Tag Archives: Native American

Roaring with Lion

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I remember watching an after school PBS program with our child recently.  Although I have not yet had the privilege of seeing a lion in the wild, I am named after this creature and even within the comforts of our own home, it is strikingly obvious that it’s a jungle out there.  However, we humans are pre-wired with the capacity to borrow lion’s courage when we need to assert ourselves by clearly stating our goals and objectives with dignity and respect.  While all creatures are equal members of Great Spirit’s pride, is there a more noble creature than lion?  Yes, having an attitude of gratitude is always good medicine to ingest while leaving our Carbon Footprint during our Earth Walkabout.  Given that we are expanding souls, it is merely natural for us to want more.  Regardless of how powerful the ‘Wizard of Oz’ might appear, meditation on lion helps us remember to access courage within ourselves.  In this process, we discover how to tap into our feminine energies of creativity, intuition and imagination.  Moreover, lions are natural martial arts masters,  in the sense that they are here to teach us how to pursue our desires through stealth by avoiding danger and confrontation.  In much the same way as Master Yoda taught Luke during his Jedi training–lion reminds us that the Force (Chi) is used for knowledge and defense only.

On the global, geo-political front, prideful phat cats are sitting atop mega-corporations, while devilishly violating every conceivable free-market principle, though bullying abuses of power and economic strangulation.  Here in the Americas, it is an election year in the USA.  As featured on the Corporate Media, the Presidential ego-centered debate revealed to us yet again that president gas is still president gas.  While current President Obama identifies himself as a Democrat, the reality is that his policies are that of a moderate Republican, given that he is a business candidate of Wall Street.  True, he has spoken in populist rhetoric that resonates with many of my progressive and liberal friends out there, but wake-up and smell the coffee folks!  So what, are you going to vote for Mitt Romney to protest the conservative, business as usual mantra that bank on us in staying stuck in fixed, intellectual concepts?  Even further to the right on the political spectrum, Romney is a step closer to fascism than Obama.  A Romney administration will cut already miserly social-democratic programs and will funnel more money to the top 1% of the wage earners.  In fact, ever since the New Deal was reluctantly implemented during the era of FDR, it has been continuously beaten back by corporate power.  If you grew up in a place like South Philadelphia or any other blue-collar community with working class values, you probably thought that becoming a Republican and working for a private company was an act of rebellion and saw yourself as a cut above the other stray cats in the old neighborhood.  As Americans, we are living in a more polarizing times that ever and yet we are properly indoctrinated to allow the corporate media to successfully pull the wool over our eyes, by sleep walking in a hypnotic trance-like state.  But big money is a well-oiled machine and keeps our fuel injected Military-Industrial Complex running on Dunkin.  Really, even a cop can hardly afford a donut these days.  As if that were icing on the cake, drug dealers and private tyrannies run health care.  Before giving myself an earthquake like we had in Maine recently, I remember to channel Chris Rock’s energy by reminding folks (by cracking on insurance companies) that if they were really doing their jobs, then they would return our investment in them if we did not end up using what we paid them for in the first place!  Insurance companies make their money by betting on the probability and statistics that they will score a maximum economic profit, before we lay claim to one iota of what we paid into their pool of cash.  Dead serious, isn’t that enough to make anyone sick?

Perhaps some folks out there are not purring after reading this blog entry.  Maybe some others feel helpless about what they might do about it.  However, isn’t the cat’s meow that we can take responsibility for our own individual state of consciousness?  Getting stuck in negative thoughts and feelings will only yield more negative returns.  But choosing to look at the ways of the world with an open heart and mind and send love our internal experiences with them is empowering on both a personal and collective front.  Like a lion, we might not look like we are working harder, but we can learn to work smarter by focusing on the positive and by becoming more conscious and mindful of our thoughts, feelings and behavioral patterns.  When we meditate on the energy of lion, we stoke the Weather Underground by breathing fire into a New Sun and co-create a New Earth one step, one breath and one moment at a time. 

Stay True,

Ari

Isn’t Cougar Medicine the Cat’s Meow?

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Does anyone remember the great Native American footballer Jim Thorpe, or Wa Tho Huk, which translates as Bright Path in English?  Jim Thorpe was Sac and Fox Indian (and a wee bit Irish too) and was born and raised on a Reservation.  Although Bright Path never competed in the pentathlon or decathlon until he ventured to the Olympics in the early 1900’s, he won both events and was declared the world’s greatest athlete by the King of Sweden at the time.  But given how institutionalized racism was back then, Thorpe’s medals were taken away from him, citing a violation that he earned a few bucks playing semi-pro baseball before he competed in the Olympics.  There was nothing uncommon about that back then, just that Jim didn’t use a different name like other athletes did and later admitted that he wasn’t very wise to the ways of the world.  For those of us that watch professional football today, it might be hard to imagine that a Native American was the first president of the NFL (before the league was called the NFL).  Moreover, there is an old story that Wa Tho Huk shed light on some white players who didn’t want to level the playing field by allowing some black players to join in, by asserting something to the degree of, who cares what color they are, we’re here to play some football!  In today’s game, it’s hard to be a person of color and become President and it’s not always easy for a white man to be allowed to run with the ball.  But as we move on up into a New Age and Paradigm, we celebrate the good times of our diversity in unity as colorful rainbow children of Great Spirit.  Given his versatile athleticism and capacity to know when to lead and when to follow, I wonder if Jim Thorpe had a cougar totem as a power animal spirit guide?

