30 Jul 2010
by adminin Dream Journal, Shamanic Journey
Right now in the Munay Ki harmony rites I am working with the Archetype of Huascar. Alberto Villoldo says this about Huascar:
“Lord of life; Lord of death. Historically, one of two sons of Pachakuti Inka (the Inka who read the prophecy of bearded men with sticks that spoke with fire who would turn the world upside down). Huascar was the keeper of the medicine teachings; he was killed by his brother who then negotiated with the Spanish. He became the harmonizing principle of the Lower World – the chaotic dark place of all creative potential. He/she is the renewer of the Earth and our own personal need of renewing our own earth, fields that are fallow, places that need aerating. The gift of Huascar is to harmonize our relationship with our Shadow.”
The other night I had a dream that there was a street parade similar to Mardi Gras or a Gay Pride Parade. While everyone was distracted with the parade going on, I noticed a giant golden cosmic egg above the parade. The egg in my dream reminded me of the Greek Creation Myth:
“In the beginning there was an empty darkness. The only thing in this void was Nyx, a bird with black wings. With the wind she laid a golden egg and for ages she sat upon this egg. Finally life began to stir in the egg and out of it rose Eros, the god of love. One half of the shell rose into the air and became the sky and the other became the Earth. Eros named the sky Uranus and the Earth he named Gaia. Then Eros made them fall in love.”
In this myth there seems to be an allusion towards the shadow portion of creation. In the dream I reached up to touch the egg and it cracked open and out poured a beautiful rainbow of Sepia shades. What we usually find beautiful about a rainbow is that it is multi-colored and rich, however this was not a colorful rainbow yet it was just as beautiful if not more beautiful. In the dream I kept reaching up and trying to somehow tap into the rainbows energy, unfortunately I woke up before I could access it.
A few friends have been telling me that they’ve been having dreams about Rainbows coming down to Earth. What is even more synchronistic is that the Viral Video of Yosemite Bear’s Double Rainbow is an internet phenomenon now. Bear lives in Mariposa, the small town I live in just on the outskirts of Yosemite. Bear was actually the person who was sitting right next to me in the sweat lodge ceremony.
Although a lot of people are making fun of his reaction, I actually find it beautiful and joyful. It is someone experiencing Gaia’s majesty. As we know, rainbows are never adequately captured on film. The experience must have been truly awesome to witness.
Then last night an amazing event happened. I stepped outside and was staring at the stars. Coming from the city where there are next to no stars, I’m always in awe of how vivid the stars are, you can also see the Milky Way on most nights. While gawking at the sky I noticed a star to the East that was more vivid than the rest. This star started swaying a bit. Thinking perhaps that I was swaying creating an optical illusion, I laid down on the ground to make sure I was completely still. The star kept swaying and started moving more and more. So I went inside and grabbed my roommate Jamie to come witness it and make sure I wasn’t hallucinating. He came out and was equally amazing. The star started blinking various colors; red, violet, blue, gold, orange, green and white. Now that I think about it…these are all colors of the rainbow. The star started moving more and more and would stop then zig zag. I told Jaime “Stars don’t move like that, neither do airplanes” and he replied “Yeah. But UFOs do!”. This is what I wanted to hear. I wanted someone else to say it before me.
He went inside and grabbed his Fiancé Heather. We all kept staring at it. I tried taking pictures and video but my camera is not efficient enough. It only took pictures of blackness. The object seemed to be searching for something on the ground by the movements it was making. I decided to flash my camera in the sky. The object replied with a flash. I mentally told it that we were peaceful and if it were peaceful that it was welcome to approach. The craft seemed to start getting closer. I started trembling, not out of fear but out of excitement and awe. But then the craft stopped coming closer and went back to whatever it was doing. We all went inside and I came out to look at it again but this time it just looked like a white star in the sky that was motionless. So I grabbed the Sirian Seal that Patricia had made me and put it on. I went outside again and it started moving and lighting up with color again. I decided to meditate but realized I couldn’t ground myself enough to get into a silent space. I went inside again and back outside and the craft was gone to my dismay. I wanted to see how it exited but missed out.
After calming down a bit I decided that I still had no idea what Huascar’s energy was gifting me or trying to express to me. I had already let it go another moon cycle than planned due to the fact that I didn’t feel I had gained what it was trying to express in my life. So I asked Huascar to speak to me in a dream. As if suddenly filled with morphine, I found myself dozing off very quickly. Perhaps this dream has the mysteries of my shadow self entwined within it.
Last night I had a dream that had my best friend from Highschool. This girl and I were completely inseparable. We were joined to the hip. When someone would see one of us without the other we were always automatically asked where the other one was. We separated ways in a very harsh manner due to various circumstances. In the dream we were completely friendly towards each other. We both realized that we had grown up and become different people. I went to visit some mutual friends that informed me that the girl and I had gotten married the other night. This confused me a bit as I had no memory. It was as if it was a drunken night in Vegas where we had gotten married and that I didn’t remember, but I seemed to be taking responsibility for it.
I decided I needed to talk to her and try to explain why we couldn’t be married, especially the sexual part of the marriage. But whenever I was near her I felt so much love that I couldn’t bring myself to say anything. So I decided to go with the flow and just be in the love and approach the sex subject when it arose, however it never did.
