http://katherinedewarhealingarts.com/Services.htmlJune 22-24, 2012 Purification Ceremony of the Sweat Lodge \
& Call to Visioning
Friday, Saturday, Sunday
West Brookfield, MA $300
Monique Lang will be joining us again to lead a weekend of retreat, contemplation, play, private time and time in community in a wonderful spot by the water. We welcome Monique for her expertise, the wonderful space she creates, her humor, zest for life and unique way of bringing each one into fruition for their intention. We'll be starting off during Friday afternoon when you'll get a chance to meet each other and receive guidance for the weekend. Later in the evening, a sweat lodge ceremony will be conducted by medicine elder Katherine Dewar to facilitate opening the door for your visioning. Monique will take you into the rest of the weekend. Both
Monique and Katherine will be available throughout the weekend. Whether you've participated before or are participating for the first time, we welcome you with a smile in our hearts.
Fee includes the workshop, ceremony, space for your tent, food and beverages.
Monique Lang, LCSW and body-centered psychotherapist, is based in NYC.
For information, directions, deposit to let us know you are coming contact:
Monique CircleHome@verizon.net 718-543-1640
Katherine@KatherineDewarHealingArts.com 413-348-2289
Private healing sessions with Katherine will be available during and after the workshop. Please call her directly at her number above if you wish to schedule one.
Some information about the ceremonies Katherine conducts:
Many of your questions may be answered by the information below.
If you or a loved one are sick, troubled or in need of help with an issue and would like to use sacred ceremony as a means to receive spiritual help for it, you and your group, friends or family can sponsor a ceremony here or you can call to discuss how to arrange my traveling to your location for that purpose. In warm weather, the sweat lodge ceremony is available. The yuwipi, an indoor ceremony, is available year round. For private healing sessions, please call to make an appointment. For all of these, you may contact me at 413-348-2289.
Sweat Lodge:
The purification ceremony takes place in the outdoor sweat lodge (see photos below). If you've ever used a traditional Finnish sauna where water is poured onto hot stones to make steam for sweating, this is the same principle we use in the sweat lodge, except that the stones are heated outside instead of on a stove, and the entire process has a sacred purpose. The lodge itself is a sapling wickiup covered with a tarp made for the purpose. We make special offerings, sing sacred songs and heat the stones we'll be using to make steam for sweating. When everything is ready, we change into our sweat lodge clothes and go in. Afterward, we have a potluck feast where we can socialize and share experiences before going off to our tents or motel rooms.
Women bring a long natural fiber skirt/tee or dress to change into for the lodge, and men bring athletic trunks and optional tee. You'll also want a towel or two, some kind of footwear such as flip flops or the like for walking out to the lodge. If you plan to sit outside, you'll want to bring a warm blanket to wrap around you. Contacts & glasses wearers, you'll be more comfortable leaving them in your case during ceremony. Bring a small meal item for the pot-luck feast following the ceremony. We'll have buckets of water available during the ceremony. You're free to bring a re-usable personal water bottle if you like. We discourage the use of disposable ones in order to keep trash to a minimum, and our tap water is excellent.
We welcome children, so if you'd like to introduce your child to ceremony, an age when he or she can self-supervise is a good place to start. For those who want to bring a very young child for healing, please contact me.
For those with special conditions that can't tolerate heat, please talk with me on how we can accommodate you so you can participate.
We are in need of stones for the sweat lodge. So if you have stones you'd like to donate, we'd really welcome them. The size should range somewhere between a large grapefruit and a cantaloupe. The simple cautions in collecting them are that they should not have been sitting in water, can't be marble or quartz and should not be excessively rusty. Please let us know if you'll be bringing some.
Indoor ceremony/Yuwipi: The yuwipi is an indoor healing ceremony for which we make special offerings, sing sacred songs and when everything's ready, sit around the altar in a darkened room. This ceremony does not involve the use of heat or steam. There are no special clothing requirements for the yuwipi. You'll be sitting on the floor, so you'll want to wear something that's comfortable and warm. Feel free to bring a pillow or two for your personal comfort. We'll have a potluck feast after the ceremony with whatever folks have brought, so bring some type of meal item for that.
General: We have been blessed with wonderful people attending the ceremonies, and we've seen good changes happen. So whether you're seeking healing, spiritual connection, help, continued support for prior healing work or are curious to see if this is for you, we welcome you.
If requesting healing, it's appropriate to bring a small tobacco offering, preferably a type with no additives such as the plain, loose type you'd find at a tobacconist or pre-packaged brands such as American Spirit, Bugler, Top etc. We usually supply the cloth, string and sacred foods for the offerings, but if you'd like to bring some as a contribution, contact me for information about what is appropriate. Tobacco for making the prayer ties is always welcome.
Many thanks and much love to those of you who participated in building the new lodge, attended or were with us in spirit.
