The Sweat Ritual has four components: the Fire pit, the Lodge, the Rocks, and Pathway between the fire source and the Lodge. The fire pit is essentially the fire of Great Spirit, which is the source of purification and transformation. Though it can also be understood as the fire of spiritual intention or the fire of sincere feeling behind our prayers. This fire fuels the path to healing and it helps purify our being. The fire comes from within the soul and has its ultimate source in the healing fire of Great Spirit. The Sweat Lodge is the place of transformation, and this transformation involves our body, mind and spirit of emotion. Then, when we come out of the Sweat, or out from the transformation, we carry with us a fresh vision of spiritual truth and renewed energies for spiritual expression. We carry our healing into the world. Between the Fire pit and the Lodge is the Pathway of Spirit.
This Pathway is our own personal experience of Great Spirit and the spiritual energies, and we should remember that each of us will have our own unique experience, in regards to purification, spiritual healing and spiritual vision. Along the Pathway are carried the heated Rocks of transformation, which means that between Great Spirit and ourselves are the many spiritual helpers, the guiding principles, and the healing energies, which can lead us to a greater spiritual awakening and wholeness of being. The Rock People are believed to embody the ancient teachings and lessons of Spirit, and by being heated in the Fire, this ancient wisdom can be brought out and released in the Lodge by the steam created when water is splashed over them. These lessons, or this wisdom, will come into the breath and body of the participants, and each person will feel and understand these energies in their own unique way, which is their unique pathway to spiritual wholeness.
The four stages of the Sweat Ritual are, essentially, prayers for purification, prayers of thankfulness, prayers for the spiritual healing of oneself and others, and prayers for renewed vision, guidance and spiritual direction. In each of these stages, there are the three necessary aspects which are 1) prayer or sincere asking for help, 2) receptivity and being open to transformation, and 3) actually becoming more purified and more whole, within the power of Great Spirit.
In the Native Tradition of the Sweat Bath, a fire is built to the east of the Bath Lodge. In this fire the stones for the Lodge are heated until they are red hot and then they are taken into the Lodge, where one sits with a community of friends and becomes purified by the heat and sweat. Purification, and the prayer for purification, is a necessary part of the sacred Ritual, as well as the prayer for healing and guidance.
First there is the letting go and the purification of body, emotions and mind, so that one is empty enough to receive this healing and the higher energies of Spirit. The prayer and intention of this is essentially that of being healed and bringing in the greater spiritual energies available to us. But before true healing and spiritual wholeness is possible, the person must be willing to sacrifice and surrender the egotism of self-importance, greed and possessiveness If you are willing to let go of pride, greed and possessiveness, sweating out these enemies of Spirit in the act of purification, then the door opens to spiritual healing and a greater realization of oneself as being in the wholeness of Great Spirit. Purification is a willing act of letting go and emptying oneself, so that there may be room for Spirit and vision to enter. You have to let go of all your emotional stress, all your pent-up fears, resentments, and frustrations, as well as the very core of your egotism. Sometimes you just have to sweat it out. In the Sweat, the negative emotions of fear, resentment and self-importance are actually intensified in the heat of the Lodge.
The very first step is to focus attention on the emotions, and especially on the shadow side, or that side of our self which we least want to admit. So, one first allows all the emotions to arise and come out in the heat, and in this heat the negative stuff is seated out or transformed by the intensity of heat. The Key is to let it all out into the heat or the into fire of transformation, and surrender in faith to the fire and heat of purification. You would benefit by attempting the Sweat in a time of meditation, by visualizing and feeling being in the great heat of transformation, and allowing all of one’s shadow side, all of one’s fears, resentments and egotism to come out into awareness, and then willingly let this stuff go, or let it be transformed in the fire of sacrifice. Make some time to become more purified of egotism and negative emotions, by allowing the shadow to come to the surface and be released.
Another essential part of the Ritual is giving thanks to the givingness of all our relations on Earth and to the many gifts of Great Spirit.
