Isn’t Owl Medicine a Hoot?

I remember our child coming home from school, sporting an owl’s mask recently. Some moments thereafter, I was having a conversation with folks in a shelter from the storm and couldn’t help but feel captivated by an owl statue nesting there.  Following that, I received a spirited forecast from some friends that included owl’s significance at this time on Nature’s clock.  Owl’s medicine is powerful and we recognize its wisdom when paying attention to the omens in our lives, particularly when watching Channel Now, here on Classroom Mothership Earth.  In becoming more conscious in our program development, we are noticing ring tones getting louder that are arriving in our consciousness in the forms of visions, dreams and deeper feelings.  In our awakening, we see our soul’s recognition of these nuances and making the necessary shifts in alignment with our changing tides accordingly.  When we allow ourselves to heed the calling of Great Spirit, the Universal Quarterback if you will, we empower ourselves to expand our collective awareness, rather than analyzing exclusively from our intellect.  There is nothing wrong with using our intellect. However, if we only rely on our intellect without balancing our awareness and intuition, then we will collectively continue participating in the current nightmare we are living in, proliferate human egotism, suffering and our ultimate extinction on our planet.  When Jesus said, “be of good cheer!  It is I; do not be afraid”, what he was talking about is humanity waking up to the I Am Presence within our own inner state of consciousness.  In the spirit of that, we co-create Heaven on Earth.  The Christ wasn’t telling us to develop a devilishly fixed idea that demanded our blind worship of a mental concept of an iconic rock star.  He wasn’t asking us to be groupies, rather he was asking us to evolve into the light of consciousness.  I believe that Creator manifested Christ Consciousness into the body of Christ so that we embody Being when we are awake.  Like Christ, consuming owl energy assists us in effectively seeing in the dark without being afraid.  When we perceive through owl’s lens, we peer into the future, akin to the psychical power of clairvoyance.  Beyond the realm of probability and statistics, lies the higher realm of Infinity, where possibilities abound. 

We are at a crossroads today in our Nation, Americans, Planet and Universe throughout.  Not long ago, the United States was in a civil war when Abraham Lincoln our Nation’s President.  The Country was divided then, as it is today.  Slavery existed then as it does today.  Both the master and the slave suffer from the shackles of ego-centered oppression.  We are more polarized than ever and on the brink of something unknown, as many prophesies and calendar’s have forecasted.   While we almost had our first orange President (but with white ears), we still have our first biracial President of European and African decent.  Curiously, owl hints at reincarnation.  Has anyone else out there observed that Barack Obama looks strikingly similar to Abraham Lincoln, in both physical stature and energetically?  Have you heard the positing that Obama is the reincarnation of Lincoln?  Will he suffer the same fate for standing his ground on the edge of the cliff as we all gaze into the Great Void of the unknown?  Many of us are sleepwalking through our lives, as if in a hypnotic trance, lost in the robotic doings of life and completely identified with the voice in the head.  Who is that voice?  Do we have the courage to take the quantum leap into unchartered territory?  When you read the politics of this blog, do you find yourself feeling whacked at times?  That is what it feels like to wake up and it does not feel comfortable or secure.  But there is security in knowing that waking up is both a death and a rebirth.  Waking up means we are willing to allow ourselves to effectively weather the Climate Change of  growing pains when shedding our old skin and rising up from the ashes like the phoenix.  Do you have a tendency to resist the weather inside of you and as reflected in the outside world around you?  Or, do you consciously accept what is and say yes to the situation as it unfolds, through radical internal non-resistance and pacifism?  This does not mean we condone the tyranny.  Rather, it means that we accept what is.  In that acceptance, we harness our power and take conscious action to do something about it.  By releasing negative pollution within, we send it into the fire and transform this energy into a renewable higher vibration.  This is what happens when we heed the messages from our lower Chakras by feeling those experiences organically and then sending them love, by cutting back to inner peace by sticking in alignment with our Higher Chakras. 

