The Element Chant - Tierra Mi Cuerpo

The first time I heard the temazcaleros sing, "Tierra mi Cuerpo," in the Temazcal, I knew that I had heard the song long ago ... somewhere in my childhood. There, though, it bore a name from my native tongue, English. I later remembered that I had learned it as "The Element Song," also known as "The Element Chant."

The harmony took me back to a circle around a campfire, and, as it drifted through my mind, I heard its echo from a classroom in the Midwest, ... maybe in Greenwood Elementary School. I know that I have heard a number of versions and interpretations by different artists, in several languages.

The song, or chant, ... simple and direct ... verbalizes a very basic relationship between the temazcalero, the human participant in the temazcal ceremony, and the elements of the temazcal: earth, water, air, and fire. In the temazcal, or Mexican steam bath, recall, ... in its most basic form, the temazcalero sits on an earthen floor, exposed to steam (water in the form of vapor), and breathes in the steamy air heated by fiery volcanic rocks.

Four Elements: Many Tongues

Recognition of four basic elements ... or at least a close
approximation, has been important to many world cultures.
Image from Pixabay.

Since I first took off my sandal and stepped into the Circulo de los Osos, where I became a caminante (from Spanish, literally "one who walks") I have heard many variants of the song that I have known from grade school. It has been sung by many cultures and recorded by various artists.

I have heard it described as a Native American song, a Pagan song, a Wiccan song, a hippie song, a Christian song, a song from Judaism, a Spanish song, an ancient Egyptian chant, a Babylonian chant, a yoga chant, and, of course, a temazcal song. I honestly do not know where it came from, who wrote it, or what culture can claim to have created the chant.

I do know that its universality makes it an effective match for the temazcal ceremony. Regardless of where it comes from, I know it from three tongues, or languages, ...

"The Element Song," in English

Source: Dirc van Delft - The Four Elements
(Earth, Water, Air, Fire); from, Walters W17115R,
on WikiMedia Commons

You may have heard the chant, in English ...

"Earth my body;
Water my blood;
Air my breath; and
Fire my spirit!"

If you pay attention, you can find many variations of this basic quatrain, or verse, with four lines. The quatrain may be repeated (circular) or followed by quatrains in different languages or with distinct wording.

"Tierra Mi Cuerpo," in Spanish

Temazcal singers from the Circulo de los Osos, celebrating
at La Constancia, Durango, Mexico. From left
to right: Mowe Gr (el Chicharito),
Oso Mario Gonzales Moreno,
Alberto PG (El Homz), and
Oso Hector A.Gomez-Gamero.
Photo Courtesy of the Osa Margarita Durango.

The temazcal version that we sing in Spanish, in the Circulo de los Osos, goes something like this

"¡Tierra mi cuerpo;Agua mi sangre;Aire mi aliento; y Fuego mi espiritu!

I have heard variants in other temazcales and even in our own circle, especially when led by visitors. Variations include, as in the English variations, repetitions in different languages (usually Nahuatl) and quatrains with different wording.

Following that, and any song or prayer in our temazcales, we'd exclaim, "... con todas mis relaciones," meaning, with "... all my relatives," or "... with all my relationships."

"Tlalli No Nacayo," in Nahuatl

Source: Google Groups

Those who know the language of the Mayas, Nahuatl, of southern Mexico, sing ...

"Tlalli no nacayo,Atl no enzo,Ehecatl no iyeo,
Ihuanzet no tona!"

Regardless of the language in which one hears the chant, it sings of four elements as part of the caminante, as a living being, and, in the temazcal, the four elements come together.

A Closer Look at the Element Chant

Four simple lines, sung four times, or in multiples of four, make for a mesmerizing chant that clearly rings the most basic elements of the temazcal and of life itself. The chant's practically ubiquitous nature attests to its applicability regardless of cultural biases. Symbolism plays an important role in learning temazcal concepts and practice.

Earth

Kaban

The Earth, of course,  refers to our planet and our mother: Mother Earth, Madre Tierra (Spanish), Pachamama (of the Incans), and Tonantzin (Mayan). Earth, of course, also refers to soil, and, as an element of the song, this second meaning strikes more closely to the earth as an element.

It symbolizes the loving maternal Earth that we live on ... our Mother Earth. In the temazcal, we literally sit on the earthen floor. Positioning ourselves, as such, brings us closer to our Mother Earth.

The temazcal ... the actual lodge, or structure, ... represents the mother's womb. When we crawl across the earth, into the womb, on our hands and knees, we return to our mother, the Earth.

Nez Percé Chief Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt,
also known as Chief Plenty Coups, or
Chief Joseph.

Dust as a symbol for death comes from many cultures across the globe. For example, from the Christian religion, we see, in the King James version of the Biblical text the following: "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return" (Genesis 3:19).

From the Native American culture, we find many similar statements. For example, Nez Percé Chief Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt, also known as Chief Plenty Coups, or Chief Joseph, said, "The ground on which we stand is sacred ground. It is the dust and blood of our ancestors" (Dixon and Wanamaker 1913).

Just as the Native Americans understood that our bodies, in death, return to the Mother Earth, the Temazcaleros deposit their discomfort, distress, impurities, and toxins in the earth within the temazcal. That which leaves their bodies through the perspiration in the sweat bath, through sweat and emotional release, returns back to the earth, replenishing health and vitality. Metaphorically, once we have done so, we have experienced re-birth.

Water

Muluk

More than 50% of our body mass consists of water, and this vital liquid covers 70% of our Earth's surface. During nine moons of our lives, we develop within a water-rich amniotic fluid of the amniotic sac, within the uterus. The fluid and surrounding tissues protect us during gestation. As we bathe in the fluid, we live in the most restful period of our lives, nearly free of all external threats, and we perceive our universe in the dark, warm, protection of the womb.

