Understanding the Four Elements and Directions

The cardinal directions, North, East, South, and West, represent more than just navigational tools. Each direction has a deep meaning that is tied to one of the four elements of life: Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. The interplay between the elements and the cardinal directions is a concept that has fascinated humanity for centuries. Each direction is associated with an element of the natural world, and represents some part of our human nature as well. Understanding how we relate to the four elements and directions can teach us a lot about ourselves, help us to grow and can support us through life's many changes.
 

The four elements, as shown in the accompanying diagram, are charted around a cosmic compass or wheel of life. The cosmic wheel is a mandala, a symbolic blueprint or map of reality. It represents a multidimensional, interwoven web of relationships that are in constant communion with each other. The sacred wheel exists simultaneously in a horizontal and vertical axis, as well as in the unfolding continuum of time--past, present, and future. The cosmic wheel serves as a portal to consciously enter the cyclic, time-space unfolding of the universe through a practice of reverent, harmonious relationship. It is based on the belief that the universe is alive, sentient, and constantly communicating its wisdom to who ever makes an effort to listen.
 

The cosmic wheel represents the archetypal journey each of us takes in life. This journey has four stages, each associated with a cardinal direction. To move around the wheel and develop a relationship with each direction is to step onto a path of learning and fulfillment. Each direction and its associated element has qualities and attributes that help us spiral toward completion on the wheel of life. All creatures walk the circumference of the cosmic wheel, experiencing the four stages of human life: birth, youth, adulthood, and death. After completing a cycle of learning on the sacred wheel, each of us returns to the source at the center or heart of the circle.
 

Attributes of the Elements and Cardinal Directions
 

1. Air/East
 

Air is the element of the East, connected to the soul and the breath of life. Air signifies intellect, communication, and freedom. It is the element of thought, representing the mind and the power of ideas. Air's qualities include lightness, movement, and expansiveness. It is associated with clarity, insight, and the ability to connect with others through language and expression. In many traditions, Air is seen as the breath of life, essential for mental and spiritual well-being. Though the qualities attributed to each of the four cardinal directions tend to vary from culture to culture, the energy of the East is typically associated with spring, morning, birth, beginnings, illumination, knowledge, learning and intellectual curiosity. The East represents new life being brought into the world. It is the direction of the sunrise, heralding the start of a new day and the promise of opportunities. In many cultures, the East is seen as a place of renewal and vision, where one can gain insight and inspiration. It encourages openness, curiosity, and the pursuit of knowledge.
 

2. Fire/South
 

Fire is purifying, masculine yang energy associated with the South, and connected to strong will and energy. Fire represents energy, transformation, and passion. It is the element of action and drive, associated with the sun and the spark of life. Fire's qualities include warmth, intensity, and the ability to consume and regenerate. It is often seen as a catalyst for change, symbolizing both destruction and rebirth, and is connected to creativity and the willpower to achieve goals. The cardinal direction South is related to summer, midday, logic, youth, trust, and expansion. The South represents youth and adolescence--a time of growth, learning and development of the self. 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. It is a place of action and movement, encouraging individuals to pursue their goals with enthusiasm and determination.
 

3. Water/West
 

Used for healing, cleansing, and purification, Water is a feminine yin energy associated with the West. Water is essential to life; it flows through all plants, people, and wildlife. Water embodies fluidity, emotions, and intuition. It is the element of change and adaptability, capable of taking various forms and influencing all it touches. Water is linked to the subconscious mind, dreams, and the ebb and flow of feelings. Its qualities include flexibility, continuity, depth, and the ability to cleanse and purify, making it a vital component of spiritual and physical renewal. The cardinal direction West is associated with fall, twilight, the moon, and the emotional self. In the West, we are drawn into the experience of our emotions. It is a direction that calls us to self-reflection and self-understanding. The West represents adulthood and meeting the fulfilment of life as we find our meaning and place. It is the direction of the setting sun, signifying the end of a cycle and the transition into reflection and rest. It is a space for understanding and integrating experiences, fostering emotional growth and wisdom.
 

4. Earth/North

Connected to the North, Earth is considered the ultimate feminine element, often associated with the Goddess. Earth is widely associated with stability, grounding, and the material world. It represents the physical aspects of existence, including the body and the tangible environment. In various traditions, Earth is considered the foundation upon which all life is built. Its qualities include form, solidity, endurance, and fertility, making it a symbol of sustenance and growth. The cardinal direction North is typically associated with winter, night, introspection, death and completion of the life cycle. This is the place of wisdom and of imparting the knowledge gained from a lifetime of living in the physical world to the younger generations. It is a time of reflection, rest and increased understanding of the aspects of the spiritual world. In the North we assimilate our life experiences before we exit the realm of physical experience and join into vast levels of experience in the spirit worlds of light, or we choose to return and walk again the sacred wheel of life.
 

