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Felix Pinchi Aguirre

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Frog Medicine. Frog symbolizes rain, cleansing, purification, healing, renewal, trans-formation, and magic. Their magic is reflected in their metamorphosis from aqueous tadpoles to air-breathing creatures which can live on land. It is this kinship to the element of water that gives Frog medicine great cleansing and healing properties. In knowing the element of water, Frog can use its drum-like ribbit to invoke the Thunder Beings—thunder, light-ning, wind, and rain—to cleanse and replenish the earth with water. Frog teaches us how to recognize when it is time to purify our bodies and our environments so that healing can occur on all levels. Connecting with Frog energy provides the opportunity to purify, refresh, and replenish the soul.

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Bringing Light Into the World

It is not hard to see that, even though we live on a planet that surrounds us with great beauty, there is a lot of darkness manifesting within humanity. We must learn to deal with this dissonant energy. We cannot make sense of it because it is entirely destructive. Dark energy is dense, negative, and goes against the flow of the universe. It is about manipulation, oppression, conquest and fear. Darkness is part of who we are, and we all have to take responsibility for it.

In these uncertain times, it is impossible to find stability in the outer world, so do not waste your time looking for it. Instead, we must hold steady within ourselves and observe the chaos from an inner place of power. When we center ourselves and calm our minds, we stop feeding the negative drama that is playing out on Earth. Our inner calm and stability helps contain the darkness so that it is unable to wreak as much havoc upon the world. It can be easy to lose hope at times, yet there are many opportunities for spiritual growth and meaningful action during this time.

One of the most important things you can do is to bring more light into the world. One way to do this is to practice white light cleansing. Light–imagined or real–is a powerful cleanser. Light energy is unlimited and comes from the divine source. It is highly vibrational, expansive and full of love. White light can be called upon by anyone for cleansing, healing and protection from negative energies.

Begin by finding somewhere that you can sit undisturbed for several minutes, and then do some mindful breathing to calm and focus your mind. Next, visualize a sphere of white light emanating from your heart. Just allow it to expand outward until it completely fills and surrounds you. Envision the white light purifying your body and displacing any negative or foreign energy. Really focus on seeing it clearly in your mind and keep building it up so it is brilliant and glowing. You can keep expanding the light, sending peace and love out into infinity.

In times of chaos, it is important to be mindful of who you are. You are a being of light, capable of the most extraordinary things. You were put here on Earth to hold a steady place in an unsteady world. Remain calm and centered in your power. Never compromise or lose sight of your goals and principles. Such an attitude will sustain the inner light that exists within you in even the darkest of times. We each have a part to play during this dark time. We each hold a piece to the puzzle. Through honest seeking and compassionate sharing, we can weave our threads of wisdom together to create a whole tapestry.

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The Sweat Lodge Ceremony

In September of 1991, I began hosting a weekly teaching sweat lodge ceremony on four acres of secluded, unimproved forest land that my wife and I owned near Bend, Oregon. The ceremonies were conducted by Wasco elder Les Thomas and Oglala Lakota elder Don Fasthorse. Many people gathered to learn, and then left the group to teach others. The sweat lodge is as a spiritual purification ceremony of rebirth, rejuvenation, emotional release and awakening. The ceremony serves to cleanse the body, mind and spirit while opening a path of communication between the spiritual and earthly realms. The intense heat generated by steam created from pouring water onto heated rocks is meant to encourage a sweating out of toxins and negative energy that create imbalance in life. Sweat lodge ceremonies are traditionally held for a variety of reasons: before warriors go into battle, before and after major rituals like vision quests or for personal purification.

Sweat lodges are unique dome-shaped structures approximately four to five feet high at the center. They are constructed from supple willow branches and covered with rugs, furs and blankets. When a sweat lodge is built according to tradition, it looks like the body of a turtle. This is because the structure represents Turtle Island or Mother Earth. Entering the lodge symbolizes going back into the womb. It provides a safe and secure place to pray for self, others and all our relations. During the ceremony, spirits are invoked, drums are played and songs are sung. Spirits will enter and sing along with the participants and may even talk to them as well. If a person is not ready to hear the spirits, the spirits may not let that person hear them. Only those who are ready to hear the spirits may hear them because that is how compassionate the spirits are.

The Lakota term for sweat lodge is inipi, which translates to “Stone People Lodge.” The Stone People, who are often referred to as the “grandfathers,” come from the womb of our Mother Earth. The purpose of the inipi is to return to the womb of Maka (Earth) to be recreated. The Stone People become alive again when their spirits come into the Stone People Lodge. Then you can visit with them and tell them your problems. Then the power that pollutes our mind can be released. The fire from the womb of the Earth Mother will come in and destroy bad thoughts and words. Only good thoughts and words will remain. The spirits of the Stone People return our power to us. That’s what Spirit does – the Stone People, fire, water and green (the plants). The inipi is a place of healing, of purification and of prayer for all life.

