Today the Dragonfly falls from the deck bringing with it messages from the in between that we sometimes sense in and around our own Sacred Hoops. Sometimes we receive reminders in forms of tingles, goosebumps, messages in dreamtime, synchronicities that pop up in our lives… we need to pay attention to them, for they are gifts from our Guides, from our Ancestors who have walked before us, our loved ones in Spirit. All assisting us to get to what and where we need to be in that precise moment. Listen with your soul and you will understand more clearly the path you are on.
Mystical, magical that is what life is. Full of Miracles that sometimes we are blind to see. We need to allow our awareness to open and become so we may see and have our souls rejoice with the knowledge that has been shared with us. Open to the positives and stop feeding the fears.
Dragonfly is all about transformation and adaptability. It is messenger of the in between, of here and there and everywhere at the same time. It is beyond time, before time. It is about darkness to light and back again. Dragonfly tells us that everything is in a cycle, so remember and allow more joy to fill your soul. To help you understand that all things are as they should be, and that life itself is magical beyond belief. For our souls do not hold form, and our human self just helps them to experience our earth walks before continuing to the next part of our journeys.
Dragonflies begin their lives in water and then as they grow they move into the air learning to fly. It teaches us to balance the present time and accept it so we may once again move forward, listening as Spirit shares with us all the secrets of here and beyond.
“I am Dedicated to Educating and sharing the Native culture with the World. It is not enough merely to teach the ways of our Elders. We must honor those traditions by sharing and educating the World. Inspiring others …Inspiring our Youth.”
Through the Music… the Arts…the stories…
Mitakuye O`yasin
bear Medicinewalker
Bear steps in today to tell you that although hibernation is near, there is still preparations to be done so get on to getting them done! Although most of us are probably ready to dig in and chill in our caves, especially with the holiday seasons so close, and winter just around the corner… there is still much work we need to do. Think of the bear for a moment, they are preparing for that sleep,setting things in place for that hibernation time, eating and storing what will be needed int he time ahead. Getting all in place so that when the spring thaw is here they are ready to get to getting!.
We need to do the same. Prepare for what we want and need to happen, become, be as the springtime begins to bloom. We want positives, so it is time to clean the cave, set aside things that we no longer need, and stack the deck with what we do need and desire. It may even feel like someone is pushing you to get things accomplished, or that you feel a bit frazzled because time is short… well guess what? You would be right, the Universe is saying, “Set Your House to Order and bring Balance to your Sacred Hoops!” No more excuses, it is time! Plenty of Hibernation time ahead…
Bear is all about fertility (creative and manifestation), instinct, protection and solitude. Those that walk with Bear are often somewhat reclusive requiring a great deal of personal space to renew and create. Bear people will often “disconnect” for awhile as they pursue projects becoming deeply involved in what they are working on. Deeply protective and territorial, Bear also is extremely loyal and dependable.
Bear teaches us when healing of any sort is needed to use that time for introspective work in order to grow Spiritually, Emotionally, Mentally and find answers to problems within yourself. Travel deep into your soul find the purpose in your own path and journey and walk ahead in positive steps.
Bear shares with us that in this time hibernation is not only good but needed, yet respect our natural hibernation cycle and remember to reawaken in the spring, in doing so awaken the potential within ourselves and the power of our unconscious mind.
Bear teaches us there is a time for playfulness and a time to be assertive, and perhaps a time for both in balance.
Today is time for playfulness, for dancing our dreams and choosing which ones we will move forward with. Seriously we need to honor the playfulness inside each of us by listening to what that little voice is telling us and running with it! we need to pay attention to things yes, we need to get things done yes, but we need also to remember that patience will get us the results we are seeking and that dwelling doesn’t get things done.
So while we go through our day today, take time for self. Take a nap, go outside and breathe and dance in the world! Be like the playful fox running and rolling in a field with the butterflies, for when we are done doing just that…the world is still here, but we may have just given ourselves a fresh approach to manifesting the positive things we are seeking!
