A medicine lodge is a place for religious ceremony and healing, constructed with materials treated with respect. It may be above or partially underground and made of wood, stones, hides, cloth, or other materials. The term is often used to refer to a sweat lodge, but each tribe has its own customs and etiquette. Current traditions involve extreme heat, nudity or light clothing, and offerings or medicines. The practice has been co-opted by New Age practitioners who combine it with other spiritual traditions and herbs.
A medicine lodge is a place for religious ceremony and sometimes physical healing. It is usually a separate space from normal daily life. The construction of a medicine lodge is typically a ceremonial activity, and the materials used are often treated with great respect and care. Some lodges are completely above ground while others are partially underground. The materials forming the covering may consist of wood, stones, hides, cloth, or any other material, although this is usually specified by the tradition in which the ritual will be performed. A medicine shelter may also need to conform to other architectural constraints, such as facing in a certain direction or engaging the surrounding landscape in a certain way.
While medical lodges are a part of many Native American cultures, the word itself is used in English to refer to a wide variety of practices among different tribes, each with their own customs, etiquette, and purposes. When the term is used by English speakers, they typically refer to a sweat lodge, which is a ceremonial sauna used for spiritual and bodily gains.
Medicine lodges have been so completely confused with sweat lodges that in English the term is almost never used to mean anything else. Most members of the tribe have their own language and words for the specific building and its rituals which are then generalized by the use of the word medicine lodge. What may appear to be a roughly equivalent practice in these cultures to the untrained eye may be seen as extremely dissimilar to the initiate, and it is therefore important to call the lodge of medicine by its proper name if possible.
Current traditions observed in a Native American medicine lodge often involve extreme heat, such as in a sweat lodge. Restrictions placed on dress vary, some involving full nudity, others involving light clothing. The genders may be separate, and traditions may differ between medicine houses of both genders. Sometimes offerings are made or medicines are consumed, but in all cases the meaning of these gestures is much more important than the actual substances used.
A medicine lodge, in its sweat lodge incarnation, has also been co-opted by many New Age practitioners and natural healers. The rituals associated with these traditions may conform to those practiced by Native Americans. In these practices, the original idea of a medical lodge can be combined with a variety of other spiritual traditions to create a new practice tailored to the spiritual or physical needs of the participants. Often, other herbs and medicines associated with Native Americans are also used to augment the experience and ritual. A medicine lodge that is not bound by tradition can be as conservative or creative as its members.
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