Pilgrimages, Mandalas, and Meditations

BoroBudur
As part of this Summer’s creative/spiritual retreat, I made a pilgrimage to the largest Buddhist temple in the world. BoroBudur is an epically-proportioned, three-dimensional tantric mandala, which was constructed sometime between 700 and 800 A.D., with about 55,000 cubic meters of stone. To make the full trip around and up each of the temple’s 9 platforms to the giant stupa in the center is about a 3 km hike, and for much of it, the visitor can experience thousands of detailed ancient carved reliefs, stupas, and statues that line the walls.

I experienced moments of walking meditation stillness, while on this journey. The feeling sporadically resembled the experience of the labyrinth walk. But the intense heat, busy atmosphere from the thousands of other visitors and the visual beauty of my novel surroundings prevented me from drifting into much of a meditative state.

It was also somewhat of a challenge to get to the temple, with hoards of street vendors descending on any tourist in sight. And who can blame them?

BoroBudur is a UNESCO world heritage site and Wonder of the World, and we traveled there on the Buddhist religion’s holiest of days, Waisak—the full moon in May or June. This is an annual Holiday to celebrate the birthday of Gautama Buddha, so there were many saffron robed Buddhist monks on site, as well as other visitors from around the world.

Mandala-the Genesis of Realization
“Mandalas are commonly used by tantric Buddhists as an aid to meditation. More specifically, a Buddhist mandala is envisaged as a "sacred space," a "Pure Buddha Realm,” and also as an abode of fully realised beings or deities.” --Wikipedia

The main reflection that comes to me as I write this entry is how much the Borobudur pilgrimage experience felt like it was there to support a form of creation or genesis. The Mandala is associated with a flower, the womb, realization, and consciousness itself. I believed I was there circling around this mammoth oval symbol of reproductive power to plant a seed of some kind—perhaps to conceive (in the context of giving life to) of something consciously-- and that each step forward on this sacred spiraling walk toward the heart of the central dome would in some way help the process of giving form or shape to whatever inchoate concept I wished to introduce and sustain in my thoughts.

Because of Borobudur, when I now think of a pilgrimage, I consider it as a parallel to the experience of how an idea goes through the different stages of development until it transforms and becomes a creation. As a person makes progress in a grand and spiritually charged environment through forward motion, somehow it makes it possible to bring total attention to the necessary aspects of our lives which need forward motion; to make steps toward fertilizing a dream.

We had been instructed to set an intention when we got to a certain sculpture in the center (the Black Buddha), but now I understand the importance of keeping that intention in mind and alive while journeying through the Mandala’s layers and platforms. I believe this mindful approach can provide an added dimension to the process of engaging in any kind of pilgrimage anywhere, holy or otherwise.

Mendut Meditation
While, I enjoyed the visual beauty of BoroBudur, I would have to wait until dusk, to experience the most memorable and piercing aspect of the trip. This came in the form of a powerful sitting meditation at the nearby Mendut temple. The shrine inside the temple contained a magnificent three meter tall stone Buddha, flanked by Boddhisatvas on either side of him. Flowers, incense sticks, and other offerings adorned the alter in front of the statues.

At every hour on Vaisak, a different contingency of monks would arrive at the temple and pay homage by leading a chant or prayer in honor of their spiritual teacher and prophet.

While it had a tall spiral ceiling, the shrine was a tiny space relative to other places of worship I had visited, and its compactness created a much more intimate setting for myself and the four others in my group who had received special passes to attend the meditations. It was a stark contrast to the heat and vast open spaces at Borobudur and it did not take long to slip into what Arnold Mindell would call the "Second Attention," or the altered state.

The chants were delivered and amplified with such intensity and devotion that it was hard not to be entranced by the worshippers’ voices. But the chants in combination with the ancient temple’s bright colors and visual majesty, the intoxicating aroma of flowers and incense, and the mental image created by the Buddha, made it difficult not to be completely enthralled by the experience.

It was one of those rare and rich spiritually synesthetic moments, when multiple senses feel stimulated at the same time. Except, as a meditator I felt like I had to try and disengage from them all. Of course, I failed miserably and gave up on that task. Instead, I intended to open my heart to the feeling, my Third Eye to the unseen imagery, and my body to the presence of Spirit.

Special thanks to Carrie-Ann and my Alex Grey Retreat friends for capturing such beautiful images of BoroBodur and Mendut.

drum meditation workshop

This is a description of a Rhythm Gym called "A Rhythm Runs Through
It," offered by percussionist Steve Bloom this Friday, July 16, from
7-9 pm at Circle Yoga 3838 Northampton Street Northwest DC 20015
(202) 686-1104

Residing within us all, Grace wishes to inform each expression. This
workshop is designed to enable the body's flowing "connectedness" by
tapping our own natural musicality. We will progress from a warm-up
with synchronous mild breathing, stretching and stepping patterns
driven by selected polyrhythmic music. To further internalize key
rhythms, we'll mimic the recorded voices and instruments vocally and
gesturally, and, "physicalize," do subtle, specific movements and
shifts of body weight that best express the anchor rhythms in the
music. The music calls, and the Spirit responds— through the body.

Together we'll harness the genius of "child's play" for mimicry,
parroting things in the recorded hand-drummers' styles, like timbre,
time, meter, tempo, pitch, and attack. We'll "look over the masters'
shoulders" at their skillcraft: choices like a stroke's dynamic force,
and how they express humor, elegance, technique, and themes and their
variations.

Sufi hand drums may be used for demonstration. Dress light, eat light,
and avoid caffeine prior to the session. Bring a blanket or yoga mat.

http://circleyoga.com/workshops/workshops-and-events
Date and Time: Fri Jul 16 2010, 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Cost: $40.00

About Steve Bloom
Steve Bloom has played percussion in thousands of performances and
recordings in over a dozen countries from the Middle East to Nigeria
to Canada with a wide variety of artists including Tito Puente, King
Sunny Ade', Andy Gonzales, and Babatunde Olatunji.

With an academic foundation including Music Theory and Composition,
Piano and Percussion technique, Bloom has since achieved command via
the Oral Tradition of:

* Cuban and related African traditions of drumming and song by the
Oral Tradition, apprenticing with several fine Cuban masters and a
Senegalese Griot. He is initiated to play sacred drums in rituals of
Santeria.
* Middle Eastern, Arabic, and Persian drumming traditions, as a prime
apprentice of three Sufi master drummers: Adnan Sarhan, dervish of
Bagdad, with whom Bloom has trained for several decades; Dr. Ali
Analoui, and Naser Khorasani (both from Iran). With Analoui and
Khorasani, Bloom now co-directs the SAMA Ensemble, featuring ancient
Persian Sufi poetry and drumming. Recently they performed for the
entire United Nations General Assembly, introduced by Ban Ki-Moon.

For more information about Steve Bloom, visit http://www.musicbyhand.com

Alex Grey Retreat Reflections

I had the pleasure of staffing a creative retreat with internationally renowned artists, Alex and Allyson Grey, and wanted to provide a brief write up of my rich experience in their company.

Alex Grey's work has been described as psychedelic, shamanic, clarevoyant, spiritual, visionary, life altering and an exploration of polarities. He has developed art work and set designs for bands such as Tool and Nirvana and he teaches workshops for the Omega Institute in New York.

As a person, Alex is kind, extremely contemplative and sensitive. A soft spoken, philosophical and spiritual scholar as well as accomplished artist, he carries great hope for the future of human consciousness.

Both he and Allyson were a source of inspiration and wisdom throughout the 10 day experience; and although Alex welcomed interaction with others in the group, he seemed more at ease when sketching, reflecting or writing in his own quiet solitude.

My impression of Alex as an artist is that he has an advanced capacity to access his own unique and authentic power source. You might call it a symbiotic connection with the higher self that merges the inner and outer (nonphysical) realms-- or a fully developed "secret language" as his wife Allyson might put it. Grey's vision and perception allow him to channel information from those unseen worlds to the physical one, as a conduit or bridge-- finding a way to capture and bring back his encounters and share them on the canvas. One might call Alex Grey one of the few visual ambassadors to the spirit world doing integrative spirit work.

