We Are Never Alone: A Sacred Understanding of Spiritual Kinship and the Eternal Oneness of Life
In the sacred understanding of our Dakota people, there are two kinds of relatives: thiwáhe, our family by blood, and hunka, our chosen family of the spirit, those whose hearts are known not through ancestry, but through deep recognition and mutual understanding. These are sacred bonds, both of them. One is woven through the body, the other through the soul. Both come from our Creator.
But there is something even greater, a truth so profound that it stretches beyond this physical world of time and space, into the infinite realms of light, that have no beginning and no end. It is the understanding of prior unity, the eternal oneness of our Human Family and all life.
This is not a vision of a distant future, nor a hope we must work toward. This is the truth and reality of our origin. Before time began, before there was breath, before there was sound, we were one. We have always been one, a truth that inspires awe and reverence.
This oneness is not symbolic. This oneness is both cellular and cosmic, and it is also ancestral. Every single cell in our body carries iron. And every atom of that iron was born in a supernova, an ancient star that exploded long before our Mother Earth ever formed. That means, quite literally, we are made of stardust. The same dust. The same fire. We are woven from the same cloth of creation.
This understanding is the foundation of all kinship. The sacred teaching that as above, so below, as within, so beyond, is not just poetic. This sacred teaching is the architecture of reality. What we feel in our heart — love, grief, recognition- is echoed across all dimensions of the spirit.
The ones we love here are known in the wanáǧi tióšpaye, the other side camp. We walk with those in this life who are already known by those in the spiritual worlds. These connections are not accidental. They are part of a sacred design far older than time.
When we form a bond in this world, whether by blood or hunka, we are awakening something greater. These relationships reflect soul ties formed in previous worlds, beyond time and space. And when we love someone here, that love continues beyond death. It grows. It transforms. It lights the way in the next world, providing comfort and reassurance in the face of loss.
Each life, each world we pass through, is like a lodge in a sacred circle. We move from one to the next not alone, but with companions. With our tióšpaye, our soul family. The Great Mystery does not scatter us like seeds in the wind without purpose. We are placed, we are drawn, we are woven together, again and again.
And because we have always been one, the healing of one is the healing of all. The upliftment of one spirit sends light through the whole web. When we forgive, it ripples. When we love, it magnifies. When we remember who we are, we help others remember too.
This is the awakening our Indigenous Elders have always held in their hearts. This is what the prophecies have pointed toward. Not just unity, but a return to the truth that we never were separate to begin with.
So when I speak now of thiwáhe, I do so with reverence. When I speak of hunka, I speak with deep gratitude. When I speak of the wanáǧi tióšpaye, the beloved ones walking in the worlds of light, I speak with certainty; they are near. Closer than breath and nearer than our closest vein. And when I speak of prior unity, I speak of the sacred truth: we are one being, walking many paths, but sharing one heart.
This is why we must walk with humility, with care. Each person we meet may be part of our greater soul family. Each act of love is a thread in the great hoop of existence. Every sacred bond continues.
We are not walking alone—not now, not ever. The fire of kinship, lit long before this world, still burns. And it burns through us.
Mitákuye oyás’iŋ. We are all related, here, now, and forever.
We are stardust, soul, and spirit, woven through the sacred breath of Wakan Tanka, the Great Spirit.
We are never forgotten. We are never alone. We are coming home to each other.
Reflections on the day of my 81st Winter, July 3, 2025
Šuŋ́kmanu hé miye do- Čhaŋnúpa Sápa hé miye do
Híŋhaŋ Wičhášta and Delória Tióšpaye, Iháŋktȟuŋwaŋ and Chikashsha Nations
