Writings of White Star Woman

FEAR:- False Evidence Appearing Real

2009-05-13T18:03:00.000-07:00

FEAR:- False Evidence Appearing Real. This is one of the teachings of Rabbit - to look at fear in a different light, a light that shows it for what fear is, an illusion. In the Cherokee teachings, Rabbit is a trickster and fear is a tricky teacher. Like Rabbit we can become immobilized by what we perceive as real or we can see it for the distraction it really is and hop beyond it's shadowy confines. Rabbit makes sure we are paying attention, not letting fear take control of our emotions and thoughts. If we're not paying attention to the roots and hillocks on our path that Rabbit has conveniently left for us, we'll trip over them every time until we learn to sort out what's real and what only looks real. Rabbit usually gets the last laugh at the silliness of our fears!

The FEAR acronym resonates with me because it shows us that the root of our fears lies in our beliefs - the beliefs we were taught in our family, in our religion, and in our culture. Many, if not most, of these beliefs were never spoken aloud. We acquired them through osmosis, being an energetic sponge, soaking up all the feelings and thoughts from those around us. These are the unconscious assumptions we learned about life and reality that we don't think to question. We learned them from living in this time and place, growing up in our family of origin and exposure to the current religious, scientific and political norms. The elders have taught me that beliefs are watered down truths, twisted and shaped to meet the needs of the ego, not the soul. I have never met a belief of mine that didn't turn out to be a lie or an illusion. Beliefs have to be explained, argued or debated, leading to defended them, fighting for them, killing for them, dying for them. Truths don't require all this, they stand by themselves. I know these are strong words and carry the mark of heresy but this is vital, important work to do right now. Beliefs can hold a kernel of truth, obscuring a truth with entanglements or can be a direct lie or contradiction of a truth. By ferreting out our truths from our beliefs, we free ourselves from false evidence appearing real.

We can call fear by many different names: anxiety, tension, prejudice, judgment, and even excitement! One of the questions I ask myself is whether I am feeling fear or excitement. Because they feel very much alike, we have taken the habit of always calling it fear. Sometimes it's a combination of both but it helps to know when I'm really excited about what isn't known or what is coming into my life. Yes, it can be scary and exciting at the same time. How do we think roller coasters became so popular? Or horror movies? It can actually be fun to feel that much excitement - it makes our heart pound and our palms sweaty just like fear. Only we can discern whether we are feeling fear or excitement. I suggest you look deeper next time to get to the bottom of how you are feeling. Once we realize that it is excitement rather than fear, it opens a door within us that says, "just relax, sit back and enjoy the ride!" It helps us to lay down the need to control ourselves, other people, and life.

When we live from fear, control will be very high on our list of desirable traits amd abilities. We can see it now in our country. The economic fear level is very high with many harmful consequences being experienced by a great many people. The reaction is to institute tighter controls so what got us into this mess won't happen again. The same happened after 9/11 - many new controls were put into place that may or may not help us to be protected. But we humans are so creative someone will find ways around whatever controls are in place if they want to badly enough. Bad or harmful events don't happen because there aren't enough controls, rules or laws. They happen because we are not paying attention. My teacher tells me the three most important things in life to be happy, secure, and living a sacred life are to (1) pay attention; (2) pay attention and (3) yes, you guessed it, pay attention. We can't really pay attention or be conscious in our lives if we are complacent, going about our business on automatic pilot with a sense of entitlement or, the other end of the spectrum, if we are fearful, mistrusting anything that isn't known and closed down. More controls mean we can go back to sleep, not taking responsibility for how we live our lives and how our choices impact others and the next seven generations. Taking responsibility (the ability to respond) for our lives and choices means we stay awake and help others to awaken. If we had been paying attention as individuals, as communities, as a country, we would have listened and heard the warnings and had time to take the appropriate actions.

Last year, 2008 was the Year of Leaping into our True Selves, with Black Panther teaching and guiding us how to do that in our lives. In dreaming with Panther, her teaching to me stated it very simply: "You don't leap because of fear preventing you. No one doesn't leap only because they are fearful. Think of all the times in your life when you were fearful but you leapt anyway. Fear is a good scapegoat. It's easier to blame your fears, that catchall category of being immobilized. Rather it is domestication (being all the beliefs, attitudes and habits that are learned as part of our social conditioning) that keeps you from leaping and being your truest self. Domestication tethers the soul. How far can you leap when you are tethered?" This reinforced a teaching I had learned from Will Rockingbear, my teacher who is Cherokee. He suggested I talk with my fears, telling them that I know they are there and welcome to come along but I'm going to do [what I've been fearful about] anyway. By talking with my fears and inviting them along, they usually don't make such a big ruckus. In fact, they are mostly quiet and content but as soon as I stretch myself into being more in my life (more powerful, more visible, more of who I am) those fears start clamoring again, creating a big disturbance. So again, I talk with them, inviting them along and when they realize I'm going to do it anyway, they pipe down, grumbling softly under their breath until they are content once more.

I used this way with my fear of having anyone hear me sing. When alone, I would sing out, delighting in the expression of song. If a group of us were all singing together, I would gladly join in but to think of singing in front of people made my heart pound, my head spin and my throat close up. This was about 20% excitement and 80% absolute terror! I began by gradually adding a chanting phrase or two while drumming in the Clan Mothers Circle with the other women. I would keep my eyes closed and sing fairly softly, all the while talking to my fears. Yes, my voice was shaky, yes it squeecked and cracked, and yes, I could hardly breathe but I lived through it. Each time became easier until I could sing loud enough to be heard above the drums. Then came the real breakthrough - asking for and receiving my Medicine Song. After singing it out loud by myself for quite some months, I was participating in a Pipe Ceremony at the Vision Quest Ceremony we hold each year. When it was my turn to hold the Pipe and pray, no words came to me and then the terrible thought came that I needed to pray by singing my Medicine Song! Oh no - I quickly tried to talk my way out of that but soon realized that I was being asked to do this by the ancestors who had gifted this song to me. How could I dishonor them in this way with my selfish fears? I quickly told my fears what I was going to do and that they could come along but I was doing it anyway. I sang my Medicine Song, very softly but I could feel the power flowing through me and out to everyone in the circle. I lived through it! In facing my fear, I realized it wasn't real - just a shadow in this Shadow World. I still get a little fearful about singing in front of others, but now it is a momentary discomfort instead of an immobalizing panic. It was important for me to understand that our fears have everything to do with our social self and nothing to do with what we have come to do.

These are my words.

