Trust the rhythms of life.
There are slow times and there are fast moving times.
Release the need to control.
26 December, 2006
21 December, 2006
Happy Solstice.
Happy Solstice.
21st December , Winter Solstice. The shortening days and longer nights are most intense here in Sweden, but from today onward our days start getting longer. Blessed be.
21st December , Winter Solstice. The shortening days and longer nights are most intense here in Sweden, but from today onward our days start getting longer. Blessed be.
The pagan in me feels the need for ritual to mark this occasion. I’ve just had a solstice nourishing breakfast and now savouring the chocolate darkness of my coffee. Will light candles as the sun sets ( it is actually beginning to set now as I write this , 2.35 pm )
In neopaganism, the winter solstice sabbat is often called Yule. – which is also the Swedish word for Christmas. Lots of pagan rooted traditions here . Perhaps that is why I am here too. This is really a time for introspection, and planning for the future, I know I keep saying this. I tend to write and reflect more around the new moon and the full moon.
Yesterday , 20th , marked the new moon which isa time for new beginnings. The moon is waxing now and supporting our festivities and gatherings until the full moon , 3 rd January.
Magpie came to me today ; caught my attention as it landed on the branch of the pine tree outside the kitchen window and swung up and down for a while, proud of its accomplishment.
Magpie's Wisdom Includes:
Understanding of the balance of light and darkness
Seeing in darkness
Use of ritual in everyday life
Communication
Understanding messages from Spirit
Prophecy
Intelligence
Use of voice
Good luck
Magpies are related to ravens, I think. Thanks for the visit, magpie .
Happy Solstice, everyone , blessed be ! love love love in all dimensions.
Magpies are related to ravens, I think. Thanks for the visit, magpie .
Happy Solstice, everyone , blessed be ! love love love in all dimensions.
11 December, 2006
You have the power to live your dreams
The day you take complete responsibility for yourself, the day you stop making any excuses,that's the day you start moving down the road to success.
No one else can do it for you.
Only you can make it happen.
You're the only one that has to live your life.
Accept responsibility.
It's up to you to choose the thoughts and actions that lead to success.
Your life is what you make it.
No one else can do it for you.
Only you can make it happen.
You're the only one that has to live your life.
Accept responsibility.
It's up to you to choose the thoughts and actions that lead to success.
Your life is what you make it.
10 December, 2006
Slightly Less Common Latin Phrases ( from Deborah )
Slightly Less Common Latin Phrases
Die dulci fruere.
Have a nice day.
Mihi ignosce. Cum homine de cane debeo congredi.
Excuse me. I've got to see a man about a dog.
Si hoc signum legere potes, operis boni in rebus Latinus alacribus et fructuosis potiri potes!
If you can read this sign, you can get a good job in the fast-paced, high-paying world of Latin!
Sona si Latine loqueris.
Honk if you speak Latin.
Ne auderis delere orbem rigidum meum!
Don't you dare erase my hard disk!
Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam.
I have a catapult. Give me all the money, or I will fling an enormous rock at your head.
Gramen artificiosum odi.
I hate Astroturf.
Furnulum pani nolo.
I don't want a toaster.
Sentio aliquos togatos contra me conspirare.
I think some people in togas are plotting against me.
Nihil curo de ista tua stulta superstitione.
I'm not interested in your dopey religious cult.
Noli me vocare, ego te vocabo.
Don't call me, I'll call you.
Cave ne ante ullas catapultas ambules.
If I were you, I wouldn't walk in front of any catapults.
Canis meus id comedit.
My dog ate it.
Illiud Latine dici non potest.
You can't say that in Latin.
Vidistine nuper imagines moventes bonas?
Seen any good movies lately?
Nullo metro compositum est.
It doesn't rhyme.
Non curo. Si metrum non habet, non est poema.
I don't care. If it doesn't rhyme, it isn't a poem.
Fac ut gaudeam.
Make my day.
Braccae illae virides cum subucula rosea et tunica Caledonia-quam elenganter concinnatur!