A fan of Ken Wilbur's philosophical writings, Grey told me that he was testing applications of Wilbur's theories on the world of art and artists. He commented that each person's version of how the world is perceived and experienced is simultaneously individual and collective. The conversation with art is a question of getting from one to the other and cycling back again, according to Grey. Much of the forward motion along this cyclical progression hinges on how far the artist is willing to take their visions from the conceptual inner world to physical manifestation, dissemination and openness to societal scrutiny.

In consideration of art as a healing expression, it strikes me that getting out of the "spirit" or "world inside the head" and into physical form is the most essential stage for anyone with a creative story trapped within them. Some are content and at peace even if their art fails to see the light of day, just to give form to their thoughts.

It may be more about honoring and expressing the energy that spawned the creative impulse in the first place than trying to carry it out into the outside world for me. That being said, it's only when I produce and receive feedback about how my art is received that I get a better idea of how to package and refine my secret language to better communicate my individual creative world's contents.

What I most admire about Alex is his awareness of the depths of his responsibility as an artist and healer. He understands that his gifts have launched him into a position of service that comes along with success.

It may be this call to service that explains why both Alex and Allyson are intent on helping to build a bridge between mindscape and physical reality for others through their workshops and other projects. Their workshops, for example, each start with a guided meditation or journey through the individual's inner world, placing focus on allowing the artist to feel stillness, safety, and peace; to better capture essential inner symbols and images. The Greys understand that laying emphasis on clearing and opening the mind to its natural creative power is the best and perhaps only way to unearth the artist and her abundant supplies of artistic treasure.

Anyone who has developed a craft, found their unique creative voice and who feels compelled to deliver their message has the rare ability to give form to the formless; therein, I believe, explains Alex Grey's popularity and the love he receives from his supporters.

The Greys are touring the world to lead workshops for other artists and to build a network of support for their vision in progress, which they call the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors (COSM)-- a place for artists to come together to promote spiritual and creative integration and expression. This is a multimillion dollar project and it is still in its fledgling phases, but land just outside Manhattan has been purchased and the design for the chapel is already complete.

I am deeply grateful to the Greys for sharing their time and insights. I wish them the very best in fulfilling their important vision and invite you to be part of the COSM project. Visit their website for more information and upcoming events.
 

Thanks to Chris, Jessa and Joe for sharing their pictures with me.

ceremony in apology to spirits of the ocean

by New Orleans Healing Center

A public prayer ceremony for the Spirits of the Sea, to apologize for oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and encourage natural healing of the waters.
Sunday June 27th, on the uptown levee next to Oak st at the Mississippi River( the batcher), New Orleans, LA.
wear all white , or white with blue headscarves.
5pm reike circle
5:30 kirtan-yoga and sufi musical prayer
6:30 prayers of atonment by local religious leaders
7:00 ceremony to La Siren and Agwe
10:00 drumming and dancing for all

This is lead by Sallie Ann Glassman and La Source Anicenne Ounfo. Sallie Ann is a very strong mambo who I have been lucky enough to do ceremony with over 15 years. She will acompanied by the wonderful jazz bassist James Singleton and poet Moose Jackson, and many artisst from the area. If you are interested in the truth of New Orleans Vodoo as a healing path, this is a wonderful opprotunity to experience it.

John Chang Chi-Kung Master

This is a fascinating video that captures some incredible footage of an Indonesian Chi healer at work. The footage includes a somewhat successful attempt to scientifically test his healing capabilities. It also gives us an idea of the dangers of trivializing this power.

According to one expert, Agustin Madruga, the system John Chang uses, known as Chi Kung, concerns metabolizing Chi energy internally, while the more renowned Chi Gong involves drawing in the energy from the outside world.

WisdomKeepers Excerpts-- PART ONE

Here are some excerpts from the book "Wisdomkeepers, Meetings with Native American Spiritual Elders", which contains several interviews with important figures from a number of tribes. I have focused on text and wisdom that would best be suited for this blog:

"If you know my song, you know Charlie. Everyone has a song. God gives us each a song. That's how we know who we are. Our song tells us who we are. And there are other songs, different songs for different things, some for dancing, some for singing, some for healing. Every sickness takes a different song. You tune the water drum different for each song, Little person inside you tells you what song to sing. Little person comes from God, teaches Charlie the song he knows. You got to hear the little person to learn the songs."

When Charlie was 32 or 33, he got his healing song. Charlie lay down on his back on the ground, hands out. In the vision, the Creator came down, like a big light. There's a light coming out and he's got angels all around him, all made of light. The Creator came down and touched me here on my hands, then He taught Charlie his healing song, He taught me how to heal. he showed me how to use the eagle feather to find the sick place in a person. He told me: 'sing the healing song then build a fire. Take a burning coal in your hands. It won't burn if you pray right. Then take the heat out of the coal into your hands, and then rub the person's body in the sick place. Put your hands in water and do it again. Do it seven times. The sickness will go away if the Creator wants."

--Charlie Knight, Ute Medicine Man

"There is no word for 'nature' in my language. Nature, in English, seems to refer to that which is separate from human beings...It is foolish arrogance for humans to think themselves superior to all the life-support system. How can one be superior to that which one depends for life? Humans have invented marvelous technologies. The result has been that parts of the world live in unnecessary and debilitating surplus while people in other parts of the world are dying for lack of food, water, and shelter. Priorities need to be directed so that peple who have plenty need not feel shame while others hunger and die....

I would argue the whole concept of Nature be rethought. Nature, the land, must not mean money, it must designate life. Nature is the storehouse of potential life of future generations and is sacred...Spirituality is our foundation."

--Audrey Shenandoah, Onondaga Tribe

God gave us medicine to share with people, but if the White Man gets his hands on it he'll charge you a great price and will let you die if you don't have it. God's medicine is free. We don't give money to God. We give him our prayers, our thanks. And sometimes we give Him the only thing that's really ours: our flesh, our pain. That's what the Sun Dance is all about--giving God our flesh, our pain, and--never forget--a prayer of thanks.

--Matthew King, Lakota Tribe

The spiritual heritage of Native American people is here--it has not been extinguished. I believe the spiritual fire still burns and is beckoning for America, indeed, the world, to some closer, to listen, to learn, and to share in its warmth and comfort."

I, as a spiritual Indian man, am convinced that it is time to reach out to my white brothers and sisters and to share with whomever wishes to partake of what we, the indigenous people of this land, still have. It is time that the buckskin curtain be drawn back. It is time, I know it."

--Eddie Benton-Banai, Ojibway

Bali Retreat with Alex Grey: May 21-June1, 2010

There are still spaces available for this adventure of a lifetime with world famous shamanic artist, Alex Grey. I will be staffing this retreat and I invite you to join in if it calls to you. Contact me for an available half price option.

For more information on Alex Grey or the retreat, visit his website.

Spirals, Hearts, and Steel

I recently took some time to see the Tim Burton special exhibit at the NY City Museum of Modern Art. It was a worthwhile and wonderfully rich experience to follow Burton's evolution as a storyteller and be given a chance to examine his creative process from sketch to screen.

To me, his greatest creative contribution is his ability to recast the scary into the misunderstood. In other words, what normally would be prejudged as dark, malign, and dangerous is instead cast by him as lighthearted, warm, even tender. His greatest achievement is shifting the public's perception of "darkness" on a mainstream level: and telling me that I ignore the light within the darkness at my peril. He does this humourously and without being preachy about it.

Darkness to me is the quiet core of the subconscious. It is the very place where I need to listen most intently. It needs such delicate attention from me because it holds such special wisdom and because when ignored the many voices hidden away in the depths of that darkness have the potential to do a great deal of damage.

