The sweat ceremony is one of the most powerful and sacred spiritual tools for the Cree culture. Older than recorded time, this holy ceremony is to used to cleanse the mind, body and soul by calling upon Nature's elements of Earth, Fire, Water and Air. Conducted by Elders who have be blessed with the ability to communicate with the Spiritual World, these ceremonies connect the participants with Creator (God), the Spirit Helpers (comparable to the angels and others depending on your spiritual or religious practices) and our ancestors (our grandmothers and grandfathers and all the generations who came before us). There are many reasons for attending but all have the unifying purpose of lifting the veil on the world that we walk in order to reveal and understand the truths. Obviously this journey is one that cannot be taken casually as it is often transformational.
As mentioned before, my understanding of anything Sacred is pretty embarrassing. All my knowledge is garnered by TV and I'm not even talking about the good kind. I'm talking about highly educated cinematography such as "The Exorcist," and "The Shining." My parent's are Bhuddists but no longer practicing ones since emigrating to the land of The Free Will and Modern. That being said, I have a high level of respect for Faith even though ironically I personally don't have a "conventional" one.
Knowing this, Joyce went through the teachings to ensure that my first experience with her culture was an "awakening" and also as an insurance that my ignorance (AKA inside voice) didn't disrepect such a powerful ceremony. She went on to explain that the Lodge is built to symbolize the Womb of Mother Earth. There is a separate ceremony where the Elder would choose very specific rocks that are strategically placed in the center of the lodge. These rocks are the Grandfathers Spirits as they have been on this Earth since the beginning of time and are selected to ensure they can carry enough healing properties from a fire to create the "sauna" feel. Chosen correctly, the rocks will not crack when cold water is poured over it.
In Cree culture, women are very powerful Spirits as proven by the fact that most of their theology is based on the maternal spirit of Mother Earth. A woman on her "moon" cannot attend a sweat ceremony because she becomes extremely powerful during this time thus disrupting the energies that need to be redirected for healing purposes. Women need to traditionally wear long skirts and a modest top and the men usually wore tunics and pants. Practicalities such as bringing a towel, a bottle of water, eating a light meal 3-4 hours before, emptying your bladder and removing any metal from your skin was also reccommended. Also, any religious artifacts from other cultures needed to respectfully be removed.
Being a medicine man, Henry was a rare elder in that in addition to the other ceremonies he was able to also conduct healing ceremonies. As his assistant, Joyce's role was to ensure the food for the feast afterwards was prepared, donations such as blankets, tobbacco, sage and food were collected and organized for re-distribution if there was an abundance. This required Joyce to arrive at the site about an hour before the time to prepare.
Now Joyce is like my second mom so she would never put myself or Steph in any danger. "Pure" spirits are those people that have lived a good, honest life without much negativity. Being that Steph and I were quite young and very happy go lucky without a care in the world, she knew that we would not be bothered by the heat of the ceremony. Now, if you were a person that required healing emotionally, spiritually or physically then the heat of the ceremony would really affect you as the energies of the Universe work to "purge" or cleanse your negatives energies. If there was a participant that was heavily disrupted in their energies, such as a person that was a sexual abuser asking for forgiveness or a person that was infected by AIDS because of the lifestyle they chose then the heat of the ceremony would be unbearable not only for that person but for all that was sharing it.
The ceremony we were attending was for an ill man who had cancer but not due to his life choices. From her experience Joyce knew that this type of healing ceremony typically would not bother the "pure" spirits as the other Elders would do most of the heavy lifting in taking the heat. She equated the educational experience like sitting in a hot sauna.
I remembered driving in Joyce's humble car on a very rural dirt road to what seemed like in the middle of nowhere for hours. The weather was miserable. There were dark clouds, the winds were viciously whipping and the rain was pounding the poor little car. I was intrigued how a sweat ceremony would be conducted in such awful weather and even chuckled to myself as I was imagining the winds blowing over what I envisioned was a grass hut. My charming sarcastic inside voice inevitably escaped, "Maybe the Gods did not get the memo we were suppose heal a man today." Joyce ignored my tone and continued to focus on the road as the visibility was increasingly getting worse.
Finally I saw a homestead off in the distance. Remember, this is Saskatchewan so even though you see the building doesn't mean it's close by. I mean, by now I'm sure you have heard of the joke, "How do you know you're in Saskatchewan? Because you can watch your dog run away for days." Ya, well it's true. So my enthusiasm quickly waned when I realized it was more like 30 minutes aways versus 5 minutes. At that moment, the most bizarre weather phenomenon unfolded. Like a perfect movie scene, there was a small sliver of sun breaking over the homestead while everything else continued to be drenched in this torrential down pour. Steph and I shared a look of "WTF?" Joyce smiled and gently whispered, "Well, I guess Henry had no choice but to part the clouds..."
