THE SACRED HOOP By Yvette Neshi Lokotz
ELDERS SERIES:
Eldership
As I return to my column “Sacred Hoop”, I am making a small title edit: “The Sacred Hoop”. This alteration reflects the life changes I experienced from 2017 to the present. The Sacred Hoop allows me to share life events that occur on the one hoop of life that we all share. Recently, I began a new series on my live stream show, Communications from Home on Star Nations Live Stream Shows. The new series is about being an Elder. In my research, I found Clarissa Pinkola Estes’ books about
Elders. I have very little time to spend reading and need to carefully balance my time so, I purchased her writings as audible books; that way I can listen while doing other activities. Listening to the information about Elders, I realized that I was being guided by my Spiritual Team to attend to my own Elder experience. All this took place as the whole world paused to contend with the pandemic: no coincidence, no fluke, or luck, but rather direction from Spirit. I want to share my thoughts, insights, and experiences in the hopes that you receive your own moments of awareness about your Eldership. Let’s start at the beginning and build our Elder Path.
What is an Elder?
The dictionary describes an Elder as, “any person who is older than you; superior; one having
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authority by virtue of age and experience”. Of course, the “real” meaning of Elder is far more expansive as we must include our emotions and experiences. There are several perspectives that define an Elder. The first perspective is by chronological age, meaning the actual number of years you have been alive and experiencing life. Many of the Indigenous people on Turtle Island (North America) who are recognized by a Federal government must define and identify their tribal membership as the services rendered may be subject to an age requirement. I am an enrolled member of the Potawatomi Nation – Prairie Band. The Prairie Band defines an Elder as any tribal member 55 years and older. I can honestly say, at 55 years old, I didn’t feel like an Elder. I have had life experience, but I
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I am happy to share with you, my dear reader, that I am returning to writing a monthly column for Star Nations Magazine. I took a long break as I stabilized the Star Nations Organization and went through a personal spiritual growth spurt that some call a Dark Night of the Soul.
