71

Very soon after we moved into our house 13 years ago, I became aware of something unusual. Our master bathroom has rojo alicante marble: it’s an orangey-rust color with white and beige veins and markings running through it. In the shower, I saw the number “71,” on the same wall as the shower head.

I’ve seen this “71” hundreds of times, and taken it as some sort of a sign. But what did it mean? What occurred to me was that someone close to me would only live until age 71. Both my parents have now surpassed this age (but I held my breath until those years had passed). My husband would be next.

I decided to ask Alexandra about it and told her about the “71” at our last session. She paused for a moment to “hear” information from her spirit guides, and then said: “You think that it’s an age someone is going to die. But that’s not it. Spirit has been trying to get your attention for a while, and now you’re finally ready. Go back to the year 1971. What was that year like for you?”

After thinking about it for a moment and the age I would have been, I was carried back to a time when I was a young woman in the throes of her first romantic love. I felt loving towards the world, open, optimistic. It was exciting to be alive, not knowing what would happen next. “This is the feeling you are meant to reconnect with at this time in your life,” said Alexandra. “Think about it, meditate on it.”

Sweating ALL the Stuff

I decided to go to Alexandra's sweat lodge on the new moon. She does one each month at The Oaks in New Rochelle, and preparations start early. Due to some commitments, I arrived at 1:30pm in the pouring rain, bringing with me a few necessary items.

Some of you may have seen the story about a sweat lodge in Arizona run by James Arthur Ray where three people died. This story ran about one week before the sweat lodge I attended. I had a very different experience, but needless to say, I told almost no one what I was doing that Saturday afternoon.

The sweat lodge is built from a frame of wood, then covered with cloth and tarp. We certainly needed this, as we had a major storm with driving rain during the "sweat." Already there were two people tending to the fire --firekeepers--who keep the fire hot and heat the stones that are placed inside the lodge. Theirs was a particularly difficult job that day.

One of my first assignments was to make sure there was no light showing through the lodge interior. I crawled inside, careful not to cross the "power line" that runs from the fire to the lodge. With black cloth, we threaded pieces through the frame to block out small pinpoints of light. My second task was to help put on the door to the lodge. This consisted of a quilt affixed to a wooden pole which has ropes that hang down the other side and are secured by heavy rocks.

We then went back to the house to make prayer ties which would be hung in the lodge. Some ties were made for the ceremony itself, and others were our own personal ties. Each was a small square of fabric into which we placed a pinch of tobacco, and then we folded it and tied it onto a string after saying a prayer. When the ties were done, we were told what to expect during the sweat.

When it was time, women changed into skirts and t-shirts; men wore shorts. We all carried a towel, and since I didn't have flip-flops, I went barefoot. Any shoes left out in the rain would be soaked.

We were in the lodge for about three hours, and I'm told it was one of the gentlest sweats they ever had. There were 10 or 11 people, so it wasn't crowded, and it never got unbearably hot. It felt, at the warmest, like a sauna, and then only for a short time. Perhaps it seemed gentle because the elements outside were so aggressive! The sweat was conducted according to Native American custom, and it was a sacred ritual. Alexandra spoke, we drummed and sang songs, voiced our prayers and smoked a tobacco pipe. The stones were brought in four different times. Although I have yet to see if I am transformed in any measurable way, I did enjoy my first sweat lodge and am eager for the next one.

Alexandra Leclere and the Journeying Class

I met Alexandra at a class she was giving on communicating with spirit. The spirit world has always fascinated me, mainly because the information provided by beneficent spirits is quick and helpful. We each have spirit guides and angels to help us in our lives; many of us have no idea they are there and certainly don’t communicate with them. “But if I could,” I thought, how much easier and richer life would be.

Shortly thereafter, I went to Alexandra’s weekly journeying class which consists of qi gong exercises, energy exchange, guided meditation and healing prayers. All these activities help us to have greater consciousness of and connection with the spirit world.

I learned that Alexandra had been a television producer and writer. She had led a fairly traditional life and had raised three children. Once she became aware of her psychic abilities, however, she began to open to their full extent, cultivated over time by several teachers.

In her, I felt a kinship. If she could develop these abilities, couldn’t I as well? She felt I could. I had found a mentor, someone who could shepherd me through this mystifying world. I meet with Alexandra for an hour each week when I am in town. In my sessions with her, I’ve been surprised at how accurate the information is from spirit, how she is able to tell me what I am thinking or feeling about a particular issue, and gives me guidance.