Here in the Americas, the planet and Universe throughout, we are moving full steam ahead toward the Samhain, where the veils thin and the playing field levels between the material realm and the spirit realm.  With an election year rapidly approaching, I wonder if there will be trickery of coyote energy during this presidential election?  Will it be somewhat akin to 2000, when America flip-flopped between moderate Republican Al Gore and right-winger George W. Bush?  What a bunch of malarkey we have going on in American politics today!  Yet again, we have two candidates of Wall Street in our business run society that protects the status quo and seeks to block leveling impulses with expensive consequences that tax the average working American, who still tends to vote against his own interest, but without realizing it.  America is a business run society and it shows.  However, even a business run society has the potential to weave more egalitarian spiritual strands into its webbed matrix.  When resources are shared in a more equitable way, we see that there is enough and we can all win.  When our collective program nurtures healthy development of all neurons and neighborhoods with an open mind and open heart, then we equally invest in all sentient beings being equal creations of Great Spirit and nurture our Mother.  Do we continue pillaging our Mother that gives us life during our Earth walkabout or do we choose to dream a new dream?   Do we allow ourselves to shed light on psychic blood sucking vampires with dark energies surrounding them like Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan?   Do we allow skilled politicians fed by egotism to continue feeding off the ignorance of the American public at large?  Do we continue to vote for our current policies that suppress and repress our Global Community?  Who knows for sure, but remember there is a real political slugger named Rocky that is trying to run up the Capital steps that I hear makes a lot of political sense.  What is the old guard afraid of by allowing run-off elections and giving politicians free and equal access to air time?

With cougar, we have the potential to wake up and find the confidence to get in touch with our own true power.  In that, we learn to balance when to assert our power with masculine-yang energy and when to gently allow it to unfold in more feminine-yin energetic expressions.  Cougars are natural tai chi masters in that they teach us when to follow and when to lead, when to speak and when to listen.  All great leaders are good listeners.  And good listeners know how to hear the pulse of the planet and understand how to respond to the needs of our global community.  Cougars can jump up to 40 feet.  While meditating on cougar energy, just imagine the possibilities if humanity borrows its medicine to take a quantum leap forward into a New Earth!  Remember that when we become healthier by digging in and unearthing our own power, we need to ward off the naysayers that want to hold us back by convincing us to maintain the Satanic better the devil you know mantra.  Godspeed . . .  

Stay True,

Ari

Porcupine Medicine

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I remember hearing stories of some Native American tribes using porcupine needles for acupuncture.  While most of us think about acupuncture, yoga and other meditations as arriving to us as gifts from the East, a closer look points us to these same treasures being available right here in the Americas.  Perhaps the Fountain of Youth, in much the same way as the Holy Grail was the relentless pursuit for what is already available to all of us, if only we allow for it.  While hiking in the woods yesterday, I exchanged pleasantries with a nice couple along the path.  Moments thereafter, I heard a rustling in the leaves and noticed a young porcupine schlepping along as only our prickly rodent friends can.  I called out to my hiking friends and we all enjoyed watching porcupine with a renewed sense of wonder and childhood curiosity and innocence.  Had I been too distracted by taking in the radiant falling leaves or been too invested in fantastic imaginative realms, I would have missed the opportunity to indulge in the encounter with porcupine and share it with a larger participatory audience in the theater of life.

Did anyone out there see the recent presidential debate between the typically cool President Obama and mild-mannered challenger Mitt Romney?  I only made it through about a third of the event, when I started fighting off demons.  Was it just me, or did Obama’s energy radiate flat Chi?  I tried to imagine how I would have felt, or my wife for that matter, if our anniversary was celebrated by a big money corporate event, like a professional sports playoff game.  In our developmentally delayed culture in the USA, we thrive on winners and losers and spend relentlessly on winning a desired outcome.  In professional football, bounties are offered as incentive to exploit an edge and it’s the same way in with respect to the top dawgs in politics.  For example, in the ego-centered debate, our two-headed, one-party system is censored by a Corporate mob that will cut to a commercial if real issues are discussed in a truthful light.  If votes really didn’t count, then big money would not try to block certain populations from voting.  What are they afraid of?  Here in America, we have been so indoctrinated by Corporate propaganda to believe that democracy, capitalism and a free market are the same thing.  I still believe in a free for service economy that looks more like a philosophical free market based on bartering.  However, a more immediate and pragmatic solution is to infuse spiritual values into capitalism, where cooperation and competition are balanced and a round-table approach where circles are valued, rather than the dying linear, top-down and hierarchical approach that mirrors what we see on the tele.  By focusing on our inner spiritual development, seeing the silver lining and making only positive interpretations will take us to the Promised Land so within, as without.  Rather than worrying about whether right-winger Mitt Romney wins the election or not, focus on porcupines medicine to release our judgments, perceive beyond the veil of separation and experience Unity with Creator and All That Is.

