InTheTemazcal

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...

I wore this pendant, a gift from El Oso, which reminded me of the red road on which he led me. While today I mostly write of the temazcal from memory, at one time I lived it, attending twice a week and giving my time and effort in service as often as my work and energy allowed. I had become accustomed to the Circulo de los Osos (the Bears' Circle) and its caminantes as my family. Although I spent only a few years with them, those years coincided with important new apertures in my mind and material world experiences. A professional change in my life provided motive to move away from that group. Although I made the move willingly and thoughtfully, I found myself in my new world with little external emotional or spiritual support. The Coping Tools I Used Not long ago, when I rejoined my hermano , or brother, from the Circulo de los Osos , Oso Hector, he asked me to share with the others of his temazcal ceremony the answer to the question, "How did I endure my move...