This Weekend I Participated in the Building of a Ceremonial Lodge

Here is kinda what our lodge structure looked like. We decided not to take pictures

This weekend I drove down to Lewis County with friends and participated in the building of a ceremonial lodge presided over by followers of the Lakota way. What a great experience this was, as we all came together as a diverse community, brought together by the common purpose of building a marvelous structure as one people. 

Each step we took, from smudging ourselves in sacred Sage smoke to locating and grounding ourselves within sacred space defined by cardinal points of East and West, and North and South took us deeper, and deeper to a peaceful place where the Spirits of our ancestors would come forward in this miniature dome of the world. 

The lodge poles we used were living things that we had to coax into bending for us. We were all taught to relate to them by bending them over our own bent backs while extending our arms over the top of them. Before they could be "planted" in the ground, we gave them offerings of corn meal, loose tobacco, and cedar in their holes, with quiet prayers to nourish them.. and to nourish and purify us. We then lovingly tied them altogether with  blood red muslin ribbons and experienced the structure take shape and get stronger before our very eyes, as we all admired our collective work. 

Then back at the house, we all had wonderful international meal of fresh caught King salmon, Ethiopian greens, broiled chicken, Indian dahl, cornbean, red beans and rice, and wonderful West African peanut soup that I sopped my bread into, as we all buzzed with warm energy even in our rain-soaked clothes. One more time some of us came back to the site to plant sacred poles facing each cardinal direction with prayers and offerings each time. 

This morning I still feel the aura of all this Spirit still around me, even as I blog about it on my laptop. Nice. With all this marvelous energy still flowing through me. Blogging this morning has never been easier and will even flow through my business day. Call me and let me share some that good energy with you 425-780-6872