Cleansing Frog Meditation

Frog is a powerful animal spirit totem for cleansing your soul during your travels in your spirit-mind-body vessel. Consuming Frog Medicine helps the purification and detoxification process of cleansing your soul. May the energy of Frog help you clean up both your inner and outer world. Doing this proactively helps us weather our experiences with Climate Change and effectively transition into a New Age and Paradigm. Here is a shamanic journey meditation to assist you in this area:

*Light incense/candle.
*Start drumming to a consistent beat that feels natural to you. A simple bongo drum works well. Get into a comfortable position, relax and breathe.
*Picture a frog in your imagination and feel its energy coming into your Being.
*Ask Frog for any guidance that you feel is appropriate for you. Being specific with your question is helpful.
*Continue drumming for 10-20 minutes and gently allow yourself to receive whatever arrives to you in your consciousness.
*Thank Frog for its spiritual medicinal offering.
*Remember your callback by opening your eyes and changing your drumbeat. A callback facilitates the transition back into our material reality. A callback can also be in the form of a word or mantra that you prefer. My callback consists of 3 sets of 8 beats, then 3 sets of 3 beats and then 3 sets of 7 beats.
*Record your notes of whatever messages Frog brought to you. These messages might be in the form of feelings, lyrics, sounds, visuals, smells, etc. Let go and gently allow your soul to inform you as you travel along during your daily walking meditation.

With Frog, April Showers Bring May Flowers

Frogs help us remember how to evoke changing weather patterns by singing harmonically with Mother Nature. Perhaps these vocalizations are more raw and less polished than the popular voice. And yet, their melody is powerful and music to the clairaudient ear that resonates deeply within our souls. In the beginning, there was sound. In that vibration, our spirited songs of freedom were born. This reverberation asserts that we are all diverse expressions of Great Spirit. It is true that we are a rainbow of different orientations, but we are all cut from the same cloth. There is no us and them. We are one human family. If corporations are people too, then we wake up to the awareness that we all benefit from a spring cleaning in our souls. Developing tolerance for our diversity is a “step-up” for many folks. A step further is to integrate acceptance of what is into our Being. Frog helps us purify and detoxify blockages in our souls, so that we are equipped to move more gracefully with the changing tides during our experience with Climate Change. As more of us become hip to this vibe, we witness a proliferation of this Oneness reflecting in our material realm. In this process, we help clear the way for spirit to weave its way into our world. Ingesting Frog medicine is good food for the soul and amplifies our power by becoming clearer channels, serving as conduits for radiating cleaner energy. This internal purification and detoxification facilitates the internal experience of inner peace, which decreases pollution so within as without.

While we are one human family, we see that we have been raised with much dysfunction and toxicity. We have been programmed by our societies and parents to follow certain rules and rituals, often unconsciously and without review. In Maine, there’s an old saying, “that’s just the way we’ve always done it.” But part of our healing, especially in Spring, is “out with the old, in with the new.” We can learn from Frog and shamanic network of animal friends how to get back into alignment with Nature. Do you remember the scene in Rocky 3 when Apollo tells Rocky that he has lost the “eye of the Tiger”, but that he is going to help him get it back? Given where we are at in human history, the timing of the spiritual wisdom, “if not now, when” is critically important. When the student is ready, the teacher will appear. The corollary is also true. In much the same way as the Buddha, even children raised in ideal situations have an underlying yearning to wake up to the emotional sensitivity that there is more to life that creature comforts and pampered privilege. Through our dirty waters of suffering, Frog breathes in a renewed sense of harmony into our lives and rekindles the notion that there is great peace and joy in taking time for yourself. With its connection to the water element and the lunar cycle, we look back to the waning Wesak Full Moon and are inspired by clearing out our muddy waters and drinking in crystal clear fresh water. Whether you are an atheist, agnostic or a devout believer, Frog is here to remind us to do whatever we can to get closer to Great Spirit. Some ways we can bring in this energy into our lives are going for a walk in the woods, taking in a deep and cleansing deep breath, asserting “stop”, unplugging from technology, staying away from the news for a while, taking a long, relaxing bath, going for a swim or just getting near the water for a spell. We all need to give ourselves a break from information and choice overload. In our modern world, tapping into Frog’s energy might even make you a bit of a rebel. How do you like to weave Frog’s cleansing energy into your life?

