My wife handed me a printout of "The Native American Medicine Path" that I had written and given her to read in September 2009. After that I had also written "Sweat Lodges". So, I thought I would put both here for those of you who are interested.
Sweat Lodges
During the 1980s especially I studied with several Native American
Medicine men and met many Medicine women while sweating at their sweat
lodges. Usually, it was along a river or stream with permission from the
forest service because the medicine people were native to the area and
were given these priveleges. Also, whenever there was a Sweat Lodge
built whenever it was done usually days or weeks depending upon the
ceremonies and how many different people wanted to sweat in the
lodge(anywhere from 20 to hundreds) things might be done differently.
However, the structure of the lodge was always basically the same. It is
made from willow branches woven into a dome shape of and usually looks
like a hemisphere when done. Then people bring tarps and blankets to
cover the sweat lodge. If it is raining or snowing during this time then
plastic or plastic tarps are used to keep the inside of the lodge dry.
It is usually under 4 feet tall to capture as much heat as possible and
up near the roof it sometimes gets between 130 degrees to 150 degrees
Fahrenheit and the most macho of the men who want their prayers really
answered often brave the heat for a while during the prayers and prayer
songs. It is usually completely dark inside and I have been in sweats
that mostly have both men and women. Each medicine man or woman is
different the way the do things but usually people were bathing suits or
just shorts for the men inside. It's been a few years since I made it a
point to go to where I could join others for a sweat lodge ceremony.
But between 1980 and 2000 I usually joined a sweat lodge 1 to 12 or more
times a year.
One experience with Charlie Thom, a local Karoc Medicine man who live near Yreka it was snowing really hard at Stewart Mineral Springs near Gazelle and I wondered about getting out of the sweat lodge in the 20s Fahrenheit and breaking the ice and jumping into a nearby stream. But, after a very hot sweat lodge it was easy to break through the ice and cool down, especially because we could then go in for another round. And even when we got out the last time we somehow stayed warm because the lodge had heated us to the core. I never cease to be amazed at how strong these lodge sessions made me feel both physically and spiritually and as a man in all ways. Especially between the ages of 32 and 50 I was amazed each time I joined a sweat lodge at how deep an experience this usually is.
If you are afraid of being with men and women in the dark this could be a problem for you. But since almost all people who take the time to do this are sincere, usually you have nothing at all to worry about. Ones biggest concern is getting ones eyes burnt from the steam or getting to close to the mostly 8 inch in diameter river rocks that have been put in a bonfire to heat until they are red outside the lodge. Then a shovel is used to carry the rocks into the fire pit in the middle of the ground inside the sweat lodge. Then lastly a bucket of fresh river water is brought in. For safety, the rocks are not brought into the lodge until everyone is already in place and the very last thing that comes into the lodge before the door closes(a flap usually of blankets and tarps) and in often comes the fire and rock tender. Though sometimes the tender stays outside depending upon the circumstances present.
So after each round(about 10 to 15 minutes in the steam heat caused by splashing water on red hot rocks) everyone gets out and rinses off in the river next to the sweat lodge. It is common to get the spins from the heat at this time(one sometimes feels dizzy from the drastic temperature changes). Also, ones body is going through extreme temperature changes and this also strengthens ones heart, especially if one is under about 50. But if you have been used to all this physically and psychologically, usually you are okay after 50 as well. I have seen a lady as old as 73 sweat for the first time. But some allowances were made for her. So, as you can see it is a very special experience. Often the medicine man has an Eagle Wing or Feather that he splashes the water out with and many songs he sings and often he invites all to sing his songs(some songs date back hundreds or thousands of years) and are passed Father to son or daughter, or grandfather or grandmother to grandson or granddaughter.
All this is a very visceral and primal spiritual experience in that I always found myself amazed to be doing this because for a person of the western world it is very unique for someone who grew up in the suburbs of Los Angeles County for the most part.
