InTheTemazcal

For temazcal guide, Cesar Salazar, of the Centro Holistico Casa Mágica (Magic House Holistic Center), in Acapulco, Mexico, the temazcal, or steam bath, comprises one of several components of the center's holistic methods. He commented that the temazcal is part of the Mexican heritage and noted that it has been practiced throughout the Americas. In a previous post, entitled, " Temazcal at Casa Mágica, Acapulco, Mexico ," InTheTemzacal , we talked about the center's mission and philosophy. Aside from serving as a source of income, Salazar described it as ... ...  the beginning of a spirituality ... to bring ourselves closer to our creator. That is our goal, more than anything ... showing people the way. He went on to describe his philosophy of the temazcal : In the  temazcal  we have the philosophy that we die to be reborn. This they do in all of [the  temazcales ] ... die to rise again. What does this consist of?  We mean dying not physically, but...

The caminantes at Centro Holistico Casa Mágica ( Magic House Holistic Center ), in Acapulco, Mexico, have taken the temazcal a step beyond the ancient Mayan steam bath ceremony, integrating it into a modern holistic health center. The center provides temazcales, through its Circulo de Mujeres   Mariposa (Circle of Butterfly Women), and also offers yoga, massages, meditation, reiki, vegetarian food workshops, transpersonal therapy, hypnosis, tai chi, drawing, zumba, painting, acupuncture, and other services.  Cesar Salazar talking about the copalero, or copal burner, at Cása Magica. Photo Source: © Jeffrey R. Bacon, 2017 Hidden away, next to a bustling bus station, just a block from the Playa Hornitos beach, on Acapulco Bay, and just a few hundred feet from the  Parque Papagayo Acapulco , m y duality, Berenice " Gatuño"  Martinez , and I visited   Casa Magica last week. There, Cesar Salazar , Gilberto Chavez , Miriam Lucero , and a youngster ...

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...

Oso Mario, from whom I learned much of the ways of the red road, was, when I met him, the guide of the Circle of the Osos. On the foothills of the Sierra Madre Occidental, just on the outskirts of the City of Durango, Mexico, upon drenched, gritty clay-sand floor of the temazcal of the Osos, Mario and Lety, I listened, in the darkness, as he would request a prayer from each of us. I recall, one day, discussing with him my lamentations of having become separated from my family. I told him of my suffering and pain in my new world. We talked of circles and cycles, and he told me to pray. I had told him that I practiced no religion and had no beliefs beyond what logic told me was real: things I could understand through my five senses or my rational based upon information from my senses. He said that it did not matter and again suggested that I pray. "When you kneel, in the morning, to put on your sandals, or when you kneel, to lay down, in the evening, kneel a bit more, and pr...

The "Temāzcalli," known commonly today as, "temazcal," refers to the Aztec steam bath, similar to the sweat lodges, kivas , and inipis of other North American natives. Source: University of California-Berkeley. 1903. It has been four years since I last crawled over the earth, through the doorway of the temazcal . In four years I have not planted my forehead on the earthen floor of the lodge entrance to speak the words "con todas mis relaciones" ("with all my relationships"). " Temazcal , also known as temazcalli , is a traditional native Mexican American purification ceremony. It's similar to the sweat lodge, or inipi , of the Lakotas, or kiva of the pueblo dwellers in the western United States." (Bacon 1996-2016)  Victoria de Durango, Durango, Mexico, where I first participated in a temazcal . Source: Wikihistoria. 2013. Four years seems appropriate as I prepare this post. Four years seems appropriate as I recon...