September 2007
Healing The Earth/Ourselves
http://www.blueskywaters.com
Vol. 7, No. 14
Osiyo!
~~ALLOW-ACCEPT-ACKNOWLEDGE-and BE GRATEFUL~~
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This Month's Features
Walking Into The West By Jim PathFinder Ewing (Nvnehi Awatisgi)
Waya's News
Reiki Master Workshop, Sept. 22-23
You are invited...
DRUM CIRCLE/MEDICINE WHEEL CEREMONY, Saturday, Sept. 22, 7:00 p.m.
Walking Into The West
By Jim PathFinder Ewing (Nvnehi Awatisgi)
This time of year, the in Medicine Wheel of the Seasons, we are walking into the West.
At the Western gate, the time is one of coming darkness;
just as the east is of the rising sun, casting new light, new
beginnings, the south is of the summer, and the north
is of the winter, so the time of the Fall Equinox is the
time of coming darkness.
We will hold our prayer ceremony at 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 22,
to honor this Western gate, with ceremony to allow the light that
is within us, the "good medicine" to come forward and lead us through
the darkness toward the light of Winter, ancestors and Higher Power.
Particulars:
Medicine Wheel Drum Circle Prayer Ceremony Set For Sept. 22 in Lena
We will drum at 7 p.m.
It's Pot Luck, as usual; bring a covered dish or food of some kind to share
if you want to participate in the meal.
We will drum first, eat later. If you get lost, call 601-654-3301. Some may
wish to fast beforehand. If you can't attend and have prayers to enter in the
medicine wheel's prayer basket, send them (blueskywaters@bellsouth.net).
Bring a drum or rattle if you have one; if not, come as the Creator guides you.
We are in our 7th year now of holding the monthly Medicine Wheel Prayer Ceremony.
Note: There is no charge of any kind for the prayer ceremonies; all gifts and/or
donations are greatly appreciated. We depeind on the generous donations of those
who believe they receive a benefit from our services. All are welcome, especially
children! This is a family-friendly event. No drugs or alcohol.
Related Items:
Protocol for the Bear Lodge (Asi/Inipi): lhttp://www.blueskywaters.com/bearlodgeprotocol.html
The History of the American Indian Sweat Lodge: http://www.blueskywaters.com/page_46.htm
Also: 'Ugista 'ti: The 'Pay' of Medicine Men' -- http://www.blueskywaters.com/ugistati.pdf
Also, see: Using the Medicine Wheel to Bring Balance to Earth: http://www.blueskywaters.com/page_41.htm
At this time, also, we are teaching a Reiki Master Class, so we will not be holding
Sweat Lodge (Asi/Inipi) that weekend.
Reiki Master Class, Sept. 22-23
I'll be teaching a Reiki Master Class, Saturday and Sunday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
for anyone who wishes to receive Reiki Master instruction and attunement; you
must be a Reiki II in order to receive the Reiki Master/Teacher attunement, or Reiki III, plus ART.
We will teach ART on Saturday, Sept. 22;
Reiki III/Master on Sunday, Sept. 23.
The cost is:
Reiki III: $500
Reiki III/ART: $650
ART (also called Reiki Master IIIa) teaches healing techniques that are shared with
other modalities, including scanning, beaming, removing spiritual intrusions
(or psychic surgery), using crystals in healing work, and other techniques, along
with attunement with the Usui Master symbol.
Full Usui/Tibetan Reiki Master training (or III) includes all of the above, plus
ability to give attunements.
Reiki III is ONLY for those who have already taken Reiki II and ART. According to
the International Center for Reiki Training guidelines we follow, you must take ART
before taking Reiki III instruction.
Advanced Reiki Training (ART or IIIa)
This is a one day intensive. It includes:
* The Usui Master attunement which increases the strength of your Reiki energy.
* The Usui Master symbol which increases the effectiveness of the Reiki II symbols.
* Reiki meditation that strengthens the mind and expands consciousness.