The Building Blocks of Nature
 

The four elements are the building blocks of nature and interact with humans in the creative process. The elements are living energies, which change and move as we think, and then take the form of our thoughts. Thought is the tool of the mind that shapes physical reality. Every thought, idea, or image in the mind has form and substance. Everything that we perceive began with a thought, for it is the blending of thought forms with the elemental rhythms that shape physical reality. It is the consciousness of humanity that holds the present physical form of all that we perceive. It is the mind that determines the destiny of forms. We are mind. Our Earth is mind. We live in a universe of mind. From photons to galaxies, life is conscious intelligent energy that can form itself into any pattern or function.
 

The key to understanding the creative process is to realize that the universe is made of vibrational energy: that it is a single, flowing, rhythmic being. According to quantum physics, everything in the universe, from the smallest subatomic particle to the largest star, has an inherent vibrational pattern. The entire universe is created through vibration and can be influenced through vibration. T'an Ch'iao, a Taoist adept of the tenth century, expressed this potential when he wrote, "When energy moves, sound is emitted; when sound comes forth, energy vibrates. When energy vibrates, influences are activated and things change. Therefore it is possible thereby to command wind and clouds, produce frost and hail, cause phoenixes to sing, get bears to dance, make friends with spiritual luminescences."(1)
 

The compass or circular arrangement of the elements illustrates the sequence of development in the process of manifestation. Born of the silent emptiness of the center, vibration cycles around the periphery of the circle. Moving from East (Air) to South (Fire) to West (Water) to North (Earth), vibration bonds the elements, and then reverses its rotation toward emptiness to begin the cycle anew. The unmanifest essence of vibration precipitates this bonding sequence in order to manifest a desired form. The energy of vibration is alive and, because it is alive, it seeks ways in which to express or manifest itself. As Ute-Tiwa shaman Joseph Rael concludes in his book, Being and Vibration, "Apparently materialization occurs because vibration is seeking to purify the center (heart) of its newly formulated form."(2)
 

Conclusion
 

In the Native American traditions, the wheel or sacred hoop of life defines all that is the Great Mystery, the source of all creation. The Great Mystery reveals itself as the powers of the four directions and these four powers provide the organizing principle for everything that exists in the world. There are four elements, four winds, four seasons, four phases of the moon, four stages to humanity's spiritual evolution, and so on. We are here on Earth to experience and realize the mystery. The vision of that mystery is ever present within each of us. When we mindfully connect with the elements and cardinal directions, we begin to realize the sacred vision. We orient ourselves in the living web of life, yielding greater awareness and perspective. We develop a meaningful understanding of the natural world and our place within it.

1. Thomas Cleary, Vitality, Energy, Spirit: A Taoist Sourcebook (Shambhala, 1991).
2. Joseph Rael and Mary Marlow, Being and Vibration (Tulsa: Council Oak Books, 1993), p 185.

Shamanic Cosmology: The Reality of the Soul

Myth is the reality of the soul, just as history is the reality of the temporal world. 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 wisdom of inner vision. "Mythological cosmologies do not correspond to the world of gross facts, but are functions of dreams and visions," writes the late Joseph Campbell, one of the great mythologists of the twentieth century.(1) Dreams and visions have always been, and will always be, the creative forces that shape cosmology, which embodies a culture's basic ideas, truths and understanding about the nature of the universe. A culture's mythical cosmology gives physical shape to its mystical ideas in the form of stories and rituals. It is an inherent product of the psyche, a symbolic language of metaphysics recognized by shamans and seers.
 

Mythological cosmology is evocative rather than referential. It is not science or history, but rather symbolism that serves as a catalyst of spiritual well-being. In shamanic cultures, mythic cosmology serves a dual function. It not only engages the individual both emotionally and intellectually in the local tribe, but also serves as a means of disengaging from this local system in order to experience the "Great Mystery." It disengages the individual from the integrating component of ordinary thinking consciousness and invokes the mysteries of the imagination and intuition. The emphasis is on the individual, of breaking free and discovering one's own uniqueness in order to bring something new back to the group.
 

Shamanic practitioners utilize trance-inducing rhythmic drumming as a means of journeying into the mythic realms of the soul. Transported by the driving beat of the drum, the journeyer travels to the inner planes of consciousness, using myth as an inner map to guide their journey. There is a bridge on the sound waves of the drum that convey you from one world to another. In the sound world, a tunnel opens through which you can pass. When you stop playing the drum, the bridge disappears.
 

