I’m a creative, experienced, multi-purpose artist and art director
who can take projects start to finish in a variety of styles.

Good designs sell –
my designs sell out!

Friday, November 12, 2010

"Burning"

This is what it looks like inside a Native American sweat lodge. The fire burns outside of the heavily blanketed mound, and hot rocks are brought in so people can sit in the dark and sweat, pray, meditate.

My first sweat lodge was an accident of fate. Hoosier National Forest in Southern Indiana allowed the Lakota Sioux to have a Sun Dance in the park. The Indians took this very seriously, but in order to gain permission, they had to agree to allow parkgoers to watch. The Sioux resented this. I resented their resentment. The Lakota are as native to Indiana as I am. I also resented that they had a lot of unwritten rules that I promptly broke because I didn't know what they were. Alright, it's common sense not to drink pop in front of people who are fasting, but I didn't know they were fasting. I didn't know that I shouldn't pee in the sacred Port-a-Potty (reserved for dancers), or walk in front of the dancers when they weren't dancing. If they'd clued me in about any of this, I would've obliged. As it was, the Indians were annoyed, I was annoyed, but the Sun Dance went on with young men tearing the flesh on their chests where it was attached by thongs to a central pole and the drums beat and beat and beat throughout the heat of the summer day.

As I was setting up camp in the evening, my Blackfoot girlfriend came running to say we were invited to join the women's sweat. That sounded like Greek to me, but I'm game for new experiences. I ran after her, ducked inside the sweat lodge, sat down, and waited for something to happen. Hot rocks were brought in from the fire and put in a central pit and the opening flap was closed. In the pitch black, sage was put on the rocks for cleansing, and the aromatic smoke filled the cramped space in a pleasant, choking way. Water was ladled onto the hot rocks, and a cloud of scorching steam burned my nose and throat. I quickly decided that I had just allowed myself to be trapped in hell. I buried my face in my shirt to try to lessen the pain and misery while I became acutely aware of sweat gushing out of pores I had never bothered to acknowledge before. This is not an activity for people with heart problems or claustrophobia.

Eventually the pain and misery lessened, and I got tired of waiting for something to happen. I let my mind wander, and interesting things surfaced in the wandering. More sage was added from time to time, more scorching steam, and I had resigned myself to my entrapment. Then the prayers started. The leader of the circle stated the intent of the sweat. She said an opening prayer, much of it in the Lakota language. The Sun Dance was for preserving sacred places, and the Indians wanted patience in dealing with the white people. Okay. Asking for blessings for the preservation of the land is something I can go along with, and sometimes I need patience dealing with white people too. I was lulled into an interesting state where my body didn't feel real any more.

Then the next woman in the circle said a prayer. I had the first pains of panic as I realized they were going around the circle with prayers. How was I supposed to say a prayer to their God, for their purposes, without betraying my own beliefs?! I thought fast and hard while the disembodied voices crept closer to my place in the circle. I must've been exceptionally eloquent because the women slapped their thighs and voiced approval. I slumped in relief. I felt like I had just run a gauntlet. Then I realized they were working on another round of prayers, and I had used up all my material. Back to thinking hard and fast for another acceptable prayer. And on and on.

I had a glimmer of hope of escape when the flap was raised, but it was just to bring hotter rocks in. More scalding steam, more sage, more prayers. I wrestled between my feelings of entrapment, physical misery, and an increasing sense of the spiritual rightness in the universe. I quit working so hard on my prayers and just let myself flow with the movement of the spirit combined in the efforts of this small group of women. My meditation in the silence reached levels I hadn't considered seeking before. I quit thinking about my imprisonment and felt the moment suspended in an alternate reality of now.

When I was finally released, I suddenly realized I was the only one sitting in the dark fully clothed. My jeans were soaked through with sweat as if I had just gone swimming in the river. My husband of the time smelled me, and said my sweat smelled sweet and clean, more like rain water than sweat. I drank a gallon of water then slept like a rock in my sleeping bag, with dreams that built on my meditations.

The next day, my face shone in a different way. The surly shaman actually smiled at me. The women offered me breakfast. I peed in the right Port-a-Potty, and the Sun Dance made more sense to me.

18 comments:

  1. What an incredible experience! I'm glad you survived and are here to give your account. Great sage image, I can almost smell the clean, crisp fragrance! I used to keep a sprig at my desk at work, for protection from evil spirits. But I suspect that the boss's henchmen kept knocking it down, rifling through my files late at night and on weekends. So much for protection! ;o)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Gosh Linda you really have had some interesting life experiences! That was fascinating and it took the word burning to a whole new dimension for me. Great post!
    Jane x

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for the comments!!

    @Michelle, I've been in your shoes with the evil henchmen stealing files. My solution was to hide them where they wouldn't think to look. I thought that was a little better than my first plan of booby trapping my office.

    @Jane, The funny thing is that I didn't really pay attention to how many cool experiences I've had until I started writing them down for this blog. It's fun for me to share :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Good read Linda! Although we've talked about these experiences of yours, the way you wrote it really made the torture so much clearer.

    I love the picture of the sage.
    Did the black box take a lot of work? :o :) :}

    ReplyDelete
  5. I did labor over the black box. Thanks so much for noticing!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hey Linda! I kept waiting for the pic to load. (my computer has been acting up) Then I realized that I was looking into a sweat lodge and the fire was on the outside. Ohhh! Your post was so interesting and funny! Next time get the rulebook first. I hope you didn’t awaken any spirits when you peed in the wrong port-a-potty :o) You’ve had some great life experiences. Love your stories!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks for the follow Juan!

    @Jack, I wonder if I should remove my picture of the inside of the sweat lodge, but as I've already mentioned, I did labor over that fine piece of art!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Beautifully written memoir, Linda... and isn't it odd that you were just talking about writing about this subject when IF:burning popped up? Your recollections take me back to my own sweat lodge experience...and you are right--not for the faint-hearted, but definitely a 'seed' experience. Ho!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hhe, no wonder I couldn't see the image. I like malevich as well. Lovely story, very kind of you to share your experiences. I can see the illustrated autobiography in the works :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thanks Susan! Actually, this isn't the story I told you about, but I guess I was thinking along these lines.

    Thanks Andrew! Sometimes I do think there's an illustrated autobiography in me, but then I might have to borrow some of your hell pictures :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. great story. thanks for sharing. It's funny how we think of sweating as such an unclean thing when other cultures have such opposite views.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Yours is the first Illustration Friday submission I've seen with such a thoughtful written story to go with it. Your art is just as lovely. Good job!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thanks Christina! I didn't realize I would enjoy writing stories every week when I started this blog, but it's been as fun for me as the art :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Heisann!

    I will come back and read the post more carefully... now i'm too tired ;:OD)

    ReplyDelete
  15. I had forgotten I'd read this post the first time around, but wow, even reading it again. Even more intense and meaningful than my own sweat lodge experiences with a few fellow white folks. Amazing what the Being does when the mind gets (or is forced to get) out of the way, isn't it? Thanks for sharing this again, Linda! (And what an adventurous woman you are!) ♡

    ReplyDelete