A sweat lodge typically has four doors (or rounds) to the four directions (or winds), represented with colors, spirit guides and different elements. The number four has long been considered a sacred number in shamanism and Native American spirituality. All events and actions are based on this number because everything was created in fours. The Great Mystery reveals itself as the powers of the four directions, and these four powers provide the organizing principle for everything that exists in the world. There are four winds, four seasons, four elements, four phases of the moon, four stages to humanity’s spiritual evolution, and so on.

The whole process is modeled after the Medicine Wheel, which is a universal symbol that can be found in many Indigenous cultures around the world. The Medicine Wheel represents the natural cycles of life and the basic way in which the natural world moves and evolves. The Medicine Wheel represents the archetypal journey each of us takes in life. This journey has four stages or rounds, each associated with a cardinal direction. Four rounds signify fullness, wholeness or completion.

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What Happens During a Shamanic Journey?

Shamanism is based on the principle that the spiritual world may be contacted through the inner senses in ecstatic trance. Basically, shamanic journeying is a way of communicating with your inner or spirit 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, to meet one’s power animal or spirit guide, or for any number of other reasons. After the journey, you must then interpret the meaning of your trance experience.

When we journey within, we are engaging the imaginal realm. Imagination is our portal to the spirit world. Internal imagery enables us to perceive and connect with the inner realms. If a shaman wants to retrieve information or a lost guardian spirit, “imagining what to look for” is the first step in achieving any result. According to C. Michael Smith, author of Jung and Shamanism in Dialogue, “The shaman’s journey employs the imagination, and the use of myth as inner map gives the shaman a way of imagining non-ordinary reality, so that he or she may move about intentionally in it.” By consciously interacting with the inner imagery, the shaman is able to communicate with spirit guides and power animals.

Communication in non-ordinary reality is characteristically archetypal, nonverbal and nonlinear in nature. The images we see during a shamanic journey have a universal, archetypical quality. Imagery from these experiences is a combination of our imagination and information conveyed to us by the spirits. Our imagination gives the journey a “container,” which helps us to understand the messages we receive. It provides us with a way to understand and articulate the experience for ourselves and to others.

To enter a trance state and support your journey, you will need a drum or a shamanic drumming recording. Shamanic drumming is drumming for the purpose of shamanic journeying. A good shamanic drumming recording should be pulsed at around three to four beats per second. There should be a call back signal near the end of the track, followed by a short period of drumming to assist you in refocusing your awareness back to your physical body. You may also rattle, chant or sing to induce trance. There is no right or wrong way to journey. Be innovative and try different ways of journeying. Many people need to move, dance or sing their journeys. My first journeys were supported by listening to a shamanic drumming recording, but now I have much stronger journeys when I drum for myself.

What you will experience

Ecstatic trance is not always what many people anticipate it to be, and sometimes there may be doubt that anything at all takes place. There are, however, some key indicators that confirm a transcendent state of consciousness. Once you enter a trance state, the rhythm or sound of the drum tends to change. The drumbeat may appear to speed up or slow down, while the sound may grow louder, softer or disappear. You may experience a change in body temperature, feel energy flowing through your body, or find yourself twitching, swaying or rocking. It is not uncommon to hear sounds or voices. You may even smell specific aromas. You may see colorful patterns, symbolic images or dreamlike visions. Some people may find that they have a highly developed inner vision, while others may rely more on an inner voice of insight, or an inner feeling of certainty. Be prepared to experience ecstatic trance with any of your senses.

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The Power of the Conch Shell Trumpet

The conch, also known as a “seashell horn” or “shell trumpet,” is a musical instrument that is made from a seashell (conch). Its gently expanding interior spiral forms an ideally proportioned windway for producing a warm, full, and far-carrying tone. Probably the first musical instrument that was ever invented, the conch is often associated with the controlling of natural elements related to its habitat, such as rain, water, and wind. The conch is also used to represent the sacred breath of life. The interior spirals of conch shells often exhibit the mathematical proportions of the golden ratio, also known as the golden mean. This placed them in both the celestial and terrestrial world through the Classical concept of the music of the spheres. The golden ratio was often expressed in the design of musical instruments.

The conch achieved exalted status as a sacred instrument in ritual and religion around the world, including Hinduism, Buddhism, and the spiritual practices of Mesoamerica. The conch is sounded at the beginning of important rituals to attract attention, signaling the start of a ceremony, notifying the community, and drawing the Creator’s participation. 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. Listen to the conch on my song “Turtle Shaker.”