Green Spirituality

2009-04-09T18:10:00.000-07:00

"Oh, Mother Earth, beautiful and bountiful mother, we are so grateful to you for our lives. Thank you for the good way you nourish and sustain us, for the life-giving waters that fall upon us, for the winds that bring us new seasons and the changes of life that support us. We honor all the creepy-crawlies who create such good soil and take care of all the physical waste of the world, for the winged ones who inspire us, the finned ones who teach us how to dive deep within ourselves, the four-legged ones who give of themselves so we can have full bellies and those four-leggeds who have agreed to be close companions to us two-leggeds so we learn better how to love unconditionally. We honor the plant beings - oh what great diversity - for sweet smells, energizing colors, medicines to heal ourselves and such wondrous tastes to feed our bodies. We honor the tall standing ones - those tree beings and all the stone people who help us build our lodges and creations. Our hearts are full of gratitude, Mother, for your wisdom and for this beautiful life that is available to us all, filled with grace and ease. Ah Ho."

The native peoples of the world have never needed to "go green" because they live in harmony with their natural surroundings in accordance with traditions and ways that have been handed down through the millennia. Those ancient ways worked for a very long time with humans co-existing with all other life forms on this beautiful planet. They live connected to life, maintaining the delicate balance of diversity. This way of living acknowledges and honors that each choice we make either helps the Web of Life remain strong or weakens the strands that connect us all. The choices we have made while hypnotized by the current worldview that we are greater than and therefore separate from other beings - a "Lord of the Jungle" mentality - has created the imbalance and dis-ease in our world that now threatens, not only our survival, but the survival of billions of beings with whom we share this planet.

The native peoples of the world have not needed to devise programs and enact laws to halt the devastation of the physical world by humans but we do (so we can draw attention to the fact things have to change). The native peoples of the world have not designated one day out of the year to honor the Earth but we do (so the other 364 days we can forget about Mother Earth). The native peoples (those that have not been subjugated or infringed upon by "civilization") continue to live in balance with their surroundings, taking enough to have a sweet life and no more. They can now serve as a model for us who wish to live in harmony with the natural laws of this physical home. We can't return to a tribal configuration and painting the old ways in a sentimental light doesn't help us move forward but we can glean the essence of the old ways and begin to live our own lives in accordance with those ways. I have learned from the native teachings how to be respectful of life, to honor all expressions of life and to acknowledge the connection I have to the Web of Life. I am learning how to live in a way that supports the diversity of life and helps the world stay strong.

One of the lies we have been handed through the dominant culture is that these old, old ways (very green) didn't work, didn't allow our "potential for greatness" to manifest and required hardship and struggle. Nothing could be further from the truth as recent findings clearly indicate. Unlearning the destructive habits that we have taken as our right to perpetuate generation after generation as "civilized human beings" has become a grassroots vision that is gaining momentum as a way to turn the river of arrogance, entitlement and domination to a river of shared vision, community connections and consensus. As most revolutions, this green revolution has sprung from a vision at the grassroots level. As we have seen, no amount of legislation can curb polluting business practices, stop deforestation, clean the living waters or persuade agri-business to put the health of the people before profits. What has made an impact is ordinary people walking away from these unhealthy habits and creating new (based on the old) ways in their lives, in their families and in their communities - habits that are built on simplicity, mutual respect, harmony and adapting ourselves to the natural world, not adapting the natural world to our specifications.

We now have some fairly widespread programs of recycling, growing organic food, alternative energy sources in place but these alone will not be enough. We must call forth a new vision which in reality is very close to the oldest of realties -- depending on the web of life to which we are so intimately connected to sustain us rather than manipulating the web of life for profit and power over others. The strands of the web that we can touch and taste and smell and see are the strands that will naturally be the ones we feel most connected to and most willing to strengthen and sustain. These strands connect us to our families, our neighbors, and our local communities. With our increased ability to see and hear what is happening many looks away, we realize that our choices made locally do impact everyone globally. This new way of looking at ourselves and our place in the world has been fully expressed and fully lived by the indigenous peoples of the world and so isn't really new at all. It is a remembering.

As we remember how to live in balance with all of life, how we see the world and our relationship to it changes, never to be seen in that old flat two-dimensional way again. Once we remember that we belong to the world community of all life forms as an equal strand on the web of life, no greater and no lesser than any other living strand, then we cannot go back to the dishonoring ways of hierarchy and separateness. To go from the belief that the world belongs to us because we are human beings, greater than all others in creation, to the truth that we belong to the world and whatever is done to any being in the world we do to ourselves - that is truly "going green." Or as some of the native teachings call it - it is becoming attuned and living in accordance with the Whirling Rainbow of Peace.

Within the Whirling Rainbow of Peace all ways, all colors, all traditions, all peoples are honored that honor the Web of Life. Each local community or tribe lives in accordance with all the other beings around them so that all can continue to evolve and support the diversity of life. When seeking medicinal plants, we go to the places where they grow and make a request of the elders of these plant beings to see if they welcome us and grant us permission to take some of them for our healing uses. If the answer comes back yes but take only a few as we are repopulating to become stronger, then only a few are taken. We don't take without asking, and when we take it is with honoring and gratitude expressed, whether plant beings, mineral beings, or animal beings. All are seen as having an equal right to live and live well.

Now those of us who are remembering who we really are and how to walk in the world with harmony sometimes get tripped up by guilt. We have to address the emotions of guilt and shame if we want to truly throw off the blinders of the dominant beliefs and express our connection to the Web of Life in a good way. Guilt keeps us from taking the actions and non-actions that are so needed right now. Feeling guilt, shame and remorse is a good way of telling ourselves on a soul level that it's okay to keep doing what we're doing as long as we feel bad about it. The Web of Life is not interested in our shame or remorse. It cares only what actions and non-actions we take. Instead of feeling sad and angry about all the animals who end up as roadkill, express your gratitude for their life each time you see them. Stop and offer their remains some tobacco or cornmeal with a prayer or gratitude, bury them if you like or move them off the road if you can do so safely. These actions honor the animals - our guilt and remorse do not. Instead of feeling guilt and shame about what your ancestors did to the native peoples of this continent, forgive yourself and your lineage for not remembering the sanctity of life and then live your life anew with respect for all people. Do you perpetuate the lie of separateness by not talking to people who are different from you, or are you willing to leave your comfort zone and make new connections? What we do today is so much more important that what we didn't do yesterday or the days before.

When we belong to the earth we walk softly, creating grace, harmony and beauty wherever we go. When we belong to the earth we are respectful and grateful for every being that exists so that life continues with all the diversity, splendor and abundance for all. When we belong to the earth we take only what we need to satisfy our physical and spiritual well-being. When we belong to the earth we see the majesty and sacredness of the web of life and take those actions and non-actions to make sure that majesty and sacredness continues for all the generations that will come after us. When we belong to the earth we remember ourselves as sacred human beings, joyfully living in balance with ourselves and all our relations. This new state of consciousness that is sweeping over our planet, touching every nation and culture, bringing diverse people together in a common vision of harmony, peace and life-affirming actions is here to stay. We can either ride the waves of this common vision by making new choices in our lives or be swept away by its powerful force. We are the ones we have been waiting for.

These are my words.