The Fox brings us lessons on survival and adaptability, teaching us that sometimes it is best to hide in plain sight rather than to secure yourself in the shadows. To be adaptable in the pursuit of our goals, so we can accomplish what we have set out to do for the highest good.
Fox calls us to listen to that little voice we all have inside called “intuition” and trust it when it signals us to be aware of certain things as we are walking our paths. Fox also reminds us that it is okay to be alone once in awhile for it teaches us to be self reliant and independent, which makes us stronger beings able to stand in our Sacred Hoops balanced and secure.
Yet be aware and walk with open senses to the world around you so that you will not be surprised but rather prepared for what shows up on your walk. Patience is another lesson Fox brings to the table for us, patience to watch, listen and learn without movement until we can gain the knowledge needed to accomplish what we have set out to be or do. If we rely on what it is we instinctively know, it will guide us in the right direction.
Know what it is you are seeking and then reach into your toolkit that you have been provided and use what you know in positive ways to get you there.
So as promised to “Spirit” I will share with vision that was given to me this past week. As I began my walk in dreamtime, I was taken to a place of neither here nor there yet it was as if I was walking parallel with the world. Well let me stop for a second and take a couple of steps backwards.
When you think of people who do spiritual work, we often forget that they are also human complete with insecurities, self doubt and a need for validation and guidance. This is the place that I have been at for the past few weeks. And this is one of the reasons I retreat into the cave for introspect, clarity and healing work that I need done on self. I retreat and unplug myself from the world around me and simply am. It always amuses me for even some of my closest friends still don’t understand that this is what happens and is something I have done for years. Others of them get it rather quickly, as someone suggested to me the other day… “Well you are a bear and it’s what bear’s do.”
So what happens is people with these kinds of abilities, gifts and curses as some of us may call it, after time can wear us down making us tired and susceptible to doubt, negativity and/or a general feeling of okay are you sure I am supposed to be doing this? Or have I just lost it? Then the validations start showing up in and around our lives… we give messages to strangers that are so precise that it helps them to begin the healing process, or we connect with “spirit” in a way that connects another for transition, closure and the understanding that yes our souls are still on a journey when they leave the human.
Okay now let’s fast forward back to the beginning of the story as it began during my walk in dreamtime. When I have visions I am often in meditation or in a very light trippy spot of between sleep and awake, is the best way I can explain it. This particular time was the latter for I had been up earlier and had simply decided to go back to bed after taking care of the critters, which should have indicated to me something was up since they all decided to wake me at 4:30 a.m. very early even for them. I quickly was pulled to a meditative state, and Grandmother Moon was shining brightly on me through the window.
I was taken to a place that many people had gathered, Tribes of Many Colors and they were all there in celebration of prayer. When I looked towards the drums, there were many dancing together in a line that wrapped me in a circle that continued for farther than the eyes could see. There were people of every culture and ethnicity, dressed in the boldest and brightest of colors and regalia. There were Africans, Aboriginals, Japanese and Middle Easterners all dancing together in honor and prayer. There were Ancestors long past, and children of every color of the rainbow all singing and laughing and dancing alongside the people. It was joyous, it was harmonious, it was Life as it is meant to be…Alongside each other working together for a common goal, the goal of Balance.
I was shown artwork from around the globe, heard stories and songs from our Ancestors and from future generations. They all smiled and were eager to share the knowledge and insights that are available to each and every one of us now, in this time, in this place. They told me that humanity has lost its way and needs to go back to the beginning.. the beginning of simple to a place and time of honor, respect, shared wisdoms and knowledge, humility and love. It is tiring work for many, but we must be steadfast in what it is we are to do and how we are to walk, for the work continues to bring light to the darkness and balance to the one sided. We must set judgments aside and spread not ignorance of others, but faith in a future that can become our defining moments.
They continued to dance and sing around where I stood, and as they did creatures great and small from all their nations came to stand with me embracing me in reassurance. As I stepped away from self and looked at back as if through a two way mirror, I saw myself standing as half being and half bear.
