Saturday, August 9, 2008

Letting Go

Amber Canyon
Morning Meditation

So... I'm wiffle waffling and angsting over the blogs - the picture blogs in particular - but they do seem to be tangled up with the others as well.

When I did my morning meditation I asked specifically if I could get some insight into what to do about them.

I turned to Tsatsalatksa - a strong, beautiful, Skokomish woman. She wouldn't make direct eye contact with me. She kept looking over my head off into the distance. As I merged into the picture I found myself standing with her on a road at the top of a hill.

In the "dream" I was a child, she the mother. I was looking backward, she was looking forward. Gently, she reached down and with her hands on my shoulders, she turned me around.

Far on the horizon was a beautiful city. She said, "Do you see that?" And I knew that was where we were headed. We started walking and trailing behind me was a wagon piled high with my various stuff.

I thought to myself, this is too apt, too symbolic, I must be making it up. So I tried to forget about the stuff, to NOT see it, to NOT imagine it, but still the wagon full of stuff persisted. So finally, I gave in and accepted that it was there for a reason and a purpose.

The woman looked down at me and said, "Let it go." and I said, "But I need it." and she said, "Let it go." and I said, "But I need it." and she said, "Let it go." and I said, "But I want it."

She was very patient. The dialogue continued. She would say, "Let it go." And I would say, "But I like it." "But what if I need it." "But what if it comes in handy later?" "But what about other people who like it." "But I love it." "But it's fun and interesting." "But... But.... But..."

And to each "But.." She would reply, "Let it go."

Finally, she reached down and unclenched my fingers from the handle of the wagon. The whole time, I'm saying, "But... But..."

And even when I wasn't hanging on to the wagon any more, the stuff was still following us, attached by a string that I was holding in my pocket.

She said, "Really, you must let it go."

And I did try, but I just couldn't seem to cut myself off from it. So she stopped and pointed at the beautiful city on the horizon, glowing and shimmering with golden light. "That's where we are going, you need to let this other go."

She pointed down the hill, and I saw before us valleys and forests, cliffs and dangerous territory. I knew that if I tried to drag my noisy, bulky, heavy wagon through all that - we would surely fail. Maybe even die.

That journey looked exciting, and interesting, adventuresome and dangerous. I let go of the string and the wagon. It felt so scary and vulnerable to do that.

We started off again. "But wait," I said. "I need some stuff. I need to get some stuff out of it to take with us." She didn't let go of my hand so that I could run back and rifle through the wagon.

She smiled and said, "What do you have in your pockets?" And suddenly they were bulging with stuff.

The first thing I pulled out was a whistle. "You can take this," she said, "it might come in handy." I had a small flash of being in a dark scary forest, playing the whistle and finding courage, maybe even faeries.

She insisted that I empty my pockets. So much stuff - a candle, knives, sticks, gum, lots of stuff.

The only thing she let me keep was the whistle. I felt very naked as we turned and began to walk down the hill.

NOTE: I'm thinking that whistle is this one little blog.

What is the Morning Meditation?

Friday, August 8, 2008

Crumbling to Dust

Amber Canyon
Morning Meditation

Still in a deep funk about the possibility of losing the blogs, and now my life seems pretty meaningless and significantly lonely. Reeling with angst over issues of unworthiness and all my "stuff" really in my face. It's a bad funk.

So, I didn't get very well centered nor was I able to maintain much real focus for this morning's meditation.

I turned to a ruined Hopi village, deserted, abandoned, structures crumbling to dust. It seemed appropriate, but at this point I'm not sure how helpful it was as I could not stay long enough to discover anything more.

I'm just too upset, to messed up right now to "be" with it.

What is the Morning Meditation?

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Tears and more tears

Amber Canyon
Morning Meditation

Freaking out this morning because it looks like the Flickr account is going to be toast...

Feeling sadness, grief, angst over losing the picture blogs and thinking I'll probably just ditch the whole blogging idea.

All or nothing - I know - but my "stuff" is up and running big time today. Feeling desperately unnecessary, unlovable, and messed up. So, it was in this condition that I sat down for my morning meditation.

I opened to the little shaman I visited not so long ago, and he looked at me with so much grandfatherly compassion...

