On this Thanksgiving, we’re thankful for all of the teachers that have made and make it possible for us to find our own internal authority and the courage to make a difference in this life dream dance.
Many blessings to you and yours today and every day.
From our hearts, wado!
In the Center, we catalyze with our sexual soul force through open heart to heart communication. Our open-hearted sexual communication is what gives us our identity as a human being. This comes through our soul, our life force energy.
Metals and mixed ores are the catalyst-transformers in the Center of the Mineral World wheel. South of Center is copper; West of Center, iron and lead; North of Center, silver, plutonium, and aluminum; East of Center, gold and titanium. In the Center is brass and uranium. The Center of all wheels is the catalyst energy. Consider this. We take uranium, titanium, plutonium – that is, we take the soul, spirit, and mind of Grandmother Earth – and we threaten to destroy her and her children with nuclear energy and waste.
The Sacred Teacher Plants are the catalysts and transformers, siting in the Center of the Plant wheel. They are called the hallucinogenics. Hallu means “sacred,” and genic means “ancestor” or “spirit.” So, they are the sacred spirit teachers. Hallucination means the “sacred gathering of energy, so a hallucination is a sacred gathering of images that teach. They help us to experience altered states of consciousness and to open to other realities. However, this is only so when a teacher plant is gathered, prepared, and consumed in a sacred ceremonial manner.
The mythical animals, the receiver-transformers, sit in the Center of the Animal World wheel. The unicorn, the pegasus, the dragon, the thunderbird, and other mythological archetypes transform our myths and our dreams into sources of understanding and power. The mythological animals sit in this place along with the ancestors because they are stored within our ancestral memory. We sit as unbalanced two-leggeds in the very Center of this wheel, but if we can grow up and become balanced humans, then we can evolve to our own circle and become “human beings.”
The metis, the rainbow humans of mixed blood, sit in the Center of the Human World wheel. These are the ones who bring us the gathering-together circle of the teachings and the opportunity to exercise the unique gifts of all the great races and powers. When we come into physical form as metis, we integrate the opportunities of the combination of racial attributes we have inherited. Ultimately, on a spiritual level, we are all metis.
Check out the Song of the Deer by Thunder Strikes with Jan Orsi if you would like to learn more.
In the East, we determine with the spirit through passion and lust. The words passion and lust are bound to create controversy. Think of it this way. You have not had an apple in a long time, and you may never have an apple again. As you eat this apple, you totally focus your attention on it. With all your senses, you taste the juice of it; you are aware of the texture and smell of it. You savor every morsel of it as if it were the only thing going in town. This is eating an apple with passion and lust. So, in our lives, with everything we do, whether it is cleaning the floor, writing a paper, or making love, we should do it with the spirit of passion and lust, as if it were the last moment of life. Savor each moment by determining with your intent and focus from your spirit.
And, remember, it is the element of fire that reflects to us the power of passion and lust, the ability to vision with spirit, and to stalk out the fuel that feed our hungers and brings us joy. Each of Grandmother’s Worlds have east energies that can also reflect our determination energy and connection to Spirit to us
The crystals sit in the east of the Mineral World wheel and are the holder-determiner brain cells of Grandmother Earth. A crystal chip in a computer is programmable and allows the computer to create and to run complex programs. Silicon dioxide chips are the essential elements that drive our electronic age, and used in everything from coffeemakers to space flight guidance systems.
Trees, called the Standing Nations, are the giver-determiners who sit in the East of the Plant World Wheel. Trees have always been used as power symbols, and all magickal lodges, religions, and spiritual paths refer to the human being as the tree of life. They communicate most directly with human beings because they are in the same place on the wheel that we are – in the place of determination – and the aura of a tree is similar to that of a human.
Trees determine the weather, for they are they lungs of Grandmother Earth. They carry the memory of the ages and of Grandmother Earth’s story of herself, and the Elders say that the dying and destruction of the ancient grandmother and grandfather trees are slowly erasing that memory.
Trees determine the nature and variety of vegetation that grows around them by determining the amount of light that reaches the ground and the nutrients and acidity in the surrounding soils. Growing around the tree are those plants that need shade and thrive on that type of soil; those that need sunlight grow away from the tree. Furthermore, within two hundred feet of any toxic plant will grow its antidote. Mugwort, for example, is an antidote for poison oak and can be found growing nearby. Thus, the plant world keeps its balance. The growth and proliferation of medicinal plants that provide sources for our healing are determined by the sacred trees. It is no accident that such a large percentage of medicinal plants are found in our lush rain forests.
Since we depend on plants to give us life, food and oxygen, when we clear-cut forests, for example, we are truly destroying the determiners of life on this planet. This applies to all the worlds of Grandmother Earth. Human beings live on this planet because these worlds make life possible, and they are necessary partners in our evolutionary journey. Destroy them, and we destroy ourselves.
