InTheTemazcal

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 per...

The Earth is your Grandmother and Mother, and She is sacred. Every step that is taken upon Her should be as a prayer. Black Elk in The Sacred Pipe (1971) I have seen the use of affirmations and affirmative prayer among the temazcaleros . "Affirmations," wrote Dr. Kathryn J. Lively (2014),  Associate Professor of Sociology at Dartmouth College and  co-author of Selves, Symbols, and Social Reality , " are simply statements that are designed to create self-change in the individual using them."  Both inside and outside the  temazcal  affirmations can help us, as  caminantes  (those who walk the path, or Red Road) focus attention in our lives and promote behaviors we value. Oso (Bear) Mario, my brother in the  temazcal  of the  Circulo de los Osos  (Circle of the Bears), in Durango, Mexico, suggested to me the use of affirmative prayer and practicing gratefulness when we talked about coping during a per...

Source: Wikimedia Commons "Hey hey! hey hey! hey hey! hey hey!" exclaimed Black Elk, sending a voice, as he offered the mouthpiece of the pipe to the One above (Neihardt 1932). This series of exclamations begins Black Elk's "Offering the Pipe Prayer," which has been reproduced in other books and web pages (e.g., Black Elk, date unknown; Davich 1998; Summers 2011). World Prayers (Black Elk, date unknown) presents the prayer as follows: Black Elk's "Offering the Pipe Prayer" Hey hey! hey hey! hey hey! hey hey! Grandfather, Great Spirit, you have been always, and before you no one has been. There is no other one to pray to but you. You yourself, everything that you see, everything that has been made by you. The star nations all over the universe you have finished. The four quarters of the earth you have finished. The day, and in that day, everything you have finished. Grandfather, Great Spirit, lean close to the earth that you may he...

Bison, drawing from the cave la Grèze in Dordogne. Source: Wikimedia Commons Casually reading the first chapter of Black Elk Speaks , as I surely did for the first time many years ago, it seems a simple recollection by an old Lakota Indian. However, looking back, I have read the chapter more times than I can remember, and I find something new with each reading. Black Elk’s own narration, in the chapter basically begins with the story about how the pipe came to the Lakota people. He described, without mentioning the name we so commonly hear, Pte Ska Win, Pteskawin, Ptesanwi, or White Buffalo Calf Woman. He told how two Lakota scouts chanced upon her and how, eventually, she took the pipe and to the Lakota Nation. Symbolism in the Story of the Pipe Once again, we see Black Elk, in this short chapter, introducing us, as the listeners of his tale, more symbolic tradition than a mere reading or two allows us to comprehend. I have heard the story, much as Black Elk told it, i...

Black Elk and John G. Neihardt (1932) introduced the audience of the book,  Black Elk Speaks , to important symbols in the Lakota culture within John G. Neihardt's six-paragraph introduction (Chapter One: "The Offering of the Pipe." There, the holy man, Black Elk, moved to "... make an offering and send a voice to the Spirit of the World, that it may help me to be true. ... But before we smoke it you must see how it is made and what it means." As an author, organizing transcribed texts, memories, and impressions, Neihardt, through this six-paragraph introduction of Black Elk, set a mood and intimate focus for the reader. The visionary Lakota, sharing and describing the sacred pipe, developed a tangible image of the entire universe, represented by the shared offering of the pipe. Without such a physical or otherwise perceivable model, we might never manage to begin to contemplate the Lakota universe. As a reader of  Black Elk Speaks,  taking the time to...

Image Source: Pixabay "My friend, I am going to tell you the story of my life, as you wish; and if it were only the story of my life I think I would not tell it; for what is one man that he should make much of his winters, even when they bend him like a heavy snow? So many other men have lived and shall live that story, to be grass upon the hills." from  Black Elk Speaks John G. Neihardt opened his most successful book, Black Elk Speaks  with his own words, expressing them in the sense of Black Elk's "mood and manner" for telling his life story (Neihardt 2008). The book reaches us, the readers, as a collaborative effort of many participants, with Black Elk speaking as the Lakota holy man and Neihardt as the poetic writer. The former told the saga, while the latter orchestrated its transcription, translation, and publication, sending a united voice to the universe. The book's first six paragraphs, in Chapter One, "The Offering of the Pipe,...

The book, Black Elk Speaks, as seen on Amazon.com This year, as the winter solstice graces us, we're initiating the celebration of the new solar year by reviewing Black Elk and John G. Neihardt's Black Elk Speaks (1932).Winter solstice marks the longest evening of the solar year and occurs during the final quarter of  Wanícokan Wi * ,  or   the Moon When the Deer Shed their Antlers. On the Gregorian calendar, that's on or near the 22 nd of December. Remembering with Nebraska Black Elk, a holy man of the Oglala Lakota, saw his vision in the Black Hills region west of Nebraska. During the  Waníyetu Wi , or the Moon of the Rutting deer, the Nebraskan reading program, One Book One Nebraska (OBON), announced its 2017 selection: John G. Neihardt's  Black Elk Speaks . OBON aims to demonstrate ... "... how books and reading connect people across time and place. Each year, Nebraska communities come together through literature in community-wide reading...

Header from Pixabay, Public Domain. Today I can name the moon. Once I could not name it. When I can name the moon, I know that I've been living a healthy lifestyle. I know that I've paid attention to the Mother Earth, or Pachamama,  my family, and myself. When I'm unsure which moon shines through my bedroom window at night, or how the sun lights her face on a particular evening, I know that I've missed out on something and need to pay attention. Most of us have lost track of the lunar calendar. Even more of us have lost track of the lessons she teaches. Can you name the moon today? Our Gregorian Calendar A predecessor to Rome's Gregorian Calendar Image Source: Kleuske (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5)] on Wikimedia Commons Today's most widely used calendar, the Gregorian calendar, came to us from the ancient Romans. By the time the Old World invaded and took over the New World, our calendar, with its blocky months of rec...