I hugged him, and buried my face in his chest and I cried. But not for real. Here in the physical, tears remain unshed, and now I have to go to work. If i could just cry, I know I would feel better, but I won't - so there's that.

NOTE: Actually, I did cry... I cried on the way to work, I cried at work, and I came home from work early and cried some more. My "little spartan boy" was appalled, but I did feel better... eventually.

What is the Morning Meditation?

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Black Goo?

Amber Canyon
Morning Meditation

Today I'm Omming with Hamatsa again. I said, "Oh, hi!"

And he was omming, and I felt the sound falling down all around me like rain. It felt so good. I stretched out in my chair so that I could really enjoy it. As I did so, I realized that I was in the same position as the "Hanged Man" just not hanging. And I thought, "This is interesting."

Then I saw myself hanging upside down just like in the Tarot card and all the while the om vibration is falling around me and down on me, and it's cool!

Hamatsa then reached around me from behind and did a kind of Heimlich Maneuver, and out of my mouth popped a black box which fell on the ground and then changed form and scurried away - but there was still a string attached, a black string, rubbery, and so he pulled on it, and began pulling this black stuff out of me. Black stuff that was attached to the most extended parts of myself - like an intricate network that reached everywhere inside me. And at the very ends of it were these tiny suckers that stayed even when the rest was pulled away. Growing back as fast as he could pull them out.

It was kind of like an invasive spirit weed.. an inner "Ivy of Miasma".

Not having much success with the pulling, he got out (of all things) a hose with a power nozzle on it and started hosing me off from my feet to my head. In the vision, I'm still hanging upside down, and that was working except for the fact that all the black stuff was now making a big puddle below me. When he got me all cleared and stood me up, I was knee deep in black gunk and so was he.

So then, we looked up and saw that now it was just pouring down all over us from some other source. He tried to shoo it away - but that didn't work. He tried to move it, and he tried to wipe it out, but all that happened is we got more and more covered with black goo.

So then he made a shield and it poured down around us. We were clean, but that was no way to live in the world. So then I suggested, "Let's go see who's doing this."

He said, "OK."

So we went up and into the third world and there was this old guy with a pot in his hands pouring an endless stream of black goo down to where we had just come from. I tried to talk to him. Hamatsa tried to Om him, but he just ignored us.

I then looked at him really closely, and I realized that he looked a little bit like Hannuman, the Monkey Headed God. And I looked at him some more and he turned into a monkey and then just disintegrated into sparkly light, and the black goo began to disintegrate. As we floated down from the third world, we were at first waist deep in it, then as it dissolved around us and as our feet hit the ground, it just ebbed away. Dissolving into nothing and leaving everything sparkling, clear, and beautiful.

Hmatsa and I looked at each other and we started laughing. As we laughed, I saw that he wasn't Hamatsa at all, he was Pan. Then he faded and was gone.

What is the Morning Meditation?

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Balance Again

Amber Canyon
Morning Meditation

Opened to the Taos water girls again and my immediate thought was: "Balance." Once again it's all about balance, which goes right along with "Hasten Slowly" from the Prosperity Project.

I tried hard to ferret out something more, but this really was the message. The girls did show me how to fill a jar and balance it on my head, and then walk with it. I found several things to be true when I did this.

Balance Requires:

  • strength of purpose
  • you have to stand up straight - be straight forward
  • you can't be in a rush - you'll trip and fall for sure
  • you have to keep your eyes focused on your goal - you can't be looking around
  • for sure you can't look down
  • once you are balanced, you can carry amazingly heavy loads

What is the Morning Meditation?

Monday, August 4, 2008

The Idea Cemetery

Amber Canyon
Morning Meditation

Today I opened the book to a picture of a Yurok Cemetery. There was a fair amount of interesting energy involved in the image. Energy of grief, of neglect, of not letting go, of clinging in a sort of desperate way - of depression and regret.

I wondered at first if it was a sign NOT to go help a friend of mine hang a door in this 100+ temperature day. Then I wondered if it was a sign that my idea that my friend Daniel should write a book about trees was a dead idea.

Then I heard, very distinctly something about how ideas - when they reach their "time" - you have to let them go. And even though in the meditation I heard it very distinctly, now when I'm writing it, the exact words that I heard elude me.

