The Importance of Corn Deities

First grown in Mexico some 5,000 years ago, corn soon became the most important food crop in North and Central America. Throughout the region, Puebloans, Mayans, Aztecs, and other Indigenous peoples worshiped corn deities and developed a variety of myths about the origin, planting, growing, and harvesting of corn, also known as maize. Secular and ceremonial life centered around the growing cycle of corn. Corn became an archetype planted in our collective unconscious.  
 

In the process of writing my spiritual memoir, Riding Spirit Horse, I discovered a recurring theme. One motif that keeps repeating itself in my shamanic journey and trance experiences is that of corn. On my first shamanic journey into the spirit world in 1988, I met a spirit guide who became my lifelong mentor in the ways of the spirit world. Known as Corn Woman or Corn Mother, she is an important deity archetype in Pueblo mythology. She represents fertility, life and the feminine aspects of this world.
 
The importance of corn deities in Pueblo mythology reflects the importance of corn in the Pueblo diet. Each pueblo performs a ritual Corn Dance to honor Corn Woman and pray for rain, growth and fertility. A drummer and a chorus of chanting men support the lines of colorful dancers who move in a continually changing zigzag pattern. The graceful dancers turn and pause, then turn again, creating a sweep of movement that ripples through the line like a breath of wind through stalks of ripening corn. The dancers make gestures to indicate their requests to Corn Woman: lowering the arms depicts the lowering clouds, moving the arms in a zigzag motion denotes lightning, lowering the palms signifies rain, and lifting the hands symbolizes the growing stalks of corn. It is a dance that evokes the timeless Pueblo way of being.
 
On my first pilgrimage to the Maya pyramids and ceremonial centers of Mexico in 1995, I had a vision of the Maize God, giving me insight into the mystery of death and rebirth. The Maya Maize God is a mythical dying-and-reviving god who was killed by the Lords of the Underworld, brought back to life by his sons, the Hero Twins, and emerged from the Underworld as corn. For horticultural societies like the Mayans and Puebloans, maize is the substance of life. Its growing cycle is a metaphor for the death, burial and rebirth of humans. When the corn seed from the harvest is blessed and interred in the earth, it is as though a dead human is buried. The embryonic seed germinates in the dark, moist earth and begins to grow. The corn plant turns its leaves toward the light of the sun, growing taller and taller. At the end of the season, when the corn cobs are fully ripe, it is as if the dead person surfaces to join the living. Just as darkness gives rise to light, so life grows from death.

Joseph Rael's Sound Peace Chambers

Joseph Rael, whose Tiwa name, Tsluu teh koy ay, given to him as a child at Picuris Pueblo, means "Beautiful Painted Arrow," is widely regarded as one of the great Native American holy men of our time. He was born in 1935 on the Southern Ute reservation to a chief's granddaughter and a Tiwa-speaking Picuris native. At about age 7, shortly before his mother's death, he went to live in Picuris near Taos, NM, where his visionary powers were developed until, at about age 12, he began to assist the village holy man in curing practices.
 

He was educated both at Santa Fe Indian school and public high school before getting a BA in political science from the University of New Mexico and an MA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. For a number of years he worked in various capacities in Indian health and social services in both New Mexico and Colorado.
 

At age 45 he quit his social services job to devote full time to teaching and following his visions wherever they might lead. In 1983 Joseph had the vision to build a Sound Peace chamber, a kiva-like structure where people of all races might gather to chant and sing for world peace and to purify the earth and oceans. He built the first such chamber at his then-home, a trailer park in Bernalillo, NM, and shortly like-minded people began to build Sound Peace chambers in other locations.
 

At present, Sound Peace chambers have been built around the globe. Writes Joseph, "My vision is that through sound we will bring about peace and other important vibrations. Sound can teach us a way to create without destruction." Meanwhile, Joseph began leading ceremonial dances, based on his visions, with participants from all races and nationalities. "When you dance you are expanding the vibrations of insight and manifestation," he writes. "I created three dances -- the long dance, the sun-moon dances and the drum dance -- for these spiritual gifts."
 

Joseph teaches that "Every dance, every ceremony, is both for you and for the cosmos." In 1999, Joseph retired from active leadership of the dances he had begun, turning them over to a new generation of his students. Joseph Rael is the author of a number of books, including Being and Vibration, Sound: Native Teachings and Visionary Art and his autobiography, House of Shattering Light. He is also an artist. His paintings, like his ceremonies and teachings, are based on his visions. They have been called "portal" art, because they open a doorway into alternate dimensions of reality. As a Native American elder, Joseph Rael has spoken before the United Nations and addressed a conference of military officers at the Pentagon on the role of the warrior in the modern world.

Drumming for Peace

My fellow drummers, please join me at your altar, shrine or sacred space to drum and pray for the people of Ukraine. Our prayers do not have to be complex or eloquent; just simple and sincere from the heart. The power of prayer should never be underestimated. Words have the power to transform substance. As responsible human beings, let us affirm a world of peace, harmony and balance. Let us cultivate care for life and one another. See things as they are, in process of change, without fixation on imbalance. If we focus on conflict, we will get more conflict. However, if we focus on peace we will get more peace. As soon as we focus on a goal, the Universe will take us in that direction.
 

We can put our prayers into the drum and then send them out into the circle of life on the voice of the drum. The sound waves of the drum create a bridge to the spirit world. When we play a drum, the sound can be heard throughout all realms of the spirit world. Through the drum, we can engage the spirit world to effect specific changes in the physical world. All change begins in the spirit world and then is manifested in the physical world. In the shaman's world, all human experience is self-generated. Experience is shaped from within since the creative matrix of the Universe exists within human consciousness. For the shaman, changing reality is not just an ability, but also a duty one must perform so that future generations will inherit a world where they can live in peace, harmony and abundance. Aho!

Native American Gourd Rattles

Native American artisans have long utilized gourds to make many items, including utensils, serving bowls and rattles. The gourd rattle represents the three kingdoms in Native American culture, with the animal kingdom represented by feathers, the mineral kingdom represented by rocks inside the rattle, and the plant kingdom represented by the gourd itself. Music, many Native people believe, is a vessel used to transform ourselves into spiritual beings capable of healing ourselves and others through the transfer of energy, and these rattles are commonly used during ceremonies of song and dance. The following are some examples of gourd rattles crafted by Native Americans:
 

The Kachina Rattle
 

The gourd rattle used by the Hopi Katsinam (spirit messengers) is highly symbolic. Often only painted light blue with little decoration, this special instrument is used in Kachina dance and ceremony, and also as a gift given to children during their initiation ceremonies into the Kachina Society. The rattle is constructed of a flattened gourd, which represents the earth, and the handle represents the axis of the Hero Twins, iconic figures of ancient Hopi lore who help keep the earth spinning.
 

