From Where I Stand: Exploring a Spiritual Landscape AA PilgrimagePilgrimage toto thethe BlackBlack HillsHills ofof SouthSouth DakotaDakota September 18 -26, 2010

DDeesscrcriiptptiionon we will see firsthand what happens when we abandon our sacred “The events of one’s life take place, take place. How often relationship to the Earth. have I used this expression, and how often have I stopped to We displace ourselves, so that we may come to a place that is think what it means? Events do indeed take place; they have authentically our own. Perhaps we will begin to see how our meaning in relation to the things around them.” individual stories take place, not only in a landscape particular to us, but also in connection to a broader story, one that carries - N. Scott Momaday, The Names: A Memoir us beyond the private borders of our personal points-of-view. “Life is a circle, and everything has its place in it.” As we explore together the places of our outer & inner spiritual - Paula Gunn Allen, The Sacred Hoop lives, we will reflect on questions like these: Where does your For thousands of years before Europeans arrived in what they story “take place”? What significance does place have for your promptly named “the New World,” Native peoples called this life story, for the spiritual landscape of your inner life, in the past continent home & told stories relating & binding themselves & now? How does your story “take place” within a larger story? to the land. To the Lakota—known to their enemies as the What is the view from where you stand? “Sioux”—the Earth & everything in it is wakan, sacred. And so “place” has sacred significance. LLocatocatiionon On this pilgrimage to the Black Hills of South Dakota, we will On the pilgrimage, we will visit such sacred sites as Wounded travel to & through a landscape that for many of us may be Knee, Bear Butte, Custer State Park, the Badlands, and the unfamiliar, exploring the story & sacred space of a people more Black Hills. We will also rest and reflect at our pilgrimage home, or less known to us, but whose story is inextricably Borderlands Education and Spiritual Center. interwoven with our own. Our journey will take Borderlands Center, located at Borderlands us through the Black Hills, the Paha Sapa of the Ranch that occupies 135 acres of high plains, pine Lakota, where we will dwell for a time among the forest and slate cliffs in the Pe Sla - the heart of the ponderosa pines, startling rock formations, & heart of Lakota, offers a peaceful and nurturing free-roaming herds of buffalo. We will journey environment for our pilgrimage. The activities of from Bear Butte, a sacred mountain with its own Borderlands, grounded in the common values of story, to Wounded Knee, where the stories of two Lakota and Celtic heritage and spirituality, are peoples have clashed, not once, but twice, with dedicated to the work of personal, cultural, and devastating results. And, at Deadwood & Lead, environmental reconciliation. Schedule Day 1 Arrival at Borderlands; a time of welcoming, settling in, and storytelling. Day 2 Sabbath reflection time at Borderlands in the morning; a visit to the Sioux Indian Museum in Rapid City in the afternoon. Day 3 The Black Hills: traveling through Custer State Park Leadership down to Wind Cave National Park by way of the Needles This pilgrimage to the Black Hills of South Dakota is offered by Highway. Illuminating Paths, www.illuminatingpaths.com, a practice of Day 4 Journey through the Badlands to visit the Wounded accompanying individuals, groups, and communities on their Knee Memorial on the Pine Ridge Reservation. spiritual journeys. The program will be led by: Day 5 A day of retreat and reflection; celebration of the Fall Karen Shipp has followed an eclectic Equinox. Options include a drumming circle, walking path: While her work as a musician the labyrinth, hiking to Deer Lake. has taken her from Roman Catholic Day 6 Visit to Deadwood & Lead, & Spearfish Canyon (including and Episcopal parishes to Presbyterian a “Dances With Wolves” film site); celebration of the Full and Baptist churches, Karen’s personal Moon. spiritual quest has led her to explore Day 7 the spirituality of Native American Pilgrimage to Bear Butte, sacred mountain to the Lakota peoples, Celtic Christian spirituality, & the Cheyenne. and spiritual practices such as Buddhist Day 8 A day of retreat and reflection; opportunities in the sitting meditation, drumming and afternoon to revisit the Black Hills or Bear Butte. singing as a meditative tool. Her love Day 9 Departure from Borderlands; a ritual of farewells. for the Black Hills goes back to her first visit in 1993; subsequent pilgrimages have only strengthened her Costs & Registration sense that these mountains are her spiritual home. Christopher Copeland serves as the spiritual and creative The total cost of the pilgrimage is $1100 for triple occupancy. For director of Illuminating Paths those wishing double occupancy the there is an additional fee and has led retreats and of $150 and for those requesting pilgrimages to sacred sites all single occupancy, the additional around the world including fee is $300. Taizé, Iona, Ireland, Turkey, Costs include 8 nights of lodging and Wales. As an ordained at Borderlands Ranch with meals minister, Chris’s experience ($550), ground transportation all and expression of spirituality through the Black Hills ($250), is grounded in the Christian and programming including materials and admission fees to tradition and is deeply influenced by the beliefs and practices museums and parks ($300). of people of many faith traditions. Beginning with a college To register, visit www.illuminatingpaths.com/spiritual/pilgrimage. sociology course, Chris has felt a deep connection to the people, Registration forms and a non-refundable deposit of $300 must cultures, and spiritualities of Native peoples and has journeyed be received by June 15 and the balance must be paid by August to the Black Hills numerous times since 1994. 1, 2010. The maximum number of pilgrims is 18 and space is For more information contact us www.illuminatingpaths.com, limited, so register early. 888.253.3393 or [email protected].