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Monday, January 19th 2009

4:29 PM

What makes a ceremony effective

A question from Darrel in Austria about ceremony needing to be instigated by Spirit.
 
"Osiyo Jim,
I like what you say about ceremony needing to be instigated by Spirit. We have sweats regularly here.
What do I do, when I need to get the Sweat dates out on a calendar, often Months in advance for people to plan to
make time and travel arrangements for them? That does not leave much room for Spirit to guide it, does it? Any comments would be much appreciated.
Wado,
Darrel
 
Hello Darrel,
What we do here is set the first Saturday of the month as the sweat day at
noon. Most of the time the actual start time varies, but at least everyone has a
guideline to follow. It is the actual ceremony that then is modified each time to follow the spirits instructions.
Things such as how many stones, etc. sometimes we are told to bring all the stones in on the first round!! Yikes, sometimes we are told to bring in just 4 for the first round.
Another example would be other ceremonies such as calling for assistance with the weather, wild fires, even healing. We ask when to do them, not assuming that we should hold the ceremony just because of a need.
An example would be a ceremony just completed by the Kutenai tribe here.
It is held every year, the date set about a month in advance to its
happening. It is called the Bluejay dance and part of it is to ask the
spirit of Bluejay, a child of the Thunderbird, to go to the coast and
bring the Chinook wind (warm wet wind) from the ocean to break the grip of
winter. Most of the time it is held in Feb. but this year it was in Jan. The spirits directed the dance be held now rather than waiting.
We were having a unusually long cold spell in December. The winds came in response to the ceremony, or the ceremony was held in
response to the direction of the thunders who knew that the wind would come then, and it has been gentle and warm, all the snow and ice melting away.
Hope this helps, Jim

 

 

Original post:

 Any ceremony, be it a pipe ceremony or a church service, can be effective or it can be just a lot of noise and "feel good", but no results towards your needs and requests.

 

What makes a ceremony effective? Simple, it is one that has been instigated or called for by spirit. (God, Creator, the Thunders, Great Mystery, etc.) In my experience, we have witnessed some astounding results, i.e. miracles, during ceremonies with these Pipes. For a long time I thought it was due to the individual power of the pipe itself, and while this is true, if the ceremony is not called for by the Mystery through one of it's agents, then the effectiveness is at best limited.

 

Over the years, I have come to see that my part in a successful ceremony is like when my Grandma would invite me to help her bake cookies. She mixed the dough, I would cut out a few cookies, and then run off to play. Later when they were done, she would bring a plate of them into the living room to the joy of my family. At this point I would proclaim the "I made the cookies!"

 

It is this way with the ceremonies. If the Thunders are bringing a drought breaking rain to an area, they often invite me to bring the Black Thunder Pipe and tell me when to hold the ceremony. You see, they already know when they will start the rain, even though it is not in the forecast. If I am sensitive and listen to their invite, I lift the Pipe at just the right time to coincide with the cloudburst! Now what would the Thunders think if I said, "I brought the rain?" Probably just what my Grandma thought, cute. But as I mature, I come to understand that I played just a small part in the cycle of rain.

 

The Hopi understand this, but they also understand that they them selves are just as important to the process of the rain coming as are the Katchina spirits up on MT. Humphreys.  They know that if they do not follow the instructions to hold their dances at the proper times, they remove a vital link in the rain making process. Just as if the sun did not evaporate the water to form the clouds, without any part of the circle, the rains stop. They are one of the most dedicated and responsible groups of people I have see in this area.

 

So, to have powerful results from a ceremony you need to ask the spirits to tell you when and if it is to be held. Then you need to follow their instructions as to how it is to be done. A cloud splitting ceremony is done differently by each individual called to perform it. If I tried to do it the way say Frank Fools Crow did it, it would not work. But if the Thunders give me a ceremony to do it, it will happen. You could try to copy the way I did it and it would not work for you, you would need to have your own directions from them.

 

That is how it works.

 

One more thing about a successful ceremony, you need to be sensitive to and in harmony with two things. First, the cycles of nature, and then the cycles of spirit. When you sense the two cycles converging, you hold the ceremony.

 

I hope this information will help strengthen your own individual relationship with the Divine, for that is the ultimate goal of all interaction with the spirit dimension.

 

 Blue sky,

 Jim Tree

 

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