Sweating in Heaven
The Fires of Purification
by Rainbow Madonna
San Diego, October 2004
One Heart Family Lodge at Madre Grande. Four piles of stones, a fire pit.
Hot high desert. Lakota medicine man, Happy Bear, sturdy, with a smile, leads
vision quest and sweats. 8 vision questers planted in the hot sun in the desert
hill sides amongst the huge boulders with no food or water for two days, waiting
for a vision. Drum beats, ceremony. So close to living the sacred way. We brothers
and sisters climb on hands and knees into the sweat lodge. The grandmothers
and grandfathers, red hot from the sacred fire carried into the lodge. Sage
and water on the fire. Total darkness. Ancient songs in the Lakota tongue. Sweat
pours from the body, drips onto the dirt. Stories shared in the darkness. Within
the womb of the lodge we die and are reborn. Anglos welcomed into the family,
rivers of life coming together in a celebration of the sacred. Under the tall
trees, a dome covered with an old parachute houses the kitchen where food is
prepared and served. Deep love, and silence emanates. There is a listening happening:
listening to all of creation, the trees, the rocks, the wind, the birds, the
beating of the heart of the Mother and all her elemental children. Under the
tall trees we sit together and share sustenance. One by one the vision questers
return and are welcomed into the lodge. Personal growth and a deep sense of
urgency for the planet calls these questers to push themselves to the limits
of endurance. Each one returns with his/her gift of spirit.
We down in the valley drink water, gatorade and tea to survive the hot dry sun.
A group of children becomes a small tribe, swinging in the hammock, jumping
on the trampoline. Missa Maria, born in a barn in the straw in Wisconsin, a
little white buffalo child, experiences her first sweat in this meeting place
of ancient teachings, prophecies and modern people. What will this mean, the
coming of the white buffalo tribe, the fulfillment of prophecies? What does
an age of peace and prosperity look like? Living in sacred community. Still
in the midst of this resurrection of ancient ways, money changes hands: food
must be bought, Madre Grande must be paid. The outline of a living community
can still be seen. One wishes that we could stay, that the lodge community would
not have to pack, clean up and move on. One wishes that we could stay together,
construct simple sustainable structures and plant gardens together.
For centuries the native people lived without money on this continent. Communities
grew and gardens. The Rainbow Madonna Foundation and Rainbow White Buffalo Nation
believe in combining the best of traditional ways with modern gifts. Aren't
you tired of having to pay for the right to live? Wouldn't you like to spend
your days living and creating rather than slaving?
The One Heart community has a guest relationship at present on a piece of property
here in San Diego but as often happens, relations between the land owner and
the community become strained and the lodge knows that once again they will
have to move. Happy Bear expresses the prayer that land for the One Heart Family
Lodge have standing ones, trees, and water.
The last night we are together around the fire sharing music and subtle words.
Sparks fly into the sky joining the starlight. Drummers come together in the
darkness, sending drum beats to the questers still on the hill. As we walk to
our tent for the night, the vibrant beats of the drummers echo the heartbeat
of the Earth herself, living expression of loving attunement.
The winds rise up in the night and by morning one wonders whether the tent will
be blown away. All day the winds blow and across the mountain, beyond the sitting
places of the questers, a huge cloud of smoke rises. Will fire come to disrupt
the ceremonies. No. The wind blows away from the camp. At one point a small
fire breaks out on the grounds which the monastery residents are able to extinguish.
One lodge member tells Rainbow Madonna how during the night the drummers could
feel the spirits around the drum circle. He spoke of the whispering of spirits,
audible and eery. Then he said the spirit of the wind was called upon and gusts
began.
The winds and the fire have been consuming San Diego. Hundreds of people's houses,
huge mansions on the hillsides burnt to ash and schools have become shelters.
We emerged from the lodge world to a primeval scene: fire on the hillsides as
we drove back into San Diego. Red flames shooting up into the sky like lava
pouring from a volcanoe. Mother Earth and the elements have erupted, upsetting
the American dream of many people. All day the television pours forth images
of fire.
