'The Unmasking'

Feathers and warpaint are symbolic disguises for the enemy ... 

Looking forward and inward, Crazy Horse was consumed by his vision as he rode into the ancestral camp of the unmarked trail. It was here that he listened for the older voices who kept council with the past.

There was no shield to protect from arrows fired from within. When shot from the heart of ancient wanderings and hitting their target, life turned into death and then life again.

The symbols of the warrior... the arrow, bow, and horse, were painted on tipi’s proud and were there to guide your spirit on its path to who you would become. The images depicted a true warrior’s journey — war being a portal —catalyzing with its deliverance the freedom of your spirit.

Death burns celebration as its kindling, renewing everything within the finality of its embers. It takes you back to the beginning of all things possible, where the rules, the reasons, the ridicule, and the redemption all fade in your memory, while you become more of what you always were — and less of what the timid crave.  

Unveiling your spirit

   rejoining your fathers

as your feathered bonnet and warpaint lie burning in the flames of a distant council fire.

Kurt Philip Behm: July, 2024  

(From Searching For Crazy Horse)