Turtle Clan On Wings Of Light

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Prayers for Full Moon Ceromony

Father Heaven, Mother Moon, Friend Earth I am a part of you.
I appreciate that you let me stay here.

I am here as expression of love and joy.
I humbly swear that I will share love with people.

Please bring peace, hope and joy to this world through me as your tool.
I live as a person who is kind to the familiar people.

I live as a person who loves unknown people.
Please guide me so.

May this world be filled with a lot of love and light.
May people be happy with big smile

May all the children always be safe and happy.
Father Heaven, Mother Moon, Friend Earth I pray from my heart.
Aho Blessed One, Aho

Sweet Darkness

When your eyes are tired
the world is tired also.

When your vision has gone
no part of the world can find you.

Time to go into the dark
where the nigh

At has eyes
to recognize its own.

There you can be sure
you are not beyond love

The dark will be your womb tonight.

The night will give you a horizon further than you can see.

You must learn one thing. The world was made to be free in.

Give up all the other worlds except the one to which you belong.

Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet confinement of your aloneness to learn that

anything or anyone that does not bring you alive you have made too small for you.

The House of Belonging

by David Whyte

Monday, October 19, 2009

Let Go

How often do we carry judgement and anger which in reallity even if justified, only hurts us and often over time brings illness to our body, not only mentally or emotionally, but many illnesses of the body caused due to holding this energy.

FIRST STEP OF WISDOM: Acceptance without judgement 'nor rancor AND with out needing to know why! Work to embed this into who you are over the next few years and I'll give you number Two. Step One is the difficult one, rest a breaze if you ask me!

To let go is not to judge,
but to allow another to be a human being.
To let go is not to be in the middle arranging all the outcomes,
but to allow others to affect their destinies.
To let go is not to be protective,
it's to permit another to face reality.
To let go is not to deny,
but to accept.
To let go is not to nag, scold or argue,
but instead to search out my own shortcomings and correct them.
To let go is not to adjust everything to my desires,
but to take each day as it comes and cherish myself in it.
To let go is not to criticize or regulate anybody,
but to try to become what I dream I can be.

-excerpt from "Letting Go Takes Love"
Author Unknown

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Sweet Lodge Dates Change

PLEASE NOTE: CHANGING SWEAT LODGE DAYS TO SATURDAYS TO MAKE IT EASIER ON YOU!

THIS STARTS IN OCTOBER 19TH. Everything else is the same, RSVP really helps when you can.

See info on Sweats on the left column of this blog, all new folks welcome. Please call with any questions.

Tana Hamiter ~ Blue Deer Woman

360-708-6916

Turtle Clan is an open clan and welcomes old and new alike, healing ceremonies, releasing rituals, namings, and what ever you are asking for.

Friday, September 25, 2009

Spirits of the Trees

Spirits of the Trees . . .

I ask that your guiding presence be strong,rooted deeply and firmly while reaching ever greater expanses.Teach the people of this earth.And may we live peacefrom our feet to our fingersfrom coccyx to crownfrom Inside to Outside.

Aho Blessed Ones, Aho!

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Pray for For Friends and Enemies - Why?

Pray for your friends, but by all means, pray for your enemies. And don't pray that they'll change; pray that you might change-- from an accusatory mind to a loving one.

-- A Course in Miracles

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Prayer ~ Oh Great Spirit

O Great Spirit,

Whose voice I hear in the winds,
and whose breath gives life to all the world,

hear me! I am small and weak,

I need your strength and wisdom.

Let me walk in Beauty, and make my eyes
ever behold the red and purple sunset.

Make my hands respect the things you have made and my ears sharp to hear your voice.

Make me wise so that I may understand the things you have taught my people.

Let me learn the lessons you have hidden in every leaf and rock.

I seek strength, not to be greater than my brother, but to fight my greatest enemy- myself.

Make me always ready to come to you with clean hands and straight eyes.

So when life fades, as the fading sunset, my spirit may come to you without shame.

- Native American prayer

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

From the Highest Mountain I Could See

Then I was standing on the highest mountain of them all, and round about beneath me was the whole hoop of the world. And while I stood there I saw more than I can tell and I understood more than I saw; for I was seeing in a sacred manner the shapes of all things in the spirit, and the shape of all shapes as they must live together like one being. And I saw that the sacred hoop of my people was one of many hoops that made one circle, wide as daylight and as starlight, and in the center grew one mighty flowering tree to shelter all the children of one mother and one father. And I saw that it was holy.

- Black Elk
1863-1950

Great Mystery

Great Mystery!