Living in Peace

2009-03-05T18:14:00.000-08:00

This is the Year of Living in Peace and to do that we need to look at the ways we are violent with ourselves. When my teacher, Will Rockingbear (Cherokee) first told me I was violent, I have to admit I was bewildered - I wasn't a violent person. I didn't go around hitting people or shouting obsenities to their face, I didn't hurt animals or suddenly lash out in anger without provocation. But I did say things to myself like, "you are so stupid," or "can't you do anything right" or "what's wrong with me?" or . . . the list could go on and on.
And yes, I did curse people in the privacy of my own car, or in my mind. I did make scathing remarks under my breath to make myself feel better in my perceived helpless, hopeless situations. I did hurt myself and others with my thoughts, words and actions of feeling like a victim or silently standing by while someone else was seen as a victim. I did sometimes feel lesser than, unworthy, not enough, stupid, arrogant, intolerant, fearful, shameful and guilty. I never thought all these things made for violence but now I see it's the small violent words and acts against myself that erode my inner peace, my equanimity, my connection to myself.. I made an agreement with myself that whenever I make a disparaging remark about myself or someone else, I restate that thought to be one without judgment, without prejudice, without malice. Whenever I separate myself from others, lose my connection to myself, temporarily forget who I truly am, aren't true to myself or "fall asleep" in my life, I notice that I did that, and then recommit myself to not doing that again. In this way, I forgive myself and move on.

We all have the opportunity this year to create a peaceful life for ourselves - holding a place of peace within ourselves, in our families, our work situations, our communities, our country and the world. Living this level of peace requires immense spiritual, mental and physical strength as it is truly a dynamic state of being. All the energies are aligned this year to assist us in this incredibly important healing work. When I first understood from Spirit what the vibration was for us this year, I realized that I still thought of peace as a passive posture, a state of not doing something in response to something actively being done. But I am learning that living a peaceful life is anything but passive! Paraphasing the words of The Peacemaker, that Radiant One who brought an end to the warring and killing between the tribes of the Eastern Seaboard long ago, creating the Iroquois Confederacy (which provided a solid basis for the fleding United States' Constitution): "Peace is a vital, sexy process. Peace is how you feel when your mind is untroubled and you are in glowing good health and all the parts of your body are working together well." We can expand this understanding to encompass peace on earth - all the peoples of the world working together well, untroubled by greed, lust of power and the belief in limitation. That state of dynamic, active peace is coming! It's manifesting right before our eyes and we all need to help hold the energy of living in peace by living in peace within ourselves.

One of the teachings that I have been working with for the past several years is the energy of a Peace Village. Many generations ago, there were native communities designated as Peace Villages where a person who had committed a crime in their village could go to regain their spiritual balance, heal and become whole and sacred once more. Once they had made it to the Peace Village, retribution was no longer allowed against them as they completed one year of inner reflection, healing, forgiveness and understanding. The Elders of these Peace Villages were committed to holding no judgment, blame, shame, guilt, or punishment in the course of their teachings and healings. This created a container of energy for the person to remember who they really were and to realize that by committing a crime - even murder, showed that they had fallen asleep, forgetting how to act as a sacred human being. After their year was completed at the Peace Village they returned to their home where they were welcomed back. The actions they chose to take once back in their village reflected their return to wholeness so that the whole village was stregthened and harmony was once again the norm.

This understanding of the native ways of justice is so timely as we are working with the Clan Mother of the 3rd Moon Cycle, Weighs the Truth this month of March (The Thirteen Original Clan Mothers by Jamie Sams). She teaches us how to accept the truth. In her story, one of the women in the village, Blue Goose, has been taking extra food from the communal stores, another woman, Running Water, who is a gossip and tends to others' business in order to feel more important sees her thefts and reports her. The women are at odds, each accusing the other of wrongdoing. When Weighs the Truth is asked by the villagers to see beyond the physical acts that have taken place to bring a deeper understanding of the situation so that harmony and balance can be restored, she consults with her animal helpers - Owl, Weasel, Crow, Crocodile, Zebra and Raccoon - over the course of four days and four nights. They help her to fully realize what is needed to bring healing to these two women and to the village. What she is shown is the pain that Blue Goose holds from losing a child to starvation and fear that she will lose another, and Running Water was acting from an unfulfilled need to be noticed, appreciated and recognized as a worthy member of the community. Weighs the Truth gathered the villagers and decreed that Blue Goose needed to replace what she had secretly pilfered, gathering double the berries, nuts, tubers and greens, distributing them equally to each family who had lost a loved one to starvation the winter before. Over the next 13 moons, she was to share her story of loss with each family and to hear theirs, caring for different children who had lost their parents to starvation as if they were her own. Running Water was to silently accompany Blue Goose, never talking of what she heard and shared, and assisting the Medicine Women during healings and counseling sessions, but again, not ever discussing what had been shared in confidence. After the 13 moons, the community came together again to hear from the two young women what they learned. Both had learned from the tasks set upon them and had healed their fear, selfishness, sorrow and pain. The whole community rejoiced with a celebration as they had seen both women regain "The Beauty Way" during their time of healing.

I have made an agreement with myself to live my life as a Peace Village. This means that I laid down the habit of seeking who to blame - myself or someone else. The only reason we have to find someone to blame is so we know who to punish. We become the Judge sitting on high deciding what punishment fits the "crime" and how long the punishment should last in order to be an effective deterent for future misbehavior. From this model we see guilt, shame and remorse as desirable qualities but from my experience these very emotions keep us from "remembering" who we are and how to live our lives as sacred human beings. As I live my life as a Peace Village, it means that when I see that I have acted against my true nature and its' alignment with the world, I say out loud so that all my relations can hear me "I noticed that I (i.e. justified my choice to my loved one) and I'm not going to do that again." By making this statement I announce to All My Relations that I noticed I had been asleep but am now awake and making a declaration that I will do differently from now on. Even if I fall asleep about the very same thing the next day, as soon as I notice that I didn't keep my word, I restate my agreement in the same way. I don't have to judge, blame, berate, kick, or whip myself if my goal is to learn and grow. If my goal is to be perfect or to "get it right" then I will fall back into the habits of blame and punishment. By noticing how I was out of balance, out of bounds, or out of my mind, I learn what actions to take to stay in balance, to be congruent with my thoughts, words and actions, to be harmonious and peaceful. If I am sincere in my quest to learn and grow as an individual, as a human being, then my "crimes" or times I fall asleep are the ways I am learning about myself. To be met with understanding, tolerance, love and compassion when we have commited an offense against ourselves or others, is an incredible healing.