Frog is the rainmaker and is a true weather person that is capable of weather control. Its medicine encourages us to wash away the dirt in our lives. As such, meditation on Frog reflects metamorphosis and creativity into our waking lives. Given their amphibian nature, consuming Frog’s spirited energy links us to water and land and helps us stay grounded and emotionally sensitive with respect to the boundaries of self and relationships. Meditation on Frog can assist us in vocalizing our truths powerfully and respectfully. Given that Spring and Summer are its power times, we need to use its energy effectively so that we do not blow things out of proportion. Frog is good spirited soul food to consume while digesting Climate Change.

See you further on down the trails,

Ari

Heavenly Umbilical Chord Meditation

Here is a meditation I would like to give you that I carry with me in my walking meditation tool-kit. It is a helpful resource in staying connected and in alignment with the Universal flow.

–Picture a luminous Divine thread from the Heavens connecting to the top of your head where your Crown Chakra is.
–Feel yourself being nourished by this Divine Light flowing in through the top of your head, pulsating down your spine, Chakras, body and exiting through the balls of your feet, or bubbling wells if you are into tai chi and qigong.
–Gently allow the residual energy to exit three feet into the Earth for organic compost. This process is free mulching for the soul.
–If you are into Reiki, you may also picture the appropriate symbols to enhance this powerful meditation.
–Repeat as needed.

Bonus material:
–Feel your heart open up and connect with other energies around you, allowing yourself to give and receive this Divine energy. Imagine yourself elevating your own consciousness and the consciousness of others.

When out on the trails of Life, this is one way we step into the realm of Infinity and co-create Heaven on Earth.

Black Like Crow

Soaring further with Spring energies, we catch wind of an out with the old and in with the new Crow Medicine show. Coming soon in the theater of Life, we will bear witness to a fiery astrological light show of consecutive eclipses streaming in. We will consume a powerful Full Moon on April 25th, a New Moon on May 9th and another Full Moon on May 25th to celebrate the grand eclipse finale. I don’t know if there will be a supernatural war between werewolves or vampires, but we have some bloody serious conflicts going on our Planet today. Things are particularly heating up in the Middle East and North Korea. Our Armageddon friends are licking their Doubting Thomas chops just waiting to pound their cynical chests by arrogantly asserting their self-fulfilling prophecy of doom and gloom. But there is a darkness on the edge of town. In that light, it is a challenge to become your own boss, rather than auctioning off your power to some charlatan. Crow is a powerful clairvoyant that peers into our forecast, while becoming a detached observer into a co-creative and fluid future. Crow is a powerful omen of change. Relaxing your gaze, so that your eyes feel a bit cross-eyed and slightly blurred vision will help you tap into Crow’s medicine, while paradoxically seeing more clearly. This is somewhat akin to Mayan legend of cross-eyed folks peering into the future. Is there a natural connection between Autists and Shamanism? Forget about those silly parlor tricks. Crow’s depth helps us acquire and access communication skills, wariness and intelligence. Their energy reminds us of the magic in everyday Life. In the spirit of protecting sensitive information, Crow will help you know magical knowledge and hold a secret, when silence is the higher form of honesty.

As we have discussed, Black is the color of creation, night and maternal feminine energy. With Crow, the darkness of night literally walks in sunlight. In a sense, Crow personifies the Taoist yin and the yang at play, weaving magically before our eyes. Why is it that black has conjured up fear in the collective consciousness of our modern world? America was built off the backs of free labor, predominantly by African-Americans during slavery forced unwillingly to work on command. When slavery was officially abolished, we witnessed an increase in incarceration among blacks, shackled and drawn. Have blacks received their fair share of their slice of the pie they brought to the table? Some statistics might hint at that, but we know that dollar for dollar, blacks are still earning less than their white counterparts and carry double the unemployment rate. While W.E.B Dubois might cite a rise among the “talented tenth”, can’t you hear Booker T. Washington still singing a “Dissatisfied” blues song among working folks? With Crow, we see that there are still systemic barriers in place serving as roadblocks to a more level egalitarian playing field. Part of my passion and sensitivity in serving the population I work with in my profession, is to help prevent our students from falling through the cracks and end up in institutions like jails and mental hospitals. Still predominantly white men, our friends in Congress seem to carry an air of the very sense of entitlement they complain about. While crafting the Rule of Law the rest of us are expected to follow, these pillars of the community appear to feel above the limits they are setting with the rest of us. But there is a movement for a proposed 28th Amendment to the US Constitution that says, “Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of the United States that does not equally apply to the senators and/or representatives; and, Congress shall make no law that applies to the senators and/or representatives that does not apply equally to the citizens of the United States.” If only our friends in Congress and the rest of those at the top of the food chain would allow maturation to kick in and realize that we all win by heeding the political will of the people. This is homeland security for the entire population of our Planet.