 In the temazcal, we introduce water through the door, or portal, of the lodge, and that water, poured over red-hot volcanic rocks, known as "abuelitas," turns to vapor, heating the air and bathing us in our own perspiration and condensed water.  As water rushes from our pores, it takes with it ... to the earth below us and the sky above, ... the impurities that have accumulated in our bodies.

The Goddess of the Waters, Ixchel
Source: Pixabay.

Sometimes the guides, in the temazcal, dip a branch from a Pirul, or Brazilian Pepper Tree, into water and shake cool, refreshing liquic onto the caminantes. Guides often refresh participants this way during an especially hot round.

Some guides also pass around water or tea in a gourd or clay cup after a few rounds of temazcal. Likewise, it occurs most commonly after an especially hot round.

Water represents fluidity, motion, purification, cooling, life, and the calm of the amniotic fluid in our maternal space. Perhaps we unconsciously associate the warm, moist interior of the temazcal with our own gestation periods, and these sensations may help us follow neurological pathways back to those memories stored away in our nervous system.

Fire

In all cultures with spiritual practices fire plays an important role in ceremonies. In the temazcal, we build a sacred fire, visible from the open door of the lodge.

The fire warms the abuelitas until they become red-hot. Upon receiving instructions from the guide, the hombre fuego (man of fire ... it can be a woman, but I've never heard the phrase, "mujer fuego"), using a pitchfork, introduces the hot rock into the temazcal. From the inside of the temazcal door, the hombre medicina (medicine man ... or woman, as the case may be), using cuernos de venado (deer antlers) lowers them into the ombligo (belly button), a hole in the center of the temazcal floor.

Fire, in many cultures natives to the Americas, facilitates communication with the divine. Fire, or rather, its blistery heat within the abuelitas, in the temazcal, also transforms that which we consider harmful to us, ... sickness, distress, pain, fear, ... into free energy, vapor, and ash for the winds and waters to carry away to other parts of our universe.

One temazcal song, "Agua de Vida" (also known as "Agua Divina"), goes like this ...

"Agua vital purifícame;Fuego del amor, quema mi temor;Viento del alba, llévame al altar;Oh! Madre Tierra, vuelvo a tu hogar;En el Temazcal! en el Temazcal!

From: PCJumbo

In English, loosely translated, that says,...

Vital water, purify me;
Fire of amour, burn my terror;
Breeze of the daybreak, across the altar;
Oh! Mother Earth, return from afar;
In the temazcal! In the temazcal!

The phrase, "Fire of amour, burn my terror," seems particularly relevant for caminantes who carry with them some sort of distress or trouble. In the heat of the temazcal, one burns his or her terrors, fears, problems, illnesses, and all the emotional burden that we carry into it, as we kneel at her door.

Air

Ik

When the guide splashes water onto the abuelitas in the temazcal, the air fills with hissing, dancing steam that diffuses throughout the lodge. It carries the heat from the sacred fire.

As we breathe the air, we feel its warmth and moisture in our lungs, and we smell its earthy scent. Our respiratory system interfaces with the four elements, and we take in some of the micro-cosmos of the temazcal, just as we release some of ourselves.

We refer to wind, ... moving air ..., as the breath of the elders (aliento de los ancianos), and sometimes, when the guide requests a prayer from me, I'll pass my turn onto the abuelitas, so that we can hear them hissing, as their heat forces air through cracks and crevices in the rocks. Listening to the hiss of the air or the gusts of winds helps remind us of the importance of presencial listening.

The air we breathe also brings sound to us. The displacement of air by the beat of a drum causes the vibration of our eardrums to generate the stimulus our nervous system needs to interpret the sound. Air, together with fire, plays an important role in sending a voice, as songs, prayers, petitions, and statements, communicate the magic of the temazcal ceremony.

Mysterious, or Wakan, as the Lakota say, air, usually invisible, we can feel as a breeze or hear, as a sound, as it reminds us subtly of its presence. It can also overwhelm us and destroy things as a wind storm, tornado, or hurricane.

Quetzalcóatl-Ehécatl. Source: Pixabay

The Mayans associated wind with the beginning of human life. Ehécatl, the Aztec wind god, means, "wind," in Náhuatl. One of several guises of the great creator god, Quetzalcóatl (the Feathered Serpent or Quetzal-plumed Snake), Ehécatl's breath began the movement of the Sun.

The Four Elements in the Temazcal

In the temazcal, the four elements, earth, air, water, and fire, come together as they do in the womb. The simulation and symbology of this environment, I feel, help us reconnect with long-repressed anxiety, distress, sadness, suffering, fear, and pain, giving us another chance to observe, accept, and come to peace with them. Participating in the temazcal ceremony can help us, if we participate actively and openly, to find direction in our lives.

We would like to hear from you:

1. In your spiritual celebration or view of life, do the elements play an important role in ceremonial celebration or, simply, your way of viewing things?
2. I've seen a few variants of the four element view ... five elements, three elements, etc. ... from different cultures. Do you use any of these concepts?

Please comment on these questions, or anything else that came to your attention while reading, below!

... con todas mis relaciones! Aho!

References Cited

• Dixon, J. K., and R. Wanamaker. 1913. The vanishing race, the last great Indian council : a record in picture and story of the last great Indian council, participated in by eminent Indian chiefs from nearly every Indian reservation in the United States, together with the story of their lives as told by themselves--their speeches and folklore tales--their solemn farewell and the Indians' story of the Custer fight 1863-1928.  Garden City, N.Y. : Doubleday, Page & Co.

Top image from Pixabay.