Remember that Great Spirit is alive and conscious throughout Mother Earth and in all natural things, so when we give thanks to Great Spirit or to the Mother, or to any of the giving Nature Spirits, our gratefulness is heard, when it comes from the heart and from love, and this is partly how we can give back to the Mother or to Spirit, because the greatest gift one can give to one’s parents is sincere gratefulness and appreciation for all they have given. A recognition and appreciation for love given, is love returned.
Thus is the sacred Ritual of the Sweat, and of course different tribes will have their own unique prayers and particular ways of doing this, but the essence of the Ritual is most important. Though the actual communal Ritual is significant to self-transformation, we can also enact this sacred Ritual in our own meditation, for these steps are the very basis of spiritual healing.
The attitude most necessary in all this is the attitude of humility and sincerely wanting to be healed. This is the essential attitude which is carried throughout the Ritual, from beginning to end. This attitude of humility and prayer is what keeps the sacred Fire burning. We must begin with self admitting that we are not completely pure in Spirit and not completely whole in Spirit. We must admit the need for self-healing and then allow ourself to be healed, partly by the act of purification or letting go of the little self and impure emotions, and partly by the act of allowing-in the greater Self or the greater spiritual energies of wholeness.
The Great Spirit within all things and all lives is ever seeking to bring balance and harmony to life. The Great Mystery is the power which brings all life into harmony, balance, wholeness and unity. Even the Great Wise Ones are on a continuous path to Wholeness. All lives are on the Road to greater wholeness, harmony and balance. Even in the plant and animal kingdoms, there are slight imbalances and disharmonies, as certain species become over-assertive and over-dominant, or over-populate and deplete their resources. Some species are more evolved than others in their ecological intelligence and in their ability to adapt the needs of other lives. Yet, in spite of the instinctual life-assertiveness of plants and animals, a greater ecological intelligence and cooperative instinct is also at work, which is the immanent power and guiding intelligence of Great Spirit within all life. It is this greater power and intelligence, which mysteriously moves life toward greater harmony and balance, toward more cooperation and symbiosis.
The Spirit of harmonization grows and evolves over time. Everything is slowly moving toward perfection, toward a perfect harmony of Spirit Song and expression of beauty. We need to have patience. Nothing in the world is perfectly balanced and perfectly harmonious. Even the Earth Mother wobbles a bit in her cosmic spin. So we can all admit to at least some disharmony and imbalance, and so we seek the greater harmony and balance. We seek the power and intelligence of harmony, which comes from Great Spirit, or known as the Great Mystery. We seek this way of harmony and we consciously allow it into our person and into our lives.
Cleansing and purification is the first step to true spiritual healing and awakening. An example of this is the Native American Sweat Bath, which is usually preliminary to any Vision Quest or journey to the Spirit world. In the Sweat the participants release their fears and all the emotions held in or repressed. It is not merely a purification of the body by intense heat and sweating, but is truly an emotional cleansing or cleansing of the soul, whereby one lets go of all the internal psychic and emotional stuff which holds one back from complete faith and trust. One has to just surrender to the heat of the fire and allow that heat, that fire of Spirit, to purify one’s whole being, from mind to body. As the purification proceeds, as the heat of fire destroys the fears and whatever else one holds onto, one becomes more pure and empty of the past, so that Spirit may permeate the soul, the heart and mind with new healing, new vitality, and new vision or guidance. The participant allows the old to be released and opens up in prayer for the Great Spirit to renew the heart and mind with Love and Guiding Vision. One’s prayers to Spirit can be for oneself, but it is essentially a prayer that one may be purified and guided by Spirit in order to be in greater harmony with the wholeness of Life. So the prayer can be oriented to oneself, that one may be personally healed and guided, but this is not just selfish prayer since it involves becoming more at one with Spirit and more harmonious with Spirit working through others.