When I explore darkness, I walk a fine line between the moonlight's still illumination and the shadowy realm of extreme heaviness from out-of-control negative emotions. This often explains why lightchasers tend to give less consideration to the darkness--for fear of giving its negative side too much energy and thus allowing it to spread. But to me, light has just as much of a negative side too--artificial light can often be the most extreme and insidious form of darkness. As the Taoist symbol shows, true darkness is a companion to true light; it completes rather than competes with the light; it is its precursor and sequel--the dark tells me where my inner light is most needed--where the natural cycle of day and night needs to appear next.

Like with all energy, a relationship has to be established and built up with the dark over time for any breakthroughs to be made. Burton discovered a way to identify, honor, and give form to the voices of the night that occupy the low lit rooms of his psyche--many of which are illustrated and tracked by the exhibit from conception to completion. I wonder what more I could discover if I did the same thing?

It's not the greatest resource but here is the official exhibit interactive webpage.

Avatar's Real Life Impact--

A recent NY Times article discusses Jim Cameron's efforts to engage Brazilian indigenous leaders. It's hugely important to see this Hollywood director taking action and building on the messages and themes of his film. It takes courage to work and to apply the lessons of a story to a real life situation involving real people and a real threat to tribes in the Amazon. His analogy is accurate and the surprise appearance of the snake is all too telling.

I have experienced the magic of the Amazon and its transformational powers firsthand when I visited Peru a few years ago. Nowhere had I been more captivated by nature's power and awe than there. For those in tune, the jungle has spiritual as well as scientifically proven healing properties. It gives me hope that a film like Avatar (and support from its creators) can help prevent this global treasure from slipping away from us.

Tribes of Amazon Find an Ally Out of ‘Avatar’
By ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO
VOLTA GRANDE DO XINGU, Brazil — They came from the far reaches of the Amazon, traveling in small boats and canoes for up to three days to discuss their fate. James Cameron, the Hollywood titan, stood before them with orange warrior streaks painted on his face, comparing the threats on their lands to a snake eating its prey.

“The snake kills by squeezing very slowly,” Mr. Cameron said to more than 70 indigenous people, some holding spears and bows and arrows, under a tree here along the Xingu River. “This is how the civilized world slowly, slowly pushes into the forest and takes away the world that used to be,” he added.

As if to underscore the point, seconds later a poisonous green snake fell out of a tree, just feet from where Mr. Cameron’s wife sat on a log. Screams rang out. Villagers scattered. The snake was killed. Then indigenous leaders set off on a dance of appreciation, ending at the boat that took Mr. Cameron away. All the while, Mr. Cameron danced haltingly, shaking a spear, a chief’s feathery yellow and white headdress atop his head.

In the 15 years since he wrote the script for “Avatar,” his epic tale of greed versus nature, Mr. Cameron said, he had become an avid environmentalist. But he said that until his trip to the Brazilian Amazon last month, his advocacy was mostly limited to the environmentally responsible way he tried to live his life: solar and wind energy power his Santa Barbara home, he said, and he and his wife drive hybrid vehicles and do their own organic gardening.

“Avatar” — and its nearly $2.7 billion in global tickets sales — has changed all that, flooding Mr. Cameron with kudos for helping to “emotionalize” environmental issues and pleas to get more involved.

Now, Mr. Cameron said, he has been spurred to action, to speak out against the looming environmental destruction endangering indigenous groups around the world — a cause that is fueling his inner rage and inspiring his work on an “Avatar” sequel.

“Any direct experience that I have with indigenous peoples and their plights may feed into the nature of the story I choose to tell,” he said. “In fact, it almost certainly will.” Referring to his Amazon trip, he added, “It just makes me madder.”

Mr. Cameron is so fired up, in fact, that he said he was planning to go back to the Amazon this week, this time with Sigourney Weaver and at least another member of the “Avatar” cast in tow.

The focus is the huge Belo Monte dam planned by the Brazilian government. It would be the third largest in the world, and environmentalists say it would flood hundreds of square miles of the Amazon and dry up a 60-mile stretch of the Xingu River, devastating the indigenous communities that live along it. For years the project was on the shelf, but the government now plans to hold an April 20 auction to award contracts for its construction.

Stopping the dam has become a fresh personal crusade for the director, who came here as indigenous leaders from 13 tribes held a special council to discuss their last-ditch options. It was Mr. Cameron’s first visit to the Amazon, he said, even though he based the fictional planet in “Avatar” on Amazon rain forests. Still, he found the real-life similarities to the themes in his movie undeniable.

The dam is a “quintessential example of the type of thing we are showing in ‘Avatar’ — the collision of a technological civilization’s vision for progress at the expense of the natural world and the cultures of the indigenous people that live there,” he said.

Mr. Cameron said that he was writing a letter to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva urging him to reconsider the dam and that he would press for a meeting with the president. “They need to listen to these people here,” he said.

Mr. Cameron, 55, first encountered the cause in February, after being presented with a letter from advocacy organizations and Native American groups saying they wanted Mr. Cameron to highlight “the real Pandoras in the world,” referring to the lush world under assault in his movie.

Atossa Soltani, executive director of Amazon Watch, who accompanied him on his trip last month, said Mr. Cameron lit up at the idea of learning more, saying he had grown up in the Canadian woods and had even logged thousands of hours underwater exploring the world’s oceans.

As for Mr. Cameron’s Amazon adventure, it got off to a rocky start. The boat he traveled to the village in flooded when a hose became disconnected. Mr. Cameron chipped in, grabbing a plastic bucket to help bail for a few hours in the searing midday heat, he and others on the boat said.

Many of the indigenous leaders he was planning to meet with had never heard of him before, much less seen his movie. All they knew was that “a powerful ally” would be attending their gathering, Ms. Soltani said.

So, the night before Mr. Cameron and his wife, Suzy Amis, arrived with three bodyguards, a dozen or so villagers gathered in the house of José Carlos Arara, the chief of the Arara tribe here, to watch a DVD of “Avatar.”

“What happens in the film is what is happening here,” said Chief Arara, 30.

The morning after Mr. Cameron’s party arrived in the village, Chief Arara led them on a walk through the rain forest. Mr. Cameron, almost mirroring the enraptured scientists in his movie, was calm but wide-eyed, peppering the chief with questions about the local fauna and flora and traditional indigenous ways. In seconds, the chief showed how he could fashion ankle braces from leaves to help him scale an açaí tree.

The leaders then invited Mr. Cameron to participate in their meeting. He sat at a small wooden school desk as they made speeches condemning the impending dam and the Brazilian government. Mr. Cameron seemed to tear up when some leaders said they would be willing to die to stop the dam.

Finally, Mr. Cameron was asked to speak. He stood and complimented the leaders on their unity, saying they needed to fight off efforts by the government to divide them and weaken their resistance.

“That is what can stop the snake; that is what can stop the dam,” he said.

A rush of applause swept through the crowd. When the real snake fell from the tree, the director seemed unfazed. After clearing it away, indigenous leaders thanked him with gifts. One gave him a spear, another a black and red necklace of seeds. A third, Chief Jaguar from the Kaiapo nation, one of Brazil’s most respected, gave him his headdress before the dances in Mr. Cameron’s honor began.

“It’s not like there is any pressure on me or anything,” he said, half-joking, moments before boarding the boat. “These people really are looking for me to do something about their situation. We have to try to stop this dam. Their whole way of life, their society as they know it, depends on it.”

aztec healing in anacostia

hello all

hope to see you there:

thursday Jan 28th 2010 7 pm
901 Ft Place se
wa dc 20020
Anacostia Community Museum
www.anacostia.si.edu
RSVP 202 633 4844

Eliseo Torres , of the University of New Mexico, speaks on tradional
Mexican healing influences by Aztecs, Moors, Christians. Discover the
merits of curanderos' rituals, plants and advice.

films of shamanic themes

THE PATHFINDER "Ofelas" Norway
old Sami legend, first film in Sami
1987 by Nils Gaup

COLD FEVER
Japan, 1995 by Friorik Frioriksson
Japanese businessman goes to Iceland to perform burial ritual for parents.

