Moving My Blog

I realized today that many of the images associated with my blogs have disappeared.  Consequently I have opened a web site for shamanism and will be reconstructing and migrating all of my old shamanism blog posts to that site.  You can find me at:

http://www.themoderndruid.net/

Please, please, if you downloaded any of my old blog post (and if you did I am honored and grateful) please email the posts to me.  I would especially appreciate receiving a copy of the Drum Build post from 2011.

I will not longer be posting on Blogger because of the missing images.  New shamanism posts as well as old posts that I have migrated will be on the above web site.



Thanks for following me!!!

Thank You

I'm back and I wanted to thank all of you who have continued to visit my blog since my last posts in March.  You might remember me writing about my mother back in March after her stroke.  She had a series of strokes after that and passed away in May.  Shortly after that my father (89 years old) was diagnosed with a malignant tumor.  I have been sort of busy taking care of family.  Thank you again for staying with me through this.  I'll get back to posting about shamanism.

Know Your Story

Shamanism has three goals, at least according to me.  These are (in my order of importance):

1. Know who you are,
2. Maintain a close connection with Spirit, and
3. Serve others from a place of respect, love and compassion.

Why doesn't service to others come first?  Well, because (again according to me) one can't serve others without first know her/him self, and without maintain a close connection with Spirit.  Shamanic practitioners are sometimes referred to as "hollow bones"; that is, a conduit through which Spirit can flow to others.  We work with Spirit, the Spirits of nature, beings from the lower and upper world.  Without that connection we are, at best, good conversationalists.

So, let's take a look at knowing ourselves.  We are all screwed up; at least I know that I am.  I look at my parents and how they raised me and my four younger brothers, and they were a mess.  They had no idea what they were doing; but neither did their parents . . . And guess what, my three boys probably think that I'm a mess too.  Try as I do not to repeat the mistakes that I think that my parents made, I'm creative enough to invent my own.

I look at my students at the university where I teach.  They are 18 and 19 years old trying to pick out a major that they will study for the next four or more years.  Sad thing is, they really don't have enough maturity or experience to pick a life-long career at that age.  I didn't think that I really knew what I wanted to to until I was in my mid-30's and changed my career.  I left the business world and got a Ph.D. so that I could profess. Now that I'm in my 60s I sort-of-kind think that once in a while I have my act together.

In Western cultures we spend an inordinate amount of time planning, and that means planning for the future but very little time looking at how we got where we are today.  That's too bad, because if we can change our stories, we can change our lives.  Part of that requires that we look back and see what our story is.

You might want to try an exercise that I spent a couple of hours on this past weekend.  I decided to diagram a road map of my life.  I knew where it started so I drew a straight line until I came to the first big fork in the road.  The early forks in the road, decisions that were made, were made by my parents, but they affected my life.  So I drew the fork in the road and put a question mark on the path not taken and continued along. Sometimes I realized that I took a path, decided that it was the wrong one and backtracked and took a different path.  I labeled and dated all of the paths so I could keep track of the major decisions and see how each fork in the road led to other forks.  Some of the paths had smiley faces, others had sad faces with tears, or mad faces; I included my emotions on my map, not just places, events, accomplishments and failures, and decisions.   At the end of a couple of hours I had several pieces of paper all taped together.  Then I put my map away.  

Actually I was tired of looking at it. But the next day I got it out and started to analyze it.  I looked for repeating patterns, both good and bad.  I appreciate the good patterns and hope to replicate them, and identified the dysfunctional patterns so that I could make sure that I don't repeat them. There are some life lessons, like high school, that I really don't want to relearn.  You know, got the t-shirt and I'm not going back there again.

I also found a couple of stories on my life map that I want to change.  For those I'm going to take some shamanic journeys, cut etheric cords and change the outcomes of those events.  Guess what, time isn't linear and we are affected by events in the past (obvious, no?) and also by events in the future.  Shamanic journeys give us the ability to move in time and make changes to our stories.

