Temazcal Ceremony (Sweat lodge)

[Nexeternity]

I ran into an amazing Temazcal ceremony run by some really great people.

You had to stay in a pitch black hut as water and different medicines were poured on hot rocks.

It got extremely hot, you could feel your face burning and the hot air that was breathed in burned too.

You would have to watch as your mind put up resistance and then work to let it go and keep grounding yourself in your body and in the singing.

It felt really purifying and healing.

They have a 4 day vision quest where you dont eat or drink water for 4 days, they do it Easter long weekend so I am definately going to do it!

It was really nice meeting people like me, one guy even knew about Leos videos!  Everyone either had done ayahuasca, bufo, vipassana etc...

 

With all the talk of spirits I was a bit wondering where the non duality was but to my great surprise at the end we all said to each other "I am you" and "You are me"

And we also said "I am you" to the sun, the earth, and to The Great Mystery.

 

It was awesome!!!!!

Have a great week everyone  

[Leo Gura]

Where at?

[Nexeternity]

Buenos Aires

I know... I am far away 

[Leo Gura]

@Nexeternity Oh neat, I thought it was a North American tradition.

Did they import it from the North?

[Nexeternity]

@Leo Gura  Yep its north american!  They brought it down here.  Shamanism has gone cosmopolitan 

[Leo Gura]

@Nexeternity You culturally-appropriating bastards!

[Mondsee]

In Mexico Temazkallis (from the nahuatl temaz = sweat, and kalli = house) are easy to find and are becoming quite popular again, but you have to find the right place. Many of them do it in a spa-like setting, which is not really the point, it's much harder to find somebody who "runs" it the right way, but when you do it's really worth it. There are also places where they claim to do spiritual temazkalli ceremonies, but they combine it with psychedelics, which I don't demonize, but aren't really part of the original traditional ceremony. The original ceremony only includes what they call the "medicine", which is a tree resin called "copal", which melts on the hot rocks, and some herbs like a strong rosemary infusion (or other good smelling herbs like that), that is poured on the hot rocks and  immediately clears your respiratory tract as it vaporizes. When you come out you share fruit with the people who participated in the ceremony.

The vision is a very serious quest that you actually have to prepare for, you usually cannot pull it off on a casual weekend (or I guess you could, but who knows how much you're going to get out of it). Traditionally, you do a long preparation beforehand, changing your eating habits, and attending to spiritual preparations, such as traditional dances that are a form of meditation practice (easy to find as shows, much harder to find as serious meditation practice, as a rule of thumb, if it's a mexican dance with very elaborate dresses and feathers, it's a show).

There's usually a master who knows you well, who is preparing you, and who advises you to wait, in case he/she recognizes you're still not ready for it. If you are ready, you build a long line of little cloth sacks filled with tobacco, and pick somebody who is going to be your "guide". That "guide" is somebody  you trust, more experienced than you are, who usually has already gone through their own "vision", and they will help you out with your preparations. When the time of the vision comes, your guide brings you to a place in a mountain that they've chosen beforehand based on many different things, and leave you there with nothing other than your tobacco thing you made (called "prayers"), the clothes you have on, a blanket to cover up at night, and a big shell called 'atekokolli, which is used as an instrument, and you're supposed to blow on it to call for help, in case something really bad is happening to you (eg. a spider bit you). I've heard you're also allowed to have a plastic bag so that you can put your clothes and blanket there in case it rains, but that's definitely a modern addition. The "guides" even take your shoes away when they leave you in the mountain.

While you're on the mountain, you are not all over the place; you form a circle with the tobacco line you had prepared, and you stay within that circle for the four days. Because you cannot go elsewhere, you may have to stay under the sun for long hours, but by that point, during the preparation you have learned  to connect with the Sun, and ask "Him" to help you stay strong. These cultures connect and dialogue a lot with forces of nature, and see them very much as equals. Meanwhile your "guide" is also in a meditation period that he/she is dedicating to you. They go and check how you're doing, hiding somewhere, or from the distance, to avoid interrupting your meditation, and they also eat a lot of the food you like, and drink a lot of water, making up for what you're not eating. If it's very hot, they may take a cold shower in a nearby river, or something like that, to refresh you. It's like when you can't drink and somebody says "I'll drink one for you".

On the fourth day, your guide picks you up, brings you your shoes back, and takes you to the temazcalli, where you finish your prayers/vision quest, and after coming out, you're finally given food and water. It is a very profound and nice experience, but it's also kind of underground to find a serious group to get prepared and do it. I've personally barely found information online about this, let alone information in English.

Edited October 8, 2018 by Mondsee

[Nexeternity]

@Mondsee   Yes, thats exactly how my ceremony was like, the authentic version, and yes thats pretty much the info I got about the Vision Quest as well.   Glad to hear info about this to confirm what they told me.  Glad I found this group!! Chance luck I guess, or syncronicity depending on how you look at it

[Mondsee]

@Nexeternity Cool! Report back on it if you do it, it is something really profound.

Chikawa'! (nahuatl for: keep strong!)

[archi]

Come to sauna and bring mushrooms