THE PEACEFUL WARRIOR
2006 USA
by Victor Salva. College gymnast is transformed by encounter with unlikely teacher.

EL TOPO
Mexico 1970 by Jodorowsky
early psychedelic symbolism, teacher student relationships.
also The Magic Mountain.

RIVERS AND TIDES- ART OF ANDY GOLDSWORTHY
2001 by Thomas Riedelsheimer
The artist works is temporary, natural forms, exposed to elements.

the whirling

Many techinques are traditional.Nothing is pure.The whirling ,a kind
of moving meditation used by Sufi dervish or seekers,has roots in
shamanic Central Asia.Every small child loves to whirl,till dizzy and
altered.It is not the possession of any culture or gender.Sometimes
called turning, or sema,it has a charming story of the 13th cent.
teacher known here as Rumi , hearing a goldsmith's hammer and
disolving into ecstatic ,rhythmic turning in the street.
Begin with an empty room, free of furniture or objects which hender
or distract . You may use music, or not.Choose traditional whirling
music, or anything calming. Stand with eyes at looking toward the point where
the ceiling meets the walls, keep them unfocused and blank. (You
should not use the spotting technique of dancers).You may like to
begin with hands crossed over heart, right hand on top. Slowly turn
left only , pivating on the left foot, opening arms fully. Right hand is palm up to the sky, left hand is palm down to earth.This is the direction of casting
off toxins, mental, physical, spiritual.Begin slowly,find your own
speed,end slowly.

OWL Poem

Your eyes are wide like sky-city bubble jewels
Lighting up the night
A crystalline metropolis of intrigue
A knowingness humming behind these double orbs
Twin portals of deep thought
Blown open
Like a thrust of air and wave
I feel your gaze shoot through my singing bowels of sight
Home in on my tune
A ringing ghostly sound you make
Finetuning corner into curve
Dead end into destiny
Primal predatory panic into patient pause
I need only ask
You engineer escapes
Before I turn to smile in thanks
You devise another way to disappear
I feel the thumping of your wings
Lift with elegance
Elevating higher
From your gaping eyes I hear only heartlife
I see only panoramic palisades
The curtain of dark undrawn in a blink
Is to know what you know
Think what you think

old keres pueblo song

I add my breath to your breath
That our days may be long on the Earth
That the days of our people may be long
That we may be one person
That we may finish our roads together
May our Mother bless you with life
May our life paths be fulfilled

The Horse Boy Trailer

Allowing the Light sent this film trailer around to some of us and I was blown away by the story. I have yet to see the film, but just from the promo it seems to explore one case illustrating what Jeremy Narby might call a "Blind Spot" for science. In other words, the nature of our intellectual training in the West when it comes to understanding how "primitive" cultures deal with certain "mental illnesses" creates an inherent contradiction. How can a rational analysis explain Rowan's nonrational case?

Narby is author of "the Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge." More on this book later.

Gabrielle Roth's 5Rhythms

I attended a 5Rhythms movement meditation session in Maryland. It was my second time participating in 5Rhythms and I loved it. 5Rhythms involves different phases of dance and different physical expressions to correspond with those phases. Each dancer follows general guidelines that go along with each movement but is encouraged to move to the music in their own unique style. Phases progress from Flow to Staccato to Chaos to Lyrical and finally Stillness. The Rhythms gradually build up to create an ecstatic feeling for those dancing, and then the final phase brings the dancer down. Although I have to take it easy, I found the experience fun and healing. There's a brief description included below. Go to Gabrielle Roth's website for more information.

5Rhythms is practised internationally in many major cities. A DC group is scheduled to start up in the New Year.

5RHYTHMS
The 5Rhythms are a simple, powerful moving meditation that anyone - of any age, size, or physical ability - can practice. There are no steps to follow, no choreography to learn, no way to do it wrong. The only requirement is a body that is still breathing, a heart that is still beating, and mind that is still curious! Just like light, sound or ocean waves, a dancing body when moving freely passes through 5 distinct rhythmic patterns. These patterns continuously repeat themselves in a wave of motion.

FLOW
fluid, continuous, grounded glide of our own movements

STACCATO
percussive, pulsing beat that shapes us a thousand different ways

CHAOS
rhythm of letting go, releasing into a catalytic wildness that can never be planned or repeated

LYRICAL
rhythm of trance, where the weight of self-consciousness dissolves as we lighten up and disappear into our own uniqueness

STILLNESS
quiet emptiness, where gentle movements rise and fall, start and end, in a field of silence

The Labyrinth by Jorge Gomez

Jorge beautifully captures the stillness and flow of time and emotion experienced in the labyrinth walk.

In the labyrinth I walk, there I feel peace.
Beauty everywhere, the song, the breeze.
Most journeys should not be taken alone.
Is life not a labyrinth?

The feathers, the water, the sweet scents,
the fire that kept us three warm,
the chants, the sake, the wines, the sake.

In the labyrinth there is neither today,
nor tomorrow, nor past; all then melts
into one from the depth of my heart.

Find me in the labyrinth I am not far,
and though I am far I am near.
Like touching the clouds with one's hand
yet touching the fountain's water, same no?

Your silence, your talk, your happiness, your smile
God is one )! And God is three T.
One plus one is two and one plus one is three.

free will

just on the chance you havent come across this, its a poetic/archtypal
approach.
also ' pronoia as the antidote for paranoia ' is always right on time.

www.FreeWillAstrology.com

MANASSAS AMERICAN INDIAN POWWOW

October 17-18, 2009 -
Location: Manassas, Virginia.
Notes: Public invited to enjoy Traditional powwow to be held Sat & Sun 11am-6pm at the Prince William County Fairgrounds. Outdoors unless it rains, will be in exhibition hall. MC: Keith Colston, Host Drum: Stoney Creek; Aztec Dancers. (Adm. $7.kids $5.) Lots of great Native American dancers, drums, music. Craft demonstrations and lots of quality Native American jewelry, art, crafts, flutes and drums available to purchase. Open to all dancers in proper regalia.
Contact: Barry 252/257-5383, Email: powwow@vance.net .

Thanks to Laura Zamfir for sharing this announcement with us.

Labyrinth Walk

I recently discovered a labyrinth and was exposed to its healing power. There are a few dotted around the city in unsuspecting places. While there are no hedges to demark their walls, walking on the labyrinth's winding path created a peaceful feeling of flow and an active medititation for me. Overall, I got the sensation of being inside and outside myself simultaneously; slipping in and out of micro and macro; inner and outer. I also felt a certain connectivity to the surrounding area the deeper I went. The complex patterns of life seemed to simplify themselves and become more focused with every step along the labyrinth journey's pathway. As I made my way to the center, I could detect these patterns imprinted on the water, the breeze, the trees, the dying sunlight, my veins.

This excerpt is from the book "Labyrinth Walking" by Patricia Telesco:

"By creating labyrinths, mandalas, and mazes the ancients were trying to illustrate a trusim that modern-minded folk are also starting to re-acknowledge. All of life can become a sacred pattern that guides us toward a reunion with Spirit. When we don't recognize or activate this aspect of life's potential, our souls remain lost in old patterns, old ways of thinking, old ways of being, and often lose sight of the sacred powers alltogether...

"Whether you want to deal more effectively with the constantly changing world, create new patterns that will help you become a truly magickal person in thought and deed, or strengthen the positive patterns you've already created, walking a sacred path, following a sacred pattern, is one answer to that desire."

John Perkins Keynote, D.C. GreenFest

Another upcoming event (October 10/11) is the DC Greenfest at the Convention Center. John Perkins, a fellow Shaman and author of several Shamanism books, will be delivering a keynote address at 2 p.m., on October 10th. His lecture doesn't look like it will deal directly with his shamanic practices; nevertheless, he is a true champion for the environmental cause.

