Divination and Adapting to an Evolutionary Pandemic

Divination is the art of gaining insight into a question or situation by the interpretation of signs or omens. The goal of shamanic divination is to encourage well-being by helping a person live in harmony with the universe around them. One of the best known systems of divination is the I Ching, or Book of Changes. For some 3,000 years, people have turned to the I Ching to help them uncover the meaning of their experience and to bring their actions into harmony with their underlying purpose. Consulting the I Ching is one of the best ways I know of to restore harmony wherever there is disharmony.

I consulted the I Ching today in order to gain some insight into the coronavirus pandemic that is spreading rapidly through much of the world. When I consulted the I Ching regarding the hexagram that best describes the pandemic, I received Hexagram 51, "The Arousing (Quickening, Shock, Thunder)." This hexagram consists of a doubling of the trigram Chen (the Arousing Thunder). Thunder rolls over Thunder, forming a state of Quickening. This hexagram symbolizes the unsettling events of fate that arouse us when we cling to belief or behavioral patterns that no longer support our growth. According to the I Ching, "Thunder repeated is the image of Shock. Thus in fear and trembling, the superior man sets his life in order and examines himself." The first thunder denotes fear and trembling, the second denotes shaping and exploring.

Just as the deep, reverberating sound of rolling thunder jolts the senses, so the universe may use a shocking turn of events to arouse us when we have gone astray. To weather the storm, we must retain our inner balance and utilize available energy in a sincere effort to set our life in order. Success depends on our willingness to plow old habits into the soil in order to cultivate new patterns that enhance our natural growth. If we disregard this imperative and persist in outmoded ways, we will experience repeated shock. Innovative change, on the other hand, will revitalize our life and precipitate renewed growth and creativity.

The process of adapting to COVID-19 is just beginning. Over time, the impact of the novel coronavirus may be so sweeping that it alters human rituals and behaviors that have evolved over millennia. This could change everything from the way we conduct our economy to our greeting and grieving rituals. Our earthly reality is in a state of Quickening that demands that the human species build our evolutionary powers of adapting on a scale equal to the magnitude we've seen in the coronavirus pandemic. As humans, we are being asked to go within and search our hearts in order to change those patterns of thought and behavior that work against us. It is necessary to still the mind and quiet the emotions so that inner knowing and intuition can emerge into our consciousness. Personal isolation and contemplation help us gain deeper insight and clarity of mind.

The shock waves that we are feeling indicate that usable energy is now available to change those patterns that inhibit our growth and create disharmony. When mankind chooses to live out of harmony with nature, nature too becomes inharmonious. That is what has happened in this case, and when this lack of harmony takes place, everything falls out of balance. This virus is the most recent example of this lack of balance. Global upheaval occurs when imbalances need to be corrected.

A global crisis often spawns innovation and cooperation. One of the wonderful things that happens during a natural disaster is that people cooperate with each other. That's how humans have always evolved in harsh conditions. This is a moment for us to prove our humanity, not run away from it. So, let us open our hearts to one another and let this be our finest hour. This turning point in human evolution still has much more to come. To gain insight into your path ahead, consult the I Ching.

Stand With the Mashpee Wampanoag

A Message from Chase Iron Eyes, Lead Counsel, The Lakota People's Law Project

Anpetu Waste (Good day)! I hope you are staying well, and I want you to know that we're praying for all our relations impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak. One benefit of sheltering in place is that we're able to keep our eyes peeled for important news. In case you missed it, I wanted to highlight a recent attack on Indigenous sovereignty and ask for your solidarity for our Mashpee relatives.

At the end of last month, the Department of Interior announced that 321 acres of land will be taken out of trust, effectively revoking the reservation status of the Mashpee Wampanoag people of Massachusetts. For those who learned the Thanksgiving story in elementary school, the Wampanoag people broke bread with the Pilgrims in Plymouth colony, and it was Wampanoag land that the Pilgrims took. And now, in the middle of an unprecedented global pandemic, President Trump's cabinet is moving to rescind the sovereign status of these people.

President Obama placed the land in question into trust in 2015, but that decision has been reversed under Trump. A reinterpretation by our executive branch of a 2009 Supreme Court decision now only grants trust status to tribes recognized before 1934, when the Indian Reorganization Act was signed. Because the Mashpee weren't federally recognized until 2007, they've now lost their status. As Jessie Little Doe Baird, vice chair of the tribe, said "they came for our children and took them to Carlisle because we were 'too Indian.' Today, they tell us we are not Indian enough."

