Nurturing… the first thing that shouted at me this morning is a sense of nurturing and duty. The Seahorse is so delicate and yet so fierce with its protection and care of its family and young. So Today they are shouting to nurture yourselves and be fierce in the way you walk through the hours and moments of your day… surrender to the flow that carries you to the new and amazing places in life, but as you do…make sure you are mindful of those little places that we can get stuck in if we are not careful. It is time to be both Sensitive to needs of self and others, yet at the same time show strength in how you participate in life by making positive motions that take care of the framework of our souls.
Happy Monday Ya’ll!
Card of the Day – Seahorse
Seahorse brings for us lessons in persistence as we move towards our goals. Leave our stubbornness at the door and all things will move much smoother with our inner circles. It is time to take a closer look at things and get a fresh view of all things in your Sacred Hoop, physically, emotionally, spiritually for something has been out of balance and it is time to reset with purpose and unconditional.
Seahorse also speaks of serving others and caring for their needs, but while we are in that role we must not forget to nurture self as well. Slow down and do not over exert yourself for that will not assist in anything or anyone if you are too tired and/or worn out. Our purpose is not to serve others and loose ourselves in the process; it is about the Sacred balance.
Life is all about perspective and we must remember to approach with open eyes, mind and soul to stay balanced within the positives. Seahorses teach us how to move in and out of situations seamlessly, teaching us how to move through the currents of life and emotion and stay in a healthy state while doing so.
Be Bold! Adapt when the situation calls for it! Be colorful and enjoy Life! most importantly allow your souls to flow with the energy and waves of life around you allowing it to feed your spirit!
Card of the Day – Jaguar/Black Panther bringing us lessons of Mystical capacities. When I sat outside this morning watching Father Sun begin to rise in our skies, my thoughts ran to the East …of many years ago here on U.S Soil… and I sighed. How much has changed and how much has remained the same.
So I suppose it was fitting that the Jaguar also showed his essence today, for to me it represent the highest of spiritual Sacredness. One that has been in place for ions and one that steps in to assist us ALL in attempts to set the human to right and positives.
Jaguar/Black Panther comes in to ease burdens of the negative side of our human nature. He will not tolerate poor behavior against humans, creatures, or the great Mother Earth, the Jaguar Medicine is very strong and very ancient. For those that walk with high integrity and honor the Sacred, he will bestow rewards of insights and old knowledge in order to assist us as we walk with positive steps.
Jaguar/Black Panther speaks to us of always walking in a way that is with highest intent for good, that we need to remember compassion, dignity, respect and gratitude, to walk strong with resolve, no matter what surrounds the outside of our Sacred Hoop.
Mistakes can occur, but they are but lessons for us to learn and then with that knowledge help us to attain balance once again… remain humble. It shares Ying and Yang…and in understanding this that power is not aggressiveness, but rather the ability to control what kind of strength is needed in situations.
They teach us to hear the unheard, to listen with our soul to other dimensions; to life around us for it all has voice. It is here to teach and share knowledge of old, so remain open to it. It teaches us to walk under the dark of Grandmother Moon sensing the life and energy that flows and then balancing it with the light from Father Sun.
“Swirling Smoke [The Spoken Word Mix]” from Pathway to Destiny: Songs of Healing and Contemplation by Louie Gonnie. Released: 2012. Track 14. Genre: World. with permission from Canyon Records.
Spirit wants Spirit gets…lol Today as I worked the deck two cards fell out simultaneously side by side and this was the message that is to be shared with them both…
Today is about honoring the relationships with all people, creatures and things …but as we do we need to make sure of the care and placement of our steps and how we walk with them. It is not enough simply to acknowledge the Sacred around us… we need to respect it, honor it, understand it so that the world can move in more positive steps in unison.
Today we need to not only pray and think about the changes that need to be made in our lives, in the planets life, so that we can maintain and live healthy lives… We must remember that we are merely here borrowing what is here on the Great Mother Earth.
We need to honor a very old tradition of walking the seven plants and replanting one for the generations to come for every plant we take. Honoring our water systems by not simply praying about it, but doing things that can and will make a difference. It is time to stop whining about it and figuring out what we can do to impact positive healings to not only ourselves as humans, but to the Sacred Life around us that gives moment to moment without second thought.
So for Today… I ask for all the creatures that have lost their lives, the plants that no longer exist, the air that is full of pollutants … we stop and impact change. Be conscious of each step that we imprint does not harm but rather nourishes not only our life… but the lives that we coexist with bringing about once again the balance of the great Sacred Hoop!
