Sweat lodge

Sweat lodge

               We used the small lodge for the sweat last night.  This is our original Navajo lodge which is positioned where it should be, right in line with the fire ring to the east.  It is a beautiful, inexplicable structure, like a visitor from the ancient past humming away peacefully out in the yard.  When our Navajo UPS guy first saw it, he was incredulous.  “I haven’t seen one of those since I was a kid!”  That concerned and saddened me.  I don’t think it’s a good thing that they are apparently becoming rare.  We usually use the big, Lakota style lodge off to the side, but this one is the heart and soul of things.  A Native woman recently told me she hadn’t really paid attention to it – she thought it was a bread oven or something.  I told her it’s for cooking white people.

               The pipe stem that seemed to suggest itself last night was the one for the West, symbolizing introspection, the unknown parts of ourselves, and healing.  The first hot stone that came into the pit was in the North, for wisdom, strength and courage.  To me, these are both scary directions.  In a West lodge, things I don’t like about myself usually start coming up; ego-based issues like self-consciousness and judgement.  And the medicine from the north says, “You’re going to need this.”  Oh well.  Fortunately, the spirits just seemed to be encouraging us to turn our lives and wills over to Creator, saying “Yes, this is a very good thing for you all to be doing right now.”  My spiritual discipline this week was reminding myself to relax into accepting that this is God’s life, not mine, and to give up attempts to have creative control over it.  Takes a lot of pounding to get to that point, but all of us there last night have had that. 

               It rained yesterday, and it was cold and windy that evening.  People tend not to turn out when the weather is like that.  You have to be really hard core.  It’s about wanting to punch through personal blocks and limitations above all else; knowing that Creator and the spirits will do for us in the sweat what we can’t do for ourselves. It’s about yearning for the connection with All That Is that sets things right.   I think this may be where that Plains Indian saying comes from, “It’s a good day to die.”  At least it makes sense to me from that perspective. 

               It’s getting dark early now, but inside the lodge we can still see from the firelight. The lodge is made of juniper limbs coming together at the top in a conical shape with bark and mud over them.  It is likened to the womb of Mother Earth.  The stones come in on the end of a pitchfork, and the lodge fills with smoke from purifying juniper and sage.  After the door is shut, the leader pours sacred water of life from a dipper onto the stones, and the lodge fills up with steam.  I always feel a flash of pure happiness right there at the start of the ceremony – like I have no past and no future, wanting nothing, existing only in this connected and timeless moment.  

We call the person who brings in the stones, the stone hero.  It is an honor to transport the Old Ones into the lodge.  At least it’s encouraging to keep that in mind.  It is a hard job, especially in the winter when one is out there performing this task uncomplainingly, tired from sweating, and soaking wet in the cold wind. 

It is best to welcome each stone with reverence, saying “Welcome Grandmother and Grandfather,” or “Welcome Old Ones.”  When I focus on the stones and try to get a sense of what they are about, I’m awed.  They are truly Elders, having access to all wisdom, and desiring only to be of loving service for us.  Why do they want to do this?  I don’t know, but I’m incredibly grateful that they do.  They often break up in the fire.  This is an example I take to heart – they are so fearlessly willing to serve Creator for the sake of others, that they don’t mind what happens to them personally.

               One member who was there is getting married on Sunday.  She especially wanted a lodge last night for grounding, purification and wisdom.  She wants this new stage of her journey in committed partnership with her beloved to be a sacred one, walking together in beauty with Creator.   May this be so!  Aho!