Anyway, you might find the life map exercise enlightening, that means one that you can learn from.  In any event, live in peace and joy, and don't just let life happen to you.  

Dave

Journey for Steve

This is a summary of a shamanic journey that I undertook for Steve (name and some personal details have been changed to protect his identity).  I held a video interview with him on Skype and then he completed and email consent and personal history forms to me (one page each).  We set up a time for an audio Skype session.  Both of us would be laying down with our eyes closed so a video Skype session wasn't needed.  Here is the summary:

Steve is a 45 year old, divorced male.  He was experiencing a number of symptoms including constant Headaches, slight sickness in stomach, abdominal pain with cramps, and painful urination. He reported heavy tobacco use, moderate to alcohol usage, and denied narcotic or recreation drug usage.  He reported to have good relations with both of his parents and his ex-wife.  He as a few friends at work but doesn't go out with them outside of work.  We enjoys watching sports but doesn't participate in any physical activities other than work (he is a machinist).

I undertook a journey for Steve and used a portal that I had recently discovered.  I start the journey walking alongside a stream, against the current.  Following the stream I come to a small, wide waterfall that hides the entrance to a cave.  By walking around the side of the waterfall I am able to enter the cave without getting wet.  Walking down the path in the cave I quickly see a opening through which light is streaming and walking towards the light I find myself in the underworld on a path next to another stream.  The stream is on the right with a field on the left.  A forest appears on the far side of the stream.

Today I was met, as is usual, by Raven and Bear.  Raven has been with me for as long as I have been journeying.  Bear appeared recently.  Bear usually gives me a hug when I appear and then drops to all fours and I place my hand on his neck as we walk together.  Raven usually does all of the talking.  I asked Raven where we were going and Raven responded, “Follow me.” so we did.  He led us around a corner where we found Steve sitting on a log in deep shade.  I could tell it was Steve, although he was more slender than Steve’s 220 pounds and looked like a man in his mid- to late 30s even though he is now 45 years old.

Raven flew around Steve a few times and then landed on my left shoulder.  I asked Steve who he was, expecting him to tell me that he was Steve, or at least part of him.  He responded with, “I am heart.”  I responded with, “You mean that you are Steve’s heart?” and he replied, “Yes, I am.”  I asked why he was here sitting in the dark when there was so much light in the field.  He explained that he hurt too much during a separation and decided to leave and the he felt best alone in the dark.  I told him the Steve needed him to come back and Raven started to fly around him again.  He finally agreed to return, I put my arm around his shoulder and we started to walk back to the tunnel.

I was thinking that this was really easy.  We seemed to walk for a long, long time, much longer than it had taken us to arrive to where Steve was sitting.  Finally Steve’s heart said that he was tired and that he wanted to sit down.  I looked and we were back at the same log, in the same place where we had started out together.  After resting for some time we got up to leave and started walking again.  This cycle repeated itself three more times with us always returning to the same place.  The fourth time that we returned to the same log I looked carefully at Steve and detected a dark shadow within his chest.  I reached my hand inside and pulled out what looked like a large, oblong, black balloon made of leather, roughly four inches in diameter and about a foot long.  The balloon was sort of moving and pulsating.  I reached into my bag and pulled out a knife and slit the bag open and a flock of hundreds of yellow butterflies escaped from the bag.  Steve looked up, saw the butterflies, and said one word, “Love.”

This time when we stood up to leave we were quickly able to arrive at the entrance to the tunnel, walk back to the cave and through, not around, the waterfall.  That water felt refreshing and cleansing.  The 30 minute drum track that I was using had just started the callback at this point.  I looked down and saw Steve, the physical Steve, lying on a blanket.  I took Heart Steve into my hand, he was now small and wispy, put him into my Native American Flute, closed all the flute wholes with my fingers and blew Heart Steve into Steve. 