Cosmologically, the drum depicts a microcosm of the universe, as well as the vehicle of travel. Carried away on the sound of the drum, the shaman's spirit is said to ride on the animal whose hide is stretched over the drum frame. The frame of the shaman's drum is invariably round, symbolizing the circle of life. In the shaman's world, all aspects of life, energy, and the cosmos spiral in circles. The plants, the animals, the minerals, and the elemental forces of nature all exist within the circle. All creatures walk the circumference of the wheel of life, experiencing birth, life, and death. After completing a cycle of learning on the sacred wheel, each one returns to the source, the Great Mystery at the center of the circle.
 

Transformations of Myth through Time
 

The cosmology of the drum, as well as that of shamanism itself, represents the worldview of animistic Paleolithic hunting societies. The archetypal symbolism developed from a reciprocal relationship that existed between animals hunted and the tribal cultures dependent for sustenance on their offering themselves. The totemic animals or animal archetypes are themselves great teachers as well as man's co-descendants from the mythical paradise. The totemic animals gave to humans the rites to be performed whenever game animals were slain so that their spirits would return to the source for rebirth. The hunt itself was a rite of sacrifice. When the rites were properly performed and recognition thus given to the order of nature, then harmony with nature was maintained and a food supply assured.
 

The structures of shamanic cultures are circular. Like the hoop of the drum, the circle represents the wheel of life. All are equal in the circle; no one is above or below. In a circle, each person's face can be seen; each person's voice can be heard and valued.
 

Agriculture transformed the structures and cosmologies of shamanic cultures. Nomadic, subsistence hunting societies were assimilated into food growing communities structured on hierarchy. The Neolithic order of agricultural societies imposed a rigid social system on Paleolithic peoples used to the freedom and rites of the hunt. The plant displaced the animal as the model of the mysteries of life. Complex ceremonials and rituals based on the cycle of death and rebirth in the plant kingdom rigidly interlocked all individuals into the endless formal procedure. Shamans, with their individualistic style of spiritual experience, were viewed as a threat to the dogma of the ecclesiastical hierarchies. Shamanism was discredited as heresy and replaced by a socially anointed priesthood.
 

The paramount function of mythic cosmology in agricultural societies has always been that of suppressing individualism. Generally, this has been achieved by imposing dogmatic archetypes of behavior, symbols, and belief systems on people. Individual expression, interests, or modes of experience contrary to the social mandala are discouraged. The cultural imprinting of hierarchical, agriculturally based societies leaves the individual outside the realm of personal spiritual experience. Any sense of the Great Mystery is beyond the individual's grasp.
 

Today the mythologies of hierarchy and the priesthood are dissolving. Individuals are searching for new ways to relate to nature and spirituality. Joseph Campbell wrote, "What is required of us all, spiritually as well as corporeally, is much more the fearless self-sufficiency of our shamanistic inheritance rather than the timorous piety of the priest-guided Neolithic."(2)
 

Shamanic cosmology is one of disengagement from the rigid patterns that suppress the manifestations of individualism. Through the beat of the drum, a sense of the original source is evoked, along with the forces of the universe, which have been suppressed in the subliminal abyss of the unconscious for six thousand years. The drum, as a microcosm, becomes a tool for effecting changes in the macrocosm. It enables us to participate directly in the work of encountering and transforming our inner structure, which mirrors our culture. Structure determines how energy will flow, where it will be directed, and what new forms and structures will be created. Through the transformation of our inner landscapes, we transform the external landscapes. We create new forms, new structures that are not based on hierarchy, estrangement, and exploitation. We renew the sacred hoop of harmony and balance. This is the work of the shaman--of myth making.

1. Joseph Campbell, The Flight of the Wild Gander (South Bend: Regnery/Gateway, Inc., 1979).
2. Joseph Campbell, The Flight of the Wild Gander.

Happy Autumnal Equinox

At the Autumnal Equinox, we begin a new cycle on the Medicine Wheel of Life, entering the West -- the home of autumn, twilight, Bear, introspection, emotions, flow, the moon, death, endings, and the element of Water. From the West flows the energy of transformation. In the West we assimilate our life experiences. Experience is the only baggage we carry with us from this Earth walk. From the West we exit the realm of physical experience and join into vast levels of experience in the spirit worlds of light, or we choose to return and walk again the sacred wheel of life.
 

Autumnal means autumn; Equinox means equal night. Night and day are the same length, each lasting exactly twelve hours on this day. It is at this time when light and darkness are in balance. The forces of feminine and masculine energy, yin and yang, are also in balance at this time, providing a unique opportunity to tune in and find our inner balance, harmony, and alignment.
 

The theme for this fall equinox is recapitulation. Recapitulation is a recapture, remembrance, and retelling of experiences, choices, actions and relationships from the past in order to digest, neutralize and file them away without any residual emotional charge. The release is the act of letting go of any attachment to the emotional content of the past event or memory.
 

