitment to serve. First of all, you are required to attend the Home Lodge Meeting which is Sat July 16th at 10 am at Hua's.
Next, work out with Hua which Lodge you are going to support with your time, efforts and attendance. And this year for the first time, every Lodge will have two leads to help ease the burden of organization and task management. Connect with your two Lodge leads. Take a pro-active role in being a team member.
Please find out from your leads what you can do to help facilitate a good Long Dance experience for your fellow sisters and the entire Circles community. Make time to attend a meeting or online video conference with the rest of your Lodge so that you can work well together as a team by the time you get to Long Dance.
How will you contribute? What special talents, insights and wisdom do you have to share? Can you help with Village Building? How will connect with other members of your Lodge? Do you have ideas to share to make things go smoothly? The best time to ask these questions is now, a couple of months before the event, so that you can plan and be prepared by September.
This is the time to remember what an honor it is to be a Dog Soldier, to stay impeccable in your word and to stretch and grow as a person on a spiritual path. The grateful smiles and hugs of your community await you as we celebrate another turn around the Medicine Wheel!
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If You Are A Lodge Lead...
This year for the first time we are asking all Lodge Leads to select a co-lead. This person should complement you, and provide the skills, talents and task management that you may not have in hand. If you are an action person who hates email, find a communicator who can help to recruit and coordinate the lodge members - or vice versa. If you are great at motivating people but don't have the physical component as much as you'd like, find someone who can lend you their strength and ability to "get 'er done."
Be available for your Lodge crew - they are your team and are ready, willing & able to make valuable contributions to a great experience for everyone - including you.
How can you facilitate a meeting for the Lodge members to get together - either in person or in an online video chat - so that they can share ideas, fellowship and tasks? Who will you ask to come to Village Building so that your Lodge is in good shape in time for the ceremony? What ideas for Beauty Way are your Lodge members eager to act on? How will you interface with the new Take Down Crew so that your items get wrapped up and stored correctly?
Finally, now is a good time to get into the physical shape that can best support you as the Lodge Leads. This is especially recommended for Firekeepers, though it applies to everyone who does the hard work of making Long Dance come together for our larger community. Thank you!
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If You Are In Thunder Lodge
 We are making concerted efforts to improve the organization of Long Dance so that it is not such a burden on the Brothers Lodge. This year we are adding a new Take Down Lodge whose members will come in with fresh energy to help everyone take down the Village.
Thunder Lodge is dedicated for the spiritual enrichment of the Brothers, who also act as Sentry and hold the Sacred Space of Long Dance during the long night of ceremony. We offer a Sweat Lodge for Brothers, as well as participation in the Sacred Pipe Ceremony, Trade Circle and all the other community activities of the four day Long Dance celebration to our Brothers. Only the dance is for Sisters only.
If you decide to enroll in Thunder Lodge this year, you will find the sparks of new leadership forming under your nurturance and guidance. We continue to reach out to Elders who can bring their wisdom to Thunder Lodge, while acknowledging that the Brothers must also get some rest on Saturday night.
This year will see improved cooking and latrine facilities, as well as a Smudging Ceremony following the long night of sentry and sacred duties. We are eager to hear what suggestions come to us from the special Brothers Council taking place on Saturday July 30th at 1 pm at Hua's. Blessings on our Brothers - we love & appreciate all you do! |
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New Changes Added This Year
In acknowledgement that our organization must grow and change as the community itself grows and changes (and ages!), we have decided to add two new Lodges this year: The Take Down Lodge and the Dance Circle Lead.
The Take Down Lodge is in part inspired by the success of the Vision Quests to bring in new support from community members from outside our ceremonial circles. We also had fresh energy for the take down at Spirit Dance when Hawk and Darren came back from a night's rest to help with the wrap up of that long dance. We can clearly see that it is a good idea to ask community members of our larger community to help us with the wrap up of Long Dance. The larger community benefits from the transformation that comes with this ceremony and are ready and able to help us in our tasks. It's good!
We will soon offer a sample letter/email that everyone can share with their friends and family as a request to help us complete this sacred event with their physical support. With many hands involved, the work can be light and this will be especially welcome by the Brothers who until now have carried too much of the work load at the end of a long four days.
We are also happy to share that Elizabeth Johnson will once again be the Dance Circle Lead, and next month she will share some opportunites for the community to get more involved with the Beauty Way of the Dance Circle itself. This is a good way for the dancers to also have a chance to lend a hand to the beautifying of our beautiful Village.
Stay tuned for more specifics in the next two newsletters....
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