How Often Should One Participate in Temazcal?

In short, I don't know how often one should participate in temazcal ceremonies. I go about once a week when I'm in a city where I know the temazcaleros. But, how often should I go? How often should you go? I don't know.

My First Thought on Temazcal Ceremony Frequency

If I think about it ... which I did today ... it depends. I was talking about it with my sister, Margarita, today. Margarita's a fellow temazcalero from moons ago. I met her in the Temazcal de los Osos of Durango, Dgo., Mexico, where I, myself, joined the temazcalero family.

Although I have thought about the question before, when we asked each other the question, neither of us knew the answer. She said that she would ask a friend. I decided to think about it.

When we spoke, my reflexive response ... not always my best answer, but not bad this time, ... was, "Well, I think that I should go about once every moon phase." I explained, "That's seven days. It's a natural period. The moon phases cycle, and I think that men, like women, cycle with the moon."

Then, After Thinking About It...

At the moment, it seemed like a good answer.  However, as I thought about it, once a week ... once every moon phase ... is very often. Our Gregorian calendar week also influenced my decision. I realized that "once a week" equates to an easy answer that fits my business schedule and helps me fit my life activities to everyone else's. No. I decided to think it over again.

So, the Oso professes adherence to the Lakota guidelines, and we use The Sacred Pipe for guidelines. I don't, though, recall that Black Elk mentioned weekly inipis, and I continued to wonder.

How Often Did the Lakota Traditionally Hold Sweat Lodge Ceremonies?

I began to wonder how often the Lakota, when they migrated across the Great Plains or spent time along the Powder River, actually held inipi ceremonies. I am pretty sure that it wasn't weekly.

A sweat lodge ceremony like that of the Osos requires a fair investment: time, effort, and physical resources. It involves a great enough investment that I do not think that elaborate ceremonies, like those I attend in Durango, would have been possible.

It's not like taking a drive to church and sitting in a pew for 45 minutes each Sunday. It requires preparation:

• cutting wood
• getting igneous rocks
• preparing the site
• building the lodge frame
• covering the lodge frame
• getting herbs
• bringing water to the lodge
• an afternoon of heating up the abuelitas on the sacred fire and
• much more 

I learned these things working for the Circulo, and it taught me why guides get frustrated when no one leaves a fair donation in the huaje, or gourd. It takes a lot of work, gasoline, and time.

Today Technology Helps Temazcal Guides Prepare Weekly Ceremonies 

Today, temazcal guides do all of these things with the help of technology. Pipes bring in our water. Trucks haul our firewood and abuelitas. Butane lighters light our sacred fires.

Cell phones with Whatsapp help us organize and communicate. Written messages spread the word while we do other things. Once a week today, is quite a bit of effort ... much of which technology takes care of for us. The peoples of the pre-European Great Plains did not have access to this technology.

Elaborate Weekly Ceremonies Seem Unlikely in Pre-Industrial America 

All of this brings me to the conclusion that a temazcal once a week was not likely in an aboriginal lifestyle. So, how often did they hold ceremonies? I do not know, and I do not have my literature on hand to check references. I don't think it would help, even if it were on hand.

I am guessing that no one alive knows anymore. Even those whose lifetimes overlapped with Black Elk and his contemporaries probably do not know. The Lakota lifestyle was, by the time Black Elk appeared on the Great Plains, already altered by the invasion of the Wasichus. By the time he died, the Lakota were mostly living in square houses and forced to practice Christian ways.

I think that no one knows how often the Lakotas held inipi ceremonies. It might be irrelevant, at this point, because we no longer live in harmony with the world, as did the Lakota before the Europeans invaded the continent.

So, How Often Should One Attend Temazcal Ceremonies?

Even after thinking about it, I do not know the "right" answer. The "right" answer, I feel, is relative to each person. Everything is relative, and answers are no exception. "Right" for me does not equate to "right" for you. My "right" answer is, "It depends."

Do you want to do things the way the Lakotas did? Then, perhaps, you can find the "right" answer by visiting the Lakotas. Perhaps the "right" answer lays in some document that I have not read. I do not know your "right" answer.

My "right" answer, of course, will be different from yours. That of the Oso does not match mine, and that of his partner, the Osa, probably does not match that of either of us. She has her own criteria, which is fine.

Often Enough for Me; Often Enough for You

When I am in Durango, I try to go to temazcal ceremonies about once a week. Do I think that's the "right" amount? Well, for now, it will do.

As this moon becomes the new moon, I will travel to Lazaro Cardenas, Chihuahua, to participate in the Sun Dance for the first time. As of this writing, through the trip to celebrate the sun, I will have participated in a number of temazcal ceremonies.

I want to attend the temazcal less frequently. It has taught me much, and I still have much learning to do. By attending the Sun Dance, I commit to four years of the Dance. A lunar week from today I will know how often I will attend the ceremony following the Dance.

My New Agreements 

I have recently reread the Four Agreements, by Don Miguel Ruiz. As part of my participation in the Dance, I will do away with old agreements, and I will begin making new agreements with myself: agreements based upon my own dream.

For example, I currently attend ceremonies once a week, which, in my circle, is the standard. However, once I have left my defunct agreements in the Dance, I will begin a new life with new agreements. I have an idea about how often I will attend ceremonies, but, until I dance and make my offering, I will not say how often. The sun and I need to talk.