What I understood was this:

Ideas, (and that includes projects, career paths, interests, passions, passing fancies, grand schemes, inspirations, etc) come and then they go. There is a time and a place, a moment... And when that time has passed, when the moment is done, it's time to let it go. Don't cling to it and carry it with you as so much "dead" weight. Say goodbye and move on.

I then tried to move into a the picture itself and be in that place, at that cemetery, but there came an immediate sense of "NO!"

I don't know if it was my protecting spirits, or what, but definitely I was sternly pushed out of that place which seemed to be filled with ghosts and bad "ju ju."

So, that was interesting. I wonder now how to put to rest the dead weight I'm carrying - I need an idea cemetery, I think. Maybe make a diorama or a crucifixion piece, maybe call it the "Fall From Grace" or something.

This is a great idea, I wonder how to make it a sort of ongoing art project, or altar, or something.

What is the Morning Meditation?

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Grandfather said

Amber Canyon
Morning Meditation

A Wappo grandfather spoke to me today. He said,

"Don't live your life like I did.
Live it in a good way."

And I knew he was talking about giving away his power
- and about giving up.

What is the Morning Meditation?

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Building

Amber Canyon
Morning Meditation

Today I pulled up the "Terraced Houses of the Zuni" which was right next to the "Kiva of the North" and my first thought was "One thing builds on another." But I knew that was just me remembering the other image and not really getting "into" this one.

For a long time I just sat there with the book and the picture... not really finding a way into it, not seeing or hearing anything at all.

Finally, I heard this:

"You are building something. How high do you want it to go? How complicated do you want it to be? At what point does it become too much?"

And now, later, I'm wondering also about firm foundations and structural integrity, and the importance of community.

So to what was it referring? I'm not sure. Maybe I don't even know what I'm building!

Hmmm.....

What is the Morning Meditation?

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Seeing what I don't see

Amber Canyon
Morning Meditation


Today when I settled in with my book and began the Morning Meditation. I turned to a picture of a stairway path up a mesa somewhere in the desert southwest. As I focused on the picture, I found myself there, in that place. I could hear the sound of crickets? cicadas?

It was hot and dry. There was a small breath of wind but not much. Off in the distance I could barely make out a small herd of what might possibly have been antelope.

I turned to go up the rocky stairway, and as I did, I wondered what it was that I wasn't seeing. Then I heard the rattle of a rattlesnake. I didn't see on on the rocks by my feet, or in the crevices of stone around me.

I thought it I must have made it up, imagined it... then I looked up and there in front of me at the top of the stairway was a huge rattlesnake. He was way bigger than me, so I knew he must be a "spirit" snake - a protecting energy.

I knew immediately that if I hadn't seen him or if now that I had, if I disregarded him that he would prick me with his two sharp teeth and a slow poisoning would begin.

I wondered how many hikers had come to this same spot and behaved disrespectfully and unknowingly been bitten.

So, I searched my mind for what I could do to appease him. It occurred to me that snakes like eggs, so I pulled several eggs out of my rucksack and gave them to him.

He swallowed them whole and then slipped down the stairs and into a hole in the stone. He watched me for a moment and then his eyes closed and he went to sleep.

I continued up the steps until I came out on top. It was very beautiful and stark - I looked down and saw arrowheads at my feet. I picked one up, looked at it, and then realized that it would be wrong to take it, gently I put it back where it was.

Once again, I wondered what it was that I wasn't seeing. And when I looked around I saw a small tree, and she was alive - and the stones too. I could see that they lived. Everything around me was full of life and intelligence.

I reached down and patted one of the rocks. It was warm to the touch. I thought. Wow! Everything that is IS alive. Which is something that I already knew in my head, but had never experienced in such a visual way.

What is the Morning Meditation?

Monday, July 28, 2008

Kachina

Amber Canyon
Morning Meditation

Kachina Dolls - that's what came up today.
And almost immediately, this is what I heard:

Your "stuff" all dolled up and ready to GO!

What is the Morning Meditation?

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Doing something big

Amber Canyon
Morning Meditation

So, today I got the very same guys as yesterday. And they were saying pretty much the same things as yesterday, and I wasn't sure what to make of it. Finally after spending a fair amount of time second guessing myself, I asked the war chief what he thought. He said:

"Looks like you're getting ready to do something..."