It is important to reflect on your decisions past and present, as with every decision made something is always left behind. I recommend a ritual where you complete something with a burning of a photo, letter or object that represents what you are releasing. Make sure you spend some time dreaming up what you wish to bring into this new cycle. Share with others and do something celebratory to acknowledge change, a new creative beginning and reset.

The Sweat Lodge Ceremony

In September of 1991, I began hosting a weekly teaching sweat lodge ceremony on four acres of secluded, unimproved forest land that my wife and I owned near Bend, Oregon. The ceremonies were conducted by Wasco elder Les Thomas and Oglala Lakota elder Don Fasthorse. Many people gathered to learn, and then left the group to teach others. The sweat lodge or inipi is as a spiritual purification ceremony of rebirth, rejuvenation, emotional release and awakening. The ceremony serves to cleanse the body, mind and spirit while opening a path of communication between the spiritual and earthly realms. The intense heat generated by steam created from pouring water onto heated rocks is meant to encourage a sweating out of toxins and negative energy that create imbalance in life. Sweat lodge ceremonies are traditionally held for a variety of reasons: before warriors go into battle, before and after major rituals like vision quests or for personal purification.

Sweat lodges are unique dome-shaped structures approximately four to five feet high at the center. They are constructed from supple willow branches and covered with rugs, furs and blankets. When a sweat lodge is built according to tradition, it looks like the body of a turtle. This is because the structure represents Turtle Island or Mother Earth. Entering the lodge symbolizes going back into the womb. It provides a safe and secure place to pray for self, others and all our relations. During the ceremony, spirits are invoked, drums are played and songs are sung. Spirits will enter and sing along with the participants and may even talk to them as well. If a person is not ready to hear the spirits, the spirits may not let that person hear them. Only those who are ready to hear the spirits may hear them because that is how compassionate the spirits are.

The Lakota term for sweat lodge is inipi, which translates to "Stone People Lodge." The Stone People, who are often referred to as the "grandfathers," come from the womb of our Mother Earth. The purpose of the inipi is to return to the womb of Maka (Earth) to be recreated. The Stone People become alive again when their spirits come into the Stone People Lodge. Then you can visit with them and tell them your problems. Then the power that pollutes our mind can be released. The fire from the womb of the Earth Mother will come in and destroy bad thoughts and words. Only good thoughts and words will remain. The spirits of the Stone People return our power to us. That's what Spirit does -- the Stone People, fire, water and green (the plants). The inipi is a place of healing, of purification and of prayer for all life.

A sweat lodge typically has four doors (or rounds) to the four directions (or winds), represented with colors, spirit guides and different elements. The number four has long been considered a sacred number in shamanism and Native American spirituality. All events and actions are based on this number because everything was created in fours. The Great Mystery reveals itself as the powers of the four directions, and these four powers provide the organizing principle for everything that exists in the world. There are four winds, four seasons, four elements, four phases of the moon, four stages to humanity's spiritual evolution, and so on.

The whole process is modeled after the Medicine Wheel, which is a universal symbol that can be found in many Indigenous cultures around the world. The Medicine Wheel represents the natural cycles of life and the basic way in which the natural world moves and evolves. The Medicine Wheel represents the archetypal journey each of us takes in life. This journey has four stages or rounds, each associated with a cardinal direction. Four rounds signify fullness, wholeness or completion.

Summer Solstice 2023

The 2023 summer solstice is Wednesday, June 21, 2023 at 14:58 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.

Happy Vernal Equinox

At the Vernal Equinox, we begin a new cycle on the Medicine Wheel of Life, entering the East -- home of the rising sun, morning, birth, beginnings, and the spring season. Spring arrives when the earth is tilted so that the sun is directly over the equator. In the Northern Hemisphere, the first day of spring is on or about March 21. This is the day of the Vernal Equinox. Vernal means spring; Equinox means equal night. Night and day are the same length, each lasting exactly twelve hours on this day. It is at this time when light and darkness are in balance. The forces of feminine and masculine energy, yin and yang, are also in balance at this time, providing a unique opportunity to tune in and find our inner balance, harmony, and alignment. The 2023 Vernal Equinox will occur on Monday, March 20, 2023 at 21:24 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).
 

Throughout human history, people in the northern parts of the world have celebrated the Rites of Spring, marking the end of earth's winter sleep and the start of spring when everything is reborn. Ancient cultures connected spring with the return of life to the earth. The return of spring in ancient times was of more consequence than it is to us today because winter food and fuel shortages ended, inclement weather waned, and crops could be planted. Pagan customs such as lighting fires at sunrise for renewed life and protection of the crops still survive in South America as well as in Europe.
 
