Ritual Between East and West

Takes place the January before Kohaku returns to claim Chihiro.

'Rivers Never Die' actually ends the night of his return to a 21 year old Chihiro. 'Rivers Keep Flowing' picks up at the end of that, and this is meant to be a tie in with those. Originally this was meant to be a collection of stories,however this has turned into a side story in its own right. Other stories that one may want to read to help clear up any placement problems (such as why is Chihiro an adult) are "Promise to Protect and Provide," "Underwater Savior," "Promise of a river," "Rivers Never Die" and the story collection "Courting the River Maid."

LadyRainStarDragon does not own "Spirited Away," Haku, Chihiro, or any characters thereof.

A thick mantle of white crystal lay heavy over the Shrine compound and encroaching forest, a heavy blanket for the sleeping earth. Meanwhile the still flowing river wore a co-ordinating cape of glassy ice along his banks, yet his central channel still flowed swift and cold. The very stars themselves looked like bits of ice flung high in the darkened sky, and restless spirits rode the winds that howled on by.

Some were restless because they had been forgotten, others were those who had been murdered over the ages, unwilling yet to release a tenuous hold on an illusory life. Still others had awakened from bored sleep because of a new stirring of energy that wasforeign to the land. Practices of one certain person who had come to them over the vast and salty seas were a curiosity that they had never before witnessed.

This Shaman, being trained by her Ancestors themselves via vision and dream, had received permission from the Shrine Keeper and the Kami the Shrine was dedicated to in order to employ the ancient practices of her people. The river spirit himself had no problem with her wishes, as what she sought to do was so similar to human practices that had once been common here, yet had fallen by the wayside. These very same rituals would be beneficial for his own priestess as well, and so he had asked that his precious Chihiro be taken in as well.

Chihiro had been delighted when her friend BlowingWind had asked her if she would like to participate in the ritual. And so, the two women had constructed a wicker lodge twenty paces from the icy river and the little pool that remained clear of the choking ice by the intervention of the river lord. Over the framework consisting of the twelve sacred willow shoots that formed symbolically the rib cage of the Great Spirit, they had stretched a canvas cover, lacking the buffalo or deer skins that had once been used on the plains of Northern America for the sacred sweat house.

Ryu and Ten had been attracted by the new stirring of energy as the women had begun planning for this ceremonial cleansing of body and soul. When they had been told about what BlowingWind was planning, and how long it had been since she had been in the Sweat Lodge, they were more than happy to offer their services to bring in the heated rocks that had been described, as well as the buckets of water. While the plan was still in the early stages, the pair had gone to ask the local mountain god for permission to gather appropriate rocks, which had been gladly granted. Tatsu had been intrigued as well.

Leaving her friend outside, BlowingWind took the pipe of her ancestors into the lodge, crawling around sun-wise to the west. There she appealed to Grandmother Earth, Grandfather Sky, and the Great Spirit for their help, to make her and her friend pure so that they could continue to help their people. With sage, cedar, and sweet-grass the young Shaman purified the lodge, driving any evil away and inviting in good things, and tobacco was offered to these as well as the things that the local spirits were more accustomed to. Continuing sun-wise, she brought her pipe with her to exit, and it was placed on an earthen mound to wait.

With great care before the temporary building, BlowingWind smudged herself and her friend with the smoke of sage, and gave a gift of her precious tobacco for the spirits. Wearing only their bathing suits and white towels wrapped over those, they left behind their pure white yukatas that they had been wearing to keep warm while they finished the preparations. Close to the Earth, on her hands and knees like a baby, the Apache led the Asian within and sun-wise around the pit for the Stone People, who were nearly ready from the fire pit outside for entry. Ryu and Ten had been tending the fire carefully, cooking the stones for at least three hours so that they glowed with activated heat. BlowingWind herself sat by the door flap in the east, prayerful and still within herself andglad of the help from the spirits that were curious about the rituals of her ancestors. Chihiro, as the representative and channel of the local power being and priestess of the grounds the building had been allowed to use sat in the honor position opposite the door in the west.

At last, Ten began carefully placing the glowing Stone People in the pit at the center, seven in all, carrying them with the help of stag's antlers that had mysteriously appeared in BlowingWind's medicine bundle with the first snow. Chihiro, who did as her friend instructed her, swept the welcomed Elders with a braid of sweet-grass and she had been instructed before they had even began construction of the lodge. BlowingWind sprinkled cedar chips with great care after. Outside, Ryu beat out a slow heartbeat on his drum when Ten finally placed the bucket of river water inside. A moment later, the spirit of the sacred spring up the river handed her the pipe with a bow so common to his own people, filled with respect at the power that lay quietly in the object. Reverently, recognizing the power of this ceremony, he closed the flap.