* The use of crystals with Reiki.
* How to make a Reiki grid that will continue to send Reiki after it is charged.
* Reiki psychic surgery that allows you to remove negative psychic energy and
send it to the light.
* A guided meditation that introduces you to your Reiki guides wherein you
receive healing and information.
A class manual is included that gives detailed steps of all that is taught.
You must take ART if you want to take Reiki III/Master. However, if you are
wanting to go on to Karuna Reiki®, you can take ART and qualify as a Master
for the purposes of attaining Karuna Reiki® Master/Teacher. Cost of ART only
normally is $225. So, if you take both ART & Reiki III as offered, you get a $75
discount on the ART cost if taken alone.
Reiki III/Master
This is a one-day intensive. It includes:
* The complete Reiki III Usui/Tibetan Master attunement.
* Instruction on how to give Reiki attunements for Reiki I&II and ART
and full Reiki Master.
* The Healing attunement.
* Two Tibetan symbols are given for a total of six.
* Practice time doing attunements.
* Advanced Reiki meditation that harmonizes the energy of the chakras.
* The values and spiritual orientation of a true Reiki Master.
A class manual is included that gives detailed steps for giving all the attunements. This class is a powerful healing experience.
Deadline for registration is Friday, Sept. 14. Class size is extremely limited.
Please contact Annette Waya, if interested. A $50 nonrefundable deposit is required.
At the end of the training, you will be awarded a certificate as an Independent Reiki Master Teacher, and will be eligible after one year to receive training and be certified as a Karuna Reiki® Practitioner or Master Teacher. Our classes are taught in strict accordance with the Internationsal Center for Reiki Training standards. http://www.reiki.org
Note: As usual, anyone who has taken a previous Reiki Master class taught by
PathFinder is welcome to take the class as a refresher, with no charge.
Let Annette Waya know if you plan to attend, and don't forget to bring your book.
PathFinder encourages those who have taken Karuna Reiki® or Reiki Master courses
from him to participate in the classes when they are offered.
For more information, see the Web site, or contact Annette Waya.
Wado!
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Star Happenings
By Allison Rae (www.StarPriestess.com)
Many Cosmic Time readers reported profound experiences as they observed the
Full Moon Lunar Eclipse on August 28. The September 11 alignment is a Partial
Solar Eclipse with limited visibility in most populated areas of the Earth. Still,
you'll feel the intense electromagnetic shifts if you tune in. This interdimensional
gateway is ideal for prayer, meditation, ceremony and intention with a personal
and/or collective focus. Connect with Divine Source. Embody Presence. Breathe
Peace. Aloha.
Divine Timing
New Moon Solar Eclipse (Partial) - September 11, 2007
Partial Eclipse Begins - 10:25 AM UT; Point of Greatest Eclipse - 12:31 PM UT;
Partial Eclipse Ends - 2:36 PM UT.
Visible in parts of Antarctica, South America except the northern part,
and the southwestern regions of the Atlantic Ocean.
For conversion to your local time zone, use this easy-to-understand site:
http://www.souledout.org/nightsky/time/ut.html
CELESTIAL EVENTS
Venus goes direct (went retrograde July 27) on Sept. 7.
Pluto goes direct (went retrograde March 31) on Sept. 6.
New Moon, Sept. 11
Full Moon, Sept. 26
September 11 Eclipse
In this time of no-time between eclipses, you are invited to explore, to journey,
to remember.
Who else could you be? What else could you do? Surprises, expansion,
reconfiguration. You are the snake shedding the skin of its former self. Open.
Explore. Dive in.
This is depth work, the death process, magic, shamanism, the art of becoming.
Divine Essence. The Core.
In just 10 days, the Sun and Moon meet in Virgo, to birth a new you. As the
September 11 eclipse approaches, awaken to your destiny and purpose in a
new way. Solar eclipses are super-charged new moons. We begin again,
finally free. What is changing, re-arranging, in your life?
