STEAM HEAT CLEANSING
AND PURIFICATION -
The Sweat Lodge, a brief history. Throughout the history of Humanity, knowledge of the healing ways
through steam purification has been practiced in many different forms. This was the ancient idea of ritual purification
through steam heat, in an enclosed space, accompanied by singing, prayers and a powerful
cleansing through heat, steam and sweat. Ancient
Greek and Roman bathhouses have been discovered in ruins at widely scattered locations
throughout Europe. It is clear that even well
before the birth of Christ these places were being used to cleanse and heal people, and
that there was a whole priesthood connected with these places.
This form of steam bath
found it’s way as far north as Russia, and is called their “Bania.” The Scandinavians have their “Sauna”,
the Muslims use the “Hammam” and in Ireland it is known in Gaelic as the
"Teach Allis", or sweathouse (shown pictured at right predating Columbus). In
Africa the people use many types of vapor baths, which are similar to the Turkish form. The Japanese call their purification bath the
Mushi-buro.
At
one time, in North America, there were over three hundred native American Indian nations.
Almost every one of these tribes had some form of steam purification lodge, and a specific
ceremonial way in which they were used. In recent years many of these American Indian
“Sweat Lodge” ceremonial forms have been available outside of their traditional
tribal settings.
SWEAT LODGE TRAINING AT ANCESTRAL
CIRCLE :
A European oriented study
Patience is necessary for the
Intuitive process to happen, and patience takes Time.
KEEPERS OF THE SACRED FLAME:
In the first part of our
training a group of students serve as Fire Keepers
for our on-going monthly or bi-monthly Sweat Lodge ceremonies. In this setting they learn
all the aspects involved in the preparation of the Sweat House or Lodge, the ceremonial
building, lighting, and tending of the ceremonial fire that heats the stones used in the
ceremony. Further, the Fire Keepers learn how to be an emotional support for
participants and the Leader during the ceremony. This is a complete training that is
highly experiential in nature and is designed to be a "Traditional" training, in
that it takes place over a two year period and supports the student all the
way through to the place where, if they so choose and when they are ready, they will
ultimately begin their training to be a Ceremonial leader of the Sweat Lodge. This is in
contrast to "quickie" trainings that are offered over a couple of weekends to
people with little or no formal introduction to the spiritual power and healing potential
of a Sweat Hut Cleansing Experience. When the trainings are offered, they are
held on a monthly basis and cover all aspects of preparation for the Sweat Lodge healing
ceremony. We define the different duties of the Sweat Lodge Keepers in terms of how
they relate to the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual parts of the Sweat Lodge
ceremony. And first and foremost is the emphasis on safety before,
during and after the healing ceremony. On a rotating basis, the students are
expected to either assist the ceremony as one of the Fire Keepers, or be in the ceremony
as a participant. Once a year the group of students have an opportunity to go
camping in a wilderness area where all the materials are available to build a Sweat Lodge
from scratch. This field trip will also cover some wilderness survival techniques
and it is always a lot of fun for everyone!
Our Sweat Lodge Ceremonies
are an opportunity for people of many diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds to come
together for cleansing and prayer, to honor the Ancient Ancestors out of their own tribal
past. The training we offer connects to our ancient european roots and we sometimes
use a "Sauna Lodge" (a cleansing lodge that is below ground level), however we
also use the structure and format of the Native American Indian ceremony due to the
portability of this structure, however this is in no way an
appropriation of any specific Native Indian ritual form.
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The Sweat
Lodge Leader Training:
It is expected that the
training to be a Fire Keeper will have been completed, and is a prerequisite for any
student to begin the work of learning to lead the Sweat Lodge ceremony in the Circle
of Ancestors tradition. Although it really depends on the wishes of the
student, in our experience it is not uncommon for some people to spend years working as a
Keeper of the Sacred Flame, and be perfectly content in that capacity. It is, after all, a
sacred trust in its own right. The study of the Sweat Lodge also approaches the ceremony
from the four aspects of the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual levels – but
from a more advanced perspective than was done for the Fire Keepers. This training
takes at least two and a half to three years to complete (with training session given
either monthly or bi-monthly), and affords the student a chance to lead a number of Sweat
Lodge ceremonies in a supervised Intern position. However, before the student is allowed
to begin this training they are expected to go through an intensive training experience
known as the "Crucible!" The purpose of the intensive experience is to
allow the student the opportunity to experience themselves in a "pressure
cooker" type of situation, where they are expected to come face to face with their
own issues of control, insecurity, fear, and anger. It is our belief that each
student needs to understand their limits and strengths if they are to work with others as
a healer. The faculty at Ancestral Circle is comprised of teachers who, by virtue of their
own training, are able to offer a wide variety of different forms of Sweat Lodge ceremony,
coming from a wide array of different sources and backgrounds. Every effort is made to
give the student as diverse an exposure as is possible to all aspects and forms of the
Sweat Lodge. It is our experience that to be a good ceremonial leader a person needs to
spend a concerted amount of time involved in the work of Spirit. The Time spent in
practice helps the potential leader to develop the intuition necessary for the ceremonial
work they are doing. That intuitive awareness helps the ceremonial leader to be more
sensitive to the participants in the ceremony, and the healing forces that work through
the Sweat Lodge, or any other ceremonial form. Students of the Sweat Lodge will be
encouraged and supported in doing a yearly Vision Quest. This will be an additional way of
aiding the serious student in getting more in tune with Spirit.
The work with the Sweat Lodge ceremony cannot be rushed, cannot be gleaned from a book or
from an expensive workshop. This is why it is very important to us at Ancestral Circle
that students be willing to take it slow and dedicate their time, energy and heart for the
period we request. It’s also about having fun! Some of the best medicine
teachers we have had a chance to study with always applied their medicine with a belief
that work with Spirit needed to be fun! Indeed, positive Spirit forces respond
best to an attitude of joy and mischievousness. The idea of “Old Man Coyote,” or
the "Leprechaun" as the one who teaches through tricks and laughter is a theme
that runs through many different cultures, and is one that Ancestral Circle
enthusiastically embraces.
Application for training:
If you are interested in beginning your training to work with the Sweat Lodge,
please e-mail us at ancestralcircle@yahoo.com. You will be asked to
fill out an application describing your background, your reasons for wanting to work with
the Sweat Lodge, and your goals. After your application has been reviewed you will be
invited for a personal interview, so that we can get to know you better.
Costs: Ancestral Circle is a
non-profit organization and, as such, we are not looking to make money from training
people to run Sweat Lodge ceremonies, rather we want people to be able to work effectively
with Spirit. The costs we require are not exorbitant, but are more in line with covering
the travel expenses of teachers coming in to teach, or materials like stones and firewood,
and teaching handbooks. Unfortunately we live in a time when money is required to cover
the necessities of life. It is also our wish to set an example by which
our students will be inspired to see the opportunity to share Spirit and ceremony as an
act of faith that carries with it inevitable rewards that transcend anything you can put
in the bank.
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