Having read through the Medicine Dance, there is in fact nothing of departure or bad spirits and it's instead an initiation into origin mysteries. To be honest, the ritual takes nights and days in sweat lodge, bush and medicine lodge and is extraordinarily convoluted.
The one I could get my teeth into was the HOK'IXE'RE Dance in which manifestations of bad or departing spirits are part of the ritual of the bringing of scalps.
As many as are going to take part in this dance tonight should try to make the soul of our grandfather (the scalp) more amenable to our prayers. (page 332)
The dance(s) and ceremonial food are designed to placate the dead warrior (spirit) and sort of steal his unspent lifeforce. It's wild and goes on for several nights, and dishes of animal heads (spirits) are served, including dog (for this reason, it's sometimes known as the bowwowpowwow ceremony. )
That's all I really want to say on the book as the amount of detail is almost overpowering, and I want to expand on hierarchy a bit.
The body itself is hierarchical since that is what 'action' is; the body acts at the level of the body and all its systems, expressively and meaningfully. Ritual dances simply move the hierarchy to the next level of clan/village/tribe.
In other words, there is a hierarchy going through creation, from the littlest atoms to the splendid galactic clusters. As I see it, a hierarchy implies time is invariable in the sense of spin - see P200 and elsewhere.
However, since we live in a world of variable time and relativity, I'll leave it there for now. The only thing to note is that, in the sense that animals move and the dynamics contain spirit, the essence of spirit may be lacking from a variable universe (of calculation, number, logic.)
In other words, spirit as the Indians used to see it is contained in animal movements and in the physical substance of the universe. Of course, their view of the universe is naive, containing sun, moon, bears, father, mother, son.
However, all religions are somewhat naive, Christianity containing Father, Son and Holy Ghost (see DH Lawrence, prev.) The heavenly movements we see from Earth has the balance of sun and moon that appears to be proportionate, and animal shapes are turned by myth into the constellations (Great Bear etc.)
Movements that are balanced have possible spiritual connotations (the planets, see Theosophy, prev.) The problem with modernity is that movement is not a priori and, as was noted with DNA, it can be ignored (by measurement in variable time.)
DNA has neither movement nor dimensions (time and space) and by those criteria has no spirit as defined by the tribal beliefs.
But, as has been said previously, spirit may be contained in matter that is essentially balanced and proportionate. How might that apply to DNA?
Well, it implies that mutations are meaningless (random miscopies) until acted on by spirit. The spirit is contained in the hierarchy of the body that is active (hunting, running, mating.)
Hierarchy contains spirit in the sense that a hierarchy connects lower to higher (the principle of continuity), and whatever one supposes gods or goddesses to be.
This tends to unify religions to a degree, but at the expense of measurement per se, which applies to such scientific 'golden calves' as DNA, variable time, and maybe the precision of atomic computers, hence algorithms.
So, while Christianity seems happy to accept science as accurate in terms of measurement that is simply not enough to unify religions (as in DH Lawrence's The Plumed Serpent.) Measurement in that it denies hierarchy enters a parallel reality that is ultra-convincing but basically false - the mirror of illusions.
The ego or the priests of the system exist inside the mirror (electromagnetism) and the electrification continues apace. It's a one-sided advance (of the head) at the expense of hierarchical movements, meaning, spirit.
Different (religions) at some level have unity; this is not to deny the differences or polarities. Spirit is not bland but hot blood, with force and charisma.
FORTUNATE SONyoutu.be/ZWijx_AgPiA