In a flash of awakening
I see around me
all the medicine you have sent to me.
What enormous power sits before me as my pipe.
What awesome blessing sits before me as the loving presence of Buffalo.
What incredible help and assistance overflows my altar with the presence of Grandfather Fire Sacred Water Turtle Froggy Rock Nation Angel of Brazil Sage Horsey Eagle Rattles Grandma Emma Red Dog & Sapphire Arrow Bundle Ancestors Pictures Galore!

Thank you Great Mystery for reminding me of the overflowing spiritual abundance all around me, ALL the time.

But there are days, Great Mystery
I forget my Source, entangling myself in illusion and drama Forget to receive and take in the medicine all around me as if I am a starving beggar at my own banquet.

I pray today for peace, to open my heart wide and invite the abundance of medicine in, to feed and nourish my mind, body, and spirit.

by BabaSink

Friday, July 17, 2009

Lost ~ David Wagoner

LOST

Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you Are not lost.

Wherever you are is called Here,

And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,

Must ask permission to know it and be known.

The forest breathes. Listen. It answers, I have made this place around you.

If you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here.
No two trees are the same to Raven.

No two branches are the same to Wren.

If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,

You are surely lost. Stand still.

The forest knows Where you are.

You must let it find you.

by David Wagoner

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

We the Children of the World Ask -

Prayers for Peace: 7-4-09

The third graders of Dewey Elementary School in Evanston, IL, wrote the following letter to the adults of the world out of a discussion concerning peace. The class, under the auspices of Ms. Pat Cleveland, used the talking circle as the foundation to learning in her classroom. She held a peace ceremony with her kids which culminated with the planting of a symbolic tree on the school grounds. From that ceremony came the following statement. These words have been sent around the world and read at the United Nations in General Assembly:

WE THE CHILDREN OF THE WORLD are asking the adults to listen. We think that you need us to help you find peace in yourselves. If you start from the heart, peace can spread to other adults and it will get bigger. We ask you to forgive and be kind to one another. We are asking you to be respectful and to treat others the way you want to be treated. We want you to try a different way to solve problems. If everybody thought fighting was the only way, then the whole world would be at war. If you don't give peace to others then they won't give it to you.

This is a world we love but we would love it more if all the wars and fighting stopped. We have hope to bring peace to the world. We want our loved ones safe. We want our families safe - no matter where they are.

If we didn't fight, the grass would be greener, the water would be cleaner, and the animals would be healthier. The world would be the best place. We want you to stop cutting down trees and hurting living things.

We are saying "ENOUGH!" We want the land mines, the nukes and suicide bombing to stop. We want the judging people to stop and want to know people by who they are on the inside.

We need to try and understand each other and to learn about each other. We want people to come together and share their hearts. We want the adults to be nice and to make your voices count. We are asking you to help our families get along. We know that peace starts with a thought. You need to let that thought come out. We are telling you that this is important because peace can change your life, our lives, someone else's and even the world.

There is a wonderful world waiting for us. We just need to believe in peace and in ourselves. That's the beginning. We can help each other.
Peace can go on forever. Peace can be so great.

3rd grade class
Dewey Elementary School
Evanston, IL

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Support of Sacred Land Film Project

Institute’s Sacred Land Film Project produces a variety of media and educational materials — films, videos, DVDs, articles, photographs, school curricula materials and Web site content — to deepen public understanding of sacred places, indigenous cultures and environmental justice. Winnemem Wintu War Dancers

Our mission is to use journalism, organizing and activism to rekindle reverence for land, increase respect for cultural diversity, stimulate dialogue about connections between nature and culture, and protect sacred lands and diverse spiritual practices.

For the last decade we have focused on the production and distribution of the documentary film, In the Light of Reverence. We are currently developing a four-part series on sacred places around the world, entitled Losing Sacred Ground.

http://www.sacredland.org/

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Let Us Care for For Each Other with Love!

ONE WORLD PLEASE ~ EVERY LIFE IS A GIFT FROM THE CREATOR!

Let us take care of the children, for they have a long way to go.

Let us take care of the elders, for they have come a long way.

Let us take care of those in-between, for they are doing the work. - African Prayer

Let this be a prayer of us all!

Calander of Events

Sweat Lodges: SATURDAYS NOW: gather 9:30 am to help set up. Start Ceremonial Fire 10am. Door at Noon. Followed after sweat is a pot luck, barbaque in warm weather as well.

Oct. 17th - Nov. 21nd - Dec. 19th

Everyone welcome, adults, teens and children. Please NO dogs and car pool is encouraged to be gentle on the earth. RSVP helps us to prepare.

Email: onwingsoflight@gmail.com or call 360-856-1428 to get a newsletter with directions sent to you. Also what to bring and other information. See article below for information and history of Sweat Lodges. RSVP really helps!

