original post date: Tuesday, January 27, 2009
THE MOTHER LODGE: Willows and Wonders
The Mother Lodge has also been called the Purification Lodge*, the Rainbow Children's Lodge, the Stone People's Lodge and the Innipi. It is one of the doorways to your Soul, one of the Pathways Home.
A Purification Lodge* is shaped rather like an igloo. Low to the ground, one must bow down to enter and cannot stand upright once inside. A Lodge is built in a Ceremonial manner honoring all the elements and the worlds of GrandMother Earth for their gifts in making the Ceremony possible. Nearby there is a space for a Sacred Ceremonial Fire to heat the rocks.
This Ceremony, in one form or another, has gone on all over the planet as long as humans can remember. It continues. It will continue.
One starry winter night not so long ago . . .
A small line of People made their way through the dark winter night. Single file and wrapped in blankets they followed a path through the glittering snow among the Trees who stood benevolent watch over The People and The Mother Lodge.
Flickering firelight danced across each face as they came into the Circle to be Ceremonially Blessed. Several of them shivered, not from the cold but from the feeling of being surrounded by the Spirits of the Ancestors and the many Blessed Ones who had come to guide them.
As they entered The Mother Lodge each Seeker bowed low, acknowledged their connection to All Things and took a moment to remember that the healing they experienced that night would ripple out and flow over the World like a light breeze.
The People took their places inside the GrandMother Womb of the Earth, and one by one the glowing red hot GrandFather Rocks were brought – inseminating the Ceremony with power, potential and Memory*.
The flap was closed and the water was poured slowly over the rocks as the Sacred Words were spoken and the darkness enveloped them all - filling the Lodge with Mystery. Along with their sight, the smaller self began to fade away and The People joined in purpose and respect.
The Powers were called to, the heat rose and the steam cleansed every pore of every person. All the components of the Ceremony came together to help each individual forge a path through the tangled undergrowth of personality and everyday life to the places where chaos and sadness and even trauma and disease had planted seeds and taken root. The Praying began as did the pruning and the pulling in the Ancient Art of the Give Away, the cleansing of all things that do not give Life.
Deep healing was possible in that space and place for those who were willing to open their hearts to The Mother Lodge and speak deep truths. Clarity and Joy were there for those who were willing to accept the guidance of Spirit without abdicating responsibility for their lives and our world..
The Ceremony, deep and personal, progressed exactly as it needed to for each individual even as they connected to each other in a web of humanity poised to Catch the Dreams of The People.
With Prayers, laughter, tears and song The People found healing together and alone.
When the time came to leave The Mother Lodge and for the Ceremony to begin it’s conclusion The Seekers honored and gifted and fed those who had Kept the Fire and those who had Carried the red hot Rocks. They honored each other for their courage and their humor in the fullness of facing themselves with deep and abiding Honesty.
They ate and drank and celebrated that they were not just walking, talking, two legged, button pushers.
They were, they are , Alive !
A Purification Lodge* is shaped rather like an igloo. Low to the ground, one must bow down to enter and cannot stand upright once inside. A Lodge is built in a Ceremonial manner honoring all the elements and the worlds of GrandMother Earth for their gifts in making the Ceremony possible. Nearby there is a space for a Sacred Ceremonial Fire to heat the rocks.
This Ceremony, in one form or another, has gone on all over the planet as long as humans can remember. It continues. It will continue.
One starry winter night not so long ago . . .
A small line of People made their way through the dark winter night. Single file and wrapped in blankets they followed a path through the glittering snow among the Trees who stood benevolent watch over The People and The Mother Lodge.
Flickering firelight danced across each face as they came into the Circle to be Ceremonially Blessed. Several of them shivered, not from the cold but from the feeling of being surrounded by the Spirits of the Ancestors and the many Blessed Ones who had come to guide them.
As they entered The Mother Lodge each Seeker bowed low, acknowledged their connection to All Things and took a moment to remember that the healing they experienced that night would ripple out and flow over the World like a light breeze.
The People took their places inside the GrandMother Womb of the Earth, and one by one the glowing red hot GrandFather Rocks were brought – inseminating the Ceremony with power, potential and Memory*.
The flap was closed and the water was poured slowly over the rocks as the Sacred Words were spoken and the darkness enveloped them all - filling the Lodge with Mystery. Along with their sight, the smaller self began to fade away and The People joined in purpose and respect.
The Powers were called to, the heat rose and the steam cleansed every pore of every person. All the components of the Ceremony came together to help each individual forge a path through the tangled undergrowth of personality and everyday life to the places where chaos and sadness and even trauma and disease had planted seeds and taken root. The Praying began as did the pruning and the pulling in the Ancient Art of the Give Away, the cleansing of all things that do not give Life.
Deep healing was possible in that space and place for those who were willing to open their hearts to The Mother Lodge and speak deep truths. Clarity and Joy were there for those who were willing to accept the guidance of Spirit without abdicating responsibility for their lives and our world..
The Ceremony, deep and personal, progressed exactly as it needed to for each individual even as they connected to each other in a web of humanity poised to Catch the Dreams of The People.
With Prayers, laughter, tears and song The People found healing together and alone.
When the time came to leave The Mother Lodge and for the Ceremony to begin it’s conclusion The Seekers honored and gifted and fed those who had Kept the Fire and those who had Carried the red hot Rocks. They honored each other for their courage and their humor in the fullness of facing themselves with deep and abiding Honesty.
They ate and drank and celebrated that they were not just walking, talking, two legged, button pushers.
They were, they are , Alive !
A QUOTE . . .
“They also learned that there is no healing in the Lodge if the human does not talk honestly with the Earth Mother. Can there be any greater honesty than that of a child in it’s Mother’s womb? How can I sit with Mother Earth in that Lodge and lie to my Self, lie to Her and then ask Her to heal me?
“The Rainbow Lodge is one of the greatest mysteries I know. She is a Goddess of Healing. She cannot be explained. She can only be experienced.
“Today, many of our people have forgotten her as a place of healing. If they build the willow dome they call it a sweatlodge and use it to be clean. Or they use it for superstitions that enslave the minds of [women and] children. Or the men” she smiled, “use it for competition to see who can endure the hottest steam. [ ] Mother Earth can heal with a single dewdrop.”
Patricia Nell Warren, ‘One Is the Sun’
