I have always known who I am.  Since the day my thoughts became lucid,  there has been no confusion, doubt or questioning as to who I am.  I was born to a shaman’s life and though I tried, at times, throughout my younger years to deny this, it was undeniable by the people I have met, and the experiences I have weathered.  I was called and I answered.

I came to this blue orb to teach.  Not that my way is the only way, but there are inherent truths that cannot be denied.  Each time I tried to deny the knowledge I carried forth from former incarnations, Spirit would let me know in not so gentle ways that my primary role on this planet was to teach.  Sure, I was allowed the occasional year or so to stumble around, rebel against the inevitable, only to eventually be humbled and silently exhale, “I give up, You win.”

Knowing all this, deep within myself, and acknowledging it here on these many posts I now have to lower the boom on supermarket shamans.  I don’t like them.  I’m calling them out.  I’m holding up the mirror.  You know who you are.

Supermarket shamans don’t like it when you call them out on their stuff.  And today the stuff is sweat lodge ceremonies for money.  Do not email me, piously justifying that you have First American blood and therefore have a “right” to earn a wage selling Sacredness. I don’t want to hear it.  Save that positioning for people who don’t know better.

A sweat lodge is an Inipi, for the Rite of Purification.  It is a Sacred Ceremony (Inipi Yapi).  The building of one is exact and Sacred.  Its purpose is so you can communicate with the Creator.  The community all shares in the construction.  Digging the fire pit, gathering the proper sacrifices of the Stone People for the fire pit in accordance to customs that are as old as the Earth itself.  There are prayer bundles to make, hundreds of them, and sacrifice. Fasting. There are songs to Tunkashila, offerings to Makah, and to the six directions. There is a sharing of a communal meal afterward. Sweats are in preparation for Hanblecheyapi, crying for a vision.  And oh yes, there is permission.  Permission to hold these Sacred Ceremonies.  If you have given yourself permission from some sense of entitlement and charging money for it, then you are a supermarket shaman. You are not Wakan.  You are unworthy.  Please stop, you are tripping on your ego, and it is seen for what it is.

I hold no judgments on those who build a proper Inipi, and hold sweats at no charge.  There are many versions and ways of leading an Inipi Ceremony.  Each teacher is different, and I honour their visions if they have been guided to do so with a pure and selfless heart for the higher good.

My vision is clear.  Sacred Rituals are not for sale.

Tags: ego, Inipi, know who I am, Sacred Rituals, selling Sacredness, supermarket shamans, sweat lodge, Tipi, Wakan