The Rowdy Goddess

An Ecstatic Vision of the Goddess, dancing in harmony with the Universe.

Archive for the tag “shamanism”

04 Mar 2014
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Caribou: The Winter Traveler

On cold days like today, I’m never sure that having a car with a temperature gauge is a good idea.  When the temperature reads at negativecaribou 5 degrees, all I can think is that I’m sliding my (well-padded) bottom on to a freezing seat.  Yikes.  My car transports me over the miles, to work and to home and anywhere I want or am compelled to go.  In winter, traveling is a journey, even routine trips.  A totem to help us travel the winter terrains is the caribou, or reindeer.

Caribou, or reindeer, are a nomadic animal, traveling up to 300 miles per year over long distances in a cold, inhospitable winter terrain..  They can run as fast as 80 miles an hour, as one of my circle sisters put it, “no wonder people thought they could fly!  Both male and female have antlers, unlike other species of deer, and the antlers are used for protection and for dominance.  Males use antlers in rutting, an often dangerous display, although the males are rarely hurt.  A male can have a harem of up to 40 females.  When calves are born, the mothers split up into nursing bands, rejoining the whole herd when they reach their summer destinations.

Caribou are hunted by wolf, bear, lynx, and humans but the real threat is mosquitoes.  The insects can take half a pint of blood at a time.  Caribou will submerge in water and even stampede when there are too many mosquitoes.  According to stories, caribou were the last animal to come into the world and the most important for people to hunt.

Caribou as a totem is concerned with perseverance, endurance in the dark times.  Caribou has the power of adaptability, strength in social skills and communication.  Adaptation and strong ties to the homeland are also evident in this totem.  Caribou is concerned with equality, family/herd orientation as well as protection, caution, and alertness.  Caribou has the urge to travel to the point of wanderlust and ultimately finding inner peace as you walk through life.

 Travel with me into wintry realms,

Landscapes of cold, dark, and danger

Find strength, power, and endurance

In our journeys together.

We become courageous in the lands of winter,

Persevering through storms, scarcity, and bleakness.

We find the warmth of home and family,

Banding together in love, need, and protection.


We discover the mystery of beauty

In the lands of winter

And the warmth of love

As we walk through the land to peace.

May your journeys be filled with magic, delights, endurance, warmth and peace!  B*B

 

Posted in shamanism, Totem and tagged , , , ,
31 Jan 2014
2 Comments

The Year of the Green Horse

2014HappyNewYearHorseThe Chinese New Year of 2014 begins January 31st at the new moon. This is the Year of the Horse.  In Chinese astrology, each set of twelve signs cycles through the five elements: Air, Fire, Water, Metal, and Wood. This year, the element is Wood. Because wood is associated with plants, the color is green. This is the Year of the Green Horse.

The Horse as Totem

Often, shamanic practitioners refer to their drums as their horse, the spirit that conveys them to the realms of magic and mystery. The horse as a totem is considered a Spirit Messenger, a Be-ing of great sensitivity and intuition. The Horse as totem has similar energies of service, nobility, movement, and freedom.

Horse is also a Creature of between and boundaries, since Horse is notable for its strong sensual and physical nature as well as its magical spiritual one. Horse is about wildness, and about being tamed, harnessed, and bridled. Horse is about carrying burdens, and about being free as the wind. Horse is known for its strong instinctual nature with strong passionate drives, emotions and desires. Horse is about discipline, success, and achievement.

Come run with me
As we race, wild and free,
With the wind.
Come with me as we express our desires
And find our bliss.
Run, trot, and gallop
In pursuit of Joy and Happiness
Be still and calm with me in realizing our dreams.

Come ride with me
As we work to accomplish our desires
We hold the saddle and bridle
Lightly in service to Wonder
We speak Mystery
In Messages from Spirit
We cross the borders
To find our magic.
Blessed Be.

The Year of the Horse

Horse people are cheerful, witty, talented, and good with their hands. Full of Yang energy, they are energetic, active both mentally and spiritually and have great charm and sex appeal. Generally they are very gifted. They are both able to conform while at the same time very rebellious. There are lots of contradictions in their nature with their great humanitarianism and then their wild adventurous side. They are wonderfully warm hearted and have fantastic communication skills.

