A Sweat Lodge and Dreaming Together Ceremony in Italy
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| ©2013 Turtle Heart. Drawing made by participants after sleeping, the next morning. |
On November 16 and 17 of this year, I joined with eight other people to make another in a continuing series of ceremonies I am making here in Italy and also around in the World.
This is approaching the tenth year I have been making ceremonies at this location in Parabiago, Italy. I have been working these years with one family, Carlo Raimondi and his wife Dott. Paola Panzeri (and their four children). Together we have become a family.
At one time we were doing this 2 to 4 times each year. Now my health prevents me from doing this work so often, much to my disappointment. It is always a great experience to be together with students of the mystery life. Instead of talking about politics or movies or sports, we get together for about 30 hours and talk about the mysteries of our souls, how to find healing, how to live a strong life and walk in Beauty. It is a very empowering way to spend time together.
Italians are great masters of social occasions. Everyone here is friendly. There is a long historic tradition of meeting together, eating together. We have there a big table where we can not only talk comfortably, we can also share great meals where everyone works together to enjoy the food, the companionship and the great work. My friends this time were very interested in knowing why and how the American Indians have used these kinds of ceremonies to advance their lives on this earth.
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| ©2013. Making Tobacco Ties |
Many American Indians are reluctant to share such records. There is concern that misguided people will abuse the information. To my mind, there is always a danger that any information can be misunderstood, or taken out of false context by critics, or simply get lost in translation. However, the effort to make a good record on the ceremonies and spiritual practices of American Indians is, to my mind, very important work. There is so much bad information out in the world about who the American Indians are and what their knowledge systems are like. It is very discouraging. It is partly because of the prevalence of so much bad information that many American Indians are against public records of ceremony. Having said that, I am comfortable with this record of my work and hope that students of the mystery life, students of history and culture, will find some value in this record.
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| ©2013. "The Focused Point" A meditation tool used for the ceremony in Parabiago |
Opening Remarks:
We had several ceremonies around the little Morning Tobacco Fire. We kept this little sacred fire burning from the time the first person arrived until the last person left the grounds. This sacred fire is the root or foundation upon which all the rest of the ceremony is built. It will be the subject of a future discussion and public record. After these openeing meditations with sacred fire, I talked with everyone about the sweat lodge we would be sharing later in the evening.
The Sweat Lodge Ceremony
The Sweat Lodge, an ancient, intense and highly effective ceremony that uses the four elements and group energy to purify, reboot and empower human beings.
Offered with respect and appreciation.
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| Animal Supervisor |
Turtle Heart
Ojibway Wabeeno
Pantelleria Italy