One experience with Charlie Thom, a local Karoc Medicine man who live near Yreka it was snowing really hard at Stewart Mineral Springs near Gazelle and I wondered about getting out of the sweat lodge in the 20s Fahrenheit and breaking the ice and jumping into a nearby stream. But, after a very hot sweat lodge it was easy to break through the ice and cool down, especially because we could then go in for another round. And even when we got out the last time we somehow stayed warm because the lodge had heated us to the core. I never cease to be amazed at how strong these lodge sessions made me feel both physically and spiritually and as a man in all ways. Especially between the ages of 32 and 50 I was amazed each time I joined a sweat lodge at how deep an experience this usually is.
If you are afraid of being with men and women in the dark this could be a problem for you. But since almost all people who take the time to do this are sincere, usually you have nothing at all to worry about. Ones biggest concern is getting ones eyes burnt from the steam or getting to close to the mostly 8 inch in diameter river rocks that have been put in a bonfire to heat until they are red outside the lodge. Then a shovel is used to carry the rocks into the fire pit in the middle of the ground inside the sweat lodge. Then lastly a bucket of fresh river water is brought in. For safety, the rocks are not brought into the lodge until everyone is already in place and the very last thing that comes into the lodge before the door closes(a flap usually of blankets and tarps) and in often comes the fire and rock tender. Though sometimes the tender stays outside depending upon the circumstances present.
So after each round(about 10 to 15 minutes in the steam heat caused by splashing water on red hot rocks) everyone gets out and rinses off in the river next to the sweat lodge. It is common to get the spins from the heat at this time(one sometimes feels dizzy from the drastic temperature changes). Also, ones body is going through extreme temperature changes and this also strengthens ones heart, especially if one is under about 50. But if you have been used to all this physically and psychologically, usually you are okay after 50 as well. I have seen a lady as old as 73 sweat for the first time. But some allowances were made for her. So, as you can see it is a very special experience. Often the medicine man has an Eagle Wing or Feather that he splashes the water out with and many songs he sings and often he invites all to sing his songs(some songs date back hundreds or thousands of years) and are passed Father to son or daughter, or grandfather or grandmother to grandson or granddaughter.
All this is a very visceral and primal spiritual experience in that I always found myself amazed to be doing this because for a person of the western world it is very unique for someone who grew up in the suburbs of Los Angeles County for the most part.
The Native American Medicine Path
People tend to think that if one wants to be taught the native American
medicine path they must be at least part native American. Well, that is
not completely true. What one must do is to find a medicine man or
woman of a tribe that believes their religion is for everyone. So even
though the medicine men and women of many tribes don't accept non-native
Americans to teach their path to, many do. So, Just like finding a Guru
or teacher in India one must search for the right medicine man or woman
to learn from and to be taught by.
There are many things that people all know about Native Americans but there are a lot of things most people don't know about what a medicine path is. Though in some specifics it varies from tribe to tribe there are some things that all share in philosophy and religion. Though this might seem strange to you, you will learn more about what the medicine path is from watching "Pocahontas", the Disney cartoon and "Brother Bear" another cartoon than almost any single experience you might have in a city or suburb. But to really enter the medicine path is a full commitment much like becoming a nurse or a doctor or a priest or minister. However, entering the medicine path one is becoming a Priest-warrior, which is an attitude that one brings to everything.
I was taught a Blackfoot-Sioux path by a medicine man in Northern California. Later I met a Karoc medicine man that I enjoyed Sweating with in the sweat lodge. Myself and four other friends eventually did a four day vision quest each of no water no food on the north fork of the Trinity River in Northern California. This changed each of our lives in many ways.
This was in the early 1980s. Today, I saw a Crow and in my mind I said to it, "Is that you?" The Crow said, "NO. It isn't me." My original teacher identified with seeing through the eyes of Crows which was one of his abilities because of his affinity with them. So this conversation actually meant, "Is that you?" Answer, "Of course it's me."
and more it means, "are you a medicine
incompetent or what?"
