Sacred Light

          It was light long before the sun finally came out from behind the mountain, but still cold. I stayed nestled in my sleeping bag for a while longer. I knew our supporters would soon be checking in on me. It was dawn, and I wanted mni wakhan like the inspiring woman had promised me. Also, I wanted to leave with them immediately! I thought my vision quest was absolutely over, finished, and complete. I was still so desperate for water!! It was not food I desired, only Life saving water! When they arrived to check on me, I was given pejuta wakhan, sacred medicine, blessed water, about two cups worth. They encouraged me to stay a little longer and to continue to spend the day in prayer. They said they would check on me again to see how I felt in the evening. Reluctantly, I agreed to stay knowing thirst would be my biggest challenge.          The fly’s and the bee’s plagued me yet again, ...

WAKAN TANKA, Great Spirit, teach me how to trust my heart, my mind, my intuition, my inner knowing, the senses of my body, the blessings of my spirit. Teach me to trust these things so that I may enter my sacred space and love beyond my fear, and thus Walk in balance with the passing of each glorious Sun. ~ A Lakota Prayer (Preparing for my first Vision Quest summer of 2015, creating my Chanupa.) I participated in my first Lakota Sweat Lodge ceremony, an inipi, at the end of June 2015. It was something I had wanted to do for a really long time. An inipi, or sweat lodge ceremony, is a purification ritual meaning ‘to live again’. It involves the five elements of earth, water, air, fire, and ether (spirit) at once. When you enter the sweat lodge you do so on 'bended knee' representing humility. We crawl around the rock pit clockwise to take a seat on Mother Earth, men on one side, women on the other. The sweat lodge represents the womb of our Pachamama, Earth Moth...