Wings spread. Taking flight ... Roaming engaged...

Time I spread these wings of mine. No I am not taking off overseas. Time to get myself out there helping others help themselves.

To this end I offer the following services....

Guidance
Consultations
Energy clearing
Chakra balancing
Usui treatments
Shamanic Journeying

See my Services I offer page

Medicine Drum.

I am still on this journey. This roaming. As with most journeys there have been stop overs, side trips, long stretches and rest periods.

This post is about a medicine drum. Long story very short. Bumped into a Shaman friend. Medicine Crow. Did this twice in a very short time frame. He suggested I come see him and we start me getting serious about Shamans.

Today, with Crows guidance, I honored the horned one. A Deer. His hide was used by me to make my own medicine drum. I am forever grateful to my horned brother.

This making of this drum is still sinking in. I have come away from this different. A far deeper understanding of myself is setting in. A deeper yearning to to make this roaming more meaningful.

The medicine from this drum is very far reaching. I see it bringing much healing to myself and many others.

Thank you Brother Crow.

Hearing what nature has to say.

It has been a long time since I last wrote here on my blog. Lots of things have gotten in the way. Things that I allowed or gave permission to, to get me a bit off the Roaming path. Yet thinking about it, this is all part of Spiritual Roaming.

At the moment I am having to commute via train to the HQ of the company I work for. I am doing some training and it is easier to get there by train. This train trip follows a big river on one side and rain-forest type terrain on the other side. Lush green under growth and towering gum trees cling to rock faces. There are deep valleys thick with bush and trees. The track has been pushed through hills via long tunnels. Oyster plots and moored boats share the rivers gentle flow.

Late this afternoon, just before dusk, I am sitting reading and then pondering as this wonderful scene rushes past. My mind wanders to past events. Past events that have caused me great pain. I dwell on these. I think what would it be like to go back to some of these ways. All the time the dense forest is flashing past my gazing eyes. Snap I am brought back to reality by the sight of a very dark part of the forest just before a tunnel. This dark grove is pitch black. It is very deep shrouded with trees that form a canopy that light can not penetrate. The walls of the hill tower over this area and allow no light in there. I gasp as a thought comes to me. "This is what it was like at times for you. Very dark. Fear. No light to show you the way. Do you want this again in your life?" I shudder as I feel the emotions from the past. From the dark past. I have just been given a very important lesson from nature herself. She has used that dark part of the forest to teach me.

The train hurtles into the tunnel. I think about what has just happened. I know I do not ever want that darkness back in my life. Never want that pain again. This is the past. The train bursts out into the late afternoon light. Above the horizon in front of me is the full moon in all her glory. Another thought comes to mind as I drink in the beauty of the glowing full moon. "Forwards is the only way for you. Forwards is light and love just as the moon is lighting up the coming dark night. Your way is forwards to light not back to darkness." I smile as the train's track takes the vision of the moon away from me.

I thank mother nature for her important teachings. I thank Spirit for this teaching. The dark emotions that I had been toying with have fled back to the past where they belong.

Mother nature is a great teacher. Its a shame we don't sit at her feet of learning more often. She has so much wisdom to share with us each.

ADVICE FROM A TREE

Stand tall and proud
Sink your roots deeply into the earth
Reflect the light of your true nature
Think long term
Go out on a limb
Remember your place among all living beings
Embrace with joy the changing seasons
For each yields its own abundance
The energy and birth of spring
The growth and contentment of summer
The wisdom to let go the leaves in the fall
The rest and quiet renewal of winter

Feel the wind and the sun
And delight in their presence
Look up at the moon that shines down upon you
And the mystery of the stars at night
Seek nourishment from the good things in life
Simple pleasures
Earth, fresh air, light
Be content with your natural beauty
Drink plenty of water
Let your limbs sway and dance in the breezes
Be flexible
Remember your roots
Enjoy the view!
~ Ilan Shamir

