Whatever name you use, it’s an impressive sight. 4 This is an ongoing and sensitive issue, so I will be using both names to refer to the divided nature of this monument. 3 Dodge likely confused the Lakota word “wahanksica”/ “bear” with “wakansica” meaning “evil spirit,” which he translated as “devil.” There have been several calls for a name change from native communities, especially since “devil” has been used as an epithet against native peoples in the past. Most maps of the time called the formation “Bear Lodge” and that’s a fairly accurate translation of many names used by tribal groups in the area. However, it is now believed that Colonel Richard Irving Dodge coined the current name in 1875 based on a mistake. Officially, this monolithic rock is known as Devils Tower. Mountaineer, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons Devils Tower or Bear Lodge?Īll right, let’s address the bear in the room first. Not that everyone who visits a long-term thin place will be immediately struck respectful with awe, but even those who don’t know the history of the landmark may find there’s something about it, something they can’t quite put their finger on…ĭevils Tower National Monument. Some places seem to have a stronger accumulation of thin place feeling, however, from multiple years and even cultures showing the site reverence. Whether recognized by a larger culture or only by a single individual, it’s the feeling that marks a thin place. One journalist mentions a Tokyo bar and likely you have your personal thin places too. These include established places of worship and important cultural landmarks as well as personal thin places.
#DEVILS TOWER WYOMING BEAR FREE#
The phrase has possible roots in Celtic culture, 2 but in recent years it has been used to describe any place that helps us break free from the patterns of ordinary life to contemplate the profound. “Thin places” can technically be used for both, 1 but I prefer to keep place and time distinct.
I briefly mentioned the term last year in relation to “thin times,” my term for days or times that have similar associations. There are places that provoke a sense of awe, places where we feel we may brush a deeper truth or even enter a new world.
Its appearance alone makes it stand out, but this rock is also wrapped in the layers of legend and tradition so characteristic of a long-established thin place. This immense rock formation appears to sprout out of the ground in Wyoming. I’d like to cover two of these nature-made thin places in this two-parter, starting with Devils Tower/Bear Lodge. Some are built by human hands and some are natural landmarks with human meaning attached to them. There are many thin places around the world.
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