Once again I thought that all had been accomplished when I saw Heart Steve sit up inside of Steve.  It appeared that the two Steves were superimposed on each other and Heart Steve was sitting up so that he protruded from Steve’s chest.  He looked at me and said, “I need the butterflies.”  I replied, “Of course, here they come.”, when all of the sudden hundreds of yellow butterflies streamed into Heart Steve.  When the last butterfly disappeared Heart Steve too seemed to melt back into Steve.  I noted that a yellow aura had begun to build around Steve with the arrival of the butterflies and then that it was quickly absorbed into Steve.  All of this happened so fast that the absorption of the yellow aura coincided with the ending of the callback on the drumming track. 

My analysis is that sometime during Steve’s separation and divorce he had lost the ability to love or feel love.  That left a whole in his being that he was trying to fill with other substances.  The return of Heart to Steve should fill that void and I expect, with that his other symptoms will start to fade away, as should his reliance on substances as substitutes for love.

Why Shamanic Journeys are Possible

I have written before about shamanic journeys and here is a list for quick access to some of them.  I have had a few questions about why it is even possible to journey. 

When we journey we enter into an altered state of consciousness and that makes it possible for us to sense other realities.  We live in a three-dimensional world (four dimensions if you consider time to be a dimension).  However, physicists have developed mathematical models that indicate that we exist in a multi-dimensional universe with at least 11 dimensions.  Here is a link to a Nova page on imagining multiple dimensions.

In any event we seem to live in universe where we are only able to sense three dimensions, and our ability to sense energy within that three-dimensional universe is severely limited.  Image for a minute that we live in a two-dimensional universe; a universe that exists like a page in a book.  In such a universe we wouldn’t know that there were other pages in the book, pages above and below the page that we lived on.  Beings on those other pages could go happily about their lives as oblivious to us as we were to them.  If we were suddenly able to sense and move in three dimensions then we would discover that we had neighbors above and below us and that we could “jump” into their universe.  To them, we would appear to have arrived out of nothingness.  They were alone, content in their universe, and in an instant we suddenly appeared.

The upper and lower worlds may exist as other dimensions that we are only able to access when we enter an altered state of consciousness and are able to traverse dimensions.  A second explanation is that there are vibrational differences between the lower world, our world, and the upper world.

At the most basic level everything is energy.  From time-to-time my boys play a game with my.  One will ask, “Dad, what is bread made out of?”  and I will respond, “Well kido, bread is made out of flour, water, salt and sugar, and yeast.”  One will then ask, “Dad, what is wheat made out of.”  To which I will respond, “Wheat is a complex carbohydrate with some protein molecules.”  Another boy, now knowing where the game is going, will ask, “So, what makes up complex carbohydrates.”  and the response is always, “Carbon and hydrogen atoms.”  Of course we haven’t gone far enough so another boy asks, “What are carbon atoms made from.”  You know, “Carbon atoms are made from a nucleus of protons and neutrons with six electrons arranged in two shells around the nucleus.”  It’s probably hard being my son, don’t you think?  “Well Dad,” another asks, “what are neutrons made out of?”  The answer is always “Subatomic particles, two down quarks and one up quark.”  We final get to the end and I am asked, “What are quarks made out of?” and I say “Whirling fields of energy.”  We are really all well-organized whirling fields of energy.

Unfortunately we are not built to sense all forms of energy, all possible wavelenghts.  Think about the known electromagnetic spectrum.  It ranges from gamma waves that are 0.000001 of a meter long to energy waves that are 100 megameters long and a megameter is about 621 miles long . . . that’s a long wave.  If we could see a megameter it would look, from our vantage point, like a straight line.  The following table shows how little of the total know spectrum we are able to see and hear.

So where is this going.  Well it might be that the lower world exists at a vibrational level that is slightly slower than what we are normally able to sense and that the upperworld is at a slightly higher vibrational level.  When we enter an altered state of consciousness we either slow down or speed up our consciousness so that we are able so sense the other vibrational levels.

In the end, it doesn’t really matter whether we sense another dimension or sense new vibrational levels when we journey.  What matters to me is that shamanic journeying is possible and that it can be used for good.  If you haven’t tried going on a shamanic journey, give it a try.  You will come back with a new sense of what reality really is and what is truly possible.  You are more than you ever thought.