As a peace pilgrim, Rainbow Madonna, experiences disparity between her own life
working for sacred spiritual community with sustainable businesses and the huge
houses that many of her two-legged brothers and sisters live in and which many
of them lost in the fire. Tonight doctors and lawyers and millionaires sleep
in emergency shelters. Some have house insurance, some do not. They, too, are
finding what it is to have no house. They have come into the circle of the nomads,
the houseless ones, the descendants of Abraham and Mohammed. Like Buddha they
may find themselves sleeping beneath trees and pondering the stars. The Red
Cross calls for emergency resources and help pours in, fortunately. Will these
people return to the way of life they knew before the fire or will they perhaps
come to an understanding and appreciation of the plight of those who have been
living houseless in Amerika for years. Suddenly there is a commonality amongst
rich and poor in San Diego and those who have been so insulated from the harshness
of life are getting a taste of homelessness. Perhaps most of them will want
to move into another big house by themselves with their little family on the
hill. Perhaps they will have experienced the release to consider putting energy
towards creating sacred spiritual community. Perhaps they, like the vision questers,
will be ready for the vision of heaven on earth and will want to participate.
Often having everything material taken away creates a spiritual space where
new possibilities open as one is forced into an immediate relationship with
nature and the divine.
As Rainbow Madonna meditates on heaven on earth, sacred community and the wild
power of nature, she sits in the home of rainbow family in San Diego. Rainbow
Madonna and Missa Maria, the little rainbow White Buffalo girl, are themselves
receiving hospitality from brothers and sisters as they are in San Diego without
immediate funds or vehicle. Having come from Mt. Shasta to San Diego for the
Peace Day celebration and Dennis Kucinich for President benefit, the Rainbow
White Buffalo Nation peace trek has remained to forge a working relationship
with Kennedy Carr of SarvaDharma Productions and Paz and Aliah Selah of WeHereNow
as well as with Steve Dawn Eagle of Communication Endeavors and many others.
Waves of council occur as this core team spiritually nourished by the One Heart
Lodge combine to create the structure and energy for a new wave of sustainable
communities for nomadic youth, families and individuals.
What makes one a nomad? A need to leave behind a world system of inequity and
economic slavery to journey to a spiritual reality, to assist in the creation
of utopia. We nomads are journeying, journeying towards a shared vision of heaven
on earth, each person bringing his/her vision, his/her talent, his/her gifts
and burdens, faithfully surrendering to the action of faith. The nomadic tribe
of Abraham has always been journeying to paradise knowing that we shall rest
in the pastures of Zion on earth. The journey has taken centuries. We can see
the light at the end of the tunnel as we discover that together we are Jeez-Us.
Jesus is here. He is your hands, your heart, your mind, your strength if you
love him then you will live as he lived. Let us truly prove we are a Christ-conscious
people. He and Great Spirit love Mother Earth and want you to help in her liberation.
You are needed and wanted...now. You are the second coming.
From the lodge to the fire and the indoor world. Television speaks and teaches
all day and night. Even the wild children are entranced for hours by the picture
box. Is there room for television in heaven? Rainbow Madonna believes that all
the gifts can remain should the people choose to include them. Heaven on earth
will not happen when Yeshua comes and waves a magic wand. He already gave us
everything we need. The blueprint was created and communicated, the birth of
the millenium requires the active hearts, minds and hands of the people, especially
of those persons who perceive themselves as born again. Heaven can't wait. Begin
with the understanding that you are from heaven and structure all your relationships
with man and reality from that point of understanding. Reality will follow and
support your intention. Om. Shanti. Peace. And all creation will sing in jubilation
because mankind chose Great Spirit and love. Come, come, calls the Bride and
the spirit. Your presence in heaven on earth is requested. Bring your best solutions
and join in the resurrection. We need you.