The winged ones are aligned with spirit, and they are the receiver-determiners in the East of the Animal World wheel. They are masters of movement in alignment with the wind energies, so they can fly the currents of the mind. In every aspect of their being, they symbolize the way our mind receives.
The winged ones also represent our fierce desire to fly. Even in the earliest cave drawings there are two connections made to the animal world by shamans and sorcerers: first to the horned ones and second to the winged ones. Early humanity equated freedom with the symbol of the winged ones. The greatest thing our mind can conceive is its individual, autonomous freedom, and birds represent this at the highest level, symbolically and in practice. They also give us their wings and feathers as medicine objects that can direct or move energy.
We incarnate into the east race to learn the power of fire in the East in order to embrace spirit and gains moments of illumination.
Check out the Song of the Deer by Thunder Strikes with Jan Orsi if you would like to learn more.
In the North, we receive with the mind through clarity and caring. Our mind is an open cup, ready to receive from many viewing points and perspectives. When we are open only to one viewing point, we can get tunnel vision. The more ideas and concepts we can receive with our minds, the greater will be our capacity to see many different perspectives and therefore, gain more clarity. If our minds get cluttered with too many thoughts or stuck in a pattern of thinking, we can pray to the winds to blow away the cobwebs and clear our minds. In addition, we can look to the reflections each World’s north energies to discover other ways of receiving with our minds.
The precious gems are holders-receivers in the North. We put them in our jewelry, in breastplates, in amulets, in talismans, so they will hold what we as humans determine they will. They are molded and hold meaning which they have received from varying cultures and uses. When humans wear gems, they act as a healer by receiving negative energy.
Fruits and Flowers, which are the giver-receivers, sit in the North of the Plant World wheel. They give away their beauty, and their scent, which is air in the North. They also receive. All alchemists know that if you put flowers and fruits in any kind of magickal circle – church, lodge, marriage ceremony, funeral – they receive or absorb any negative energy that might be present. If the atmosphere is impure, flowers and fruits will wither and rot quickly
The four-leggeds, the runners who are double receivers sit in the north of the Animal World wheel. They are in perfect balance within themselves and with everything around them. They know when the weather is going to change or a storm is brewing or a natural catastrophe is about to happen. They receive energy, very often absorbing human emotions. If your pets are in the area where you are doing body work, healing work, crystal work, medicine work, or magickal ceremony, they will soak up every bit of negative energy. Your animals will literally die for you.
We incarnate into the north race with the opportunity to learn to receive like the wind in the North, to develop multiple perceptions, and to use one of the greatest gifts of humanity – an open and imaginative mind.
Check out the Song of the Deer by Thunder Strikes with Jan Orsi if you would like to learn more.
South energies teach us how to give with our emotions with tenderness, which is a means of “energy motion” or “E-motion.” Emotions are meant to be expressed, to flow freely. In other words, if we are angry, we give our anger; when we are happy we give happiness; when we are sad, we cry and give with sadness. Our emotions are a part of our beauty that we have to give away. As long as we are giving our emotions with tenderness, our emotions are true, clear and clean expressions of what is happening with us. We are in balance.
When our emotions are out of balance, we can go to Nature’s waters and ask for a reflection of how we can move back into balance. We can also look to the south energies of each of the worlds.
The sands (and soils), which sit in the South on the Mineral World Wheel as holders-givers, dance with the fluidity of water. Watch how the sands dance when waves crash the shore. They are the skin of Grandmother Earth, holding everything in place. Sands and soils absorb and hold the light and heat from Grandfather Sun, eventually transforming it and giving it as nourishment for plants.
The grasses and grains sit in the South of the Plant World wheel, which, like Grandmother Earth’s skin, hold the sand and soil in place. They are like her hair, protecting her skin and preventing erosion. They are the double givers, in that they hold nutrients, water, sunlight, and carbon dioxide, and give all that as nourishment for other life.
The swimmers move through the waters as the receiver-givers, sit in the South of the Animal World. Fish receive through the water whatever energy is present and hold it in their flesh. The highest incidents of food poisoning in the world result from eating seafood contaminated by pollution in the water. The cetaceans – dolphins and whales – are the greatest receiver-givers and holders of genetic memory on this planet.
As an incarnation into the south race of humans, we have the opportunity to align with the energies of the South – learning how to flow with the waters and be as the plants to give of our self in life and in nature. We learn to align with the heart and fluidity of emotions and our heart connection with Nature.
Check out the Song of the Deer by Thunder Strikes with Jan Orsi if you would like to learn more.
We need the balance of male and female energy that comes from eating both plants and animals. This is about alchemy, knowing your way of balance.
Many people refuse to eat meat because they see that as killing life. What they fail to realize is that eating plants is also killing. Plants are givers, and animals receive plant as food. When you eat meat, the animal is helping you receive the plant, for an animal is a walking plant, in a sense. Remember, death gives life. The animal’s sacrifice empowers us, nurtures us, heals us, and teaches us how to receive. We determine how that give-away is honored and respected by the way we receive it. To deny that gift is to deny one of the important roles they play in the web of life of this planet.
