All My Relations

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I attended my first sweat lodge in May, 2009. My friend who is into Native American ceremony called me the week before the sweat lodge was scheduled. The store at which I'd been working was closing its doors, and I was feeling like a victim of river rapids. When I told her my situation, she responded with her usual, "You'd better come sweat!" Always before, I'd told her I'd think about it but begged off when it was time to sweat. That day, however, I said I thought I would just do that.

Participation in sweat lodge had a profound effect on me at many different levels. The most profound experience for me, however, was that although I am not Native American and know just enough about Native American tradition to be dangerous, I knew that I was welcome and felt a communal embrace from all who were there. The Native American greeting "Mitakuye Oyasin" or "all my relations" was being practiced quite literally by those participating in sweat lodge.

This experience was the opposite of one I'd had two months prior to sweat lodge. A dear friend who is a pastor in a protestant denomination asked me to speak at one of her lenten services during Lent. The topic of her Lenten series was "who's your neighbor," and she had asked several people with very different beliefs to speak.

I grew up in a protestant church, so I had no fear of speaking to this group of people. After all, they were Christians and therefore all-loving like Christ, weren't they? I was stunned and taken aback by the hostility I felt from this congregation as I explained my work as a Lightworker and Healer. I think that if they could have gotten away with it they would have burned me at the stake right there in their sanctuary. I left very disheartened because regardless of a person's beliefs it would never occur to me to demonstrate hostility to another human being.

What I noticed first and foremost at sweat lodge was that everyone was welcome, regardless of their religious beliefs. The second prayer round was for us to say our prayers for others-even those we do not like. Since the group represented a lot of different faiths, we were asked to pray aloud in the manner in which we usually pray and feel comfortable. It is a powerful experience when people of different faiths raise their voices together and release their prayers to the Grandfathers, to Spirit, to God as each of us understands Him/Her. I actually felt my heart open during this round as I lifted up my loved ones-and my not so loved ones-and released them to Spirit.

Finally when it was time to exit the lodge, we were told when we exited to bow our heads to the ground and say "all my relations." I loved this statement. Of course, I first thought of my children, my parents, my sister, aunts and uncles. But "all my relations" encompasses so much more. It is a profound statement and declaration of our interconnectedness to every other human, to the plants, animals, the planet, and an acknowledgment of our place in the Universe.

Humanity is going through a massive transformation right now, and as part of the human family, we are all affected. I truly believe that the only way for us to make it through the next few chaotic years, we will have to
come together on a global scale. Knowing that what we do to others we also do to ourselves and with an awareness of our relatedness to each other will make this transformation go more smoothly.

This is my wish for myself as well as for all other beings-All My Relations!