Nothing would have ever prepared me for that humble comment. Seriously? Part the clouds? Like Rainmaker style? Who says this shit anyways? Steph's eyes looked like they were going to pop out of her round head and my brain started racing a million miles an hour trying to attach some type of scientifical answer to it all. Apparently this healing ceremony required the energy of the Sun so logically one would just call up the Big Guy Upstairs there and put in your order. "Oh hi Henry! Of course you needed the Sun... my bad, here you go." I must have missed that chapter in Geography class. Note to Self: Western public education is a waste of my time.
As we pulled up the entire weather system seemed to have passed over. The sun was definitely out and the angry black clouds turned wispy white revealing the intense indigo sky. The Cree folks looked curiously at Steph and I trying to figure out what kind of weird-ass Native breed were we. Joyce politely introduced us as her Vietnamese daughters which I think a collective "Aaaaaaahhh" was released when they finally figured out that we were "China Men" (as one polite Elder mentioned) and not a bizarre hybrid. Hmmmm... don't get out much on this side of the world heh?
Henry summoned to Joyce and soon we were ushered into the Sacred Lodge. Henry started his chanting and quiet prayers while I tried to keep my eyes wide open trying to not miss a thing. The heat from the water poured over the rocks obviously made everything really difficult to see as there was no light except for a few cracks in which the sun poured through. There were about a dozen people, both men and women and then us random Vietnamese rift raft. The first 20 minutes were pretty therapeautic and Joyce was right about the heat feeling as soothing as a sauna. In fact I was so relaxed between the darkness, the warmth of the heat, humidity and the rhythmic chanting that I almost fell asleep.
Well... until that bizarre arctic gush of air that hit my lungs like a stabbing icicle came. It caught me so off gaurd that I think I had to steady myself from falling over. I quickly looked over to Steph but she just looked at peace with her eyes closed... like a perfect Bhudda statue. Joyce warned me to quiet the mind, to not talk and to just listen with my soul. I resisted the urge to ask Steph if she felt that weird gush so I resumed my "meditative" state. Again my thoughts were clouded and images of a tornado or a hurricane or wild wind filled the void. It then occurred to me that the heat was increasing in the Lodge. It was no longer soothing and beads of sweat was dripping off my head. I took a gulp of water and used my towel to pat my face and then focussed on my breathing as I started to gasp. This continued for another half hour and then Henry lifted the door signalling the ceremony was over. I stumbled out into the sun straining for fresh air and trying to adjust to the light. Steph came trottling out and beamed, "Wow that was so cool! I didn't even feel hot!" Her words hit me hard.
Joyce was one of the last ones to leave the Lodge and when she finally came out she looked like she ran a bloody marathon. She looked older for some reason and absolutely exhausted. You know that look when a woman gave birth? Ya, that was her look. She commented, "That sweat was a lot harder than it should have been." She quickly ushered us into the small house that was on the land for the feast. We ate some bannock, some bland soup and some fresh blueberries. The Elders continued their conversation in Cree. Joyce was busy assisting Henry so I started to grill Steph on her experience. She just shrugged it off like it was "spa time." She enjoyed the experience and the heat never bothered her. Oh damn... not what I wanted to hear.
Finally we left and on the long car ride home Joyce started talking, but only after Steph fell asleep. She asked if I was on my "moon." I was on the pill so my period was scheduled like clockwork. I knew for a fact that it was 2 weeks away. She didn't like my answer. Apparently the ceremony had a disrupted energy as confirmed by Henry and by the fact that the Healing Elders, including Joyce, experienced an abnormal amount of intense heat. In fact, Henry had to end the ceremony earlier than usual because he was concerned the intensity would have affected Steph and I. This only happens when a female's energy was exceptionally powerful meaning she was on her moon or she carried great energy. Henry told Joyce that he thought the disruption was from me so that's why Joyce immediately assumed I was on my moon and didn't realize it. I blurted out that my experience was not at all like Steph's. That I was dying near the end because I was so hot and strange ass visions of a tornado kept popping up. Oh, and my lungs were filled with really cold air in the beginning. There was an awkward moment of silence.
Joyce revealed that one of her Guardian Spirits was a Princess that lived hundreds of years ago and her element was a Tornado. She apparently was present at this ceremony to help heal the ill man but the fact that I sensed her was extraordinary. Damn it, I knew I should have peed before I left for the car ride home.
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