Mitakuye O’yasin
~ bear Medicinewalker
Elk brings in the energy that is needed to slow down and pace ourselves. It’s all about seeing the goal and reaching it without killing ourselves and depleting our energy in the process. Elk helps us to understand that we do not have to do it alone and that companionship and group support are available we just have to ask.
Elk signifies abundance and is a sign that all we need will be provided for. To remember that we do not need to rush, for sometimes the reward is in the journey itself. .
Elk symbolizes strength and endurance. It teaches us to spend more time with our families and friends. Elk are also very seldom alone, preferring to live in large herds, yet knowing when they need to have some personal space. They are very well prepared to take on a challenge, they can fight passionately about what is important to them, sometimes can be unpredictable being passive one second and aggressive the next, it is their nature.
Believe in yourself…Empower Yourself…Connect with those you love and hold a good sense of Community… and your goals will be met with positive outcome.
Heron brings with it the strong connection to the Great Mother Earth. It teaches us to channel that inner strength and using it to ground and remain strong in the course. Be strong and balance so that you can accomplish many things at the same time.
Heron shares with us the ability to become independent and self reliant, yet knowing when to change and adapt in life when needed. Follow your own path, not necessarily the direction that others tell you to walk. You have this, and are capable.
They teach us to be comfortable in our own being, and happy. To love self and understand we are all worthy of good and positive things. Typically they spend much time on their own, but know that it is at times better to be more social and step out of their comfort zones to add experiences and keep the balance of all things in their Sacred Hoop.
Use your steps wisely as the Heron does, and take advantage of the exact moment when it is time to move in a positive motion on your path.
If you would take a moment to stop and just think a second to realize how plants interact with all of our lives. They hold deep within them and are often willing to share knowledge with us easily and quickly, at other times not so much. They are around us and vibrantly position themselves within our human world to give and give whatever it is we need.
Think about it, there is a plant that holds every cure, every need for us humans on the planet, we only need to appreciate that … stop destroying the forests and trees … and embrace the idea of it.
Walk the world we live in and understand that there are plants that share themselves in order for us to use their smoke for prayers and cleansing. This is part of our Sacred Spiritual Walks. I am asked all the time about rituals and ceremony, yet people do not open to what is already in place, the steps that we need to follow to honor and respect what has been shared with us by the Great Mother Earth.
When we burn some of these plants the aroma produced will assist us to travel to a different state of mind and allowing us to enter into a deeper part of our souls. The very scents they share can inspire and awaken us to help guide us as we walk the human. Smudging with sacred sage and herbs as well as smoking sacred tobacco are two of the ways I implement and honor the plant world in my own walk. We use smudging to remove negative energy to bring rise to visions, clearing sacred space and opening our soul so that we are open to knowledge that the Ancestors wish to share and the healing energies we call for to be used for positives as we journey upon this world. It is best to smudge after sessions of healing work when we come in contact with any negative energy, removing any negative energy that may hang on or linger. This is much like disinfecting a room or place after an illness.
Tobacco is used for the rising smoke from our pipes to carry Prayers to the Ancestors and the Creator, also for honoring events in our lives and placing them in prayer ties, a pinch for a prayer or offering for a soul that is transitioning or traveling, including the many creatures we may come across that have passed.
Plants and herbs are found on all continents, the being in the types of plants and herbs that grow and are found to be indigenous in the various regions. All of Creation is sacred and has purpose. Using what is shared with us by the Plant People and the Creature world and using them with positive purpose is to honor and respect their life. All of the Plant People carry their own medicine which they happily share with us if we will but listen.
If they decide that they will work with you, they will share all about themselves, what their uses are and how to use them in positive ways that will not only help yourself but others as well. The Plant People hold the knowledge of the cures for disease. The more that are destroyed on the planet, the more information to that knowledge slips out of our reach.
Remember to always thank the plant that has honored you with its medicine by leaving an offering of tobacco anytime you take something from the natural world. This will acknowledge to the Plant People, the Ancestors and the Creator that you are indeed sincere about the use and knowledge that you seek from them and that you are working with them for spiritual purposes.
The Creator has put all we need to survive and walk our paths here on this planet, so we need to recognize that nature is also living sacred beings. Show gentleness, be respectful, and honor all life as Sacred. There is a Native tradition that I honor of walking by seven plants before picking anything. In this way, we leave enough for the next 7 generations, also by replanting what you have picked to ensure that tradition.
The four sacred herbs represent the Four Directions they are: Cedar, Sage, Tobacco, and Sweet grass. They are used in smudging, cleansing, and for prayers to connect us with our Spiritual selves. Each contain and share their own medicines.
Sweet grass is the sacred herb of the North, a purifying herb used to cleanse the mind, body, and spirit.
Cedar is the sacred herb of the South; it purifies as well as pulls positive energy into your sacred space.
