Please note that the following is taken from posts elsewhere in our forums. I brought them here as we just opened this topic Daniel Daniel posted: Enrich me! Say what you can about Hanbleceya! LutaWicasa posted: The mechanics or the experience? The mechanics vary a bit from people to people. As to the experience....my command of any language is more than insufficient to convey even the smallest part of this. Daniel posted: Ok, let's go for the mechanics. I simply haven't heard of Hanbleceya until now. LutaWicasa posted: Alrighty then. Hanbleceya would loosely translate to "crying for a vision"...seeking guidance. One would first ask their medicine man to put them on the hill. Upon agreement, you would start preparation. In some of your preps you may have assistance...such as gathering of rocks for the inipi (sweat) or sage for ground cover in the initipi (sweat lodge) or wood for the fire. What you must do yourself..... Locate the site where you will be....you'll know when ya find it. The making of prayer ties (enough to surround your site, about 12 ft on a side tied about 5-6 inches apart) If you've not done so previously, make your canupa (pipe) Acquire a Star Quilt (this is best if not "bought" but either made, earned or gifted) Same with a Spirit Bowl. It begins now with an Inipi ceremony (the sweat "cleansing") in which you will also fill your pipe, after which you are escorted to your site. There, you are placed in the center, a cradle for the pipe is fashioned, the bowl is placed and filled. The prayer ties are strung with a side to each direction and closed. The people leave and you pray for 24 hrs. At the end of this time, the medicine man opens the enclosure and you are taken down to another inipi, during which your previously filled pipe is used. The following day, it is your responsibility to go up dismantle the site and bury or burn your prayer ties. This is done over 4 consecutive years... Year 1....1 day fast/prayer Year 2....2 day fast/prayer Year 3....3 day fast/prayer Year 4....4 day fast/prayer So...there ya go. The basics. Daniel posts: Many thanks!
This is exactly what I have missed in taking up a book written by a people 3000 years in the past. I read about the sacrifices and ceremonies they created to feed the ancestors so that they might intercede on our behalf. That God might turn his face toward them and complete their world. The alter is now unused and dust gathers where offerings were placed. The Oracle offers me this consolation. " a small offering given with real sincerity is worth more than stupendous offerings and elaborate empty ceremony. in times of scant resources even a small inconsequential gift is accepted if it comes from the heart." There were austerities, much like what you have described to prepare those who lead or officiate. Purification had to take place before they ever addressed the ancestors. Naturally you need say no more,... But I wonder if your purification was done in preparation for anther perhaps more sacred happening?
In the case of Hanblceya, I can think of no more sacred a happening. You are , after all, beseeching WakanTanka (God, The Creator, The Great Mystery, whatever you so desire to call Him/Her/It) directly.
Ah so! ":O} I wasn't quite sure, Sometimes the purification is seen as a separate thing that must done before the invocation, the crying out to the Great Maker..which is follow by the offering, Sometimes these aspects are brought together sometimes they can be separated by months even years before the next step is taken. Once again thank you.