The violence we do against ourselves perpetuates the violence in the world. The words we use against ourselves are usually much more corrosive, hateful and hurtful than any words we would ever say to anyone else. When we are not true to ourselves but go along with the crowd, we are being violent with ourselves. When we feel lesser than/greater than, comparing ourselves to others, we are being violent with ourselves. The outer is a reflection of the inner. As more and more of us lay down judgment, prejudice, expectations, control, manipulation, hatred, mean-spiritedness, and pain then healing will take place within our families, within nations and among nations. When the violence occurred on 9/11, I went into my healing room and asked my spirit guides what I could do to help. I thought I might be asked to help those who had died in confusion, not realizing what had happened. But Spirit said that the way I could best help would be to heal the violence in my own family - that by doing the healing in my own life, I would be helping to heal external manifestations of violence.

Living in Peace within ourselves is not only possible but is innately our natural way of being. We can return to this natural state of grace, this Beauty Way by loving ourselves. Love and compassion are actions. They aren't just feelings. The actions we take, the words we say, the thoughts we feed in our minds, all are ours to choose - each moment of every day. When we accept responsibility for our actions, words and thoughts, we reclaim our personal power. This is how we get better in our lives - one breath at a time with each action, each word, each thought.

These are my words.

Why do "bad" things happen to "good" people (or vice versa)?

2009-02-10T18:16:00.000-08:00

Ah dualities! They look so solid and real but what an illusion they are. In the native worldview, all of life is encompassed in a circle. Seen 3 dimensionally it looks like a never ending spiral. This Circle of Life holds all feelings, thoughts, events, dualities, past, present, future, everything that we can conceive of and everything that we can not. Here's an exercise so you can experience what this teaching is all about. Hold your arms out like an airplane, with your arms horizontal to the ground. Assign one duality to the end of one arm with the other duality to the other. Let's pick good and bad to start with. Now keep holding your arms as you feel the linear continuum from one end of Good all the way to the other end of Bad. Of course, we are in between the ends, somewhere on that continuum of good and bad, sliding along this scale we have set up.
How long can you hold your arms out, balancing between these absolutes? Not long in the whole scheme of things - there is too much tension. So we tip towards "good" or the other way to "bad" and accept that label as real, whether it is assigned to a given moment or event in our lives or to our whole identity. Now I want you to bring your arms into a circle with your hands touching in front of you. What happens to the dualities now? They are side by side, touching in fact, not opposites at all. They are more similar than we at first thought. Now lower your hands into your lap still keeping your arms encircling the space there. How long can you hold this posture? For a long time - it's natural, relaxed and inviting. In this way we see how we can move from the Western linear worldview which is very limiting and tiring to the Indigenous circular worldview that holds All That Is.

From this vantage I can sit in circle with my past and future, easily accessible and equal. I sit in circle with all of me - all the dualities, conflicts, opposites and unknowns. There I am able to council with Death as it sits to my left - advising me during my life, council with all my Relations here in the physical world - the plant beings, stone beings, tree people, creature beings, Clan Chiefs of Air, Fire, Earth and Water who sit to my right, council with the Elders and Spirit Helpers who sit across from me, council with my past to gain wisdom from my experiences, council with my future to call into manifestation my dreams, goals and intentions. Creator/God/Original Source/Spirit sits in the center, totally available to me each time my heart beats, each time I draw breath, totally available to us all.

From this ongoing circle of my life, I can see a big picture and not only just of this life but of all the experiences I have had as a spiritual being throughout eons of time. Does this expanded understanding impact my choices, decisions and desires? Of course. This freedom to include all of me and all of life, to see others as "another myself" keeps me learning and growing, spiraling into an ever more expressive and compassionate sacred human being. Whenever I feel stuck in my life, feeling like a victim, wondering "why," I realize I have fallen asleep and stepped back onto that linear concept of time, dualities, separateness and labels where keeping my balance consumes most of my energy. All I have to do is curl my arms around into a circle again to step back into my natural state - inclusive, connected, intimate, authentic and centered. Here I am replenished. Here I am a co-creator with Spirit. I am able to take actions or non-actions instead of reacting to events and people around me. I am able to take responsibility for my life (responsibility is simply the "ability to respond") without passing judgment, blaming, feeling the need to defend my choices, feeling shame or guilt from the learning lessons (some people call these mistakes) that I have created, or meting out punishment to fit the supposed crime. I move beyond the linear concept of good/bad, right/wrong, sacred/profane being fixed in time and true for everyone, every time in the same way.

You won't hear a native grandmother telling her grandson that he is mean, selfish, bad or whatever the label. She might turn to a relative and remark (but so grandson can hear), "Little Hawk is acting mean today, taking out his anger by poking his puppy, perhaps one day he'll remember that he is so powerful he can look at his anger without hurting another." Notice that she is saying that he is acting mean instead of being mean. She knows that his true nature is not just that but encompasses many aspects. She is teaching her grandson that we can do "bad" things but we are not bad, showing him a more balanced way without judging him or locking him into a label. We can change how we are acting by taking different actions/non-actions. How many times did we hear growing up that we were lazy, boring, mean, bad, stupid, ugly, crazy, good, helpful, smart, beautiful? These labels are hurtful because they are lies, they aren't the whole true. Everyone is all of these at one time or another. To become that label separates that part of me from the rest of me so my identity becomes narrow, limited and stuck way out on the end of some linear thought concept. Then all my thoughts, words and actions support that limited view of myself. Am I free to be myself at this point? Not even close. This teaching is especially important when we talk with the young ones. Make sure those labels don't fly off your tongue, even the "positive" ones. It is so limiting to think we are mostly one way of being rather than a unique compilation of all things.

2009 is the Year of Living in Peace and as such our work is to make peace with all the fear, guilt, shame and pain that we have pushed away, not wanting to own or claim. It's not always all ours either. We have all inherited certain patterns, feelings and blockages through our lineage. We don't have to hold them any longer. We can set them down. To live our lives as a peace village, we allow all feelings to enter with equal respect so they may be understood, loved and transformed. Compassion is an action, not just a feeling. It is the action of being at peace with ourselves. Let's all take a huge breath and let it out. We have been holding our breath, waiting to exhale, until we have received some sort of permission or certificate from Spirit that we have been deemed good enough, that we are okay just the way we are. This tension has created the anger, aggression and hostility in ourselves and the world around us. We can give ourselves permission now to live our lives as sacred human beings free of the illusions that have kept us earthbound.

"Be it through intention or ignorance, our successes and failures have been brought on by non other than ourselves." This quote is from "The Art of Racing in the Rain," a beautiful story of rising above victimhood, being neither the victim, the perpetrator nor the rescuer. It shows that when we take only those actions that are congruent with our inner being, remaining true to ourselves, not giving away our power to those who appear to be controlling us, then we are able to co-create our lives with joy, fulfillment and peace. It's time. The Truth of me salutes the Truth of you.

These are my words.