Prayers in the Sweat also involve thankfulness for all that is given by Mother Earth and all relations living here with us. We thank the many aspects of Great Spirit, the many ways in which Spirit manifests for the good of all. This recognition and gratefulness for Spirit’s goodness, and all that we have already been graciously given, is part of the essential attitude of faith, love, and being open to more of the goodness of Spirit. Thus, we can learn from these teachings about the Sweat Bath and apply this in daily practice. The actual ritual of the Sweat is of course valuable and is part of the religious life of many Native people, but it is nonetheless possible to enact this ritual and prayer of the Sweat in our meditational spiritual practice. It may not be possible for you at this time to participate in a Native Sweat Bath, but we should not let this limit us in any way. Make your meditation practice into a spiritual Sweat, a great purification and prayer to be in greater harmony with all life, remembering that all of life is the living manifestation of the Great Spirit.
The great Teachings tell us that cleansing and purification is the first step to true spiritual healing and awakening. This cleansing is not just about the body, and purification is not just about healing the body of impurities. When we say purification, some people may mistake this for a false morality.
But rather, purification, in the Native sense, is being cleared of the psychic and emotional hindrances which hold one back from expressing all the power, love, wisdom and beauty of the spiritual soul. This is purification of the false ego and the conditioned emotions, and it is purifying the opening or pathway to spiritual power and vision. Once the vessel is pure and empty of fear, resentment and selfishness, then there is room for the spiritual Essence of Love and Goodwill to emerge and there is the space for spiritual vision and creativity to unfold. Once there is purification of unnecessary thought and conditioned emotions, and a release of blockages in the energy field, then the natural healing and creative energies can be free to flow and unfold from within. We are freeing the hindrances to the natural flow of harmonizing energies. We are becoming more pure in our true nature, and allowing this nature to make us whole.
An example and ritual of purification is the Native American Sweat Bath, which is usually preliminary to any Vision Quest or journey to the Spirit world. It may not be possible for you at this time to participate in a Native Sweat Bath, but you can still learn from this sacred ritual and apply this teaching in daily spiritual practice. The actual ritual of the Sweat is of course valuable and sacred and is part of the religious life of many Native people, but it is nonetheless possible to enact this ritual and prayer of the Sweat in our meditation practice or in the very path of our spiritual life. Make your meditation practice into a spiritual Sweat, a great prayer for purification and an opening to spiritual energies, that you may come closer to knowing the truth and direction of Great Spirit and so become more harmonious and spiritually attuned in life.
In the Native Tradition of the Sweat Bath, a fire is built to the side of the Sweat Lodge, towards the setting or rising sun, either to the east or west, depending on the timing of the ritual.
In this fire the stones for the Lodge are heated until they are red hot and then they are taken along the sacred Pathway into the Lodge, where one sits with a community of friends and becomes purified by the heat and sweat. The Sweat Ritual has four components: the Fire pit, the Lodge, the Rocks, and Pathway between the fire source and the Lodge. The fire pit is essentially the fire of Great Spirit, which is the source of purification and transformation. This fire fuels the path to healing and purifies our being. In meditation this Fire can be thought of as the fire of spiritual inspiration within us, which is always here to heal us when we provide the fire with fuel of our faith. The Sweat Lodge is the place of transformation, and this transformation involves our body, mind and spirit of emotion. Then, when we come out of the Sweat, or out from the transformation, we carry with us a fresh vision of spiritual truth and renewed energies for spiritual expression. We carry our healing into the world. Between the Fire pit and the Lodge is the Pathway of Spirit. In the Ritual no one should cross over that Path and break the flow of energy. Along the Path or just beside it, there may be a Sacred Mound, where upon is placed any offerings, sacred objects and the Sacred Pipe. The Pathway is the opening to the healing Fire of Great Spirit. It is the Path of allowing Great Spirit into us, and allowing this to purify and heal us. This opening and allowing involves trust and gratefulness. In this way we make clear the opening or the Pathway of Spiritual Fire.
Along the Pathway are carried the heated Rocks of transformation, which means that between Great Spirit and ourselves are the many spiritual helpers, the guiding principles, and the healing energies, which can lead us to a greater spiritual awakening and wholeness of being. The Rock People are believed to embody the ancient teachings and lessons of Spirit, and by being heated in the Fire, this ancient wisdom can be brought out and released in the Lodge by the steam created when water is splashed over them. These lessons, or this wisdom, will come into the breath and body of the participants, and each person will feel and understand these energies in their own unique way, which is their unique pathway to spiritual wholeness.