She joined me for the rest of my dream. I dreamed that we had visited the Phelps Family church of hate. We went there to clean their house but we were rejected and turned away. They wanted nothing to do with us. On the way out I stole a bag of Pixie Stix candy out of spite. My new wife asked me if it was a good idea to eat their candy or not due to poisoning. There are two interesting synchronicities to this part of the dream. The first one is that the new wife in the dream’s last name is coincidentally Phelps in real life. The second is that my friend Heather (not the one mentioned above) visited comic con and the Phelps family was there protesting “God Hates Fags” and “God Hates Geeks” and there normal hateful propoganda. Heather and other Comic Con people threw a counter-protest.
We then went to a body of water which we were hovering over and saw all these magnificent whales of different species. From our perspective the whales and the water seemed like Koi fish in a pond. The whales would circle around the water until it got to a certain part where there was oil and would just stop there. I explained that whales protect the balance of life when they encircle the water and that this oil spill was affecting them from being holders of that frequency.
We then went to another lady’s house to clean it and she rejected us as well. For some reason I stole this plastic crystal which was glowing all these different colors (rainbow symbolism again?). The weirdest part about this synthetic crystal was that I could twist and turn various parts of it almost like a Rubix Cube. I woke up while playing with this crystal. The weirdest part is that I don’t steal in waking life. So I don’t know why I was stealing these objects from people who had rejected our help out of spite.
14 Jul 2010
by adminin Shamanic Journey
The time had come to open the fourth chakra-seed planted in me during the Harmony Rites of Munay Ki. I set up the ritual and honored the directions as usual. Called in Spirit and then began to bring the energy of the fire to my heart chakra to open up the archetypal totem spirit of Eagle and Condor. Something I didn’t understand was how these two seperate birds were supposed to be one totem and not two, but then I found out as I worked with the energy. When the fired died down, Eagle and Condor did not dissapoint me by appearing energetically. I didn’t see anything with my eyesight or third-eyesight, but I felt them. I felt them energetically in the room. It just felt like the energetic movement of massive wings within the pitch black atmosphere.
So why was Eagle and Condor one energy? This was my question. I try not to do too much research on the totem I’m opening until after I’ve opened it. That way I can try to feel out the energy without bias leading. What I had discovered about Eagle and Condor was that the energy was linked to Native Prophecy.
“The Elders of this continent remember and talk about a prophecy that foretold how we will come together and reunite as one. We are like a body that was broken into pieces and this body will come back together to be whole again. They speak about this in the South, Center and North.
Our Elders tell us that we will unite and get our strength back like many arrows that will not be broken. They remember the history to keep the fire alive. We have to come together to be one, to have complete understanding. The main tool used was the arrow because our ancestors all over the continent were hunters. In time they added this arrow to a sacred bow. This bow is used all over this continent and is what we call the half moon. They knew we would be around and this bow would be again in the center, marking the direction that we should take. If we take a step we send this arrow to follow.
All of our people have to make a new design for our children and the future generations. They said it is written in the stars and we have to make this work so they can move the spiritual energy. This will begin a new time when we can take the Spirit in our own hands when the Eagle and Condor reunite.”
-Willaru Huayta
Read more about the Eagle & Condor Prophecy
And it’s true. This prophecy is spoken about by the Native Americans of the North, the Mayans of Central America and the Peruvians of South America. What is especially exciting about these times we live in is that the prophecy has been recently fulfilled. Check out the video below:
“Four years later, at the annual Feast of The Return of the Pleiades taking place in the Andes, the gathering of 70,000 pilgrims from South America were awed, and the crowd parted to let the Q’ero, unannounced and wearing the Incan emblem of the sun, make their way forward to the mountain top to make known that the time of the prophecies was at hand. They were welcomed by theassembly and were told, “We’ve been waiting for you for 500 years.”
Recently, Q’ero elders journeyed to North America in fulfillment of their prophecies.
In November 1996, a small group of Q’ero, including the tribal leader and the head shaman, visited several cities in the US, including New York, where they performed a private ceremony at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.
The shamanic ritual had not been performed for 500 years. But in thevery home of those who symbolized the former conquerors of their Incan ancestors they shared their ritual and knowledge, not only with interested Westerners who were learning their ways, but also with the Dean of the great cathedral, thereby symbolically and spiritually linking the two continents of North and South America.
According to ancient prophecy, this is the time of the great gathering called the “mastay” and reintegration of the peoples of the four directions.
The Q’ero are releasing their teachings to the West, in preparation for the day the Eagle of the North and the Condor of the South (the Americas) fly together again.
They believe that “munay,” love and compassion, will be the guiding force of this great gathering of the peoples.
The new caretakers of the Earth will come from the West, and those that have made the greatest impact on Mother Earth now have the moral responsibility to remake their relationship with Her, after remaking themselves,” said Don Antonio Morales, a master Q’ero shaman.”
-Willaru Huayta
Read more about the Eagle & Condor Prophecy
The prophecy reminds me much of the Jim Henson movie “The Dark Crystal” from the eighties. In the movie there are two race of beings, the gentle mystics and the cruel skeksis. The skeksis live in a tower with a crystal that is missing a shard from when it is cracked. When the shard is finally replaced the skeksis and mystics become whole and are these enlightened beings of light. Of course this is an over-dramatic representation with vast and more extreme duality. The message is about integrating various aspects and energies and peoples to unite towards enlightenment. I think this energy helped me integrate another system of Shamanic experience I was unexposed to before.
