sweat lodge
Inipi (Lakota)
(to live again)
Temazcal (Mexico)
The sweat lodge is one of the oldest ceremonies of mankind and can still be found in many cultures today.
The word "temazcal" comes from "temazcalli" (in Nahuatl), "temaz" means "sweating" and "calli" means "house".
The Finnish and Swedish saunas, the Turkish hammam, and the Russian banya are primarily known today as practices of physical purification. With the inipi in North America and the temazcal in Central America, the original, spiritual power of the ceremony has been preserved. In this form, the sweat lodge was reintroduced to Europe thanks to the transmission of knowledge by elders and medicine men.
Roots of the Earth Sweat Lodges
The sweat lodges of Roots of the Earth are family-oriented sweat lodges, open to people of all ages, full of respect for life in all its phases.
For all our relations
When we enter the Temazcal, we enter the womb of our Mother Earth. We become children again and experience the primeval act of creation. So when we enter we greet all our relationships and say:“For all my relationships,” “Aho mitakuye oyasin,” or “Por todos mis relationships.”In the sweat lodge we are all equal, we are children of heaven and earth. We feel the warmth and moisture like we did when we were embryos floating in our mother's womb.
We are recreated and reborn.
cleansing
Through prayer and singing we cleanse and renew our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual bodies. We learn to sing, breathe, pray, laugh and let our tears flow with water and elements. It is an active ceremony in which we are called to be both witnesses and participants in the ongoing creation of the universe and life, consciously in relationships.The sweat lodge honors the father and mother of the universe and makes their act of creation visible.
Symbol
The Temazcal symbolizes the womb of Mother Earth, from which created things arise, the fire of Father Sun. The stones brought into the hut from the central fire are the seeds of light that fertilize Mother Earth. They are the oldest living creatures on the planet and carry the memory of the creation of life.The ceremony takes us humans back to the essence of life and helps us remember who we are, where we come from and who we can be.
The four directions
In the sweat lodge, prayers and chants are directed to the four cardinal directions, which represent all of our relationships. The East is dedicated to the Great Mystery and all spiritual beings, the South to family lineage, the West to ancestors, the dead, friends and enemies, the North to ourselves.
Sequence
The ceremony is held together as a circle, as a family. Every helping hand is welcome. Together we clean the place, prepare everything, light the fire, sing songs, put the stones in the fire, smoke the room, cover the sweat lodge, get the water, bring the stones into the sweat lodge, pray for all our relationships and the next seven generations, cleanse us and come back to life reborn from the womb of Mother Earth. And this is where the actual ceremony begins. The real work takes place in the time until the next sweat lodge, when we go about our everyday lives mindfully, respectfully and humbly.
"WALK YOUR TALK"
Infos
Our ceremonies are about living family. We all help together. There are no predetermined positions or boss positions. Everyone gets involved. Everyone feels responsible for everything.
We see ourselves as a circle, without hierarchies.
Together we will ensure that we have a wonderful time together. We treat everyone with respect and leave the place nicer than we found it.
A voluntary donation finances the firewood, the space and everything else needed to maintain the sweat lodge. Nobody enriches themselves with money. Everything comes back to the ceremonies
Short film about the sweat lodge
Here we show you a short film from our Italian friends.
In this video the sweat lodge ceremony is explained and introduced to the path of the roots of the earth.
The film is in Italian. A subtitle can be set.