The Peyote Rattle
 

The Peyote rattle (pictured above) was frequently used during Native American church ceremonies, and was an important element of the Half Moon ceremony. A community elder is in charge of leading this ceremony, which involves the ingestion of dried peyote, a hallucinogenic cactus that was believed to induce visions. This rattle was also constructed from a spherical gourd shape and filled with nut or seed.
 

The Iroquois Rattle
 

According to the Iroquois or "people of the longhouse," the gourd rattle is the sound of Creation. The Iroquoian creation stories tell of the first sound, a shimmering sound, which went out in all directions; this was the sound of "the Creator's thoughts." The seeds of the gourd rattle embody the voice of the Creator, since they are the source of newly created life. The seeds within the rattle scatter the illusions of the conscious mind, planting seeds of pure and clear mind.
 

The Shaman's Rattle
 

The shaman's rattle is used to invoke the assistance of power animals and helping spirits. It is also possible to direct energy with rattles, much like a magician with a magic wand. Healing energy can be mentally transmitted through the rattle and out into the environment or into a patient's body. Prayer and intention can be broadcast to the spirit world. Moreover, you can create sacred space by describing a circle with the rattle while shaking it.

Drumming in the New Year 2022

Season's Greetings! I wish to thank all of my Spotify listeners for making 2021 a standout musical year! We made it through another wild year together. I had a lot of firsts this year. I had over 7,000 listeners. My music was added to 2937 playlists this year and was streamed nearly 35,000 times in 89 countries. I am looking forward to another year of creating and sharing my music.

 

As 2021 comes to a close, I will be celebrating New Year's Eve by drumming out the old year and drumming in the New Year. Drumming in the New Year is a great way to set the tone and intention for 2022. It is also a good time to reflect on the year ending to see where you have erred and reform those beliefs, attitudes, and strategies no longer applicable to the New Year unfolding. It is an opportunity to feel gratitude for all that has been received and accomplished throughout the past year. Such a fresh open-minded approach will broaden your perspective and start you out on the right track. What will you be "drumming" into your life for 2022?

Solstice Blessings to Everyone

In the Northern Hemisphere, the Winter Solstice is the shortest day of the year and the first day of winter. This occurs December 20, 21, or 22, varying from year to year, dependent upon the elliptical path of the Earth around our Sun. Ancient peoples in our northern climes regarded Winter Solstice as the pivotal time of year. It is a time of transition in the annual cycle when the old year ends and our journey into the New Year begins. It is a sacred time to conduct ceremonies focused on the return of light and warmth. Rituals designed to divert nature from the path toward eternal winter and oblivion to one directed toward light and prosperity. Most cultures planned festivals and celebrations at or around the Winter Solstice to ensure that the Sun would return.
 

Winter Solstice is an affirmation of the continuation of life; that the cyclical order of time and the cosmos will continue intact. Fire and light have always played a central role in the Winter Solstice ceremonies. In much of northern Europe people ignited huge bonfires. Lighted candles were often placed on the branches of evergreen trees, which symbolized survival and eternal life. These symbols of warmth and lasting life were lit to hasten the "old" Sun's waning and the "new" Sun's rebirth. On the Winter Solstice we are all praying, on some level, for the darkness to end. "Just return the light!" the ceremonies seem to say. As we celebrate the return of the light, we affirm the continuation of life at the very moment of dissolution. To be sure, dark days lie ahead. But contained within each is the promise of brighter tomorrows.

Laguna Pueblo Author Leslie Marmon Silko

Ceremony
I will tell you something about stories,
[he said]
They aren't just for entertainment.
Don't be fooled
They are all we have, you see,
all we have to fight off illness and death.
You don't have anything
if you don't have the stories.
Their evil is mighty
but it can't stand up to our stories.
So they try to destroy the stories
let the stories be confused or forgotten
They would like that
They would be happy
Because we would be defenseless then.(1)

The above passage is from Laguna Pueblo author Leslie Marmon Silko's acclaimed 1977 novel Ceremony. The excerpt emphasizes the essential role that storytelling plays within the Pueblo culture. It also sums up the repeated attempts of colonial invaders to erase Pueblo culture by destroying its ceremonies. Despite these attempts, which began in 1540 and continued until the 1930s, the core elements of Pueblo myth and ritual have survived. However, as Silko reveals in Ceremony, the years from World War II to the present have brought new threats to the Pueblos, which, although more subtle than the early Spanish conquests, are even more insidious, and must be confronted if the Pueblo culture is to survive.

In Ceremony, Silko portrays the endangered state of the Laguna reservation following World War II. The land has been damaged by runoff from the uranium mining, and a generation of young Pueblo men has been devastated by the war. Ceremony tells the story of Tayo, a wounded returning World War II veteran of mixed Laguna-white ancestry following a short stint at a Los Angeles VA hospital. He is returning to the poverty-stricken Laguna reservation, continuing to suffer from battle fatigue, and is haunted by memories of his cousin Rocky who died in the conflict during the Bataan Death March of 1942. His initial escape from pain leads him to alcoholism, but his Old Grandma and mixed-blood Navajo medicine man Betonie help him through Native ceremonies to develop a greater understanding of the world and his place as a Laguna man.

In his search for healing, Tayo seeks a cure from Ku'oosh, the old medicine man. Ku'oosh realizes that he cannot heal Tayo because, "Some things we can't cure like we used to...not since the white people came." While the return to the old ways helps Tayo, something else is needed to complete his healing ceremony. This is where Betonie, a new kind of healer, comes in. Betonie still wears the traditional clothes of a medicine man and uses the traditional paraphernalia, such as prayer sticks, gourd rattles and sacred herbs. But Betonie also uses contemporary items as healing tools, such as coke bottles, phone books and old gas station calendars with pictures of Indians on them, all common objects on the reservation. When Tayo questions the use of such non-traditional items for his ceremonies, Betonie responds, "In the old days it was simple. A medicine person could get by without all these things. But nowadays..."