Are you beginning a new course of study? Are you being alert enough? Mediation on Crow may assist you in gaining clarity to those questions, own your own magical powers and bend the laws of the material plane. Today, skeptics will often say “show me the science!” In that vein, the Quantum world reveals what the spiritual reality already understands–that it is possible to be two places at once. This is somewhat akin to the practice of spiritual shape-shifting, or becoming the fly on the wall, so to speak. In a Karmic sense, ingesting Crow Medicine assists us in balancing the past, present and future right now. In this light, we transcend the Law of Cause and Effect and become the inner peace we want to see reflected in the World.

See you further on down the trails,

Ari

Stand in the Place that You Are

When we respectfully stand in the position of our own authority, we keep our power. Out on the trails, there are many charlatans willing to take our power from us and be fed by that. This process frequently elicits unintended consequences of the ego’s tricks. We all have the freedom and responsibility to access our wizard-healer-sage within our Being. There is nothing wrong with seeking guidance, consultation, therapy, etc. Energy is energy–it is what we do with it that counts. I can hear the Robin in me tweeting, alternative energy starts with I AM. In the spirit of that, please consider the following standing Qigong meditation.

–Stand rooted in your Being with your feet approximately shoulder width.
–Relax your body, keep an assertive posture and slightly activate your hands and slightly bend your knees. This is somewhat akin to a running back in a two point stance in American football.
–Primarily focusing on the balls of your feet, imagine your energy sinking three feet into the ground, growing deep roots into the earth like a wise old tree.
–Picture a luminous, white light figure 8 sign of Infinity enveloping your ankles.
–Envision the figure 8 slowly rising up through your body. As you do this, release each body part along the way. For example, say to yourself, “release my ankles . . . release my calves, release my shins, release my knees, release my quads, release my hamstrings, release my groin, release my hips, release my stomach, release my back, release my chest, release my neck, release my eyes and release my head.”
–Remember to start at your ankles and slowly ascend to your knees and pause there for a few moments. Then ascend some more to your hips and pause again. Then ascend up your spine and pause again at the top of your head, where your crown chakra is and pause briefly. Then reverse the order and descend. Feel free to give extra attention to wherever you feel called by your body. Your body is a powerful portal to consciousness.

See how you feel. I welcome your feedback.

Singing With Robin

I remember us receiving tweets last week from Chickadee reminding us to gently sing truthful songs of freedom. Perhaps not coincidentally, while out on the trails, I caught wind of a harmonic convergence between Robin and Chickadee. In their diversity, I noticed their unity when competing for food both peacefully and cooperatively. I don’t know if they particularly liked each other, but they didn’t seem to carry an air of judging one another as either inferior or superior. Don’t you love feeling your consciousness take flight when seeing birds of a feather respectfully flocking together? Robin feathers our ripple by belting out a melodious song that Spring has arrived. Robin encourages us to sing spirited songs and get into alignment with our Mother’s budding spring energy. Although robins don’t always leave us behind when the food supply is plentiful, they are among the first of their kind to return. Robin medicine affords us an opportunity to see that something new might want to move into our lives. Their energy facilitates growth during the birth of a novel and creative experience. Developmentally, their lesson plan aids us in acquiring and accessing traits in the spheres of being daring, communication skills and musical appreciation. The rusty-red coloring of their belly hints at the kundalini rising. Potential conflicts over territory are resolved through song, thus their blue eggs are symbolic of our throat chakras. How many great blues singers had Robin totems? As a singer-songwriter and a musician, I am a late bloomer. But it is never too late and there is so much help waiting for us in the spirit realm. Spirited energies are wanting to manifest now more than ever. They are free access to resources for all of us to share and they are channeling through our powerful animal friends as preferred mediums.