The predictions for the Year of the Horse are for happiness, luck, and good wishes. It’s generally a thrilling year with lots of opportunities. It will be up to the person’s sense of adventure whether you grab those opportunities or not. Thrilling does not particularly mean easy. Most predictions are made in the context of the individual’s zodiac sign.

Since the astrology designation tends to be predictive in nature, why not cast your favorite divination method. Some questions might be:

• What opportunities will come my way during the Year of the Horse?

• What will thrill me about the Year of the Horse, and what will not?

• How can I explore the adventurous side of my nature.

• What must I change about myself to become the person I want to be during the Year of the Horse?

• What kinds of things can I do for the greater good of humans and other beings?

• What areas of my life do I need to tame?

• Where in my life do I need more freedom?

Year of the Green Horse
A Tarot Spread
Use this spread when you feel deflated and lost, when you aren’t sure how to achieve your dreams, or you feel pulled by conflicting desires/needs. This explores the energy and burdens you need or don’t need so you can move forward
once again!

hORSE TAROT

Position One: What are the messages from Spirit?
Position Two: What are you saddled with?
Position Three: What do you need to brush away?
Position Four: Where do you need to kick up your heels?
Position Five: Where are you unbridled?
Position 6: What helps you move?
Position 7: What leads you on and what inspires you?

Posted in Divination, shamanism, Tarot and tagged , , ,
04 Mar 2013
2 Comments

I’ve Got You In My Power

polar bear hugsI’ve got you in my power” is a running family joke.  It started when my sister’s two oldest children were about three and four.  I would envelop them in a big hug and say, “I’ve got you in my power.”  They would squirm, wiggle, and whine, “I don’t want to be in your power.”  The only way to get out of my power was to give me a kiss.  One day after a visit, my niece hugged her father (my brother-in-law) and said, “I’ve got you in my power.”  To which my brother-in-law said, “I see you’ve been spending time with Aunt Gail.”  And thus another Gailism is born.

Since then (my niece and nephew are in their twenties and *gulp* early thirties), my sister has always announced, when visiting my mother, “I’ve got my mother in my power.”  And on it goes.

I had a good conversation with my mother this weekend.  She has taught me many things and most recently not to be afraid of words like cancer, psychosis, confusion, dementia, and cancer [I’m still afraid of the d-word].  She’s a strong woman and sometimes the ravages of time and chronic disease robs her of her usual acuity and abilities.  This all has its ups and downs and riding these waves is a big challenge, particularly since I live 400 miles away.

When I spoke to her I said, “I hear you have [my brother] Frank in your power.”  She answered yes and we talked of many things.  Later on, I asked, “Are you having a good visit with Frank?” She replied, “Yes, it’s always good to have someone new in my power.”  That made me feel delighted, light, and happy.  It was a good conversation to have.

Power has been written about a lot to the point where it gets tiresome.  It does seem to be a lesson that we learn over and over again.  How to use power appropriately, how to recognize when power is being abused, and how to recognize different kinds of power.  For awhile in the Pagan community, it was became a bad word.  One to shy away from.  At the same time, in shamanic terms, the practitioner journeys to non-ordinary reality to gain power.  The key is how you use the power.  If you use it for good and not for ill, or if you use it for the good of your community or others, then the accumulation and use of power is a good one.  If you use power for your own advancement to the detriment of other beings, well then the use of power is a poor one.   I believe power is another word to not fear.

When looking at power and how we gain it and use it, we must use discernment.  I think we need to see what lens we are using to look at power.  Are you looking through the lens of love?  Revenge?  Entitlement?  The way you look at power is important.  If we fear it and shy away from it, then power becomes something bad.

Look at it like a hug.  Hugging is a communication between two beings.  Are you expressing love, can each of you move out of the hug as you need or wish to.  Or is the hug a vise holding you close in ways you do not wish.  If you hug with open arms and allow everyone the choice of leaving or staying, then “I’ve got you in my power,” is a phrase of love, affection, family, and community.