Betonie provides Tayo with the blend of tools and faith Tayo needs in order to undertake the completion of the ceremony, which can cure both himself and his people. The key to survival of Pueblo culture, as Silko demonstrates in Ceremony, may be found in allowing traditional Pueblo ceremonies to change to meet the present-day realities of reservation life. It's in this fusion of old and new that the Pueblos may find the healing they so desperately need after suffering nearly 500 years of colonialism.

Ceremony gained immediate acceptance when returning Vietnam war veterans took to the novel's theme of coping, healing and reconciliation between races and people that share the trauma of military actions. It was largely on the strength of this work that literary critic Alan R. Velie named Silko one of his Four Native American Literary Masters, along with N. Scott Momaday, Gerald Vizenor and James Welch. Her publications include Laguna Woman: Poems (1974), Ceremony (1977), Storyteller (1981), Almanac of the Dead (1991), Gardens in the Dunes (1999) and The Turquoise Ledge: A Memoir (2010).

1. Leslie Marmon Silko, Ceremony (Viking Press, 1977), p. 2.

The Summer Solstice: Planting Seeds of Good Cause

The 2021 summer solstice is Monday, June 21 at 03:32 UTC. In the Northern Hemisphere, the summer solstice is the first day of summer and the longest day of the year. The summer solstice is a turning point when the days start to grow shorter. This occurs June 20, 21, or 22, varying from year to year, dependent upon the elliptical path of the Earth around our sun. Technically the summer solstice marks the instant at which the Earth's axis stops tilting toward the sun and starts going back the other way. Solstice means "standing-still-sun." At summer solstice, the sun journeys farthest north in its orbital path and for the next three days it rises and sets at virtually the same place on the horizon, appearing to stand still, and then it slowly returns south.  
 

At the summer solstice, we begin a new cycle on the Medicine Wheel of Life, entering the South--the home of summer, midday, youth, joy, trust, and growth. From the South rises the vital energy of renewal, regeneration, and growth. From the South we learn to plant seeds of good cause. We learn that our thoughts and actions create our reality. Whether we realize it or not, we are creating our reality all the time. Our reality is the perfect, exact mirror of our thoughts and what we consistently focus upon. Every thought, idea, or image in the mind has form and substance. Everything that we perceive began with a thought. The structure of our universe is thought, mind and consciousness. Consciousness determines the form of our experience. Consciousness is the "theater of perceptual awareness." It is the collective consciousness of humanity that shapes our physical reality.

Creating Reality

We are creating our reality with our thoughts, beliefs, intentions, and more. When we are oblivious to the power that we all share to create our collective reality, that power slips away from us and our reality becomes a nightmare. We begin to feel like victims of a dark and chaotic creation that we are unable to influence or change. We are inundated with negative world events that create anxiety, fear and hopelessness. The only way to end this dreadful reality is to awaken to the fact that it is imaginary, and recognize our ability to imagine a better story, one that the universe will work with us to manifest.

We cannot "restore" our broken reality without "restorying" our life. It is easy to create in the world that everyone believes to be true, the collective story of humanity. It is easy to reproduce and replicate the reality of the world as we know it; in fact, it is automatic. It requires no thought or awareness. We can only change our collective story by changing the way we think--by changing our beliefs, expectations and assumptions which keep us stuck in a limited perspective of our personal and social reality. Those aspects of our experience that are most enduring are the effect of habitual expectations and beliefs, or in other words, what we focus our attention on.

It is through our attention that we influence and direct the aspects of our experience and the world around us. What we pay attention to becomes what we know as ourselves and our world, for energy flows where attention goes. As positive psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi points out in his book, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, "We create ourselves by how we invest this energy. Memories, thoughts, and feelings are all shaped by how we use it. And it is an energy under our control; hence, attention is our most important tool in the task of improving the quality of experience." What we focus our attention on is what our life becomes--the clearer the intention, the greater the impact.

Drumming at Sacred Sites

Earth, human and solar processes are interwoven through a vibrational resonant network around the planet. The lines and intersection points of this energy grid match most of the Earth’s seismic fracture zones and ocean ridges as well as worldwide atmospheric highs and lows, paths of migratory birds, gravitational anomalies, and the sites of ancient temples and megalithic structures. The early geomancers (Earth diviners) discovered that this numinous web is the planetary counterpart to the acupuncture meridian system of the human body. Humans, they realized, were created in the image of Mother Earth. The acupuncture and node points of the human body correspond to those of the Earth Mother.

At the intersection points of the planet’s energy web exist holy places, power spots, or acupuncture points. According to the Hopi, the world would fall apart without these nodes of concentrated vitality. These sacred places are like nerve centers that distribute vital energy throughout the surrounding natural systems. When a human being goes to a power place, the attention of the Earth Mother is drawn to that area and energy begins to flow to that spot because our bodies, like hers, are electromagnetic. Like acupuncture needles, humans are capable of maintaining the harmonious flow of the planetary energy meridians by making an Earth connection at power places.

Great healing can be accomplished by drumming at sacred sites. Earth and humans exist in a reciprocal, bioresonant relationship. Through the planet’s resonant web, we affect our environment; our environment, in turn, affects us. By interacting with sacred places, we are capable of generating a world of peace and harmony. Power sites are places that call out to the soul; they can have a collective calling or be unique to an individual. Seek out power places. Your power spots can be identified by your desire to go to them. Their significance to you is always revealed by your planned or accidental presence at them. And when you are there, your vibration feels higher, stronger, more joyous and free. Every square inch of the Earth Mother is sacred and a potential connecting place for someone.

Mountains, rivers, and waterfalls are powerful places to drum. Indigenous people believe that mountains are inhabited by powerful spirits that watch over the people. Each mountain has its own spirit, its own name and its own domain which they protect. Mountain spirits are called upon for assistance, blessings, and protection. Mountainous regions charge you with energy and counteract imbalances or negativity. Mountains are generally electrical (yang) and projective in nature, emanating great spiritual power. Mountains are places of spiritual renewal where Heaven and Earth meet and from which all directions emanate. They are good places to drum for planetary healing.     
 

Rivers, lakes, and ocean beaches are magnetic (yin) and receptive in nature. Being near a body of water is soothing and relaxing. Magnetic fields influence the pituitary gland, which is related to the brow chakra (chakras are vibratory energy centers located along the center of the human body), otherwise known as the third eye or mind’s eye. Bodies of water expand and clarify inner vision, sharpen telepathic abilities, and stimulate the flow of healing energies. A close proximity to water helps cleanse the body, mind and spirit. Rivers, in particular, are good places to drum, for the healing energy generated will flow downstream. Water is a profound conductor of energy.

