Original is found at
miracleminds.org/WhiteBuffa...
Have found some more on Native American Pipe Ceremonies;
The sacred pipe and Native American Pipe Ceremony are at the heart of native people's cultures as they travel the road of balance.
The smoke coming from the mouth symbolizes the truth being spoken, and the plumes of smoke provide a path for prayers to reach the Great Spirit, and for the Great Spirit to travel down to Mother Earth.
The Native American pipe ceremony is a sacred ritual for connecting physical and spiritual worlds.
The pipe is our prayers in physical form. Smoke becomes our words; it goes out, touches everything, and becomes a part of all there is. The fire in the pipe is the same fire in the sun, which is the source of life.
The reason why tobacco is used to connect the worlds is that the plant’s roots go deep into the earth, and its smoke rises high into the heavens.
The type of tobacco used depends on tribal custom. The tobacco could also be mixed with sweet smelling herbs, barks and roots such as bayberry, bearberry, mugwort, lovage, red willow inner bark, wild cherry bark and many others indigenous to a local area.
The Native American pipe ceremony invokes a relationship with the energies of the universe, and ultimately the Creator, and the bond made between earthly and spiritual realms is not to be broken.
My pipe is considered a Community Pipe, and as such, all are welcome to come and join me in a Sacred Pipe Ceremony.
Most pipe ceremonies have the same intention: to call upon and thank the four directions, Earth Mother, Grandmother Moon, Father Sun, and our Creator.
We see our Creator through nature, and we try to emulate what the Creator has made. This has worked out well, as you can see from the track record of Native American people. The old time Indians were honest, ethical people, and they had an unblemished environmental record. They were extremely humanistic.
That’s one of the main reasons that I believe in the natural way and using this path as part of my healing practice.
The Native American Pipe Ceremony calls personally to me through my Cherokee heritage. My father was from the Western Band of the Cherokee, and I am a half-blood.
In performing a pipe ceremony, I call out to all of my ancestors, angels, guides, totems, and the forces of nature, to support the prayers and healing work that I am wanting to accomplish.
It is a powerful ceremony, and rarely do I, or anyone else who joins me in a sacred circle with my pipe, walk away without a feeling of deep connectedness, peace, and balance.
Prayers for healing, for prosperity, for bringing love into one’s life, are a few of the frequent requests that I receive. The prayers that rise up from my pipe always manifest in abundant and beautiful ways.
In keeping and honoring my family traditions, there is never a charge for joining me in a Pipe Ceremony...though love donations are always received with gratitude.
Interesting stuff, but it still counts as smoking, I'm sure the She-God will understand.
Glad Everyone liked it.
Martin