This begins to take you into the world of a medicine path with someone who has actually studied with a Medicine Man or woman and is competent to actually teach you something meaningful. Now, most of you might think such a path isn't real or useful. However, I think the best way to say this is this is: how many people still live all over earth now use a similar system?" And the fact that it has kept their tribes alive without going extinct over 40,000 years until organized religions and technology brainwashed people into believing something else. Were the new technologies and religions better? That's hard to say, "I would say both yes in some ways but no in others." It's like asking are automobiles good? I would say they are good because people can get themselves and their goods where they want to faster but at the price of Global Warming and the potential death of everything on earth alive. It is sort of like this. What most of the world has now is better in some ways and worse in other ways. But we are usually only taught about the good changes and seldom the real price paid.
This is the best way to say it. There is a price we pay for everything and if we are not told the full price (which we never are) we might make a different choice yesterday, today or tomorrow.
In these insecure times worldwide understanding more about the medicine path might save your life. For it is a way to survive without houses, cars, or jobs within society if it ever comes to that. I'm not saying to give up everything that you believe that works for you. However, if something isn't working for you it may be time to try something else whether that something is a religion, a relationship or a job or even a career. It is not worth being alive if there is no joy in your life. It is my belief that that is a given. Do you stay alive and sacrifice for you kids even if there is no joy? That is entirely up to you. I decided long ago that my pain meant nothing if my kids weren't okay. No pain I might have would be as bad as I would feel alive or dead if my kids lives weren't okay. So like you I sacrificed sometimes a lot for my kids always.
The problem today is that most people only push paper and cannot actually do anything real. They cannot actually defend themselves physically or mentally. Maybe a relative of theirs can but that relative might not be there for them all the time.
So, for me, in 1980 finding a medicine path was about learning a better attitude to survive no matter what, as 1980 was a lot like now with 9.6% unemployment nationwide. Now, however, I'm financially secure. This wasn't as true in 1980 when I was only 32 and raising my son and two step kids out in the country in Mt. Shasta, California(near the Oregon Border). So, finding a medicine man to learn from seemed important then both from a spiritual point of view and from a survivalist point of view.
When I look back now what I learned the most important things that come to mind are just how really alive and how many different abilities and senses we actually have but just don't use if we live in Cities or suburbia. However, the beauty of all this now for me is that once you develop these medicine senses, if you keep in the right states of mind even in a city or suburbia you will keep these senses as long as periodically you visit the wilds and the wilderness to recharge your spiritual and wilderness batteries so to speak.
The most important things for me, however, I learned through my vision quest of no water no food for four days. in one of my prayer visions after the second day of no water no food 5 miles from the nearest person in a bear wallow on the Trinity River was when I became a 50 foot high Golden Dragon that breathed out fire on thousands of people. What amazed me then was that the fire I breathed out upon people did not burn them but enlightened them and if they were sad or not they all then began to smile with the joy of enlightenment!
When I began to write more after I almost died in 1998 and 9 I believe my writings that I publish are the fire breath of the dragon enlightening people and making their lives better in the short and long term. It is one of the reasons why dragonofcompassion.com is the name of my new website.
Also, when I later studied Tibetan Buddhism in California, Oregon, India and Nepal, I learned of a branch of Tibetan Buddhism called Drukpa Kagyu which means Dragon Kagyu. There is also a humorous Crazy Wisdom figure in Tibetan mythology called Drukpa Kunli. If you know anyone from old Tibet ask them to tell you Drukpa Kunli stories, they are really funny and enlightening in a Crazy Wisdom way!
Note: Added May 24th 2013: During my vision quest in 1983 I was in a bear wallow at the side of the North Fork of the Trinity River about 5 miles from the nearest human being. I saw a mated pair of Bald Eagles flying overhead and every day a Mama wood duck and all her babies swam past my point in the River and went down stream for food and every day at dusk she and her babies swam upstream to roost in the rushes out of danger at night. I found I could eat the sunlight off the water with my eyes and mind in this state to fulfill any need I had for water without drinking it. One night it rained and I didn't have a tent with me so I took my tarp and put it over a large 6 foot through fallen Cedar Tree and crawled under the tree to get out of the rain. I also had sweet grass in braids that I burned as incense as I prayed. The second night into the quest I became a 50 to 100 foot tall golden dragon (which at the time was pretty terrifying and overwhelming in a unbelievable way). But when I breathed fire out on everyone I saw it didn't harm or kill them or burn them up. Instead it made them smile and become enlightened and their heads glowed with the enlightenment they needed to stay alive and to keep their kids and friends and family alive too on into the future for thousands of years.