Generosity

2008-12-12T18:18:00.000-08:00

So many of the Native teachings, stories and traditions involve generosity - true generosity of the heart and spirit, not only in the form of being generous with our physical possessions, but also with our time, friendship, love, creations, words, feelings, knowledge and wisdom. Often a thing of beauty is created just to leave on a tree, by a river or set upon a stone, freely offering hours of work and effort to give back some part of ourselves to Creator, one way of saying thank you. When you think about it, we only have a few things that are truly of our own making - our breath, our voice through words or song, our ability to hold each other in our arms, our tears. So give freely of these things that are totally yours to give.
When we give a stone being, a feather or a plant person, it's a wonderful gift but we have to realize that we haven't put any of our energy into that gift, we are just passing along what Mother Earth and Creator have made. When we take those raw materials and lovingly craft them into something of beauty whether for utility or pleasure, we are adding our energy to that gift. Traditionally, when we give tobacco to an elder or teacher, we take some of that tobacco and make a pouch out of cloth, tying it up and adding our prayers. We may decorate it with a feather or a crystal that we have found or that is important to us. We didn't create the tobacco or the cloth, the feather or the crystal but by adding our time and energy to them, we are creating a relationship with these organic energies and our connection to all of life is then honored and acknowledged.

One teaching that I would like to talk about is that our knowledge and wisdom do not belong to us but to the people we serve. The stories and teachings do not belong to any one person, tribe, people or nation, but we all have access. That is why in the native traditions, there isn't a set fee for healing or teachings, rather a gifting amount that is up to each individual to discern from their heart and act upon. In this way, the elders and teachers demonstrate that these teachings do not belong to them - they are not for sale, rather they are for sharing. Because a teacher is willing to share wisdom and teachings with us, we give back to them from our respect for their time, attention and the honing of their innate skills and abilities. Our generosity doesn't only reflect our respect for them but also for ourselves. When my teacher comes to town upon my request to share teachings or ceremony, there is a gifting bowl to receive what the people bring. I ask him afterwards if the people were generous. This is my way of finding out how the people are valuing themselves.

Our acts of generosity are directly connected to our thoughts and beliefs and to our fears and trust. If I hesitate in giving what my heart wants to give due to a thought of lack or limitation, then I am telling Creator that there just isn't enough to go around so I have to hang on to the little I have. It would be better for me and to the one I am gifting that I do not gift anything if I have those thoughts. Rather a true generosity is done with no regret, no holding on to the gift after it is given. One elder who was a Sun Dancer for many, many years, gave one of his medicine pieces that had been with him in all the ceremonies to his son who wasn't that involved in native ceremonies. His son asked him what he should do with it. The father answered that he wasn't expecting his son to do anything with it. He gave it to him because it was important to him and he wanted his son to have it but now it was his to do with as he wished. He could give it away, throw it away, or keep it. It was entirely up to the son. That is true generosity. We give because our heart says to give, and then we don't have anything else to do with it after that.

In some of the native traditions, if a gift was given to someone but they weren't using it, it was okay to take it back - hence the term "indian giver." Because the possession wasn't seen as "belonging" to the giver it didn't really belong to the one it was given to either - it could be taken back. Most of the native languages did not have a word for "mine." A person could be the caretaker of the land, the medicine plants, the rivers, the mountains, the animals and take them for physical survival, spiritual ceremony and creations, but only with permission. It was understood that we are just passing through this life and that we have a responsibility to leave it as good as or better than we found it for the next seven generations. All acts of generosity came from this worldview that there is enough for everyone, so all can take what they need and no more. The Cherokee would often burn the old foodstuffs during the Green Corn Ceremony because of their faith and trust that there would be more than enough of the newly harvested foods to see them through another year. There was no thought of hoarding or hanging on to the old when the new harvest was plentiful. Hoarding only comes about through a fear of scarcity or lack. I didn't realize how I was working with this limitation in life until Spirit pointed it out to me. After receiving several speeding tickets, I began to see a pattern. When I was worried about meeting a future bill or expense, even though I had the money to cover it, but feeling that I might not have enough, I would invariably get pulled over for speeding, paying much more in the fine and court costs, plus higher insurance, than what I was hoarding to cover my feelings of scarcity and lack. I'm sure my spirit guides got a good laugh about it while I am fuming and feeling soooo sorry for myself! By looking at and healing our beliefs about limitation, lack, scarcity, money, abundance, worthiness, earning power, etc. we can open ourselves to new levels of generosity with ourselves and others.

One story I love is about a man who began a business which was growing well. He decided to give 10% of his profits to various groups and individuals who had need of it. As his business continued to do well and even better, each year he upped the amount, 20%, 35%, 50% until he was finally giving 90% of his profits each year. His business was doing so well he was living easily and well on the remaining 10%. He was able to invert his ability to gift and live well by being generous, not hoarding his money through beliefs that there might not be enough. He didn't harm himself or put himself in jeopardy by his giving but let it grow as his ability to generate money grew. We don't have to harm ourselves to do what we have come to do. We don't have to feel guilty that we are successful. We can take care of ourselves and give to others in balance and equanimity. The abundance that comes into my life is as varied as the moon phases or the rise and fall of the barometer. So I give accordingly in my life, freely and without fear that there won't be enough next month. I am generous with myself by keeping the big picture that I will always have exactly all that I need and want in my life.

I always thought generosity was about how much we give, the quantity of effort, time, money, material things, or doing work for others. But my teacher showed me how stingy I am being when I do more than my 50%. One year at Vision Quest, I just about ruined my back by working in the kitchen from before light to way after dark, helping to prepare and serve the meals to all the supporters in the base camp. I was enjoying myself, the camaraderie with everyone and participating in some of the events around the fire but the kitchen was my main focus. When I told (complained to) my teacher how tired I was, how much my back hurt and how I was physically wiped out, he just smiled and asked me where I learned to be so stingy. As you can imagine I was quite shocked. How could I have been stingy when I was giving so much? He shared the teachings of how we are being stingy when we take on more work than others because they won't do it "right" or we feel we are the only ones that can do it that fast or in just the right way. We are being stingy with all the others who are not given an opportunity to share in the fulfillment and sense of accomplishment that comes from being of service. I was hogging the show, letting my ego dictate what my actions should be rather than what my heart and body were telling me about taking a break, letting people know when I was tired, finding a replacement for myself so I could take care of myself - like taking a dip in the lake to cool off, taking a nap to catch up on sleep, sitting by the fire so I could go into the Silence. All these ways were available to me but I had to take responsibility for myself and discern where I needed to be and what I needed to be doing at any given time. No one was keeping track to make sure I was taking care of myself (or of how much work I was doing). It was up to me to ask for help when I needed it. Whether that help is from a supporter at Vision Quest, my family or my Spirit Helpers, it is my responsibility to take care of myself and make requests for help before I'm in a real fix. This teaching opened up a huge door for me to be more generous - to invite others to participate and add their expertise so that we are co-creating together. We are all quite capable and so can do many things ourselves but the illusion, the lie is that we don't need anything or anyone to help us in our life. It's a belief that we have to go it alone - the John Wayne way. But that's being stingy and closing down the opportunity for intimacy.