I read Perkins' Shapeshifting book over the Summer and he went over much of what we learned-- the importance of shifting stories, shifting dreams, even the power of shifting form on a molecular level.

His personal transformation story was an inspirational shapeshift on its own: after working as a highlevel corporate operative with all kinds of exposure to crooked practices and access to world leaders, he then chose to turn his back on the world of international finance and reveal its dirty secrets.

His story also touches on one of the apprenticeship's tenets--the absolute necessity of reintroducing the wisdom of primal cultures into the West. He is as convinced as I am that our survival as a species may depend on it.

Go here for more info on John's work.

teepees, drums and alters at washington monument

17th annual prayer vigil
washington monument
saturday oct 10th at sunrise 7am
till sunday oct 11th 1pm
www.oneprayer.org
to participate in program
oneprayer4@aol.com
volunteer for friday and sunday
chrisoceanshaman@comcast.net

free and open to all

Sound and Visuals

I attended a group sound healing session last night in Falls Church, VA. The practitioner, Barry Goldstein, used tuning forks to open and balance the 7 basic chakras. Laughter Yoga, chanting, and listening to his original music were included in the mix of evening activities. He also took the time to have each member of the group use one word to describe their association with joy and then a barrier to their joy. Using guided imagery and relaxational sounds, he asked the group to visualize and then cross a rainbow bridge leaving their own self-defined island of despair for their island of joy. Holding and maintaining the vision seemed to be just as critical as the type of sounds he was using to create a meditative space. A shaman might go further by allowing these energies to be expressed or channeled physically as a way of giving form to the mind's nebulous contents.

It's always been interesting to me how certain frequencies can assist in the removal of blocks that form in and around the body. There is no standardized tuning fork method--different masters use different frequencies and scales. Barry was trained by Joseph Crane. I plan to train with a West coast healer later this year. More to come on that.

walking

A dear friend now lives in U.A.E. ,so I haven't seen her in a couple years. Yet here she came walking through my backyard and into my house a few nights ago, with another friend (each of us has been a student of Adnan Sarhan, Sufi master from Bagdad.Steve for decades, I a few years, Leilas for weeks.) We were telling funny stories of our own, a lizard in the bath room, a horse in the orchard, then slipt into
the stories we just carry from one lover to another .

A student was walking on the outskirts of town, and came upon his teacher riding a horse. They strolled along talking. The teacher began to spur the horse, and the student had to run to keep up."Look at me. Concentrate on what I am asking you" said the teacher. The student ran, and had to use all his attention to answer the questions, listen and barely keep up. Faster they went, still faster, still harder. Abruptly they stopped. He looked back over the great distance they had covered through a thorn field, but had not one scratch on him.


The water carrier for a village was a woman, who took a large yolk with two large clay pots everyday to the river and back . One of the vessels, on the right, had a flaw and lost 1/2 the water each time. It felt terrible about this and after many months said to the woman, "I really want to apologize for not being a perfect vessel. I wish I could carry my share."
The woman replied,"Look at the ground. The left side of the road is lifeless, just dirt. But the right side is lush and green and full of flowers . I knew this all along."

TaKeTiNa: Dance and Chant

TaKeTiNa is an up and coming rhythm, dance, and chant discipline. It involves basic beats layered with gentle body movements and uses a single stringed musical instrument (the berimbau) as an accompanying drone. After completing the exercise, the participants (usually in a euphoric state) all lay down and are asked to bring their focus inward. I tried it recently and found it enjoyable and insightful.

Celebrate Scars

A rapturous shriek and a gash
That’s how it starts
This intolerable tear in a fabric-like womb-tunnel shoots
Opens a break away channel for water and blood to seep
An escape
Through the tug of gravity’s downward slope
I pierce through skintightness and numbness
Into the arms of a new world I land
Violently parting curtains of tissue
Lifting window panes of separation
The way back spins shut
Awakened by my severed connection’s pull
I grieve contemplating this journey’s price
The losses, exchanges of comfort
One cut to the cord and the ensuing emotional sting
Lingers to tell me nothing will ever again be assured
Further from home, closer to knowing it(’)s nature in all that I am
I run my fingers over
Open wounds I have emerged from my organic tomb
The parted fibers seal, harden fast and fold into scar
A rippling reminder that
The unseen mystery can sail into flesh
And ship out again anytime with the tide
Change is a tattoo
I am etched in and out of its portals
From far away worlds to this one and back I have passed
The first order of business
Survive
The blackness of travel
The agony sung from the struggle to sustain a unit of delicate life
Learn to willfully die a little each day
And every morning again be
Recreated
This biosuit demands much from its host
I make peace with my body’s wasteful consumption
I will breathe, feed, and take
from Ocean and Earth only what's needed
But I will wither away if attunement to beauty and purpose is denied
A tear from her glittering eyes to my kiss
A sliver of gold uncoiling eternal verve from her breaching lips
Carried from inside her belly to mine
Food for my soul lends me enough strength to dream a return to her shores
By braving these scars as entryway points to much more
I can be sure
Before I drain away
That the Beloved exists
and will always be here
Arise

I WAIT...

I wait,
I wait,
I wait..
As I remember
I am not really here until I breathe
To draw in the wind
And animate,
Contort and create a solid drop of spirit-world wisdom
Feels right to be kept alive by the ether
They swim in
I ponder what must be said to send me forth to
The doorway between us and them-
The mystical oxygen dwellers
And my absorbing lungs--
This is our song.
I am a reed
and they are a cosmic exhale of the master musician's breath
I've struggled to turn this melody key that already fits
Instead-- I grip to a whip and a crack
Defacing an effortless action that requires little or no motion on my part
My singing heart is my beat and my feet. Do you hear?
No need to wrestle with locks on my lips until they twist into chains.
No violent revolt exists
I'm bought back and set free by my slaves.
For it is my place to be
Emancipated-
Now, in the flesh drawing breath
My contents-- a love letter inspired by atmosphere's kiss and carress.
My intent-- to let loose of this seal
I want you to open me, read me, release by your hand my tucked away dreams
Unfold the crease in my back and my neck
Deliver these reams of my story.
I am to be heard and received--
A sensory-carbon-based-connective-tissue-communication-exchange
Lies between earth and all its otherworld children
A spirit-umbilical cord feeds the land of the
Tall ape with soul.
Down deep inside this call to just be
I can live as if life's end never mattered at
All times I wake, every day
Finding myself marooned
without water and food
I hoist my sail and I wait
and I wait
and I wait
Till the wind blows me back to this shore
from the deep sea despair, I am spared
When I recall the distant rush of
Lush waterfalls and the rustle of leaves
The sounds that remind me of home
Intervene

Wisdom from American Mystic, Jeru Kabbal

Each day is a day unto itself
Each breath is a breath unto itself.
Live for that which is truly happening
Not for that which is dead and gone.
Live life as you listen to music
As you hear each note you release it
Making space for the next note
And even though you’re constantly releasing the music that you hear
You still hear the melody, you still hear the majesty, you still hear the harmony
And so it is with life.
Let it flow through you
Don’t try to hold it fast.
And above all
Don’t hold old memories for these are dead and deadening
Trust existence, trust life, trust yourself.

-Jeru Kabbal

Animal Totem Website

This website is a great resource for those who want to learn more about the nature of their animal spirit guides. Here's what it has to say about the wolf- perhaps the most well known night singer.

"To understand totem wolf symbols, one must first understand the heart of the Wolf. This takes time because the Wolf has had to endure many false stereotypes, misconceptions and misunderstandings.

Some common traits that accompany totem wolf symbols:


Intelligence
Cunning
Communication
Friendliness
Loyalty
Generosity
Compassionate

Not at all the picture of ferocity or terror, the Wolf is a creature with a high sense of loyalty and strength. Another misconception is that of the “lone wolf.” To the contrary, the Wolf is actually a social creature, friendly, and gregarious with its counterparts. ***googlesmall.sthml***

The Wolf is an incredible communicator. By using touch, body movements, eye contact as well as many complex vocal expressions – the wolf makes his point understood. Those with totem wolf symbols are of the same inclination – they are expressive both vocally and physically. Those who have the wolf as their totem animal are naturally eloquent in speech, and also have knack for creative writing.

