A Petition and Thanks

I asked Osa Lety of the Circulo de los Osos, on the western edge of the City of Durango, Mexico, to remind me how we began each temazcal. She wrote, in an abbreviated version,...

"Ancianos y ancianas de la tradicion sagrada, te pedimos permiso para inciciar nuestra ceremonia de temazcal, agradeciendo a la Madre Tierra, a los cuatro elementos, y a los guardianes de este lugar."

That translates, approximately, to ...

"Ancient ones of the sacred tradition, we ask your permission to iniate our sweat lodge ceremony, thanking the Mother Earth, the four elements, and the guardians of this place."

In the temazcal ceremony our guides, Osos, Lety and Mario, began with this humble petition, addressing the ancient ones, or the elders that came before us. They would ask their permission to initiate the ceremony and gave thanks before anything else occurred in the darkness of the lodge.

As I recall the petition, which has come to mind in my ten day dedication to Jordan, the son of Hung and Jami, I close my eyes and relate it to his situation. I understand that his tradition comes from centuries of missionary jornadas from the Old World to the New World. I recall that he follows a tradition of the forefathers of Christianity. They are the ancient ones, or elders, who preceded him.

I give thanks to those from which he came ... his parents, their parents, their parents, and so on, all the way back to the Mother Earth and the Universe from which She sprang. I give thanks for the four elements of which he's made and which are the life of him. I give thanks to those who protect and guide him ... the guardians ... and that will see to his fruitful stay in Manaus and his safe return to his family in the Midwest.

...con todas mis relaciones!