14 August 2018
I am into day 12 of my journey here in Montana. I will begin this segment of the blog talking about how I am feeling health wise. Before leaving home on the 3rd of August, I had made a conscious decision to stop smoking. I really had gotten tired of the habit. The folks here are really supportive and encouraging. In a combination of quitting smoking, I am doing a detox. I completed a liver detox the other day, Thursday I will begin the kidney detox. At the same time, I am cleansing my cells from nicotine and other impurities in my system. Also no extra sugar. Well, today Dancing Thunder bought donuts, kind of a treat. I even made brownies with 50% less sugar yesterday. One thing about all this detoxing I urinate like crazy. A good thing here in Montana there is nothing but forest, so natures bathroom is always close at hand. I get out of bed 4-5 times a night.
Food does taste better, and my skin looks clear. You won’t see that as I am trying to grow a beard. Yes, Montana is changing me in some ways, not to worry I am in control of the situation.
Being here in Montana working together with the other likeminded people has given me a better perspective as to the reason for coming here.
Our schedule is a simple one, we have one day free in-between ceremonies. Each ceremony is set up for a particular purpose. They follow each other in a specific order. The site where the ceremonies take place is a 500-acre forest that has a river going through it mountains area and many spots that are magical, you can even say sacred.
Out of respect to the organizers and to the process, we are all experiencing; I will not describe the ceremonies in any detail. What I will say is that each ceremony the four wind directions are opened.
The energy one feels fantastic, to say the least. I always feel myself drifting into the different energies that the ceremony offer.
You might ask me why a Santero would make such a journey. Well, I will tell you, we are all children of the universe, my ancestry does have Native lines in it. Also, the tradition of Santeria and the Yoruba is about connecting with nature. This is what we have been doing since 4 August. Here I have been connecting with my ancestors on an entirely different level. I feel the Orishas in the mountains, forest, and rivers.
Montana is about the size of Germany with a population of just over 1 million people. The planes that we read about in school as a kid are fantastic. Glacier National Park is truly impressive. The only major problem is fire. Sunday we went to a place called Two Medicine Lake Fantastic. On the way back there was a great deal of smoke at one point we can see the flames. You can really see the power of fire in the forest. As we were watching, we saw flames jump onto another tree and saw that go up. This was only one of the many fires in the area. When we returned home, we had heard that the Lodge/Hotel we had dinner in had to be evacuated. I have always had great respect for fire, but seeing it up close as I did I have greater respect…Mafrefun Chango.
More on Montana later, getting ready to go to dinner place called Buffalo Café, maybe I will have something buffalo tonight. I may be detoxing and stop smoking I never said I would convert to being a vegetarian.