Full Moon Sweat Lodge 

Native North American Sweat Lodge

Robert Larkin, originally from Santa Fe New Mexico organizes and leads the sweat lodges at Magic Park. In his 60 Robert has studied shamanic traditions of the native North and South America peoples as well as the Aborigine people of Australia. Over the years he has taken the essence of these ancient traditions and blended them for a modern global audience. That may sound a bit hokie but he has the upmost respect for the ancient Shamanic traditions, just has to relay the tradition or present these traditions in a  linage that modern people can understand without feeling overwhelmed or wierded out.

Full Moon in the coconut trees

Anyway his sweat lodge was wonderful.  Just before sunset a huge fire was lit and the stones we would use in the lodge were heated. As the full moon rose in the eastern sky between the silhouette of coconut palms the group gathered after a round of introductions we each placed an object on a small ‘alter,’ which was more like a dirt mound just outside the door of the sweat lodge. We then began by paying our respects to nature, recognizing our closeness to and dependency on nature and being grateful for what we receive from nature. We went on to acknowledge the 4 directions in relation to the 4 seasons, as well as acknowledging ‘”father sky, mother earth and our ancestors.” Then after stripping down tour bathing suits we crawled into the sweat lodge; a dome shaped tent made of palm fronds. Over a period of 3 hours red hot stones were shoveled into a pit in the middle of the tent, the door sealed and then in complete darkness, Robert lead us in various meditations and poured sacred herbs (not of the wacky backie variety) and water onto the coals to make us sweat.

exchange the fir tree for coconut trees

Although it was  at first uncomfortable to be sitting for that long a time, in very close proximity to people I did not know; there was also something very comforting about being in complete darkness transfixed to red hot coals and hearing other people breath. The sweat lodge is likened to the womb of mother earth and the process of the lodge is to first enter with a sense of gratitude and set a positive motivation for the ceremony, then go on to acknowledge past pain and hurt by viewing that as lessons, next is to purify those past negativities and finally to take the original motivation and make it stronger as a path for the future. So four sessions, with a break for fresh air and more hot stones in between. Overall it took 4 ½ hours to complete and afterward I felt very clean, relaxed and happy. No pictures were taken of the event  but I am sure you can imagen it.

Now whether or not some sacred power or spirit animal helped in that process, who knows. I just like to think of it as a lovely experience that reminded me to stay positive, no matter what life has thrown at me in the past; it is in the past and today, right now, is where I am, so be grateful. Hey that can’t be a bad thing. Thanks Robert and everyone who took part in that night.