Each person will have their own unique experience of purification and healing and their own personal experience of vision and spiritual direction. We should always remember this, so that we do not judge ourselves by other’s experience or seek to obtain someone else’s experience which we heard or read about. The most profound experience you can have is the particular experience which is completely your own, and no one else’s, so you need not bother worrying about what other’s experience or what you ought to experience in the Sweat. Whatever is right for you will come.
There are four stages or rounds in the Sweat, which may correspond to the four Directions of Spirit or to the four Seasons of Nature. To begin each round, a number of the hot stones are brought in and placed in a hole at the center of the Lodge, representing the Great Spirit or Spiritual Fire in the center of all things. Then, during the round, which may last for as long as an hour or more, water is splashed on the stones to create steam, which carries the heat of spiritual healing into the body.
Sometimes sage or sweetgrass is sprinkled on the stones as an offering and help to purify the Lodge. The Lodge remains completely dark and one feels as being deep within the womb of Mother Earth.
Prayer ties, or tobacco ties, are sometimes strung inside the Lodge onto the branch structure. These ties can be made by placing small amounts of tobacco or other sacred herbs onto small squares of purified cloth, and then wrapping each of these up and tying them with a connecting string or thread, so that you have a number of small, tied up pouches, all connected by one continuous thread, and then the ends of this connecting thread are tied to the inner roof of the Lodge, so that the prayer pouches hang freely. Each prayer tie is a specific request to Great Spirit, usually for a relation’s health or prosperity, or as part of a group request, and so as each tie is made, that particular request should clearly be in the mind and heart of its maker. Often, there are special songs and prayers for each round of the Sweat, but it is fine that people chant or sing from their sincerity and natural spontaneity. Different Tribal customs may have their own particular prayers and ways of doing the Sweat, but the essence is always purification and an opening to transformation, healing and renewed vision.
One way of doing the Sweat in four stages is to begin with song and chants, giving thanks to the spiritual powers and to Great Spirit and to all the Relations of Earth. The first stage is an opening to the spiritual powers and coming into closeness with Mother Earth, as well as feeling a special closeness with those sharing in the experience. The second stage can be a time of silently or verbally expressing one’s prayers for purification and healing. This is a time for deeper introspection and the humility of acknowledging what one needs to let go of and what one sincerely hopes for from the spiritual powers. Here, one may also make prayers for others or for the deceased or for Mother Earth. Many teachers say that prayers should primarily be for others, but praying for self-healing in order to be of service and in harmony with All Relations is certainly not selfish. The third stage can be the hottest and a time of truly letting go and allowing the self-purification to occur. This is when we let everything go and completely surrender to the transforming heat of the Sweat. By the end of this stage the clearing of emotional and mental stuff should be done with. And the fourth stage can be a time of simply allowing new spiritual energies and vision to come in. This is one possible way of doing the Sweat in four stages. Unless you are making the Sweat in some traditional way, it is good to have some general plan in mind beforehand, while leaving lots of room for spontaneity and unexpected experience.
The four stages of the Ritual are, essentially, prayers of thankfulness, prayers for purification, the allowing of purification, and the opening to renewed vision, guidance and spiritual direction. In each of these stages, there are two necessary aspects which are: Sincerity in the asking for help and purification, and Receptivity or openness to the purification and transformation of oneself.
The attitude most necessary in all this is the attitude of humility and sincerely wanting to be healed. This is the essential attitude which is carried throughout the Ritual, from beginning to end. This attitude of humility and prayer is what keeps the sacred Fire burning. We must begin with self admitting that we are not completely pure in Spirit and not completely whole in Spirit. We must admit the need for self-healing and then allow ourself to be healed, partly by the act of purification or letting go of the little self and impure emotions, and partly by the act of allowing-in the greater Self or the greater spiritual energies of wholeness. The Great Spirit within all things and all lives is ever seeking to bring balance and harmony to life. The Great Mystery is the power which brings all life into harmony, balance, wholeness and unity. Even the Great Wise Ones are on a continuous path to Wholeness.
