Growing the Seeds

The rites plant seeds in the light body that need to be cultivated by the person receiving the rites.

Fire Ceremony

The most important act for cultivating the rites is the fire ceremony. One way to do this is to attend the fire ceremonies offered by you shamanic practitioner. If it is not convenient to do that, you can conduct a simplified fire ceremony for yourself in the following way.

First open sacred space by honoring the four directions and the earth and heavens. Do this by facing each direction, starting with the South and proceeding clockwise. Then honor the earth mother and the sky father. It is good to have something in you hand that you are offering to the directions such as burning sage, sweet grass, incense, or tobacco.

Now create a fire. Do this safely, if you must do your ceremony inside. One easy way to create a fire inside is simply to gather together a few candles and light them.

Next, open your personal sacred space (Wiracocha) by reaching into the eight chakra above your head and expand it downward in a egg shape around you with your hands.

Then kneel before the fire and with your hands draw the light of the fire toward you, giving special attention to bringing light to your belly, your heart and your head.

When finished close personal sacred space by reversing the motion with your hands bringing it back up into the eight chakra above your head.

You should then close sacred space by again facing the direction and giving thanks to them with an offering. Be sure to extinguish the fire.

Group Fire Ceremony led by the shamanic practitioners

Fire ceremony etiquette and practice

• Try to keep the circle as round and even as possible. When someone vacates a space, shift to close it up.
• When someone is making an offering at the fire, someone should stand behind them with hands outspread to hold space for them.
• Once sacred space is opened there should be no unnecessary talking until is is closed again.
• Refrain from distracting activities like dancing in the middle of the circle. A little rhythmic body movement in place is okay.
• A "Pachamama" stick is passed clockwise during the early part of the ceremony to receive everyones prayers for the healing of the earth. At the end of the offerings it is place on the fire by two people, one old and one young, one male and one female.
• Whenever entering the middle of the circle walk straight in or in a clockwise direction. Avoid moving counterclockwise, even if it means taking a roundabout route.
• When placing you stick on the fire, approach from one of he cardinal directions (N,S, E or W). Four people can offer their sticks at any one time. Place the stick on the fire and draw the fire toward your body with your hands especially to your belly, heart and head. You can breathe you intentions into the stick while waiting and while kneeling at the fire.
• If you want to beat a drum you should be someone with good rhythm and use a simple steady beat. Since the drum is louder than the rattles, it can really mess up the rhythm if it is off.

The Fire ceremony chant "Nitchi-tai-tai"

People often ask about the chant that we sing at the fire cermony. Here is some information that I have gathered over the years. The chant that we use was composed by Eliot Diamond and is based on a chant used by the Klinkit Indians (also spelled Tlingit but still pronounced Klinkit) who inhabit the southwest coast of Alaska. The words are as follows:

Nitche Tai Tai, N-U-Y
Oro Nika Oro Nika
Hey Hey....Hey Hey
Ooo Ai.

The meaning is loosely translated as follows:

O Great Mother, Mother of the Waters
We call on you, waters of our birth
Waters of our sustenance
Waters that cleanse us on our death
Waters of life.

You can listen to this chant online at http://www.midashealth.com/cd_nitche.html
(as of June 2009 this site was not functional, but try it anyway, it may have been restored by the time you read this)

You'll notice that they sing it a little faster than we usually do. I think whatever tempo the group settles into is fine.

Interestingly, there was popular song on the radio in 1969 and later that was very similar to this. It was written by Jim Pepper, a jazz musician of Native American (Creek and Kaw) heritage. This song was later recorded by Brewer & Shipley and became a hit. You can listen to the Brewer & Shipley version on YouTube by clicking here. The English words of the Brewer & Shipley version vary from the Jim Pepper version because Brewer & Shipley learned them while driving around on tour listening to the car radio, and it was hard to hear the words clearly. Compare the two version here.

We, also have two similar, but not exactly the same, versions of the native words. The Klinkit version and the Creek/Kaw version. This is not surprising since the Creek lived in Georgia and the Klinkit live in Alaska. What is surprising that they had a chant in common at all. I have learned that Jim Pepper got this chant from his grandfather who learned it in the Native American Church. This is the most likely explanation for the widespread use of the chant. The Native American Church started in Oklahoma around the time of WWI and rapidly spread throughout North America in the first part of the 20th century. The Native American Church could very we'll have appropriated the chant from the Klinkit and spread it around the continent.

Breathing exercise

Another good way to cultivate the Munay-Ki is to practice a breathing exercise that your practitioner can teach you. It is a bit involved to explain in writing. Another excellent way to learn the exercise is to get a CD from the Four Winds Society called "Morning Meditation and Breathing." This link should take you to the page where you can purchase it: Morning Meditation and Breathing