What is the Morning Meditation?

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Life is to live in

Amber Canyon
Morning Meditation

Today found me visiting with a war party - just getting ready and heading out - a series of four pictures. I've talked to them before... This is what they said to me:

Yes, make your plans.
Yes, send out scouts.
Yes, dream on it.
Yes, smoke on it.
Yes, make your offerings.
Yes, make your peace.
And yes ride out, singing your death song, singing your power song, singing your war song.

Life is to live in, not to hide under.

What is the Morning Meditation?

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Making A Commitment


I found today, an Apsaroke war group. Here's what the caption reads:

"The warrior on the right holds the curved staff of one of the tribal military organizations, which, at the crisis of a fight, was placed in the ground as a standard behind which the bearer was pledged not to retreat."

So, I thought about that for a while - about putting yourself on the line like that for honor and for a sense of self. "Kill me if you must, I will not retreat."

Finally, having allowed my intellect to explore the picture and the content of the caption, I was able to let all that go and merge into the picture so that I could talk to them.

The one holding the staff looked down at me and said, "When your staff is firmly planted, we'll back you all the way. Until then..." and the three of them wheeled their horses around and rode off.

So it looks like they aren't talking to me until I make a commitment of some kind, and once I do, I will have back-up. I will have their support.

I wonder what commitment?

Amber Canyon

Monday, July 21, 2008

Community Support


Turned this morning to three people doing ceremony, body painted and dancing. And if felt like a validation of what I did last night.

I thought about how they had a support system of people to prepare the area and provide drumming, and support in other ways. I did have my friend Michelle, and that was really nice. But she wasn't really in sync with what I was trying to accomplish, and I could see how much easier my little ceremony would have been had I been able to do it in the context of a community of support, other dancers, elders, and etc.

I watched them for a while, and then one of them looked over at me and I heard. "You did good. Now it's time to rest."

Amber Canyon

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Off and Running


Today I came upon an Assiniboin hunter posing for a picture with two dogs. Amazingly, one looked like a border collie - the other like a pit bull mix. The dogs had packs on their backs, and he had makeshift leashes on them that looked like they were made of fabric.

All in all, it was a very surprising image!

The leashes in particular, surprised me. He smiled and said, "If I don't do this, they'll go where they want." And I knew he meant in that moment and for the photograph, and that later, when they hunted, the dogs would be unleashed and willing.

I thought about my "inner dogs" and wondered if that's what this was about, but I was unclear and it may have been my intellect speaking.

He then looked at me and winked. "Are you ready to go?" I said, "Yes!" He reached down, unleashed the dogs and we were off and running. That was it! Seems like a propitious start for "ceremony day," don't you think?

Amber Canyon

So what is this "Morning Meditation" stuff anyway?

It occurred to me that with so many posts tagged "Feathers and Bones," it might be a good idea to put forth a better explanation of what that is. If you have read more than a couple of them, you'll see that it appears that I talk to a lot of people and go a lot of places - either that - or I hallucinate every morning, although there is the distinct possibility that I'm just nuttier than a fruitcake...

So.... here's the thing.

I probably AM nuttier than a fruitcake, but I do have a slightly better than tenuous grasp on reality. The "Feathers and Bones" series is a meditation that I do every morning. Quite by accident, I discovered that I could put myself into a trance state and "communicate" or have "visions" or make a "psychic connection" with the people and the images in a really cool book of photographs taken back in the 1800's by Edward S Curtis. The name of the book is the North American Indian.

Am I really talking to those actual people? Or am I talking to myself? I don't know the answer to that question and what's more, I don't care. I am having so much fun with it, I am getting so much out of it, my life is expanding in so many different ways, that I don't think it matters in the least WHO it is that I'm actually meeting with every morning.

Why do I call it "Feathers and Bones?" When I made the initial decision to post my experiences, I didn't know what kind of label to put on it, and initially I was calling it "living by the book" because that was only thing that came to mind. As time passed, it occured to me that it might be a good idea to post the morning meditations on it's own separate site, which I called "Feathers and Bones."

That idea, while fine in and of itself, came at right about the time I was strongly guided to give up all the other blogs, and so "Feathers and Bones" the website is not currently available. I like the name though, and have decided to keep it as a tag for the morning meditations.