Another teacher shared with me to just breathe when he saw me "trying" to do something perfectly. So simple but so effective. By taking the time to take a deep breathe, I took the time to discern what was truly important. Becoming stressed about doing something perfectly or being happy and content in the moment by doing my best and having my best be good enough. True generosity is about giving and receiving - one without the other is toxic, creating imbalance in our physical, mental and emotional health, with resentments, arrogance and fatigue creating accidents and illness. True generosity goes beyond giving something that is in our power to give, it also entails receiving what is in our power to receive. Many of our religious backgrounds emphasized the giving part of generosity and we usually feel quite virtuous when we take a load of unused things to Goodwill, help serve Thanksgiving at the Rescue Mission or support various organizations that do tremendous good in the world, but how often do we feel virtuous when we accept a gift? It is an act of generosity to lovingly accept all the gifts that come our way, not judging whether they are worthy of us or we worthy of them, are given to us out of duty or with ulterior motives, or whether they are exactly what we wanted. When we say yes to all that is given to us, then we are being generous - with ourselves, with each other, and with all of life.

These are my words.

What Provides Shelter When We Are Hurting

2008-11-11T18:22:00.000-08:00

Plumbing the depths of my feelings and experiences about what and who is the shelter in my life amidst the sorrow, grief, guilt, anger, fear, judgment, loneliness, confusion that can be a part of all of our lives – is a healing at this time for me individually and for all us collectively as we continue to envision a new way of living a sacred life in harmony and respectful connection.

I remember when I made the request of my teacher, Will Rockingbear, for the Vision Quest Ceremony – to spend 4 days and 4 nights on a mountain with no food or water in order to cry for a vision, to receive clarity of purpose, to deepen my connection with the divine and to open myself further to who I truly am – a being of light beyond time and space who wears a physical body and is subject to physical laws, interacting with and learning from every other being of light who has also agreed to be here in the physical at this time and place. To prepare for this ceremony, my teacher told me to “lighten my canoe,” to purify and cleanse myself of the limiting thoughts, feelings, beliefs, prejudices, etc. that I was taught, that are not innate within me as a soul. The lighter my canoe the easier it would be for me to navigate the waters of spirit so I could skim along the surface with ease as I paddled to the furthermost reaches of the Universe – to my natural home for a long visit of 4 days and 4 nights. I was told that when I went up on the mountain, besides my prayer ties which I had been making each day, I could take whatever I needed to keep warm and dry but that I had to be able to carry my load by myself. When I was shown my quest site ahead of time so that I could introduce myself to the spirits of the land, I realized that my site was not that far off from an old logging road. I joked with Rockingbear that I thought a small Winnebago would do just fine to keep me warm and dry! Of course, I ended up taking a sleeping bag and a tarp for my shelter. It did rain and I was very warm, dry and cozy under my tarp which made it easier on me physically but I soon realized that my true shelter was the protective circle formed by my prayer ties. I felt the sphere of energy encircling me above, below and all around creating a sacred space energetically for me to shelter within. This is the true shelter I brought with me into my life – that I am a co-creator of my life with Divine Source, that I take responsibility (the ability to respond) for my life, that through teachings and remembered wisdom I can generate a sphere of energy around me all the time for my protection – not from the elements or other physical dangers or to insulate me from the “real” world, but rather as protection and shelter from my fears, anxieties and confusion and of those that I may pick up from others and take on as my own. Vision Quest prayer ties are made from the finest, gossamer etheric material available to us – Gratitude. The gratitude that comes from our hearts, our soul, our innermost being. Gratitude for all the blessings in our lives, but also gratitude for all that is becoming - all the intentions, desires, wants and needs of all of us that are manifesting and being magnetically pulled into physical reality. Each day as I made my prayers, the gratitude I expressed for that day was captured and placed into those prayer ties, not gratitude for what was coming when I would be sitting on the mountain, but currently in the present I was living each day in preparation for the Vision Quest. In other words, I was already in the ceremony ( remember ceremony begins when it is requested). Surrounded by all that presence and gratitude from my prayer ties during those 4 days and 4 nights, a force field was created of incredible beauty, strength and joy, a timelessness, a shimmering connection beyond physical reality awareness. It was the same experience as if my physical body had died and I returned to my natural spiritual state of being – but still with my body alive. Since the community in the support camp was eating and drinking water for me, my physical body was sustained through their efforts, freeing me to completely and wholly go inward to experience myself as my true self once again. This is the purpose of the Vision Quest, to become totally open to receive, to accept the shelter created by my own gratitude, the support community and all those invisible beings helping me, so I could do my work with Spirit. When I physically came down off the mountain I chose to stay in ceremony and continue to receive, to live in both worlds at the same time. I experienced the way to co-create my life anew every day, every heartbeat.

Now, each morning as I return to physical consciousness, I speak my many gratitudes to Divine Source and acknowledge that I am a newborn coming into a new lifetime this day. I am not who I was the day before. Everything has changed because I am in a new lifetime. I’m still called the same name and live at the same address but I am different because I am consciously evolving, growing and learning, lightening my load, or becoming more “enlightened.” Because I am a newborn, I can create my life differently today from the one I was living yesterday, or last month or last year. I am a co-creator of the changes in my life, even when it looks like it’s coming from outside of myself. I am co-creating with Original Source every moment, every time my heart beats, and so I can move up or down, sideways, forward or backwards at any time as I become more skillful in being my true self. I am never stuck (unless I choose to live that illusion). As a co-creator I am willfully, soulfully engaged in the changes, the manifestations, the magnetic synchronicities that keep me learning and growing, propelling me forward on my journey. Because I am involved as consciously as I know how in each step along the way in the evolution of my soul, the changes that I generate both internally and externally are known as I go along. I haven’t been sleeping and suddenly awake to find that the house has been torn down around me. Change always looks sudden when viewed through ignorance or unconsciousness. When the tsunami hit several years ago, those who carried the knowledge of the sea, the animals and the birds knew that it was coming in time to take the appropriate actions, to ride out the change in safety. Those who had lost this knowledge were caught unaware and had only the opportunity to react as best they could to the change. My priority as a sacred human being is to re-member and to learn anew the knowledge, the teachings, the wisdom of how to anticipate the natural and human created changes so that I can take the necessary actions without losing my inner balance. This way I can continue to be a healer, a teacher, someone who the people can lean on in times of great change. That is the agreement I have made with Spirit. For me, this bigger picture is my shelter – like a huge golf umbrella it keeps the panic, fear, anxiety and confusion generated from my small self from directly hitting me, soaking me through, leaving me cold and shivering and vulnerable. Those emotions and thoughts are still around me but the impact is a manageable level. I feel the wobble but still retain my balance. I have experienced the close death, loss, confusion, and depression as we all have and the constant shelter I have felt at those times is still Gratitude for my life, for the joy and abundance in my life, for the peace, harmony and healing I experience every day, for the beauty, sweetness and connection of my relationships, for the simplicity, love and right action in my life. Gratitude is my shelter.