The Mashpee, who have lived in the Massachusetts area for over 12,000 years, are being denied their right to autonomy. With federal trust status comes the right to manage, develop, and tax a parcel of land. This "disestablishment" of the Mashpee reservation will likely force the closure of the tribal court and police department; it will cost Native people their livelihoods in an already barren economic landscape.

This blatant land-grab isn't even court-ordered -- the directive came from Trump's Department of the Interior. Now, the Mashpee have asked a D.C. court to issue an emergency restraining order to prevent the dissolution of trust status, and Massachusetts senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey have vowed to combat this assault on the tribe's self-determination, saying "We will not allow the Mashpee Wampanoag to lose their homeland."

We Native people have struggled to retain less than 2.5 percent of our lands since European contact. The Indian Wars, in essence, have never truly ended. The United States' long history of systemically suppressing Native rights continues, and in 2020, land trust removal is the latest iteration of that same legacy of colonialism. We are disheartened, but as Indigenous people and allies, we have each others' backs in the face of adversity. You can stand for sovereignty by standing with the Mashpee people in their time of need.

Wopila -- thank you. Solidarity forever,

Chase Iron Eyes
Lead Counsel
The Lakota People's Law Project

Soul Flight: A Spiritual Prescription for Coronavirus

I am not a medical professional or an expert on epidemics. I leave the critical information in those important fields for the experts who have the appropriate training to help us get through the coronavirus pandemic. Even though I do not possess medical knowledge, as a shamanic practitioner, I believe I can try to humbly prescribe a vaccine that can heal the spirit -- the soul flight or shamanic journey. In the shamanic world, all healing begins with the spirit.

Shamanism is based on the principle that innate wisdom and guidance can be accessed through the inner senses in ecstatic trance. Basically, shamanic journeying is a way of communicating with your inner or true self and retrieving information. Your inner self is in constant communication with all aspects of your environment, seen and unseen. You need only journey within to find answers to your questions. You should have a question or objective in mind from the start. Shamanic journeying may be undertaken for purposes of divination, for personal healing, or for any number of other reasons. After the journey, you must then interpret the meaning of your trance experience.

Drumming (or listening to a shamanic drumming recording) is a simple and effective way to induce this ecstatic trance state. When a drum is played at an even tempo of three to four beats per second for at least fifteen minutes, most novices report that they can journey successfully even on their first attempt. Transported by the driving beat of the drum; the shamanic traveler journeys to the inner planes of consciousness: the Upper, Middle, and Lower Worlds. You should always journey with a purpose, question or intention. Some good reasons to take a shamanic journey at this challenging time are….

1. To reconnect with your inner or spirit self: Shamanic journeying heightens the ability of perception and enables you to see into the deeper realms of the self. The moment you bond with your spirit is the moment your heart opens. The first time you glimpse your spirit self, you gasp and cry. You know who you are. That is the moment you begin to heal. Journey work reconnects us to our core, enhancing our sense of empowerment and stimulating our creative expression.

2. To clarify life purpose: When we are unaware of our soul's true purpose or simply not aligned in our actions, we often experience a malaise of the spirit. We can engage the blueprint of our soul path through the vehicle of journeying. Shamanic journeying is a time-tested medium for individual self-realization. We can journey within to access wisdom and energies that can help awaken our soul calling and restore us to wholeness. Journey work reconnects us with our deepest core values and our highest vision of who we are and why we are here. It heightens our sense of mission and purpose, empowering our personal evolution.

3. To access a higher power: Shamanism provides a secular approach to accessing a higher power. Shamanic methodology directly supports the introduction of spiritual factors found significant in the healing process. According to the American Journal of Public Health, "Shamanic activities bring people efficiently and directly into immediate encounters with spiritual forces, focusing the client on the whole body and integrating healing at physical and spiritual levels. This process allows them to connect with the power of the universe, to externalize their own knowledge, and to internalize their answers; it also enhances their sense of empowerment and responsibility. These experiences are healing, bringing the restorative powers of nature to clinical settings."

4. To divine information: You can journey within to obtain information about personal and community issues. Your helping spirits are a good resource when it comes to answering questions pertaining to relationships, health issues, or any issue. To divine information in a journey, begin with a clear question that you would like to ask of your helping spirits. Decide which of your helping spirits you would like to answer your question, and then journey to the place where you normally meet them in non-ordinary reality. Of course you can ask your question to as many of your helping spirits as you wish. When divining or healing on behalf of others, it is vital that you have their permission.