Many of us on the spiritual path become too serious and forget the innocence and humility of what the energy of porcupine has to offer us, by remembering playfulness and curiosity as a way of life.  Many adults get too bogged down in trying to be too intellectual or trapped in the vicious cycle of greed and fear.  However, Great Spirit has a Divine Plan and we all have the freedom to get into alignment with that.  There is a much bigger picture going on than political victories.  If we have faith in Divine Intervention and we become the change we want to see in the world, by letting go of outcome, then we know that the Kingdom of Heaven is everywhere, provided we stay awake with an open heart.  Porcupine helps our energy flow in a healthy direction toward healing, rather than becoming stuck in victim consciousness with whatever shame and guilt we might feel.  These negative energies of our lower chakras are meant to serve and inform us about ourselves.  Once we understand and accept their messages, typically vis-a-vis bodily signals, then we are equipped to release their dysfunctional stories and co-create something new.  Porcupine is merely one point that works to stimulate energetic alignment in climbing onward in our journey together–especially as we leave behind a dying world and move closer to fine in a whole New World.

Stay True,

Ari

With Rat, We Find Success and Press Onward, While Leaving Behind Familiar Woodpiles

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I remember the energy of rat entering my consciousness this week and thought it poignant to reflect on our Nervous Woodland Creature friend for this week’s journal entry.  At school, we are reading the book The Rats of Nihm to our students, while they sit captivated by how shrewd the countryside rats are, with relation to their lab rat counterparts. However, it isn’t that country rats are superior to city rats or white lab rats, as elitist intellectuals might secretly suspect from positions of judgment.  Rats have been popular among social scientists, as they have shown an ability to form cognitive maps and reason.  In fact, if a rat learns where to go to get a tasty morsel of cheese as a reward and when the cheese is removed, the rat will learn a new pathway to the Promised Land.  We humans, on the other hand, tend to keep going back to the once Fertile Crescent, even when it is no longer serving us.  Rats are adaptable, restless, shrewd and are oriented toward success.  But getting attached to any energy, in the spirit of human ego, is somewhat akin to a rat developing an attachment to the comforts of familiar woodpiles.  Further, egotism seeks to strengthen its identity through the relentless pursuit of happiness, rather than knowing inner joy as a way of life.  Sometimes living authentically takes staring fear square in the face, stepping outside of familiar woodpiles and taking it to the edge for growth to occur.  And then blue jay flies in and reminds us that we have the right to become master illusionists, skilled politicians or pretenders to the throne.  But we also know that blue jay will show us how to become true wizards, real magicians, if only we allow for it.  Perhaps meditation on rat will help us succeed in becoming that.

Here in Maine and the nation throughout, we are restless as rats in our drive to level the playing field with gay marriage and voter registration being hot ballot-box items.  Some folks, particularly the dimensionally challenged dinosaurs of the old world want to hold folks back by scaling down human rights by blocking the expansion of certain rights to our human family.  I get a chuckle, in the black comedy sense, when so-called Christians pontificate about protecting the sanctity of marriage and right wingers cite protecting the sanctity of the voting process by finding clever ways to keep the riff raft out, so to speak.  And I get that some heterosexuals that sit on top of the majority have a sense of entitlement about their privileged status.  But what about when you are on the receiving end of deliverance?  What are these folks afraid of?  Was Jesus a bigot?  My understanding of Christ’s fundamental teaching was modeling Love as a way of life and His inspiring us to spread it liberally and unconditionally.  Moreover, the devilish fixed idea of hating the sin and loving the sinner is inconsistent with His message, though I can empathize with the compartmentalized indoctrination of the masses, particularly here in America.  Remember that Hitler sang Christmas carols to children as jews, gypsies, homosexuals and other fringe groups were incinerated.  Remember that Hitler commented that he wanted to come back to America, given our far greater harness on propaganda than Nazi Germany.  Forget not that America’s very own IBM literally made a killing through an exclusive business arrangement with the Nazis, by selling them the technological profiling precision that allowed for strategic genocide.  Prior to that, it was the sound economics of slavery, stealing land that was not for sale and cannot be owned.  How do we own what gives us life?  Do you realize that biological and germ warfare  nearly wiped out First Nation folks?  If “We The People” are going to heal our Nation, Planet and Universe throughout, then we need to clear our Karma.  All Karma means is the Higher Spiritual Law of Cause and Effect, which can be transcended.  When we step into the realm of Infinity, we know the realm of Intention and infinite possibilities.  Perhaps Dick Cheney has had a change of heart since he has had a change of heart and will see that elements of the 2005 Energy Bill that allows for underground pollution hurts all of us.  Where did you get those high cheek bones, Dick?  Maybe Mitt Romney will authentically see himself as one of the biggest welfare recipients around and realize his dependency on the liberal welfare state by his active participation in the Morman-LDS church, which takes in more government welfare dollars than non-Mormons in Utah.  Remember the Preamble to the US Constitutions speaks of promoting the “general welfare”, or a safety net that everyone should benefit from.  The only difference is that Mitt and his followers want the net to catch the welfare for his family, religion and the opulent minority, but not for the rascal multitude.  In his view, the overwhelming majority needs to be contained or else our natural leveling impulses are a threat to Country Club living.