Those green pants go so well with that pink shirt and the plaid jacket!
Visne saltare? Viam Latam Fungosam scio.
Do you want to dance? I know the Funky Broadway.
Re vera, potas bene.
Say, you sure are drinking a lot.
Utinam barbari spatium proprium tuum invadant!
May barbarians invade your personal space!
Utinam coniurati te in foro interficiant!
May conspirators assassinate you in the mall!
Utinam logica falsa tuam philosophiam totam suffodiant!
May faulty logic undermine your entire philosophy!
Radix lecti
Couch potato
Quo signo nata es?
What's your sign?
Romani quidem artem amatoriam invenerunt.
You know, the Romans invented the art of love.
Spero nos familiares mansuros.
I hope we'll still be friends.
Mellita, domi adsum.
Honey, I'm home.
Tam exanimis quam tunica nehru fio.
I am as dead as the nehru jacket.
Ventis secundis, tene cursum.
Go with the flow.
Totum dependeat.
Let it all hang out.
Te precor dulcissime supplex!
Pretty please with a cherry on top!
Magister Mundi sum!
I am the Master of the Universe!
Fac me cocleario vomere!
Gag me with a spoon!
Te audire no possum. Musa sapientum fixa est in aure.
I can't hear you. I have a banana in my ear.
Prehende uxorem meam, sis!
Take my wife, please!
Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
Nihil est-in vita priore ego imperator Romanus fui.
That's nothing -- in a previous life I was a Roman Emperor.
Aio, quantitas magna frumentorum est.
Yes, that is a very large amount of corn.
Recedite, plebes! Gero rem imperialem!
Stand aside plebians! I am on imperial business.
Oblitus sum perpolire clepsydras!
I forgot to polish the clocks!
Vescere bracis meis.
Eat my shorts.
Sic faciunt omnes.
Everyone is doing it.
Vacca foeda
Stupid cow
Fac ut vivas.
Get a life.
Raptus regaliter
Royally screwed
Anulos qui animum ostendunt omnes gestemus!
Let's all wear mood rings!
Insula Gilliganis
Gilligan's Island
www.deb.bz
Die dulci fruere.
Have a nice day.
Mihi ignosce. Cum homine de cane debeo congredi.
Excuse me. I've got to see a man about a dog.
Si hoc signum legere potes, operis boni in rebus Latinus alacribus et fructuosis potiri potes!
If you can read this sign, you can get a good job in the fast-paced, high-paying world of Latin!
Sona si Latine loqueris.
Honk if you speak Latin.
Ne auderis delere orbem rigidum meum!
Don't you dare erase my hard disk!
Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam.
I have a catapult. Give me all the money, or I will fling an enormous rock at your head.
Gramen artificiosum odi.
I hate Astroturf.
Furnulum pani nolo.
I don't want a toaster.
Sentio aliquos togatos contra me conspirare.
I think some people in togas are plotting against me.
Nihil curo de ista tua stulta superstitione.
I'm not interested in your dopey religious cult.
Noli me vocare, ego te vocabo.
Don't call me, I'll call you.
Cave ne ante ullas catapultas ambules.
If I were you, I wouldn't walk in front of any catapults.
Canis meus id comedit.
My dog ate it.
Illiud Latine dici non potest.
You can't say that in Latin.
Vidistine nuper imagines moventes bonas?
Seen any good movies lately?
Nullo metro compositum est.
It doesn't rhyme.
Non curo. Si metrum non habet, non est poema.
I don't care. If it doesn't rhyme, it isn't a poem.
Fac ut gaudeam.
Make my day.
Braccae illae virides cum subucula rosea et tunica Caledonia-quam elenganter concinnatur!
Those green pants go so well with that pink shirt and the plaid jacket!
Visne saltare? Viam Latam Fungosam scio.
Do you want to dance? I know the Funky Broadway.
Re vera, potas bene.
Say, you sure are drinking a lot.
Utinam barbari spatium proprium tuum invadant!
May barbarians invade your personal space!
Utinam coniurati te in foro interficiant!