Sweat Lodge NW Washington Skagit Valley

We run a Rainbow Lodge, meaning a sweat lodge for all people and we do not try to take from out native friends their traditions. I’ve done sweats from Mexico to New Zealand. Sweat Lodges are not only done in USA but all over the world and have been for thousands of years. So whatever your tradition, culture, race or walk in life; you will always be welcomed here at Unity House.

Sweat Lodge starts with the laying of the sacred fire at 10 am on SUNDAYS. Gate/Door normally near noon. Try to come early 9:30 am or so, then you can help with all the set up. There is a lot of work to prepare but many hands make light work! That is called community.

If you need to come later, just arrive as you can and come in the yellow gate, turn left and go to the lodge area. We do NOT answer phones after 10 am. Car Pooling is suggested so contact me if you want to know if someone is in your area.

Everyone is welcome. If this is your first time, trust that you will be well cared for. Feel free to call or email with any questions and so I can email you the directions. Health challenges, call, we can talk it over. Children welcome as well.

NO DOGS … this is also a drug, alcohol and smoke free environment. So if you smoke you will need to do that in your car or take a walk down the road. Due to this being a GOES GREEN home – we are careful as well about things people might be allergic to. So please out of consideration of your brothers and sisters, no hairspray, colognes, perfumes, etc. Many thanks!

Bring: (think of the time of year and anticipated weather, we hold sweats all through the year)
· Potluck dish and drink (juice, sports drink, etc) to share
· Consider a slow cooker with food for colder weather
· Ice chest if you need to keep something cold
· Towel and blanket
· Sandals or thongs to walk to and from the lodge when you feet are wet
· Sweat dress or wrap around skirt for woman, shorts for men
· Dry cloths to put on after sweat, coats and other appropriate clothing
· A Big Bag to carry all your stuff in (plastic sack for wet cloths/towel)
· Gifting is always appreciated: we need things like kindling, sweet grass, tobacco, sweat herbs to burn in the lodge), sage to smudge people, lots of newspaper (the black and white sections only ), wooden matches, Red Cotton cloth for making prayer ties, etc. --- thanks for your help!
· Cost: $10 to $20 donation for wood and expenses however NO ONE ever turned away from for lack of money (we have a turtle gifting box). Dave and I never take any profit for running sweats – this is one of our give backs to the community.

Contact: Tana cell 360-708-6916 or email onwingsoflight@gmail.com

Sweat Lodge by Wikipedia

The sweat lodge (also called sweat house, medicine lodge, or medicine house) is a ceremonial sauna and an important ritual used by North American First Nations or Native American peoples. There are several styles of sweat lodges that include a domed or oblong hut similar to a wickiup, a teepee, or even a simple hole dug into the ground and covered with planks or tree trunks. Stones are heated in an exterior fire and then placed in a central pit in the ground. Often the stones are granite and they glow red in the dark lodge.

Construction
In the northern part of North America, the sweat lodge is a low dome-like structure built on earth (as opposed to grass or forest brush). Traditionally it is built with a frame of tree shoots or branches, which are long, thin and very flexible. The tree most commonly used is willow although many other species are used such as lodgepole. Lodges range in size, from diameters of nearly 2 m (six feet) to well over 6 m (eighteen or nineteen feet). They range from 1-1.5 m (three to five feet) in height, as the participants sit or lay down during the ceremony. The lodge is aligned with the four directions, and room for a doorway is provided.

Cheyenne sweat lodge frame. The wood structure is then covered with either blankets, canvas, or sometimes animal skins, and the doorway is made on the east or south side. Sometimes permanent walls of clay are built over the wooden frame. The walls must be thick enough for the lodge to be completely dark inside and to keep in as much heat as possible. In some, a shallow pit is dug in the earth in the center of the lodge where the hot stones from the fire pit will be placed. The lodge is also known in Mexico with the name of temazcal.

During the ceremony, the participants encircle the stone pit inside the lodge. The medicine man, leader of the ceremony, or elder, perhaps better referred to as the pourer, receives the glowing hot stones from the firekeeper and places them in the pit, using a pitch fork and/or deer antlers [1]. When enough stones have been placed in the lodge, the medicine man (pourer) closes the door and pours water on top of the stones to fill the lodge with steam. This happens usually four times, with periods of between ten minutes to hours spent sweating in the lodge.

In Ojibway or Anishinaabe ceremonies, there are many songs sung with a drum and rattles, prayers given, and attempts to heal the sick. The lodge door is in the east, toward the sacred fire, and there are rattles for each of the directions. A fire keeper or helper outside passes the red hot granite stones, or grandfathers, into the lodge, and puts prayer offerings of tobacco into the fire. The grandfathers are placed into the pit at the center of the lodge. Before the ceremony, there is a cedar strip or line along the ground that is not to be crossed. The little boy water drum is often used in the ceremonies, along with certain medicines that are burnt on the hot stones.