A Lakota Sioux Prayer

Aho Mitakuye Oyasin. All my relations. I honor you in this circle of life with me today. I am grateful for this opportunity to acknowledge you in this prayer.
- To the Creator, for the ultimate gift of life, I thank you.
- To the mineral nation that has built and maintained my bones and all foundations of life experience, I thank you.
- To the plant nation that sustains my organs and body and gives me healing herbs for sickness, I thank you.
- To the animal nation that feeds me from your own flesh and offers your loyal companionship in this walk of life, I thank you.
- To the human nation that shares my path as a soul upon the sacred wheel of Earthly life, I thank you.
- To the Spirit nation that guides me invisibly through the ups and downs of life and for carrying the torch of light through the Ages, I thank you.
- To the Four Winds of Change and Growth, I thank you.
You are all my relations, my relatives, without whom I would not live. We are in the circle of life together, co-existing, co-dependent, co-creating our destiny. One, not more important than the other. One nation evolving from the other and yet each dependent upon the one above and the one below. All of us a part of the Great Mystery.
Thank you for this Life.

And another one that sums up me....

Says it all really....

The Tree

by Tom Splitt

The calm quiet strength of a tree
Anchored deep in the earth
Reaching high in the sky
The calm quiet strength of a tree

The calm quiet strength of a tree
Full of life from its roots
To the tiniest branch
The calm quiet strength of a tree

And oh, how it comforts me
How it teaches me
Without a sound
Then I realize at once
That this tree and I are one
In eternity

The calm quiet strength of a tree
From the weight of its trunk
To its delicate leaves
The calm quiet strength of a tree

The calm quiet strength of a tree
Showing anyone near
All the secrets of time
The calm quiet strength of a tree

Copyright 1994 Tom Splitt

Wands...

Wands are tools to amplify energy. I like wands. Here are some I have made.

Healing Wand. Amethyst on broken branch. The branch is not from a native Australian tree. White feather. The branch is bound at it's break. A good healer is one that has been wounded or broken at one stage.

 

 

 

Protection Wand. Gum branch that has been in fire. Black kyanite point. Ansuz Rune symbol engraved into shaft.

 

My Athame. Super Seven double pointed Crystal and budgie feathers from my oldest daughters passed on bird.

 

Thank you to the Goddess that is in our front yard who posed with my wands.

Game Changer?

This article was taken from http://shamanscircle.com/archives/2271

 The word from a friend in the UK is that the entrenched wet weather pattern finally shifted to the longed for and prayed for drier, sunny weather conditions – and just in time. People are elated and hopeful that the opening Olympic Games ceremonies and the next few weeks of games in London will carry on without the constant need for umbrellas.

Meanwhile on this side of the ocean the Midwest continues to profoundly suffer from extreme heat and drought – with no hoped for, longed for, and prayed for game-changer in the offing. Last night and today, however, there is a strong front of extra-large Thunderbeings stomping around and handing out deluges here and there.

To borrow from the wisdom of people in another part of the world, the Australian Aborigines, original humans of their realm, with a residency of at least 40,000 years – and who are no strangers to drought conditions:

These are a people who have deeply rooted spiritual relationships with their homeland, and an understanding of its workings that challenge our consensual view of the world. Much like the traditional peoples of the Americas, Europe, Siberia, Asia, Africa…  These indigenous Australians recognize the existence of the “subtle worlds” (see David Spangler’s book The Subtle Worlds, www.lorian.org) and the non-human beings that essentially share the planet with us – many of whom are responsible for the co-creation of the Earth and its continued viability.

One of the primary spiritual beings is the Rainbow Serpent – a powerful serpentine spirit and cultural creator deity of the sacred Dreamtime and who, along with his “lesser regional manifestations” is in charge of the balance of water and weather for the country. For thousands of years this great being has been an integral part of Australian rain-making rites.

Interestingly, Rainbow Serpents appear in the cosmologies of original peoples of the Southeast and Southwest regions of our country as well.

In China, where the serpentine spirit shows up as Dragon, there are Water Dragons who are associated with waters and weathers.  And both the Water Dragons and Rainbow Serpents are capable of unleashing storms, droughts, and general havoc when “interfered” with or crossed. (info from essay, Rain Magic by Alanna Moore, 2004 – see www.geomantica.com)

Can we suppose this means that when we humans mistreat the land –  and waters of the land – we provoke the ire of those Nature spirits who also live there? Traditional knowledge warns us that all of these beings require proper and caring treatment of those realms where we all live. In other words we humans and our wants are but a part of the whole story.