May conspirators assassinate you in the mall!
Utinam logica falsa tuam philosophiam totam suffodiant!
May faulty logic undermine your entire philosophy!
Radix lecti
Couch potato
Quo signo nata es?
What's your sign?
Romani quidem artem amatoriam invenerunt.
You know, the Romans invented the art of love.
Spero nos familiares mansuros.
I hope we'll still be friends.
Mellita, domi adsum.
Honey, I'm home.
Tam exanimis quam tunica nehru fio.
I am as dead as the nehru jacket.
Ventis secundis, tene cursum.
Go with the flow.
Totum dependeat.
Let it all hang out.
Te precor dulcissime supplex!
Pretty please with a cherry on top!
Magister Mundi sum!
I am the Master of the Universe!
Fac me cocleario vomere!
Gag me with a spoon!
Te audire no possum. Musa sapientum fixa est in aure.
I can't hear you. I have a banana in my ear.
Prehende uxorem meam, sis!
Take my wife, please!
Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
Nihil est-in vita priore ego imperator Romanus fui.
That's nothing -- in a previous life I was a Roman Emperor.
Aio, quantitas magna frumentorum est.
Yes, that is a very large amount of corn.
Recedite, plebes! Gero rem imperialem!
Stand aside plebians! I am on imperial business.
Oblitus sum perpolire clepsydras!
I forgot to polish the clocks!
Vescere bracis meis.
Eat my shorts.
Sic faciunt omnes.
Everyone is doing it.
Vacca foeda
Stupid cow
Fac ut vivas.
Get a life.
Raptus regaliter
Royally screwed
Anulos qui animum ostendunt omnes gestemus!
Let's all wear mood rings!
Insula Gilliganis
Gilligan's Island
www.deb.bz
08 December, 2006
Four Ways to Wisdom
Four Ways to Wisdom BY ANGELES ARRIEN
As Alvin Toffler points out in his visionary book "Future Shock", we must become more capable of handling change than ever before if we are to survive and thrive in the twenty-first century. Toffler observes, "We have the opportunity to introduce additional stability points and rituals into our society, such as new holidays, pageants, ceremonies, and games. Such mechanisms could not only provide a backdrop of continuity in everyday life but serve to integrate societies and cushion them somewhat against the fragmenting impact of super-industrialism."
Although Toffler writes about introducing new techniques to help us handle change, indigenous and Eastern cultures have long recognized that the only constant is change. Among tribal peoples, medicine men, chiefs, shamans, teachers or seers are called "change masters." The shamanic traditions practiced by agrarian and indigenous peoples remind us that, for centuries, human beings have used nature and ritual to buffer the effects of change and to support a life event, rather than denying or indulging in it. Although individuals in industrial cultures can help themselves embrace change through dreams, images, play, relationships and acts of creative work, we suffer from the lack of cultural support as we face the ever-increasing demands of change. In the introduction to Arnold Van Gennep's Rites of Passage, Salon Kimbala observes that "one dimension of mental illness may arise because an increasing number of individuals are forced to accomplish their traditions alone and with private symbols."
In cultures like ours where we are alienated from our mythological roots, renewal requires a return to the basic source where all personal and cultural myths are ultimately forged the human psyche. To guide our renewal we can look to cross-cultural research that reveals how shamanic traditions have consistently accessed four archetypal patterns to maintain connections to the mythic structures that support creative expression, health and adaptation to change. These four archetypal ways are The Way of the Warrior, The Way of the Healer, The Way of the Visionary and The Way of the Teacher. The four Ways reflect a pervasive belief that life will be simple if we practice four basic principles: Show up or choose to be present, pay attention to what has heart and meaning, tell the truth without blame or judgment, and be open, rather than attached to, the outcome.
THE WAY OF THE WARRIOR
The task of the warrior is to show up, to be visible and empower others through example and intention.
Through the archetype of the warrior an old-fashioned term for leader indigenous societies connect to the process of empowerment and to the human resource of power. Universally there are three kinds of power:power of presence, power to communicate, power of position. Shamanic societies recognize that a person who has all three powers embodies "big medicine."