Now is the time to be in alignment with our spirit, mind and bodies.  Now more than ever, it is a good time to give thanks and let go.  We are all living vessels traveling here together.  Now is the time for our business and political leaders, the haves, the have a little, want mores and the have-nots to accurately reflect policies that embrace what is good for the goose and gander alike.  There is enough and we can all win.  There is nothing to be afraid of.  The power and labor of Love is a boundless energy that springs eternal.  In the music within, can’t you hear the earworm, celebrate we will because Life is short but sweet for certain?  Remember that the moon will still shine, the sun will still rise and our darkness is our sunlight.

Stay True,

Ari

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

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

With Squirrel Energy, We Playfully Get Down To Business Without Going Too Nuts

I remember playing basketball and doing my job with a student this week, when he called out to me, “Ari look, a squirrel”.  Here in the Northern hemisphere, the seasonal transition into Fall is rapidly approaching us and we are venturing back to school, work and getting organized, while saying good-bye to summer.  Meditation on squirrel reminds us that our business can be our pleasure, if only we allow for it.  In a sense, this week’s blog was falling out in the doing, while leaving its passing behind.  And the doing becomes less robotic when we are truly present with what is and our busy doings become awakened and more about being.  Summer is waning and on this Equinox, light and dark will be in balance, if only briefly.  At this junction on Nature’s cycle, the Autumn Equinox is somewhat akin to the Spring Equinox, when masculine and feminine energies are also equal.  Right now, we are looking forward to the masculine-light waning and the dark night of feminine energies rising until their peak on the Winter Solstice on December 21, 2012, the first day of Winter.  Isn’t it synchronistic that squirrel medicine carries a 12 week cycle and the end of the Mayan Calendar is approximately that distance into the future?  Yes, we are living in exciting times on our planet today, but not without the labor pains associated with giving birth to a New Earth.  Squirrels are especially powerful medicine at this moment and when watching them being squirrely, we are reminded of their spirited teaches on being prepared, but hopefully without going too nuts in the process.  Does anyone else out there get a chuckle from watching our squirrel brothers and sisters bursting with nervous energy, scurrying around, while stashing their acorns and sometimes forgetting where they buried their treasures? 

I remember when “911” happened like it was yesterday.  In fact, I knew something like this event was coming–in the sense that I could feel it.  At the time, I was working at a group home for children in State custody that had been severely abused and neglected by their birth families and they were already at school.  A couple of my co-workers came in and asked if I knew what had happened and directed me to the TV in the living room.  Although I was only in my mid-twenties at the time, I had not lived a sheltered life and I understood what was going on in our world geopolitically.  I realized that many folks on the planet, including a growing number of  folks here in America, lived without a sense of security and experienced terrorism in their day-to-day lives.  Sadly, but understandably, terrorism seeks to disrupt the status quo and uses violence as a means to justify the end.  This crazy idea is similar to the fundamentalist belief in the maximum economic profit business model that wealthy nations use to exploit poor nations on our planet today.  But violence, although illegitimate and foolish, predictably begets more violence.  We reap what we sow.  Stockpiling weapons of mass destruction, which the United States continues to hoard more than any other nation, is asking for more of the same.  However, if we want to eliminate this clinically insane nightmare, then we need to start balancing cooperation with competition and clean up the resources that we share by co-creating win-win solutions, rather than adopting a quick fix, band-aid approach.  Isn’t it obvious that the old ways do not work any more?  As humans, we have historically been at our best when we are at our worst.  But the times, they are a changin’ and we need to get out on the forefront and proactively get in alignment with Nature to facilitate our transition into a New Age and Paradigm.  Can’t you hear the arrival of John Lennon’s energy saying, give peace a chance . . . that’s all we’re asking, is give it a chance . . . it’s never been done.

