<center><h1>Traditionally, these rituals are performed in secret 
so you have to know someone to be invited.</h1>
<h3>**This beautiful woman with the pipe invited me**</h3>
_although she had not yet met me._
<h2>She knows my travel companions, Ezequiel and Ovat.</h2>
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<h2>A _Temazcal_ or "House of Heat" ritual is an ancient ritual</h2>
**of the early Mixtecs traditionally led by a skilled Shaman for the**
<h4>purpose of healing the body and mind, to conquer deep fears.</h4>
<h1>This was such an amazing experience!</h1>
<h3>Not knowing anything about what I was getting myself into,</h3>
**for me, added to the drama of the unfolding events.**
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<h2>It was great to be reunited with my travel buddies,
_Ovat and Ezequiel_ 
after 2 weeks of separation.</h2>
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<h3>They brought with them a new friend, Irene, 
who was brought into our day through the 
Facebook group, _Mochileros en Mexico_.</h3>
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<h3>**I was so proud of myself for taking the subway all by myself and finding these guys in the big, all Spanish, subway station.**</h3>
<h4>_Together we boarded another subway then took a bus._</h4>
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<h2>Once we reached the village, south of Mexico City, we boarded a buggy that's powered by a human bicycle driver.</h2>
<h1>That's definitely a first for me.</h1>
<h3>Little did I know this is about to be a day of many firsts.</h3>
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<h1>Like many Latin homes, this home was hidden behind some fuck-ugly steel doors.</h1>
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<h3>Once behind the doors we stepped in a sanctuary of art and gardens.</h3>
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<h3>Just to the other side of the perimeter walls lies the bones of our sacred structure.</h3>
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<h4>Quickly, the arrivals get to work clearing the space
of weeds and unwanted energies.</h4>
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<h2>Next, the tarps, rugs, blankets and whatever else they can find
is used to cover the frame.</h2>
<h1>The intention is to trap in the air and block out the light.</h1>
<h3>When complete it becomes the womb of the Great Mother Earth</h3>
<h4>The process of entering the womb,
 facing your fears,
and then surrendering to the intense process 
creates a rebirthing of the spirit.</h4>
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<h2>The rocks and the wood are cleansed and blessed 
by the entire group.</h2>
<h3>The scent of Copal immediately reminds 
my brain to quiet and feel peace.</h3>
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<h1>After some explanation of the process and a ceremony
of honoring the five directions we all</h1>
**took oil soaked wood wedges and worked together,**
<h3>silently catching the cleansed and anointed wood to set fire.</h3>
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<h1>We wait for the rocks to heat up while the fire burns down.</h1>
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<h2>The basket of freshly harvested herbs and flowers were passed around.</h2>
**Everyone enjoyed the aroma then chose a plant to symbolize their intention.**
<h3>The cuttings were infused with our intentions for the ritual 
then placed on the wood pile to burn with our sacred rocks.</h3>
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<h1>The fire is lit.</h1>
<h2>Now we wait.</h2>
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<h1>Time for the **Cacao**  or _Drink of the Gods_ ritual.</h1>
<h3>**Our _Medicine Woman_ explains**</h3>
<h2>that when prepared correctly the Cacao transforms</h2>
<h4>**into medicinal and ceremonial Cacao.**</h4>
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~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~
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**This bean has up to 90% more beneficial properties**
<h4>than Chocolate commonly seen in candies.</h4>
<h3>She explains that while we prepare Cacao we need to be at peace</h3>
_to send good vibrations to the seeds._
<h2>Also we sing beautiful, ancient songs 
that will optimize their properties.</h2>
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<h1>Mayan Elders and Archeologists explain that
 _Spirit of Cacao_
is one of the most powerful Deities of Mayan Cosmology.</h1>
<h2>Using the _Spirit of Cacao_ we can travel into our "inner-self",
to the place where our _wisdom and love_ reside.</h2>
<h3>This ritual reconnects us with the _beauty, sweetness and love_ in ourselves.</h3>
<h4>**The Cacao Goddess** is our magical companion 
that invites us to open the 
**Heart Door**.</h4>
<h1>It is your _level of consciousness_  that decides</h1>
<h3>if you are ready to cross through the portal of the</h3>
<h2>**Heart Door**.</h2>
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<h1>Again we are smudged with sage, one at a time.</h1>
<h3>As we enter the portal door we put our foreheads to the earth
and again visualize our intention.</h3>
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<h2>The chanting, drumming and singing commences once the earthen hole in the center is half filled with hot rocks from the burn pile.</h2>
<h4>The door is closed. The sizzles of hot steamy herbal air feels good to me.</h4>
**I don't know how much time passed before the door was opened and air was allowed in.**
<h3>I am told this was the end of the first session. 
_Some of the women escaped, unable to continue._</h3>
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<h3>The second session begins with more hot rocks placed on the center pile.</h3>
<h1>Now it really heats up!</h1>
<h2>Now we find out who we are.</h2>
<h3>This was my first time to do this and I was twice as old as the next younger woman.
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After crawling out of the womb after the second session
many of the others told me they were very impressed with my strength.</h3>
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<h3>We scooped fresh bowls of cool water over ourselves</h3>
<h2>then laid on the ground until our heart beats returned to normal.</h2>
<h1>By now no one cared how dirty they were.</h1>
**For the tobacco ceremony we all stood in a circle.**
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<h4>In her essay,</h4>
<h1>_Breath and Smoke: Tobacco Among the Maya_ </h1>
Anthropologist, Jennifer A Loughmiller-Cardinal, 
<h3>explains that native cigars are hallucinogenic and intoxicating.</h3>
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<h1>Tobacco is chosen for rituals due to</h1>
<h2>its need to be consumed by fire, 
its' intense aromatic smoke and the thick serpentine plumes
of smoke that form during consumption.</h2>
**I loved the drumming and the unity of passing the ceremonial pipe.**
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<h1>We are only halfway there.</h1>
<h3>With two more steamy sessions to go we all 
crawled back into the womb.</h3>
<h2>Now that I was toughened up the final half 
was super easy and felt like it went by very quickly.</h2>
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<h2>Nothing is not sacred.</h2>
<h3>The corn tortillas, we are reminded are made from
the ancient sacred plant of the mixtec ancestors.</h3>
<h1>Corn or _maize_ was integral to all of life
from their religion to their mythologies.</h1>
<h4>For the Maya,  maize is a gift from the gods</h4>
<h3>and because of this they believe that growing it is a sacred duty.</h3>
<h2>NOW we can eat. Many of us were eating minimal
all day so the food was extra pleasing to the body.</h2>
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<h1>Completing such a ritual was like completing a marathon.</h1>
<h3>It was a test of strength, endurance and a willingness to travel within.</h3>
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<h2>Want more great stories like this? 
_Follow_ me as I continue through Mexico and Latin America.</h2>
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