Waterfalls are electromagnetic in nature. The water itself in magnetic. The falling water produces electrical energy. The two forces combine to form electromagnetic energy. Such energy is of a balanced, harmonic nature. Waterfalls are places of spiritual power that can truly expand our spirits. The spirits and energies of waterfalls are especially suited for balancing and recharging your personal life force. And when the sun is right, waterfalls generate misty, iridescent rainbows.

You can create a powerful vortex of energy in your own home by setting up an altar where you can pray, meditate and drum at least once a day. An altar is any structure upon which we place offerings and sacred objects that have spiritual or cosmological significance. It represents the center and axis of your sacred space. A sacred space can be any location in your home where you can be by yourself and be fully self-expressed. A simple altar can be created with a cloth, a candle and other symbols that mean something to you. Like the ancient temples, such a sanctuary space serves as a drawing point for the healing energy needed by the planet.

Malidoma Patrice Somé: Nature, Ritual and Community

Malidoma Patrice Somé is an author, teacher and shaman from the Dagara tribe in West Africa. Somé holds three Master's degrees and two Doctorates from the Sorbonne and Brandeis University. Representing his village in Burkina Faso, West Africa, Somé has come to the West to share the ancient wisdom and practices which have supported his people for thousands of years. He travels throughout the world bringing a message of hope, healing and reconciliation through the powerful tools of ritual and community building. Versed in the languages of psychology, comparative literature, as well as ancient mythology, healing, and divination, Somé bridges paths between the ancient tribal world of the West African Dagara culture and modern Western society. Over the years, he has come to understand that, despite their differences, Indigenous and Western peoples are actually children of the same Spirit, living in the same house they call Earth. 

 

Born in a Dagara community in 1956, he was abducted from his people at the age of four by a Jesuit priest and imprisoned in a seminary built for training a new generation of black Catholic priests. In spite of his isolation from his tribe and his village, Somé stubbornly refused to forget where he had come from and who he was. Finally, some 16 years later, Somé fled the seminary and walked 125 miles through the dense jungle back to his own people, the Dagara. Once he was home, however, many there regarded him as a "white black," to be looked on with suspicion because he had been contaminated by the "sickness" of the colonial world. Somé was a man of two worlds, at home in neither.
 

His only hope of reconnection with his people was to undergo the harrowing Dagara month-long initiation in the wilderness. Elders from the village believed that Somé's ancestral spirit had withdrawn from his body and that he had already undergone a type of rite of passage into manhood in the white world. Despite this, they agreed to let him undergo a belated manhood rite with a younger group in the tribe. Having been raised outside of the culture and not speaking the language made the initiation process, believed to unite soul and body, more dangerous for him than for the youths also undergoing the rite. Somé emerged from this ancient ritual a newly integrated individual, rejoined to his ancestral past and his cultural present. Even after initiation, however, Somé remains a man of two worlds, charged by his elders to bridge his culture and the Western world.
 

I had the opportunity to take one of Somé's workshops years ago. In his workshops, Somé tells participants that the Dagara believe each person is born with a destiny, and he or she is given a name that reflects that destiny. "My name is Malidoma," he says. "It means he who makes friends with the stranger. As my name implies, I am here in the West to tell the world about my people in any way I can, and to take back to my people the knowledge I gain about this world. My elders are convinced that the West is as endangered as the Indigenous cultures it has decimated in the name of colonialism. Western civilization is suffering from a great sickness of the soul. The West's progressive turning away from functioning spiritual values; its total disregard for the environment and natural resources; the violence of inner cities with their problems of poverty, drugs and crime; spiraling unemployment and economic disarray; and growing intolerance toward people of color and the values of other cultures—all of these trends, if unchecked, will eventually bring about terrible self-destruction. In the face of all this global chaos, the only possible hope is self-transformation through ritual."
 

Somé leads workshop participants in ritual drumming and singing. He shares ways to create community as well as ritual ways that activate the healing powers of nature. He says that in Dagara society, all healing is accomplished in ritual through nature, and the participation of the village community. Nature is the landscape in which all healing takes place and it's the environment in which we renew ourselves and become whole, experiencing a sense of well-being. From an Indigenous perspective, the individual psyche can only be healed by addressing one's relationships with the visible worlds of nature and community and one's relationship with the invisible forces of the ancestors and spirit allies. That is why the art of ritual is so important, for it's in ritual that nature, community and the spirit world come together in healing.   
 

In modern times, we've lost our natural tendency to function communally by embracing such thinking as "pull one's self up by one's bootstraps" and "every man for himself." Yet only with community is a person's life purpose discovered, nurtured, and most importantly, required to sustain community. Healing through ritual nourishes our spirits and our psyches. It heals the deep wounds in us that are unseen and unspoken. Ritual offers us a deeper healing solution to complex dilemmas that plague modern life, those problems that lie beneath the surface, waiting to erupt. Somé focuses on the need for grief ritual and ways of working with emotion in Western culture. The ritual of grieving, the sacred shedding of tears to heal the wounds of human losses, is a cleansing practice that purifies the psyche. Somé likened the danger of unexpressed grief to a social time bomb.
 

Somé emphasizes that, "for the Dagara, ritual is, above all else, the yardstick by which people measure their state of connection with the hidden ancestral realm, with which the entire community is genetically bound. In a way, the Dagara think of themselves as a projection of the spirit world. The abandonment of ritual can be devastating. From the spiritual viewpoint, ritual is inevitable and necessary if one is to live. Where ritual is absent, the young ones are restless or violent, there are no real elders, and the grownups are bewildered. The future is dim."
 

Somé is optimistic when he says, "At this critical time in history, the Earth's people are awakening to a deep need for global healing. African wisdom, so long held secret, is being called on to provide tools to enable us to move into a more peaceful and empowered way of being, both within ourselves, and within our communities. The Indigenous spirit in each of us is calling for cleansing and reconciliation. The ancestors are responding."

The Huichol Mask

An excerpt from my soon-to-be released memoir, Riding Spirit Horse: A Journey into Shamanism. Copyright © 2021 by Michael Drake.
 

I made my first pilgrimage to the Maya pyramids and ceremonial centers of Mexico in March of 1995. It was an empowering, transformational journey of self-discovery--the culmination of a lifelong dream to explore the pyramidal temples found at Chichen Itza, Uxmal, Palenque and Tulum. I spent about a week in Playa del Carmen, a coastal resort town along the Yucatan Peninsula’s Riviera Maya strip of Caribbean shoreline. The Riviera Maya is known for its palm-lined beaches and one of the largest coral reefs in the world. The beaches of Playa del Carmen are famous for their white powdery sand and crystal clear turquoise waters.
 