All lives are on the Path to greater wholeness, harmony and balance. Even in the plant and animal kingdoms, there are slight imbalances and disharmonies, as certain species become over-assertive and over-dominant, or over-populate and deplete their resources. Some species are more evolved than others in their ecological intelligence and in their ability to adapt the needs of other lives. Yet, in spite of the instinctual life-assertiveness of plants and animals, a greater ecological intelligence and cooperative instinct is also at work, which is the immanent power and guiding intelligence of Great Spirit within all life. It is this greater power and intelligence, which mysteriously moves life toward greater harmony and balance, toward more cooperation and symbiosis. And the Spirit of harmonization grows and evolves over time. Everything is slowly moving toward perfection, toward a perfect harmony of Spirit Song and expression of beauty. We need to have patience. Nothing in the world is perfectly balanced and perfectly harmonious. Even the Earth Mother wobbles a bit in her cosmic spin. So we can all admit to at least some disharmony and imbalance, and so we seek the greater harmony and balance. We seek the power and intelligence of harmony, which comes from Great Spirit. This is the spiritual Way of the White Buffalo. It is continuous and ever-deepening, and of course it does not just involve ourself but all of life as well, and so we must equally pray for the whole of life and seek to serve this wholeness.
One’s prayers to Spirit are that one may be purified and guided by Spirit in order to be in greater harmony with the wholeness of Life. This is a personal prayer, that one may be personally healed and guided, but this is not just selfish prayer since it involves becoming more at one with Spirit and more harmonious with the rest of life. So, Pray for yourself, that you may be purified by Great Spirit and become more conscious of the Living Spirit in all of Life, and thus become more in harmony and balance. But prayer is not merely asking for help. It necessarily involves a conscious act of opening and allowing the love and power of Great Spirit to enter in and transform oneself. We must consciously allow Great Spirit to purify and heal us and direct us onto the Good Road. This is allowing ourself to be transformed, which requires a sincere humility of the ego and a deep faith in the Love power of Great Spirit. This humility and allowing may not be total in the beginning, but as one practices this in meditation or in the Sweat Bath, the spiritual transformation does progress.
An essential aspect to this faith is a growing attitude of gratefulness, a gratefulness for the healing love and guiding wisdom of Great Spirit. So in the traditional Sweat Ritual, there is also the feeling of gratefulness and the expression of thankfulness for all that is given by Great Spirit and Mother Earth. We thank the many aspects of Great Spirit, the many ways in which Spirit manifests for the good of all. This recognition and gratefulness for Spirit’s goodness, and all that we have already been graciously given, is part of the essential attitude of faith, love, and being open to more of the goodness of Spirit.
Gratefulness is the key to opening the heart and mind to the powers of Great Spirit. Gratefulness is the expression of faith.
And without faith and gratefulness there is no opening. The recognition and gratefulness for all that is given is like the telephone number to Great Spirit and all the powers of Nature. It opens up the communication line and the pathway of spiritual energies. Recognition and gratefulness is the key to opening the door or pathway into the spiritual world. And so it is said that all prayers should begin and end with gratefulness. But this gratefulness is expressed, not as a greedy way to get more, but in the sincere appreciation for all that is given and all that will be given by the wisdom and love of Great Spirit. So be grateful for all which is provided by Mother Earth and All Our Relations. Give thanks to each of the kingdoms of Nature and to all the powers of Great Spirit. Recognize and reflect upon what is given by each Relation and Power of Spirit, then simply and sincerely say in your heart, “Thank you for being and all that you give.” This is the key to opening that particular door and pathway of energy. This is how the great powers will hear you and know your sincerity. And this is the way you can give your love to Great Spirit and all the Relations of Mother Earth, for we give our love through our gratefulness. And through gratefulness we open the door to greater love, wisdom, and spiritual power.