FRAGILITY OF LIFE

Hi all.  I have been away for a few days and so this is going to be a little more personal than usual. So if you don't like personal blogs then please come back tomorrow and I'll be my usual self again.

Pulling Away

My 86 year-old mother (that sounds a little funny, like I have another mother who is not 86 years old . . . oh well . . .) recently suffered a massive stroke and I flew across the U.S. to spend some time with her. She is not doing very well physically, emotionally or mentally so it was a pretty hard trip.  Our roles reversed while I was there and I was the one feeding the baby food to her.  I suppose in her mind that was especially difficult because, while I don't remember her feeding me, I'm sure that she remembers when she use to spoon baby food into my mouth. The whole experience reminded me how fragile life is and that it is important that we not just enjoy, but cherish and love every second of it.

While sitting with her I entered into my shamanic world and remembered how we are all connected, really connected.  Saying that we are connected is not an empty, happy-talk phrase in shamanism; it means that we are all one and what happens to one happens to all. There are energetic links that connect all of us together into a grand web of life. Some of the strands are thick and pulsate with energy while others are very fine and faint echos travel back and forth, but we are all connected. In fact, think of the structure of your brain.  It is a complex network of neurons that are all connected together with energy flowing from one neuron to another.  We are the neurons in the web of life.

Neural Network - - The Web of Life

Thus connected, I could feel her fear, her sadness, and her frustration.  I looked for her energy field and saw how faint and tenuous it was and I saw how weak and slowly her chakras  were spinning.  I was tempted to stand over her and wind her chakras up so that they would spin faster and draw more energy into her body but rather than acting impulsively I had the respect to ask her spirit first.  The reply was, "No, don't do that, the clock is slowly winding down and I am ready to move on.  She doesn't know that you are here, but I do, and thank you for asking."

The web that connects us is eternal and so I expect that sometime soon I will find her with my spirit guides and wisdom teachers when I visit the upper world.  When I do I will find the energy of the young woman who energetically cared for a small boy, not the energy of the frail shell that was laying upon a hospital bed.  

It is good to be connected and I thank you for connecting with me.  Love life and cherish each other because everyone is you.

Peace,

Dave

What is Shamanism?

The word "shaman" comes from Tungus language where it refers to a person who enters into an altered state of consciousness to facilitate a journey into non-ordinary reality.  Although the term is from Siberia, the practice of shamanism existed on all inhabited continents.

Shamanism is not a religion and it may not even be a spiritual practice.  However, it is the most ancient form of healing, practiced by humans around the world and it is a method for connecting and working with spirit.  Once in non-ordinary reality the shaman is able to request healing and advice from personal power animals animals, humans and other spirits including spirit guides and nature spirits. Spiritual healing is complementary to modern medicine, therapy and training. Often it is the missing link, the wind in the sails that allows healing, recovery and training to rapidly progress.

Is shamanism a religion?

A “religion” is usually defined as the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods.  Shamanism does not have any prescribed doctrines or belief systems.  In fact, shamanism doesn’t have any beliefs at all.  I learned from Andean shamans in Bolivia and Peru and they didn’t “believe” in spirit helpers like the Apus or mountain spirits.  They worked with them every day and knew them.  The Andean shamans didn’t believe  in spirits any more than they believed  that they wore clothing, ate food or lived in a home.  Shamanism isn’t a faith-based system, rather, it is experiential and so rather than  believing something shamans know because they have experienced.  If you begin to practice shamanism then you too will eventually come to that knowing.

Shamanism coexists with Buddhism and Lamaism in Siberia.  In Japan it coexists with  with Buddhism and Shintoism.  In fact in some Buddhist traditions a monk is ordained as a Shamana.  In South America shamanism coexists with Christianity and you will find shamans who place Christian symbols on their mesas.