In China, the Vernal Equinox has always been celebrated as the time of new beginnings, of action, of planting seeds for future grains, and of tending gardens. Spring is a time of the earth's renewal, a rousing of nature after the cold sleep of winter. The life energy, symbolized by thunder, erupts from the depths in early spring to awaken the dormant seeds to new life. The yearly cycle begins in the spring when thunder quickens the renewal of life. Winter still has its grip on the land, but the days are lengthening and the light is growing stronger by the day. Spring is finally here... I hope we can be inspired by nature's reawakening to renew our own lives.

 

The Descent of the Feathered Serpent

In March of 1995, I was fortunate enough to visit the Pyramid of Kukulkan at Chich'en Itza, Mexico on the vernal equinox when the sun projects an undulating pattern of light on the northern stairway for a few hours in the late afternoon--a pattern caused by the angle of the sun and the edge of the nine steps that define the pyramid's construction. These triangles of light link up with the massive stone carvings of snake heads at the base of the stairs, suggesting a massive serpent snaking down the structure.
           
According to legend, twice a year when the day and night are in balance, this pyramid dedicated to Kukulkan (or Quetzalcoatl), the feathered serpent god, is visited by its namesake. On the equinox Kukulkan returns to earth to commune with his worshipers, provide blessing for a full harvest and good health before entering the sacred water, bathing in it, and continuing through it on his way to the underworld.

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.

World Tree Meditation

The ancient Maya had a rich shamanic tradition. To open a path of communication between the spiritual and earthly realms, Maya shamans entered sacred time and space at the top of great pyramids. For the Maya, the establishment of sacred space involved the connecting of the Earth with the heavens -- to bring them into accord. To rejoin the two separated worlds and regenerate the order of the cosmos, shamans performed rituals to create a portal to the Otherworld (nonordinary reality). The sacred universal space that they created was the center of the heavens and the center of the Earth.

 

Centering the world was a way of materializing the World Tree. To the ancient and modern-day Maya, the whole world is generated, organized and evolving according to the World Tree or Wacah Chan, as it is called in Mayan language. The Maya believed that the world of human beings was connected to the Otherworld along the Wacah Chan axis which ran through the center of existence. This axis was not located in any one earthly place, but could be materialized through ritual anywhere on the Earth. Most important, it was materialized in the person of the shaman-king, who brought it into existence as he stood enthralled in ecstatic trance atop his pyramid-tree.

 

In order to understand how Maya shamans perceive the cosmos, make use of this simple exercise to enter sacred time. Sacred time, unlike ordinary time, represents the cosmic order. It's the foundation of rhythm and motion. It's the glue that binds the universe together. 

 

1. First, select a location where you will not be interrupted. It must be a quiet space, at least for the duration of the exercise. Smudge the space and yourself with the smoke of an incense or herb. Among the Maya, copal is traditionally used, but cedar or juniper is acceptable.

 

2. Stand facing the East, with your feet parallel, about six inches apart, and your toes aimed straight ahead. Your knees should be slightly bent, removing any strain on your lower back.

 

3. Close your eyes and focus on the breath as it enters the nose and fills your lungs, and then gently exhale any tension you might feel. The Maya believe that the tree provides us our first breath, which is spirit, so offer thanks for this gift of life. Continue breathing with a series of even inhalations and exhalations until you are calm and relaxed.

 

4. Imagine that you are the World Tree standing at the very navel of the universe. Your roots tap deeply into the underworld, and your crown touches the heavens. Visualize Polaris, the North Star (the star that the earth's axis points toward in the northern sky) directly over your head.

 

5. Now visualize a spiral of energy ascending out of the earth, moving up your spine, the trunk of your own inner World Tree. This energy is grounding, centering, and abundant. In fact, all possible blessings and abundance come to you as a result of this fiery energy.

 

6. Now imagine another spiral of energy descending from the heavens above, entering your body through the crown of your head and traveling down your spinal column into the earth. This force embodies higher spiritual knowledge and power. It unites you with the totality of a dynamic, interrelated universe. This is the energy the Classic Maya called itz, the "dew of heaven."

 

7. Visualize these two energetic forces as spirals of white light, one moving from the sky into the earth, the other from the earth into the sky. Together they form a symmetrical double spiral traveling up and down your spine, like the double helix formed by the plus and minus strands of DNA.

 

8. Now stretch your arms out from your sides so that you stand as a cross-tree at the center of all things. To the Maya, the cross is but a symbol of the four directions, the outstretched arms of the great World Tree, and of the fourfold universe itself. You are that universe.

