So one of my proudest moments is being allowed to partake in this ritual. I was introduced to this guy by my professor he's a famous architect in Canada, and also a Blackfoot First Nations member. I am of Native roots but grew up in Florida, I didn't always fit in and have always just had this innate view of the world that didn't quite match up with my friends and the general culture where I grew up. My dad grew up in Oklahoma to contrast, with lots of connections to his heritage, including relatives that lived on the rez, that he would visit regularly. So I've been seeking ways to connect any way possible, and this was an opportunity I was not going to pass up. He willingly took two friends and I to his home, fed us, had a great discussion about spirituality and humanity before heading out to the tent.
Its -8*F and we are in the middle of nowhere on his property near a pond with this "Cadillac of tents" near a fire pit adjacent to the pond. In the fire are several stones that were found near the site.
Inside the tent is a furnace, and some furniture to hang your clothes and stuff on the wall, and a smaller tent to the back of it.
The experience is guided so that you enter from the east and rotate to the south going west simulating the suns movement during the winter. Inside the smaller tent are offerings that were brought by the attendees, memories of an ancestor, personal property for someone who needs spiritual/medical help, and just general offerings for the spirits. There is also a pit in the center. It is pitch black in the ti pi
Once we are all settled in they start a prayer and bring in the first few sets of stones. These stones are brought in relation to the number of cells on a tortoise shell. Since it was so cold, at first this was very comfortable, but once the water was added it quickly became very uncomfortable. The first round is for the ancestors so the shaman is saying a prayer while dumping water on the stones steaming up the tent. It gets so hot you can't breathe and the only source of comfort is the cold earth floor. The stones are so hot that when the water hits it you hear all kinds of crackling and pops to which the shaman would say "Heyyy Hooo Haaa heeyyyy" The shaman began singing and this is where I found comfort. I began singing to forget my anxiety about being steamed alive. This is when I began seeing images of my uncle who passed a few years back that I was very close to. I began also seeing faint geometric patterns mostly manifesting as colors. I can remember beads of sweat falling from my forehead landing on my foot and thinking how cold my sweat felt. There were elements of sensory deprivation, beyond falling sweat I could not feel my body, I could not see anything, but I could still hear.
What seemed like an eternity eventually passed and it was break time, which I ran outside into the -8*F and stood in the snow thinking my gosh, I'm a Florida boy and I'm naked in the snow! So, after a short while I ran back into the big tent to heat back up before we entered the next round. I desperately needed water so I hydrated up before the next round which was for the females in your life.
Women are very important in Native culture, in my tribe for instance only women can own land, in others women chose the leaders because they are the ones who raise the young. So we all offered prayers for the women in our lives, I offered for my girlfriend, my mother and my girlfriends mother, and began another session. This one was much more intense, and has relation to being in the womb. It is a very traumatic experience, it is postulated that massive amounts of DMT is released but there hasn't been any tests done to prove or disprove this. At any rate, this also produced intense patterns of colors and was much more difficult than the first round. So much so that it was the last one I decided to do. I was so hot in this round I could not breathe, I thought I was going to die, there were so many of us I couldn't get my face to the ground so I tried my hardest to just sing my anxiety away. From this experience I realized that I needed to develop more patients with my mother, knowing some of the pain she must have felt carrying me around.
There were two more rounds after this but I was extremely dehydrated and decided to sit out for the rest. I had already had two intense psychedelic like experiences, I figured I got what I wanted from the experience as is. My friend who went back in said that it was much less intense then the previous one, and had a different feel to it.
This is when the peace pipe was brought out I got really excited for this. I've always wanted to smoke the peace pipe and know whats in it! They told us it was sweet grass, sage, and tobacco. We each passed the peace pipe around and offered thanks and appreciation for someone. I took a pretty big hit (no i didn't cough) and thoroughly enjoyed. Felt a slight mj like buzz (maybe this was placebo + being dehydrated idk lol)
So the 4th round is for the warrior, another less intense round I also sat out for this round since I was feeling pretty out of it still and dehydrated.
Overall this was a definite way to induce a psychedelic state of consciousness, but is a bit more dangerous than taking mushrooms as you can actually die in one of these rituals.
Hope you enjoyed this essay, this was a beautiful experience that I am very grateful to have been able to participate. I thank my host and the great spirit within us, and our plant brethren.
[edit] forgot some details added another line
Creator help me live in a way that will make my ancestors proud.