One afternoon, I went shopping for some gifts and souvenirs to take back home with me. While walking along Quinta Avenida (5th Avenue), a pedestrian-only walkway through downtown Playa del Carmen, I discovered a colorfully dressed street vendor selling his beadwork. He was a Huichol indigenous artist from Guadalajara. The Huichol, or peyote people, are known for their yarn paintings and papier-mache masks covered in small, brightly colored beads. Yarn paintings consist of commercial yarn pressed into boards coated with wax and resin and are derived from a ceremonial tablet called a neirika.
 

The beaded art is a relatively new innovation and is crafted using glass, plastic or metal beads pressed onto a wooden or papier-mache form covered in beeswax. Common bead art forms include masks, bowls and figurines. Like all Huichol art, the bead work depicts the prominent patterns and symbols featured in Huichol shamanic traditions. The most common motifs are related to the three most important elements in Huichol religion, the deer, corn and peyote. The first two are important as primary sources of food, and the last is valued for its psychoactive properties. Eating the peyote cactus is at the heart of the tribe's spiritual knowledge and core to their existence, connecting them to their ancestors and guardian spirits through psychedelic visions.  

Huichol masks are akin to mirrors that reflect the patterns of face paintings worn during sacred ceremonies. The Huichol people understand themselves to be mirrors of the gods. The Huichol believe that you must look past the ego reflected in a mirror in order to enter the place they call the "original times," before the present separation occurred between matter and spirit, between life and death, between the natural and the supernatural, and between the sexes. They are a culture based on being at one with the Cosmos. The very purpose of life is to reach a state of unity and continuity between man, nature, society and the supernatural.
 

The shaman-artist had some small beaded masks displayed on his table. I asked him if he had any larger masks. He pulled a bundle out from under the table and unwrapped a beautiful life-size human mask. The intricate design featured a radiant sun on the forehead, a stalk of blue corn on each side of the head, a double-headed peyote eagle on each cheek, a prayer arrow on the ridge of the nose, and a deer on the chin. I asked him how much? He said 300 pesos, or about 50 dollars. We settled on the price, but the artisan needed to finish the beadwork. He asked if I could come back later in the day. I agreed to return later that evening to buy the mask and continued shopping other vendors.
 

With great anticipation, I returned in the evening to purchase the finished mask. As I carried the mask back to my hotel, it felt warmer and warmer until it was hot in my hands. When I got back to my room, I noticed a tepo or sacred drum (which is the voice of the gods for the Huichol) in the mouth of the mask. The symbolism was a metaphor for a "talking drum," the name I chose for my entrepreneurial publishing company. This meaningful synchronicity convinced me that the mask was meant for me. I later discovered that wearing the mask during meditation induces a blissful state of unity consciousness with the deities that the mask both represents and embodies. It’s a way of communing with the essence of these deities, channeling them to deepen shamanic trance, to honor them and more. To learn more, read my blog post, The Power of Masks.

Native American Vows to Decolonize Native Burials

Robert Gill of Buffalo, Minnesota is a member of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate tribe and among only a few Native American morticians in the country. A hero to many tribal members, Gill has made it his life's mission to restore Native burial customs and to "decolonize," as he calls it, the process of honoring and burying those who die on Indian reservations. Since the arrival of the pandemic, death has become an all-encompassing specter of Gill's daily life, consuming his days and even his nights. He travels hundreds of miles each week to remote tribal communities as far west as the Crow Indian Reservation in Montana and as far north as the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation near the Canadian border. 

 

Before the pandemic, Gill arranged three to four burials a month for Native families. Now he is receiving that many funeral requests every week. Even with a punishing work schedule, he sometimes struggles with guilt over his inability to meet the surging demand for traditional burial services. He knows that many tribal families are being left with no choice but to turn to white-owned funeral homes with morticians who do not understand their language and customs. Without ceremonies rooted in their culture, Gill argues, tribal members are disconnected from their history and unable to mourn properly.
 

The dearth of funeral options, some tribal leaders argue, is a legacy of America's dark history of racial subjugation of American Indians and their religious practices. Until 1978, when Congress passed the American Indian Religious Freedom Act, spiritual ceremonies like the sweat lodge and drum dances were still technically illegal. The prohibitions enabled Christian churches to establish deep footholds on reservations and further restrict Indigenous customs--including their ceremonies for honoring the deceased.
 

Determined to bring more dignity to the burial process, Gill enrolled in the Worsham College of Mortuary Science in Chicago, where he graduated in 2012. He is believed to be the only licensed mortician of Dakota heritage in the country. Today Gill is virtually alone in the funeral business for his willingness to make long-distance house visits--sometimes driving entire days, through sleet and snow, to meet with tribal families in their homes. Each visit carries the risk that he will contract the virus still raging through Indian Country. Gill is the only one of five morticians who work at Chilson Funeral Chapel in central Minnesota who has not been sickened by COVID-19.
 

"You've got to have nerves of steel to do this work in a pandemic," Gill said.

 

A version of this article first appeared in the "Minneapolis Star Tribune."

New Ayahuasca Documentary: "The Medicine"

A recent documentary feature, "The Medicine," reveals the hidden mysteries of one of nature's most powerful and controversial healing remedies -- Ayahuasca. It is a documentary about Amazonian shamanism, introducing Taita ("shaman") Juanito Guerillmo Chindoy Chindoy, both a teacher and student of the sacred plant medicine. As Ayahuasca gains popularity in the West, the film explores the science as well as the lore behind the plant and why it is used to heal. Use of the Ayahuasca brew is both a tradition in Amazonian shamanism and a promising new focus of mental health research.
 

The film follows former NFL Safety, Kerry Rhodes (NY Jets, AZ Cardinals), and actress, AnnaLynne McCord (Power, 90210, Nip/Tuck), as they drink with the Taita experiencing Ayahuasca for the first time -- in its true tradition. Taita Juanito guides them through an authentic ceremonial practice, and they emerge with new insights about their health, their pasts, and their emotional wellbeing. "The Medicine" is narrated by actor Stuart Townsend.
 

