Tag Archives: Death-Rebirth

Remembering the Geese on Mythical Journeys

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I remember hearing ancestral wisdom whispering to us that it is a good time of year for letting go.  Here on Nature’s cycle in the Northern Hemisphere, we are approaching the Winter Solstice, the darkest time of year, where folks are turning yinward and many souls are exiting Classroom Mothership Earth.  On some level, this time signals an end.  However, from a cosmical energetic perspective, we all embark on a dying experience, whether realized or not.  In this process, a promise of re-birth awaits.  Yes, we are well-trained by a developmentally delayed perspective that tells us to fear death, be afraid of the dark and forget spirit, particularly in America.  Rather than embrace the Unknown, we tend to fear what we don’t know, while some of us cling to blind faith and continue skating on the thin ice of modern life’s sea of intellectual concepts.  Others check out by indulging in a garden variety of distractions, opiates of the masses they are in this world of 10, 000 things of bling-bling.  Is that bad medicine or what?  Those in the advertising industry know that most of us do not really feel comfortable in our own skin and so they make a killing by profiting from us buying into a perception that the consumption of certain products will somehow enhance our self-image. But these remedies are really only skin deep.  In the spirit of that, flying with geese offers us the opportunity to soar within our True Selves and access the hero within Life’s mythical quest. Geese fly in a V-formation and epitomize balancing competition and cooperation vis-a-vis a sense of harmonic teamwork.  Meditation on their V-formation, a figure 8 sign of infinity, helps us enter new portals to new possibilities, new ideas and venture to distant places in our spirit-mind-body vessels.  If you are exclusively identified with the surface layer of the material realm, it is true that membership has its privileges, accompanied also by pleasure, pain and suffering.  Meditation on geese facilitates flight into deeper realms, where acausal connections and phenomena await.  I hardly think strict behavioral psychologists would take notice when conducting their social science experiments.  Even if you dismiss the existence of something, are you not acknowledging that it is real, on some level?

Whether or not Barack Obama is the reincarnation of Abraham Lincoln, the connections between the two men are striking.  Slavery has been a sad reality in our human family’s history.  Although overt Apartheid is thankfully a dying breed, today’s slavery hides behind master illusionism.  Lincoln once said, “as I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master–this expresses my ideas of democracy-whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy.”  Both the oppressor and the oppressed suffer.  Will Obama and other leaders be master pretenders to the throne or will they access their inner royalty and use their positions to empower the massive change that our Mother and the overwhelming majority need to enact here on Classroom Mothership Earth?  Rather than letting go of 18, 000 workers, companies like Hostess could choose to let go of the temptation to increase CEO compensation by 300% and upper management by 200% and the gall to ask a federal judge for an allowance of 1.8 million in bonuses to top dawg executives.  How sweet is that? Moreover, if Pepsi is really the choice of a new generation, then they will use their presence in Uganda to stop the spigot of bigotry of an anti-gay bill that is backed by some Evangelical Christians that have close ties to a constellation called The Family.  I hardly think Michael J. Fox’s former TV character Alex P. Keaton would approve of those family ties, conservative as he was on that show. Internet freedom is also at risk at the UN conference in Dubai by threatening new restrictions on free speech.  Climate Change is trending right now and becoming a hotter topic–a global reality that humanity must deal with, whether we want to or not.  Our survival depends on it.  If we embrace Climate Change and effectively weather the changes so within as without, then we will make the quantum leap with grace. However, if we resist it, then it will persist in a way that tastes more bitter than the fracking insanity that sticks like tar in the sands of our Mother’s belly today. Even our nervous woodland creature friends know that denial isn’t just a river in Egypt, ma chucka.  When the floods arrive, they usually find themselves moving to higher ground, rather than getting washed out. 

On the playing field of life, some of the guys from around the way like to play football on Sundays.  Maybe we’re playing on borrowed time and a loony bunch, but that doesn’t stop us from flocking together on cold mornings.  Even a guy in his 60’s still runs the field and inspires the rest of us that you’re never too old to play. Last week, I caught wind of a flock of geese and signaled their cadence to my teammates.  The view feathered our ripple, spirits soared and our game really took flight after that.  We all take turns playing quarterback, evenly mix up the teams and usually balance cooperation and competition.  While love taps and occasional de-cleaters happen from time to time, arguably the most aggressive act in the archives was when one disgruntled squirrel character threw the acorn at another hyena player, to stop his endless running commentary.  But of course that didn’t work and the hyena is still laughing and talking smack.  Some guys have dropped out due to fear of getting hurt.  But there is risk in every breath we take.  Taking it to the edge requires trusting that the Universal pillars of Love and Truth are a real safety net that catches us and sets us free.  In the Great Spirit of that, when ingesting the free energy of geese in our internal slow-cooker, we marinate on the traits of fidelity, perfectionism and adventure.  Given that geese are vegetarians, flocking toward increased veggie consumption or eating a vegetarian diet for a while might be good chicken soup for the soul.

