Well hello there folks!
Yesterday I had the birthing ceremony for my mask. It was much shorter than I expected! I brought a pouch of tobacco for the priest. He has a tradition where he will take a pinch of his tobacco and put it with yours, then he will take a pinch out of yours and put it with his. This way his tobacco mixes with everyone he does ceremony with. It creates more community in ceremony!
This man has a small platform that he consecrated to use for his spiritual practice. This is where the mask laid. He loaded his pipe with tobacco and smoked in front of the mask, letting the smoke from the pipe rise up and around it. After he was done with that he sang three invocation songs. These songs were so beautiful! They were very strong too. Before they put me into a state of extreme sleepiness I was able to see the mask spirit waking up. Wallah! Done! He gave me a beautiful cloth to wrap the mask in and sent me on my way. He is very supportive of this upcoming journey, as is my other teacher Sokuzan. This makes me very happy.
There is still more to do! I never thought that the mask would take as much time as it has. Sometime within the next few days I will make a fire and burn all of the woodchips from the mask carving with various herbs in it. I will use the smoke to help cure the mask and then rub some of the ash on it. I will even be taking it with me to the last week of the program I am involved in to deepen my relationship with the mask spirit.
The mask remains wrapped in the cloth and brought out only during healing or ceremony.
On another note...I am working on the "A vision for the future" page on my website. I believe that this page will help people to understand my direction more clearly. This will also give you an opportunity to see what I am looking to do through all of the donations that I receive.
Stay tuned!
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