Winter Solstice Blessings

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.

On the Winter Solstice (Wednesday, December 21) we began a new cycle on the Medicine Wheel of Life, entering the North -- the home of winter, night, wisdom, clarity, renewal, rebirth, and the great Bison. Bison teaches us the importance of gratitude for all we have and giving for the greater good. As we join our hearts in prayer and sacred drumming, we participate in this season of renewal, attuning ourselves to the cyclical rhythms of nature. As we celebrate the return of the light, we affirm the continuation of life at the very moment of dissolution. Prayer, gratitude, and generosity at this time will clear the way for renewed growth and prosperity.

Black Horse Symbolism

I recently did a deep meditation, seeking guidance regarding a life-changing decision. I closed my eyes and stilled the chatter of my mind by focusing on my breath as I inhaled and exhaled. The first image that popped into my mind was the spinning vortex of a tornado in the distance. Tornadoes tend to represent worry and anxiety, spinning out of control. Tornados are a sign you must slow down and regain clarity and calmness in your life. Since tornadoes destroy everything they come in contact with, dreams and visions about them could represent your unacknowledged desire to carve a new path for yourself.
 

Next, I saw the Tashi Gomang Stupa, located about two miles from my Crestone, Colorado home. Since the time of the Buddha's death around 483 BCE, Buddhists have constructed stupas to contain the relics of enlightened teachers. A stupa is an architectural rendering of the Buddhist path, the stages and aspects of enlightenment. When a great Buddhist teacher leaves his or her physical existence, the body that remains is considered to be permeated with the very essence of awakened mind, possessing tremendous intrinsic power and blessings. The appropriate vessel for containing these relics is a stupa.
 

Each stupa is designed according to ancient sacred geometry; situated on land selected for its beneficial properties and graced with the sanction of the elemental forces. Through its design and contents, a stupa is regarded as having the power to transmit the essence of awakened mind, on the spot, to anyone ready to receive it. The Buddha said that whoever sees the stupa will be liberated by the sight of it. Feeling the breeze around the stupa liberates by its touch. Having thus seen or experienced the stupa, by thinking of one's experience of it, one is liberated through recollection.
 

Atop the golden spire in the center of the 42-foot-tall bell-shaped stupa, I saw a winged horse wind vane spinning in the wind. The wind vane represented my unsettled emotions; the weather of my mind. One cannot forcibly subdue an emotional struggle by an exertion of the will. If you attempt to force stillness upon restless emotions you will only create deep inner conflict. Equanimity must develop naturally out of the tranquility of a meditative state. I focused on the stupa and it instantly brought me calm and clarity.
 

The Black Horse
 

The next imagery that I saw was a galloping black horse. Black horses are messengers and carriers of positive, mysterious energy. Seeing a black horse in your meditation means there is an energy that is about to enter your life. This energy will have a positive effect on your life, though it may not be obvious at first. This energy can come into your life in a myriad of ways. It could be a person, a career change or an unexpected event. Actually, it could be anything. The key here is that the sequence of events that will be set into motion by this energy will have an overall positive effect. If you see a black horse, be on the lookout for something extraordinary on the horizon.
 

Black horses symbolize the ability to overcome obstacles and come out on the other side. It is also widely known to be a symbol for death. This does not always mean death in the literal sense; in this case it means leaving behind things which no longer serve you. The black steed symbolism is both death-defying and death-seeking. In other words, it is symbolic of death and rebirth. It signifies the closing of one door and the opening of another. It can also symbolize the need for you to take a leap of faith. Trust your intuition even if you can't see the reason or the result.
 

If a black horse appears in your life, you may need some reassurance that you are powerful enough to take on any challenge that comes your way. While many people hold on to things that no longer serve them out of fear, you must be brave enough to take the power and do what you need to do in order to come out on the other side. A black horse is an omen of powerful and courageous transformation. The notion of death and rebirth portends that the black horse will bring an end to things and relationships which no longer serve you. In doing this without fear or hesitation, the horse is transforming and creating a better version of you.
 

Horse medicine teaches you to be true to your authentic self. Though you may be quite attached to your plans, ideas, self-image, social position, security and relationships, it is time to strip away old ideas and habits; eliminate the outmoded or worn out. Dive into the problem without thought of immediate gain or purpose. This is the end of an old cycle and the beginning of a new one. Now is the time for bold action.