I know next to nothing about North American Shamanism (Eagle) because the bit of training and work I’m doing is South American Shamanism (Condor). But without thinking about it I had the urge to make a smudging prayer feather like the North American Natives use. So I grabbed a piece of wood and some beautiful feathers I had collected and created a smuge feather with crystals and gems and wire wrapping. I placed a peacock feather in the middle for psychic empowerment. The smudging feather was beautiful but it wasn’t really functional. So I was talking to my friend Kirstyn about how I wish I could get some Eagle feathers so that it would pick up and push wind better. She informed me that it is illegal to sell or buy Eagle feathers and that it would be next to impossible to obtain legally. So in response I said that I would settle for some strong Turkey feathers.
The very next day on my way to work we were driving down the road when my friend Heather spotted a dead turkey on the road and feathers that littered the side of the road. Hit wild animals are not a rarity up here in the mountains. So as we were driving past it she said “Do you want to collect some Turkey feathers for your thing”. Something I hadn’t even thought of. I asked if she was serious and she turned around. We got out of the car and approached the dead Turkey. I gave it my personal blessing and thanked it for the feathers I was going to collect from the side of the road. We found a few large feathers in great shape in the tall grass. So I took them home and cleansed them both energetically and physically sterilizing them and incorporated them into my now functional Smuding Feather. I feel I was drawn to create a smudging feather subconsciously due to the incorporation of the North American Energies of Eagle and I believe that the feathers were somehow a gift from the energy of Eagle as well.
About a week later I was feeling very lazy and decided to take a nap. Kirstyn’s dog Houdini decided that it would be a great idea to take a nap with me and cuddle. So I fall asleep and am in a deep REM state dream when houdini (who was dreaming) started kicking his legs lightly while dreaming. For some reason this kicking knocked me into a state that felt like between dreaming and being conscious within this reality. I believe this allowed me to spontaneously astral project, an experience I have only experienced once, and not to this degree. It was so vivid and real. I could smell and feel and taste. At first I thought I was awake. So I sat up and I left the room and stepped out of the house. I soared above the trees and did flips in the air. I had a realization that astral projection is an ability/gift the heart chakra has. I was told by Spirit that the Himalayas are higher altitude so it easier for them to astral project and connect with information, and that it will be easier for me to project up here and learn. (I have no idea what altitude has to do with anything). I still can’t get over how vivid it was. Each tree in the astral was such a wise ancient being. I had this violet/silver rope of energy attached to me while I flew that made me feel secure. I believe it is the “silver cord” people talk about when they talk about astral projection. Most of all the experience filled me with such joy. I felt “changed” from the experience somehow. I was soaring wingtip to wingtip with Spirit.
Another week passed when Kirstyn and her husband Chet invited me to come join a sweat lodge with them. Kirstyn is part Native American. I enthusiastically said “yes”. This was another great synchronicity of North Native energy appearing in my life. I didn’t know what to expect. I started hydrating intensely to prepare for the ceremony. I arrived to a large fire with lots of friendly faces. I was told that I was to take some tobacco and say a prayer and throw it into the fire. So not knowing exactly what to do I decided to just use the energy I was familiar with and remember that I am a visiting guest without any knowledge, but I wanted to make sure it was a sacred prayer to me. So I took the tobacco and blessed it in each direction and the totem of that direction and cast it into the fire. Then we all entered the sweat lodge. Before entering each one of us was smudged head to toe and then had to ask permission to enter from the person guarding the enterance. The men and women were divided onto different sides of the lodge. The man leading the ceremony began to explain that when the enterance closes then no one is permitted to leave until the songs are all sung and the enterance is re-opped before the next round. So with deer antlers he begins bringing the burning stones into the pit in the center of the sweat lodge. He explains that entering the sweat lodge is like re-entering the womb. It is a place for prayer and rebirth and that everyone leaves a bit different. He then proceeded to say that spirits or lights will enter and not to be afraid of any of them. The light beings are there to help out and if you feel uncomfortable to confront the spirit and test it, very similar in the way of how the Christian Bible says you should test spirits. He brings in two large buckets and blesses them. He half-jokingly says “This is a time of prayer. If you do not know how to pray, that you will definitely know how to by the end.”
So he throws the water on the fire and people start singing very beautiful Native American songs from different tribes. The heat and steam is something I have never endured. I will be the first to admit that heat makes me very uncomfortable and very grumpy. But like I said, this was nothing like I had ever experienced. I started with excitement which slowly turned into panic. I felt like I was dying. My mind flashed to the recent knews of James Arthur Ray (one of the speakers from the documentary “The Secret”) and the sweat lodge he had conducted ending up in killing two people and injuring and hospitalizing numbers of others.
But then I re-assured myself that this was done by real natives for spiritual reasons and not to exploit people and that they know what they’re doing. I remember touching my hair and feeling like it was going to melt off any moment. I also remembered what the sweat leader had said about the spirits that were there to help out. By this time I was definitely seeing energies. To me slightly resembled the movement of koi fish swimming in water. They were swirling all around and very vivid in the pitch black darkness. But I could care less. I was in survival mode. They didn’t phase me at all. All I cared about was not feeling this unbearable heat. When the enterance finally opened I found myself having to pee really bad. I had been hydrating intensely all day to try to prepare for the event. I asked for permission to exit and the leader said that if I wasn’t back in time for the enterance to close that I would have to sit it out. So after using the bathroom I had this intense moment with myself. I was so grateful to be out of there and breathe air. I didn’t want to re-enter. It was too much. So I stood there and decided that I had been too excited about this experience to chicken out now and leave and miss out on such an amazing experience. For me this was an extremely powerful moment of personal empowerment and realization. So I re-entered.