Rats, now the cat is out of the bag and the rat is tempted to scurry back to familiar woodpiles.  But with rat consciousness, we are equipped to use our collective intellect and transcend the comforts of old securities in consciousness by releasing old, dysfunctional energies and patterns of behavior.  With the arrival of Autumn, an election coming up and the end of the Mayan calendar coming down the pike on the Winter Solstice in December 21, 2012, we are officially in transition.  Yes, there is forceful opposition to co-creating a more egalitarian New Earth, we have the spirited Universal winds at our backs that cannot be stopped.  Nature reminds us that change is inevitable.  True, we have two republicans running for President.  Barak Obama, being the moderate and Mitt Romney being the right-winger.  Both are candidates of Wall Street and carry allegiance to a dying world, but one offers a slightly more paved causeway to a New Age and Paradigm.  Regardless of who wins, please remember to focus on your own inner spiritual growth and evolve in that light.  Just be, let go and enjoy the ride!  And remember to step up to peace by standing your ground when bullies try to prevent you from getting out to vote!

Stay True,

Ari

Falling Back, Bees Are Leaving Us Behind

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I remember taking in a sweet breath of life recently and couldn’t help but notice a bee entangled in a spider web.  Some moments later, I felt tangled up in blue as I observed the spider drinking in life by draining the bee’s righteous Chi.  Perhaps some folks would judge the spider as a killer and sentence him to a death sentence as well.  But Nature has Her own way and in this case and as I look back, this experience past was the death of all of us.  In fact, Autumn has arrived here in the Northern Hemisphere and the leaves greenery are waning, while the vibrant colors are waxing.  Masculine summer’s light is also waning, as we are naturally slowing down and welcoming the darkness of night rising.  Light and dark are in equal alignment with one another, reminding us that balancing our energies is natural, if not normal.  We all have masculine and feminine energies waxing and waning within our Beings, always in flux, whether realized or not.  Nothing against cosmetic surgery and performance enhancement drugs, but I wonder how costly these enterprises would be if human beings were supported and encouraged to naturally find comfort in our own skins?  Would it be so challenging to find that deep place of self-esteem that says to thyself, I’m OK.  Although watching a bee get whacked was unsettling in the sense that the bee was part of me, at the same time, I thanked the bee for bringing balance to the Force by offering itself to spider and sharing its consciousness with the rest of us.  Perhaps we won’t see any bees for a while, but we are still capable of ingesting their medicine by meditating on the sweetness of life.  Maybe burning a candle made of beeswax will rekindle their power and facilitate the cross-pollination process in raising the consciousness of the planet as we approach the Winter Solstice in December, the darkest day of the year.  What will happen at this significant time on Nature’s cycle? 

Does anyone in the participatory audience remember when Beatles founding father John Lennon sang the anthem Give Peace A Chance?  Well, as I reflect on the Autumn Equinox and Peace on Earth, let it begin with me.  And if you are reading, let it begin with you.  My soulful wife once gave me a card that reminded me that peace does not come from being in an environment of comfortable bliss surrounding me like a security blanket.  Rather, peace is found in the depths of a calm heart, even when chaos abounds.  For the record, I know some of you appreciate and enjoy the way this blog playfully weaves the spirited animal energy into the material realm, while conjuring up positive vibes that feel good.  If that is the case, then perhaps it conjures up empathy for the drug addict that tries to stay high all the time in the ether because hitting the ground is too painful and suffering, though inevitable, is avoided at all costs.  But a key dynamic in the spiritual path is that meditation shows us inconvenient truths about ourselves in that quiet space.  We have the potential to get to know ourselves on a deeper level and make friends with that.  However, I also recognize and appreciate that some readers, like the drug addict, do not like the smack down that they feel when this blog explores the harsh realities that are happening on our planet today.  While I appreciate this position, the mystic swims in the waters the addict drowns in.  This blog will continue to explore healing the polarity consciousness that currently divides us on Mother Earth and co-facilitate the transition into a New Age and Paradigm, where we celebrate the good times of Diversity within Unity.  Instead of God Bless America, we say God Bless The Planet and Universe throughout.  When I gaze on the lyrics of Genesis, it’s almost as if I can hear Peter Gabriel singing let us create humankind in our image.  Now I realize that everything should be taken with a grain of salt.  Moreover, a conservative interpretation of these lyrics, for those who like to take things literally, could be that we were genetically engineered by advanced beings from another planet.  Perhaps a more liberal perspective might view God as a transcendent Collective Energy that allows for the evolution of His-Her co-creation that illuminates as we wake up from our slumber, here on Mothership Earth.  Yes, there is a concrete sense of security in a dogmatic fixed idea of believing in a white man sitting up on a hierarchical throne with a gavel deciding who is permitted to join the Country Club and whom will be punished in a slow roast.  But Heaven and Hell are subjective inner states of consciousness that are reflected in our outer reality.  All we really have is right now, this precious moment that is always eternal.