In welcoming squirrel’s spirited streams of energy, we remember how to balance letting go of our stockpiles that no longer serve us and tap into our reservoirs for a future rainy day.  Our spirited Nervous Woodland Creature friends are offering us powerful energies to release dysfunctional relationship patterns, fixed thought processes, programmed beliefs and objects that once brought security, but are no longer serving us–without going too nuts in the process!  This is somewhat akin to a toddler giving up his pacifier and learning to soothe himself, rather than relying on the object of his affection.  In our modern world of 10, 000 things, it might mean giving up some old clothes and giving them away to someone who really needs them more.  Systemically, perhaps this looks like giving up our addiction to foreign oil and replacing it with free energy for the entire planet by tapping into the Earth’s natural energy centers, as true wizard Nikola Tesla once envisioned.  Maybe that is too far-fetched for some, but burning less fossil fuels and finding more organic ways to cultivate energy that is cleaner for all of us is possible.  Bringing in the energy of squirrel is merely one source that is pollution free, particularly if worked in the positive.  For those at the top of the food chain, it might mean giving up tax breaks and sharing a bit more with the overwhelming majority–picturing buying us time and saving us money.  It might mean looking another sentient being in the eyes, perceiving the mirror and realizing that we are all cut from the same cloth.  In tapping into squirrel consciousness, we co-create a safe place for an untroubled heart and mind, where wisdom and caring are gathered and stored and anxious fears about the future magically disappear. 

Stay True,

Ari

Praying with Mantis and Gentle Meditations with Deer

I remember an encounter I had recently, when I observed a teacher carrying a jar with a praying mantis to share with her students in their classroom.  I love when teachers use the natural world to tap into their students organic curiosity about the world around them and connect that to what they are learning in school.  Although resources in public education are limited, I just love witnessing some evidence of positive momentum in nurturing a sense of community and harmony in our schools.  In an urban Chicago school, a powerful mantra is built into their culture that says, “it’s OK to walk away.”  When meditating on praying mantis medicine, we hear the ring tone of stillness speaking to us.  I wonder how many internal martial arts and meditation students consume the energy of this curious insect?  When we allow ourselves to venture deeply into our souls through dreaming, positive thinking, being present and remembering to just breathe consciously, we allow ourselves to elevate our consciousness and move into to realms and open up to new possibilities.  This happens when we choose to see the silver lining and make only positive interpretations.  Easier said than done.  But deer can help us tap into a sense of wonder and curiosity, while gently luring us into new adventures.  Moreover, when chewing on deer’s spirited power, we become less jerky and more aware of our bodies informing us and listening to our gut, the seat of our instinctual selves.  Can’t you hear the earworm of Master Jedi Obi Wan Kenobi saying, you must feel the Force (Chi) around you?  There is an energy, a Kingdom of Heaven that is there for all of us to see, if only we take a moment to notice. 

Did anyone out there catch the wind blowing smoke of the Democratic National Convention recently?  In our business run society, does anyone notice that the political party that fronts itself a party that welcomes everyone, is bribed by the same largesses that it’s so-called villain on the other side of the aisle?  But the truth is that there are no enemies.  We are all part of the web of life, though we are diverse strands in the living web.  What we do to that web, we do to ourselves.  Is Coke or Pepsi Democrat or Republican?  If we are to move beyond political rhetoric and our attachments to our beliefs, then we will actualize a new vision of our nation, our Mother and the Universe throughout.  In this sphere, we will co-create a New World of Unity Consciousness and celebrate the good times of our diversity.  Until we disarm our internal weapons of mass destruction and let go of our attachments to feeling inferior and/or superior to another person, tribe, community, country, etc., we will remain caught up in the collective nightmare we have woven for ourselves.  Isn’t it obvious that the corporate media thrives off the blame game drama that unfolds in front of our eyes on the tele, while distracting us from the truth with their smokescreen?  What would happen if we took the profit out of campaigns and politicians had access to free air time–would they be as tempted lie, be fake and on the take?  I can’t think a more delicious feast that advocates for everyone in a new American Dream that offers a safety net for all Earth’s citizens.  One of the key points from the book entitled, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People talks about co-creating win-win solutions by finding a third and different way.  The dinosaurs in charge do not really want to scale back their old ways that are no longer working.  The Country Club on Capitol Hill that includes both Democrats and Republicans is a club that seeks to protect the opulent minority against the overwhelming majority.  Yes, the master illusionism cleverly use the dark side of social science to pull the wool over their audience.  But if you listen carefully to the eloquent speeches of moderate Republican, candidates of Wall Street like Bill Clinton and President Obama, you will clearly hear in their position a band-aid approach to maintain the status quo of our current global economy and tweaking of the current system.  All these guys are offering us are some cheap umbrellas for protection and shelter from the storm, if you will.  Regardless of which candidate wins, we all lose until we do something different that getting too swayed from the Middle Way and over-indulging in the dog and pony shows.  Indeed, membership has its privileges and many of the top dawgs simply don’t want to share those privileges with the rest of us.  

