Chanupa

One of the most sacred spaces I know of is that of the Sacred Pipe Ceremony, or "smoking the Peace Pipe" as it is popularly known.  The aroma of tobacco and the whispy smoke hanging in the air is like a combination of the Catholic Church I grew up in, with the incense and air of profoundity that I loved, and of being around a campfire -- which, I guess, you could call my current church. Each puff is a prayer, and I love tasting those prayers on my tongue, where they tingle for hours afterwards, and watching them rise as I blow them upwards to Goddess. Then those same prayers, clinging to my beard and hair for at least a day, allow me to thus remain in ceremony, maintaining and carrying that sense (or scents) of sacredness into the rest of my day. 

This is also a direct line of connection to White Buffalo Calf Woman, who is like an adopted Mother Goddess to me, and who seems to play an ever increasingly important role in my unfolding path.  

So why don't I have my own pipe, or Chanupa, yet?  It is the tradition that you do not buy your own chanupa, but that when it is time, it will be given to you -- A gift, and a responsibility, from the Divine. 

Aho Mitakuye Oyasin.