Tobacco is the sacred herb of the East, the direction of Grandfather Sun, Eagle, and the Creator. We send our prayers up in its smoke, and Eagle takes them to the Creator.
Sage is the sacred herb of the West, used in smudging to purify, and to send prayers to the Creator.
At times we will be called to use specific herbs or plants, and when this happens, we must honor that request, for the plant is speaking to us for a reason, and it usually refers to what we are experiencing in our journey at that time.
Yesterday was an odd and somewhat off day for me. The energy was strange, not bad just intense and almost as if it were creeping deep into me to reset a switch. My dear sister Christy sent me a note later in the day saying that it was to be a full moon rising in Capricorn this week, and I pushed the intense time warped feeling off to that since her and I are both born under the sign of Capricorn. Yet the day was still off, almost as if I was watching the world and my own world from outside my body looking in. Made me feel as if I was on some powerful medication and it was distorting my vision.
I do not take medications yet the feeling continued and I actually wound up laying down at 1:00 pm in the afternoon for a nap, but it was more than a nap for I did not wake again until around 6:00 p.m. I thought it was odd, but again shrugged it off and just picked up my day where I had left off. I finally decided to go to bed around 11:30 p.m. I dropped into a deep sleep right away and dreamwalk began.
As I was walking through I was working on people who had asked for assistance and healings. I walked to those in pain and major health issues, people who are in transitions of one kind or another and allowed healings on my own issues to be done by the Creator, the Ancestors and All the Realms that work with us in positive light and energy. This is something I have done for years and comes as second nature to me. But tonight was different and something was up.
Soon the vibration changed and the place my soul had journeyed was surrounded and captured an intense loving and indescribable energy. In front of me was Arch Angel Michael and he summoned me towards as he leaned on a sword hilt with the blade buried deep into the ground. At that precise moment I was brought to consciousness with a force so strong that it felt as if I had been shot out of a torpedo tube. I sat and looked around in the dark and then turned to my window.
Clear as day Michael said, “For those who do not believe in what is to come, what is to be, they need only open their eyes. For the promise that was made long ago wraps around each of you every moment of every day. All must learn to put down judgments and petty ideologies, for they serve no purpose other than ego. You have been given all that is needed to experience what was contracted for as the soul walks the human.”
I looked up and saw what I was being directed to look at. I was stunned and wiped my eyes several times, blinking as to clear them, yet I was wide awake. I saw the moon but never as I have ever seen it before. The night was clear and dark and yet I was not sure if what I saw was real. I immediately got up and grabbed my camera; I pointed it to the sky and took several photos, thinking in the morning it would all be just a crazy dream.
Once again a voice rang in my ears, “Behold the promise to Man. It is time to share the Faith you hold as true“ I then went to the kitchen to look at the clock and the stove said 1:11.
So here I sit and write this morning, and post the photos with it. And I give you the opportunity to share in what it was that my camera and my soul experienced last night.
It does not matter to me if you think I am crazy, or that I was dreaming or that you decide to dismiss it with science. ..Bottom line is I know what happened, what I saw and heard, and it was affirmation of the path I walk and those I serve.
Blessings to you all on this day and all those ahead.
Mitakuye O’yasin
~ bear Medicinewalker
“Swirling Smoke” by Louie Gonnie and available at Canyon Records
Remember to Take Time and Live in the Moment…
Definition of MOMENT
1a : a minute portion or point of time : instant
b : a comparatively brief period of time
2a : present time
Live in the Moment! How many of us actually do that…or if we do…how often do we do that? Not very I am guessing. Most of us get caught up in the monotony of our days, the rushing about to get to the appointments or work, the standing in lines or sitting in waiting rooms waiting to get moving again. Impatiently rushing through our lives, sometimes forgetting that we even have to stop to breath.
Yet it is so important to stop and honor our self and all that we are. To take a moment to breath in all of life and its magic…its wonderment. I often here people say, where has the time gone, or wow when did they grow up? We need to all slow down, and focus on the fact we are here… in what I call real time… and be in that moment.
So that is what today is about…those moments of real time….
So we are stopping and getting a feel that yes we truly are alive, not just going through the motions…now perhaps it is time to dance a little more with life… Tune out all the chaos and craziness of the world around you… take a deep breath in…. and now out…. And listen… do you hear it? Can you feel it…? Now dance with the vibrations and energy…within your minds… or perhaps in realtime…..
Now we are renewing our spirits…or self… renewal and replenishment is so important. For if we do nothing but continually share the water and never drink some ourselves, eventually it runs out…so we need to stop and remember every now and then in our days…to drink from our wells and renew …revitalize…clear our thoughts, the energy around us…and simply BE….