As humans, when we get stuck in our fixed ideas and box ourselves in the ghettos of the mind with intellectual concepts and emotional reactions thereof, we tend to experience security in our consciousness that tastes like comfort food.  However, as we move onward in our collective assent, we expand and open up to the increasing spirited energies that are streaming in our planet right Tao.  Some folks will react to these energies unconsciously and that is their right.  Yes, there are more natural disasters, wars, poverty, famines and disconnection among the human factor with relation to Nature, though paradoxically more technologically connected.  But there is security in knowing that there is predictability in unpredictability.  If one way doesn’t work, another way will.  Together, we climb onward in surface and depth, one breath, one moment, one step at a time. 

Stay True,

Ari

Bear Like Me

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I remember when a fellow virtual blogging friend liked that I referenced the  Law of Attraction and invited me to share a related story in reference to this Divine Law.  In the spirit of that, I serve up this week’s story to share with you.  In my day gig of working in public schools, I know we all get a little stir crazy as the school year winds down to a close.  However, during this transition, I remember to maintain perspective via the Jimmy Buffett earworm that if we couldn’t laugh, we’d all go insane.  In fact, I kept dreaming about hiking with some cats from The Clubhouse, in the mighty White Mountains, while at the same time practicing letting go of outcome during the visualization process.  Although now considered small in stature, modern scientists tell us that long ago the White Mountains in New Hampshire were once a Goliath of a range compared to the Colorado Rockies.  When traversing the Presidential Range, embracing Climate Change and getting down with the elements is a key dynamic in a successful hike.  Cold, wet and windy weather mixed with rocks, roots and some tactical climbing is always more challenging when slippery when wet.   Although our forecast looked bleak, we were livin’ on a prayer by keeping our feet on the ground and seeing the forest through the trees. 

After two full days of peaks and valleys, five, 4000 footers and coming down from the mountaintop, we were all thankful for Highland Hut’s family friendly atmosphere, hot showers and hearty meals.  After our off the grid jaunt, my hiking brothers could not wait to introduce me to the opulent Mt. Washington Hotel, where big Whigs from another era used to travel via horse and buggy to enjoy the rustic scenery in decadence.  Now readers, you might think we were more likely to make contact with a bear out on the trails, while away from civilization.  Not so.  Just after parking our car at the Mt. Washington Hotel, I barely caught a peripheral glimpse of  a very large creature running past us with the distinct sound of claws on pavement, when one of my hiking buds excitedly identified the animal as a bear!  A few tracks later–after playing an old arcade game that was out of this world, we visited an underground tavern called “the Cave” and told our story.  Further, an employee came out of hibernation, nodded and informed us that this friendly creature was a local and merely following his daily ritual of knocking off local dumpsters in search of his daily bread.  Aye, aren’t bears good reminders for us to tap into our own natural resources within the depth of our souls?  In a karmic sense, bear may facilitate our making life’s choices from a position of personal empowerment, rather than egotism.  Given bears connection to trees, we are reminded that trees are conduits linking Heaven and Earth.  With Yang dominating the season in this neck of the woods, we are more energetically equipped to manifest knowledge, fertility and growth right Tao.

As I look back on our time out in nature, I realize the experience was the death of me.  When listening in on ghostly storytelling that accompanied the  grand old hotel and nature spirits, I look back on a private encounter with a dead man walking that serves as a good reminder that we are indeed spirits in the material world.  With bear in our consciousness, we are equipped to navigate the waters of the subconscious and unconscious mind.  When heeding the deafening sound of silence, the inner voice strikes a thunderous chord reverberating from the soul’s den.  While tapping into the Dreamtime and bringing back to Earth what arrives to us from Infinity, we are able to see through the smokescreen world of 10, 000 things and bling bling.  And bear reminds us that life tastes sweet like honey, if only we allow ourselves to directly experience it by moving beyond egotistical intellectual concepts and the robotic doings.  Do you hear what I hear?  Do you see what I see?