Pluto turns direct on September 7 and begins the approach to his final alignment
with the Galactic Center, exact on the October 26/27 Full Moon. This is a culmination
of |a lifetime. The New Moon Solar Eclipse on September 11 opens the portal.
Higher dimensional frequencies stream in. We are reborn.
(For more information, visit http://www.StarPriestess.com)
E-mail: allison@StarPriestess.com
All content copyright 2007 Allison Rae/www.StarPriestess.com
(Reprinted by permission)
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Dalai Lama Offers Sweet Path
By Jim PathFinder Ewing (Nvnehi Awatisgi)
I was reading a news article about China's cracking down on Tibet, essentially
wiping out the Buddhist culture so that the Dalai Lama will only be a vague
memory in another generation, and flooding the cities with mainland Chinese
to dilute the culture, when this paragraph popped out: “A new Chinese law
forbidding any of Tibet’s hundreds of ‘living Buddhas’ from reincarnating
without government permission may prove more destructive.” There was
no explanation; just that one line.
Intrigued, I got to looking around the Internet, and sure enough, came across
The London Times article: “China tells living Buddhas to obtain permission
before they reincarnate” (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article2194682.ece).
It states: “For the first time China has given the Government the power to ensure tha
t no new living Buddha can be identified, sounding a possible death knell to a mystical
system that dates back at least as far as the 12th century.”
This all sounds very ominous, and it’s certainly a government excuse to crack down
even more on religious freedom.
In sympathy, I decided that I would put a picture of the Dalai Lama in the Medicine
Wheel at our next ceremony, in hopes that, like Native peoples, some of the Tibetan
Buddhist spirituality will live on underground despite official government banning.
The power of Creator is much greater than that of any government, U.S. Or Chinese,
and eternal.
The Dalai Lama is an excellent role model for all people of a spiritual bent. He doesn't
try to "control" Buddhism, or say what people should believe, or how, or say that
only the issues he approves of and how he approves of them is the correct or
only way. His is a view of total optimism, of joy and gladness and thankfulness....
exactly how we are taught to believe, to have gratitude, by all the leaders of
spirituality in all cultures throughout time.
If those who follow the way of Spirit would walk as Creator would have them do,
with love and gratitude, the level of hate and anger in the world would be much
less. But we sometimes get too much in our heads and not in our hearts; we think
things should be a certain way rather than allowing things to be as they are, and
enjoying them, allowing, accepting, being grateful. That is the way of Spirit.
Allow, Accept . . .
You may notice that we have begun putting the "allow, accept ..."
motto at the top of the newsletter. For those who may have missed
the newsletter a few years ago as to where that came from, the story
is included in my book that's just out: Finding Sanctuary in Nature:
Simple Ceremonies in the Native American Tradition for Healing Yourself
and Others. Short version: I had been having a difficult time and it was
the time of the Lunar Eclipse. I went out to the Bear Lodge and sat in my
bear skin watching the eclipse, as Spirit had told me to do. There, and then,
I had a vision, in which the land came alive and the trees spoke to me. They
showed me my whole life and everyone I knew and everyone I had ever known
and summed it up by saying: "Allow, Accept, Acknowledge and Be Grateful." There
will be plenty of time to dwell on hurts and sorrows after life on this Earth is gone.
The more good we do here, loving, sharing, accepting, giving, the better.
Too Much In Their Heads ...
While musing on these things, I came across yet another news story that gave pause:
"Hotel mistakes Nobel laureate for bag lady" in The Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2150467,00.html):
"She was wearing a Mayan dress, the traditional attire of indigenous people in
central America, and the hotel's response was also traditional: throw her out.
Staff at Cancun's five-star Hotel Coral Beach appear to have assumed this was
another street vendor or beggar, so without asking questions they ordered her
to leave. Except the woman was Rigoberta Menchú, the Nobel peace prizewinner,
Unesco goodwill ambassador, Guatemalan presidential candidate and figurehead
for indigenous rights.