Every human being carries the power of presence. Some individuals carry such presence that we are drawn to and captivated by these charismatic people even before they speak or we know anything about them.
A warrior or leader uses the power of communication to effectively align the content, timing and placement to deliver a message at the right time in the right place for the person involved to hear and receive it.
A warrior demonstrates the power of position by the willingness to take a stand. Many politicians have great presence and great communication, but lose power when they allow constituents to wonder where they stand on specific issues.
Examples of individuals who carry all three powers and who access the mythical structure and archetype of the Way of the Warrior are Mother Teresa, Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. Each has been committed to aligning the power of presence, communication and the willingness to take a stand in arenas that have heart and meaning for them.
Cross-culturally, the posture of standing meditation in one position with arms at sides and eyes open for at least fifteen minutes is used in the martial arts, spiritual practices and in the military as a way of reinforcing and coalescing the three universal powers and of connecting the practitioner with the greater being of who he or she is.
Most native peoples attribute the Way of the Warrior to the direction of the North, the home of Father Sky and of all the winged creatures. The belief is held that during challenging times, it is essential to face our challenges with the grace, power and dignity of the "winged ones." It is important to remember that when challenges present themselves, it is the warrior's way to embrace them with full-bodied presence rather than to constrict in fear.
THE WAY OF THE HEALER
The task of the healer is to pay attention to what has heart and meaning and to access the human resource of love. We express the Way of the Healer through attitudes and actions that maintain personal health and support the welfare of our environment.
The archetype of the healer is a universal mythic structure that all humans experience. Every culture has ways of maintaining health and well-being. Healers in most traditions recognize that the power of love is the most potent healing force available. Effective healers from any culture are those who extend the arms of love gratitude, acceptance, recognition, validation and acknowledgment.
Probably the most powerful contemporary example of someone who demonstrates the healing power of extending love is Mother Teresa. In shamanic traditions she would be called a medicine woman.
The posture of lying meditation is often used for healing work. In "journey work," which is lying down on one's back with closed eyes to the accompaniment of the drum, individuals in shamanic traditions access spiritual guidance and healing. When individuals do a journey, they open themselves to the possibility of removing the blocks and obstacles to receiving and giving love.
Most native peoples attribute the Way of the Healer to the direction of the South, with Mother Nature and all the four-legged creatures. Across cultures, there are four universal healing salves: singing, dancing, storytelling and silence. Native cultures transmit their values, ethics and spiritual beliefs through the oral traditions of stories, songs, dances and silent rituals and prayer. It has long been recognized that these healing salves reawaken and sustain the divine child within human beings and return to individuals the qualities of wonder, hope and awe. It is how we pay attention to our life story that allows us to experience the human resource of love, the most powerful healing force on Mother Earth.
THE WAY OF THE VISIONARY
The task of the visionary is to tell the truth without blame or judgment. Truthfulness, authenticity and integrity are essential keys to developing our vision and intuition. We express the Way of the Visionary through personal creativity, goals, plans, and our ability to bring our life dreams and visions into the world.
All cultures regard the importance of vision and its capacity to magnetize the creative spirit. Shamanic societies use Vision Quests, extended periods of solitude in nature, as a way of remembering their life dream and of accessing the four ways of seeing: intuition, perceptions, insight, and vision.
Many native American cultures hold a belief that each individual is "original medicine," nowhere duplicated on the planet and that therefore it is important to bring the creative spirit and life dream or purpose to Earth. Since we are "original medicine," these native people see that there is no need for comparison or competition. The work is to come forward fully with our gifts, talents and resources and to powerfully meet our tests and challenges. The Visionary is one who brings his or her voice into the world and who refuses to edit, rehearse, perform or hide all ways we can feed the false-self system of denial and indulgence.
Among most indigenous peoples, the direction of the East is associated with the home of the Great Spirit, the place of the rising sun and the place where we come home to our authentic self. Archetypically, the bell or conch shell serves as a sonic voice that calls people together and calls us as individuals to remember our authentic purpose.