Remember that Great Spirit is alive and conscious throughout Mother Earth and in all natural things, so when we give thanks to Great Spirit or to the Mother Earth, or to any of the giving Nature Spirits, our gratefulness is heard, when it comes from the heart and from love, and this is partly how we can give back to the Mother or to Spirit, because the greatest gift one can give to one’s parents is sincere gratefulness and appreciation for all they have given. A recognition and appreciation for love given, is love returned.
Sincerity of prayer and gratefulness, along with purification and self-healing, is what the Sweat is about. Yet, though the actual communal Ritual is significant to self-transformation, we can also make our meditation into a spiritual Sweat for purification and new vision.
The prayer and intention of this is essentially that of being healed and bringing in the greater spiritual energies available.
But before true healing and spiritual wholeness is possible, you must be willing to sacrifice and surrender the egotism of self-importance, greed and possessiveness If you are willing to let go of these enemies of Spirit in the act of purification, then the door opens to spiritual healing and the realization of being in the wholeness of Great Spirit. Purification is a willing act of letting go and emptying oneself, so that there may be room for Spirit and vision to enter. You have to let go of all your emotional stress, all your pent-up fears, resentments, and frustrations, as well as the false sense of being separate from Nature and rest of Life.
In the Sweat, the negative emotions of fear, resentment and self-importance may be intensified in the heat of the Lodge. The spiritual heat brings out that which is in need of transformation or that which needs to be sweated out. The secret is to allow these feelings to come forth from out of the body, because they are locked inside the body. This is why it is important to remain aware and sensitive of the body. The feelings come from the body and enter awareness on the breath, and on the breath they can be released. So these emotions of the shadow self, which have been stored in the body and which do come out at times, are now allowed to come out. But one doesn’t allow the emotion to take over the consciousness. For example, you wouldn’t allow fear to consume you and take you over. Instead, you let the emotion be consumed by the fire and heat of Great Spirit’s transformative power.
You let these emotions come out, and you suffer in them to some extent, but you offer this emotion or suffering to Great Spirit. You ask that this be released and you are willing to let it go.
Then, the suppressed emotions will be sweated out and purified in the spiritual heat. One has to just surrender to the heat of the fire and allow that heat, that fire of Spirit, to purify one’s whole being, from mind to body. As the purification proceeds, as the heat of fire destroys the fears and whatever else one holds onto, one becomes more pure and empty of the past, so that Spirit may permeate the heart and mind with new healing, new vitality, new vision and guidance.
This is the simple practice of the purifying Sweat. Do this with the intention that you are willing and able to let go of all impurities of the body, mind and emotions, and that you are opening yourself to be healed by the spiritual fire and heat of Great Spirit. Remember that transformation is always possible, if we consciously allow it, and give it enough time to complete itself.
In an actual Sweat Bath one is forced to sit through the heat of transformation. So in the meditation, give enough time for transformation to occur, and stop the tape if you need more time.
DRUM
Close your eyes and imagine yourself now as in a Sweat. Feel the darkness, the closeness to Earth, and the growing intensity of heat. First there is the letting go and the purification of body, emotions and mind, so that you are empty enough to receive the higher energies of Spirit. Visualize and feel yourself as in the fire of transformation, and allow this to transform any stressful emotions, fears or negative thoughts about yourself. Remember to continuously be aware of the breath, the body and whatever arises in the mind or emotions. Allow the emotions and suppressed feelings to come out, but release everything into the purifying Fire of Great Spirit. Allow emotions to arise, especially fears, stresses and worries, and then sacrifice these into the spiritual fire. Feel yourself being purified.
Allow whatever emotion is locked within you to come out. All the stuff which is hiding in you must come out, and you must bear the temporary suffering of this, as you offer this to the Fire of spiritual purification. All of this needs to come out in order to be redeemed and transformed. The Key is to let it all out into the heat or the into fire of transformation, and surrender in faith to the purification. The fire and heat of Great Spirit will transform that negativity or suffering, as you allow it to happen, and suddenly, in an unexpected moment, there will be a clearing, a sense of being purified and cleansed by the spiritual energy.
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