Stay True,

Ari

Managing the Dragon’s Fire Within

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I remember when a brotherly teammate once reminded me of my own oscillations between order and chaos.  Back in High School, we played sports together–riding the wave of a 12 year losing streak on the football field, but exchanging a textbook handoff and going undefeated for some years in track.  While some of us embrace our power, many of us fear it and subsequently choose to slay our internal dragon.  Sometimes, we do this by trying control everything in our lives, such as over indulging in work and practical matters.  Here on Channel Tao, I remember the power in staying light on the feet and adding color and magic to life, when watching dragonflies flitting about o’er grassy ball fields.  In fact, their aerial feats are somewhat akin to UFO and USO sightings that have dazzled scientists and the general public alike.  As I sit here submerged in my consciousness, I cool my own dragon fire when noticing our very own secret government’s role in liberally funneling taxpayer monies into the Pentagon, while cloaked under the auspices of “foreign technology” and “research and development”.  Why is it that senators and congressmen ignore the call to allow the government to “meddle” in our lives by providing single-payer healthcare to “promote the general welfare” of our citizenry?  What makes it the epitome of public enemy to ask for a more equitable structure, where the top dawg 1% pays their fair share and our taxes are more evenly distributed?  Isn’t it homeland security to level the playing field?  But if there is a bailout on Wall Street and/or a war to fuel, then the bailouts are arranged without Federal Reserve!

Long ago, legend teaches us that dragon, in his great power, was once wise and a master illusionist.  But he was tricked by coyote to prove his power by turning himself into a dragonfly.  Somewhat akin to a black sorcerer, or a gifted propagandist, dragon got caught up in his own facade by falling for coyote’s prank and subsequently lost his power.  I wonder if Bob Dylan channeled this story from the heavens when he transcribed and sang the lyrics, “the first one now will later be last”?  The truth is that we are all one.  When we step into the realm of Infinity, abundance awaits for everyone and we can all win.  Money is energy and merely depends on the value we attach to it.  And Great Spirit reminds us that it is wise to let go of our attachments.  Further, as spiritual beings having a human experiences, we are always going to flirt with our attachments because our Source is housed in a human shell with the desire to want more.  But do we allow ourselves to remember gratitude by staying calm in the pocket and cutting back to inner peace like Tom Brady and Barry Sanders, respectively?  When getting distracted from holographic messages from an iBot, negative thoughts, emotions, parenting and work to do and bills to pay–is it possible to remember that we are both part Divine and part creature, rather than getting lost in the robotic doings in this “world of 10,000” things?  As we transition into a Golden New Aquarian Age and Paradigm, the demonic shackles of ego will need to rest in peace, while our awareness rises in the spirit of celebrating the good times of Diversity in Unity in our Collective Consciousness.  Please use the energies of the Lunar Full Moon Eclipse on Monday, June 4 and the approaching Summer Solstice on June 19, 2012 to guide you in transforming your consciousness to take flight.  While there is truth in the saying that men are like the Sun and women are like the Moon, the reality is that we all have masculine and feminine energy oscillating within our Being.  Moreover, we need to remember that there exists a Divine Marriage between this Yin-Yang dance and that balance is key.  Energetically, this is a good time of year to manifest and transform our consciousness in our lives and say good-bye to devilish, fixed ideas that box us in. 

Readers, have you ever heard of the old saying, “you are what you eat?”  In the spirit of that, I like to embark on a cleanse every now and again, typically around the quarterly equinoxes and solstices here on Classroom Mothership Earth.  Given my experience, I wanted to share with you a four-day cleanse that I caught wind of by the great Seneca Tribe here in North America some years ago.  Each day is believed to clear different areas in the body.  The first day cleans out the colon.  On the second day, toxins, excess salts and calcium deposits are released.  On day three, mineral-rich fiber flows through your digestive track.  Finally, the blood, lymphatic system and other organs are nourished with minerals.  Remember to drink plenty of water every day, but accompany that with fruit only on day one, herbal teas only on day two, veggies only on day three and broth only on the final day.  This cleanse offers our human shell a meditation 101 opportunity to watch without judgement the thoughts and feelings that arrive in our consciousness and then let them gently pass with care.  Although this may seem daunting, I find this experience good for the souls personal empowerment.  On the personal weather front, have you put on too much weight or do you look like a scarecrow?  Have you tended to the changes you have wanted to make in your life?  Are you resisting change when it would be wise to do otherwise?  Do you remember wisdom in what we resist, persists?  As we become the change we want to see in the world, please remember that we are what we eat!   