Stay True,

Ari

Dreaming with Salamander and cleansing withTurkey Vulture

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I remember walking along the trails with a student, when he noticed a salamander.  After exhaling dead air, I felt alive after taking a conscious breath of fresh air.  Further along the festival of Life, I became engaged in another conversational flow with one of the cats I roll with from around the way.  After helping him pick up some fallen branches left over from Hurricane Sandy, I said a prayer of gratitude for the storm’s minimal impact in our neck of the woods, while simultaneously expressing a silent blessing to our friends to our South that were affected more dramatically.  Given that I had just cast my absentee ballot, our conversation quickly cut to a commercial about going blue.  Although I didn’t turn into a wolverine or get depressed while listening to my feline friend’s assertion to vote in that hue, it saddens me that we are merely one step away from a dictatorship here in the United States, in that we are more polarized than ever in our collectively boxed-in mindsets.  But seeing two women on a presidential ticket here in the USA fills my heart Chakra green with hope!  When we truly walk in alignment with Nature, we shift our focus less on the odds by levitating into the realm of Infinity, where holographic possibilities abound.  With turkey vulture and salamander as a spirit guides, we ride the thermals of life, elevate our Auric vision and invigorate our energetic field around us.  Moreover, we shed our old skin to make way for rebirth and effectively navigate the elemental forces of land and water.  In this process, we co-create Heaven on Earth by consuming a healthy spirited diet, while feathering each other’s ripple in a positive vibration of Love and Light.

If we are to co-create a more egalitarian culture here in the Nation, the Americas, Planet and Universe throughout, we need to heed the cadence of Classroom Mothership Earth and the heart of Great Spirit.  All creatures, great and small, above and below are equal in the eyes of Great Spirit and we are all nourished by our Mother Earth.  Nature has an organic way of leveling the playing field and we see that play out in Climate Change.  Some of you have noticed that I have selected Tom Brady as a metaphor for staying calm in the pocket, especially when blitzed by unpredictable and turbulent weather patterns in the form of Giants.  Tom Brady personifies someone who may not have been blessed with the greatest natural talent, but he has become greatness by avoiding catastrophes time and again.  Specifically, the future Hall of Fame quarterback effectively demonstrates T’ai Chi like subtle movements in the pocket, psychically reading and adjusting to relentless defensive storm fronts and maintains a wide open angle gaze downfield, while believing in the possibility of making a big play, against apparent all odds.  Now if you think I’m throwing low balls at the rest of the team around him, I’ll bet that turkey vulture would concur that would be a foul ball.  Like a salamander, Brady slithers between the elements and demonstrates metamorphosis right in front of our eyes.  Like switching gears from running and passing, Mother Nature shows us similar shifting fronts of waning light and movement toward the dark.  Here in the Northern hemisphere, we officially turn our clocks yinward in the week ahead.  Masculine-yang energy is fading to black as feminine-yin energy is becoming more dominant, until it’s climax on the Winter Solstice and the end of the Mayan Calender on December 21, 2012.

Given the corporate media’s compartmentalized view of Nature’s new normal, we must get into alignment with Climate Change by embracing this phenomenon, rather than resisting it.  Humanity has a say in how we navigate this process and rather than hate the media, we must become the media.  On a personal spiritual front, experiential wisdom reminds us that what we resist persists and we must become the change we want to see in the world.  Yes, large socialist mega-corporations that continue to rape and abort our Mother need to wake the f-bomb up and stop fracking around folks, as my Midwestern aunt that likes to rant provocatively asserts.  We are spiritual beings having human experiences.  As such, we have the capacity to right the ship, come about and lead an unprecedented shift in consciousness while floating on the waters of life.  When we see things in our field of vision that are alarming, the Universe is providing us an opportunity to send the power of Love to whatever floats in our orbit.  That means that we acknowledge our anger and other flood of negative emotions that arrive and then gently breath those feelings out, while sending them Love for compost.  In a sense, we swim on land and surf the shifting tides into a New Age and Paradigm, one step, one breath and one moment at a time.  This kind of mulching has a much more pleasant stink to it than getting stuck in the muck.  By sending Love to our inner space, we shift from pollution to healthy renewable energy for all to share. 