The second round was even worse. Before the first song was over I was down on the ground facing the embering stones (this is the coolest and least steamy part of the sweat lodge. I was clutching at the Earth trying to ground myself and try to survive. I felt like I was struggling for my life. Then I surrendered. I decided that I felt so close to death that I was just going to let go and stop fighting and trust that Spirit will take care of me. So instead of clutching the ground in survival mode I took my finger and drew the Reiki Symbol “Cho Ku Rei” on the ground and started sending energy to the Mother Earth and thanking her for letting me be within her womb. Then I asked the spirits and Great Spirit for their help. I realized how thankful I was for the gift of life, to have lungs that breathe, and a heart that pumps blood. By the third round I was much better. I started singing along with the other people. I had no idea what the words were but kind of picked it up as I went along. I just sang with an open heart my own personal song of surrender to Spirit, that was my intention behind the songs I was singing along with. Once I started doing this I could feel the energy of the songs that they were singing. The voices swirled around the lodge and you could feel it moving as an energetic force. By the fourth and final round I was a bit sad that it was ending. I came out “reborn” with a new trust in Spirit to take care of me if I just surrender.
One of the main lessons I’ve learned about this energy is that it’s about being pushed out of the nest and learning to fly. Eagle and Condor are contained in the heart chakra. To me this is symbolic in my life when it comes to my issues of emotional co-dependance. I tend to keep myself in a pattern of relying on others. And I contribute to this by over-giving to the people I care about. Whether it’s money or emotional support. Sometimes I over-give which can sometimes lends to a pattern of people taking it for granted and draining me while lifting them up. This tends to keep me in a pattern of relying on other people. It’s a self-destructive pattern with good intentions. This energy has taught me that this is my journey and that I need to set boundaries and take care of myself. I need to throw myself out of the metaphorical nest of a comfortable pattern of living and learn to provide for myself first and others second if I am ever to soar. I’ve learned that my happiness shouldn’t be based on what others are feeling in their life. I have no control over anyone’s thoughts or feelings but my own and that I can’t take those things personally. I can give with love and still give to myself with love whether it is returned or not. For me this energy is about taking complete responsibility for my life both emotionally, financially, spiritually and physically and not relying on others. This energy is about learning to integrating different emotional aspects, learning to protect myself , go after my prey (or dreams – what I want in life) and learn to rely on Spirit. It is also about learning to speak up for myself and not let my heart, mind or soul be taken advantage of. Ted Andrews agrees in his book Animal Speak:
“To align oneself with eagle medicine is to take on the responsibility and the power of becoming so much more than you now appear to be. From a karmic aspect, it reflects that the events will now fly faster, and the repercussions for everything you think, do or say (or fail to think do or say) – positive and negative – will be both stronger and quicker. To accept the eagle as a totem is to accept a powerful new dimension to life, and a heightened responsibility for your spiritual growth. But only through doing so do you learn how to move between worlds, touch all life with healing, and become the mediator and the bearer of new creative force within the world.”
- Ted Andrews
Animal Speak
12 Jul 2010
by adminin Poetry
In the beginning there was the Word
The word was vibration
The vibration was frequency
The frequency was light
The light was love
And the light filled the heavens
Like holes punched into a black canvas
Strewn in patterns of spirals
Designs of the infinite
The stars in the sky
do not want to be admired.
They do not judge
Nor is their light conditional
They shine and pulsate
as if singing in Morse code
Despite the void around them
And the distance from one to another
They do not dim their lights
When Erebus spreads his wings
They do not with-hold their love
But rather become more radiant
Every element that composes you and I
Was composed from stardust
Once upon a time
During that orgasmic Big Bang
When the Creator gave us life
She gave us one commandment
As she breathed life into us
She whispered softly “Shine”
23 Jun 2010
by adminin Shamanic Journey
It was time to open the third chakra-seed planted in me during the Harmony Rites of Munay Ki. I called the winds and did the ceremony, feeding the flames into the chakra to open the seed. After the fire had died down I had awaited for hummingbird’s “dramatic” entrance like the other totem archetypes had. But there was nothing but silence. So I remembered what a wise friend had told me once about how we always want gifts but we never want to give when it comes to energetic beings. So in my minds eye I created a beautiful flower and gave it as an offering. A few seconds later I felt a small pin sized vibration on my right big toe (I was sitting cross legged on the ground). Then I could feel the fluttering energy of the bird. I think this was a “thank you”. I call it my hummingbird kiss. When I entered the living room someone was watching television. The first word spoken on the television was the word “hummingbird”. It actually stopped me dead in my tracks. Synchronicity at its finest. This archetypal energy would set me on a new life path.