"The Medicine" also features leading scholars and authors from around the world exploring the cultural and scientific significance of Ayahuasca, including Daniel Pinchbeck, Rachel Harris, Graham Hancock, Mauricio Diazgranados, Ph.D., and others. This ancient medicine may be a solution to modern problems of addiction, depression, trauma, and disease. The video is now streaming on digital and on-demand platforms including AppleTV, Amazon, Google Play and others. Watch the trailer.

Weaving Music into Art

The Shipibo are a tribe from the Amazonian rainforest in Peru credited with holding the traditions of the powerful entheogenic brew ayahuasca ("vine of souls"). This ancient tribe is known both for their beautiful geometric textiles and for their long history of using ayahuasca as an entheogen. This plant sacrament induces visual and auditory stimulation for the purpose of self-revelation and healing. In the Shipibo culture, shamans -- called curanderos -- work as plant-based healers of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual disorders. Their knowledge and healing power are said to come from the plants themselves.  

Shipibo shamans have a custom in which a they live for months in isolation and ingest different plants in order to connect with the spirits of the plants. According to Shipibo shamanism, each plant has a different personality, just like people. Once a plant is ingested, the shaman may be inspired to write a song. These songs, known as icaros, are then used in healing ceremonies, and eventually translated into geometric patterns in order to adorn tapestries with their messages. Each song and corresponding pattern embody the energy of a specific Amazonian plant. The colorful designs are a woven visualization of each plant's song, almost serving as a musical score.

Shipibo textiles reflect the tribe's culture and cosmology. Largely geometric in nature, the designs feature the square, the rhombus, the octagon and the cross, which represents the southern Cross constellation. Other symbols featured in the designs are the Cosmic Serpent, the Anaconda and various plant forms, notably the caapi vine used in the preparation of the ayahuasca brew. Shipibo patterns are believed to heal physical, mental, emotional and spiritual ailments, with each design carrying its own meaning. Some are said to bring wisdom or protection; others attract abundance. The textiles are worn as skirts, placed on tables or beds, hung on walls or used in ceremony.
 

There is an fascinating connection between the visual and aural in Shipibo art: the Shipibo can paint the pattern by listening to an icaro, or they can inversely hear the song by simply viewing the design. Shipibo shamans, under the influence of the psychedelic affects of ayahuasca, undergo a sort of biological feedback mechanism which affects the visual cortex, allowing the music to be seen, and then translated into artwork. Known as synesthesia, this is a perceptual phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway, in this case seeing by hearing, or hearing by seeing.
 

After discovering cymatics, the scientific study of geometric patterns created by sound vibrations, Irish artist Tanya Harris traveled to Peru in 2014 to explore the "visual music" of Shipibo art. Harris discovered cymatics while studying for an MA in Textile Futures at Central Saint Martins in London. Harris spent a month with the Shipibo and participated in ayahuasca ceremonies. During one of her last ceremonies, she received insight from ayahuasca that she should ask a shaman if she could record her singing a particular song and also get from her the geometric tapestry translation of the song. 

 

So, using a handy video recorder, Harris carefully recorded the shaman's icaro about a plant called marosa. Harris found striking visual similarities between the shapes created by her cymatic patterns and the designs created by the Shipibo as illustrations of their songs. For Harris, it was simply confirmation that "sound is a primordial, creative force." Her experiences with the Shipibo are described in this short video, Consciousness Resides in Geometry.

What is Smudging, and How is it Done?

Smudging is the burning of herbs for cleansing, purification, and protection of sacred space. Smudging cleanses the mind and environment by dispelling any stagnant or unwanted energy. Sage, cedar, juniper, and sweetgrass are commonly used for smudging. 
 

To smudge, light the herbs in a fire-resistant receptacle, and then blow out the flames, or burn them on a hot coal or pressed charcoal tablet. When using charcoal tablets, the smudge bowl should be filled with sand or a flat stone to prevent overheating the container. I recommend cracking a window or door for ventilation and for releasing unwanted energies.

Next, use a feather or your hands to draw the smoke over your heart, throat, and face to open the energy channels of your body and raise your personal power or windhorse. According to Mongolian shamanism, windhorse, or hiimori, can be increased through smudging, drumming, and other forms of shamanic practice in order to accomplish significant aims.

In Tuva, juniper smoke is sacred and an intricate part of everyday life. Sacred smoke encircles the shaman’s patient, family, and yurt or sacred space. It is the smoke of blessing, purifier, prayer sender, and also the extractor of disease. Smoke is also one of the foods for spirits. The spirits eat just as people eat. Tuvan shamans believe that "if the spirits are not fed, the ritual may not go well."

The following is a list of herbs that I use in my shamanic practice. You can use them independently or mix them together in a smudge bowl. Each plant imparts specific qualities when burned. Remember to thank the plant or tree spirit whose body made the cleansing possible. To assist you in creating sacred space:

1. Smudge with the smoke of cedar or juniper for protection, deep cleansing, and the dispelling of negativity.

 
2. Smudge with white sage or common sagebrush for cleansing, blessing, and for calling in the specific spirits that you require to aid you in the task at hand.

 
3. Burn sweet grass, the breath of the Earth Mother, to attract and draw in the helping spirits that are called upon. 

4. Use copal resin, the blood of trees, to honor the Tree People for providing our first breath, which is spirit, and to call upon the ancestral spirits for their oversight, insight, and protection. 

5. Burn Palo Santo, which translated means "holy wood," as an energy cleanser and to attract sacredness and benevolence to a space.

 
6. Offer tobacco smoke or a pinch of dry tobacco to carry your prayers to the Loom of Creation, thereby reweaving the pattern of existence in accordance with those prayers.

Awakening the Shamanic Drum

When you make or acquire a new drum for shamanic work, it needs to be ritually awakened so that it can be used more effectively. The ritual that I present here is a form of embodiment trance and should not be undertaken without helping spirits for protection from malevolent spirits that may cause you harm. As Mongolian shaman Sarangerel Odigon points out, "Opening yourself up in order to allow your shamanic spirits to work through you is not dangerous if you do so with the specific intention of embodying them and no other spirits besides them. Your helper spirits will bar the way to any foreign spirits that may try to enter your body."

Embodiment trance is a core shamanic practice. It is essential for the safe practice of many methods of shamanic healing. By embodying a helping spirit, the practitioner is protected from the ill effects of removing spiritual intrusions from a patient during extraction healings. Through embodiment trance, the spirits are able to make their thoughts known or empower the practitioner to do the work at hand.