The attempted eviction, an example of discrimination against indigenous people
common in central and south America, backfired when other guests recognised
Ms Menchú and interceded on her behalf.
The human rights activist was in the Mexican coastal resort at the request of
President Felipe Calderón to participate in a conference on drinking water and
sanitation and was due to give interviews at the hotel.
David Romero, a journalist and newsreader who was due to interview her for
state radio Quintana Roo, told local media that hotel security tried to eject Ms
Menchú from the lobby. They relented when told who she was. It was said not
to be the first time a hotel has tried to throw her out.
Ms Menchú, 48, was awarded the 1992 Nobel peace prize for protesting against
human rights abuses during Guatemala's brutal civil war.
Commentators noted the irony of upmarket resorts discriminating against real
Maya while trying to attract tourists with fake Mayan architecture and spectacles."
Yes, the irony is great. But, alas, also predictable.
Truly, nothing is as it seems. (And Everything is Nothing: maya, illusion!)
We become baffled, confused, comical and even dangerous when we listen
to our heads versus the leanings and learnings of our hearts.
Aho.
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Now in Bookstores
Finding Sanctuary in Nature
Simple Ceremonies in the Native American Tradition for Healing Yourself
and Others
By Jim PathFinder Ewing (Nvnehi Awatisgi
)Illustrated by Annette Waya Ewing
Paperback: 170 pages
Publisher: Findhorn PressPrice: $16.95
To Order Direct from Amazon.com:
Or Check a Bookstore Near You!
Also, In Bookstores
Clearing
A Guide to Liberating Energies Trapped in Buildings and Lands
By Jim PathFinder Ewing
Illustrated by Annette Waya Ewing
With a foreword by Brooke Medicine Eagle
Paperback: 128 pages Publisher: Findhorn Press (October 28, 2006)
ISBN: 1844090825
To order a signed copy or read more>
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"Jim is a voice for the Earth, giving us much needed inspiration and information
about living in harmony.... A marvelous guide."
-Brooke Medicine Eagle,
Author of Buffalo Woman Comes Singing
and The Last Ghost Dance.
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Comments on 'Clearing'
" 'Clearing' is 'The Secret' for real estate brokers, business people,
anyone who wants to attract more customers and positive results."
"Should be required reading in the wake of Hurricane Katrina!"
"A real-life 'ghostbuster' shares his secrets."
"Spiritually, every time I read this, I find something new."
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Twylah Nitsch Passes
From Wolf Clan Teaching Lodge:
"On Aug. 21, Grandmother Twylah Hurd Nitsch sang her song and made
her Skywalk back to the world beyond the Skydome. The way made
clear by Skywoman for all human kind to follow. Her spirit is very much
alive and we send her all the gratitude and love that our hearts can engender.
She was our Guiding Light, our Mentor, our Teacher, our Friend, our Star, our
Grandmother, our Sister, our Beloved One, Mother,
Counselor, Advisor, Wisdom Keeper, Sacred Elder of the Wolf Clan of the
Seneca Nation…
Grandmother Twylah was an Elder and founder of the Seneca Indian
Historical Society. Many decades ago, Grandmother was designated to
preserve the Wolf Clan teachings by her maternal grandfather, Moses Shongo,
one of the last of the practicing Seneca Medicine Men. Grandmother Twylah,
an advocate of the need to preserve the traditions and wisdom of Native people,
has been the subject of numerous articles, both here and abroad. She is a world
renowned author and teacher, dedicated with a passion that truly befits her name:
Yehwehnode, She whose voice rides on the Wind."
We join with the many around the world who mourn her passing, and are
grateful that her voice was heard, openly sharing what she knew with all
who would listen with open minds and open hearts. The world benefited from
her Earth Walk, as a role model and voice to be heeded.
To read more about her and testimonies about the goodness she brought
to the world, see:
http://www.wolfclanteachinglodge.org/
From Our Readers:
Here's a photo from our beautiful sister, Lynn Smith
(http://templeoftherainbowmoon.bravehost.com):
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We were honored to be asked to participate from afar in a peace pole and medicine
wheel ceremony in Australia, as readers there joined with us, and we with them,
in doing ceremony to help heal Mother Earth.