Stay True,

Ari

Soaring Yangward in the Spirit of an Eagle in Flight

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I remember when an old co-worker friend gave me a handful of bumper stickers that collectively found a home on my old guitar case.  If pressed, my favorite one sports the lyrics, Who Would Jesus Bomb?  However, Sorry I haven’t been to church lately, but I’ve been busy practicing Witchcraft and becoming a Lesbian, arrives in a distant second.  And then I thought of the powerful You Tube video that responds to the Trayvon Martin tragedy in a way that left a roomful of Sweathogs speechless in class the other day.  In fact, one of The Sweathogs poignantly commented that before I showed the video, my student thought the story about Trayvon was something straight out of the 1900s.  I’m so proud of Horshack for connecting the dots of American History X, as revealed on an episode of PBS’s Liberty’s Kids that we featured during one of our Social Studies classes.  And then I think of Starbuck’s taking a stand against bigotry against folks whom are sexually oriented differently than I–though many so-called followers of Christianity and “Disciples of Christ” seem threatened by Starbuck’s desire to pour coffee equally to everyone, regardless of their sexuality.  I don’t know why, but perhaps having choices like drinking Our coffee black, with cream and/or sugar leaves a bad taste in their mouth? 

“Eagle . . . Fly high, touch Great Spirit.  Share your medicine, touch me, honor me, so that I may know you too.”  Feathering Our ripple with Eagle’s spirited guidance teaches Us how to balance Our co-creative connection to Heaven and Earth so that We may know balance by walking with “one foot in spirit, one foot in ground”, as Abenaki storyteller, poet and novelist Joseph Bruchac muses in his classic Native American book Dawn Land.  Similarly, Bruce Springsteen recently reminded Us in his keynote speech at South by Southwest, that Our tensions of opposites relax as We become more effective in holding two seemingly contradictory views in Our psyches at the same time.  Perhaps my own Nervous Woodland Creature energy might have been driven less nuts back in elementary school while singing the apparently contradictory folk lyrics, “it rained all night, the day I left, the weather it was dry . . . the sun’s so hot, I froze to death, Susanna don’t you cry.”  In the spirit of that, one of the reasons I stick to my daily meditation puree is because it allows me to gently watch two seemingly polar opposite ideas pass through my field of awareness with compassion, while releasing judgments that May Spring up.  In saying “peace out” to budding judgments, We say “what up, G” to giving inner peace a chance by transmuting internal conflict into Love and Light.  And it can’t hurt to remember Brother Buffett’s Infinite wisdom that jests “if we couldn’t laugh, we’d all go insane.”  Isn’t the definition of insanity to keep doing the same thing over and over, but expecting different results in the process?  I don’t know about You, but I’d rather take a step into the realm of Infinity than stay stuck in quicksand of insanity!

During this forthcoming week, please consider allowing Eagle to fly into Your life in a way that teaches you how to view Your current situation from a perspective that includes all directions.  Given its strong talons, Eagle has the potential to help You stay grounded and remember that with great power, comes great responsibility.  From a karmic perspective, Eagle helps Us understand that Our actions have consequences that will arrive more instantly if We choose to invoke Eagle’s power.  Please be mindful of what you think, do and/or say and what you do not think, do and/or say.  Also, meditation on the figure 8 sign of Infinity, the water element and paying attention to Life’s opportunities will help get your creative juices flowing like an eternal spring, within the depths of You soul.  And gaze onto Your fears with chimes free of repression, suppression and/or going Straight Outta Woodland, Ma’ Chucka.

Stay True,

Ari

Skunk Sprays playful aromatic reminders as we Spring Ahead

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I remember my wife and I engaging in a meaningful conversation recently regarding the balancing act of maintaining authenticity and being respectful and aware of others in social environments.  Perhaps not coincidentally, we traded stories about one another’s encounters with a skunk that lives around the way in our ‘hood.  Poignantly, I woke up with a heartfelt chuckle somewhere in time during the wee hours of the Full Moon cycle last week to the literal smell of a skunk residing in our neck of the woods.  Ah, “Skunk . . . tell me the story, so I will know it well, of how to attract, and how to repel.”

In a natural sense, Skunks are a good reminder for Us to carry a playful and nonchalant air about Our Selves.  Moreover, their medicine helps Us balance being True to Our Selves with behaving respectfully within the diversity of Our social environment.  My encounter with Skunk is a pungent reminder that We are rapidly approaching the Spring Equinox on March 20, 2012, here on Mothership Earth.  During this budding time of year, We Spring forward, “just around the corner to the Light of Day”, as Light and Dark (Yin/Yang, Masculine/Feminine) energies dance equally, if only momentarily.  Although the Spring Equinox is somewhat akin to the Fall Equinox’s energetic alignment–a subtle and yet fragrant scent in the air reminds Us that We are leaving behind Our yinward focus and becoming more outward in Our growth.  In this process, awareness May Spring up from the Underground that stinks to the degree that it May smell like You have been sprayed by a Skunk.  For example, in Our dying Puritanical cultural story in the USA, We have been well-trained to repress and suppress Our True Selves.  Isn’t it obvious to Us that master illusionist behind the Corporate Media’s curtain make a killing by constantly bombarding Us with propaganda?  Do You agree with the voice that says We should augment Our Selves by buying into the cosmetic belief that says We should buy capital that will somehow make Us more complete than We already are naturally?  Skunk is here to remind Us that We need to remember the deep place of self-esteem that says to the Self, “I’m OK and I May stand firmly rooted like a Wise Old Tree in my own personal authority.”  Do You need to fortify your defenses and protect Yourself, so that You can’t be easily intimidated, seduced and/or controlled by others by auctioning off Your power?

