When my friend Chuck received a text of the image above, he wrote back: “Nice! How are you firing those beauties up? On the Grill?” It seems my photo of porous, Sonoran Desert, Arizona lava rocks was mistaken for thick slabs of Ribeye, ready to be stoked up proper in an early spring barbecue. Interestingly, the cooking actually still occurred, as these rocks safely hold heat after being Ceremonially arranged and then roasted for hours in a sacred fire. That’s why we bring them back cross-country in the bed of our pickup truck annually, and then bring them back to life, reigniting the original energy of their orange-red, glorious, lava flow glow. We then draw upon their primal, earthly essence in a revitalizing experience of spiritual purification, as done by indigenous people for tens of thousands of years before us.
As to the actually happenings, words often limit the experience. This we can convey, with confidence: every participant in this weekend’s Ceremony had their own direct experience with the truth of the spiritual source of life, making for some very significant transformations from Saturday afternoon intentions to Sunday morning realizations. As to discerning what is true for oneself and the freedom that flows from that understanding, it’s already been said: know the truth, and the truth will set you free. “Even if these (the people there present) were silent,” Jesus went on to declare in Luke 19:40,” the very stones will cry out.” While maybe not speaking of sweat lodge stones from the Judaean Desert , this is a statement communicating that whether you acknowledge the truth or not, the truth still stands on its own accord.
If all this has you very curious, very confused, or somewhere in-between, we’ll be doing it again in May, and once a month throughout the remainder of 2023. So for those of you looking to turn things around in your lives in a healing, Heyoka way, Hokahey, let’s go, come out and join us, as we gather in praise and gratitude for the difficult, precious gifts that are our lives on earth. We’ll look forward to seeing you soon, and until then, will close for now with Lillian and Carrie’s take on their recent weekend stay Wopila Pilamaye.
“Simply ~ Thank You! This retreat gave me hope and peace. I have made some wonderful connections with my ancestors as well as total strangers. Please keep doing this! You’re helping to heal the world one person at a time and giving us the tools to take out into the world and help others. Thank you ~ Love & Blessings, CK “04/23/2023 Aho Matakuye O’yasin! I released fear, doubt, and the separate self that had laid a veil over my eyes. I see and feel with clarity now, and am committed to make fear a memory and this ceremony the ongoing Now. Deep healing and transformation for me was helped by the other wonderful souls called to take part in this weekend ~ May our paths meet again. ‘New thoughts ~ New Life’. To you reading this, all things are possible, and I am with you.” ~ LW