The human resource of vision is the container that magnetizes the creative spirit to bring one's original medicine into the world. It is the Visionary within that inspires the voice to share what it sees. Rollo May states what shamanic traditions have practiced for centuries, "If you do not express your own original ideas, if you do not listen to your own being, you will have betrayed yourself."
THE WAY OF THE TEACHER
The task of the teacher is to be open, rather than attached, to outcomes. Openness and non-attachment helps us recover the human resources of wisdom and objectivity.
Every culture has traditional and non-traditional means of education. Shamanic traditions believe that wisdom is flexible and fluid. The teacher's way is to be open to outcome and access wisdom by learning how to trust and be comfortable with states of not knowing. Trust is the container out of which the qualities of wisdom grow clarity, objectivity, discernment and detachment.
The opposite of trust is control. The trickster figure found in many shamanic traditions functions to present surprises and the unexpected as a way of waking people out of their routines and shocking them into seeing their attachments.
Among many shamanic traditions, the Way of the Teacher is associated with the direction of the West, the home of Grandmother Ocean and all the water creatures. The ocean is nature's mirror for indigenous cultures to learn how to be malleable and fluid.
BALANCING THE FOUR-FOLD WAY
Even though these four archetypes are emphasized in most shamanic traditions, it is important to understand the they are universal and easily accessed by all humans in a variety of different contexts, cultures, structures and practices. To maximize well-being and to be adaptable to change, indigenous peoples consider it important to be equally balanced in the areas of leading, healing, visioning, and teaching work.
If you numbered these archetypes from one to four, with one being the most developed in your nature and four being the least developed, what would you discover? Most cultures recognize optimum health as having a balance in the expression of all four of these ways. Independent of the culture we come from, we can follow the warrior's way to access power, the healer's way to access love, the visionary's way to access vision, and the teacher's way to access wisdom.
Through the resource of power we are able to choose to be present. Through the resource of love we are able to pay attention to what has heart and meaning. Through the resource of vision we are able to give voice to what we see. Through the resource of wisdom we are able to be open, not attached to, outcomes.
the above essay is Copyright 1995 by Angeles Arrien
As Alvin Toffler points out in his visionary book "Future Shock", we must become more capable of handling change than ever before if we are to survive and thrive in the twenty-first century. Toffler observes, "We have the opportunity to introduce additional stability points and rituals into our society, such as new holidays, pageants, ceremonies, and games. Such mechanisms could not only provide a backdrop of continuity in everyday life but serve to integrate societies and cushion them somewhat against the fragmenting impact of super-industrialism."
Although Toffler writes about introducing new techniques to help us handle change, indigenous and Eastern cultures have long recognized that the only constant is change. Among tribal peoples, medicine men, chiefs, shamans, teachers or seers are called "change masters." The shamanic traditions practiced by agrarian and indigenous peoples remind us that, for centuries, human beings have used nature and ritual to buffer the effects of change and to support a life event, rather than denying or indulging in it. Although individuals in industrial cultures can help themselves embrace change through dreams, images, play, relationships and acts of creative work, we suffer from the lack of cultural support as we face the ever-increasing demands of change. In the introduction to Arnold Van Gennep's Rites of Passage, Salon Kimbala observes that "one dimension of mental illness may arise because an increasing number of individuals are forced to accomplish their traditions alone and with private symbols."
In cultures like ours where we are alienated from our mythological roots, renewal requires a return to the basic source where all personal and cultural myths are ultimately forged the human psyche. To guide our renewal we can look to cross-cultural research that reveals how shamanic traditions have consistently accessed four archetypal patterns to maintain connections to the mythic structures that support creative expression, health and adaptation to change. These four archetypal ways are The Way of the Warrior, The Way of the Healer, The Way of the Visionary and The Way of the Teacher. The four Ways reflect a pervasive belief that life will be simple if we practice four basic principles: Show up or choose to be present, pay attention to what has heart and meaning, tell the truth without blame or judgment, and be open, rather than attached to, the outcome.