Stay True,

Ari

Am I Being A Bat and/or Am I Just A Man Wearing A Mask?

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For the first time in today’s moccasins, I had the honor and the privilege to venture out to Salem, Massachusetts with a bunch of kids and a handful of adults. I can’t imagine a more Spirited time to visit, being as close to Halloween and subsequent holidays that appreciate the ‘thinning of the veils’ honoring Our ancestors that have passed on. It was a bit surreal, visiting Old Salem and seeing how the Pilgrims lived in conservative quarters, mixed with liberal doses of paranoia. I can imagine why it might be enticing to be a Witch and fly away on a broom for a spell, especially back then with little time for fun to be had and skeletons in the closet were swept under the rug. Besides, I love working with stray cats and in the spirit of that, the Universe presented a moment to yours truly, where a Bat mask was calling out my name. I wonder if they have Witches in China, where my new mask was made? “Sacred Bat . . . Fly to me, from the darkness of the cave. Womb-like reflections, answers it gave. Birth, death, rebirth, cycles of the whole . . . never-ending just eclipsed, the journey of the Soul.”

I remember an adventure in the desert some years back (although I wasn’t on a ‘horse with no name’) when I traveled off the beaten path to a mysterious Batcave deep within the Earth. Prior to ‘Batman Begins’, I look back and empathize with Bruce Wayne when I shut off my headlamp and meditated in the damp underground cavern with hundreds of Bats hanging around and flitting about. Admittedly, the Joker in me couldn’t resist teasing my Bat comrades a bit vis-a-vis flashing my headlamp onto some of them just to watch in awe to see them fly . . . “will someone please tell me what kind of town we live in when a man dressed up as a bat, gets all of my press . . . this town (Old World) needs an enema.” Moreover, I have had other significant encounters with Bats and I am inspired by Bat medicine and the power of wearing masks to facilitate the alchemy process in becoming something greater. It is somewhat akin to Buddhism’s Idea of Reincarnation in breaking out Our fast in allowing Our old selves to die, so that We may clear space for rebirth–particularly in the Aztec, Toltec, Tolucan and Mayan traditions. Soaring backward to last Sunday, I put on my new mask and Native feather-necklace after playing morning football with some menfolk from around the way and saged myself to loosen up and lick my wounds. Part of the reason I keep up with my Shamanic-Taoist martial arts training is so that I can keep playing football without hurting myself or anyone else, so I’m learning new ways to play. What’s more, an Eagle in flight soared above to confirm my inner transmutation, as a Blue Jay on the ground gently reminded me of the Kingdom of Heaven within, a la ‘as above, so below’. Some moments thereafter, some Crows used their communicative magic in chasing away Hawk, while a red Squirrel chimed in and a flock of Geese reminded me of ‘High Fidelity’, though I heard the Boss but didn’t see John Cusack. But I’m pretty sure I glimpsed a Shrew before She scurried away, though I’m unsure if Shakespeare helped tame Her Nervous Woodland Creature energy.

Finally, I know the ‘powers that were’ and the properly indoctrinated ‘sheeple’ whom have towed the Coke and Pepsi party line, by pledging unconscious allegiance to the ‘Corporatocracy’, may hardly bat an eye at the Law of Impermanence. But it will not always be like this, as the only constant is change. Besides, Bats eat pests and help fruit a New Earth by spreading the manna, I mean mantra, ‘shit happens’. In my experience, it is more empowering and less work in the long run to face Our fears head on, rather than hide from them through skillful avoidance tactics. This Fall, as I Leave behind my old self, like Han Solo in Star Wars, I assert, “never tell me the odds”. Given that I took probability and statistics three times in College, hung out in the energy field of manipulation and intervention way too long, I now understand that the field of infinite possibilities is way more exciting and fruitful. Moreover, living Life as if it were a hedge fund might seem like a sure bet and a safety net. However, I’d rather fly into the zone of the Unknown (like the Bats that died from human wind power towers) with my trusted inner voice as my navigation device. While Divine Will is beyond the realm of predictability and comprehension, walking in alignment with It is a knowable experience. As I meditate on Bat, I hope it’s in the cards that I don’t get hung up on the man I am, but welcome who I am becoming. What a breath of fresh air in creating everything anew from the Ground Up . . . So long as I use my psychic abilities to read defenses and stay calm in the pocket like Tom Brady–even through I didn’t play at the Big House or grow up in California. Can you dig it?

I Hopi You are well,

Ari