Shamanic Dreaming

Humans have always looked beyond the factual world of ordinary reality for something solid on which to ground their lives. The models of the mystery of life have always been based on the myths of an immemorial imagination. According to Joseph Campbell, one of the great mythologists of the 20th century, "Mythological cosmologies do not correspond to the world of gross facts, but are functions of dreams and visions." Dreams and visions have always been, and will always be, the creative forces that shape our understanding of the fundamental nature of reality. It is an inherent product of the psyche, a symbolic language of metaphysics recognized by shamans and seers.

Dreams are a doorway to the spirit world. In dreams we experience the shamanic world. Everything is alive; everything is connected. We can fly. Ancestors come to us. Animals talk to us. In his book, Honoring the Medicine: The Essential Guide to Native American Healing, Kenneth Cohen writes that John Trehero, a Shoshone Sun Dance chief, derived his healing power from frequent dreams about the beaver. He described his spirit helper thus: "I dreamed about the beaver. The beaver said here is my power, and then he showed me his front paws. If a person has pain I feel with my hand on him, and that pain comes in my hand. I use my own hands for beaver paws."

The accumulation of shamanic power and knowledge comes primarily through journeys, visions and dreams. Dreams are a doorway through which the shamanic practitioner can travel to the inner realms and interact with helping spirits. Shamanic dreaming is different from modern lucid dreaming: in the latter there tends to be an emphasis on controlling your dreams. In shamanic dreaming the spirits are in charge, not the humans. Spirit teachers or guardian animals come to us in nightly encounters and we can receive teachings and guidance. In other words, the spirits begin to train us in the dream state, and we may receive certain initiations along the way. This is one of the classical ways of being called onto the shamanic path.

Dream interpretation is an important skill that shamanic practitioners should develop. However, you can't interpret your dreams if you can't remember them. Dreams tend to fade quickly from conscious awareness upon awakening. To help me remember my dreams, I repeat the affirmation that I will remember all that occurs during sleep. On awakening, I note all of my dreams in a dream journal. Keeping a journal provides a record of your spiritual growth and allows you to reflect upon and better interpret dreams.

Journaling is a contemplative practice that can help you become more aware of your inner life and feel more connected to your experiences and the world around you. This process engages the subjective mind and intuitive awareness. In some cases, your dreams will be clear and easy to understand. At other times, your dreams will be full of symbolism. Interpret such dreams by looking for possible associations related to each symbol or image. Don't overanalyze the dream, for its meaning will become clear at the appropriate time.

When you are first starting out with dream interpretation, you would do well to invest in a dream dictionary as this can suggest common meanings for certain symbols. But as you continue recording your dreams, you may notice certain patterns repeat and your personal connection to certain symbols doesn't match the collective meaning. Both are valid.

There are a number of ways you can encourage and enhance shamanic dreaming. You can begin by asking your spirit helpers or guardian animals when you go to sleep to bring you a shamanic dream. Remember to thank your helping spirits when they bring you a dream. It also helps to smudge your bedroom before going to sleep each night. Smudging clarifies the mind and cleanses the environment by dispelling any stagnant or unwanted energy. The ability to have shamanic dreams on a regular basis requires energy. If you feel exhausted when you go to bed, and collapse into sleep every night, you don't have sufficient energy for this kind of dreaming. Eating well, exercising and meditating are some basic steps to build up your energy. With more energy new doorways may open up.

You can also put ritual objects into a dream bundle to open up the doorway to shamanic dreaming. According to Nicholas Breeze Wood, editor of "Sacred Hoop Magazine" -- a leading international magazine about shamanism, "The use of ritual objects to encourage and enhance dreaming is quite widespread within the Native American traditions -- everyone is probably familiar with the dreamcatcher... Dreams have always been an important channel through which to receive instruction and communication from Spirit, and not surprisingly there is a wealth of rich folklore and tradition concerning it." Read more about dream bundles.

"Rhythms Within A Turquoise Dream"

"Rhythms Within A Turquoise Dream" is the latest music release from Native American artist Louie Gonnie. Gonnie is Dine from the Navajo Nation in New Mexico. Gonnie admired his father and uncles and wanted to be like them so he began to sing in the Native American Church. He is also a well rounded artist, expressing himself in music, art and writing.

Gonnie started singing for family and friends. Eventually, people were recording his music and he realized that he could have a career as a recording artist. His albums started out as Peyote songs of the Native American Church. Since then he has created a more contemporary style.