We are happy to help foster drum circle and medicine wheel ceremonies around
the Earthly Mother. You may read more about this -- creating medicine wheels
and forming drum circles -- in the book just out, "Finding Sanctuary in Nature:
Simple Ceremonies in the Native American Tradition for Healing Yourself and Others.
Wado!
What Is An Indian?
From Abe Walking Bear Sanchez (abe@armg-usa.com)
How much Indian are you? This question was asked of a group of American Indian
children at Anderson Elementary School in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Their answers
were quite interesting and very disturbing. In this circle of black, brown, and blondish
hair of black, brown, green, blue, and hazel eyes of wiry, curly, kinky, and straight hair,
they were very percent-of-blood oriented.
From 15/32 to ¼ to ½ they were calling out their individual percents, that is,
until they began to laugh. Especially when one child was asked to point to the half
of him that was Indian and the half that wasn't. Yes, it is ridiculous. Is this form of
identifying our identity shared by other people? When did we ever hear a Jew state
that he was half Jewish? What makes a Jew a Jew is his religion.
American Indian authors Walter Peek and Thomas Sanders explain it this way:
"To define the American Indian is as impossible as it is to define the Jews and for
many of the same reasons. A Jew knows he is a Jew because he recognizes
himself within the framework of a historical-cultural setting that allows him identity.
"The Native American, the Indian, the Navajo call him what you will knows he is an
Indian because of the mystic tie to the land, the dim memory of his people's literature
that has been denied him, the awareness of his relationship to Sakoiatisan, Maintou,
Huaca, Wakan Tanka (depending on his being Iroquois, Algonquin, Inca, or
Lakota-Sioux) somehow manifests itself within him and conscientiously calls
him back to his ancestors.
Bill Charfield, elder teacher and historian, agrees with this philosophy. 'My cultural
identity makes me what I am. It is my beliefs that make me Indian.' '' This brings
up an interesting point: Can an individual be Jewish and Catholic at the same time?
Can an Indian? According to Charfield, an individual's sacred regard for language,
his concept of Creation, and his desire to live in harmony with the natural world all
must be applied when seeking to define an Indian.
While addressing a college audience, LaDonna Harris was asked to define the Indian.
LaDonna replied, "I can't define the Indian anymore than you can define what you are.
Different governmental agencies define him by amount of blood. I had a Comanche
mother and an Irish father. But I am Comanche, I'm not Irish and I'm not Indian
first. I'm Comanche first, Indian second. When the Comanche took in someone, he
became Comanche. He wasn't part this, part that. He was all Comanche or he wasn't
Comanche at all. Blood runs the heart. The heart knows what it is." Elizabeth Hallmark,
an Ojibwa and Director of the Minneapolis American Indian Center, thinks along these
lines: "Just because an individual has a tribal enrollment number entitling him to certain
services does not, in my mind, define this person as an Indian. It is the heart of this
person that speaks to me. That's where my Indianness is in my heart." One of the
great Lakota-Sioux holy men of our ti me was John Fire Lame Deer. He associated
Indianness with the heart also. His beliefs in the concepts symbolized in the pipe
identified him as an Indian.
He recollected at a time in his life when the meaning of the pipe filled his senses.
He stated that at that moment he realized that to truly understand what it meant
to be an Indian was to understand the pipe. He went on to say that even as an old
man he was still learning. We must ask ourselves then what bureaucrat has the right
to say who is and who isn't an Indian? Or who is more of an Indian? To be an Indian is
a way of life, a looking within and feeling a part of all life, an allegiance to and love for this
earth. Historically we did not judge whether someone was Indian based on the color of their
eyes or the color of their hair, but by how they conducted and lived their lives.