I ask that today and all days ahead, that we are reminded to stop and breathe in the life that is around us. That you guide us to replenish our own wells and remember it is a good thing to do. That we remember to dance with our spirits, and sing with our voices…to stay in touch with our humanness and not get caught up in the chaotic worlds that can often distract…
So my wish to you all today is for you all Dance, sing, dream, breathe in the moments that you are living …and actually LIVE THEM… feel them. Most of all, stop and remember that you are alive….
Before people were on the Earth, the Chief of the Great Sky Spirits grew tired of his home in the Above World because it was always cold. So he made a hole in the sky by turning a stone around and around. Through the hole he pushed snow and ice until he made a big mound. This mound was Mount Shasta.
Then Sky Spirit stepped from the sky to the mountain and walked down. When he got about halfway down, he thought: “On this mountain there should be trees.” So he put his finger down and everywhere he touched, up sprang trees. Everywhere he stepped, the snow melted and became rivers.
The Sky Spirit broke off the end of his big walking stick he had carried from the sky and threw the pieces in the water. The long pieces became Beaver and Otter. The smaller pieces became fish. From the other end of his stick he made the animals.
Biggest of all was Grizzly Bear. They were covered with fur and had sharp claws just like today, but they could walk on their hind feet and talk. They were so fierce looking that the Sky Spirit sent them to live at the bottom of the mountain. When the leaves fell from the trees, Sky Spirit blew on them and made the birds.
Then Sky Spirit decided to stay on the Earth and sent for his family. Mount Shasta became their lodge. He made a BIG fire in the middle of the mountain and a hole in the top for the smoke and sparks. Every time he threw a really big log on the fire, the Earth would tremble and sparks would fly from the top of the mountain.
Late one spring, Wind Spirit was blowing so hard that it blew the smoke back down the hole and burned the eyes of Sky Spirit’s family. Sky Spirit told his youngest daughter to go tell Wind Spirit not to blow so hard.
Sky Spirit warned his daughter: “When you get to the top, don’t poke your head out. The wind might catch your hair and pull you out. Just put your arm through and make a sign and then speak to Wind Spirit.”
The little girl hurried to the top of the mountain and spoke to Wind Spirit. As she started back down, she remembered that her father had told her that the ocean could be seen from the top of the mountain. He had made the ocean since moving his family to the mountain and his daughter had never seen it.
She put her head out of the hole and looked to the west. The Wind Spirit caught her hair and pulled her out of the mountain. She flew over the ice and snow and landed in the scrubby fir trees at the timberline, her long red hair flowing over the snow.
There Grizzly Bear found her. He carried the little girl home with him wondering who she was. Mother Grizzly Bear took care of her and brought her up with her cubs. The little girl and the cubs grew up together. When she became a young woman, she and the eldest son of Grizzly Bear were married. In the years that followed they had many children. The children didn’t look like their father or their mother.
All the grizzly bears throughout the forest were proud of these new creatures. They were so pleased, they made a new lodge for the red-haired mother and her strange looking children. They called the Lodge – Little Mount Shasta.
After many years had passed, Mother Grizzly Bear knew that she would soon die. Fearing that she had done wrong in keeping the little girl, she felt she should send word to the Chief of the Sky Spirits and ask his forgiveness. So she gathered all the grizzlies at Little Mount Shasta and sent her oldest grandson to the top of Mount Shasta, in a cloud, to tell the Spirit Chief where he could find his daughter.
The father was very glad. He came down the mountain in great strides. He hurried so fast the snow melted. His tracks can be seen to this day. As he neared the lodge, he called out for his daughter.
He expected to see a little girl exactly as he saw her last. When he saw the strange creatures his daughter was taking care of, he was surprised to learn that they were his grandchildren and he was very angry. He looked so sternly at the old grandmother that she died at once. Then he cursed all the grizzlies.
“Get down on your hands and knees. From this moment on all grizzlies shall walk on four feet. And you shall never talk again. You have wronged me.”
He drove his grandchildren out of the lodge, threw his daughter over his shoulder and climbed back up the mountain. Never again did he come to the forest. Some say he put out the fire in the center of his lodge and returned to the sky with his daughter. Those strange grandchildren scattered and wandered over the earth. They were the first Indians, the ancestors of all the Indian Tribes.
That is why the Indians living around Mount Shasta never kill Grizzly Bear. Whenever one of them was killed by a grizzly bear, his body was burned on the spot. And for many years all who passed that way cast a stone there until a great pile of stones marked the place of his death.
Please continue to join me on a journey…through the stories, the insights, the Spiritual and the Human!
Mitakuye O`yasin
~ bear Medicinewalker