There’s a worthy baseball metaphor out there reminding us that “Nature bats last.”

Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr writes in a paper entitled “Dadirri” that,

“Many Australians understand that Aboriginal people have a special respect for Nature. The identity we have with the land is sacred and unique… All persons matter. All of us belong…

What I want to talk about is another special quality of my people. I believe it is the most important.  It is our most unique gift. It is perhaps the greatest gift we can give to our fellow Australians. In our language this quality is called Dadirri.

It is inner, deep listening and quiet, still awareness. Dadirri recognises the deep spring that is inside us. We call on it and it calls to us. This is the gift that Australia is thirsting for.  It is something like what you call ‘contemplation.’

… A big part of dadirri is listening… The contemplative way of dadirri spreads over our whole life. It renews us and brings us peace. It makes us feel whole again…

In our Aboriginal way, we learn to listen from our earliest days. We could not live good and useful lives unless we listened. This was the normal way for us to learn – not by asking questions. We learnt by watching and listening, waiting and then acting. Our people have passed on this way of listening for over 40,000 years…

Quiet listening and stillness – dadirri – renews us and makes us whole.  There is no need to reflect too much and to do a lot of thinking. It is just being aware…

Our Aboriginal culture has taught us to be still and to wait. We do not try to hurry things up. We let them follow their natural course – like the seasons. We watch the moon in each of its phases.

We wait for the rain to fill our rivers and water the thirsty earth…”

What would happen, could happen – to us, to our lives and doings in the world, to our realms – if we practiced this ancient wisdom?

____________________________

Perhaps the real game-changer that we seek in our struggles with drought is already here – and staring us in the face – the drought itself.

What is this Game-Changer-Drought calling for? The Dust Bowl era was unforgettable in its severity and transformation of lands and people’s lives – displacing and impoverishing many families as well as stripping vast areas in the Great Plains of their formerly rich soils. The dust storms of that time were legendary.

We did learn from this horrific experience. We learned to not take the bounty of the land and the weather for granted, we learned more about wasteful farming practices – but did we remember what we learned?

Perhaps like the Aboriginal way of contemplation we can quiet ourselves – as best we can – putting our concerns, worries, even issues of financial survival aside – at least momentarily – and wait, get quiet, listen to whatever there is to hear, to understand about this time. (Even the act of writing this brings up the urge to squirm with fearful thoughts…!)

(Gratitude to Kim and Shaun Leyland, Foundation for Shamanic Studies Faculty in Australia for sharing their research)

________________________

Keeping Quiet (Pablo Neruda)

Now we will count to twelve

and we will all keep still.

For once on the face of the earth

Let’s not speak in any language.

Let’s stop for a second

and not move our arms so much.

It would be an exotic moment, without rush, without engines;

we would all be together in a sudden strangeness.

Fishermen in the cold sea would not harm the whales.

and the man gathering salt would look at his hurt hands.

Those who prepare green wars, wars with gas, with fire,

victories with no survivors,

would put on clean clothes

and walk about with their brothers and sisters in the shade,

doing nothing.

What I want should not be confused with total inactivity:

Life is what it is about.

If we were not so single minded about keeping our lives moving,

and for once could do nothing,

Perhaps a huge silence might interrupt this sadness

of never understanding ourselves

and of threatening ourselves with death.

Perhaps the earth can teach us

as when everything seems dead in winter,

and later proves to be alive.

Now I’ll count up to twelve

and you keep quite

and I’ll go.

Friendly Winds at your Back!

We are all related....

Some of my artwork....

After many years of not painting I have returned to it. I would like to thank my beautiful partner Jan for inspiring me to do this. You can see her art work @ Affective Impressions on Facebook....

So let me show you what I have been painting.

My latest. 1st one of the Four Elements "Fire Dancers"

My latest work in progress. "Totem"

"Life" We are all connected to everything. Life is a circle. We are made up from the 4 elements.

Sun and Moon. Dark and Light. Grandfather Sun & Grandmother Moon.

"Dawn - Outback"