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realized the power of prayer.
When we got back to the sweat lodge, I was given more
water. Ron was called to let him know I had come down from the
mountain. I entered the sweat lodge and waited for the Chief to
come back to do the last two rounds of the Inipi ceremony, which
would complete my Hanbleca.
I sat in the sweat lodge for what seemed a long period of time,
72 ___________________________Carol A. Freeman
and during that time, I continued to see visions. In the vision pit in
the center of the sweat lodge where the rocks are normally placed, I
saw half of the pit filled with picture frames and pictures of Sharon
in them. The words came to me Remember Me. To the left of the
frames but still within a frame itself was a larger picture of Sharon
in a wheelchair with a teacher behind her and students in front
of her. The only thing I would relate it to was something to do
with disabled children. One of the children appeared to be wearing
sunglasses, and it led me to believe that it had something to do
with disabled children that were blind.
The next thing I saw was Sharon showing me money and the
inside of a church with a long aisle, and it looked like a wedding
ceremony with two people standing in front of a minister at an
altar. The message from this was that Sharon wanted to give
something to Heidi and Chris, her brother for their upcoming
wedding. Next in the vision pit I saw a celebration that reminded
me of a Christmas celebration with a priest and a huge orchestra,
a buffalo, a giraffe, and the words came, Celebration of Life and
the thought that when she passes she wants a celebration. After
this came a vision involving giving gifts to animals. The last thing
I saw in the vision pit was Sharon holding and spinning a Native
American drum with a Native American standing beside her. This
one I didn t quite understand, but later when I asked Chief Phil
Crazy Bull, he explained she wanted our family to go to Sundance,
which is another Native American ceremony. Later on I also came
to realize that this meant, one mind, one heart, one voice, one
Chanupa, which is said at the end of each sweat lodge ceremony
and means that we are all connected.
When Phil came into the lodge and before starting the last two
rounds of the sweat to complete the ceremony, he asked about my
vision. I explained everything I had received both on the mountain
As The Eagle Cries___________________________ 73
and in the sweat lodge to him. It was completely dark in the sweat
lodge, and both he and I were the only ones in there. I felt a presence
of someone else to the right of where I was sitting. I looked to my
right and could see an outline of a person with her hair cropped
up on top the way Sharon usually wore her hair. I then asked Phil
about what I was seeing, and he said it was Sharon. Once Phil
started the last two rounds of the ceremony, I looked to my right
and could see her hands wave. It was a wave you see people do at
a football game where they raise their hands above their head and
come down much like an ocean wave. Sharon was known for this
wave within our family, and it was her way of joking around. At
the time she would do this she would also say I am not worthy.
Immediately, when I saw this wave within the lodge, I knew there
was no doubt in my mind that it indeed was Sharon.
I completed the last two rounds of the Inipi and went out of
the lodge. I ate some fruit and drank more water. There was one
more final part of the ceremony to complete and that was to smoke
the sacred pipe and share it with others and that would end the
ceremony. While smoking the pipe, I again saw Sharon lying on
the grass outside the lodge, and there were several black cats around
her, which had been around the lodge area that day. Sharon loved
cats and as far back as I remember she always had a cat as a pet.
After the ceremony was over, I told Phil these visions kept
coming and no matter where I looked I saw a vision. This concerned
me since I knew it would be difficult to resume a normal life with
this sort of thing happening. He said it would stop but that Sharon
had a lot to tell me and as soon as I started eating this would ground
me, and the visions would soon disappear.
After the ceremony, Ron and I decided to go back to the
mountain because I had left my pillow and journal on a rock on my
74 ___________________________Carol A. Freeman
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