InTheTemazcal

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...

Part of my friend Hung's success comes from prudent spending. We joke about it often, when we talk, and he told me that his son, Jordan, learned to play the drums by practicing with cardboard boxes. I admire that, and I admire that Jordan has become quite the drummer (I saw a video that Hung sent me) by beginning his practice on boxes. I think that it's good for us to learn to achieve our goals without investing first in the material aspects of those goals. I wondered, today, why he had invited me, and I know that it's because we're friends. But, I also thought about his time and effort and material expenses. I know well that he would not spend 50 or 60¢, plus time and effort to send me an envelope if he did not expect a response. But, what was he thinking? What could I have to offer Jordan? I've wondered that every day since I began planning this task of daily praying. What benefit could Jordan possibly receive from me praying for him every day? I know...

The medicine wheel in my back yard. Having missed yesterday, due to illness, writing a post dedicated to Jordan's mission in Manaus Brazil, I decided that it was time to visit a medicine wheel that I had made and frequented near my home. The Oso Mario, in Durango, Mexico, had introduced me to the medicine wheel, and I read about it in John G. Neihardt's book, Black Elk Speaks .  During the waxing moon of mid-June, when I returned to Durango, the Oso Hector asked me, in the temazcal, to share with the fellow caminantes how I dealt with the four years away from the temazcal while in the U.S. Hector knew that I had moved from Durango to a small village just below the Mescalero Apache Reservation in the foothills of the Sacramento Mountains, in southeastern New Mexico. There, the Apaches, my brother, Kelton told me, do not traditionally practice temazcal , or sweat lodges, as they're known in most of the United States. Because I had no nearby caminantes with who...