Here in the USA, most of our tax dollars go toward the Pentagon and fuel the military-industrial complex.  In our commercial driven culture, much of our economy is fueled by marketing.  What would happen if those resources were leveled and more equally spent on delivering quality education to nurture all our children’s creativity in the classroom of life?  I remember an old saying that goes something like, “fair is that everyone gets what they need, not what they want.”  Isn’t equal access to resources a fair shake?  Now I have heard some folks, particularly the educated business class, frown at leveling movements like Occupy Wall Street and criticize the sense of entitlement of youth culture, the poor and oppressed and those of us that fall through the cracks.  However, here in America, we like to point fingers and criticize without realizing that a mirror is being held up for us to see reflections of ourselves.  Is humanity evolving into our Higher Selves when we adopt devolution as a personal mantra to justify our economic success?  Instead of God Bless America, we adopt in our hearts God Bless humanity and all sentient beings.  Each one of us walks in the center of the Universe, while none of us are special, Chosen or saved.  We are all cut from the same cloth.  When we pray with Mantis and meditate on deer, we gently allow ourselves to remember stillness speaking to us and welcome new adventures.  This is merely one way to effectively transition into a New Age and Paradigm.

Stay True,

Ari

Union of the Snake

I remember puttering around the garage recently, stepping into the backyard for a spell and sharing an unexpected intimate moment with a snake gazing my way from his vantage point in the grass.  Given that I was about to embark on an adventure to my 20 year High School reunion, I took my encounter with snake as an omen to shed our old skin, while allowing for a smooth transmutation process into becoming something new.  Given the changing tides, this summer is an especially hot time for reunions and gatherings.  When we face the music and participate in the theater of life, it is not always an easy buffet of feelings to consume and digest.  We are all mirrors for one another, albeit diverse expressions of Great Spirit (God, Universe, etc.).  As mirrors, we do not always like seeing the snakes reflected back our way.  However, when we tap into the fire of snake medicine, it invokes within us the process of alchemy that facilitates healing.  By embracing our own power, we wake up to our authentic selves.  In releasing our own suffering, we open up to compassion and love.  Remember that the Buddha arrived at this Earth plane to show us compassion, while the Christ arrived to show us Love.  When we heed their wisdom and walk in this Light, we facilitate the healing of ourselves, the planet and Universal Consciousness throughout by co-creating Heaven on Earth one moment, one slither and one breath at a time.

Has anyone else out there had a tendency to play with fire and get burned in the process?  In the theater of life, facing the music and taking it to the edge sometimes is an experiential learning opportunity for growth, here in Classroom Mothership Earth.  Sometimes, ingesting the poison of the bite stokes the inner flame of alchemy to wake up to our own immortality.  Perhaps our dying selves and dying world will be the death of us, but with every funeral comes a new birth.  Regardless of one’s belief systems, those of us that know the power of prayer and meditation know a direct experience with Divine Energies that are available as powerful resources to us, if only we ask.  At this junction of Nature’s cycle, it was so nice to celebrate good times with old friends and breathe in new life, while exhaling dead air.  While many folks avoided directly participating in our celebratory ritual, I know the good vibrations will be felt by even those that did not show up.  When we effectively integrate our masculine and feminine energy and heal polarity in our consciousness, we light the torch of fire medicine.  In the spirit of that, we create passion, desire, procreation and physical vitality on the material plane; ambition, creation, resolution and dreams on the emotional plane; intellect, power, charisma and leadership on the mental plane; and wisdom, understanding, wholeness and connection to Great Spirit on the spiritual plane.  Does anyone remember the scene from The Matrix when Neo visits the Oracle and the little boy in the waiting room says to him something like, try not to bend the spoon . . . that’s impossible . . . instead, imagine that the spoon isn’t there.  Readers, do you see that magic is no more than a perceptual shift in consciousness?

