sweatlodge

It’s been a week since Norah left her body. Life for Hoss and I continues, life continues to be quite beautiful. Orion and his family left for Israel for 3 months, we had a children’s sweatlodge to see him off. I’ve never been in a sweatlodge before, so this was a nice introduction. The lodge is down by the river, we piled in the back of a pick-up and with Hoss running behind made our way down the hill, a couple of kids rode down on the horses. It was morning and the light came through the multicoloured blankets draped over the lodge, it wasn’t dark at all but had a really nice cozy feel to it. We started with a little ceremony introducing the children and parents to the tradition and then we began. Everyone entered and took their place, Qayla spoke and invited the fireman to bring in the first rock. It was hot! Glowing red, the incense smelled wonderful on it and at the steam everyone cheered. We sang a song and then the next rock came in. In all we had four rounds, four songs, four rocks. Everyone was dripping sweat, the children were glistening and slippery. We left and slowly made our way to the river. The water was so so cold. We caught snails and tiny fish and dead leaves, rolling around in the water with Hoss. Then ice-cream cake and after more play a blessing circle for Orion where we all took a turn expressing our hopes and wishes for him while he is away. Piled back in the pick-up and then up the hill, back in time for lunch. A nice way to spend a morning.