Bless this house... and help it sell

EVAN WILLIAMS/FLORIDA WEEKLY Jeanine Standing Bear blesses a living room. The smoke is meant to carry her prayers to the Creator. Fragrant smoke drifted up toward the high wood-beamed ceilings at Carolyn Thompson's house in North Fort Myers. She's selling the home and her Realtor, Jeanine Standing Bear, a Lakota Indian, was performing a traditional Native America house blessing there.

Normally, it's for people moving into a home. But sales were slow and Ms. Standing Bear thought it could be beneficial to her clients at Sandals Realty as well. So far, six have taken advantage of the offer, "sometimes evoking tears."

"It kind of quiets all the negativity and purifies the home and ourselves," Ms. Standing Bear said. "For us, it's a way of life. This is something we've been doing for centuries."

Besides, she added, "with today's market, it can't hurt. It's not a guarantee it will sell. It's just to open up the place and make it at peace."

Ms. Thompson agreed. The price on her home has also been reduced to $245,912.

It's a three-bedroom house, 2,500 square feet, with a sunken living room and yellow shag carpet, fireplace and two lanais looking out on a canal. Ms. Thompson, a 59-year-old interior designer, said it was built in 1974 with Palm Springs, Calif.-style architecture.

"When Jeanine became the Realtor for the home, she told me she did a traditional house blessing," Ms. Thompson said. "I thought it was marvelous. I asked her if it was important to her and she said it was. So of course I said 'Yes' immediately. We would honor those traditions."

Ms. Standing Bear has previously spoken about Lakota culture at high schools and played parts in documentaries about the tribe. The Lakota are one of seven tribes together known as Sioux Indians, even though the name is an insulting French word meaning "little snake." Her famous ancestors include Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse.

She wore a light cotton dress, used at summer pow-wows, to Ms. Thompson's house blessing, rather than a full buckskin outfit saved for ceremonies performed on cold days. The outfit was embellished by beaded leggings and moccasins and her dark hair was tied in braids.

To begin things, Ms. Standing Bear picked up her deerskin drum and used it to reproduce Mother Earth's heartbeat — totally unlike the Hollywood caricature of Indian drumming, BUM-bum-bum-bum, BUM-bum-bum-bum …

"Grandfather, great spirit, thank you," she said.

Thick whorls of smoke curled from a fist-sized ceramic pot contains smoldering charcoal, sage, tobacco, sweet grass and cedar. Ms. Standing Bear blessed all with happiness and prosperity and carried the pot from room to room, spreading smoke with a feather fan. She walked clockwise through the house because it represents the circle of life. Appropriate words were spoken in each room, sometimes in her tribal language: "may they have good dreams." Or, "plenty to eat."

The dry herbs had been sent from South Dakota and burned fast, especially the sage. It was replenished throughout the ceremony as needed — a good sign, meaning the herbs were doing their job.

It ended after Ms. Standing Bear picked up a long, hand-carved cedar flute and played a few notes of "How Great Thou Art." On her instrument, it sounded mysterious and melancholy. The music is meant to bring spirits from all directions, who will surround the home and guard it.

Ms. Thompson and a mortgage consultant with the bank watched the proceedings respectfully, if not reverently.

Ms. Standing Bear, 47, became familiar with American house blessings at her childhood home in St. Paul, Minn., and at Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota, where her grandfather lived. When she moved to Florida seven years ago and became a Realtor, her mother was surprised.

"My mom said 'That's kind of ironic, an Indian selling land," Ms. Standing Bear said. "But I love it. My biggest passion is to help people find a home they can call their own."

She plans to get back to teaching or lecturing more about the Lakota Indians, based on a request her grandfather made before he passed away. She also shared some of his wisdom: you have two eyes, two ears and one mouth, so listen and watch twice as much as you speak.

Meanwhile, she's happy to perform the house blessings. Her mother, Sherri Standing Bear, thinks it's a good idea too. She said, "It gives you a good feeling, to know that it's been rubber stamped, I guess you'd say in English. It's kind of like a guard against evil spirits. Good spirits are going to be around."