As each person enters the lodge on hands and knees, they say their name in Ojibway, and crawl, like a baby, into the womb of the lodge. The women sit on one side, and the men sit on the other. The sweat lodge represents birth and being born out of the darkness, the red glow, the warmth, the wetness, and the small space like a womb. One also crawls out of the lodge, humbled, and like a baby.

Everything is usually done in a clockwise direction in the lodge, the same way as the sun travels across the sky. One enters in a clockwise direction, passes rattles clockwise, songs and prayers are given clockwise, and each one leaves clockwise. Most people get their traditional names during the ceremony, and offerings are given of tobacco, food, and other things. The little boy drum is ceremoniously prepared before each sweat lodge and tied in a certain way depending on the teaching given.

Origins
The claims of origin of the sweat lodge are as many as there are tribal cultures. One general version is that the Creator gave the lodge to the people as a way to directly pray or talk with the Creator. The lodge is often seen as a womb, that gives birth and life, and it provides important teachings to the people.

Entering the lodge is a sacred happening that involves important rituals and memories. The lodge provides a cleansing of the body, spirit, heart, and mind. Utmost respect is given to the Creator, the lodge, the fire, the medicines, the animals, the four directions, the elders, the participants, and the ceremonies. Thanks are given for the fire's warmth, the importance of the grandfather rocks, the animals for their skins, and the plants for their medicines. Thanks are given for all the necessary elements of nature that provide us with life and survival.

The lodge is a natural way to bring fire, earth, rocks, water, air, human life, animals, and plants together into one, or close association and contact.

Traditions
Rituals and traditions vary from region to region and tribe to tribe. They often include prayers, drumming, and offerings to the spirit world. Often easier methods and ways are discovered and used, such as using a lighter to start the fire, and using a truck to haul wood and rocks. Even the use of a pitch fork, shovel, and canvas would not be of the oldest traditions. These ceremonies can change over time as certain needs arise.

Some common practices and key elements associated with sweat lodges include:
Orientation – The door usually faces the fire, forming a duality between the lodge and the fire. This duality is, in many traditions, symbolic of the male-female or heaven-earth dualities. Directions usually have distinct symbolism in Native American ceremonies. The lodge may be oriented within its environment for a specific purpose; for example, a lodge constructed near a lake could be run with the intention of connecting to the spirit of the lake. Placement and orientation of the lodge within its environment often facilitates the ceremony's connection with the spirit world.

Construction – The lodge is generally built with great care and with respect to the environment and to the materials being used. Many traditions construct the lodge in complete silence, some have a drum playing while they build, other traditions have the builders fast during construction. Often, tobacco is placed in each hole made into the Earth and prayed over before the willow pole is placed.

Clothing – In traditional lodges, participants are nude. In more comtemporary lodges participants wear a simple brief garment or towel and nudity is most common with male only lodges. Where aversion to nudity is stronger, and where traditions vary, participants may be more fully clothed.

Offerings – Tobacco, sweet grass, redcedar, and other plants are often used to make prayers, give thanks or make other offerings. They can be smoked in a stone pipe, sprinkled on the hot stones or offered to the fire. Prayer ties are also made in many traditions to set the intention of the lodge, show gratitude, purify one's self before the lodge, summon support from the spirit world, and other such purposes.

Support – In many traditions, one or more persons (sometimes called "dog soldiers") will remain outside the sweat lodge to protect the ceremony, and assist the participants. Sometimes they will help tend the fire and place the hot stones, though usually this is done by a designated firekeeper. In another instance, a person that sits in the lodge, next to the door, is charged with protecting the ceremony, and maintaining lodge etiquette.

Etiquette
The most important part of sweat lodge etiquette is respecting the traditions of the lodge leader. Some lodges are done in complete silence, while others involve singing, chanting, wailing, drumming, or other sound. It is important to know what is allowed and expected before entering a lodge. Traditional tribes hold a high value of respect to the lodge. In some cultures, objects, including clothing, without a ceremonial significance are discouraged from being brought into the lodge. The tenet is: enter the lodge as you came into this world.

Alternately, other traditional tribes place a high value on modesty as a respect to the lodge. In clothed lodges, women are usually expected to wear skirts or short-sleeved dresses of a longer length. In some traditions, nudity is forbidden in mixed sex sweats. In other traditions mixed gender sweats are forbidden. Still others encourage, if not require, mixed gender sweats. Many lodge leaders do not allow menstruating women (these women are often referred to as being on their moon-time) to participate in ceremonies. Some will run a separate lodge for menstruating women. Still others allow them into the lodge after they have completed a purifying ritual, such as making a belt of prayer ties.

Perhaps the most important piece of etiquette is gratitude. It is important to be thankful to the people joining you in the lodge, and those helping to support the lodge.