Now I want to talk about “who” is my shelter. In my life, I have had several designated spiritual teachers and countless other teachers in my family, friends, and colleagues. We are in relationship with one another to heal each other, to help each other over the rough terrain in our lives. We don’t have to traverse the steep hills and treacherous trails by ourselves. We don’t get brownie points because we are able to “go it alone.” Our mastery involves other people and other beings like the creature beings, stone people, tall standing ones (trees), all the plant people, the star nation, etc. We are meant to be a shelter for one another. Healers are usually the stingiest when it comes to asking for help. Healers often have to be reminded to make healing requests for themselves because they are so used to being the sheltering place for others. But everyone needs shelter at one time or another and it’s okay to ask someone to share their warmth, love and wisdom with us. We can’t take it without permission – that’s asking for some karmic universal instant feedback! – but we can request it without guilt, explanation or indebtedness. My teacher is and has been a sheltering force for me in times of self-doubt, forgetting who I am, or falling into unconscious limiting patterns. I trust him with my life, he watches my back and is wiling to be impeccable and honest with me, to teach me what I don’t know that I don’t know. I am a teacher also, and do these same things for my apprentices and students. In the Wednesday Healing Circle, we do this for each other. In the Monday Teaching Circle, we do this for each other. This is why it’s so important to be with like-minded people or with a designated teacher that we trust with our lives. This is also my agreement with my partner and my son. With these agreements, we offer shelter to each other without fear of being taken advantage of, without infringing on each other’s freedom to co-create our lives, without judgment of how or why we need shelter again. We don’t offer this shelter so we can control, manipulate, disempower or blame ourselves or each other, but simply because we love each other and we can be the shelter in that moment. This is one of the purest gifts we have to give. In the native traditions, we talk about “growing corn in our lives.” This means living our life during all the small moments as well as the public big ones in a way that feeds the people, that heals those we come in contact with, that creates more peace and harmony in our lives, in our families, in the interactions we have with people in our community and on this planet. When each of us does this daily to the best of our ability we naturally feed ourselves and each other. I am reminded of the story about the emaciated and starving people at a sumptuous banquet feast because their arms are all too long to feed themselves and in their isolation, fear and anger they are stuck their in that illusion of lack; and then seeing them grow full of joy, sweetness and light when they remember how to feed each other with their long arms, their generosity and bravery of heart setting themselves free to live in abundance once more. The choice is ours - it’s always ours, even when it looks like it isn’t.

These are my words.

The Tenets of the Beauty Way Path

2008-10-06T18:25:00.000-07:00

1. How does one learn the teachings of your tradition?
I was first introduced to native teachings through several books - "The Medicine Cards" by Jamie Sams and David Carson, "The Sacred Path Cards" by Jamie Sams and "The Thirteen Original Clan Mothers" by Jamie Sams. These books and cards were a terrific way to learn some of the basic foundational concepts of Native American traditions, teachings and beliefs. Along the way many other books reached out to me to continue to feed my hunger for these teachings. Because this new "language" of native spirituality spoke so sweetly to my soul, I was able to incorporate many of the teachings into my daily life, empowering my individual spiritual practice. When I looked around me for teachers, there weren't any that were in my line of sight so I began sharing the teachings as I was working with them with others who were interested.
Through this evolution of becoming more and more comfortable walking and talking some of the native teachings, my inner resonance was more finely attuned, ultimately guiding me to my teacher, Will Rockingbear, a Cherokee healer of the Beauty Way, after many twists and turns. I am beginning my 12th year of studying with Rockingbear and my understanding, clarity and ability to dance with these teachings to heal myself and others continues to unfold at a greatly accelerated pace than if I were still studying by myself. Rockingbear shares, "If we know we don't know something, we can find out how to learn it, but we need a teacher to show us what we don't know we don't know."

2. Does your tradition accept an authoritative body or council? If so, how active are they in the every day life of the practitioner?
In the native teachings, the elders and wise men and women appointed to councils are there to help all the people and the community as a whole without taking away each person's individual right to express their sacred point of view. To honor our ancestors, respect the traditions that have been handed down through the centuries, to learn from our elders while they are still in physical form are basic tenets of how we keep these teachings strong and undiluted. But equally important is our personal connection to Great Spirit, to our animal totems and spirit guides so that we can truly be a "hollow bone" and not interfere in how the truths of our teachings are to be lived in this time and place. I remember one time at a Vision Quest ceremony, a quester on the mountain came down a day early to pass along a communication she had received from Spirit that needed to be taken care of and which involved a different way of doing the ceremony for herself. Rockingbear agreed to it. A man who had attended many ceremonies approached Rockingbear saying that he had never seen that done before in a Vision Quest ceremony and why was the ceremony being changed. Rockingbear smiled and simply said, "Go tell Great Spirit that it's not doing this ceremony correctly, you know the way its to be done and you'd like for it to stop interfering." Needless to say the man nodded, understanding that we aren't here to tell Spirit how we want these traditions to stay written in stone but to listen and really hear what Spirit is sharing with us.

3. Does your spiritual tradition acknowledge a higher power? If so, what is the nature of this higher power? Is it a personal divine being or a non-personal energy or state. How do you refer to this higher power?
From my understanding, at the core of native spirituality is our connection, relationship, and two-way communication with a divine intelligence/divine love, one that breathes through and animates all expressions of life, equally but differently. As a sacred human being, I have access to this divine intelligence everywhere I look - in the plant beings, the tree people, the Clan Chiefs of Air, Water, Fire and Earth, the creepy-crawlers, the winged-ones, the finned ones, the four-leggeds, the cloud people, the star beings and planets, Mother Earth, all the beings of the invisible realms, to name a few - each endowed with divine consciousness and ability to be in relationship with us to help us learn and grow - these are called our "relations". We live in a family of conscious beings, neither higher nor lower than any other. There is no hierarchy, simply a never ending circle where each connects to and impacts every other consciousness. Most commonly you will hear "Great Spirit" or "Creator" as ways to address this divine intelligence or "All my Relations" but beyond that there is Great Mystery - an intelligence so vast, so huge that it dances only at the far edges of our ability to comprehend. I honor and communicate with all expressions of Divine Intelligence/Divine Love.