I felt blessed and light of heart. I was shared messages for people I would be speaking with in the days ahead. I was shown directions I would be taking with creativity and my path while I walk the human. I was then instructed to step outside in the crisp air, lite my smudge and watched as the embers created the swirling smoke that danced into the early morning sky as if in greeting to the world that surrounds…
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
“We don’t choose our totems. Our totems choose us!” This is one of the first basic concepts of Totems.
Totems are hard to explain at times, but what we need to understand is what a totem is before we can comprehend what it means to follow their teachings. Once we understand the concept, it helps us to learn the messages they then have to offer and teach us.
A totem shows up to us as a spiritual sign or entity. They come to share and teach the knowledge they hold to help and assist us with our own lives, how to relate to others and the world around us. Totems are not worshiped, we follow the teachings they offer, we incorporate the way they deal with life into our own to help us move in positive steps on our paths.
We don’t control them and often it is difficult to explain our draw or affinity to them… yet there is a deep connection inside of us that responds to them when the show up in our lives. Why we ask ourselves… because it is natural to do so.
Walking with a totem will put certain disciplines in place for us that are not always easy to walk. The knowledge and lessons they share with us are rather set as goals to be like or a way of life to aspire to.
They come in many forms and will often show up at just the right time in our lives, and sometimes they will walk with us our entire life cycle, keeping spiritual watch over us. They will show up in our lives as an animal we are drawn to, such as a wolf, a bear, an eagle, lion or elephant, a tiger.
People often ask what is my animal totem? How do I know if I have one?
My reply is to open yourself up to the possibilities, look around your life at the pictures or items you collect, we all have them whether it is a honey bee or a bear, a snake or a turtle…. They are all there to share with us wisdom that will help enrich our life and challenge our souls to grow into the positives that are possible. Teaching us to cope, deal, create and live happy and productive lives.
Follow me as I take you through a journey of discovery each week in to the World of Totems… and during the week with my Card of the Day!
Learn what the World of Spirit and Totems will share with each and every day with us if we will only open to it!
Mitakuye O’yasin
~ bear Medicinewalker
Music by Joseph Strider available at http://josephstrider.com/
“Smoke ’em if you got em” Hawks Flight
There is a story of creation the Cherokee People one that speaks of a female sun as well as what is called an Earth Diver. It begins at a place beyond memory, when the world was covered with water. When all life, all that was Sacred lived in Galunlati or what is known as the vault in the sky beyond the rainbow. A place that was so crowded the creatures could barely move around.
The creatures decided to seek a solution to this discomfort and it was decided that they would send the Water Beetle down to the watery earth below. The Water beetle bravely dove down into the waters and soon surfaced bringing with him a gob of mud that he began slowly to spread out in order to create a surface. This surface soon became the earth-island. Soon after Creator attached the sky using four pieces of rawhide tied to the four sacred mountains that lie in the Four Sacred Directions. The Beetle smiled at Creator.
Yet still the earth was muddy and too soft for the creatures to live upon. So it was then decided that Buzzard would be sent down to locate a dry spot in which the creatures could dwell. Finally he came upon a place where the mud was drying out. The Buzzard then took his great wings and used its wide wingspan to flap creating mountains and valleys. The Buzzard smiled up at Creator.
When the land was ready the other creatures began to migrate down from beyond the rainbow. As they arrived they were saddened to find that their new home was dark with no light. So they decided to pull Sister Sun down from the vault of the sky showing her the path she should follow each day. She agreed and smiled at them and Creator.
Soon Creator sent the plants down to live among the animals and sustain them, asking that the plants and the animals all stay awake for seven days. Most of the creatures fell asleep before the time was up, but Owl stayed awake and was given the power of night vision.
Some of the plants also managed to stay awake the entire time and they, the cedar, pine, holly, spruce and a few others were then permitted to keep their hair throughout the year. The other plants were told they would have to shed their leaves each year when the cold began and grow them again when the weather began to warm up, testimony to their sleep and broken promise to the Creator.
Creator then decided to form a man and a woman. The man proceeded to press a fish against the woman, which made her grow large and eventually give birth to a child. Every seven days she gave birth to another child, until the Creator decided to place a cycle on her so that she could have a new child only once a year. This is how we, the Cherokee People came to be.