Snake’s energy has potential to awaken our Divine Life Force within (Chi).  If you would like to tap into this power, please consider keeping yourself energetically clean by psychically bathing yourself in white light and flushing whatever toxic debris remains down your spine, through the soles of your feet and into Mother Earth for her to receive and compost.  By embracing our power with respect to our relationships, we wake up authentically to our True Selves.  Shamans of the Americas have shared stories of a dying, snake-like god named Quetzalcoatl that would someday return.  In this Light, we will explore fantastic mythical stories like this in future blog conversations.  If anyone out there has a poignant story to share, I would excitedly welcome that.

Stay True,

Ari

Barefoot In The Woods

While flying solo in the woods recently, I considered whether or not I’d bring my Aboriginal didgeridoo (bought in USA made in Indonesia) to blow in the wind. However, I shifted gears and opted for a standard low tech experience and ‘invested in loss’ by passing on carrying a big stick.  After finding a favorite hiding spot, I settled into a somewhat ‘Lotus’ meditation position and enjoyed significant encounters with Turtle and brother Frog and Frog (remember T.V. classic Newhart and characters Larry, Darryl and Darryl?).  Although Turtle was alive and well, I couldn’t detect any movement in the hour or so I watched Her–even with my Grandmother’s trusted field glasses.  In the spirit of the Art of Persuasion, I invite folks to bow to the wisdom of Turtle and Her knowledge of patience and longevity and Frog’s beat boxing of forthcoming changes in weather patterns.  Wood You Bee Leave that I heard many Ma’ Chuckin’ Nervous Woodland Creature (NWC) peeping their version of The Boss, “when I’m out in the trails, tweet, tweet, tweet . . . I stick where I want to stick.”

Coincidentally, my shared encounters with Frog and Turtle represent linkages to the Moon and Tides and portals into the Faerie Realm.  With my trusted faggot of Tibetan incense sticks to burn, I put a little Fairy Creme on my face to set the mood.  As I listened to Frog and Turtle, I heard the lyrics, “I miss the rains down in Africa . . . can’t you hear, can’t you hear the thunder, you better run, you better take cover . . .  rock me mama like the wind and the rain . . . (and) here comes the story of the hurricane.”  And while I may no longer be physically residing in Australia or Africa, I am protected by Mother’s shell, inspired to create life anew, welcoming the tears and rains as cleansing rituals to clear space for the shifting tides and changing seasons–hopefully without getting too washed out in the process, given tumultuous weather patterns (come on Irene) and a splitting Comet Elenin.  By calling on Frog, we invoke its medicine to breathe in new life, live joyfully and harmoniously . . . cleansing ourselves of “any person, place, or thing that does not contribute to your new state of serenity and replenishment.” Soaking in a bathtub with a little sea salt and perhaps a few drops of lavender has a relaxing, cleansing and detoxifying effect.  Got a frog in your throat?  Please consider gargling with warm sea salt water to open up the capillaries. Spraying liquid from your mouth into a fire in the spirit of manifestation and/or letting go and more importantly gratitude has a powerful Shamanic cleansing effect as well, a la ‘out with the old, in with the new’.

Finally, please consider Turtle’s patient and kind reminders for Us to stay slow and low in the tempo of life.  Given how nuts things can get in the transition from Summer to Fall, Turtle inspires Us to allow the river to flow to Us, rather than trying to levy its waters.  By staying grounded and honoring Our Mother, We co-creatively build the New Earth together. In this process, “Turtle medicine can teach new perceptions about time and our relationship with it.”  I’ve also seen that it stimulates clairvoyance and heard it amplifies clairaudience, as well as improving Our capacity to smell the scents of Life in more discriminate ways.  It’s as if Turtle and Frog are beckoning Us to stop and smell the roses–even if it means hoppily standing in the rain once in a while.  And while noticing the flowers in your garden, please remember to soak in the magical Full Moon on Monday into your sea of consciousness.  I’m glowing already merely envisioning it in my Third Eye!

I Hopi You are well,

Ari