To prepare for this ritual, it is useful to smudge the drum and dedicate it to your work. Create sacred space and ask each of the six powers or directions to bless your drum. Thank the animal spirit for giving its hide for your drumhead. Thank the trees for your drum's wooden rim and ask that the drum's hoop be connected to the World Tree, which enables all trees to sing your prayers while drumming. If your drum has synthetic parts, thank the organisms that provided the essence for the chemicals that the substance is made of.

Once you have invoked the spirits you normally work with, be sure to call upon the spirit of the drum and ask it to come to you and become your spirit helper. Convey your intention and willingness to allow it to enter your body and merge with your being. Visualize yourself as a clean hollow bone or tube, ready to be filled with hope, possibilities and power.

Now begin to gently play a heartbeat rhythm on your drum. Focus your attention on the sound of the drum, thereby stilling the chatter in your mind. Allow the drum to empty you. Become one with the drum. Remember that drumming opens portals to the spirit world, draws spirit in, and opens you up to receive it.

Imagine the energy of your drum's spirit entering your hollow bone and filling you with power and possibility. You may feel it, see it, sense it or simply imagine it. Allow the spirit of the drum to merge with you so that your playing comes under its control. When embodying spirits, they will essentially dictate the rhythm, tempo, volume and timbre until you reach something that is appropriate for them. Just relax, release all expectation and follow the urges the spirits give you. The amount of time spent drumming before the spirits actually enter the body varies from practitioner to practitioner and even from session to session.

Once the spirits come in, they will empower you to continue drumming, sometimes for hours. As Tuvan shaman Sailyk-ool Kanchyyp-ool describes it, "I am not myself. But, I am being maneuvered by the spirits. They tell me. 'Beat hard, beat fast, beat a long beat.' And they also tell me when to stop." While the spirits are in your body, they will protect you from any harm. Even if you do something dangerous, such as walking through fire, they will not allow any harm to come to you.

As the drum journey evolves, you will become more ecstatic and spirit will perhaps create new rhythms or inspire you to sing. You are now shifting into a higher state of consciousness and developing a new shamanic skill. At the higher levels, a healer becomes adept at detaching all sense of self, fully present in the moment, as a hollow bone or living conduit for healing energy to move through. At some point in your journey, you will sense that all of your helping spirits and power animals are traveling with you. They are at your side, helping you become a living conduit for the spirit of the drum.

When it feels appropriate, gradually slow the tempo of your drumming to a regular heartbeat rhythm to draw your consciousness back into your body. Do not rush the transformation. Visualize yourself fully grounded in your body, and then slowly open your eyes.

Merging with the spirit of your drum is an important breakthrough in becoming a shamanic practitioner. This is a truly sacred time to hold with reverence, for the spirits have brought the blessing of greater power to you for the benefit of the community. Your shamanic initiation has truly begun!

Drumming in the New Year

Happy New Year to you all! As 2019 comes to a close, I will be celebrating New Year's Eve by drumming out the old year 2019 and drumming in the New Year 2020. Drumming in the new year is believed to have originated in ancient China when creating noise from drums and fireworks was thought to dispel evil spirits and bring good luck. For thousands of years, the drum has been used as a tool for moving through sacred transitions, honoring changes in seasons, and attuning to the cyclical rhythms of nature. Drumming in the new year is a great way to set the tone and intention for 2020. It is also a good time to reflect on the year ending to see where you have erred and reform those beliefs, attitudes, and strategies no longer applicable to the New Year unfolding. It is an opportunity to feel gratitude for all that has been received and accomplished throughout the past year. Such a fresh open-minded approach will broaden your perspective and start you out on the right track. What will you be "drumming" into your life for 2020?

Celebrate the Return of the Light on the Winter Solstice

In the Northern Hemisphere, the winter solstice is the first day of winter and the longest night of the year. The winter solstice is a turning point when the days start to grow longer. This occurs December 20, 21, or 22, varying from year to year, dependent upon the elliptical path of the Earth around our sun. Technically the solstice marks the instant at which the Earth's axis stops tilting away from the sun and starts going back the other way. Solstice means "standing-still-sun." At winter solstice, the sun journeys farthest south in its orbital path and for the next three days it rises and sets at virtually the same place on the horizon, appearing to stand still, and then it slowly returns north.

This three day pause in the sun's movement is a time to reflect on what is no longer serving us and to let those things go. We are each given the opportunity to take a peek at what is happening on a heart and soul level. We can reflect on the year ending to see where we have erred and reform those beliefs, attitudes, and strategies no longer applicable to the New Year unfolding. It is also time to feel gratitude for all that has been received and accomplished throughout the past year. Such a fresh open-minded approach will broaden our perspective and start us out on the right track.

Ancient peoples in our northern climes regarded winter solstice as the pivotal time of year. It is a time of transition in the annual cycle when the old year ends and our journey into the New Year begins. Most cultures planned festivals and celebrations at or around the winter solstice to ensure that the sun would return. Rituals were designed to divert nature from the path toward eternal winter and oblivion to one directed toward light and prosperity. Winter solstice was an affirmation of the continuation of life; that the cyclical order of time and the cosmos will continue intact.

Many of the traditions we now associate with Christmas have their roots in winter solstice celebrations. In much of northern Europe people ignited Yule bonfires to give life and power to the sun. Lighted candles were often placed on the branches of evergreen trees, which symbolized survival and eternal life. These symbols of warmth and lasting life were lit to hasten the "old" sun's waning and the "new" sun's rebirth. People often tied apples to the branches of firs and oaks to remind themselves that summer would eventually return. People would "deck the halls" with holly, ivy, yew, and many other herbs and evergreens to honor the nature spirits and to bring good luck. In the British Isles, mistletoe was placed upon altars. Mistletoe's golden color was believed to store the power of the sun, especially when plucked at the solstice.

The winter solstice is a time to celebrate the return of the light after a period of darkness. In my own solstice celebration, I like to incorporate a sacred fire. Before the sun sets on the solstice, I will light a large candle, call the spirit of the sun into that flame and allow it to burn until morning, when his spirit has returned to the sky. On the winter solstice we are all praying, on some level, for the darkness to end. "Just return the light!" the ceremonies seem to say. As we celebrate the return of the light, we affirm the continuation of life at the very moment of dissolution. To be sure, dark days lie ahead. But contained within each is the promise of brighter tomorrows.