 

9. At your right hand, to the South, are gathered all the masculine or yang powers of the cosmos. Since the Maya trace their ancestry through patrilineal descent in the male line, these masculine powers include all the living members of your family. Maya shamanism teaches us to honor all our relations, so for the moment you must forget about any issues you may have with these people. Love them regardless. Also at your right hand are all the attributes associated with maleness, including your sense of power, authority, and assertiveness.

 

10. Now focus on your left hand. Here in the North are gathered all the feminine or yin powers of the cosmos. So, whether you are male or female, see all your intimate relations, as well as the actual women who come into your life, on your left hand. Once again, forget about any issues you have with these people, and simply love them.

 

11. Behind you, in the West, lies the past. Your ancestors and the collective spiritual power of all those who went before you reside in the West. When your own time comes to pass on, you will become part of this vast collective unconscious. 

 

12. In front of you, to the East, lies the future. Your children and the spirits of those yet to come are in the East, for they are part of your future. This is the direction of your spiritual path and destiny.

 

13. Breathe deeply and contemplate your own World Tree. Become totally open, yielding, and receptive until it becomes part of you. Materialize the World Tree at the heart of the world and help sustain the cosmic order.

Walking the Red Road

In John G. Neihardt’s book, Black Elk Speaks, Oglala Lakota holy man and visionary Nicholas Black Elk shares a great vision which came to him in the summer when he was nine years old and which guided him throughout his life. That vision was extremely rich in detail and symbolism, all of which became important to him in the years ahead, but one image which was revealed to him in his vision and informs the entire book is the image of two spiritual paths: the Red Road and the Black Road.
 

The Red Road or Chanku Luta, as it is known by the Lakota, is a metaphor for living a spiritual way of life. It is a unique spiritual path that runs north and south. The Red Road is a way of life and enlightenment which has no end. This road is described as narrow, winding and difficult to follow. During times of difficulty, the Lakota people could always rely upon the Red Road for strength and renewal, just as they could rely upon the Inipi, also known as the sweat lodge ceremony.
 

There is also a fearful black road of troubles and of war, which contrasts with a good red road of spiritual understanding. The Black Road or Chanku Sapa, which runs east and west, is a path of non-spirituality and self-centered greed. The two roads are said to cross in the center of the sacred hoop of the world, where the Tree of Life blooms. Walking the Red Road is a deep sense of obligation and a meaningful personal commitment to purposefully live your life each day, practicing and embodying the seven sacred virtues of the Lakota: prayer, honesty, humility, compassion, respect, generosity and wisdom.

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.

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.

The Four Elements of Creation

The Great Mystery reveals itself as the powers of the four directions and these four powers provide the organizing principle for everything that exists in the world. There are four winds, four seasons, four phases of the moon, four stages to humanity's spiritual evolution, and four basic elements. The four elements are Air, Fire, Water and Earth. The four elements are basically the four forces or polarized rhythmic patterns that create and animate reality. Each element is associated with one of the four directions and has a unique essence or resonant quality that helps us evolve toward completion, toward harmony and balance. Collectively, they define the vibratory infrastructure that literally holds together our resonant field of reality.

Air is associated with the East and relates to spring, morning, the rising sun, expansion and control of the mind, and the breath of life. In the science of physics Air would be the equivalent of Electromagnetic Force, one of the four fundamental forces of nature. Fire is associated with the South and relates to summer, midday, growth, vitality, the sky, and illumination. Fire equates to the Strong Nuclear Force. Water is associated with the West and relates to autumn, twilight, assimilation, emotions, flow, the moon, death and rebirth, and transformation. It is the equivalent of Gravitational Force. Earth is associated with the North and relates to winter, darkness, the earth, purification, sensory awareness, completion, and the form-giving aspect of energy. It equates to the Weak Nuclear Force.

The sacred hoop or medicine wheel illustrates the sequence of development in the process of manifestation. Born of the silent emptiness of the center, vibration cycles around the periphery of the circle. Moving from East (Air) to South (Fire) to West (Water) to North (Earth), vibration bonds the elements, and then reverses its rotation toward emptiness to begin the cycle anew. The unmanifest essence of vibration precipitates this bonding sequence in order to manifest a desired form. The energy of vibration is alive and, because it is alive, it seeks ways in which to express or manifest itself. As Ute-Tiwa shaman Joseph Rael concludes in his book, Being and Vibration, "Apparently materialization occurs because vibration is seeking to purify the center (heart) of its newly formulated form."(1)

The four elements are the building blocks of nature and interact with humans in the creative process. The elements are living energies, which change and move as we think, and then take the form of our thoughts. Thought is the tool of the mind that shapes physical reality. Every thought, idea, or image in the mind has form and substance. Everything that we perceive began with a thought, for it is the blending of thought forms with the elemental rhythms that shape physical reality. It is the consciousness of humanity that holds the present physical form of all that we perceive. It is the mind that determines the destiny of forms. We are mind. Our Earth is mind. We live in a universe of mind. From photons to galaxies, life is conscious intelligent energy that can form itself into any pattern or function.