4. What is the relationship between Divinity and humanity?
I often hear that we are a divine being, soul or spirit sent to Planet Earth to have a human experience which usually means that it is natural and okay to suffer, to be ignorant, to be less than our divine self. To me, we are here to have a sacred experience - everyday! As a sacred human being, I am living and breathing a divine experience to the best of my ability. To be a human being means I have an opportunity to learn and grow, to live my clarity, understanding and truth. I am a soul or spirit being, the sum total of every experience I have had throughout eons of time, that can be neither created nor destroyed, only transformed. When I take on a physical body I embody the state of consciousness that I have attained for myself thus far. When I leave my physical body, I return to my natural state of spiritual beingness. Each time I incarnate, I get to see how well I put into practice what I know to be true within myself. I am a spiritual being in a physical body not a physical being that has a soul or spirit residing within. This difference in how I see myself completely changes how I see myself in relationship to the Divine. I am the Divine - a unique expression in this time and place, never to be exactly recreated or duplicated, in relationship with every other uncountable expression of the Divine.

5. What is the relationship between humans, animals, plants and elements?
We are all members of the same family and as such have great responsibility and accountability to one another. The animal totems that assist me I treat as my elder brothers and sisters because their kind have been on earth longer than the two-leggeds. In fact we are the babes with much to learn from all those who have come before us. I seek the wisdom of panther, of butterfly, of a standing person (a tree), a medicine plant person, a stone being, the water beings, etc. equally to that of any human being. No wait, let me restate that last part to use perfectly honest language! I ask for and receive guidance from non two-leggeds much more often that I do my fellow human beings. The wisdom I receive from the elementals, plants and animals is crystal clear, without bias or prejudice, without influence from the ego, transcending the cultural and societal mores and beliefs that define this time and place I call my life. They are my teachers, my guides, my closest helpers who have never led me astray. And the two-legged teachers I have the honor of having in my life, all have a complete and encompassing relationship of their own with this universal family where they elicit wisdom and guidance for themselves and others.

6. Is there something that stands out to you that people "outside" of your tradition misunderstand about your tradition. If so, please set us straight.
One misperception that comes to mind right away is the notion that all native teachings and traditions are basically the same. From tribe to tribe there are many similarities and common core teachings but there is also quite a variance. I would never presume to speak for all native teachings or even Cherokee teachings, only my own way of living and understanding these teachings. We each have our own sacred point of view. I speak only from mine which is liberating because as my sacred point of view changes, elaborates, clarifies, deepens and expands, I think, speak and act differently.

Several year's ago at one of Rockingbear's public teaching circles here in Winston, a woman came up to him at the end and expressed her surprise that he was Cherokee "because he didn't look Cherokee." He later wondered what a Cherokee is supposed to look like to be "authentic." We come in all colors, sizes, shapes, personalities and traditions so we can learn to clearly receive the message, not become enamored or disdainful of the messenger.

These are my words.

Sharings from the Heart

2008-09-10T18:28:00.000-07:00

What most attracts you to your chosen path?
Back in 1988 when I asked Spirit for a new spiritual path, I requested a path that was more earth-based and honoring of the feminine than what I had been working with through the Inner Peace Movement. When Dragonfly caught my attention and led me to the native teachings through the Medicine Cards by Jamie Sams and David Carson and then the Sacred Path Cards and The 13 Original Clan Mothers (both by Jamie Sams), it was clear that the core of the native teachings on which everything revolves is reverence, respect and being in an intimate relationship with Mother Earth and all our relations that live upon her. This basis creates a sturdy foundation on which to build a spiritual path, as by its very nature, that shines with the truths of interconnectedness, interdependency, being accountable for our thoughts, words and actions, and our equality with every manifestation of Life Force.

As to the honoring of the Feminine, I am most grateful to Spirit for leading me to a Cherokee teacher and healer, Will Rockingbear, who, by his profound respect and honoring of the Feminine within himself and in each of us whether in a female or male body, brought a healing balm to an angry wound within my soul that had been left unhealed for many lifetimes. Now I too honor and respect the Divine Feminine in myself and others, and in so doing, now can truly honor and respect the Divine Masculine as well. Both need each other as is the case with all the physical dualities, bringing balance and harmony in our quest to walking through our life as Sacred Human Beings. This is what we call the Beauty Way.

What is the goal of your spiritual practice? Do you consider this the goal of life?
The way my elders have taught me, I only engage in my spiritual practice every time my heart beats and when I master that, then also in every space between each heartbeat. It is a way of life, a way of being, not something that is separate from me or something that I "do" when in crisis or need. My spiritual practice involves much laughter, play with my Animal Totems, intimacy with Spirit, kind understanding and non-judgment of my learning lessons and others' learning lessons. It is the continual journey of remembering who I truly am - a vast, limitless spiritual being of light that is connected to every other manifestation of Life Force and Intelligence.

What is your favorite spiritual practice? How do you feel it affects you?
For me, the foundational spiritual practice on which all others rest is Spiritual Cleansing. When I am spiritually cleansed - centered, balanced, my aura whole and expanded, encompassing me in a sphere, feeling energized and relaxed, peaceful yet alert - then I am in that perfect communion and connectedness with Spirit, Life Force, Divine Light, God, or whatever name you wish to call All That Is. Then I experience crystal clear clarity with my own heart and mind, with the Spirit Helpers, Guardian Angels or Animal Totems that assist me, and with All My Relations - the two-leggeds, four-leggeds, creepy-crawlers, finned ones, winged ones, tree and plant people, stone beings, all the beings in each of the 7 directions. We can energetically cleanse ourselves with our electro-magnetic energy, using the smoke of plant medicine beings, i.e. sage, cedar, sweetgrass, through visualization, and many other ways.

What is your favorite story or teaching from your tradition?
There are so many of course, but here is one that was told to me by my teacher. A fellow healer and teacher (we'll call him Robert) went to a Shaman high in the mountains south of here to learn of his ways. Together they were to journey a fair distance to visit a sacred site even higher up in the mountains. After many miles of arduous walking, they stopped for a break. The Shaman reached into his Medicine Bag and pulled out a beautiful, ripe peach and handed it to Robert. Robert didn't accept the peach, saying "No thanks, you brought it all this long way, it is yours, you eat it." The Shaman then explained that he had brought it along just for Robert, knowing that he was unused to the high altitude and would need it to refresh himself during the journey. Robert then accepted the peach, but hastily added, "Thanks but I'll cut it in half so you can have some too." The Shaman threw his hands up, exclaiming, "If this is the way you receive, I would hate to see the way you give!"

We have been taught that it is better to give than to receive, so our receiving muscles are mightily underdeveloped. But if we are always giving, who is receiving? To receive from each other is a blessing, a sacred act that binds us to one another, erasing the separateness that we have been taught to feel. All giving and no receiving is an act of stinginess - telling the universe that we are too special to share in the bounty of life. Receiving shows us how to be intimate with Spirit and receive the gifts and blessings bestowed upon us, not because we earned them, but simply because we are loved.

What is the ultimate expression of the highest teaching of your tradition?
For me it is to live as a Sacred Human Being with congruence between my thoughts, words and actions, expressing my gratitude, love and compassion through my thoughts, words and actions, and laughing, drinking in the sweetness of life, dancing the joy of being a sentient being connected to All of Life for All Time.

These are my words.