InTheTemazcal

Maybe you have not had the  temazcal  experience yet. Perhaps you have been thinking about kicking off your sandals to step inside the circle. Have you heard a co-worker talking about a Mayan steam bath at work and want to know what it's all about?   Whatever your situation, welcome, tenderfoot  temazcalero ! Below you will find a few links from first time  "caminantes " to give you an idea of what went through their heads when they entered the  temazcal  for their first or second try! I hope you enjoy them, and, as always, let me know what you think! There's a comment box at the bottom of the post. Spiritual Sundays:  Temazcal Meet You at the Bridge  does a nice job of describing a  temazcal  experience in terms that folks can relate to. They wrote, " Temazcal  is about opening up to receive an ancient spiritual healing, to bring problems to the surface and offering them up to the universe for...

Saunas, steam baths, sweat lodges, and sweat houses have been around for thousands of years. Modern versions of these ancient structures varies with their place of origin, with native Mexicans referring to a traditional sauna as a "temazcal ," native cultures north of Mexico cultures calling it an "inipi " or "kiva," Europeans calling it a "savusauna" or "sudatory," the Chinese calling it "桑拿浴," and the Russians naming it "banya" or "banja." The Mesoamerican Temazcal Many PreColombian Mesoamericans celebrated at least a portion of their spiritual belief system in the steam bath, or "temazcal"  (sometimes anglicized to read, "temascal"). The word comes from Nahuatl, a language family of the ancient Mesoamericans. They called it, "temāzcalli,"  which translates loosely to the "house of heat." Some sources, like Aaland (1997) attribute its origin to the Aztec ...

My medicine bag   from Rufina of Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico "In the everyday life of the inhabitants of rural communities, one cannot miss an article that is totally linked to the native traditions ... the pouch. ...It is destined to be used to transport seeds to sow, to store food, and, in some cases, for beer or other spirits." --  Juan Manuel Aguirre (2013) Some time ago, Rufina, a good friend from Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico, gave me a morralito   made by a Oaxacan artisan . The word, "morralito," comes from the diminutive of  morral ,  or pouch. It's one of the few venerable items adorning my home, and I appreciate it so much from this special person that I rarely take it outside my home. It contains symbolic items from dear friends and other items that the universe has loaned me. For use in the field I have another morralito,  made of leather. It's a little sturdier, and because it's not linked to anyone I know, I use it in the f...

Public domain photo by L. A. Huffman, Miles City, Montana, via Wikimedia Commons I talked to a temazcal guide a while back, asking if he was going to start up his temazcal again. "Right now, I do not have a truck, and I need a truck. You can get me one. Why don't you bring one across for me? I need a truck." It did not surprise me that he asked me for a vehicle. That's how he works. Not many people understood this attitude, and some even criticized him for it. Before I did my service for his circle, I did not understand why he frequently asked us, as caminantes, or walkers, in his circle, for so many things. He held his ceremonies in a large lot on the outskirts of town. It belonged, he had told me, to "un hermano" (a brother). He did, at that time, have his own truck. ... or at least I thought it was his. I never asked, really. He lived in a modest, loaned home, with his "dualidad," (literally, "duality," or partner). His b...

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...