Totem wolf symbols belong to those who truly understand the depth of passion that belong to this noble creature. The Wolf is a representative of deep faith, and profound understanding.

Further, the Wolf possess a high intellect, and have been observed using strategies about hunting, habitat and migration.

In history, the totem Wolf symbol appears with the founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus. Legend has it that the two founding brothers were raised and suckled by a she-wolf.

In Norse mythology, the Wolf is a symbol for victory when ridden by Odin and the Valkyries upon the battlefield.

As a Celtic symbol, the Wolf was a source of lunar power. Celtic lore states that the Wolf would hunt down the sun and devour it at each dusk so as to allow the power of the moon to come forth.

In Asia, the wolf guards the doors that allow entrance to heavenly, celestial realms. The Wolf is also said to be among the ancestry of Genghis Khan.

When this gracious creature appears to us, and serves as a totem in our lives, the Wolf beckons us to ask these questions:

Are you thinking about a different form of education?
Are you being a true friend, and are your friends being true to you?
Are you communicating yourself clearly to others?
Are you being loyal to yourself?
Are you incorporating strategies and planning to achieve your goals?
Are you spending enough quality time with yourself, friends and family?

Click here to find more about other animal totems as well as totem wolf symbols and discover if the Wolf is your Native American zodiac sign.

Take some time to know more about the Wolf, you will be amazed at the knowledge these regal creatures can share with you."

Night Sings Our New Moderator!

Many thanks to Night Sings for taking over the role of moderator of this blog! He is our greatest poster, and wishes to make this blog come alive again. In the coming weeks and months, he will be remaking any/all of the display, inviting others, and having a great time of it! Welcome Night Sings, and many thanks! Robin

Duo

Two appear from none
I felt less sure about one
Once upon a time
No longer alone in the cosmos
I now roast inside their lotus flower gazes
Ablaze at their touch
These helpless droplets of sun
Breaking the mind-baking arena's sodium hazes
Illuminating forgotten fumbled through mazes
Underneath my soul's arrival
I heard their voices announced
Traveling from yet another world
Uncoiling from the web of my dreams
I catch life and steal health from these echoes
anew
In a quick second
My being's memory too will pass
But not before
Two faces appear from the stars
Their beauty a breeze to the comet tail's fire
That fueled their arrival
Upon impact
They sear away
Traces of plague
In the undergrowth of my fears
If I knew not what a father sees in the reshuffled
Wilderness of his heart
I now cannot part from the vision of truth
From their eyes
I shoot further up
Before leaping back into earth's womb
I've been reborn by my own mortality
immortalized

Ursula Le Guin

I believe that all the best faculties of a mature human being exist in the child, and that if these faculties are encouraged in youth they will act well and wisely in the adult, but if they are repressed and denied in the child they will stunt and cripple the adult personality. And, I believe that one of the most deeply human, and humane, of these faculties is the power of imagination: so that it is our pleasant duty, as librarians, or teachers, or parents, or writers, or simply as grownups, to encourage that faculty of imagination in our children, to encourage it to grow freely, to flourish like the green bay tree, by giving it the best, absolutely the best and purest, nourishment that it can absorb. And never, under any circumstances, to squelch it, or sneer at it, or imply that it is childish, or unmanly, or untrue.

For fantasy is true, of course. It isn't factual, but it is true. Children know that. Adults know it too, and that is precisely why many of them are afraid of fantasy. They know that its truth challenges, even threatens, all that is false, all that is phony, unnecessary, and trivial in the life they have let themselves be forced into living. They are afraid of fantasy, because they are afraid of freedom.
- Ursula K. Le Guin -
From: The Language of the Night

Wolf

I hear your song echo through
Pores and flesh and hair
You lie there
In the white wilderness dress of my
Mind's winter coat
Melting the frost
On my body and
Inside my voice
Warmth rises
From deep within
the forest
Undisturbed
by the nighttime
mist of breath
From your howl;
A sailing medicine
ascends to the sky
And flies
No shade of dark
Can constrain this
Smooth, soothing voice
All I hear
When I shut my eyes
is your image
Running wild in the snow
The moon undresses
My wounds
And frustrations are laid out
To satisfy your hunger
I feed them to you
And surrender to
Ressurection

Terence McKenna

The apprenticeship is over :( The blog is a resource and a repository of information for those with an interest in Shamanism. Is there any objection to continuing with posts?

A good friend recently introduced me to Terence McKenna. I've collected a few of his talks and think he's an important philosopher and writer of the psychedelic movement. He frequently lectured about the corrupting influence of Western culture and ideologies, and he believed shamans were bearers of "spiritual technologies," which could be used to help improve the consciousness. To me his main message is that we can explore the world's mysteries and unlock the mind's potential through restoring our relationship with the earth and the plants. Here is an excerpt from one of his talks complemented with some beautiful graphics.

The Shamanic Origins of Christmas

I found this post at http://erocx1.blogspot.com/2008/12/shamanic-origins-of-christmas.html,
it's helps us remember where we come from.
Marry Christmas!


Well its that time of the year again. So I would like to share Dana Larsen's wonderful essay "Modern Christmas traditions are based on ancient mushroom-using shamans" as I do every Christmas. Just to help spread a little clarity, history and truth about this special season, its rituals and meaning that was hijacked by the Judeo-Christian religions long ago. Who have consequently lost it to our cultures new religion, Consumerism.

Modern Christmas Traditions are Based on Ancient Mushroom-using Shamans.

by: Dana Larsen

Although most people see Christmas as a Christian holiday, most of the symbols and icons we associate with Christmas celebrations are actually derived from the shamanistic traditions of the tribal peoples of pre-Christian Northern Europe. The sacred mushroom of these people was the red and white amanita muscaria mushroom, also known as "fly agaric." These mushrooms are now commonly seen in books of fairy tales, and are usually associated with magic and fairies. This is because they contain potent hallucinogenic compounds, and were used by ancient peoples for insight and transcendental experiences. Most of the major elements of the modern Christmas celebration, such as Santa Claus, Christmas trees, magical reindeer and the giving of gifts, are originally based upon the traditions surrounding the harvest and consumption of these most sacred mushrooms.

The world tree
These ancient peoples, including the Lapps of modern-day Finland, and the Koyak tribes of the central Russian steppes, believed in the idea of a World Tree. The World Tree was seen as a kind of cosmic axis, onto which the planes of the universe are fixed. The roots of the World Tree stretch down into the underworld, its trunk is the "middle earth" of everyday existence, and its branches reach upwards into the heavenly realm. The amanita muscaria mushrooms grow only under certain types of trees, mostly firs and evergreens. The mushroom caps are the fruit of the larger mycelium beneath the soil which exists in a symbiotic relationship with the roots of the tree. To ancient people, these mushrooms were literally "the fruit of the tree." The North Star was also considered sacred, since all other stars in the sky revolved around its fixed point. They associated this "Pole Star" with the World Tree and the central axis of the universe. The top of the World Tree touched the North Star, and the spirit of the shaman would climb the metaphorical tree, thereby passing into the realm of the gods. This is the true meaning of the star on top of the modern Christmas tree, and also the reason that the super-shaman Santa makes his home at the North Pole. Ancient peoples were amazed at how these magical mushrooms sprang from the earth without any visible seed. They considered this "virgin birth" to have been the result of the morning dew, which was seen as the semen of the deity. The silver tinsel we drape onto our modern Christmas tree represents this divine fluid.