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Your Core Self is embodied through your active and fully expressed characteristics of:

Calmness

Clarity

Compassion

Confidence

Connectedness

Courage

Creativity

Curiosity

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An unbalanced root chakra can be blocked, underactive, or overactive. The root chakra is the foundational energy center which relates to safety, security, and feeling grounded. When the root chakra is open and healthy, you feel confident, stable, connected to others, abundant, grounded. Blocked root chakra: Codependent, impatient Underactive root chakra: Depleted, dissociative, fearful Overactive root chakra: Manipulative, obsessive Issues with the root chakra are commonly a result of experiencing trauma, especially at a young age. Circumstances which lead a person to believe they are not safe, they cannot trust their own judgment, or they cannot trust their caretakers, can greatly impact root health. Repeated major life changes that shock your system or change your perception of reality can also cause your root chakra to be imbalanced. When the root is blocked or underactive, it’s not flushing energy out properly. Stagnant energy can lead to a person feeling stuck, heavy, or unconsciously repeating the same cycles. Opening and balancing the root can be done with Earthing, meditation, Reiki, organizing your home, removing yourself from situations that challenge your self worth, finding comfort in spaces where you feel safe and cared for.

Connect on Instagram: @transmuteenergy

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Root Chakra

Location: The base of your spine

Element: Earth

Zodiac: Capricorn

Color: Red

Crystals: garnet,smokey quartz, red jasper, red coral,ruby, bloodstone

How to tell if it’s Blocked

You have/feel:

Disconnected

depressed

anxious or confused about future

fear of financial loss

lethargic

neglectful

susceptible to addictions.

Cramping (if no other medical explanation)

How To Unblock

Light red candles

wear red clothes

Eat red foods

Connect with nature

walk barefoot

meditate with 256 hz frequency binaural

visualize a glowing red light at base of spine

chant the word LAM.

Affirmation:

I am safe & secure. I am confident & abundant. I am grounded. (Repeat until you feel grounded)

Check out my CHAKRA MASTER POST for more info on the other chakras

Merry meet!~B (Phae)

FOLLOW FOR MORE

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Chapter 36 of A Hair’s Breadth will be going up in a few minutes, and this chapter contains discussions of god’s eyes, which are yarn weavings on crosses, as shown in the top picture. These are Mexican and Native American weavings, and have various spiritual significances based on location and belief, god’s eyes are made by both indigenous and catholic communities. 

It’s traditional in my family to make a god’s eye before the birth of a new baby, which you can see in the second photo. This shows my sister, my very pregnant mother, her midwife, and a few of my aunties working on the second part of the god’s eye tradition. Every one brings a different piece of yarn to the blessing way with them, typically yarn with significance (pulled from the sweater of a loved one, home spun or hand dyed, etc.). The weaving is passed around the circle and everyone takes turns adding their yarn to it, while expressing good wishes for the baby. Then, when the god’s eye is complete, the yarn brought by the expectant mother is passed around and tied several times around each person’s wrist, linking them all together. The string is then cut, and each person wears it there until after the baby is born. I participated in several of these ceremonies as a child and a teenager, and now that my sister is pregnant with her first child I look forward to continuing the tradition.

My god’s eye (shown in the top photo) is looking a little worse for wear these days, which isn’t surprising given that it’s twenty two years old, but it is and will always be one of my most treasured possessions. 

It carries a lot of meaning for me, which is why I chose to include the tradition in this story. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

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The symbol of Goddess gives us permission. She teaches us to embrace the holiness of every natural, ordinary, sensual dying moment. Patriarchy may try to negate body and flee earth with its constant heartbeat of death, but Goddess forces us back to embrace them, to take our human life in our arms and clasp it for the divine life it is - the nice, sanitary, harmonious moment as well as the painful, dark, splintered ones.

If such a consciousness truly is set loose in the world, nothing will be the same. It will free us to be in a sacred body, on a sacred planet, in sacred communion with all of it. It will infect the universe with holiness. We will discover the Divine deep within the earth and the cells of our bodies, and we will lover her there with all our hearts and all our souls and all our minds. -Sue Monk Kidd, The Dance of the Dissident Daughter

#goddess #spirituality #journey #mystic #kundalini #fridaze 📸 @jessica_golich (at Los Angeles, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/B6Ew2zJg0sR/?igshid=fbaypccrb3qf

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SLYTHERIN: “When you can’t go forward and you can’t go backward and you can’t stay where you are without killing off what is deep and vital in yourself, you are on the edge of creation.” –Sue Monk Kidd (The Dance of the Dissident Daughter: A Woman’s Journey from Christian Tradition to the Sacred Feminine)