Additionally, Skunk medicine’s year-round power cycle potentially helps Us become more aware of Our body language and the signals We give off toward One another.  Specifically, Skunk asks Us to pay attention to respecting Our boundaries of Self and One another.  For example, Native American wisdom reminds Us that, “it can be dangerous to leak sexual energy if you are not looking for a mate.  It puts you in a games condition that may feed your ego, but is not truly how others may feel about you.  Are you in a sense saying, ‘I’m available?’  This can cause hard feelings and issues when it all comes out.  It also leaks out energy that you could have used in a more constructive way for yourself.”  Moreover, We May learn from Skunk’s mystical and magical associations to gain attention without being arrogant and/or irritating–an especially challenging and hard lesson for Yours truly!  Skunk gently encourages Us to get to know Ourselves truly on a deeper soul level.  One way We evoke the process of getting to, “know Thyself”, is through experimenting with Aromatherapy.  The scent of Aromatherapy May assist Us in increasing Our sensuality, vis-a-vis physically, sexually, psychically and spiritually–if only We allow Ourselves to take the time to breathe it in as we Spring forward!

I Hopi You are well,

Ari

Hungry Like the Wolf

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I remember when I was “24 and there’s so much more”, while visiting my uncle and family out in San Francisco, being really into Beat poetry at the time and contemplating moving out to the Bay Area.  One evening, we ventured out to North Beach, ate at a place where Francis Ford Coppola reportedly liked to eat that featured a garlic & basil pizza to die for, then went across the street for a brew at Vesuvius, followed by getting lost for a while in City Lights, the worlds largest independent bookstore.  While On The Road, I felt the spirits of Jack Kerouac, Neale Cassidy and Allen Ginsberg with me howling at night, feeling like one of the ’10, 000 Maniacs’ in this “world of 10, 000 things.”

“Wolf . . . teacher, pathfinder, moon-dog of my Soul.  Howling, singing teaching how to know new ideas who returns to the clan to teach and share medicine.”  I can relate to the Wolf in me as I venture out into the woods, away from the pack and my den to commune with Nature and be with my solitude.  Although I am loyal like a dog and a faithful family guy, I really need to just be with myself sometimes (don’t we all?).  As such, I set the intention and choose to follow through with creating that space for myself down wit my Nervous Woodland Creature (NWC) peeps, Straight Outta Woodland, Ma Chucka.  Moreover, the cumulative effect of staying in alignment with this energetic action plan, is that I am noticing that I am becoming the change I want to see in the world.  And though I firmly Bee Leave in the ancient wisdom that asserts, ‘heal Thyself’, I also understand the awareness that there is no substitute for good therapy.  In the spirit of healing Our Selves, sometimes it takes letting go and trusting a gifted professional to allow Our Selves to tap into Our power in a way that has been cloaked in the Darkness of the subconscious Underground, due to Unseen fears within the individual and Collective Consciousness.  Although this is important for all of Us, it is especially paramount for those of Us that are healers and helpers, as We have a responsibility to elevate Our vibrations to Our Higher Selves.  I strongly encourage all of You to spend some time alone out in Nature and/or a quiet Sacred Space that allows the teacher in You to come about.  In doing so, You will evoke and share great truths that will help lead Us to a perceptual shift in the consciousness of Humankind and beyond.  “Mister I ain’t no boy, no I’m a man and I believe in the Promised Land!”

In conclusion, I remember hearing an old Native American story of Grandfather that is teaching his grandson about controlling his emotions and keeping his power without auctioning it off by reacting without reserve.  Grandfather relates to his grandson that there are two Wolves always fighting with each other inside his head.  One wolf is quick to anger and will rage in its desire to tear everything he sees into tiny little pieces.  The other Wolf understands Temperance and is very wise, stays in control of himself, knows when to assert his power and when to yield.  After hearing Grandfather tell this story, grandson asks, “which one wins?”  Grandfather responds, “whichever one I feed.”  Remember balance between authentic Self and respectful family/community is key.  Please enjoy becoming the Full Moon during the wee hours of January 9th, shapeshifting into its energies and the hearty digestion process thereafter–as We breathe fire into the Chinese Year of the Dragon on January 23, 2012. 

I Hopi You are Well,

Ari