Sweat lodge
My day began with my cell phone alarm clock jolting me into consciousness. Initially, I thought it was an error but as my head re-rested on the pillow I remembered: sweat lodge at daybreak.
I arrive on the estate just a few minutes past 7 AM. I can see the sun painting the side of a mountain pink as I walk down the dirt road that runs down the southern boundary of the land and leads to the location of the ceremony. As I reach the site, I see that either Bill or the wind had thrown some leaves on the embers from the previous night's ritual. The smell of burning leaves fills the air and sends a signal to the heavens. We begin by placing the grandfathers (stone people) on the smokey leaves. Then Andrew appears on the scene. He is the one who pours water (the one who will lead the sweat). He blesses the lodge with Lakota prayers and we three begin to build up the wood around the stack of rocks (stone people). The fire takes its time digesting the wood as though the flames are tired from the previous day's rock furnace show. Soon enough, the fire engulfs all the wood and the lava rocks begin to get hot.
We all crawl into the sweat lodge - there's 8 of us as Skip begins to drop the rocks, on at a time onto the deer antler that Andrew uses to place them into the center of the lodge. As Skip drops the third rock, Nick appears. He waits until all the rocks come in for that round, and then he joins us. The nine of us include Andrew, Linda, Sandy, Bill, Will, Tony, me, Benois and Nick.
We go thru 3 rounds before the ceremony is completed. The last round was super hot but very quick. I sat up the whole time, unwilling to lay down in search of cooler air. The main intentions of this sweat were to welcome a baby who is supposed to be born in ten days and to initiate Will into the earth clan. The prayers poured out of our mouths one by one and were all marked my sincerity and heartcenteredness.
When I crawled out, the cool air soothed and cooled my superheated body. I stood and soaked in the beautiful sunlight as we all reveled in the relief of a more comfortable temperature. After 10 minutes or so, I felt some nausiousness in my stomach and light headed as well. A sigh escaped my heart as I sat down and let my head droop down towards the ground.
An hour or so later, after an amazing lunch by Caspar, I took care of tasks which involved getting the various spaces back in order. The wind picked up and began blowing things around, leaves and trees in the pool, a pot with a palm tree fell over and broke and the tarps over the t-houses whipped into a frenzy. All I could think was that we certainly stirred something up.
Bill, Will, Caleb and I then played some 2 on 2 basketball on the court that Santa built Will on Xmas. Bill and Will won and then we played pig which I won.
Caspar had a birthday party over at Ian and Natalie's. This allowed me to have some more of his wonderful cuisine. I spoke with Tyler, author of Ojai Blog about some of his new websites which you can read about on his site.
I arrive on the estate just a few minutes past 7 AM. I can see the sun painting the side of a mountain pink as I walk down the dirt road that runs down the southern boundary of the land and leads to the location of the ceremony. As I reach the site, I see that either Bill or the wind had thrown some leaves on the embers from the previous night's ritual. The smell of burning leaves fills the air and sends a signal to the heavens. We begin by placing the grandfathers (stone people) on the smokey leaves. Then Andrew appears on the scene. He is the one who pours water (the one who will lead the sweat). He blesses the lodge with Lakota prayers and we three begin to build up the wood around the stack of rocks (stone people). The fire takes its time digesting the wood as though the flames are tired from the previous day's rock furnace show. Soon enough, the fire engulfs all the wood and the lava rocks begin to get hot.
We all crawl into the sweat lodge - there's 8 of us as Skip begins to drop the rocks, on at a time onto the deer antler that Andrew uses to place them into the center of the lodge. As Skip drops the third rock, Nick appears. He waits until all the rocks come in for that round, and then he joins us. The nine of us include Andrew, Linda, Sandy, Bill, Will, Tony, me, Benois and Nick.
We go thru 3 rounds before the ceremony is completed. The last round was super hot but very quick. I sat up the whole time, unwilling to lay down in search of cooler air. The main intentions of this sweat were to welcome a baby who is supposed to be born in ten days and to initiate Will into the earth clan. The prayers poured out of our mouths one by one and were all marked my sincerity and heartcenteredness.
When I crawled out, the cool air soothed and cooled my superheated body. I stood and soaked in the beautiful sunlight as we all reveled in the relief of a more comfortable temperature. After 10 minutes or so, I felt some nausiousness in my stomach and light headed as well. A sigh escaped my heart as I sat down and let my head droop down towards the ground.
An hour or so later, after an amazing lunch by Caspar, I took care of tasks which involved getting the various spaces back in order. The wind picked up and began blowing things around, leaves and trees in the pool, a pot with a palm tree fell over and broke and the tarps over the t-houses whipped into a frenzy. All I could think was that we certainly stirred something up.
Bill, Will, Caleb and I then played some 2 on 2 basketball on the court that Santa built Will on Xmas. Bill and Will won and then we played pig which I won.
Caspar had a birthday party over at Ian and Natalie's. This allowed me to have some more of his wonderful cuisine. I spoke with Tyler, author of Ojai Blog about some of his new websites which you can read about on his site.
posted by Dij at 10:56 PM
1 waves:
That was fun last night, eh, Didj? Thanks for the mention. Cheers, Tyler
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