“Although tiny, this bird manages to navigate thousands of miles in its yearly migration from Canada to Brazil. It never loses its sense of direction or its drive to press forward, and never wonders if it has enough food or strength for its voyage. In the domain of the mythic, we are all like hummingbird, on a grand voyage and yearning to drink only from the nectar of life. When we don’t perceive our journey as sacred, we become mired at the level of the mind and its complicated analysis of the world. From hummingbird we perceive all of our experiences as part of an epic journey.”
- Alberto Villoldo
The Four Insights: Wisdom, Power, and Grace of the Earthkeepers
A lot of things have come to pass since the opening of this seed. I left behind the city I was living in, Long Beach, for the unknown. I realized in my heart that I wanted to fill myself with love and higher vibrations. I started noticing things that were keeping me from this; my work, my relationship, my situation and circumstances. So after much internal debate I decided to jump into the unknown. Like the fool in the Tarot deck I was just going to jump off the precipice and trust that Spirit would take care of me. This has brought me up here to Mariposa (Yosemite) to be with dear friends of many years that are close to my heart and near the sacred Mother Earth. I remember when I arrived asking if any hummingbirds had come to the house and everyone said they’d never seen one on the property.
After a few days of being here I decided to do a space clearing / land healing. Space clearings are used for environments that feel uncomfortable or are toxic. Physical and metaphysical techniques are used to clear entities, electromagnetic pollutions, stagnant water, negative thought forms or emotions. So my dear friend Kirstyn wanted to participate so she helped me “hold space” while I went about calling all the negative and unbalanced energy in the land to be cleared and healed as Isabella had taught me. It was a lot more intense than we had expected but it seemed to work. The land seemed so much more peaceful and calm afterwards. So at the end I drew energy from the eighth chakra in Peruvian Shamanism. I did this with my eyes closed and as soon as I did it the clouds parted from the sky and everything got brighter which I thought was pretty cool. About 20 minutes later I was sitting with Kirstyn outside and I was thinking “I wonder if everything getting brighter was a sign that I did it correctly?” when a hummingbird flew in from the NORTH and came up to me then came up to kirstyn then sped off, almost like it was acknowledging us. First sighting anyone has seen of a hummingbird. This was intense confirmation for me.
“It has the ability to move its wings in a figure 8 pattern – a symbol for infinity and links to the past and the future and the laws of cause and effect.
[...]
No other bird can fly backwards. This reflects the hummingbird’s ability to explore the past and to draw from it the nectars of joy. The hummingbird can help you to find joy and sweetness in any situation. Its swiftness is always a reminder to grab joy while you can – as quickly as you can.”
- Ted Andrews
ANIMAL SPEAK
What is interesting is that hummingbird comes from the North, which is also where the ancestors, grandfathers, grandmothers and ancient ones come from. I wrote a bit about ancestors here. This all makes sense now because hummingbird is also a time traveler, but not in the sense that we think of it. We have the ability to re-create our past by changing how we are effected by it. The past effects the present which effects the future. Check out the link above for more information.
We have the ability to draw happiness from everything, the way the wind blows, the light through trees, the smile of a stranger, the hug of a friend, inside our heart and we can draw this happiness from the past and future. But most importantly we can draw it from the present. One just needs to decide to be open to happiness and listen to Spirit when She speaks.
11 May 2010
by adminin Musings, Shamanic Journey Tags: ancestors, ancient ones, munay-ki, reiki, shamanism, totem
“Every book is a quotation; and every house is a quotation out of all forests, and mines, and stone quarries; and every man is a quotation from all his ancestors.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson
Right now I’m working with the energy of Hummingbird and learning it’s lessons. The Hummingbird is from the North and brings the energy of the Ancestors with it. This concept is fairly new to me. I’ve always been familiar with the idea of ancestors but live in a culture and time in which we have no regard for our ancestors; we have no regard for our family history or their land (which is usually our land too). So I decided to do some extensive research and meditation upon the concept of ancestors and why it is so important within shamanism in general.
To my understanding there are two types of ancestors; genetic and lineage ancestors. The genetic ancestor is the one whom you’ve received all of your genetic traits from. Their blood is the blood that pumps through you. Their DNA is within your DNA. The lineage ancestor can be a genetic ancestor but not always. It has been believed within many cultures that genetic ancestors not only passed along genetic traits such as eye color, skin tone and hair color but also spiritual abilities and gifts. But one might be attuned to Reiki but not be Japanese or related to the passing down of these spiritual gifts and abilities. Dr. Usui (the “founder” of Reiki) also stressed the importance of ancestor reverance in the Gokai stating “Just For today I will honor my parents, teachers and elders”.
Honoring your ancestors links you to them at the genetic and spiritual level. On one hand you are linking yourself to the wisdom they held and the spiritual truths of their time. On the other hand you are celebrating yourself on a physical level where you are appreciating every bit of DNA that has transferred from the very first humans to you. It is love and appreciation from where you came from and what you are composed of. We also understand that our ancestors are us reincarnated and our children are also our ancestors reincarnated. By celebrating the ancestors you are celebrating yourself throughout time; past, present and future. This is interesting since the Hummingbird also represents time travel, all-time, and no-time.
Honoring your ancestors also releases you slowly of the karma you’ve inherited from them on the genetic (and spiritual) level. Honoring your physical ancestors is a way of forgiving them for their mistakes, more importantly it’s a chance to rewrite their history. It’s an opportunity to view them with honor and forgiveness and focus on the gratitude you have for them and releasing the not so honorable decisions they had. By learning to forgive and appreciate them, you are learning to forgive and appreciate yourself.
