Thursday, December 30, 2010

Shamans of 2011



As 2010 winds to a close, questions abound as to what to expect in 2011. Will the economy rebound or regress? What new toys will technology produce? How will the senseless push-me/pull-you of the political arena grandstand, etc.? All of these considerations presume that people will stay the same as they were – another year older but otherwise unchanged.

The ego dominated mentality that imagines Democrats have a better plan than Republicans (or vice-versa), that believes technology can fix the planetary crises caused by technology, that gets excited over making money in the stock market when people everywhere are suffering hunger, murder, destitution, persecution and injustice at the hands of other humans – this mentality expects to continue just as it was into the New Year.

And for many it will. There is a lot of inertia behind the image humanity has created of itself for itself, both individually and collectively. People who have invested energy into believing the truth is “X” are not likely to suddenly decide it is “Y.” Since belief presupposes a state of unknowing, they have only dogmatized ideas about what truth might be, and identify with these fiercely. To lose such ideas is equivalent to losing themselves as egos.

But 2011, it appears, is introducing a new dynamic into the human process: choice. It seems the Awakening has progressed far enough that (for some) the ego’s dominance is beginning to slip and become dislodged. When that happens, the ego can be perceived not as THE Self, but rather as a tool of the Self – a tool that can be set aside.

With this realization there arises the possibility of choosing a perspective that is not egocentric and mental, but rather heart-based. In times past such a choice might have seemed spiritually motivated, the “enlightened” path of bliss and feeling good. But in the days to come practical considerations will take increasing precedence, as enlightenment becomes a matter not of preference but of survival in the New Age, or New Jerusalem.

Like those prehistoric fish that grew lungs and stubby feet in order to emerge on dry land from evaporating Paleolithic lakes, people who learn to live from the heart will be able to successfully breathe and navigate in a world in which the ego-mentality is collapsing catastrophically upon itself and radiating toxic destruction all around.

2011 carries within itself the numbers 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4, representing the complete manifestation of spiritual activation into the physical realm. Even now, a balance point is detectable that heralds the actuality of choice on a widespread scale. As that choice is made, many will find that they can discern between the ego as a tool, and the Self using that tool - and they will elect to live in the Deep.

Functioning from the heart-Self, a new field of vision opens to which the ego is completely blind and oblivious. This is the world as seen from a shamanic point of view, in which the immensity of life is felt and one’s connection and place in the greater consciousness perceived more clearly.

The heart is fearless and wise. It looks without flinching and understands deeply. It feels the wounds of our planet and her people, and longs to heal them.

This is the wondrous path into which 2011 is calling those prepared to choose the heart:

To stop living for the blind personal interests of the ego,
and live instead for the All.


To heal Mother Earth and transform this planet
into the Paradise it was meant to be.


To step into their true Selves as shamanic servants.

Saturday, December 25, 2010

The Christmas Present



While I slept a gift was given – an unusual necklace was slipped around my neck.

The necklace was not elegant like fashion jewelry, but simple and primitive. It consisted of perhaps eight green roughhewn beads strung on a vine-like cord. Dangling from the center of the cord, spaced between the beads, was a large brown seed that looked something like a peach pit.

I felt the necklace more than saw it, for it hung directly over my heart chakra and radiated its fierce energy within. A voice whispered that the seed had come from the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the original Garden of Eden.

With this necklace around my neck, the hard situations and conflicted relationships of my life were presented one by one for consideration. And the perturbations of these, the disturbances that had always before seemed so impossible of resolution, dissipated like clouds into nothingness.

In their place, a sense of trust in ultimate goodness unfolded, a confidence that all was well and could only ever be so.

The necklace revealed what had been hidden from my man’s mind, allowing the feeling heart to perceive those deeper patterns and connections by which life is sustained and nourished.

With it on, I felt my path had become illumined and my next step sure. I felt relieved of concern about outcomes and expectations.

I felt alert, attentive, open, loving and present.

Ultimately the present . . . was the Present.

Friday, December 24, 2010

Christmas Compassion



~ A Christmas Eve Dream ~

A terrorist had snuck into the USA and killed people. She was caught and put on public display in the marketplace. Passers-by would hurl both sharp words and sharp objects at her, expressing complete contempt. It seemed certain she would soon be destroyed by their intense hatred.

Yet even while this was happening another spirit began to arise - compassion for the terrorist. Compassion not only in spite of the evil she had done, but actually because of it. Conscience awakened in some who had suffered from the terrorism, and they perceived the part they had played in allowing evil to stalk not only their streets, but their own hearts as well.

They saw that active compassion was not only the "right" course of action moralistically and spiritually, but the rational response as well - the only possible way to end the ancient cycle of evil begetting more evil.

Such compassion was no mere insipid sentimentality, but an incredibly potent power that penetrated those who embraced it, kindling a fiery furnace of force. It decimated the darkness of self-protective fear and destroyed the weakness of self-indulgent vindictiveness.

Those who felt this compassion grew from few to many, encircling the globe with the ferocity of their determination to herald a New World premised on authenticity of heart and integrity of mind.


Then the image of the Savior appeared to their humbled gaze, He who in ultimate compassion was born into this world and died to bring about its complete transformation and renewal.

And they understood that the vision of compassion was given from above to be implemented here below, and that they were not alone in the daunting task of rising above human ignorance and darkness.

The Lord walks with them, and Victory is at hand.

Glory be to God for the birth of the Way, the Truth and the Light!

Friday, December 3, 2010

The Key



“The me” is a flavor of being - a particular flavor out of all possible flavors in the vast universe.

Sometimes this flavor seems diluted, for instance when one sees himself as a harried victim of unpleasant vagaries. On the other hand sometimes it is concentrated and pungent, as when one stands in his power.

Then “the me” is perceived as passing through life’s stages intact and inviolable, deepening awareness without altering identity.

Being “the me” is not easy, since it requires a moment by moment sensitivity to the difficulties of incarnation. We experience ourselves as distinct entities separated from one another and from God, subject to birth, aging, and death, faced with necessity and sorrow, craving love yet knowing neither how to give or receive it.

To keep such existential discomfort in plain view is the opposite of what most people want. Yet this is what becoming “the me” requires. One must set his hand in the fire (so to speak) and leave it there, allowing the flames to burn without withdrawing into numbness and dumbness.

One must also renounce junk thoughts with the same relish as junk food, refusing to acknowledge any mental excursion offering a distracting reprieve from the awareness that one’s hand is in the fire.

With the energy gained from this arduous discipline, “the me” carves a tunnel through its inner psychic landscape, a tunnel which connects distant childhood to the present moment. By this means it gathers its various fragmented selves and unifies them into one coherent persona, ending the ancient inner conflict and crisis of identity.

Having thus consolidated its power, “the me” surveys this precious lifespan - its destiny to fulfill - and does so with high purpose and determination. It recognizes the world no longer as an adversary, but rather a colleague in its quest for wholeness. It sees itself as part of a milieu in which every circumstance serves its wondrous goal, functioning to provide whatsoever destiny may require.

Former threats dissolve and are replaced by guides, oracles pointing toward a door which had never before been visible. The door cannot be forced – no effort of will prevails against it. Yet it opens freely of its own accord when presented with the right key. And once opened, never closes again.

Thus “the me” pursues its silent and solitary purpose, widening the inner tunnel, consolidating all personal selves and intensifying its unique flavor of being.

In so doing it grows both more distant from the world, yet (ironically) more present within it.

Until at last it has become the very key

Able to unlock the brazen door

Of its own freedom . . .