With Frog, April Showers Bring May Flowers

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

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

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

See you further on down the trails,

Ari

Black Like Crow

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

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

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

See you further on down the trails,

Ari

Singing With Robin

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

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

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

See you further on down the trails,

Ari