1. Joseph Rael and Mary Marlow, Being and Vibration (Tulsa: Council Oak Books, 1993), p 185.

Sacred Hoop Prayer Song

The circle or sacred hoop is a universal symbol that can be found in many indigenous cultures around the world. Within the cosmology of primal peoples, the circle represents life. All aspects of life, energy, and the ever-moving universe spiral in circles. The plants, the animals, the minerals, and the elemental forces of nature all exist within the circle. The sacred hoop, sometimes known as the medicine wheel, represents the natural cycles of life and the basic way in which the natural world moves and evolves. All creatures walk the circumference of the sacred hoop, experiencing birth, life, and death. This archetypal journey has four stages or rounds, each associated with a cardinal direction. Four rounds signify completion, wholeness or fullness. After completing a cycle of learning on the sacred wheel, each of us returns to the source, the Great Mystery at the center or heart of the circle. Listen to "Sacred Hoop," my prayer song to the circle of life. Available on iTunes, Amazon and CD Baby.

Vernal Equinox 2019

At the Vernal Equinox, we begin a new cycle on the Medicine Wheel of Life, entering the East -- home of the rising sun, morning, birth, beginnings, and the spring season. Spring arrives when the earth is tilted so that the sun is directly over the equator. In the Northern Hemisphere, the first day of spring is on or about March 21. This is the day of the Vernal Equinox. Vernal means spring; Equinox means equal night. Night and day are the same length, each lasting exactly twelve hours on this day. It is at this time when light and darkness are in balance. The forces of feminine and masculine energy, yin and yang, are also in balance at this time, providing a unique opportunity to tune in and find our inner balance, harmony, and alignment. The 2019 Vernal Equinox will occur on Wednesday, March 20, 2019, at 5:58 P.M. EDT.

Throughout human history, people in the northern parts of the world have celebrated the Rites of Spring, marking the end of earth's winter sleep and the start of spring when everything is reborn. Ancient cultures connected spring with the return of life to the earth. The return of spring in ancient times was of more consequence than it is to us today because winter food and fuel storages ended, inclement weather waned, and crops could be planted. Pagan customs such as lighting fires at sunrise for renewed life and protection of the crops still survive in South America as well as in Europe.

 

In China, the Vernal Equinox has always been celebrated as the time of new beginnings, of action, of planting seeds for future grains, and of tending gardens. Spring is a time of the earth's renewal, a rousing of nature after the cold sleep of winter. The life energy, symbolized by thunder, erupts from the depths in early spring to awaken the dormant seeds to new life. The yearly cycle begins in the spring when thunder quickens the renewal of life. Winter still has its grip on the land, but the days are lengthening and the light is growing stronger by the day. Spring is almost here... I hope we can be inspired by nature's reawakening to renew our own lives.

The Cosmic Center of the Drum Circle

Indigenous cultures have been practicing community percussion for thousands of years. Although most of us did not grow up in an indigenous rhythmic musical tradition, we can still tap into the healing power of the drum circle. People have gathered in circles since the beginning of humankind for a very good reason. The circle is a container for building community and celebrating life. All are equal in the circle; no one is above or below. In a circle, each person's face can be seen; each person's voice can be heard and valued. Like the hoop of the drum, the circle represents the wheel of life. The plants, the animals, the minerals, and the elemental forces of nature all exist within the circle. All creatures walk the circumference of the wheel of life, experiencing birth, life, and death. After completing a cycle of learning on the sacred wheel, each one returns to the source, the Great Mystery at the center of the circle.

Every drum circle has a center, which represents the cosmic axis of the sacred space. In circle culture, it is customary to set up a centerpiece or altar that is appropriate for the purpose of the circle. A simple altar can be created with a cloth, a candle and other symbols that mean something to you. For example, if it is a grieving circle, a photo of the person who has passed away can be placed on the altar. If it's a circle of celebration, a symbol of the reason for the celebration can be included. It is customary for participants to bring offerings, sacred objects and fresh cut herbs to place on and around the altar. The circle participants will decorate the center with these objects as a way of making it their community space.