Gonnie is the exemplar of a creative artist. While very much a part of Dine traditions and very much living its values, Gonnie has an artist's desire to find personal expression within the world of his community. His first two recordings -- Sacred Mountains and Elements (my personal favorite) -- were explorations of the music of the Navajo people in which traditional experience was the foundation for this artist's unique music.

Gonnie's latest album, "Rhythms Within A Turquoise Dream," is a direct return to his roots in the Native American Church. The recording of peyote songs is always a controversial issue within the Native American Church. Some practitioners feel that the songs, as they are intrinsic to a sacred ritual, should never be recorded, while many others feel that recordings are important for disseminating their songs throughout the community.

Even as he lives in respect for NAC values, Gonnie takes the songs for the peyote ritual to a new place. While his song forms are very traditional, the means of producing those songs (extensive studio multi-tracking) is not. Nonetheless Gonnie's compositions and layered harmonies are reverent, spiritual, and achieve transcendence. Anchored by a water drum and sustained by waves of his flowing vocals, Gonnie leads an inner voyage from dreams to actuality, from earth to sky and from the past to eternity.

5 Herbs That Help Induce Lucid Dreams

The latest trend in lucid dreaming is the use of herbs to increase dream recall and trigger more dreams where you become aware you are dreaming. There are more than enough legal natural herbs that are completely safe, have no side effects, don't put any strain on your nervous system, and have many positive physiological benefits. These herbs can greatly increase your chance to go lucid, but they will not do the trick alone. These herbs are worthless if not taken with the right mindset, as well as more traditional forms of lucid dreaming induction. However, taken with intention, respect, and as part of an ongoing mind-training program, these herbs may enhance the opportunities to work with self-awareness in the dream. Here are five legal herbs that will help induce lucid dreams:

 

 1. Mugwort: Mugwort is a commonly used herb in Europe. It's believed to help settle the stomach and treat digestive troubles, and it can also be used as a dream augmenter. Mugwort can be smoked, burned as an incense, or used as a tea.

2. Mexican Tarragon: Tarragon is another dream enhancing herb. It's commonly used in Mexican dishes and is frequently used in traditional Dia De Los Muertos observances for its powers of inducing lucid dreaming. This can be used as a tea or incense as well.

3. African Dream Bean: Off the coast of Madagascar, as well as in some parts of Australia and Asia, you'll find this rather common bean growing. It's used sometimes as a skin treatment and is also great for teething babies. It's most interesting use is its power to induce not just lucid dreams, but dreams that purportedly connect you with the spirit realm. The bean itself is eaten for this effect.

4. Wild Asparagus Root: Wild asparagus root, which is fairly widespread, is legendary for allowing your consciousness to soar during sleep. It purportedly helps you achieve dreams of other dimensions and places as you sleep. It can also help relieve stress and help keep your lungs and kidneys healthy.

5. Blue Lotus: For the ancient Egyptians, the Blue Lotus was among the most sacred of plants. It was associated with life origins and divine perspectives. It was also used to stimulate sex drive and fertility. The ancients believed it could slow down the process of aging. Many believe that this flower was soaked in water or wine and could be used as an intoxicant. It helped its user achieve visionary states.

13 Levels of Shamanic Dreaming

Ruby Modesto grew up on the Martinez reservation in southern California. Her dreams called her to become a pul, or shaman, introducing her to the eagle that became her ally, giving her wings for flight. She did not need the medicine plants used by some shamans among her people, the Cahuilla, because she had her dreams. She learned that there are successive levels of dreaming, and that you achieve increasing clarity and get closer to the really good stuff when you go to level three or beyond. Her uncle was a dream shaman, and he taught her about "setting up dreaming" in order to get to those interesting levels. She explained the practice to anthropologist Guy Mount in their book, Not for Innocent Ears: Spiritual Traditions of a Desert Cahuilla Medicine Woman. Click here to learn more.

Awakening into Dreamtime

In her essay "Awakening into Dreamtime: The Shaman's Journey," Wynne Hanner explores the Australian Aboriginal concept of Dreamtime as a source of and guide to transforming our own world view. According to Aboriginal mythology, Dreamtime is a sacred era in which ancestral Spirit Beings formed The Creation. Indigenous Australians believe the world is real only because it has been dreamed into being. Hanner explains, "The Aborigines embrace the concept of 'reality dreaming', with reality and Dreamtime intertwined. Reality can be illusion, deception, learning, perception, experience, and is the evolution of consciousness in the alchemy of time. Reality shifts and changes like the flow of the collective unconscious, and is in constant motion creating new spiral patterns of experience. Reality, in its illusion, is the dream from which we all awaken. To understand and work with these concepts is to awaken into the dream." Read Awakening into Dreamtime and support your Dreamtime explorations with Didgeridoo for the Shamanic Journey.