THE WAY OF THE WARRIOR
The task of the warrior is to show up, to be visible and empower others through example and intention.
Through the archetype of the warrior an old-fashioned term for leader indigenous societies connect to the process of empowerment and to the human resource of power. Universally there are three kinds of power:power of presence, power to communicate, power of position. Shamanic societies recognize that a person who has all three powers embodies "big medicine."
Every human being carries the power of presence. Some individuals carry such presence that we are drawn to and captivated by these charismatic people even before they speak or we know anything about them.
A warrior or leader uses the power of communication to effectively align the content, timing and placement to deliver a message at the right time in the right place for the person involved to hear and receive it.
A warrior demonstrates the power of position by the willingness to take a stand. Many politicians have great presence and great communication, but lose power when they allow constituents to wonder where they stand on specific issues.
Examples of individuals who carry all three powers and who access the mythical structure and archetype of the Way of the Warrior are Mother Teresa, Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. Each has been committed to aligning the power of presence, communication and the willingness to take a stand in arenas that have heart and meaning for them.
Cross-culturally, the posture of standing meditation in one position with arms at sides and eyes open for at least fifteen minutes is used in the martial arts, spiritual practices and in the military as a way of reinforcing and coalescing the three universal powers and of connecting the practitioner with the greater being of who he or she is.
Most native peoples attribute the Way of the Warrior to the direction of the North, the home of Father Sky and of all the winged creatures. The belief is held that during challenging times, it is essential to face our challenges with the grace, power and dignity of the "winged ones." It is important to remember that when challenges present themselves, it is the warrior's way to embrace them with full-bodied presence rather than to constrict in fear.
THE WAY OF THE HEALER
The task of the healer is to pay attention to what has heart and meaning and to access the human resource of love. We express the Way of the Healer through attitudes and actions that maintain personal health and support the welfare of our environment.
The archetype of the healer is a universal mythic structure that all humans experience. Every culture has ways of maintaining health and well-being. Healers in most traditions recognize that the power of love is the most potent healing force available. Effective healers from any culture are those who extend the arms of love gratitude, acceptance, recognition, validation and acknowledgment.
Probably the most powerful contemporary example of someone who demonstrates the healing power of extending love is Mother Teresa. In shamanic traditions she would be called a medicine woman.
The posture of lying meditation is often used for healing work. In "journey work," which is lying down on one's back with closed eyes to the accompaniment of the drum, individuals in shamanic traditions access spiritual guidance and healing. When individuals do a journey, they open themselves to the possibility of removing the blocks and obstacles to receiving and giving love.
Most native peoples attribute the Way of the Healer to the direction of the South, with Mother Nature and all the four-legged creatures. Across cultures, there are four universal healing salves: singing, dancing, storytelling and silence. Native cultures transmit their values, ethics and spiritual beliefs through the oral traditions of stories, songs, dances and silent rituals and prayer. It has long been recognized that these healing salves reawaken and sustain the divine child within human beings and return to individuals the qualities of wonder, hope and awe. It is how we pay attention to our life story that allows us to experience the human resource of love, the most powerful healing force on Mother Earth.
THE WAY OF THE VISIONARY
The task of the visionary is to tell the truth without blame or judgment. Truthfulness, authenticity and integrity are essential keys to developing our vision and intuition. We express the Way of the Visionary through personal creativity, goals, plans, and our ability to bring our life dreams and visions into the world.
All cultures regard the importance of vision and its capacity to magnetize the creative spirit. Shamanic societies use Vision Quests, extended periods of solitude in nature, as a way of remembering their life dream and of accessing the four ways of seeing: intuition, perceptions, insight, and vision.
Many native American cultures hold a belief that each individual is "original medicine," nowhere duplicated on the planet and that therefore it is important to bring the creative spirit and life dream or purpose to Earth. Since we are "original medicine," these native people see that there is no need for comparison or competition. The work is to come forward fully with our gifts, talents and resources and to powerfully meet our tests and challenges. The Visionary is one who brings his or her voice into the world and who refuses to edit, rehearse, perform or hide all ways we can feed the false-self system of denial and indulgence.