So it if is not a religion, what is it?  It is a method, a way of working with spirit.  It is also a holistic approach to healing that can work alongside and with contemporary Western medicine.  A shaman’s role in society is not to convert others to a way of believing, it is to use spiritual means (as in working with Spirit) to help the people become well and whole, not to prove that his or her system is the only one that works.

Thanks for reading . . . I hope that you will read my other blog posts about shamanism.  There is a prettycomplete list at my website.  And then, I hope that your interest will be peaked and you will want to give it a try.

Parts Integration

I wrote about doing a soul retrieval for Maggie in my last blog.    The retrieved soul parts need to be integrated back into the client's life force.  This may happen automatically, as it did with Maggie, but sometimes a soul retrieval isn't enough.  In these cases it is helpful to teach the client how to take shamanic journeys on their own so that they can establish a relationship with their own spirit teachers and power animals.  After all, shamanism isn't about giving your power away to a spiritual authority figure, its about self empowerment.  In fact, I'm delighted and feel a great sense of fulfillment when a client tells me, "Thanks Dr. Dave, but I don't need you any more.  I can journey by my self and find what I need on my own."  That's the way that it should be.  That's the result of empowering others.

Spirit Guide and Power Animal

Back to parts integration . . . once an individual learns to journey alone to alternate states of reality they are able to call on their spirit helpers and power animals for guidance and information about how to work with the retrieved soul part to completely heal and finish the soul part integration.

How do you know if a retrieved soul fragment didn't completely integrate after soul retrieval? Here are some of the more common symptoms that my clients frequently experience:

• You don't feel like anything happened after the soul retrieval. This may mean that either the soul part returned in a highly protected state because of the nature of the trauma that it suffered and which caused its exit, or that you have become highly protected to avoid dealing with the feelings and issues that the soul fragment carries. Journey and ask your spirit guide and power animals what you need to do break down emotional barriers.
• I feel worse instead of better.  This is actually a good thing because it means that the soul fragment has returned the emotions that were lost or suppressed by the event that caused the soul fragment to leave.  This also means that now you need to deal with those feelings to completely heal.  Your power animals and spirit guide can help you deal with those emotions, to learn from them and become a stronger and more complete person.  
• Now I don't feel anything . . . I use to feel empty, now I just don't feel.  This probably means that you have a pattern of going numb to avoid feeling strong emotions and that the soul fragment has returned with some very strong emotions.  It also may mean that the soul fragment went numb at the time of its departure to avoid emotional pain and has now returned with the numbness that you feel.  In either case working with your spirit guides and power animals will help you find better ways of working with the emotions.
• Now I feel like an out of control kid again, I'm feeling too many emotions.  This is actually a good sign.  It means that your soul fragment returned with feelings.  Now you need to learn how to deal with those feelings and to confront the event that caused them in the first place.  Ask your spirit guides and power animals for help and wisdom.
• My soul part isn't doing anything.  No problem.  Soul parts don't do things, they carry information and emotions.  The work of your conscious mind is to discover their messages and learn from them.  Ask your spirit guides and power animals what message the soul fragment has brought to you.
• I feel like my soul part doesn't like me.  So?  What did you expect?  Why do you think that it left in the first place?  It was in a place where it didn't feel safe and comfortable and in the fight or flight response it took the flight option.  Now you need to work with it to make if feel welcome, loved and safe.  Listen to it with acceptance and understanding.  Your soul part may have left when you were a child and so it still acts like a child.  You are probably an adult now so work with your soul part as a loving parent would do with a small child.  Ask your power animals and spirit guides what your soul part needs to feel safe and accepted.  It probably wants to be listened to.

Believe in synchronicity, that is, that nothing happens by accident.  One of my power animals is Raven.  On my way into work yesterday I saw a long black feather on the road at the edge of our property.  It looked to be at least 12 inches long.  I drove by, lots to do at the office.  Sometimes I'm a little slow, about two blocks later I realized that Raven had left me a message, it was saying, see, I'm still with you.  I turned the car around, drove back, and picked the feather up off the road.  It's now a gift from Raven that I carry in my medicine bag. If you are open to messages from the other worlds and look for them, you will see them.