When my vision quest was over this lead in the next year to meeting a Tibetan Buddhist Student who was an American (I was telepathically directed to pick him up because he was hitchiking by the Tibetan Lama who had given me "The Thousand Buddhas Empowerment" in Ashland, Oregon. He introduced my family to 5 or 10 very powerful Tibetan Lamas in Oregon and California. Within two years after many initiations I was directed inwardly to take my family to India, Nepal and Thailand through Japan(where my last lifetime was from 1933 to 1945) there. I along with my family was given the "Kalachakra Initiation" by the Dalai Lama along with 500,000 others there from Tibet, Nepal, India and surrounding areas as well as about 10,000 westerners like me from places like Europe, North and South America, and Japan etc.
So, the Native American Medicine path led me to a Path of Compassion in the Tibetan Buddhist Path. So, the Dragon I became in my vision quest I guess I already was all along and still am. Understanding this is very freeing and empowering for me and hopefully for you as well. I am very grateful for my amazing Native American medicine path teachers for teaching me to become who I already was and but didn't know it yet before the vision quest.
There are many things that people all know about Native Americans but there are a lot of things most people don't know about what a medicine path is. Though in some specifics it varies from tribe to tribe there are some things that all share in philosophy and religion. Though this might seem strange to you, you will learn more about what the medicine path is from watching "Pocahontas", the Disney cartoon and "Brother Bear" another cartoon than almost any single experience you might have in a city or suburb. But to really enter the medicine path is a full commitment much like becoming a nurse or a doctor or a priest or minister. However, entering the medicine path one is becoming a Priest-warrior, which is an attitude that one brings to everything.
I was taught a Blackfoot-Sioux path by a medicine man in Northern California. Later I met a Karoc medicine man that I enjoyed Sweating with in the sweat lodge. Myself and four other friends eventually did a four day vision quest each of no water no food on the north fork of the Trinity River in Northern California. This changed each of our lives in many ways.
This was in the early 1980s. Today, I saw a Crow and in my mind I said to it, "Is that you?" The Crow said, "NO. It isn't me." My original teacher identified with seeing through the eyes of Crows which was one of his abilities because of his affinity with them. So this conversation actually meant, "Is that you?" Answer, "Of course it's me."
and more it means, "are you a medicine
incompetent or what?"
This begins to take you into the world of a medicine path with someone who has actually studied with a Medicine Man or woman and is competent to actually teach you something meaningful. Now, most of you might think such a path isn't real or useful. However, I think the best way to say this is this is: how many people still live all over earth now use a similar system?" And the fact that it has kept their tribes alive without going extinct over 40,000 years until organized religions and technology brainwashed people into believing something else. Were the new technologies and religions better? That's hard to say, "I would say both yes in some ways but no in others." It's like asking are automobiles good? I would say they are good because people can get themselves and their goods where they want to faster but at the price of Global Warming and the potential death of everything on earth alive. It is sort of like this. What most of the world has now is better in some ways and worse in other ways. But we are usually only taught about the good changes and seldom the real price paid.
This is the best way to say it. There is a price we pay for everything and if we are not told the full price (which we never are) we might make a different choice yesterday, today or tomorrow.
In these insecure times worldwide understanding more about the medicine path might save your life. For it is a way to survive without houses, cars, or jobs within society if it ever comes to that. I'm not saying to give up everything that you believe that works for you. However, if something isn't working for you it may be time to try something else whether that something is a religion, a relationship or a job or even a career. It is not worth being alive if there is no joy in your life. It is my belief that that is a given. Do you stay alive and sacrifice for you kids even if there is no joy? That is entirely up to you. I decided long ago that my pain meant nothing if my kids weren't okay. No pain I might have would be as bad as I would feel alive or dead if my kids lives weren't okay. So like you I sacrificed sometimes a lot for my kids always.
