ALUNA TEMPLE MAGAZINE Edition No1 'THE POWER OF CIRCLES' | Page 8

HEALING CIRCLES MOON DREAM LODGE AND SWEAT LODGES from the perspective of the Dreamseed Traditions By Abril Mondragon "The sweat lodge utilizes all powers of the universe: earth, and things that grow from the earth; water; fire; and air." Black Elk, Lakota elder Abril Mondragon lives in northern New Mexico. If you have comments or inquiries you may contact her by email: [email protected] Photo: Shavanne Fourmile I would like to thank Suzana Grau for asking me write about the "Moon Lodge". I must say that, the following is from my life-experiences and may not necessarily totally be agreed upon by another Tribe's culture or even another female Water Pourer. So with this understanding, I suggest that anyone interested in learning the Life Ways of the Sweat Lodge or Moon Lodge attract to themselves, an Elder to mentor and guide you. I give gratitude and appreciation to the ancestors, my mentors, and you who are listening along my journey of unfoldment. There are few I have met that combine the Sweat Lodge Ceremony with women on their Moon time. While there is sample written about the Sweat Lodge Ceremony from various traditions, in the north the teachings primarily are from the Lakota Nation. Sweat Lodge Life Ways from other Tribes are very similar, with variations depending on their cultures. Sweat Lodge is one of our oldest healing ceremonies all over the world. There is little about the Moon Lodge, for various reasons. As women our reasons may vary, and so I will only mention a few. Respect: Our Life Ways and feminine wisdom were not respected and we experienced acts of violence driven by fear to control and/or intentionally remove feminine wisdom first from the Colonial culture we currently call "western civilization" and then all other cultures around the world. Cycles: When women live and participate in their Moon Ceremonies tribally, their cycles come into rhythm with each other. This was not convenient for serving a patriarchal concept of reality. This was not convenient for the women's liberation Art © Sharifah Marsden – Sweatlodge movement, who wanted the same jobs as men. It was not convenient for an individualist culture to have womyn fully know the enormity of their power 8