Remember that you are in control.  You can learn to journey and your journeys will empower you.  Your spirit guides are really your BFFs.

Live in peace and joy,

Dr. Dave

Journey for Maggie

This is the summary of a journey that I recently took for “Maggie Smith” (name has been changed). Maggie was involved in an accident while driving a friend's parent's new car. Although the accident wasn't her fault her former friend lost her insurance and car (dad refused to pay) and Maggie has been suffering from the negative energy of her former friend who blames her for everything that is now wrong with her life.

My first power animal is Raven who has taken to sitting on my shoulder when I visit the underworld and who sometimes lifts me up to the upperworld, even when I think that I will be visiting below.  Lately I have been greeted by a large brown bear when I exit my tunnel and enter the underworld; now I really know the meaning of receiving a "bear hug".  I was expecting to be met by Raven and Bear this time.  Instead I was met by an excited small rabbit that was hoping up and down.  I introduced myself and asked the rabbit who it was and rather than answering it just kept hoping up and down and saying, “This way! Come this way!”

Maggie's Rabbit

I had formed an expectation, based on Maggie's history, before I journeyed but what I found was not what I had expected.  At least not entirely.  I had expected a problem related to “mal de ojo” or negative energy directed at the client.  I had not expected to find a soul fragment.  I found Maggie, or part of Maggie, sitting in a dark black cage with spiders crawling on the door of the cage.  The door wasn’t locked but the presence of the spiders kept her from pushing the door open.  To me, the spiders represented negative energy directed at Maggie that kept her from finding release.  Negative energy can be directed towards someone either intentionally or unintentionally.

I sat down in front of the cage, and prepared to introduce myself when the rabbit did it for me.  It then hoped into the cage and sat on Maggie’s lap.  I asked Maggie what she was doing in the cage.  Over the course of the discussion it became clear that she had put herself in the cage because she felt guilt, unworthy of her friend’s affection.  She unconsciously felt responsible for the accident and the consequent problems that had beset her friend.  I asked her to relive the accident to see if there was a way that she could have avoided it . . . there wasn’t.  I asked her to view Maggie’s father and relive his decisions and see if there was a way to that she could have changed his actions . . . there wasn't.  I finally asked her if there was anything she could do to change her friends actions . . . there wasn't.  I told her, “See, all of these events were out of your control.  They happened but you didn't cause any of them.  There is no reason for you to be in a cage.  You don’t deserve to be here.  Are you ready to come out and rejoin the rest of Maggie, the Maggie that misses you and needs you?”  Maggie said, “Yes, but the spiders.  There are spiders on the door.”

I told her that I would take care of the spiders.  I looked down at my left hand which had suddenly felt a little heavy and found that I was carrying the long, thin dagger that had been given to me by one of my teachers in Peru.  I moved the dagger to my right hand, swung it and the spiders disappeared.  I told Maggie to open the door and come out.  While I could have opened the door for her I felt like it was important for her to make that move on her own.  We held hands as we returned to the tunnel, walked through it and floated back up to the above world where I blew Maggie back into Maggie.

That ended the trance.  However, I felt that more work needed to be done so I set up my mesa (Bolivian/Peruvian altar) inside a circle of cornmeal.  The base for the mesa is a piece of hand woven cloth that I acquired in Bolivia which I place upon the ground.  The mesa has Pachamama (Mother Earth) on the South represented by a piece of petrified wood (earth + nature), an Abalone shell for Mamakilla (Moon mother) on the East with sage and a Condor feather (air), Intitayta (Father Sky / Sun) to the North representing fire with a citrine globe, and Yakumama (Mother Water) on the West represented with a bottle of spring water.  The dagger is planted into the ground on the North side of the altar grounding Intitayta and connecting Him with Pachamama.  I did this outside and it was cold!  On the mesa I also placed three perfect, dry bay leaves, and egg, and a small bottle of brandy.  I asked Maggie to stand on the North side of the altar facing the altar; I was on the South and we were both within the cornmeal circle.

