Sweat Lodge
Welcome to Our Lodge
Sweat Lodge Ceremony
honoring our wholeness
Our Sweat Lodge Ceremony is dedicated to Oneness and wholeness
creating a purification ceremony based in Love (the only true healer),
honoring each person's process, beliefs, and presence.
It is our intention to create a safe and sacred space.
We gather on the Saturday closest to the New Moon.
Please join us for the Fire Ceremony; where we start our Lodge Ceremony
with intention, calling in the directions, and lighting the fire.
Your help is appreciated and creates community.
Meal of salad bar and homemade soup after Lodge.
See below for additional information and Lodge protocols.
Calendar of Lodges for 2013
Community Lodges Women's Lodges
Jan. 12 Fire at 9am, Noon Lodge Feb. 9 Fire at 9am, Noon Lodge
Mar. 9 Fire at 9am, Noon Lodge Apr. 13 Fire at 9am, Noon Lodge
May 11 Fire at 9am, Noon Lodge June 8 Fire at 3pm, 6pm Lodge
July 6 Fire at 3pm, 6pm Lodge Aug. 10 Fire at 3pm, 6pm Lodge
Sep. 7 Fire at 9am, Noon Lodge Oct. 5 Fire at 9am, Noon Lodge
Nov. 2 Fire at 9am, Noon Lodge Dec. 7 Fire at 9am, Noon Lodge
Fee schedule: $40, additional donations gladly accepted. All donations cover materials and go to the land.
Meal after Lodge will be provided!! There will be a salad buffet, hot soup, and beverages. It will be important to have enough food so please RSVP by Thursday before the Lodge. RSVP by emailing Charlynn at charlynn@weavingunity.com. If you haven't RSVP'd and can join us on Lodge day, please come ahead but bring a potluck dish with you.
Work Exchange Days: Call or email for work exchange days, where you can help create anew and maintain our Weaving Unity Retreat Center. These exchange days are valued at $15/ hour towards any ceremony or Lodge of your choice. Your help is deeply appreciated.
Our Lodge Protocol;
Our rules of protocol are simple:
Be respectful of all life.
Coverings for the body are required, It is okay to sit nude in the darkness of the Lodge. Please be sensitive to others when the door is opened. Cotton clothing is best, no bathing suits.
Your Lodge leader is holding the space, please ask if you need to leave the Lodge or speak out of turn.
Please honor the donation. It is our desire to have the Lodge available for everyone. If finances are a challenge work trades are available. Dates for your work trades must be set up before the Lodge you wish to attend, please speak with Charlynn to make arrangements.
Lodge Retreat Weekends: Plan to spend extra time at Weaving Unity Retreat Center during Lodge weekends. Friday nights you can experience Lodge song sharings, Shamanic Journeys, walks on nearby trails, the peace of nature away from city lights, and stars that can only be seen in the country. After Saturday Lodges plan to relax and really soak in the experience. There are four rooms available for guest accommodations. The Mountain Room has two twin beds, plenty of space and a patio door to a private patio(its cost is $80/night, can be shared with two people $40/person). The Zen Garden Room has a single queen and also patio door to the private patio(its cost is $65/night). The Sun Room has two full beds and opens off the front of the house (its cost $80/night, can be shared $40/person). The Peacock Room has a queen sofa bed (its cost is $60/night). The rooms share a full and 1/2 bath. Breakfast is included with your stay. Make your reservations early.
Our Weaving Unity Lodge Ceremony is fashioned after the indigenous peoples' Sweat Lodge Ceremony. This ceremony is found around the world and the modern day sauna had its origins within the sweat lodge. Our intention is to create a safe, sacred space where all people may embody their wholeness, heal, be honored in their personal process, and purify mind, body, and spirit. Everyone is welcome to our lodge. Our belief is that if you found your way to our lodge, it was Spirit that directed you. We plan the dates of our lodges on a weekend date closest to the new moon, for planting the seeds of our intentions. Each lodge is followed with a meal of hot soup, salad bar, and refreshments. We look forward to having you joining us, and if you are new to a lodge experience please read on for more information. Please note, the following information is unique to our lodge and you may find different formalities at other lodges. It is always a good idea to ask what is appropriate to the ceremony you are attending.
Our Weaving Unity Lodge 'Grandmother' holds unconditionally loving space to accept you. She will accept all that you choose to release and transmute it; to Her it is just energy. This is the third Lodge we have built at the Retreat Center and this 'Grandmother' requested we build her in copper. She reminds us that it is our human nature to be a conduit of Love between Heaven and Earth, as her copper is a conduit of energy creating the sphere that surrounds us when we enter. Every Lodge holds a vibration of energy, sometimes influenced by their Lodge keepers, sometimes with the intention of why they are built. The Lodges we have built here at Weaving Unity Retreat Center have always held the sacred intention of healing. When this Lodge was built the energy of healing was changed to wholeness, honoring that each of us is truly whole already within our Soul and often the body needs a tune-up, release of old traumas, or re-membering that can come about in sacred space. 'Grandmother' welcomes you within Her sacred space that you may experience all that you come to experience. Bless you in the journey.
