Participating in a Sacred Temazcal Ceremony is an opportunity for deep cleansing, connection to Mother Earth, and for rebirth.
The Temazcal is a Mesoamerican Sweat Lodge & Sound Healing Chamber. It has been been used throughout Mexico and Central America for thousands of years for healing from physical and mental ailments and recovery from trauma, for ceremony, and to assist women during childbirth. It helps participants to come into greater balance by cleansing their bodies, helping them to connect with their Spirits, and to deeply relax their minds.
Traditionally the Temazcal is made of stone. When Rufus and Dinora were trained to become Temacaleros in the Fall of 2019, they were instructed to being with constructing an Inipi (a nomadic-style Temazcal), a dome-like structure made of willow branches that represents the womb of Mother Earth, in which much nurturing, healing and releasing happens. It is warm, and dark, and moist inside, and we connect to our mother through the sound of the drum, bringing us back to the first sound we ever heard, our Mother’s heartbeat.
Upon completing the ceremony and coming out again into the light, participants experience a form of re-birth.
® OPENING THE CEREMONY ®
After welcoming everyone and introducing ourselves, we will cleanse energetically in a sacred smudging ritual, using sacred copal incense from Mexico. This helps to purify each participant and bring them into the moment, and into a ceremonial mindset, where they can form, share, and remain focused on the intention that brought them to the ceremony.
We will honour the traditional peoples of the land, and open the ceremonial space by honouring and calling in the energies of the sacred seven directions.
® SACRED CACAO CEREMONY ®
We will begin with a Sacred Cacao Ceremony, where alchemically brewed, ceremonial-grade cacao is passed around the circle, and before we drink it, we connect to it with our senses, with our gratitude for all those who brought it to us, and for ourselves for coming to receive it. We then infuse it with intention for that which we wish to let go of, and to receive, during the rest of the ceremony. Sacred cacao is known for helping us to open our hearts, connect with our innocence and rekindle our trust, which is ideal before a Temazcal ceremony.
® SACRED TEMAZCAL CEREMONY ®
Participants will put their intentions for the ceremony into a tobacco and smudge mix, and then catalyze their intentions into smoke, before moving into the Temazcal, where hot rocks, which have just been heated in a cedar fire outside, have been placed in a hole in the middle of the floor.
When we cross the threshold into the Temazcal, we bow and say “Ometeotl”, which translates as “Two energies.” When we say this, we honour and dedicate ourselves to one of the foundational principles in shamanic healing – to strive to bring our masculine and feminine energies into balance.
Once the door is closed, water infused with herbs is poured over the hot rocks, producing a medicinal steam that helps participants to sweat and deeply detoxify. It gets hot, and people can leave at any time.
There are 4 stages to the ceremony, each called a puerta (or door in Spanish), that are each dedicated to a different element: Earth, Air, Water and Fire. Praying, chanting and singing are also central to the ceremony, and also help participants become more resilient to the heat. At the end of the third puerta, dedicated to the element of water, we serve participants a medicinal, herbal tea.
At the end of the fourth and final round, dedicated to the element of fire, we emerge from the Temazcal, reborn. We are then offered the opportunity to swim in a refreshing, deep, spring-fed kettle lake, and lower our body temperatures. Life jackets are available for anyone who wants them. To honour everyone’s safety, and because there are no life guards on duty, we insist that life jackets be worn by anyone who is not a strong swimmer, and that no
one swims alone.
® THE FACILITATORS ®
Rufus Glassco co-facilitates Temazcal ceremonies with his wife and sound healing colleague Dinora Garcia Guillen. They met on a beach in Oaxaca in 1994 and have been in love with this mystical and magical part of Mexico, and each other, ever since. She was taking a break from her busy legal practice in Mexico City, and he had moved to Mexico from Canada to make documentaries.
They return frequently to Oaxaca, a place that constantly inspires them to live a simpler, fuller and more meaningful life.
They love to discover, make and share artisanal and healing products and practices with their friends, family, and clients (www.labotica.ca).
Dinora is a natural nutritionist, a Nia Dance instructor, and a yoga teacher.
Rufus is a health & wellness and shamanic drum circle facilitator, a singer-songwriter, a community choir leader, and a shamanic practitioner. Both Rufus and Dinora have been trained to lead Mesoamerican temazcal sweat lodge ceremonies, and are both practicing sound healing practitioners.
® THE LOCATION ®
Swan’s Nest Holistic Wellness and Nature Centre is located only an hour’s drive from downtown Toronto, hight upon the Oak Ridges Moraine. This 350 acre private nature reserve has forested trails, organic farm fields and over a million trees that surround a deep and spring-fed, 10,000 year old, 27 acre kettle lake.
Tips for Preparation & Having a Better Temazcal Ceremony
• Think about your intention a few day in advance: what do you want to release? To heal? To call in? To pray for? What do you need right now?
• Refrain from consuming meat, sugar, white flour, dairy products, alcohol, marijuana, or having sex, several days prior to the ceremony.
• Eat a light breakfast the day of the Temazcal
• Hydrate yourself well beforehand.
• Wear a bathing suit, towel or attend nude (your preference) – we stay covered until we enter.
• Refrain from wearing metal jewellery.
• Bring a bathing suit for swimming afterwards.
• Bring a towel to sit on and another to dry yourself afterwards.
• Bring a non-glass water bottle, but try to refrain from drinking too much during the ceremony,
as it can actually make you feel hotter.
• Know that you can leave at any time, but remember that deeper growth and healing happen when we are challenged by the heat.