I explained to Maggie that she was afflicted with strong negative energy that had been sent to her by her former friend.  This negative energy had created snake-like cords that were connected to her and which were slowly sucking, draining her energy.   I began by greeting each of the four directions and playing my welcome tune on my Native American flute.  I then reached down and touched the Earth and thanked Pachamama for her presence, I turned to the North and thanked Intitayta for his life-giving warmth. Turned to the East and West and thanked them for the breeze the cools the earth and brings the storms and for the water that nourishes us and the Earth.  I then invited them to join with us.  I also invited the Apus of the Blue Ridge Mountains to attend with us (Apus are the energies/spirits of high places in the Andes and I have found them in the Blue Ridge Mountains too; the oldest mountains on earth have very old Apus).  I pick up the three perfect bay leaves, fanned them out between my thumb and first two fingers, turned to each direction in turn, blew each on the bay leaves lifted them up as an offering.

I then lit a sage bundle, placed it in the abalone shell and used the feather to blow smoke at each of the four directions.  I then did the same to Maggie, wafting the smoke over her to cleanse her while she slowly turned around.  I put the abalone back on the mesa and withdrew the dagger from the earth, held it in my left hand, picked up the abalone shell with my right hand and with by breath blew smoke on both sides of the blade to purify it. Changing hands I then used the blade to cut the cords that were attached to Maggie.  The smoke made it easier for me to see where the cords were located. I blew smoke at Maggie and the subtle movements in the smoke indicated the locations of etheric cords which I could then sever with the dagger.

Once all of the cords had been cut I used my hands to “comb” Maggie’s energy field, shaking the energy off my fingers after each pass:   head, shoulders, arms, torso, legs, and feet.  I then passed the egg over her body.  This is an Andean technique where the egg is rubbed on a person to absorb negative energy.  I did this to remove any residual negative energy.  Finally  I took a mouthful of spring water and aspirated it on Maggie for a final cleansing.  I asked Maggie to envision a bright silver orb above her head and then to see the orb growing and encompassing her body.  I explained that this was a protective orb, her silver egg shield, that would keep negative energy from reattaching to her and that she needed to visualize this orb at least every morning upon awaking and every night as she prepares to sleep. (Please note:  this is something that everyone should do every day!  We are all surrounded by negative energy.)

Once Maggie was clean it was time to thank the energies that had attended the ceremony.  This ended with a libation to Pachamama; I poured the small bottle of brandy on the earth as a gift to Pachamama and all the energies that had attended.  They had lent their energy and deserved a gift in return, and the gift was given.  To close I played my bird song on my Native American flute to accompany all of the energies on their return to their homes.

History, Culture and Psyche

I was thinking yesterday, I know, it came to a shock to me as well.  I was thinking about what I learned about Mexico in the two years that I lived in Mexico City (D. F.).  I suppose that because I saw the people and their culture from the perspective of an outsider that I was able to see and appreciate the effects of history on culture and the combined effect of both on the collective psyche.  This was something that until then I had never noticed with my own culture.

Our Western cuture and psyche have been shaped by the history that we have inherited from the "Good Book".  It is a mythology that many have come to accept as recorded fact, true history as it were.  And what does that history contain?  Well how about a fall from grace resulting in an "original sin" into which or through which all of us are born.  This fall was a consequence of Adam and Eve eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (and why could knowing that be bad?) and resulted with their explusion from the Garden of Eden into a land that was cursed on their account.  If you grew up in a fundamentalist Christian home as I did then how does that view affect your culture and view of yourself?  I grew up seeing myself as fallen and corrupt and that doesn't help build healthy self-esteem.  I also grew up seeing Nature as hostile, a force to be reckoned with and subdued and although we refered to the earth from time-to-time as "Mother Earth" I never did feel a sense of support, love or longing for her like I should a real mother.