We know that during our experience with Climate Change, there is dark and stormy weather inside that reflects in our outer world. Many folks find security in their consciousness by becoming identified with something to anchor themselves. But at the end of the day, we can only really stand in our own personal authority and become secure with that. Some folks say that we are doomed and that we have passed the so-called tipping point of no return. Tempting as it is to have a cow about that, did anyone out there catch wind of the news that if we start grazing large herds of livestock on 1/2 of the earth’s barren or semi-barren lands–we could take enough carbon from the atmosphere to return to pre-industrial levels, according to an ecologist, “carbon ranchers”, organic consumers and climate activists? From a brain-program developmental perspective, we humans have the capacity to move from the primitive reptilian part of our brain to the pre-frontal cortex. This is how we evolve into what some folks call Homo Luminous, or from our more demonic selves into our more angelic selves, if you will. From a soulful place, this is what our awakening process reveals to us in our walking meditation. In Maine, a Healthy Kids Act is being considered to protect kids and the environment from chemicals of “high concern.” We are what we eat, in our spirits, our minds and our bodies. Consuming the energies of a New Moon on this Wednesday, Earth Day on April 22 and a Full Moon on the 25th can help facilitate the digestion process during our shifting tides. Becoming secure within our own personal authority by staying rooted is powerful medicine to ingest right now. When we stand in this space in our Being, we reduce pollution and sow the seeds of Love and Truth that will light our way into co-creating a Heavenly New Earth, Golden like our eighth Chakras.

I am reminded by the wisdom that our “intentions from the heart do have the power to change the world.” In that light, a most satisfying mind-soul dance step happens when we open up to allowing our heart’s sun and venus to shine out and amplify our heartfelt connections with one another. Growing up with a parent with clinical depression, I felt suffocated and needed to build a protective fortress around my heart. But with a super-sized energy field, extreme empathic sensitivity to the feelings of others and a security in my intellect, a part of my heart leaked blood for psychic vampires to feed on. Given that I indulged in their indulgences, coupled with my built-in anger, I became comfortable with my familiarity of victim consciousness. This Spring, may we allow the light to illuminate the shadows by all of us manifesting an internal spring cleaning, a la out with the old, in with the new. Imagine if the movers and shakers of the world collectively concentrated their energy on building green classrooms, where music classes took place in green-house like facilities, where robins were teacher’s aids in carrying out music lessons. Forget about band and chorus. Now isn’t that sound of music a harmonic convergence to our ears?

See you further on down the trails,

Ari

Singing Gleefully and Truthfully With Chickadee

While tweeting with my peeps in the woods recently, a chickadee joined in while singing harmonically. As we look back on the Spring Equinox, waning Moon, Fireball that gleamed the Eastern Seaboard of the Americas, Chickadee’s energy welcomes the budding Spring growth yangward. Light-masculine energy is gaining momentum and spirited energies are intensifying. The black head cap sitting atop chickadee’s head represents the intellect, higher level thinking and levitation of our perceptual fields of vision. Black is a beautiful color and it symbolizes mystery, dark feminine energies and creative womb of life waiting to give birth. Perhaps this is why Aboriginal Australian and African shamans are remembered as powerful medicine makers of the Dreamtime. Ever since I was a boy, the idea of mind over matter resonated deeply within my soul. Consumption of Chickadee medicine aids us in unearthing the mysteries of the mind and effectively navigate the dark. Although small in stature, Chickadees are fearless social creatures and tend to flit about in groups. Given that there are seven kinds of chickadees, they symbolize an individual’s consciousness rising above the material plane, or a triangle (3) rising above a square (4). There are seven rays of power, seven major planets and seven chakra centers. When our chakras are balanced, we know a deeper awareness and connection to the Universal pillar of Truth.

