by Tama
Being There
Imagine a cave-like tent so thick that you are plunged into total darkness
as soon as you close the flap. Imagine stones so hot that they look like
giant orange red embers glowing in the darkness. Imagine the sizzle as
a ladle of water is poured onto the fire baked rocks, turning the air
into a cloud of steam. Imagine on the other side of the flap a bonfire
so powerful and [strong] that the flames fly upward, higher and higher
as if to touch the sky, dancing to the beat of the drums against the backdrop
of a starry night. Imagine all of the above and you will begin to have
a taste of what it is like to be in a sweatlodge.
Why Do It?
If the image of the rounded tent as a cave reminds you of another place
where darkness and warmth envelope you in a blanket of security, then
you are on the right track to understanding the reason behind the sweatlodge.
Much like the womb, the sweatlodge is a place of birth, or in this case,
rebirth.
Reasons for doing a sweatlodge are as numerous and varied as the people
participating:
· Some enter into the tent in order to shed a former “skin”,
a part of themselves that they want to leave behind, and re-emerge with
a new self, or a new understanding of how they want to be.
· Others want to travel inward and come face to face with their
essence, or their inner self.
· Yet others want to undergo a purification process.
The idea of rebirth ties all these different reasons into one process.
Unlike a real birth, however, you are not alone in this process. With
you are other bodies, other souls, with whom you create the space and
the energy for inspiration to happen. This shared energy can carry the
participant of the sweatlodge towards vision, insight or inspiration,
and ultimately to a journey deep into him or herself.
What Is It?
Sweatlodges are part of Shamanic practices in many different cultures,
the most well known being the North American Indian sweatlodge. The Celtic
sweatlodge is very similar in purpose and is carried out in much the same
fashion. The participants must collect the necessary materials, then construct
their own sweatlodges by bending wood (hazel?) poles that form many intertwining
arcs and serve as the skeletal framework upon which the covering (now
usually canvas tarps) is draped in order to create the tent. A bonfire
heats up the collected rocks, which will go into the middle of the circle.
Water will be splashed onto these molten stones to create steam. In preparation
for entering the sweatlodge, the participants dance and chant around the
bonfire to African drumming, then file (usually naked) into the tent one
by one, sitting on the earth in a circle around the center of molten rocks.
The main flap of the tent, or the “door”, is pulled down and
adventure then begins.
The Symbols
The four elements of fire, water, earth and air symbolize each in its
own way an important element of the sweatlodge experience. By sitting
on the earth, the ultimate womb from which we spring and which sustains
and nourishes us, we connect to its security providing roots and grounding
without which we cannot “fly”. The water splashing onto the
molten rocks and rising as steam, seeping through bodies and pores as
sweat and rolling off into the earth in a cycle of rejuvenation purifies
and cleanses us along the way. Air, the elixir of life, which we drink
with every breath. In the sweatlodge we gain conscious awareness of the
flow of air, entering and leaving our bodies. And finally the fire of
warmth and passion burning brightly and freely showing us how to spark
our own inner flame, to feed and coax it until we have created a roaring
fire within, shining to the world its own beauty and splendor.
In The End/InThe Beginning
In the end we have come full circle to the beginning, the title becoming
the conclusion. For now we can say that the sweatlodge is essentially
taking a walk into the fire within. Only now we understand what that means.
