As you descend into the heart and substance of the Earth, you will find Spirit alive and shining, waiting to assist you in your conscious upliftment. The gift of a connection with nature is the ability to communicate with and benefit from the great wisdom that awaits you there and to awaken yourself through that communion to a new level of being. ~ Brooke Medicine Eagle, The Last Ghost Dance

The power of the earth is unparalleled. For the past twenty years of my life I have been integrating the awareness of the Toltec path with the beauty of the sweat lodge space or temazcal as it is known in Latin American countries. The essential components of the sweat lodge are the four elements; earth, water, air, and fire. The essential components of the Toltec path are shifting the assemblage point from its fixated position in order to connect with intent and perceive in a new and more authentic manner. The joining of these two beautiful paths creates a bridge and the ability to connect with emptiness, silent knowledge, intent, the infinite mystery and the awesome awareness of the earth.

I have come to know the sweat lodge as a hub of awareness, one through which an amazing connection between earth and sky occurs. This connection creates a bridge, one that allows us to move with fluidity into higher realms of consciousness. To the Native Americans, Mother Earth and Father Sky means more than just the earth and sky. Through their songs they express how the earth and sky are creator beings and how they are not separate, they are always united in oneness. Wakan Tanka, the Great Spirit, the infinite mystery, is the totality of our universe, the Source energy through which we become connected again. This recollection comes to us when we are in the sweat lodge.

To the Toltec, the earth often refers to the state of first attention or the tonal and the sky, second attention or the nagual. Again, these are not separate states of awareness; each state of being can be accessed and integrated with ease, creating a bridge of unity in awareness.

We crawl into the lodge on hands and knees, an act of humility and honor to the earth. Sitting in the dark, breathing in the steam from the water poured on the hot rocks allows the concerns of the world to evaporate as our form is cleansed and purified. The steam moistens the earth upon which we sit and the fragrance of soil permeates our being, drawing us closer to her. Remembrance! As more water is poured, we shed our skins revealing our spirit to the infinite mystery. Transcendence! We recognize that this connection of earth and sky is our lineage, that we are travelers of both time and space. Bridge! And then we know, beyond the shadow of a doubt, as above, so below. Unification!

Through the breath we have become the hollow bone, the conduit through which spirit moves. Connection complete. There is no separation. The lodge space creates is a womb of creative energy that allows us to spin and spiral and dance between earth and sky, to witness constant acts of creation and co-creation. Being in lodge reinforces our link to earth and to spirit, providing us with the energy needed to exist in a state oneness, free from the concerns of the ego. We are gently uplifted through the pulse of the earth into the heart of gratitude and our connection with spirit brings us to the true knowing of our place within this great web of creation, a state of higher consciousness, a new level of being.

Though I try, there are truly no words to describe it, one has to experience it for themselves.

Aho and keep dancing!