All of that changed with my first trip to South America in 1971.  I had dropped out of college and decided to move South for a few years.  I ended up working as a teacher in a literacy project teaching Quechua speakers in Bolivia to read Spanish.  I was young enough to be shaped by the experience and I it changed me forever.  I lived and worked with people who were part of Pachamama, the real Mother Earth.  They didn't live apart from nature, they were part of Nature and felt connected to Pachamama and Intitayta (Father Sky).   They were (they didn't just feel like it) a manifestation of the Divine Love of Mother Earth and Father Sky.  Poor and humble they had already inherited the Earth because they were part of it and connected to it.  No fallen state for them, how can you be fallen when you are part of the All That Is.

These wonderful, loving people gave me more than I was ever able to give in return.  How can the gift of a little Spanish compare to a view of my real self?  It can't and never will.  Like them I now reach down and touch Pachamama every morning and thank her, she who feeds and nourishes me, she who supports my every step.  I look into the sky and thank Intitayta for light and warmth.  I remember that every time I light a fire I am releasing sunshine that was captured in a living tree, my Earth Brother.  I lift my flute and greet the spirits of the South, East, North and West for they too are my brothers and sisters.  Finally I call upon my ancestors, those who went before me, who lived well and died well, to teach me what they learned and to walk with me.

We are all connected, you and I, and All That Is.  May you find peace and joy this day and all days.

The World Sleeps

It's cold today, real cold.  It appears that the "Siberian Express" has invaded the East Coast of the United States and has made its way all the way down to Central Virginia.  It was 4 degrees F (-15 degrees C) when I first got out this morning, and it has made its way clear up to 11 degrees (-12 degrees C) which will probably be the high for today.

So what is happening with Pachamama (Mother Earth) and Intitayta (Father Sky)?  Pachamama is deep asleep under a warming blanket of snow and it appears from the sun spot count that Sol, Intitayta, is taking a nap.  While they are both resting and storing energy for Spring this is a good time for us to send our energy and love to them.

I go out every morning to greet nature, even on cold mornings like this, and thank mother earth for her bounty and thank father sky for his warming energy.  I usually pour a libation on mother earth as a way of returning energy and showing thanks to her.  Today I took out a warm cup of herbal tea to pour upon my mother.  Rather that playing a tune for father sky on a flute I sent some aromatic smoke skywards to carry my prayers above.

I urge you to remember Pachamama and Intitayta, to call upon your ancestors and nature spirits. Give them thanks for what they have given us, show them respect and love, and ask your guidance and help.  If you don't have a prayer or aren't use to praying to All then use one of mine . . . modify it and make it your own.

You Are Enough

Some days I wake up confused.  Have you ever laid in bed wondering which was was out?  It happened to me this morning so I just took a minute and enjoyed the sense of confusion.  It got me thinking though about how confused the world can be sometimes and how that affects us.

For example, I was raised in a Christian home (although I left that faith long ago) where I was told that I was empty.  I need to find God, accept Christ and they would fill me up.  No wonder I spent years feeling confused and unworthy.  My rejection of my parents' faith led me to Eastern religions and I became a Buddhist monk only to discover that rather then being empty I was too full and I need to let go and empty myself.  If I use to be empty how could I now be too full; confused again.

That lead me back to the early 1970s when I worked on a project in Bolivia and spent my free time wandering the altiplano and the foothills of the Andes.  I found people who were neither too full nor too empty.  From my materialistic point of view they didn't have anything yet they were complete and happy so I started to spend time with their wise people, curanderos and brujas, talking with them and learning from them and along the way learned their language (Quechua) and started to see the world as they saw it.

For the next thirty years I took every excuse I could find to return to Bolivia and Peru, usually as a participant on a development project, but really so that I could learn more of the wisdom of the Andes.  One of the key teachings that I received from don Juan Carlos was that I was neither too full nor too empty.  That I was enough.  That I, like everyone and everything around me was full of Spirit and all that I need to do was remember and by remembering I would connect with all.

Spend some time today to connecting to the wisdom and Spirit within you and then sit in a quiet space and open to all that is good that surrounds you and interpenetrates your life.

Wisdom is Everywhere