Book Review: "Black Elk, Lakota Visionary"

Black Elk was one of the most influential Native American leaders of the twentieth century. His influence flows from the enduring power and wisdom of his spiritual teachings, his lifetime of work with the problems of his people, and the catalytic effect of the book Black Elk Speaks on the revival of traditional religion and culture. Even though many books have been written about the iconic Lakota holy man, Harry Oldmeadow's 2018 book, Black Elk, Lakota Visionary: The Oglala Holy Man and Sioux Tradition, is significant in that it corrects the historical record through drawing upon recently discovered sources and places Black Elk within a universal context that extends across the world's religions. This engaging account by Oldmeadow explores the remarkable life of Black Elk, his visions, his relationship with Catholicism, and his commitment to revive traditional religion and culture. Oldmeadow clarifies from the beginning that this book is not intended to be "a full-dress biography, nor a history, nor a systematic account of Lakota religious life." The 256 page book consists of seven chapters and of three appendices that contain excerpts from letters that help further clarify Black Elk's life and mission.

Black Elk was born in 1863 on the Little Powder River, in what is now Wyoming. Like his father before him, Black Elk became a warrior, as well as a holy man of the Oglala Lakota tribe. Black Elk's early years were spent living the old nomadic life, and he was present at Custer's Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876. In the 1880s, Black Elk toured with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show before returning to the Pine Ridge Reservation established for the Oglala in South Dakota. On his return to Pine Ridge in 1889, he became a leader of the Ghost Dance. When the government responded with troops, Black Elk called for armed resistance, and he was present at the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890. After being wounded in an attempt to retaliate after Wounded Knee, Black Elk was convinced to surrender by another Sioux chief, Red Cloud. He remained living on the Pine Ridge Reservation and later converted to Catholicism.

Black Elk's conversion to Catholicism in 1904, then in his 40s, was surrounded by great controversy and often misunderstood. The publication of John G. Neihardt's Black Elk Speaks in 1932 put Black Elk in an awkward position in relation to the Catholic Church. His reputation on the Pine Ridge reservation was built as a Catholic catechist, not as a Native spiritual leader. The Jesuit priests at Holy Rosary Mission were shocked and dismayed at the suggestion that one of their most respected catechists still harbored beliefs in the old pagan religion. The monotheistic position that people are supposed to belong to one religion, or at least to one religion at a time in devoted allegiance to a singular belief system, has contributed significantly to the controversy around Black Elk's beliefs. Black Elk, like most Lakota converts to Christianity, was quite capable of moving between two or more religious systems on a situational basis, drawing from each and all those prayers, songs, rituals, myths, and beliefs that satisfied the needs of the particular time. For Black Elk, Christianity and traditional Lakota spirituality were part of one vision, one Spirit.

Although the Lakota elder was embarrassed in front of the priests, he never denied the sincerity of his belief in the way of the sacred pipe. Near the end of his life, Black Elk told his daughter Lucy and other family members, "The only thing I really believe is the pipe religion." Joseph Epes Brown--author of The Sacred Pipe (1953), a fascinating narrative on Black Elk and his remarkable visions--recounts that, "Black Elk says he is sorry that his present action towards reviving Lakota spiritual traditions shall anger the priests, but that their anger is proof of their ignorance; and in any case Wakan Tanka [Great Spirit or Great Mystery] is happy; for he knows that it is His Will that Black Elk does this work."

Though many books have been written about Black Elk, none have arguably explored the entirety of the Lakota holy man's life and the centrality of his universal vision as this book by Harry Oldmeadow. This biography will assist with correcting the historical record and will no doubt spark more interest in the life and legacy of Black Elk. This book depicts how the spiritual legacy of Black Elk is instrumental in representing the ancestral traditions in the pre-reservation era, their destruction, and subsequently a powerful revival that continues today. The old-time Lakota always believed that it was the warriors who would save them. What Black Elk taught his people was to depend instead on something harder to take away than guns--the trust that prayers in their own language, delivered in their own way, would reach the supreme being they addressed as Wakan Tanka.

"An Appreciation of Precipitation"

In Appreciation of Precipitation: A Call to Action
by Jade Grigori

I awoke with the Earth Mother speaking a request of me... of us: Call for an Appreciation of Precipitation.

"Bring the people together in appreciation of the rain", she said. "Speak directly to the people, that they may awaken to their responsibilities of acknowledging the rain." The intense heat has parched our land. The fires surround us around the world. Here is one thing we can do...

Gather. Gather in Appreciation of the Rain. When? Now. Anytime is the right time to be in Appreciation of Precipitation.

How?

While holding a glass of water in your hands, lift the water to your heart and reside within Appreciation. Appreciation of the rain, of water and all its values and blessings it brings in our lives and upon this planet. Water, the primary constituent of Life.

Rain, the replenishment of fresh water upon all the planet. In that inward place, from Appreciation, feel the rain falling upon your face, head tilted back, mouth open to receive the drops of water falling from the sky. Smell the rain, the crisp smell of ozone. Hear the rain drops hitting the ground as thunder rolls through the air.

Be in fullest Appreciation of Rain! Pour the first bit of water upon the Earth (Yes, a potted plant will suffice. Or even your lap, if need be), extending to the Earth and all her Creatures the blessings of the rain. Then drink the water down, experiencing it slide into your body, carrying with it all the blessings of Appreciation that you have evoked.

The water carries these blessings with it, seeping into every cell of your body, transmitting the blessing into your Being, which then acts as a command at a cellular level for you to live, act and express yourself in accord with those blessings of Appreciation called forth.

There is nothing to DO, beyond participating. There is only to BE... to BE in Appreciation of Precipitation!

What? You say you would love to join in but...
Your favorite TV show is on? - Turn it off!
You are getting your children ready for bed at that time? - Place a glass of water in their hands and let them participate.
It is your meditation time? - Then let this BE your meditation for this one evening.
You are flying on a plane? - Ask the aisle assistant for a glass of water.
You are just too busy? - What is of more importance than the reestablishment of our innate relationship with the Waters of Life?!
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This is NOT a call to pray for rain! Far too often folks will jump up and say "We gotta pray for rain!" while just a few months ago they were cursing the snow, or the ruination of a picnic, saying that it is 'bad weather' when it rains or snows inconveniently. STOP! Breathe... this is a call to be in appreciation. We are not, here, setting out to make it rain, forcing our will once again upon Mother Nature. This is a call to simply be in appreciation of precipitation.

Copyright © 2019 by Jade Grigori, a Curator of the Sacred: a compendium of knowledge, storytelling, ceremonies, dances, healing practices, meditations, methods, and ways of Myth as an approach to Spirit.