Reindeer games
The active ingredients of the amanita mushrooms are not metabolized by the body, and so they remain active in the urine. In fact, it is safer to drink the urine of one who has consumed the mushrooms than to eat the mushrooms directly, as many of the toxic compounds are processed and eliminated on the first pass through the body. It was common practice among ancient people to recycle the potent effects of the mushroom by drinking each other's urine. The amanita's ingredients can remain potent even after six passes through the human body. Some scholars argue that this is the origin of the phrase "to get pissed," as this urine-drinking activity preceded alcohol by thousands of years. Reindeer were the sacred animals of these semi-nomadic people, as the reindeer provided food, shelter, clothing and other necessities. Reindeer are also fond of eating the amanita mushrooms; they will seek them out, then prance about while under their influence. Often the urine of tripped-out reindeer would be consumed for its psychedelic effects. This effect goes the other way too, as reindeer also enjoy the urine of a human, especially one who has consumed the mushrooms. In fact, reindeer will seek out human urine to drink, and some tribesmen carry sealskin containers of their own collected piss, which they use to attract stray reindeer back into the herd. The effects of the amanita mushroom usually include sensations of size distortion and flying. The feeling of flying could account for the legends of flying reindeer, and legends of shamanic journeys included stories of winged reindeer, transporting their riders up to the highest branches of the World Tree.

Santa Claus, super shaman
Although the modern image of Santa Claus was created at least in part by the advertising department of Coca-Cola, in truth his appearance, clothing, mannerisms and companions all mark him as the reincarnation of these ancient mushroom-gathering shamans. One of the side effects of eating amanita mushrooms is that the skin and facial features take on a flushed, ruddy glow. This is why Santa is always shown with glowing red cheeks and nose. Even Santa's jolly "Ho, ho, ho!" is the euphoric laugh of one who has indulged in the magic fungus. Santa also dresses like a mushroom gatherer. When it was time to go out and harvest the magical mushrooms, the ancient shamans would dress much like Santa, wearing red and white fur-trimmed coats and long black boots. These peoples lived in dwellings made of birch and reindeer hide, called "yurts." Somewhat similar to a teepee, the yurt's central smokehole is often also used as an entrance. After gathering the mushrooms from under the sacred trees where they appeared, the shamans would fill their sacks and return home. Climbing down the chimney-entrances, they would share out the mushroom's gifts with those within. The amanita mushroom needs to be dried before being consumed; the drying process reduces the mushroom's toxicity while increasing its potency. The shaman would guide the group in stringing the mushrooms and hanging them around the hearth-fire to dry. This tradition is echoed in the modern stringing of popcorn and other items. The psychedelic journeys taken under the influence of the amanita were also symbolized by a stick reaching up through the smokehole in the top of the yurt. The smokehole was the portal where the spirit of the shaman exited the physical plane. Santa's famous magical journey, where his sleigh takes him around the whole planet in a single night, is developed from the "heavenly chariot," used by the gods from whom Santa and other shamanic figures are descended. The chariot of Odin, Thor and even the Egyptian god Osiris is now known as the Big Dipper, which circles around the North Star in a 24-hour period. In different versions of the ancient story, the chariot was pulled by reindeer or horses. As the animals grow exhausted, their mingled spit and blood falls to the ground, forming the amanita mushrooms.

St Nicholas and Old Nick
Saint Nicholas is a legendary figure who supposedly lived during the fourth Century. His cult spread quickly and Nicholas became the patron saint of many varied groups, including judges, pawnbrokers, criminals, merchants, sailors, bakers, travelers, the poor, and children. Most religious historians agree that St Nicholas did not actually exist as a real person, and was instead a Christianized version of earlier Pagan gods. Nicholas' legends were mainly created out of stories about the Teutonic god called Hold Nickar, known as Poseidon to the Greeks. This powerful sea god was known to gallop through the sky during the winter solstice, granting boons to his worshippers below. When the Catholic Church created the character of St Nicholas, they took his name from "Nickar" and gave him Poseidon's title of "the Sailor." There are thousands of churches named in St Nicholas' honor, most of which were converted from temples to Poseidon and Hold Nickar. (As the ancient pagan deities were demonized by the Christian church, Hold Nickar's name also became associated with Satan, known as "Old Nick!") Local traditions were incorporated into the new Christian holidays to make them more acceptable to the new converts. To these early Christians, Saint Nicholas became a sort of "super-shaman" who was overlaid upon their own shamanic cultural practices. Many images of Saint Nicholas from these early times show him wearing red and white, or standing in front of a red background with white spots, the design of the amanita mushroom. St Nicholas also adopted some of the qualities of the legendary "Grandmother Befana" from Italy, who filled children's stockings with gifts. Her shrine at Bari, Italy, became a shrine to St Nicholas.

Modern world, ancient traditions
Some psychologists have discussed the "cognitive dissonance" which occurs when children are encouraged to believe in the literal existence of Santa Claus, only to have their parents' lie revealed when they are older. By so deceiving our children we rob them of a richer heritage, for the actual origin of these ancient rituals is rooted deep in our history and our collective unconscious. By better understanding the truths within these popular celebrations, we can better understand the modern world, and our place in it. Many people in the modern world have rejected Christmas as being too commercial, claiming that this ritual of giving is actually a celebration of materialism and greed. Yet the true spirit of this winter festival lies not in the exchange of plastic toys, but in celebrating a gift from the earth: the fruiting top of a magical mushroom, and the revelatory experiences it can provide. Instead of perpetuating outdated and confusing holiday myths, it might be more fulfilling to return to the original source of these seasonal celebrations. How about getting back to basics and enjoying some magical mushrooms with your loved ones this solstice? What better gift can a family share than a little piece of love and enlightenment?

Contemporary Shaman Larry Ford

A feature article on a shaman and financial consultant in this week's Washington Post Magazine and a follow up conversation on NPR. This is great exposure for our brothers and sisters on the path. More of us are waking up to our gifts. It's particularly important for those of us who have been locked into the current paradigm to enjoy more space and comfort to step out and share our practices. Seems contrary to experience a ghostly existence in the "real" world; and once spirit comes to the forefront of life, to finally feel real.

Michael Meade and Veterans

This Youtube video shows the author of "Men and the Water of Life" drumming and inviting veterans of war to share their stories and poems. There is a very powerful segment in the 21st minute when he begins to sing an African hymn with the participants--while poetry is layered on top.

Brings to mind the healing power of sound and the effects of using creativity and ritual to manage grief. I value the huge importance of this service, but I think it would have been even more powerful to have united Iraqis, Afghanis, and Vietnamese vets together with their so called American "enemies" to really get to the heart of the collective hurt wars create, and to address and dress even deeper wounds.

12,000-Year-Old Shaman Unearthed in Israel

Interesting article!

12,000-Year-Old Shaman Unearthed in Israel

Print By ISHAAN THAROOR Ishaan Tharoor – Tue Nov 11, 5:50 am ETA

A new figure in humanity's history emerged last week when archaeologists announced the discovery of what could be one of the world's oldest known spiritual figures. After years of meticulous excavation just miles from Israel's Mediterranean coast, scientists from the Institute of Archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem unearthed a 12,000-year-old grave that held the remains of a diminutive "shaman" woman. Buried alongside the woman's small, huddled corpse were selected pieces of animal bone, a cowtail, an eagle wing, the foot of another human, and, most curiously, some fifty tortoise shells deliberately arranged around the woman's body - all tell-tale signs, experts say, of her lofty social status at the time. "This is something very special; it stands apart," says Leore Grosman, the project's lead archaeologist.


How mankind emerged from Paleolithic prehistory into a world of alphabets and cities is still a story riddled with questions. Even the first settled agriculturalist communities from which our records begin seem far removed from the cave-dwelling, fur-clad hunter-gatherers whom we imagine to be mankind's ancestors. The discovery of a shaman this ancient offers a startling glimpse into this little-known past, a portrait of prehistoric ritual belief and of clear lines of social hierarchy taking shape.