5. To develop relationships with the helping spirits who dwell in the three inner planes of consciousness -- the Upper, Middle, and Lower Worlds: Shamanism is a sacred call to build relationship with the caretakers in the unseen world who want to support the earth and her inhabitants at this time. These helping spirits might be the spirits of nature, animals, plants, the elements, or ancestors. The reason for developing personal relationships with spirit helpers is to gain wisdom, healing techniques, and other vital information that can benefit the community. Similar to the way friendships develop gradually, our relationships with spirits grow and deepen based on repeated interaction and building trust over time.

6. To reconnect with benevolent ancestors: Your ancestors and the collective spiritual power of all those who went before you reside in the spirit world. When your own time comes to pass on, you will become part of this vast collective unconscious. If you embark on a journey with the intention of connecting with those who have passed, they may come to meet you. Keep in mind that spirits choose to come into relationship with the person seeking. You can seek ancestral spirits, but the spirits must choose.

7. To prepare for death: Shamans believe that learning to leave the physical body is important, for without this experience, the soul may become confused after death and remain stuck in the Middle World. When a person dies, there is usually a smooth transition into the afterlife, but when a person suffers a traumatic death, they may not have an awareness of who and where they are. This makes it difficult for them to make their journey to the afterlife. Other souls linger in the space between life and the afterlife for fear of going to hell. Sadly, most of the psychopomp rites of passage that once helped prepare a person for death have disappeared. Hence, journeying is one of the most important shamanic skills that we can develop. By journeying to the Lower World, the place to which human souls travel upon physical death, we can prepare for our own death. That said, perhaps the most compelling reason to journey is...

8. To find ways to restore balance in the world: As anthropologist and author Felicitas Goodman points out, "One of the most pervasive traditions of shamanic cultures is the insight that there exists a patterned cosmological order, which can be disturbed by human activity." When harmony between the human realm and the original intended pattern is disturbed, the shaman makes a spirit journey to the Upper World to bring back the balance. Shamans also go there to acquire archetypal knowledge, to bring a vision into being, or to influence events in the material world. By interacting with the archetypes, the shaman interacts with their counterparts in the outer world.

Try a Shamanic Journey

To enter a trance state and support your journey, click here to listen to a track from my CD "Shamanic Journey Drumming." Reflect for a moment on the purpose of your journey, and then close your eyes. Focus your attention on the sound of the drum and feel yourself being carried away by the sound. If for any reason you want to return, just retrace your steps back. You will hear a call back signal near the end of the video, followed by a short period of slow heartbeat drumming to assist you in refocusing your awareness back to your physical body. Sit quietly for a few moments, and then open your eyes.

After the journey, you must then interpret the meaning of your trance experience.  In some cases, your journey experiences will be clear and easy to understand. At other times, your journey may be dreamlike and full of symbolism. Interpret such journeys as you would any dream. Look for possible associations related to each symbol or image. The key is to observe whatever happens without trying to analyze the experience. Like developing any skill, journeying takes practice. Nothing may happen on your first journeys. You may only experience darkness. When this happens, simply try again at a different time. To learn more, read my article Shamanic Journeying.

Major Victory for Standing Rock

A Message from Phyllis Young, Standing Rock Organizer

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread throughout the nation, we're aware that it could have an outsized impact on Indian Country. Relief programs may not provide needed tests and medical supplies for us -- or anyone -- on an appropriate scale. Please know we are monitoring this, and as my colleague Chase Iron Eyes mentioned a few days ago, we'll keep you updated on developments. May we all stay safe and healthy.

In the meantime, I write with some wonderful news. Just yesterday, Standing Rock won a big victory in the ongoing legal battle against the Dakota Access pipeline when a federal judge granted the tribe's request to strike down DAPL's federal permits! Watch our video about the win in court and send a note of solidarity to Standing Rock.

The judge ruled that Trump's Army Corps of Engineers must complete a full Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) -- the much more comprehensive review we've all been demanding since the beginning of this movement (and that President Obama required, only to be reversed by Trump). The Corps fell short in three specific ways, according to the judge.

First, the Corps failed to respond adequately to claims by the tribe's experts that DAPL's leak detection system is wholly inadequate. Second, the company's dreadful history of oil spills wasn't properly addressed. Finally, the oil company failed to account for the adverse repercussions a "worst case discharge" might have on our treaty rights -- our ability to hunt, fish, and perform traditional religious ceremonies near Lake Oahe, which the pipeline crosses under.

I was asked by the tribal chairman to represent Standing Rock's interests at the hearing in Washington, D.C., but I couldn't go because of Coronavirus travel restrictions. I'm gratified that, despite our troubles, we have been victorious, at least for now.

