Hanh mitakuyapi / Hello
my relatives. There have been reports in the news of
late about some New Age "spiritual guru" / idiot who
has been selling sacred ceremony access ($9,000
a pop!) & recently had people fasting for
5 days,
then took them - about 60 in all - into a gigantic
so-called 'sweat lodge', where 3 people died
& at least another 15 have been hospitalized for
varying lengths of time, in varying degrees of
serious condition.
Let's get something straight about Traditional
Indigenous Ceremonies so anyone who thinks this is a
'tragedy' learns our truths about the situation: (1)
NO ONE should ever run a 'sweat lodge ceremony'
unless s/he has been properly
trained. That means s/he has
properly Sun Danced. That
means s/he made a proper obaghi (sacred commitment,
this is no hobby or experiential exercise) &
followed through the entire 4 years
sequentially. (2) Whoever runs such a
ceremony carries the souls of everyone associated
with that ceremoney for a prescribed length of time.
Thus the souls of the people who sickened &/or died
in this caricature of our Ceremonies are now
permanently attached to this sacrilegious guy who
charged money for his so-called ceremonies &
"spiritual experiential shindig". The name by which
he called it is irrelevant; it's still sacrilege on
the part of him & all the suckers who bought a
ticket. The spirits do not differentiate often in
these matters. (3) The taboos this jerk broke in the
reports I have read are numerous. He not only sold
access to sacred ceremonies, is not properly trained
to run such ceremonies, is arrogant & defiant of
Traditions that exist because the Spirits blessed us
with them, has refused to assume responsibility for
his acts (which will result in lots more trouble in
this situation), had people fast for more than 4
days (flat out stupid in addition to arrogant),
refused to honor calls from participants to open the
door, had too many people in a group (there are
prescribed limits in our Ways), & is now trying to
wriggle out of his responsibilities in the matter by
hiring his own investigators. There may be more..
Waste no time or energy on this idiot & all those
suckers who bought tickets to this sacrilege - the
spirits see no innocent victims here; that is my Job
to know & see, & it is so. And then don't you go
waltzing along into a similar situation if you value
your peace & quiet & health. The spirits know the
purity of everyone's heart better than any mere
human ever will.
These truths have been posted various places,
including in the whiteman's books, for
decades. Over a century, in fact. There is neither
excuse nor reason for being there.
For those who honestly want to know about 'payment'
- the supplicant gifts the
person who leads such ceremonies. Gifts come
from your heart, by definition. If someone
names a price or insists on an amount of payment or
a kind of payment, the ceremony is suspect. It is
common sense & courtesy (ie, shows
respect) to pay for fuel to get to & from
the ceremony if the leader must travel. The same
goes for food & motel if the distance is far.
Because the amount of energy expended by any
spiritual leader in doing ceremony is considerable,
& because said leader carries your soul for a period
of time, you should gift him/her according to how
grateful you feel. Given that your soul
is involved, it should be
considerable, & obviously so. These days, with way
too much 'special effects', people don't seem to
'get' that, so I speak of it here. I once had
someone do ceremony & gave my entire pay check to
cover it, & it wasn't enough, physically. But
because it was my entire pay check, it was enough
spiritually, apparently, because the spirits granted
my petition & then gave Grandpa & his helpers (who
you are also supposed to gift "considerably", for
their efforts in the total effort) plenty to get
home with. I agonized over it. Have any of you, who
have had ceremony done? These days, most people
thrust tobacco at us & assume that's plenty to cover
our needs. Try paying for gasoline or food or a
room with tobacco & see if it is. Just because we
intercede with the Spirits doesn't mean we don't
have the same basic needs you do!
It is my hope that this posting will be spread
around & that maybe you New Age starry-eyeds will
quit trying to buy / sell access to sacred
ceremonies & Entities (Pipes,drums, etc., etc.)
Power tripping always trips up the power tripper.
Ben Franklin did not 'play' with lightning,
remember. This is a parallel situation. Hechetu ye
chtoh! / Most emphatically 'enough said on this'. Or
so I pray.
____________
What have you done today to help heal the Sacred
Hoop of the world, of which you, too, are a part?