The grave is thought to belong to the Natufian culture, a nomadic society which existed along the eastern Mediterranean roughly between 11,500 and 15,000 years ago. Located near other burial sites, the woman's body was distinctly encased in a limestone enclosure, a tomb sealed by a rock slab that Grosman's team managed to lift in 2006. The following two years were spent painstakingly analyzing the remains found within. Pieces of jewelry, ornamental seashells, or the odd tool have been found in other Natufian graves, but the careful arrangement of the woman's body - her back rested against a wall, legs spread and bent inward from the knee - as well as the surrounding ring of tortoise shells piqued the archaeologists' interest. "This kind of assemblage is different from everything you find elsewhere," says Ofer Bar-Yosef, a Harvard anthropologist who has worked on previous Natufian excavations. "It's the sign of a sort of elite emerging among hunter-gatherers."


Shamans are mystics whose common function in traditional cultures was that of a healer. Analysis of the woman's remains date her as being 45-years-old, a significant age at a time when life was nasty, brutish and short. She was under five feet tall and deformities in her spinal and pelvic bones give the impression that she may have walked with a limp, or dragged her feet. The presence of the hollowed-out tortoise shells, combined with intact bone pieces of leopards and other creatures - the complete forearm of a wild boar, for example, was placed under the woman's own arm - suggest that those living around her believed she had some sort of animist power.


The common narrative of mankind's development generally starts with humans planting crops and settling down in one place to reap what they sow, founding villages that would form the building blocks of human civilization. But further study of the Natufian culture and other parallel societies, such as those living by China's Yellow River, is complicating that belief. Agriculture was not established in the Levant when the Natufians lived there, but they still erected rudimentary structures to inhabit. Traces in the soil of the remains of mice and sparrows - animals that exist most commonly in places of human settlement - point to a significant population boom in the Natufian period. They may not have had seasonal harvests, but the people of this time lived in a complex and perhaps even flourishing society. "What we see [with the Natufian burial rites] is the beginning of a tribal system," says Bar-Yosef. The shaman, buried with her mysteries, looms mercurially over this moment.


Grosman speculates that the elaborate ritual behind the shaman's burial probably helped bind people together at a time of great social transformation. The Natufian culture, she says, was "transitional," moving from the era of the nomadic life of hunter-gatherers into a more stable, sedentary mode. Their descendants were likely the inhabitants of West Asia's great kingdoms of antiquity. Somewhere beneath our vision of sceptered monarchs in their pillared palaces, it can be surmised, rests a hobbled woman upon a bed of tortoise shells.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20081111/wl_time/12000yearoldshamanunearthedinisrael

Shape Shifting Steps

Being present can be a problem. A mind tends to drift to the future or the past instead of right where it is. It creates distractions to draw attention away from what are perceived as aspects of reality that are too harsh to navigate. So it can resort to generating pain as the ultimate distraction, and before too long the mind becomes a drive-by-shooting operation in its relationship to the body--creating harm for it's own protection's sake. For some, distraction can turn to addiction and then everything is engulfed in ocean and mist. When addiction turns to depression then comes the mind alteration with synthetics. I'm not knocking the need for chemical balancing acts, but there is something underlying it all that needs revisiting and correcting. Shapeshifting is the Shaman's way of communicating with the missing spirit that has long been ignored or drowned out by the distractions. I believe it can help with staying present.

Here is a good series of steps by Evan Aleister Rainer that to me would seem to help effect better shapeshifting.

1. Become aware of what has just happened, namely a shift of consciousness into the edges of a chamber or parallel world just adjacent to the one that we habitually all crawl about in.
2. Drop all pretensions of being a conscious, important, capable, multi-skilled, superbly adapted being and realize that you stand on the edge of an action of being and creative power such as you have no concept of and which certainly has no concept of or concern of you.
3.With your new-found humility, which is the only possible survival-kit for the beginning Shaman, try to focus your attention on what is around you, both within and without. That means, what remains of your physically oriented senses and what you are perceiving with your inner senses at the same time.
4. Try to locate yourself in this space and do not, repeat, do not, try to LEAVE THE SPACE, under any circumstances, especially if someone is asking you to politely respond to some incredibly important question such as `Would you like more honey in that tea, dear'? Get the message? Good, because if you don't you will have crash-landed on your take-off. Not a joke.
5.Keep a sense of humour about all this, even though there is nothing to laugh at.
6.If you keep attention directed on to the inner and outer incidents, without responding to them in any normal or usual way, you will have started to grasp the difference between a Shaman and a mortal. And, even better, you will merge back into your normal consciousness with a gentle sliding sort of motion that you will only notice after you have completed it.
7.Remember that the basis of all genuine spirituality is the experience you are having, and endeavor to defend the experience from the primate; your own and others.

Tuvan Shamans

Here is a link to a short national geographic video about the Tuvan Shamans.

Tuva is a Russian republic that was an independent state until the 1940s, with two official spiritual practices: Buddhism and Shamanism. The report suggests that the government wants to attract people from other countries to preserve the area's shamanic healing traditions. I wonder what kind of incentives they're offering? :)

Below is some info about Tuva and its shamans found at the Foundation for Shamanic Studies website. The full article can be read here:

Shamans and Spirits

A significant part of Tuvan respect for nature is expressed through shamanic traditions. All of nature is considered sacred, the fabric of their world view being woven in the sacred thread of their myths. Here, features of the landscape and the creatures inhabiting it are settings and characters in great stories that describe and explain the world. Principal places and characters of this mythic and natural world are Tuva's nine sacred springs, nine sacred mountains, and nine sacred celestial objects; the Sun, Moon and seven stars of the "Great Bear" (the Big Dipper). There are dragons in the sky, sirens who inhabit the steppe, and a sacred flower that has the power to hold strangers together in marriage. Each place in nature has its special spiritual inhabitants. This spiritual aspect of nature is equally as important to Tuvans as are physical attributes. It requires attention from people who are sensitive to, and trained in, relating to this side of nature. These people are the shamans.

The shamans of pre-Soviet Tuva were healers, diviners, and conductors of ritual necessary for Tuvan life. Both men and women became shamans after they were visited with the "shaman's sickness." Often, a shaman interpreted this as invasion by the spirit of a dead shaman. This invading Being, wanted the living person to become a shaman. The onset of this illness was commonly early in life, but also occurred in people more than 40 years of age. If the person ignored the calling, continued sickness or even death occurred. The illness frequently manifested itself as fainting spells, memory loss, or convulsions. Heeding the call resulted in a complete remission of symptoms.

The shamanic vocation often had an hereditary aspect in Tuva, as in much of the rest of Siberia. Relatives watched children carefully for the appearance of characteristics that signaled a new shaman. Training under an existing shaman was necessary, as was a drum, garment, and feather headdress. Relatives were responsible for making the new shaman's equipment. There was a ceremony of investment for the new shaman during which relatives enlivened the new drum (the shaman's horse) by beating it.

Shamans were central to Tuvan society. Not only did they represent their kin and work for them spiritually, but they were respected repositories of important knowledge. They conducted necessary rituals such as the yearly "fire ceremony" and rituals to bless the land and promote fertility. Tuvan shamanic ceremony was quite colorful, with shamans reciting long verses, dancing, and singing to the accompaniment of their drums. They also employed a jew's harp in their performances. Healing work included extraction, removing harmful spirits from places, purification, and soul work involving the transition at death. Their garments were knee-length shirts, upon which were sewn long streamers that represented their spirit helpers (called "snakes"), bells and rods of metal, and metal effigies. Besides their symbolic value, costume decorations moved with the dancing shaman, producing auditory and visual stimulation.

Secrecy, independence, and competition also characterized Tuvan shamans. They were each unique in the way they worked and typically worked alone. Like tribal shamans in other places, they sometimes engaged in competitive struggles with each other.

Shamans were considered very special people, being revered and feared at the same time. When they died, they were not interred like ordinary people, but were placed in open wooden sarcophaguses elevated above the ground by four posts. Here, their bodies lay exposed to the elements while their spirits continued to serve their people. That servitude was, however, frustrated by the forces of history. The living and dead shamans would have to deal with an ambitious state to the north, called Russia.