Alberto Villoldo gives a great example of how to honor your ancestors:
“Find a spot in your home (such as a shelf, windowsill, or fireplace mantel) where you can make a small altar, and then place a cloth on it. Next, arrange photographs or symbols of your ancestors on top. For example, if you don’t have a picture of your great-grandfather, you might put his ring or some other object he owned on the altar. You can also use slips of paper with your ancestors’ names or photographs of homes where your parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents were raised.
[...]
To honor your ancestors, place fresh flowers in a vace on your altar, or light incense. You may also want to bring your family members offerings from nature as the seasons change, such as shells or stones you pick up from the beach in summer, pinecones and dried leaves in the fall, and so on. Every time you change the offerings, thank your ancestors for the gifts they gave you, no matter how harsh it was for you to experience receiving them or how difficult it was to perceive them as gifts at all. Remember that history is not what actually happened but how you choose to remember it – that is, how it lives within you. Working with this ancestral altar, you change your family story at the mythic level, where tales are epic journeys, not the same old tired sagas of emotional or material success or failure.
Make a habit of stopping at your altar to reflect upon the gifts of your ancestors. Remember that you’ve chosen to rewrite your story, and in your revised version, your family members are not villains and you’re not a victim.
Keep in mind, too, that this altar must be a representation of the one you build inside of you. That is, what you create in your home should serve as a sort of spiritual Post-it note, reminding you to feel gratitude for the legacy you’ve been given and the lessons your ancestors taught you.”
-Alberto Villoldo
THE FOUR INSIGHTS: Wisdom, Power, and Grace of the Earthkeepers
I hold that the images placed on the altar can also include the ancestors of your lineage, for example, if you have received the Reiki lineage through attunements then place pictures and symbols of that lineage, if you’ve received the Munay-Ki but are not of Peruvian decent do the same with that lineage through pictures and symbolism. It’s important to remember that while we are our ancestors reincarnated, we are also all One. With this rememberance we realize that there is no distinction with Spirit and only with genetics.
05 May 2010
by adminin Poetry Tags: animals, Poetry, totem
To have the peacock mentality
A bird that doesn’t fly
But explores reality
With one hundred eyes
Like Alex Grey’s strokes of paint
Worn by Gods, Avatars and Holy Saints
Ancient tree roots for their feet
Well grounded and connected to the land
Never mute, it never tweets
Shares it’s truth with a voice that’s grand
29 Apr 2010
by adminin Shamanic Journey Tags: animals, archetypes, chakra, munay-ki, shamanism, totem
On the New Moon of April 14th it was time to open the second seed of the Munay Ki Harmony Rites through fire ceremony. After the flames died down and I was done “nourishing” the seed containing Jaguar that was placed in my Sacral Chakra, I sat there in darkness waiting for it to “sprout”. To my suprise, very much like the first seed, Jaguar had a similar entrance. Instead of the floor appearing to sink like last time, this time it appeared that the furthest wall was pushed back. The only way I can describe it is almost if the veil between dimensions alters a bit. But I did not “see” Jaguar like I saw serpent. This time it was more of “feeling” jaguar had stealthily entered, which was my first lesson/gift from this totem archetype. This majestic, powerful and potentially dangerous being did not have a dramatic entrance, instead it entered like a stealthy ninja blending in with the darkness itself. Jaguar knew it’s own power and didn’t have to prove it to me, it was egoless yet moved with sovereignty and caution. It knew it’s personal truth. I had a dream very similar to this later that week. In my dream I was a “Robin Hood” type figure who would blend in with my surroundings so well that it was like I was vanishing into thin air. In the dream I was a renogade, but I wasn’t afraid, I knew I’d survive. Interestingly Ifeanyi had a dream that she was speaking to me and my head morphed into that of a Jaguar. The fact that she even used the word Jaguar was really fascinating to me.
While Serpent had taught me to shed things internally within my emotions, psyche and thoughts, Jaguar energy hunted down external circustamces, and energies and events within my enviroment. After these things were stalked (brought to my attention) they were then devoured and transmuted. Serpent was more of a healing process while Jaguar seemed to be about clearing and creating sacred space to walk in within my life. While in Jaguar I noticed that I was having more spontaneous energy sightings. That is the term I use for when you have that blast of third eye opening and you see all the magnificent colors around you. It is very much like the veils slipping away for a second. With the clearing of external energies that no longer served me it seemed I was more open to the subtle energies around me. Perhaps this is because Jaguar is the being who takes you across the Rainbow Bridge. The Rainbow Bridge is the “portal” between this reality and “the other side”.
“Jaguar stands for sudden transformation, fire and death. It might seem odd to us that the transforming force in the Universe is also associated with death. That which endured was always changing and renewing itself. That which remained unchanging perished. The Ancient Americans recognized that chaos and order, expansion and contraction, were the natural cycle of life.” – Alberto Villoldo
To me the Rainbow Bridge is a perfect representation of Jaguar energy and what it does. I think of the story of Noah and the flood, after such chaos and destruction and cleansing the rainbow appeared as a promise of renewal. To the Norse and Navajo people the rainbow bridge spanned the distance of heaven and earth, so it was that connecting bridge. The early Christian Church believed that the rainbow apeared only on days that St. Peter opened the Pearly Gates of Heaven to let new souls enter, thus the re-occuring theme of moving into higher states. In Ancient Rome it was believed that the rainbow was the pathway of Mercury. Another great example would be our modern day story of Dorothy traveling over the rainbow to reach Oz.