Among most indigenous peoples, the direction of the East is associated with the home of the Great Spirit, the place of the rising sun and the place where we come home to our authentic self. Archetypically, the bell or conch shell serves as a sonic voice that calls people together and calls us as individuals to remember our authentic purpose.
The human resource of vision is the container that magnetizes the creative spirit to bring one's original medicine into the world. It is the Visionary within that inspires the voice to share what it sees. Rollo May states what shamanic traditions have practiced for centuries, "If you do not express your own original ideas, if you do not listen to your own being, you will have betrayed yourself."
THE WAY OF THE TEACHER
The task of the teacher is to be open, rather than attached, to outcomes. Openness and non-attachment helps us recover the human resources of wisdom and objectivity.
Every culture has traditional and non-traditional means of education. Shamanic traditions believe that wisdom is flexible and fluid. The teacher's way is to be open to outcome and access wisdom by learning how to trust and be comfortable with states of not knowing. Trust is the container out of which the qualities of wisdom grow clarity, objectivity, discernment and detachment.
The opposite of trust is control. The trickster figure found in many shamanic traditions functions to present surprises and the unexpected as a way of waking people out of their routines and shocking them into seeing their attachments.
Among many shamanic traditions, the Way of the Teacher is associated with the direction of the West, the home of Grandmother Ocean and all the water creatures. The ocean is nature's mirror for indigenous cultures to learn how to be malleable and fluid.
BALANCING THE FOUR-FOLD WAY
Even though these four archetypes are emphasized in most shamanic traditions, it is important to understand the they are universal and easily accessed by all humans in a variety of different contexts, cultures, structures and practices. To maximize well-being and to be adaptable to change, indigenous peoples consider it important to be equally balanced in the areas of leading, healing, visioning, and teaching work.
If you numbered these archetypes from one to four, with one being the most developed in your nature and four being the least developed, what would you discover? Most cultures recognize optimum health as having a balance in the expression of all four of these ways. Independent of the culture we come from, we can follow the warrior's way to access power, the healer's way to access love, the visionary's way to access vision, and the teacher's way to access wisdom.
Through the resource of power we are able to choose to be present. Through the resource of love we are able to pay attention to what has heart and meaning. Through the resource of vision we are able to give voice to what we see. Through the resource of wisdom we are able to be open, not attached to, outcomes.
the above essay is Copyright 1995 by Angeles Arrien
02 December, 2006
Interested in accessing the secrets of your unconscious ?
The Tarot is a tool that can help you access the secrets of your unconscious. I’ve finally set a few dates for a Discovering Tarot Workshop :-) The details are at
http://www.maraemma.blogspot.com.
http://www.maraemma.blogspot.com.
New beginnings, and new adventures. It is in this spirit that I am happy to offer this Discovering Tarot Workshop. One whole day plus a follow up session; approximately, 12hours altogether . The first day is a Saturday ( 10:00 – 18:00 ) and the follow up days are weekdays,(18:30 – 21:00 )
Many have been asking, well now I’ve finally set a few dates for a Discovering Tarot Workshop .
And so it is done as I said before , details are below and at http://www.maraemma.blogspot.com/ .
Discovering Tarot Workshop
Saturday 16 December 2006
Saturday 20 January 2007
Saturday 3 February 2007
What is the Tarot ?What do the cards mean ?How can I use the Tarot ?
This is an exciting journey of discovery introducing the Tarot as a tool for personal and spiritual development.
Gain insights into yourself, your life , work and relationships.
Learn how to consult the Tarot for yourself and others to gain clarity, insight, guidance and direction along your life-path.
We work experientially. The exercises and activities are designed to develop and improve your intuition, to increase your awareness and to help you get in touch with the treasure chest of your subconscious.
* Each participant receives a mini reading.
* Small intimate groups of 4-6 participants.
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