We know the tweet sounds true that the empire is addicted to its wars and lustful relationship with violence. We can’t get enough of it in the corporate media. As such, this negativity is dancing on the minds of the masses, in many cases unconsciously. But the violence is waking us up, as Great Spirit works in mysterious ways. When we are paying careful attention, we see concrete evidence that peace is being considered a seed worth watering. For example, a Federal Court ruled against the state of Alaska’s challenge to the National “Roadless Rule” that would have nullified it and allowed for deforestation on Nationally protected land. Some of our friends that advocate for federalism are glad to switch gears by crying a river of crocodile tears for state rights. Sometimes, this delayed process strategically undermines environmentally friendly, win-win business that sees through the fog of a maximum economic profit paradigm. Moreover, one of our conservative friends in Congress has asserted, “a more restrained foreign policy is the true conservative policy.” Will actions speak louder than words by rolling back 700 American empire bases around our Planet? As things heat up in the Middle East, more folks are waking up to the need for a cease-fire in Syria, ending the war in Afghanistan, sanctions against Iran and the blockade by Israel of the Palestine. Isn’t is possible for the Phoenix Rising to be a radical shift in our collective consciousness, rather than a pocket full of terrorism disrupting the status quo? If only our birds sitting atop their hight perch would heed Chickadee’s peaceful chimes of freedom, as the truth shall set us free.

Some will assert that the truth stinks like dung. While dung is necessary for compost, the truth does not have to hurt in the sense of feeling blocked. Rather, truth may drip gently, like water gradually building momentum. This process is akin to an internal martial arts practice in that true power builds gradually. In that light, April showers bring May flowers. Chickadee reminds us to sing our truth in a cheerful way that reverberates within our flowering individual and collective souls. Has anyone felt lighter than when listening to a singing chickadee, while basking in our Sun’s vitamin D and breathing in crocuses fragrantly?

See you further on down the trails,

Ari

Weaseling Our Way Through Our Meditations

For many thousands of years, humans following the shamanic path have been journeying to visit the spirit realm to bring back heavenly knowledge into the material realm. We have a Full Moon today, which is a powerful time to use its energies to fill your meditation cup. Try to use its spirited energies for power rather than react to them through force.

*Light incense/candle.
*Start drumming to a consistent beat that feels natural to you. A simple bongo drum works well. Get into a comfortable position, relax and breathe.
*Picture a weasel in your imagination and feel its energy coming into your Being.
*Ask Weasel for any guidance that you feel is appropriate for you. Being specific with your question is helpful.
*Continue drumming for 10-20 minutes and gently allow yourself to receive whatever arrives to you in your consciousness.
*Thank Weasel for its spiritual medicinal offering.
*Remember your callback by opening your eyes and changing your drumbeat. A callback facilitates the transition back into our material reality. A callback can also be in the form of a word or mantra that you prefer. My callback consists of 3 sets of 8 beats, then 3 sets of 3 beats and then 3 sets of 7 beats.
*Record your notes of whatever messages Weasel brought to you. These messages might be in the form of feelings, lyrics, sounds, visuals, smells etc. Let go and gently allow your soul to inform you as you travel along in your walking meditation.

Weaseling Our Way Out of a Rock and a Hard Place

The energy of Weasel is powerful medicine for us to ingest right now on Nature’s cycle. We are standing at a crossroads. Our old ways, old world and collective hold of the ego are losing its firm grip on us. But there are still many, particularly those in positions of high power, who are fighting tooth and nail to resist the arriving of massive changes coming soon to a theater near you. With Climate Change, Mother Earth is growing more vocal against the raping of Her by an overindulgence in masculine-yang energetic perspective that is depleting our natural resources, trashing Her and us according to the gospel of the Almighty Dollar. Yet at the same time, we are experiencing a flowering of consciousness that is cross pollinating humanity and our connection to our beloved Mother Earth. Looking back on the Spring Equinox, we remember Nature being a healthy role model of harmonically balancing our masculine and feminine energies in a sweetly satisfying spirit-mind-body soulful dance step. One powerfully green and free form of alternative energy is Weasel. When consuming the energy of Weasel, we are equipped to access and acquire its spirited teachings of ingenuity, stealthy, sly and secret circumvention pursuit of our goals. Do you remember when the Americas were forcefully taken over by European colonialism? It was Weasel’s medicine that revealed to our Native American brothers and sisters the hidden intention and agenda of the folks coming over on boats to the New World. In this light, what are our shadowy friends in clandestine meetings up to in their moving and shaking? As we move further into spring and closer to the Summer Solstice, more spirited energies are streaming into our consciousness in the form of an astrological showering of eclipses. The more aware and in alignment we are with this information, the less reactive we are to it. What we are talking about here is tunneling beneath the pop headlines that disseminate information we are intended to see. But even in the dark, there is light.

