Sweating in the Snow

The place was Stewart Springs in the winter time. Its location is between Mt. Shasta and Yreka to the West off of Interstate 5. I lived in Mt. Shasta at the time and sweated often with my old friend Charlie Thom, A Karoc medicine man who grew up in the area with his tribe. Since he manifested "Crazy Wisdom", (the intuitive wisdom beyond logic) like me I always felt intuitively very comfortable Sweating in his lodges.

In fact, one of his sons gave a sweat on a tributary that feeds into the Sacramento River that gave me a vision that it was time for my vision quest(4 days of no water and no food while praying) in 1983.

So this Sweating in the snow likely was in the mid 1980s. I remember it very clearly because it was January and the temperature outside was between 20 and 25 degrees Fahrenheit and it was snowing. As we built the outdoor fire for the river rocks(average 10 inches in diameter) we chose "rock people" that wouldn't explode because of moisture inside of them(although sometimes this happens anyway but that is usually contained in the fire as the rocks heat up. Usually a minimum of 20 rocks are heated up until they turn red from the heat.

Though I had sweated in all conditions including cold and rain I had never before sweat in 20 to 25 degrees Fahrenheit in a snowstorm. The sweat lodge where the temperatures might reach 140 degrees Fahrenheit didn't really bother me but breaking through the ice on the nearby stream and getting in fully in a bathing suit seemed rather problematic to me to say the least. In other words I hoped no one would experience a heart attack from going from 140 degrees to maybe 34 or 33 degree water flowing under the ice.

However, it turned out to be another amazing experience. More than anything else I was invigorated and amazed once again at how strengthening and invigorating the whole experience was. I have experienced this time and again soaked to the skin walking in the rain if it isn't below about 40 to 45 degrees. I have found an easy way to die would be to walk in rain without a rubber jacket to shed rain below 40 degrees. Somhow, if it is snowing one doesn't really start to get cold if properly dressed until it is in the 20s or lower.

So, in the end sweating in the snow at stewart springs in the mid 1980s had to be one of the more amazing experiences of my life. Humans are so much more amazing and capable than most people even begin to realize. In those moments it is so great to be alive!