In very much the same vein, Jaguar is a reminder of that feline energy of having “nine lives”. It is the Christ-like energy of death and ressurection – personal reincarnation within one lifetime. A reminder that sometimes we have to destroy that which no longer serves us so we can be reborn more pure for ascension. Jaguar is the boundary between life and death, this dimension and the rest, personal power and being grounded.
26 Apr 2010
by adminin Poetry Tags: Poetry, starseed
Come with me
Drop your ego and play with me
Bring your inner child to see
All these states when you are free
Secret visions and vibrations
Star Temples of hidden locations
Black canvas with piercing rays
Borderline of night and day
A place where you become lighter
Cleansed and bigger than your skin
Where time disappears and perception blends
And luminious beings touch your heads
Adoration
A place of personal exploration
As we discover outer space
and inner space
And all the places in between
And every sight left unseen
Hand in hand
With neighbors and far off lands
The expansiveness
Every hue of the rainbow
Glows and bestows
Singing frequencies of luminosity
Vibrations of pure curiosity
As fluid orbs move like lava lamps
The heros’ quest, the scholars’ test
The seekers’ blessed with the rest
Splendor!
The stars in the sky
Just extensions of you and I
As much as the lush grass under my toes
One entity exploring itself
While everything ebbs and flows
My consciousness is your consciousness
Our consciousness is the consciousness outside
Beyond and within
No time and alive
Where I feel you feel
And I know you know
Unified heart and third eye
No above and no below
Breathing in the Universe
As we build resonance
Painting this landscape with our dreams
Heaven aligning with you and me
The animals and the trees
Purity
Let’s teach eachother
Let’s grow together
Let’s heal one another
Let’s love forever
23 Apr 2010
by adminin Dream Journal Tags: archetypes, dreams
I had two weird dreams with some reoccuring dreams. There was one of those little red wagons that children play with. I was inside it laying on my back. In the dream I was a little girl in a dress. There were people sitting on the side who were adults and fully tied and bound. We were being pulled up this grassy hill by some figure. I couldn’t understand why the figure hadn’t bound me up like the rest of these people who I felt were my family members. When the figure had pulled us up to the top of the grassy hill I got out and there was this huge being that was made out of a pit. Like this pit within the earth was part of his face and part of his body. I felt like I was a sacrifice to this pit but instead of falling into the pit I was kind of hovering on my back. While hover these metal retractable antanae type things were coming out of both of our bodies and holes were forming on us too. It was like we were creating genders (the Pit and I) and when one of us would make a change, the other would change to the opposite to match. Finally I somehow made it to where we both had a single antanae and the pit being couldn’t “match” or “mate” with me. I also was no longer hovering over the pit but was lying down next to the pit. As I’m walking away from the pit, the pit is bellowing in outrage, saying the words that rang crystal clear “You could have had it easy, but you chose the hard path”. As I’m walking back my shoulder is somehow hurt and I’m bracing it with my hand. As I’m walking back I realize that I am either one of two people “important” people, I’m either Dorothy as a child or The Wicked Witch as a child, and I’m not sure which one I am. But the whole dream after the pit I had this weird realization that I was being shown something from before this incarnation, like a state inbetween incarnations but that it was being presented in metaphore.
The second dream I had right after that I was male again, I dreamed that I was doing energy healing on someone and I left the room for a second to go grab a rattle. I come back and the client is refusing to have me work with the rattle, I explain that I’m trying to seal up the person’s energy field so that entities cannot come into the person’s field because it’s left open from the energy work. The person is still refusing so although I disagree I respect their freewill and leave. The next thing I know I’m on a grassy hill and theres a lot of people, like a festival or something. I recognize a group of people from work and walk up to them. They are standing in a line. When I get up there they are talking about their brand new pink corvette. So I decide to leave their conversation and as I’m walking I fall to my knees. So now I’m crawling back. As I’m crawling back behind a line of people sitting on the grass (like they’re watching a performer or something) my shoulder suddenly gives out which causes me to stumble as I’m crawling, because I’m stumbling I fall into into a guy, he turns around and I apologize. I’m stumbling and crawling again and I fall into another guy who turns around and I apologize again. Then I woke up.
22 Apr 2010
by adminin Musings Tags: healing, reiki, shamanism, totem
Should spiritual healers charge for their healings? This is a topic of much debate, and people tend to be highly opinionated. How does a spiritually driven person balances their need to survive in a materialistic society with the need for piety? Some feel that one should not charge for services of the Higher Power. Others feel that the abilities and gifts are extremely valuable and should be honored with a form of an equal exchange of some sort, a love offering. We live in a society where money is the most highly regarded form of currency.
In the past healers and shamans were treated with great respect and were the first one turned to when illness occured or personal turmoil occured. These healers were recognized for their abilities and gifts and taken well care of within the community. People realized that these shamans and healers dedicated their lives to cleansing and healing themselves and connecting with the Higher Power. It was understood that one often had to work outside of the mainstream community to gain these insights and understand the nature of energy, dimensions and the psyche. One had to transcend the mindframe of the common person to acheive this and due to the time this took, a healer wasn’t able to support herself without the help of the community. In other cultures it was believed that the healing could only occur if a trade of energy occured, such as a gift or a sacrifice, to maintain balance. And what better form of sacrifice do we have today than money?