BlowingWind's pipe, carefully carved by one of her distant ancestors, had been left to her care by her father. With great reverence did she use the sacred smoke and send her prayers in the four directions as well as to Grandmother Earth and Grandfather Sky. Tendrils and puffs of the gray substance glowed with power as they floated in the air, strangely visible even though the eyes surely would not have been able to see in the darkness. When done, she passed it to her friend, who did as she had just seen, although she ended up coughing at the end after she had finished. The smoke of the tobacco and other herbs was not like the light rosewood or pine that her own spirit preferred. She felt his presence stirring around herself though, his essence present in the bucket of water with them, and soon the Nisou no Kohakugawa's lungs and throat eased.

The Shaman began to chant a prayer as she cast a bit of water upon the first round of Stone People that had come to visit them, and she honored them. The steam rose into the air, coiling about them in serpentine fashion, embracing the pair tightly in the nothingness. The only light was the glowing of the stones, and the air was heavy with their primordial heat. The imagination would not have to stretch very far to feel that an occupant were deep below the earth, heated by the volcanic heat and pressure of the earth above. Casting a little more water on the stones, hissing filled the air like a den of the snakes that legend told her clan was descended from. These snakes, when old and powerful enough, would grow into the great dragons of her land that most did not know about unless they studied the stories of the Americas diligently. It was intriguing how it could also be mistaken for the hissing of dragons, and both women wondered just how closely the snake and dragon species were intertwined.

The dry and scorching heat was no more, replaced by heat of a different kind, the scorching steam now filled the tiny space, condensing on the body, dripping down and burning away impurity in tiny rivers. Sweat rushed from every pore the women possessed, pouring out with every stored toxin and repressed emotion that ate away at body and soul. They let the sweat carry away the emotions that had been plaguing them for months, moaning low in relief that they would be able to concentrate on their duties again instead of other less pure thoughts.

Neither were mentally ready for what their bodies were telling them to do. Mistaking it for an impurity they had come in here to free themselves.

In the dark, she related the story of how in the first world, all had been dark, and then how the Great Spirit had lead her people up a ladder into the next world, where the sun was. In remembrance of this, when the people needed cleansing and rebirth, they would crawl into the lodge and remember when they lived under the earth.

Lifting a voice high and pure, BlowingWind sang her chant, and Chihiro joined in, not realizing that she knew the words, not questioning where it was coming from but allowing it to be.

Feelings dark and deep
All that is Base, not Pure
Created the Hillside Steep
That at the base we were.

That which we Dare not
To Acknowledge aloud
Visions in the Mind Hot
Even amongst the Crowd.

Steam Sends it all far away
That which does not Serve
Baseness Black can not stay
Where Pure have their Nerve.

They called out for more stones after repeating the chant several times, and this time Ryu brought them in. One by one they glowed red as they came, and sparks flew with the brush of sweet-grass or sprinkle of cedar. Five Stone Elders had come in for the second round, and these brought Ancestor spirit guests with them for the two mystics. Clouds of the perfumed smoke rose to purify the air, and more spirits began to observe from outside. Ancient voices sang from within, some in the Apache language, others in Japanese, a few in a language that neither could understand. The pair inside felt the pressure rising around them, and when the flap closed again, they were certainly not alone. More of the Ancestors of the women filled the darkened womb, whispering to the two or singing in turn, imparting advice for the coming year. More steam curled through the air through the eternity of the round.

At last, the voices fell silent, and the flap opened again at their call, another five stones making their way in and receiving their welcome. Ten closed the flap after bringing in more water, and More water was used to fill the air with purifying steam as the humans sang their prayers. When their voices lowered again, they were awed to hear the rock people themselves whispering secrets to them. These mysteries were to be treasured, and the two women did not feel as guilty for feeling the things that they had. They were told of the Children of the Rainbow, how one day these sacred beings would walk the lands and bring love and healing to the beings who live in the Creation.

The voices fell silent, and at the end of the round, BlowingWind threw open the lodge flap. Sweet cool air blew in and around, soothing the nerves of the humans.

"How are you doing Chi?"

"Stunned. You?"

"Just wow. I didn't think anything like this would happen. I haven't been in a sweat since I was little, only six months before dad began on the Star Path."

"This isn't usual, is it?"

"I don't think so, not this pronounced. Drink water."