Perhaps Weasel was helpful to a Federal Appeals Court recently, by standing up to Mega-corporations, when oil and gas leases were denied access to scenic public lands in Wyoming and Utah. Was it Weasel that assisted David-like local municipalities by enacting local bans or moratoriums on Goliath-like oil and gas companies to prevent gas drilling and “fracking” that pumps millions of gallons of chemically treated water into the ground to extract gas from deposits deep down in our Mother’s veins? Synchronistically, Weasel parallels a recent movement of politicians that are beginning to see through the Fog of War by taking a stand against the War Hawk mentality in American foreign policy. In short, Hawkish agenda du jour seeks to push for more Drones and robots that popular films such as the Terminator and Robocop showcased in the entertainment industry, under the guise of a self-fulfilling prophecy back in the 1980s and 90s. Do we want to reenact the warmongering history of the Old Testament or do we really want to manifest a New Covenant by co-creating a Divine marriage between Heaven and Earth? Great Spirit is helping us wake up to a higher quality of respect. Rather devolving into a reptilian-brain, fear-based respect that mirrors a gangbanger mind-set, we need to clear our Karma by earning respect back from our more vulnerable populations. The oppressor must welcome the oppressed to the negotiating table with transparency and trust so that we may heal our wounds. With great freedom comes great responsibility, as the same systems that oppress can liberate. Taxation with Representation in part looks like crafting legislation that eradicates our Weapons of Mass Destruction without blowing things out of proportion. But we all need to do our part. Weasel’s medicine can silently help us pursue the process of inner peace by dissolving our internal warheads, so that the waves of this energetic Tsunami are felt across our Planet and we are universally inundated.

When remembering to consume the free-spirited energy of Weasel, we learn how to pursue our goals, while staying out of trouble. Do you need to weasel your way out of situations that don’t appear to allow for it? Do you need to develop your own observational skills? Are you being too vocal in your pursuits? Do you need to dig deeper into your soul? Are you and others being honest? Weasel is powerful medicine that aids us in developing our observational skills, read between the lines, see beneath the surface and perceive the truth behind the smoke and mirrors. We are able to hear what is really being said and see multiple consequences to an event, much like playing chess. May we use its medicine to shine our light in a discreet fashion for mutual-aid. The time is now to ascend from a dimensionally challenged perspective, so that we may open up to a multi-dimensional worldview that values a deeper heartfelt connection to one another.

See you further on down the trails,

Ari

Journeying with Pelican in our Meditations

When we get shamanic in our meditations, we take a step into the realm of Infinity so that we may bring back spiritual insight into our material reality. This is how we become the change we want to see in the world, in the spirit of if not me, who and if not now, when? When we do this, we wake up to living more consciously and intentionally.

*Light incense/candle.
*Start drumming to a consistent beat that feels natural to you. A simple bongo drum works well. Get into a comfortable position, relax and breathe.
*Picture a pelican in your imagination and feel its energy coming into your Being.
*Ask Pelican for any guidance that you feel is appropriate for you. Being specific with your question is helpful.
*Continue drumming for 10-20 minutes and gently allow yourself to receive whatever arrives to you in your consciousness.
*Thank Pelican for its spiritual medicinal offering.
*Remember your callback by opening your eyes and changing your drumbeat. A callback facilitates the transition back into our material reality. A callback can also be in the form of a word or mantra that you prefer. My callback consists of 3 sets of 8 beats, then 3 sets of 3 beats and then 3 sets of 7 beats.
*Record your notes of whatever messages Pelican brought to you. These messages might be in the form of feelings, lyrics, sounds, visuals, smells etc. Let go and gently allow your soul to inform you as you travel along in your walking meditation.

During my journeying meditations this week, Pelican is helping me glimpse deep within my soul the power in releasing my judgments that I have carried inside myself and with others. When we hold this space in our souls, we take back our projections and experience inner peace. When we all do our part in this area, we co-create win-win realities, a peaceful New Earth and experience harmony on our Planet and multidimensional Classroom throughout.