On the other hand, there are those who refuse to eat meat not because they see it as intrinsically wrong, but because they are offended by the cruel and inhumane way animals are slaughtered and processed today. We now live in a world where we are dependent on our food coming from and through the process of mass production. Through your prayer and honoring of the food that comes to your table, you can determine what happens to its energy. Offer thanks for its give-away, and say a sincere prayer to that animal or plant for the way in which it had to die for you. This heart connection with the spirit of the plant or the animal can reinstate the natural balance and alignment with Sacred Law. This is an example of energy transformation that we determine through our intent and our actions.
At the same time, you can actively lobby for reform in the food production industry and spend your consumer dollars in stores that stock products that are more in alignment with these principles.
Check out the Song of the Deer by Thunder Strikes with Jan Orsi if you would like to learn more.
You can make a powerful connection with the worlds of Grandmother Earth through the food you eat in the following way: When you sit down to eat, look at every single plant and meat on your plate and envision it alive in its natural form. Reflect for a moment about the preciousness, the sweetness, of that food usually taken for granted. Them very clearly from your heart, say thank-you, and honor the way in which it died in order for you to be nourished. Declare your intent – to gain the greatest amount of energy and nourishment possible from the food.
When you do this, you receive much more than just calories and vitamins; the plants and animals co-empower you through their give-away. In this way, you engage in a process of connection and communication that transcends physical substance form. Do this for one week, and then go back to your old routine and notice the difference in your energy. This is a step for you towards alignment. This also applies to people who say grace at a meal. Usually, this is spoken as a prayer to God or Creator/Creatress for the blessing of the food. In addition, however, offer your prayer of thanksgiving directly to the plants and animals that feed you.
Check out the Song of the Deer by Thunder Strikes with Jan Orsi if you would like to learn more.
The food you eat comes from the plant and animal world. Plants and animals have done a sacred give-away of themselves to provide nourishment for you. The food – plant or animal – has a consciousness as well as a substance form. When you eat the substance form, it releases its spiritual essence, which is what really nourishes you. In this way, it gives you life.
There is such a thing as dead food and live food, even though both may be cooked food. The manner in which your food is prepared affects how and to what extent its essence can be transferred to you for your sustenance and health. Food prepared in fast-food restaurants and take-out chains or available in the frozen-food section of the supermarket is essentially dead food. It has not been prepared with loving care; it has been thrown together on a rushed assembly line, and too often we the scarf it down on the run. Families less and less often sit down to a lovingly prepared meal and truly focus on and appreciate the nourishment, this give-away that comes to us from the worlds of Grandmother Earth. More and more, our meals are squeezed into our work schedules – between meetings, band practice, our workout at the gym, picking the kids up from school, or going to the movies. Remember, everything is energy. The energy we radiate into the food we eat is what we carry into our bodies.
Check out the Song of the Deer by Thunder Strikes with Jan Orsi if you would like to learn more.
After communicating with the tree, practice being that tree you are talking to. Move your body and arms, mimicking its limbs and bending in the wind. Let your body take on the structure and form of the tree. Don’t let your mind determine what this should look like. Go inside and listen. Feel what it feels like to be a tree. Let its voice, resonating inside you, guide you into the shape of its spirit. And whatever you do, don’t be inhibited by the thought that someone might be seeing you act like this. Your actions might intrigue them. Then you can become their guide.
When you take your leave of the tree, thank it with an offering of tobacco, corn paho, or a strand of your hair. Practice this, and you will experience a powerful connection, not only to nature, but to every other aspect of your life. Learning this new language doesn’t require long journeys, expensive equipment, or great amounts of time. All it takes is practice with an open heart, receptivity, and a strong desire to rediscover the shining of your true nature.
Check out the Song of the Deer by Thunder Strikes with Jan Orsi if you would like to learn more.
Walk out in the woods, or park or even your own backyard. Connect directly with a tree that has attracted you or pulled you to it. Put your arms around the trunk of a tree, sit in the tree, connect physically with it in some way. Offer a prayer and perhaps some tobacco or corn paho (fine cornmeal). This is a way of saying thank-you and honoring the tree for its gifts and its beauty. Talk from your heart – maybe say something like this: “I’m new at this. In fact, I feel awkward talking to you. I’ve been told that you can communicate with all the worlds, so talk to me and teach me how to hear your voice.”
Then be quiet and listen. It’s that simple. If you don’t feel a connection at first, don’t give up. You have to relearn, remember actually, how to listen as you did as a small child when you were still closely connected to all things in the Great Round of spirit.
Check out the Song of the Deer by Thunder Strikes with Jan Orsi if you would like to learn more.
Deer Tribe Metis Medicine Society 