I believe another element in this whole equation is the belief in lack. The idea that there isn’t abundance in the universe is self-defeating unto itself. I believe one should be willing to give gifts or donations for services, spiritual or not. It is our personal investment. The reason being that when one truely desires a real healing, such as when one is dying, one seeks with an open heart and is willing to do anything to be healed. This is half of the healing process, as one destroys the limits of their mindframe of what their healing is worth and what the healing will acheive. In our western world we often view these healings as a sort of non-sense placebo effect because they don’t fit into our limited scientific dogma of what reality is. This again is a block to healing. Energy is energy, but there is always free will. What is one willing to invest in their spiritual healing or growth?
“If money is utilized to propel your work for Spirit to the greater community, to serve the light, to help make your world a field of light, then move forward. You share this source with others so that it is flowing through you to those of your communities, and all benefit.
It is greed, or a sense of unworthiness, that breaks the flow – not the flow itself – that shuts down the failed spiritual practitioner.” – The Sirian High Council Transition Now © Patricia Cori
It is interesting that our ideas of money and spirituality have been given to us by the richest powers in the world – Religion. Do you see the controling mind frame in this? The same institution that preaches that money is the root of all evil and that money and spirituality do not mix, is the wealthiest power in the world. Money is energy. Everyone knows this. Dollars are nothing more than symbolic pieces of paper expressing a concept. We do not complain when we throw our money at things that destroy ourselves or the Earth, yet we complain about investing money for our own spiritual growth and healing and wonder why our lives are so empty. It’s about the energy you are investing. I would like to reitterate that money is not the only appropriate form of energy trade, it is just the most commonly used one within our society.
During my Reiki I training we were taught a story which is very appropriate to this subject about Dr. Usui, the founder of Reiki.
Dr Usui walked into the slum as a monk vegetable peddler – dressed as a monk with two baskets of vegetables hanging from a pole. The beggars assembled quickly. Usui told them. “Please, I would be one of you. I would like to live here.” in turn, he was told, “If you want to stay here, we have a chief. We shall call him.” Shortly the chief beggar made his appearance. “I understand that you want to live here and become one of us.” Usui answered yes. “In that case. give us vegetables. And there is no need to wear new clothes here. we will give you initiation clothes.” They undressed Dr Usui and found his money belt. The chief beggar said he had known the belt was there and that it would also have to be forfeited. Dr Usui was then allowed to dress in his beggar initiation costume – dirty. smelly rags.
The chief asked what Dr Usui was going to do in the slum. “I would like you to provide me with food and a cottage by myself. Then you can send me your sick and I will heal them.” The chief found that to be a very good trade. “We have all kinds of diseases. even tuberculosis and leprosy. You are not afraid to touch them?” The doctor said as a healer he was not afraid of disease and promised to work sunup to sundown, so he would want meals delivered to the cottage.
The next day many appeared at his door. Based on his own theory. the doctor categorized the sick. He believed disease was an effect resulting from some inner cause. He felt that in the younger patients the cause should be shallow and more easily treated. And this is the way it worked out. The older slum dwellers required more Reiki treatments and recovery sometimes took months. The young healed quickly. Usui sent healed patients to the Zen temple where they received a new name and a job in the city. He told them to become honest citizens, to forget the slums.
One evening, after seven long, hard years of Reiki healing, he was out walking through the slums when he spied a vaguely familiar face. “Who are you?” “Oh, you should remember. I was one of the first healed. The temple monks gave me a new name and found me a job. But now I am back. Begging is easier than hustling by myself.” This was the greatest shock of the doctor’s life. He threw himself to the ground and cried, cried like a heart broken child.
Most of his former patients returned to the slums. Dr Usui now realized that after all the years of searching for a healing formula and these years in the slums. He had become preoccupied with the physical side of life; he had forgotten the spiritual. “Oh. what did I do? I did not save a soul. So the physical is number two and the spiritual is number one. All the churches were right. I was wrong. No beggars. no more beggars, no more beggars. It is my fault they come back. I did not teach them gratitude. They are here because they are greedy, greedy people. Want, want, want- nothing in return. If I had taught them the spiritual side first, then healed the body, it would have been effective. No more beggars. No more healing.” Dr Usui turned his back on the slums and walked away.
Because of this Usui made it a rule to ALWAYS charge for Reiki. Because it’s an exchange of gratitude. If you aren’t willing to give something up, perhaps you will not appreciate what you are being given. If you are unwilling to appreciate what you are given, perhaps you do not need the healing. It is a waste of time and energy on the healer’s part.
One could also argue that there is spirituality in anything that you put your heart and soul into and benefits others. An artist could paint all day for the joy of it, and that art may touch the souls and hearts of many people – yet the artist cannot survive if he’s dedicating all his time to painting for free. This is the same with photographers, teachers, athletes, psychologists, doctors, etc. They are all honored and paid for their specialties and advancements within their profession.
While I do not think there is a right or wrong answer to this question. I think it is honorable to charge for healings and I believe it is honorable to dedicate your life to healing for free. But I think the most honorable is to be willing to give for healing from the heart. I think it is honestly a personal decision between the healer and the person being healed.
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