Looking Forward to SUN CLAD

Somewhere among my writings, I have an unfinished novel. One of the characters is a man in his twenties who has been making his living by selling his body to other men. The novel is set in the nineteenth century, and he knows too well the dangers he faces every day. He meets a Native American shaman who understands his condition. He accepts the shaman’s invitation to a sweat lodge, and finds himself in a group of men. All of them take off their clothes to enter the lodge; and the young man realizes that he has, in all his adult life, never been naked with another man except to have sex. Now he is naked with a group of men, and their purpose is to pray.

This story holds a lesson for those of us who will gather at Easton Mountain for SUN CLAD.

When I am naked, I am not hiding my masculine power. At the same time, I am not denying the masculine power of another man. I am saying, “I see you as you are; I honor the masculine and the feminine in myself; I honor the masculine and the feminine in you.” This is a lesson the world sorely needs. As men who have sex with other men, we all need to honor and respect the masculine and the feminine within each of us.

At SUN CLAD, I will be offering a series of three workshops, with an overall title of “Naked Mysteries.” These mysteries are those of the masculine and the feminine:

• How can I acknowledge these mysteries, both in myself and in another human being?
• How can I hold the tension of both, the creative power of both?
• How can I affirm the attraction I have for the masculine over the feminine without doing violence to my own inner feminine?

These are questions my workshop will explore through discussion of naked performances on video, through rituals of movement and touch, and through exploring the thoughts and feelings that come up during the discussion and rituals.

If you have followed my blog, you know that I consider myself a spiritual explorer. If you resonate with the questions above, I invite you to join me as a spiritual explorer. One way to do that is to register for SUN CLAD, August 21-25, 2019, at Easton Mountain. Check out this video and the description of the retreat on Easton Mountain’s website

The Promise of Sun Clad from Sunfire Thunderbird on Vimeo.

Releasing Collective Energies

This is a method for releasing collective discordant energies through a sweat lodge.  I assume that those involved already know how to run a lodge. This posting gives individual preparation and the ritual itself.

Individual Preparation

Prepare by learning about current events. Let your heart show you an area that needs healing – perhaps something you find painful. Select a short article that describes the condition.

Now you need markers and a copy of an outline map of the world.  Draw on your map something that expresses your feelings about your area of concern.

The Ritual

When all have made these preparations, they gather for the lodge, undress, and stand in a circle. Each person reads his article and then attaches it and his map to a staff that is part of the lodge altar .

The first door is an invocation. The leader and each participant ask Higher Self and other spiritual beings to assist.  

During the second door each person identifies his situation and asks his Higher self to help him feel the energy. He begins to give in to the energy.

The release is done simultaneously by everyone during the third door, with everyone expressing the energy he is releasing in sound.  The idea is to give in to the energy completely, trusting Higher Self to help you release it safely.  At the height of the sound, the leader will have the door opened, letting the energy out of the lodge.

The fourth door begins with the leader asking each person to draw in higher energies to replace those released. The remainder is done in silence, with everyone visualizing higher energy coming to all participants.

When all have left the lodge and cleaned up, they assemble in a circle, passing a talking stick to let each person express his feelings.

Spiritual Autobiography – Ages 59-64 (Part Seven)

On the second day of my vision quest, in mid afternoon, without thinking, I found myself outside the square that had been prepared for me – though I had made no conscious decision to leave the square.  I was naked, with a blanket around my shoulders.

I went to a place where a few trees grew by a small stream. I drank no water. I found a hawk feather. I tried to do the chakra exercises but was too exhausted to raise any energy.

I went back to my quest site and dressed, intending to walk back to the Center. Just then a man from the center came for me.

My first words to him were, “I’ve had a defeat.”

His first words to me were, “No, you’ve had a victory.

I was taken back to the lodge. In a sweat lodge I told what had happened. Standing Elk said it was not wrong that I left the square because it was not under my control. 

When I returned to New York, I found that holding the prayer flags connected me with the feelings I had felt at the start of the quest—connected me to Spirit. For several years I kept a set of prayer flags, consecrating them on the altar of a sweat lodge, using them daily in prayer, and burning them in the fire of the sweat lodge where I then consecrate new flags. I still have a set of prayer flags, but as my connection to Spirit has grown stronger, I find I don’t need to use them as I once did.

Spiritual Autobiography – Ages 59-64 (Part Six)

My vision quest started with a special sweat lodge – only one round. After prayers were said, those not questing left the lodge. Clothes were passed into us along with blankets. We dressed and wrapped ourselves in the blankets. We were told to speak to no one except the shamans, but most of the community came with us to the spots that had been prepared.

It was dark by the time everyone left. I felt exhilarated. I had been given a corncob pipe and four prayer flags. I couldn’t find the pipe. Later I would write, “I had lost the pipe but had not lost Spirit.” I had prayed, “Let me feel what you would have me feel,” and as I held my prayer flags, my feeling was one of ecstasy. I had prayers in my heart for all humanity, and especially for the community that was praying for me and the others who were now fasting on the mountain. I thought, this is great, I’m going to have two days of ecstasy here on the mountain.

This was not to be, but the ecstasy did last as long as I stayed awake that night, and it was still with me when I awoke before dawn then it began to ebb.

At dawn, I stripped but kept my blanket over my shoulders as I walked – making each walk around the space a prayer for some person or area where there was a need.

The heat and thirst got to me, I had asked, “Let me feel what you would have me feel,” and the lesson of my feelings now was compassion for those who suffer.

I’ll describe the second day of my quest in my next posting – around July first.

Spiritual Autobiography – Ages 59-64 (Part Four)

Sacred Hoop Week wasn’t what I expected.  We had sweats with Standing Elk and with Arlo, another shaman – but no mention of vision quests. When I spoke to Arlo, he gave me some tobacco and said to take it, put it in Standing Elks hands, and ask him to guide me in a quest.

I put the tobacco in Standing Elks hands Some started to fall. I caught it in my cap. He let all the tobacco fall into the cap and then said, “Put it on your head. It will help your gray hair.”

I told him I wanted to do a vision quest. He said I needed an eight-inch eagle feather  and should go out and look along the river.

It seemed that this search was the first part of my quest. I found a two-inch feather –  not the eight inches that Standing Elk said was necessary. Nevertheless, I kept it.

I found the skull of an animal, but left it where I found it.  

I walked north along the river and found a dark gray feather with white specks, about eight inches long. Standing Elk said this was a  turkey-buzzard feather which shouldn’t be used unless I was “heyoka,” a Lakota sacred fool.

I went back to the river, walked south, but found no feathers. I came upon the skull. Something seemed to say, “Take it.” At the river, I stripped naked and washed it. A buzzard flew in an arc around me, landing on a tree with two other buzzards. When I told this to Standing Elk and Arlo, they agreed this was a sign that I should use the skull and feather for my quest.

I’ll write about other preparations next week.