The Two-Sided Shamanic Drum

by Nicholas Noble Wolf

A shamanic drum is a sacred article that is used for journeying to help oneself or to help others--typically for healing. While medicines (spiritual helpers) such as the spirit of Horse, can be used in conjunction with the drum to make journeying easier and faster, even in its own right, the drum will carry you. In the following, I offer a "technical" explanation of how the drum, itself, works to carry one into the dream for journeying.

A traditional shamanic drum is typically two and a half to four inches in depth and 15 to 24 inches in diameter. However, I know people with larger and smaller drums that work equally well. The head or heads are covered with rawhide, typically deer or elk, but sometimes goat or horse. Cowhide, a nontraditional covering, is occasionally used, but some people will say such a drum has a tendency to "moo." This is because of what mankind’s breeding of cattle has done to the souls of cows.

When we strike the drum with a beater, the beat draws our attention, helping to still the mind-chatter. One might say that the mind becomes fixated upon the beat. With our mind out of the way, the resonance of the hide’s vibrations can then cause the mind to shift from the normal waking beta state, into an alpha state. The alpha state is the electrical frequency of the brain between 8 and 13 Hz. indicating the lack of external stimulus. It is that of daydreaming and mental relaxation.

Any drum can assist the mind to shift into the alpha state; you could even use an old, plastic water cooler bottle, but the water bottle will have difficulty in shifting the mind into the theta state (4 to 8 Hz.). This shifting into the theta state is accomplished by the drone of the drum and results in a sleepy state of wakefulness or a light dreaming state.

The two-headed drum has an additional aspect not carried in other drums such as single-headed drums. When one side is struck, it sends vibrations through the center of the drum causing the other side to vibrate at the same resonance or frequency. Therefore, beating on one side actually results in two sides playing. When the second side vibrates, it sends its vibrations not only out into space, but also back to the first side. At this point, the drum now has two sides sending vibrations towards one another, vibrations that are identical in frequency, but exactly mirror opposites of one another. Somewhere in the middle of the drum, these opposite vibrations meet and cancel each other out. Those frequencies that are identical opposites of one another actually serve to nullify and create a place of no sound at that frequency. The audio industry has noted a similar situation when one stereo speaker is wired backwards (i.e., one positive to positive, the other positive to negative) and sends mirror vibrations to those coming from the other speaker, canceling out part of the music.

Unlike a stereo system, in shamanic journeying this canceling is desired. With intent, you can place your attention on the portion of the resonance that is cancelled. The is the place of no sound. When you place your attention here, you hear nothing--just silence. I want to point out that you can not do anything to find this place. You must allow yourself to find it. Using the words of Carlos Castaneda, shamanic journeying is "not doing." When a person has found the place of no sound, his deep or lower theta and higher delta brain waves will be stimulated causing him to enter a hypnagogic state or trance. The hypnagogic state is the state between deep sleep and waking--the state where dreaming occurs. It is in the higher portion of this state that lucid dreaming occurs. Lucid dreaming is the awakening within the dream-time such that a person knows they are dreaming and can control the dream. When drumming, though, the hypnagogic state is reached while awake and one enters a deep trance or dream state. Essentially, one is dreaming while awake. Hypnotists take their subjects into a hypnagogic state also. However, unlike hypnosis, during shamanic drumming, one remains in control of his dream.

Once a person has entered into the hypnagogic state, it is possible to free the spirit to journey to the underworld and celestial realms of the soul. However, my intent here has been to explain why shamanic drumming works so well. While there are other ways, such as meditation, the drum, and particularly the two-sided drum, is the most effective and fastest way that I have encountered to reach the mythic worlds.

Nicholas Noble Wolf has walked the shamanic path for over thirty years. He is a traditionally initiated shaman--one who has undergone the prerequisite, physical death initiations and has shown the ability to call upon the powers and gifts received during the course of those initiations. An honored man, he dedicates the ways he carries, which have been passed down through an unbroken lineage for innumerable generations, to the welfare of the Earth and all her peoples. His web site is www.nicholasnoblewolf.com