Ojo Caliente, NM
After the clean-living lunch of
soy-burgers and organic condiments, the
weary pilgrims spent the afternoon
at the Ojo Caliente hot springs and mud
baths. The mudding process
includes rubbing wet mud on the body, letting it
dry in the sun (natural sun-block
/ desert camouflage), and then entering a
mud bath hot spring where the
mud is rinsed away, leaving a clean body
(Stewart and Mark recommend two
coats, the first to clean/purge the body,
the second to clean/purge the
mud. Please see pictures for the proof). The
hot springs left the group feeling
relaxed and prepared for the evenings
activity. Some of the group
further prepared for the evening by enjoying
massages from Michael and Bob,
the motel's proprietors.
And what an evening it was ...
The group engaged in a sweat lodge / prayer
session, an ancient Indian spiritual
tradition for prayer and seeking out
'the Great Spirit'. In
this case, the goal for our group was to seek out
the Holy Spirit in a different
way than previously experienced. The group
prepared prayer ties, physical
reminders of what they were praying for, to
help focus during the terrible
heat of the lodge. This was a challenging /
remarkable / special experience
for the group and we have not yet finished
processing it. We finished
the evening with a feast of buffalo and chicken
fajitas, as fasting was required
prior to the sweat lodge. Needless to say,
we slept in the next day!!.