December 2, 2006 (reprint)

'C-L' writer pens guide on 'cleansing' of spaces
Ewing is a practitioner of American Indian spirituality

By Jean Gordon
jmgordon@clarionledger.com.

Longtime Clarion-Ledger editorial writer Jim PathFinder Ewing recently published a book that has little to do with positions on taxes, politics or crime.

Instead, he draws on his insights and experience as a practitioner of American Indian spirituality in Clearing: A Guide to Liberating Energies Trapped in Buildings and Lands (Findhorn Press, $14.95), which offers readers steps for energetically "cleansing" lands, houses, buildings.

Q: Why did you write this book?

A: I had written a sort of "More Than Anyone Would Ever Want to Know About Energy or Spirit Medicine" a few years ago, but it never got published. My editor in Santa Fe, N.M., called out of the blue one day and said, "What are you up to?" I told her I was doing a lot of land clearing - sacred ceremony - and she asked, "Is that something I could do here? At my house?" And I said, "Sure. It's easy, if you know what to do." She suggested a short, simple book that anyone who had never had any training in "environmental shamanism" could do, and the result was this book.

Q: What is environmental shamanism?

A: In the case of buildings and lands, it boils down to respect for the "space" and how energy and sacred geometry works.

Q: How do trapped energies in land and buildings affect people?

A: Just about everyone at one time or another burns candles or incense because it feels right. They don't know how or why it works, but it does. This book tells why and how and how to do it better. Even our language has references, such as after a disagreement, to "clear the air." The "vibration" of a place affects people. The book describes the mechanics and simple steps to make "spaces" shine.

Q: You call what you do "Spirit" or "Energy" Medicine?

A: Yes. In the way that we teach, all things have Creator in them: God. You, me, the rock, the tree. All beings. All, everything, has life. It has nvwati (Cherokee: good medicine) in it; the light of Creator. When you connect the nvwati that is above with the nvwati that is below and inside, then the thing, you, everything, is connected with Creator. It is that connection with the Flow of Creation, Creator, that allows miracles to happen. That is the basis of this book, and all my work.

Q: How did you get started on this path?

A: Most folks in Mississippi will probably remember me from my writing about other things, going back to the "Mississippi Byways" column I wrote for the old Jackson Daily News, and, of course, The Clarion-Ledger - now 27 years. But my interest in this goes back to growing up in Tennessee, when a Cherokee medicine man tried to apprentice me (I was too young and stupid for much of it "take"). I really didn't study energy work in earnest until 1992, when I had a hunting accident.

I fell out of an oak tree, shattering my left leg. After the doctors put it back together, I was in constant, unrelenting pain. Modern medicine didn't help, as I didn't want to take painkillers every day. So, I started learning energy medicine. Through healing myself, I learned how to help others. My life changed. I'm literally a walking example of the power of Spirit medicine. I frequently give talks to self-help groups, including drug and alcohol counselors. Creator - Higher Power - can work miracles.

Q: How did you get the name "PathFinder?"

A: That was given to me by a Keetoowah (Cherokee) holy man. The name, Nvnehi Awatisgi, has many meanings, but the most common is "One who finds the path," or, the best path. It is the path to the nvnehi, or Immortals, the highest path. The name was held by a Keetoowah chief in the 1700s. It is a name, a title and a duty; it is usually given to someone who has been down many paths, some not so good, so he can give trusted advice, based on experience.

Q: You are Cherokee?

A: I am a member of the Southern Cherokee Tribe and Associated Bands in Texas.

Q: And a "medicine man" or "shaman?"

A: My title is "spiritual and ceremonial elder." I perform healing ceremonies, as well as ceremonial duties, such as marriages, baptisms. Usually, I just call myself a Reiki master, which I am; I teach shamanism, Reiki, energy medicine. It involves fewer explanations - and stereotypes. ... Reiki is a form of energy medicine originally from Japan using the hands for healing.

Interview #2 November 3, 2007

Author puts principles of American Indian spirituality into practice
By Jean Gordon
jmgordon@clarionledger.com

Jim Ewing practices American Indian spirituality and lectures on shamanism and energy medicine. He recently published the third in a series of books about shamanism, Healing Plants and Animals From a Distance: Curative Principles and Applications .

Q: Why did you write this book?

A: This is actually the third in a trilogy of books on shamanism that basically break down into people, places and things, though not necessarily in that order. The first was Clearing: A Guide to Liberating Energies Trapped in Buildings and Lands, that was the "places" part. The second, Finding Sanctuary in Nature: Simple Ceremonies in the Native American Tradition for Healing Yourself and Others, was the "people" part. This is the "things" part - though, I might add, things are people, too!

Q: Things are people, too?

A: Absolutely. In shamanism, or the way of looking at the world where everything is alive, or has a life of its own, an energy of its own, all things, and that includes plants and animals, have Power (with a capital "P") or their own medicine, that animus or energy that creator/God gave them that makes them what they are. In this book, we speak of the plant and animal nations, just as we speak of the sovereignty of human beings, the families and relations of humans.

Q: You teach in this book how to speak to plants and animals?

A: More accurately, the book helps the reader learn how to hear what they have to say, so that you can communicate with them. We speak in a language of the left brain that is rational, logical, linear. Plants and animals speak as well, but they don't speak as we do ... We must learn to tune in to them.

Q: How do you heal them from a distance?

A: Healing, in a shamanic and indigenous way, is more accurately bringing balance and harmony. The physician might see a broken bone and tie a splint. The medicine man or shaman would try to determine what happened to cause the broken bone, as well as ease the suffering. That's why most shamanic practice, or energy medicine, is called complementary or alternative medicine. It complements, and doesn't supplant, Western medicine. But to do energy medicine, or shamanic healing, one must learn to see and speak to, communicate with, touch or have an effect on, the energy of a thing, whether person, plant, animal or even stone. In energy medicine, it doesn't matter whether one is near or far. Time and space are relative. The book outlines ways to incorporate ritual and practice to effect healing, harmony, balance.

Q: The energies of plants and animals can be equated with the energies in lands and buildings just as energies affect people?

A: Our most esteemed scientists tell us that all is energy, that matter is neither wave nor particle, that events and objects can change simply by observing them, that matter winks in and out of existence, that energy is neither created nor destroyed, just changes form, and a host of other discoveries that native people have known for thousands of years. Our society is good at studying direct causes and effects and, through science, building things. But it is virtually bereft of knowledge of the great power of spirit and how miracles, acausal acts, occur. Yet, the unobserved, the unknowable, is much greater and more in play around us constantly than the known and knowable. Each of these books takes a fragment of the unknown and unknowable and attempts to make it known and knowable.

Q: You live in Lena, but your books are published overseas?

A. Yes. I've been practicing energy medicine for quite a few years, traveling around the country doing ceremony and teaching, and our monthly newsletter has been going out for seven years across the United States and to several foreign countries.