The logic of the judge's ruling suggests the pipeline should not remain operational without a federal permit. The ruling actually references both the Titanic and Chernobyl concerning the possibility of human error, and I'm hopeful shutting down the flow will be the judge's next step. He has now requested legal briefs on that issue.

Please stay tuned, as we hope to share more good news soon. In the meantime, stay safe and please listen to the medical professionals with knowledge about the requirements of this pandemic. We're all in this together.

Wopila tanka -- as always, we're so grateful to you for standing with Standing Rock and Mother Earth.

Phyllis Young
Standing Rock Organizer
The Lakota People's Law Project

Drum Circle Instrument Guide

Shamanic drum circle instrumentation centers around percussion, but may include other instruments, such as flutes, didgeridoos and other non-percussion instruments. Every musical instrument has a unique energy, spirit and sound. Sound is regarded as one of the most effective ways of establishing connections with the spirit realm, since it travels through space, permeates visual and physical barriers and conveys information from the unseen world. Sound-producing instruments facilitate interaction and relationship among all parts of the living world.

Conch Trumpets - Sound does not just travel out into oblivion. There is a call and then a response. When Iroquoian people of present-day central and upstate New York discuss "sending out a sound," they mention blowing on a conch shell to attract attention, signaling the start of a ceremony, notifying the community, and drawing the Creator's participation. The conch is sounded at the beginning of important rituals because the sound is believed to have the ability to drown out any negative words or noises that might disturb or disrupt the harmonious atmosphere. The sound of conch is understood as the source of all existence -- a cosmic womb, for when the conch is blown, it is said to emulate the primordial sound from which all else emanates.

Didgeridoos - The didgeridoo is one of the world's oldest musical instruments, originating in Australia many thousands of years ago. It is a wooden wind instrument that produces a resonant trance inducing drone called "the voice of the Earth" to support the listener in making shamanic journeys. Didgeridoos produce a range of infrasonics; extremely low frequency sound waves that are below the human auditory threshold but nonetheless enter the brain. These waves are picked up by the cochlea (labyrinth) of the ear and influence the vestibular, circadian systems of the brain. Infrasonics stimulate a wide array of euphoric trance-like states. This may help to explain why the didgeridoo found its way into Aboriginal shamanic and healing practices thousands of years ago.

Drums - The circular frame drum is the most popular instrument played in shamanic drumming circles. These drums are durable, easy to handle, and highly resonant. Plus, frame drums are less intimidating than other drum types, based on the simple design and method of play, allowing beginners to easily stroke a rhythm, and enabling those with disabilities to reap the benefits of rhythm and sound therapy. However, by their very nature, most community drum circles invite all to participate with whatever percussion instrument is available. Virtually any type of drum may be played, though most drum circles exclude drum kits. So, by all means, do not hesitate to play any instrument you have available such as a djembe, conga or tambourine.

Flutes - According to Ute-Tiwa shaman Joseph Rael, "The flute is an instrument connecting the two worlds, the non-physical with the physical. The breath of the flutist is the breath of God coming through a hollow reed; the sound is that of the invisible lover courting the visible lover, the metaphor of the lover and the beloved." The flute opens a path of communication between the spiritual and earthly realms. The flute is related to the soul, which extends far beyond the physical body, connecting us to the symphony of the universe. Something transcendent happens when you begin to play a flute. You journey deep inside yourself and bring out the cosmic music of your soul. Nothing matters -- audience, place, time -- you just get lost in the music. You become the music -- notes, rhythm and melody.

Rattles - The repetitive sound of the rattle, like that of the drum, helps induce trance states. The shaking of rattles creates high-pitched frequencies that complement the low frequencies of drumbeats. The high tones of rattles resonate in the upper parts of the body and head. The low tones of drums act primarily on the abdomen, chest, and organs of balance, while stimulating an impulse toward movement. Rattles stimulate higher frequency nerve pathways in the cerebral cortex than do drums. This higher frequency input supplements the low frequency drumbeats, thereby boosting the total sonic effect.

Voice as musical instrument - It is likely that the first musical instrument was the human voice itself. The voice can be viewed as the ultimate musical instrument, since it is capable of instant expression with no instrument required to render thoughts and feelings into sound. With the human voice, thought nearly equals sound. The voice is capable of producing an incredibly wide range and depth of expressions. Musicians often replicate aspects of the human voice with their instruments because of its pure expression and feeling. The human voice is the social glue that binds us and the most important sound in our lives.