At sunset, there is a clarity of the air that transports me from the ordinary into the extraordinary. Warm light spills across the landscape, a web of spun gold that captures my heart. The liminal time between day and night hangs suspended in the gauzy light. In this magical space, we can find ourselves. We can feel our essence, pure and clear, free of the distortions of our daily living.
A hawk was my first teacher of Oneness. A bird of prey that hunts other birds, this slender brown hawk offered me the most profound awareness of oneness.
The cranes offer a simple wisdom for how we can live our life. We can greet each day, grounded to earth, full of joy and gratitude, energized by sunlight and the possibility that lives at the beginning of a new day. We can raise our voice and jump for joy and awaken to the Life force that will lift us up and give wings to our Spirit.
Nature is the vastness that exhilarates and frightens us. We sense that there is so much more than meets the eye – a mystery so fathomless we hide from it, fearing for the safety of body and soul. We dominate and control that which we do not understand. We strip Nature of her resources, use her up even as she gives and gives, dominate her by “right,” take without thought or thanks, lost in the delusion that we are different, separate from her, better than her. It is time we wake to the Dream! We are part of Nature. Her breath is our breath; her pain is our pain. Our Spirits flow together down hidden paths, gossamer strands of energy link us one to another. The deer and the bear are my brothers. Water is my life’s blood. I am the hawk, and the hawk is me. All That Is reflects my soul back to me in a myriad of ways.
Building on the “Essential Rules for living as a pilgrim”, self-care is a key factor in living a balanced, creative, and productive life. A disciplined approach to your life, so that time for work (walking) is balanced with rest, social connection, and what you find most nurturing, is essential to maintaining a life of joy and meaning. How does self-care fit into pilgrimage?
The spiritual path should probably come with a warning label that would read something like this. "WARNING: Being a spiritual pilgrim often brings forward fears and the shadow aspects of yourself". Are you willing to explore these? How open and vulnerable are you willing to be?
While shamanic initiation may be unique for each individual, cross-culturally, there are similarities. My shamanic initiation experiences had many hallmarks of traditional initiations. Here are those that I encountered: Upper world experience – My sense, [...]
One initiation is plenty, but, a shamanic practitioner often has many throughout their life. Why would this be? Usually they are each different types of initiation and take the practitioner into a different level of [...]
