Ceremony 163-186

Tayo is continuing on his journey and working through the healing process. He is making progress and is using nature to appreciate the beauty of life. "He breathed deeply, and each breath had a distinct smell of snow from the north. of ponderosa pin on the rimrock above; finally he smelled horses from the direction of the corral. and he smiled. Being alive was all right then; he had not breathed like that for a long time"(Silko 167). Tayo smiles because he feels alive and he is recognizing that. He is finding beauty in nature with the animals and the fresh air and it is healing him. There is a recurring theme that keeps showing up and that is sunrises. The book starts with a sunrise and ends with one.  "Sunrise! We come at sunrise to great you. We call you at sunrise. Father of the clouds you are beautiful at sunrise. Sunrise(Silko 169)! The sunrise is a symbol of new beginnings and Tayo is starting to see that he can have fresh starts. After he meet with Betonie he is enlightened with all the ways nature can heal him. "He had been so intent on finding the cattle that he had forgotten all the events of the past days and past years. Hunting the cattle was good for that. Old Betonie was right. It was a cure for that, and maybe for other things too"(Silko178). Tayo is looking for cattle and it has taken his mind off of all the things that has happened to him in the past. Its curing his PTS and he feels like it can cure other things as well.

Tayo is beginning to look at the bigger picture and he has less hate towards people because of that. All these people can fight over who 'owns' the land but in the end no one truly does. "All but a small part of the mountain had been taken. The reservation foundry included only a canyon above Encinal and a few miles of timber on the plateau. The rest of the land was taken by the National Forest and by the state which later sold it to white ranchers who came from Texas in the 1900's"(Silko 172). The land and Earth as a whole are so much bigger then the humans on it and they will never really own anything. Land is ageless and the humans fighting over it will die and pass it down but the land will always remain. Tayo is looking at things from the present now rather then living in the past. "He knew then the old-timers could only speak of yesterday and tomorrow in terms of the present moment; the only certainty; and this present sense of being was qualified with bare hints of yesterday or tomorrow..."(Silko 179). Tayo is now dealing with his pain in the present moment instead of having flashbacks and feeling like he's stuck in the past. He has learned that he can still live life today with the events of the past.