The problem today is that most people only push paper and cannot actually do anything real. They cannot actually defend themselves physically or mentally. Maybe a relative of theirs can but that relative might not be there for them all the time.
So, for me, in 1980 finding a medicine path was about learning a better attitude to survive no matter what, as 1980 was a lot like now with 9.6% unemployment nationwide. Now, however, I'm financially secure. This wasn't as true in 1980 when I was only 32 and raising my son and two step kids out in the country in Mt. Shasta, California(near the Oregon Border). So, finding a medicine man to learn from seemed important then both from a spiritual point of view and from a survivalist point of view.
When I look back now what I learned the most important things that come to mind are just how really alive and how many different abilities and senses we actually have but just don't use if we live in Cities or suburbia. However, the beauty of all this now for me is that once you develop these medicine senses, if you keep in the right states of mind even in a city or suburbia you will keep these senses as long as periodically you visit the wilds and the wilderness to recharge your spiritual and wilderness batteries so to speak.
The most important things for me, however, I learned through my vision quest of no water no food for four days. in one of my prayer visions after the second day of no water no food 5 miles from the nearest person in a bear wallow on the Trinity River was when I became a 50 foot high Golden Dragon that breathed out fire on thousands of people. What amazed me then was that the fire I breathed out upon people did not burn them but enlightened them and if they were sad or not they all then began to smile with the joy of enlightenment!
When I began to write more after I almost died in 1998 and 9 I believe my writings that I publish are the fire breath of the dragon enlightening people and making their lives better in the short and long term. It is one of the reasons why dragonofcompassion.com is the name of my new website.
Also, when I later studied Tibetan Buddhism in California, Oregon, India and Nepal, I learned of a branch of Tibetan Buddhism called Drukpa Kagyu which means Dragon Kagyu. There is also a humorous Crazy Wisdom figure in Tibetan mythology called Drukpa Kunli. If you know anyone from old Tibet ask them to tell you Drukpa Kunli stories, they are really funny and enlightening in a Crazy Wisdom way!
Note: Added May 24th 2013: During my vision quest in 1983 I was in a bear wallow at the side of the North Fork of the Trinity River about 5 miles from the nearest human being. I saw a mated pair of Bald Eagles flying overhead and every day a Mama wood duck and all her babies swam past my point in the River and went down stream for food and every day at dusk she and her babies swam upstream to roost in the rushes out of danger at night. I found I could eat the sunlight off the water with my eyes and mind in this state to fulfill any need I had for water without drinking it. One night it rained and I didn't have a tent with me so I took my tarp and put it over a large 6 foot through fallen Cedar Tree and crawled under the tree to get out of the rain. I also had sweet grass in braids that I burned as incense as I prayed. The second night into the quest I became a 50 to 100 foot tall golden dragon (which at the time was pretty terrifying and overwhelming in a unbelievable way). But when I breathed fire out on everyone I saw it didn't harm or kill them or burn them up. Instead it made them smile and become enlightened and their heads glowed with the enlightenment they needed to stay alive and to keep their kids and friends and family alive too on into the future for thousands of years.
When my vision quest was over this lead in the next year to meeting a Tibetan Buddhist Student who was an American (I was telepathically directed to pick him up because he was hitchiking by the Tibetan Lama who had given me "The Thousand Buddhas Empowerment" in Ashland, Oregon. He introduced my family to 5 or 10 very powerful Tibetan Lamas in Oregon and California. Within two years after many initiations I was directed inwardly to take my family to India, Nepal and Thailand through Japan(where my last lifetime was from 1933 to 1945) there. I along with my family was given the "Kalachakra Initiation" by the Dalai Lama along with 500,000 others there from Tibet, Nepal, India and surrounding areas as well as about 10,000 westerners like me from places like Europe, North and South America, and Japan etc.
So, the Native American Medicine path led me to a Path of Compassion in the Tibetan Buddhist Path. So, the Dragon I became in my vision quest I guess I already was all along and still am. Understanding this is very freeing and empowering for me and hopefully for you as well. I am very grateful for my amazing Native American medicine path teachers for teaching me to become who I already was and but didn't know it yet before the vision quest.
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