Another thing you might (or might not) notice is that I backdate the posts, and so they are really easy to miss. It's not like you can visit every day and read what I "got" that morning. And that's because, for me, getting on the internet isn't something I do every day. If I'm posting every day, it's because I have pre-written and pre-scheduled those posts.

I also don't worry too much about being "late" with these posts because I have this idea that the only person really interested is... well... me. And I already know what my meditation was, I know what I'm thinking about, and while I may not have a clue as to what I'm doing, I am the one doing it... so I figure there's no need to be in a big hurry to tell myself about it. It's possible that I could be wrong... that someone... maybe even YOU the person reading this right now... is actually interested in this little series. That would be awesome, and cool, and if that's the case, you can click on the "Feathers and Bones," label in the sidebar, or the "What is the morning meditation?" link at the bottom of the post. Either link will pull up everything I've posted and tagged with that label. The most recent ones will come up first, so that's an easy way to know if you've read them all. Not only that, but if you leave me a comment telling me that you are indeed interested, I'll be much more conscientious about getting it posted in a timely way.

And no, I'm not planning to post the images along with the meditations. At least not at this point. It just doesn't feel right to me. What I am contemplating is a slide show... and I haven't had time to pull that together yet. When I do, I'll post a link to it here.

So, there you have it. You now know something - which is more than nothing - about the "Feathers and Bones Meditation" series. Thanks for stopping by. You are appreciated more than you know.

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Those Snakes Are Racing Again!


I got maybe 5 hours of sleep last night, then woke up tired - really tired. My son-in-law came up to help me with last minute chores for tomorrow, so I was distracted with that. My schedule is totally blown, I'm feeling frazzled, and who do I get?

That boy again!! Waiting for the Return of the Snake Racers!!

I went on this long convoluted intellectual journey trying to figure out the message because he will not talk to me, and finally I gave up. And when I did, it hit me.

I am making this Sunday Ceremony thing way more complicated than it needs to be. It's totally out of control, my mind is out to lunch... well not my mind, so much as my "presence" and my "attention."

When I'm ready, I'll "come back" - in the mean time...those snakes are racing.

Amber Canyon

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Inscription Rock


Turned today to "Inscription Rock" a huge monolithic sandstone rising out of the desert where Spanish explorers had carved their names and dates way back in the 1600's along with the petroglyphs of ancient native peoples. There was even a ruined pueblo village at the top, how they got up there, I don't know.

And it was most interesting, because my mind was cluttered with thoughts about blogging, and a comment I made on a blog, and should I go back and coment again, and how to fix the comments box on a blog I'm working on, and etc etc.

It occured to me how wonderfully natural it is to want to leave "your mark" wherever you go. Wolves do it, dogs do it, bears and cats too.

I decided to see if I could communicate with the rock. And when I tuned in he was smiling contentedly in the sun. Not even noticing really the fleeting movement on and around him. I got a feeling, a deep sense of centeredness, contentment, warmth, and solid permanence - even though "this too shall pass."

And I thought that passing would be imperceptably slow, a sort of melting into the earth as wind and water wear him down.

Amber Canyon

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Reeds and Waterbirds


Found myself today with a fisherman. It was a clear day, the lake like a mirror. His boat was made of reeds, not real sturdy, but functional for the moment.

We were silent for a time, very peaceful place. He pointed into the distance, and whispered, see that? I didn't see it, but I heard it, a bird. I don't know what it was, but the call it made was familiar and I'd know it if I heard it again.

He dipped his fingers in the water, "We are one with this," he said. And I thought about his boat and how fragile and makeshift it was, and it occurred to me that if he was in a well built, a built-to-last boat, a boat of wood and sail, something big and beautiful, he wouldn't be so connected, so as much a part of the water, the reeds, and the water birds. That there was something about living that close and not insulated.. something about how safety and sturdiness insulates us in a way... we set ourselves apart from the living world that surrounds us.

I also felt that the Ceremony I'm doing Sunday can indeed be makeshift and make do, and in the imperfection of it, there will be no barrier to a strong and deep connection to the earth.

Amber Canyon

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Drumming


Turned to an odd litttle square drum and sat there, in my chair, eyes closed, and listened to it drumming.

Cool

Amber Canyon

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