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August 01, 2015

Listening Trees and Talking Sticks

Tags: Indiginous, Plant Consciousness, Sacred Circles, Fairy Rings, Authentic Communication

There is a tradition in some indigenous cultures where a Talking Stick is passed around in a circle. As each person has the stick they are invited to speak, uninterrupted, for a brief period of time. So often when we speak we are met with unsolicited, fix-it help, or someone jumping in to tell their own story, as they need to be heard as well. The Talking Stick practice teaches others in the group how to listen, fully and respectfully, and for the person holding the stick it is an opportunity to feel truly heard.

Talking Stick traditions have implicit within them the quiet listening nature of a tree. Yes, trees listen too. Trees listen, communicate and react. Many people discount plant consciousness because plants do not have a central nervous systems, as animals do. Trees, however, have energy fields, with chakras, just like every other living thing. They pull in information about the world around them through these chakras and covert the information into electrical signals, just like we do. Research shows they communicate with each other as well, through the mutual release of pheromones.


June 01, 2015

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

Tags: Power animals, totem animals, Animal Archetypes, Connect to Nature, spirituality, indiginous wisdom

One of the reasons there has been a resurgence of interest in the teachings of the indigenous is that our own “civilized” culture has become so out of balance. We have our noses stuck in our phones instead of meeting eye to eye. We take walks in Nature looking at our emails and social media networks instead of interacting with the plants and animals who live there. Unfortunately, the further we get from connecting in with the implicit spirituality in our environment, the easier it is to forget our actions have  consequences and the more out of balance we become.

Indigenous people are profoundly connected to Nature. While our cultural psyches are more recently rooted in a dualism that singles Man out from Nature and gives him dominion over it the indigenous recognize that we are all part of the same web that flows through all of creation. At the very core of their practices is a deep respect for the powers in Nature. Animal allies, for example, are important vehicles for connecting in with the Web of Creation. Each animal has certain aspects or characteristics that give it particular powers or energy to draw from. Power Animals, Totem Animals and Animal Archetypes are all ways the indigenous engage with the natural world regularly.  


November 01, 2014

The Weaving Web

Tags: Quantum Mechaics, Spirituality, Indiginous wisdom, connectivity, entanglement theory

Central to the beliefs of all indigenous cultures is the concept that Nature contains within it a web of consciousness that connects all things. In the Mayan, Hopi and Navajo tribes the weaver of this web is Spider Woman. From her belly she spins threads of conscious thought and crystalizes them into form. Each form then holds within it the awareness of all creation and a connection to all things. The indigenous cultures therefor listen to the trees, the rocks and the wind for guidance.  They also know they have the wisdom of Nature within them. “The bear am I” they say, “The canyon walls, the salmon, the stream am I.” Nature contains the wisdom of the whole within it. They know that the flap of butterfly wings today can become a hurricane tomorrow and when they are in right relationship with the butterfly, the storm subsides.


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