The trembling women drank greedily from the buckets to replenish what had been sweated out already. They had not kept track of how much they had been drinking between the rounds, but they definitely felt like they had been sweating rivers. They were tired from the spiritual exercise, but they felt so clean and pure, and their minds were at ease for the first time in a while.

Chihiro shivered a bit at the sensation of scales gently scraping her skin. Her deity was definitely with her, encouraging her to drink more water. She could feel herself at the gateway to the trance state that would render her memory of whatever happened next blank if she were to fall through it. Something was beginning to stir and awaken within her soul, and she could almost hear her kami's hisses and purrs coaxing it. The more the internal thing stirred, the tighter that she felt the invisible coils of his mitama clasp until she could almost imagine that he would possess her body as the stories and practices of other priestesses went with their own.

Two frowning male faces poked their heads in, one that was aligned with water drawing back a bit at first because of the heat still in the lodge. Their dark eyes took in the sodden forms hidden in the shadows, watching for signs that it was time to drag them out to keep them from pushing themselves too far. The strange voices that they had heard earlier made them nervous, but even odder to them were the spirits of children that were waiting patiently outside with them, clearly not native to the island, although there were many of the native children waiting as well.

"BlowingWind, how are you doing?"

"Fine Ryu. One more round and we'll be done."

"Good. We have a bunch of child spirits here who want to ask for purification. What do we tell them?"

"Let them come in. It is traditional for children to put their heads in and speak to Great Spirit."

So many children peeked in like the shy prairie paintbrushes that BlowingWind had not seen for a long time, then ran away giggling to disappear. At last, they were gone and the six remaining Stone Elders came in the lodge to the sweet-grass and cedar, and to song. The meeting of East and West sat in silence for this last round, their hearts expressing everything for them as the water became steam to soak them one last time. Seconds passed, minutes blurred, and then finally their contemplative and ecstatic trance was broken as the flap flew open on it's own.

Two lithe forms streaked through the night, leaping into the winter stream. All impurity had been left behind them to sift into the earth, for earth and water to deal with as was proper. After a moment, two dark heads popped out to trace the path of stars with their eyes before they got out to put on the offered robes. The women gazed deep in the water while they tied the robes shut.

"Energy flows both ways on any thread . . ."

"And even the profane is sacred if viewed while looking for Truth."

"Do you understand it?"

"No 'Wind. I don't."

The visiting spirits were gone, and no whispers rode the winds. The Shaman and the Priestess left the river behind as they silently made their way inside. At the river's edge, three dark males watched the humans, talking amongst themselves.

"I'm not certain now that we should have let them do that."

"They saw something, didn't they Kohakunushi? You had essence inside. Do you know what it was?"

"I only saw them, Ryu. Whatever vision they had, I was not granted the power to see."

"Maybe it is a good thing that you are almost done with the river."

"Thank kami for that Ten! I am getting sick of quashing uprisings just because Chihiro is human. Hopefully the challenges will stop after the claim is finished. If I have to listen to one more 300 year old spout off about how evil humans are I'll . . ."

At this juncture, both of the other dragons started making placating gestures. Chihiro was a sacred subject to him, and the last spirit that bad mouthed his priestess found himself stuck in a frozen water bubble on the top of Tatsu's mountain for a while. Actually, they were pretty sure he was still up there.

Both were very glad the water dragon would be able to spend more time with Chihiro soon. She had been getting really grumpy too.

Words

Mitama - divided spirit. A kami is composed of two halves, the Aramitama and Nigimitama (further explanations can be found in some of my other stories). These had the ability to completely disengage from time to time, and even could be unrecognizable to the other if it had been done without the other half's knowledge. In addition, a kami is able to send innumerable bits of itself to wherever it has been properly called.

Both Native Americans and the early Japanese had sacred rituals that had to do with steam. I wanted to touch on that, but I didn't know enough about the Japanese ones. In a book on how steam was used in cultures all over the world, it was mentioned that it was practiced around Kyoto now, but had once been more widespread.

I based this on my knowledge of Native American Sweat Lodges, very interesting to take part in, and man will it purge you of any toxins your harbor anywhere in your body.

Rain's Replies

Jaded image - A kami is a very complex being, very interesting to research though.

Katsy Kat - I thought it was odd when I first came up with the idea, but as I researched, can you imagine my surprise to find it supported in Japanese mythology?

Mica - I love reading the reviews and finding out how everyone reacts. I'm glad that you have been enjoying the stories.

Neech - What do you think he's doing to her bras?

Thanks also to Jojo, Monchi, NitenGale and anybody I might have missed!