School of Living Dreams Medicine Walks & Talking Staff Councils (see our 2008 calender for dates of scheduled events, or call us at 805-428-9252 to have us design and guide you through a 1 day - 1 week program specifically tailored for you, your family,group or organization! We will travel anywhere in the world to guide you. Also offering training for group leaders. What is a Medicine Walk? Reprinted from: http://www.btinternet.com/~seamaid/medicine_walk.htmWhat is a ~Medicine Walk?~ In Native American Tradition, Medicine is anything that will aid the seeker in feeling more connected and in harmony with nature and all life-forms. Anything that is healing to the body, mind and/or spirit is Medicine. To find a special Medicine that would give answers for a personal challenge or problem our Ancestors would often walk in the forests or on the mesas to observe the portents or signs that would assist them in healing and seeking wisdom. The Medicine Walk was a way to re-establish the link to the Allies, or Medicine Helpers. A Medicine Walk is still possible in today's busy world if the seeker knows how to read nature's signs. Intuition allows us to maintain Earth-connection through understanding the languages of the Planetary Family. Power is no more than our gifts and abilities and can never be stripped from us by another. It is time for each seeker to acknowledge and use those talents. For centuries the Red people have used the omens of nature to arrive at the decisions of entire Nations. All living creatures have their own Medicine messages to share with those who are willing to learn the language. Hail-lo-way-ain, the Language of Love in the Seneca tongue is the way that All Our Relations speak to us. Through Hail-lo-way-ain, our hearts can feel the answers received on a Medicine Walk and healing can then proceed. Two-leggeds (humans) are the only creatures in our world who do not out of gratitude return to Great Mystery the love they have received. The Language of Love can be understood when compassion and mutual respect are allowed to come full circle and are redistributed among those who share our world. To send love to a beautiful sunset, to a willow tree, to a circling hawk, by admiring the beauty of each, is one way to begin. Every fellow Creature-being or life-form is a teacher and a potential friend. Each teacher in nature holds a deep abiding love for Great Mystery and will impart messages to those who seek the mysteries of the Void. The unknown is made up of those lessons that instruct us in our roles within Creation as well as the roles others play. To understand these messages is to become one with the Creature-beings of nature. To seek the peace of the Standing people (trees), to acknowledge the sacredness of all life-forms, and to find harmony with each living thing is to gain respect for Self as a Guardian of our Earth Mother. The basic premise of this understanding is to acknowledge the Uniworld. The Uniworld is the Universal Family of Creation. The Earth is our mother, the Sky is our father, our grandparents are Grandfather Sun and Grandmother Moon. Our Brothers and Sisters are the Stone People, the Standing People, the Creature-beings, the Plant People, and other Two-legged. We are never alone. When our human family is separated or moves onto the Blue Road of Spirit through physical death, we have nothing to grieve if we remain connected to the universal Family of Creation. The Medicine Walk is one way of reclaiming those connections. In our modern world, the understanding of the Language of Love, Hail-lo-way-ain, can be understood only through an open heart, for it is a way of living life rather than a system to be mastered. We must be willing to use the feelings and the inner senses to ~hear~ the tender teaching of our fellow life forms. Imagine walking through your favourite forest, rolling hills, open mesa, or green valley. See yourself surrounded by those creatures who are your Totems, or favourite animals. Notice which direction the wind is blowing. Look to the Cloud People; do they take the form of faces or animals? Feel the warmth of the Earth Mother nurturing you in her gentle arms. Look at Grandfather Sun, see how his light plays upon the Earth Mother. Taste the breeze and drink in the promise of rain. Respect and admire all that surrounds you. In this way, you are ready for the Language of Love to penetrate your senses in the silence of a quiet heart and mind. Each flower or rock can be your teacher. They wait to be acknowledged by you as you walk through the land you share. The Medicine they hold is freely and abundantly given, if you allow yourself to feel it. The wind is the forerunner of any lesson, for all spirit comes on the Wind. If it comes from the South, it is offering a teaching on faith, trust, innocence, humility, or the child within. If Wind blows from the West, it offers lessons on inner-knowing, seeking answers or goals through introspection. When Wind blows from the North, it beckons you to be grateful and to know the wisdom being offered as well as acknowledging the wisdom you hold personally. The East Wind brings breakthroughs, new ideas, and freedom through illumination. The East Wind will assist you in casting aide doubts, or darkness by opening the Golden Door that leads to new levels of Understanding. Once we understand which type of lesson is coming our way on our Medicine Walk, we can then proceed by noticing which Allies call to us. When something catches our eye, it has called our attention and is speaking to us through the Language of Love. In caring for that messenger we establish a link that will allow the message to be received. In observing each medicine Helper, whether it be Dragonfly or Ponderosa, Pine, Petroglyph or Stone person, we learn the lessons of nature. All that is necessary from the seeker is an open feeling heart, a desire to learn, and a willingness to feel the Language of Love. The Native way of life can bring a change in consciousness that opens new doors of expression and expansion. To understand the Red People is to reach out to another culture and share the beauty of our common paths. In doing so, w e trust that our common goal will be attained; peace, truth and healing for Mother Earth's children. When the Children of Earth are healed, we may welcome the Rainbow of Peace into our hearts and trust that each medicine Walk on the Sacred Path will bring new connections and Good medicine that can be shared. In this way, we become the living prophecy of the Fifth World of Peace. Walk in Beauty always! |
| What is a Talking Staff Council? Council is a simple yet profound practice of speaking and listening from the heart. Through compassionate, heartfelt expression and empathic, non-judgmental listening, council allows us to hear the deeper meanings of the metaphors of our mundane observations AND miraculous synchronicities. It helps clarify perception, move towards integration, and often provokes profound healing. In Council, we hear the whispers of our own souls woven into the utterances of others. We learn to give speech then not only to our own longings & experiences, but to the Anima Mundi, the Soul of the World. Council inspires a non-hierarchical form of deep communication that reveals a groups' -- and even a species -- vision and purpose. |
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