Last night I had my first experience with Shamanic Sacred pipe ceremony. I did my research and gathered some knowledge and I was still not prepared. I figured I could learn the basics and then they would teach their certain way. We were late so we may have missed them teaching us how they do it. Though I caught on pretty easy.
This is the pattern; The pipe carrier has all the things set out for the ceremony on her nifty little blanket ( that all I could think was that I wanted to own a lot.) She handed a feather out to pass around. Each of us gave our names, what we had came for. Like Me I put out that I was just extremely grateful and that I wish to reach the next level of enlightenment. Most were asking for health, protection and healing. Which is cool. But in the last post we found out Ol’ Zachy here is a healer…So fuck off. Hehe… Then she called in the spirits of the earth to be part of our ceremony and the Spirits of the four directions. The four were eagle, Bear, White buffalo… And Well the last I cant remember. (each person does them differently). We passed the pipe.
Here from her way of doing this we had two different things you could do with the pipe before you smoked. You could, on the ground in front of you, Touch the ground going right left right or you could make a spiral shape above he ground with two circles and then touch the ground in the middle. Then you smoke.As you smoke you think of the things you’re grateful for and the things you ask the spirits for (the prayers) When you pull in smoke you pull in the knowledge that the spirits want to give to you. Blowing out you Release your prayers into the air. Then obviously in a clockwise motion you pass the pipe. Once the pipe goes all the way around the circle, the Pipe holder smokes again (this time with a feather) pushes the smoke away into the universe and blessed the pipe with it. Then the Ashes are put into a large shell and take to the ground to bless the ground with.
The ceremony was really cool to see and experience. It isn’t often a person gets to do something like that and see the different ways to do it. Plus was a perfect night for it. The moon was beautiful and the sky has so many colors flowing through it. The wind was brisk and the leaves were bantering back and fourth with one another in the most amused way. They two enjoyed the ceremony.
