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.

The Origin of Disease and Medicine

An excerpt from The Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees by James Mooney
 

In the old days, the beasts, birds, fish, insects, and plants could all talk. They and the people lived together in peace and friendship. As time went on, however, the people increased so rapidly that their settlement spread over the whole earth, and the poor animals found themselves cramped for room. To make things worse, Man invented bows, knives, spears, and hooks, and began to slaughter the larger animals, birds, and fish for their flesh or their skins. The smaller creatures, such as the frogs and worms, were crushed and trodden upon without thought, out of pure carelessness or contempt. So the animals resolved to consult upon measures for their common safety.
 

The Bears were the first to meet in council, led by old White Bear. After each in turn had complained of the way in which Man killed their friends, ate their flesh, and used their skins for his own purposes, it was decided to begin war at once against him. Once the angry crowd calmed down, White Bear told them that the human beings had a decided advantage -- the bow and arrow. So the Bears decided to make their own weapons.
 

However, the Bears had a problem. Their claws made it impossible to properly draw back on a bow. Some of the younger Bears thought of cutting their claws, but White Bear objected, " If we cut off our claws, we will all starve together. It is better to trust the teeth and claws that nature gave us, for it is plain that Man's weapons were not intended for us."
 

No one could think of any better plan, so the old chief dismissed the council and the Bears dispersed to the woods and thickets without having concerted any way to prevent the increase of the human race. Had the result of the council been otherwise, we should now be at war with the Bears, but as it is, the hunter does not even ask the Bear's permission when he kills one.
 

The Deer next held a council under their chief, Little Deer. After some talk, they resolved to use their magic. Thenceforth, if a hunter wished to kill a Deer, he must take care to ask their pardon for the offense. Any human hunter failing to do so would be stricken with rheumatism. The Deer sent notice of their decision to the nearest settlement of Indians and told them at the same time what to do when necessity forced them to kill one of the Deer tribe. No hunter, who has regard for his health, ever fails to ask pardon of the Deer for killing it.
 

Next came the Fish and Reptiles, who had their own complaints against Man. They held council together and determined to make their victims dream of snakes twining about them in slimy folds and blowing foul breath in their faces, or to make them dream of eating raw or decaying fish, so that they would lose appetite, sicken, and die. This is why people dream about snakes and fish.
 

Finally, the Birds, Insects, and smaller animals came together for the same purpose. They decided to spread disease among the humans. They began then to devise and name so many new diseases, one after another, that had not their invention at last failed them, no one of the human race would have been able to survive.
 

When the Plants, who were friendly to Man, heard what the animals had done, they determined to defeat the latter's evil designs. Each Tree, Shrub, and Herb, down even to the Grasses and Mosses, said, "I shall appear to help Man when he calls upon me in his need." Thus was medicine born. The plants, every one of which has its use if we only knew it, furnish the remedy to counteract the evil wrought by the vengeful animals. Even weeds were made for some good purpose, which we must find out for ourselves. When the doctor (shaman) does not know what medicine to use for a sick man, the spirit of the plant tells him.
 

Source: James Mooney, The Sacred Formulas Of The Cherokees. Published in the Seventh Annual Report, Bureau of American Ethnology, pp. 301-399. 1886.

The Role of the Drum

The drum has a role of first importance to the shaman, for its rhythm develops an oneness of feeling and purpose with the rhythms of the universe. Everything in the universe, from the smallest subatomic particle to the largest star, vibrates with rhythmic motion. All things are born of rhythm and it is rhythm that holds them in form. Rhythm is the heartbeat of life. Every living thing has a unique song, a pulsing rhythm that belongs only to it. Within the heart of each of us, there exists a silent pulse of perfect rhythm that connects us to the totality of a dynamic, interrelated universe. The drum's beat unites the shaman with all life forms into a single being, a single heartbeat. The drum reconciles all of the disparate and discordant aspects of nature. It promotes individual and planetary resonance and restores harmony and balance.     
 

The drum's sonorous voice expresses the basic rhythm patterns man has observed over and over in nature: the tides, the phases of the moon, the changing seasons, and the myriad cycles of life. Rhythm and resonance order the natural world. Dissonance and disharmony arise only when we limit our capacity to resonate totally and completely with the rhythms of life. Rhythm is a universal vibrational language. We respond to rhythm whenever we sense it and seek it out when it is not present, for it is invariably pleasant.
 

Drumming affects aurally generated emotion more than any other musical instrument. Drum rhythms cover the whole range of human feeling. Whatever the emotion, the drum seems to compensate and offer satisfying expression. Drumming provides solace, relief from anger, courage when afraid, or even ecstasy.
 

Ecstasy is defined as a mystic, prophetic, or poetic trance. It is a trance-like state of exaltation in which the mind is fixed on what it contemplates or conceives. The drum serves as a concentration device, enhancing the shaman's capacity to focus attention inward. It stills the incessant chatter of the mind, enabling the shaman to enter a subtle or light-trance state. It is an inward spiritual journey of rapture in which the shaman performs his or her mysterious work.
 

In his classic work, Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy, eminent religious scholar Mircea Eliade concluded that the ecstatic experience does not belong exclusively to the shaman, but "is a timeless primary phenomenon." All people, therefore, are capable of flights of rapture. Ecstasy is a frequency within each of us. Like tuning a radio to the desired frequency, the drum attunes one to ecstasy. 

Eliade defined shamanism as a technique of ecstasy. Shamanism is based on the principle that the spiritual world may be contacted through the inner senses in ecstatic trance. It is a great emotional adventure open to whoever wishes to transcend their normal, ordinary definition of reality. The shaman is able to contact and utilize an ordinarily hidden reality in order to acquire knowledge and power and to help others. He or she gains access to a new, yet familiarly mythic universe.