The Sweat Lodge
April 12, 2008
About six years ago I attended a sweat lodge for about
a year and a half when I lived in the city.
I found it very cleansing and rejuvenating and loved the sense of community
there.
We had feasts after we’d spent 2-4 hours in the sweat lodge. Everyone would
bring something to eat
and it was nice to break bread with all sorts of different people who came there
for the healing of mind
body and spirit. Of course, The Creator always got to eat first. We’d put some
of the food in the fire
for him and if we’d brought something to drink (juices, soft drinks, etc) he’d
get a splash of that, too.
I had incredible visions and a sense of being touched physically in that lodge.
Once when we were sitting around chanting inside the
sweat lodge, a GrandFather (a spirit) came
and stood behind me in the sweat lodge where I was sitting, and chanted the same
song I was singing
into the back of my neck. My hair stood on end (in a good way) and I felt very
blessed that he had
picked me to stand behind. (Nice voice, by the way)!
Another time when we called in our family who had
passed on in this lifetime, I saw my Maternal
GrandMother Svea, her face floating right up to me, smiling, and happy.
In the round when we call in The GrandMothers and The
GrandFathers, I once saw a large profile
of a native man’s face with a feather attached to his hair, and I also saw a
young native boy’s facial
profile with the feather in the same place. The GrandFather stood behind the
young native boy and
it looked and felt as though The GrandFather was protecting and watching over,
the young boy.
Several times when we were chanting in the sweat lodge,
a wind would suddenly move my hair,
or my hair would be flipped from one side of my back to the other. This was with
a completely
enclosed sweat lodge, no wind and very little air could get in to the lodge once
we’d started our
rounds. I think The Elders (The GrandMothers and The GrandFathers) were just
having some
fun with me J
Once, there was just myself, the Medicine Man, and the
owner of the land in the sweat lodge ceremony.
We were just ending a chant, and then we heard someone running around and around
the sweat lodge
over and over again. It still gives me goose bumps writing about it now. We
believe it was a curious spirit
GrandMother or GrandFather who was checking us out and playing a joke on us.
That’s the thing with
the spirits. They are a blessing to us, and they also have a sense of humor! I
love that J You get healing
and you also get to laugh. What better way to spend a day.
Ulrika