What is a Lodge;
The Lodge is a sacred purification rite; for cleansing body, mind, and spirit, through the use of hot stones, water (to create steam) and sacred space. The ceremony can be quite different from area to area, or tribe to tribe, or even event to event. The Lodge itself is a metaphor of the womb of the Earth Mother, unconditionally receiving and loving.
The Lodge consists of three distinct areas; the firepit, the altar, and the lodge. These areas are in alignment with one another with an energetic line connecting the three known as the Path of Spirit. The firepit represents male energy. It is here that the stones are heated. A fire is begun with an intention for the ceremony and prayers that honor and call forth Great Spirit and the spirits of the directions. The altar represents the Earth, the coming together of male and female in form. The Lodge represents the womb of the Earth Mother; living Gaia. She can be a place of rebirthing and deep healing. As in any modality, "according to your faith you are healed."
Before entering the Lodge we gather outside, centering ourselves. This is the time to create 'prayer ties' (materials provided) and introduce yourself to others. Honor the sacredness of this space with reverence for each other and our relations. We enter the Lodge after the medicine person. Sage for smudging is always available, although we usually smudge in the lodge with the 'medicines' of the first round.
Prayer Ties are a way of bringing our inner prayers into form. Using colored cloth (representing your prayer) with a pinch of tobacco in the center (tobacco is the sacred herb of unification) one embodies their prayer into the prayer tie and then strings together their prayers. Then the string is brought into the Lodge, hung over the Lodge poles, where the tobacco becomes a gift to the Spirits who come to hear your prayers and guide you toward their fulfillment. When you are complete with the Lodge and you have re-birthed yourself into the world you offer your prayer ties to the fire where we "let go and let Creator." This final act of release is an act of faith; I have brought my prayers into form, I have prayed over them, asked for help and guidance, and now I give them to Creator with faith in my heart. It is a very powerful ceremony unto itself and we offer all the materials for you to create your string of prayer ties. Please be sure to arrive early enough to create these for yourself.
We enter the Lodge to connect with Source through prayer, song, or silence that we may heal our bodies (physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual). We enter the door in a humble way, kneeling and honoring the Earth (this shows we are no better or less than any of our relations). We say Atiwao (All-That-Is we are one) or All My Relations to connect ourselves to all life and spirit helpers that will join us in the Lodge. We move around the Lodge in a sunwise (clockwise) direction. In community lodges men and women may sit interspersed. Each direction holds a different energy, sit where you feel drawn. You can change places between rounds, being respectful of others.
The Lodge Experience consists of four 'rounds' (usually), where hot stones are brought in, the door closed, an intention set, songs and prayers shared, or silence observed, water is poured over the stones, and the door is opened. When the 'Stone People' are brought into the Lodge they are honored as our healers with silence or greetings and aromatic cedar is placed upon them.
Each round is begun with an intention through prayer. Plant 'medicines' are placed on the stones for their healing properties. There are prayer rounds where each person is given the opportunity to offer their prayers. We ask that you stay focused on your needs, do not preach or take this time for personal stories. When you are complete, say ho, which lets others know you are complete. During this time, each person is in process, sometimes quite personal. If a brother or sister is in need, ask if you may be of assistance. being respectful of their boundaries. All that happens within the Lodge stays there.
Each round holds a different intention and aspect to healing, we ask that you try to complete all four rounds. If the heat gets too hot, lie down and get near the earth. If you need to leave during a round, respectfully get the attention of the Lodge leader and ask for the door. Your process is honored; suffering is optional and not recommended.
Water, for drinking, is brought in between rounds. You may exit between rounds, staying in prayerful silence and re-enter as quickly as possible. You may stay outside during a round and re-enter for the next.
Leaving the Lodge after your final round is your time of conscious rebirth. You have spent sacred time in the womb of Gaia and can create an intention of letting go of that which no longer serves you, that you may rebirth yourself anew into the world. Take your time to exit the doorway, giving thanks for the experience, and enter the world outside consciously, with intention for your heart's desires.
After the Lodge take good care of yourself, keeping warm and being respectful of others' needs. Remove your prayer ties and honor them up to the fire. There is a cold water shower available. If the Lodge is to be undressed, please help if you can. Take all your belongings with you, leaving the Lodge site clean. We retire to Charlynn's home to enjoy the community potluck, one another's company, networking, and integrating our Lodge experience. We ask you to respect space by cleaning up afterwards and taking home all your personal items.
A Note to those with claustrophobia or fear of the dark that may fear this experience. Many of these fears can be caused by our birth experience; long labors, birth canal issues, and the modern impersonal birthing techniques. The Lodge experience can be very healing if you are ready to honor the fears and move through them. There are always people on hand that have gone through many Lodge experiences that can 'midwife' a new experience for you. I have had several people who have needed to honor their fears with their own processing, who have stayed through the four rounds and later shared that the experience changed their lives forever. Remember that the metaphor of this is the womb of the mother, unconditionally loving and accepting. Leaving the doorway of the Lodge is your opportunity to re-frame your birth experience in a whole new way.
For more information,
reservations, or appointments
please call Charlynn @ 831-246-2996
or email: charlynn@weavingunity.com
Copyright 2013. Charlynn L. Atiam. All rights reserved.