To debase our identity by reducing us to percentages of blood is another version of
genocide. To deny our tribal nations the right to traditionally adopt and naturalize
citizens is relinquishing our tribal sovereignty. The last time some of us were required
to show papers for proof of blood was when we wanted to breed dogs or horses.
The confusion of attempting to define what is Indian will persist in governmental
bureaucracies but will not be shared by many American Indians who know what
they are.
For many of us, to be Indian is not heritage granted by legislation, percents of blood
, bureaucratic studies, or even by a community's consideration. It comes from the
heart and the heart knows what it is. It seems that if the traditional American is to
remain at all visible and have a voice in the affairs of the people, then traditional
thinking American Indians must challenge the bureaucratic system of identifying
Indians if for anyone, for their children.
Mitakuye Oyasin (we are all related),
WalkingBear
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Waya's News
Jewelry:
The Summer Sale is over...but if you are a newsletter subscriber, the sale goes on! 15% off the base price of all custom crafted jewelry, for this month.
I have added a new gallery of necklaces, Gallery 27.
Gallery 9 now has recent beaded bracelets, and more will be added within the month...take a look...
More of Elaine Stonehorse's beautiful beaded feathers will be added this month.
Other News
We are planting our Fall and Winter garden now, so, our Fall will be a time of growth and renewal...as well as time to begin to go within.
Later on this month I will be doing ceremony with and presenting teachings to a group of nurses/healers who are going on a 4 day canoe trip/retreat for renewal on the Mississippi River. Our river guide is the famous John Ruskey the Delta Blues historian and owner of Quapaw Canoes...read more...
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Ascension Test: The Western Gate
At the Western Gate of the Medicine Wheel, people often lose their way. It's
sometimes called 'The Dark Night of the Soul' because in this way that we all
must go, and do go from time to time, we cannot see our way. All is darkness.
All that we know is lost; we have no bearings. But the key to this time is not to
look outside of ourselves or even to our selves, but within. In each of us, in each
living thing is 'the good medicine,' the light that shines, Creator's light. That good
medicine that is expressed as the divine light of love, of light, of Creation itself, is
eternal and in all things. So, when we cannot see outside, or see our way, we know
that we are at the Western Gate, and it is time to look within. By looking within, the
way is illuminated before us.
Aho.
Thought for The Day:
"Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes."
-- Carl Jung
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News from Spirit of Ma’at!
This Month: Our Magnificent Body
At this point most of us are aware that our physical form is not JUST a vehicle for the Spirit — it IS the Spirit in flesh. Every single cell has its own consciousness, and each one is a living materialization of the beliefs we hold about our selves and about life in general. Together they form a gestalt that may be a truer reflection of our inner being than anything that the mind has to say about us. This month's issue of The Spirit of Ma'at addresses the body and its relationship to consciousness from a number of different angles. It is our hope that the articles presented here will stir thought and remind all of you to consider the awesome magnificence of the body as a living manifestation of what lies within. Join us a www.spiritofmaat.com and invite your friends to join us as well!
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This newsletter is offered with prayers for healing, growth and development by Jim
PathFinder & Annette Waya Ewing, Healing The Earth/Ourselves.
For more information, or to read past newsletters, see our Web site: Healing
the Earth/Ourselves www.blueskywaters.com
If you believe you receive a benefit from this, and the work we do, a donation
would be gratefully accepted. To make a donation via secure PayPal using any
major credit card, please click the "donation" button on the Web site.
Donations are not tax deductible.
Please feel free to forward this newsletters to others!
Copyright © 2007 All Rights Reserved Jim PathFinder Ewing Healing
The Earth/Ourselves www.blueskywaters.com. This free e-mail newsletter
is sent by affirmative voluntary subscription only. Permission is granted to
reproduce and/or forward, but please credit the copyright or whoever is credited.
Namaste! Mitakuye Oyasin, Gus dii dada dv ni, Sa'ah Naaghaí Bik'eh Hozhoon.
Blessings To You and All In Your Sacred Circle and "Keep in touch . . ." -- PathFinder
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