Although an altar is not essential, it provides us with a focus to pray, meditate and listen. It is traditional in circles to speak into the center. The idea is that everyone's voice is added to the center, and it is from the center that the wisdom of the circle will begin to emerge. Once someone has spoken into the center, their contribution becomes part of the circle. It becomes part of a collective, evolving story, a pathway to unity and understanding. When a circle meets regularly over an extended period of time, extraordinary things happen. As members learn to trust the process, the circle itself becomes the teacher. Participants both contribute to and benefit from the group's collective wisdom and experience. Individual visions coalesce into one common vision and mission. To learn more, look inside Shamanic Drumming Circles Guide.

The Spiritual Significance of the Number 4

The number 4 has long been considered a sacred number in shamanism and Native American spirituality. All events and actions are based on this number, because everything was created in fours. The Great Mystery reveals itself as the powers of the four directions and these four powers provide the organizing principle for everything that exists in the world. There are four winds, four seasons, four elements, four phases of the moon, four stages to humanity’s spiritual evolution, and so on.

For instance, the Native American sweat lodge ceremony (Inipi) is usually carried out in four rounds. The whole process is modeled after the Medicine Wheel, which is a universal symbol that can be found in many indigenous cultures around the world. The Medicine Wheel represents the natural cycles of life and the basic way in which the natural world moves and evolves. The Medicine Wheel represents the archetypal journey each of us takes in life. This journey has four stages or rounds, each associated with a cardinal direction. Four rounds signify completion, wholeness or fullness.

The Medicine Wheel of Life

Bighorn Medicine Wheel

The Medicine Wheel, sometimes known as the Sacred Hoop, has been used by generations of various Native American tribes to represent all knowledge of the universe. Within the cosmology of primal peoples, the Medicine Wheel represents the circle of life. All aspects of life, energy, and the ever-moving universe spiral in circles. The plants, the animals, the minerals, and the elemental forces of nature all exist within the circle.

The Medicine Wheel provides a means of entering sacred space--that place where you can find yourself over and over again. The Medicine Wheel of Life is a mandala, a symbolic blueprint or map of reality. It represents a multidimensional, interwoven web of relationships that are in constant communion with each other. The sacred wheel exists simultaneously in a horizontal and vertical axis, as well as in the unfolding continuum of time--past, present, and future.

The Medicine Wheel of Life serves as a portal to consciously enter the cyclic, time-space unfolding of Tao or Great Mystery through a practice of reverent, harmonious relationship. It is based on the belief that the universe is alive, sentient, and constantly communicating its wisdom to who ever makes an effort to listen.

To move around the wheel and develop a relationship with each direction is to step onto a path of learning and fulfillment. Each direction has qualities and attributes that help us spiral toward completion on the wheel of life. All creatures walk the circumference of the Medicine Wheel, experiencing birth, life, and death. After completing a cycle of learning on the sacred wheel, each of us returns to the source, the Great Mystery at the center or heart of the circle.

The Medicine Wheel of Life is symbolized by a circle that is bisected first with a line of light from East to West. From the East the sun arises and the guardian Eagle takes flight. Though the qualities attributed to each of the four cardinal directions tend to vary from culture to culture, the energy of the East is typically associated with the vernal equinox, Eagle, Hummingbird, morning, birth, beginnings, the rising sun, illumination, inspiration, ascending consciousness, and the element of Air.

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. South is related to the summer solstice, Serpent, Coyote, midday, youth, trust, growth, and the element of Fire.

From the West flows the energy of transformation. In the West we assimilate our life experiences. Experience is the only baggage we carry with us from this Earth walk. From the West we exit the realm of physical experience and join into vast levels of experience in the spirit worlds of light, or we choose to return and walk again the sacred wheel of life. West is connected to the autumnal equinox, Bear, twilight, introspection, emotions, flow, the moon, death, endings, transformation, and the element of Water.

From the North flows the energy that completes the quartering of the circle. From the North we receive wisdom and clarity of mind. North is linked to the winter solstice, Buffalo, night, wisdom, clarity, patience, renewal, blessings, abundance, and the element of Earth.

Quartering the circle defines all that is the Great Mystery. We are here on earth to experience and realize the mystery. The vision of that mystery is ever present within each of us. When we still the incessant chatter of the mind, we begin to realize the Sacred Vision. We begin to recognize certain qualities from the four directions that help us evolve on the wheel of life.

Father Sky and Mother Earth together generate the powers of creation. The four directions are the power and life-giving forces of the created. When we begin in the East and turn clockwise, acknowledging the four directions, we align ourselves with the powers that shape our reality. We are also creating a circle--a boundary that separates the sacred from the ordinary and profane. Such a ritual creates a sacred space that can be slipped in and out of at will. By creating a circle, we are also structuring an energy pattern that will contain, focus, and amplify the power generated by ritual. A circle will shape the elemental forces into a powerful current that will spiral upward and downward, uniting heaven and earth. Thus, we synchronize our environment and ourselves to the circle of all that exists.