Posted in Family, power, shamanism and tagged , , , , ,
14 Feb 2013
4 Comments

Getting to Carnegie Hall

Carnegie Hall is the pinnacle venue for a performing artists:  to play at Carnegie Hall is to know that you have “arrived.”   The first time I heard that joke was probably from my father who said it in Brooklyn accents, a man asks a taxi driver how to get to carnegie hallCarnegie Hall?  And the taxi driver said, “Practice, practice, practice.”  My father liked to exaggerate when he told a joke, he was a good storyteller and joker.

How many of us took an instrument or learned a skill and found out that to get really good at it, you had to do it over and over again.  Practice.  It could be piano, drawing, violin, or even mowing the lawn.  To get it right and to get so whatever it is expresses what you want, you have to practice the basics again and again.  To reach the pinnacle of achievement (to arrive, so to speak), you have many hours, months, and years of practice and learning.

A few years ago at work, a group of us met with some architects to discuss building design.  Each group of architects talked about their practice of architecture and what it meant for their business and their creativity.  And that is the other part of practice, it’s the underpinning of your creative expression; this expression of who you are.  I can talk to you about the practice of my profession, librarianship, in lofty terms, and how it fulfills the ideals of a democratic society and how it is about getting to the heart of a question.  It is a practice.

That practice is a myriad of skills, basic and advanced, along with knowledge that spans both breadth and depth.  How I got here was to practice those skills and apply that knowledge every minute of each day I was working.  And a lot of time outside of my job too.  I am a librarian in my heart as well as something I do to earn my paycheck.

It is also true of spiritual practices, the real point of this post.  The only difference is, I think that the pinnacle (“to arrive) is not the point.  It’s all about the practice.  It is in the practice that we find our inner wisdom and our gnosis, our knowing.   At a recent work retreat, we had a philosophy professor come and talk to us about stress and stress reduction.  He explained to us that philosophy asks the questions:  How shall we live?  Why is there something and not nothing?  Why is there beauty?  And philosophy asks ethical questions as well:  How shall we live?  How do we make meaning?  what is a good life?

He spoke of well-being not in terms of health but in the tersm so fthe Greek idea of a balanced life.  To be well in our Be-ing.  To seek the middle way.  It sounds a lot like a Pagan spirituality, doesn’t it.  I suspect that underneath the layers of misunderstanding, most religions seek that kind of balance as well.

He went on to speak of practice; that by following a daily practice every day you find that well being.  He defined the daily practice as a set of mundane habits that you follow every day.  He spoke of conscious belly breathing and Qi Gong as the way to follow a practice.  I would add mindfulness to the daily habits.  For instance, each morning as I go about my morning wake up and shower, I stand before my altar located outside the bathroom and say a short devotion.  And then I take my vitamins.  The vitamins are part of the devotion and are in a basket on my altar which is devoted to self-care and well Be-ing.  Short, simple, and incorporated, mindfully, into my routine habits.

On my needlework blog I talked today about Tom Cowan’s statement in his book, Shamanism as a Spiritual Practice for Daily Life, that a daily spiritual practice of shamanism gives rise to an art practice.  I think mindful practice births other practices, allowing us to expresss ourselves and our wisdom in myriad ways.  I have a professional practice, a spiritual practice, and a creative one (or two, or more).  What is creative to me might be drudgery to you, and the reverse will be true as well.  So together, our practices create diversity and shows us the infinite ways the Universe expresses life, beauty, and wisdom.

May you find the heart of your daily practice and the well BE-ing of your soul.

Posted in shamanism, spiritual practice, Wicca and tagged , , ,
24 Jan 2013
1 Comment

Hibernation and Polar Bear Totem

polar bear swmiingPolar bears are hunters and survivors. They thrive in a wintery environment of frozen grounds and water. Polar bears are fearsome protectors of their young and aggressively forage for food in the water, town garbage heaps or wherever they might find nourishment and protection. They fascinate us with their size, power, habits and ability to adapt and survive.

Polar bear wisdom draws from their expertise in swimming, ability to thrive in a stark landscape and their attitude towards others of their kind. Polar bears are able to navigate the Earth’s magnetic line, emotional waters, and finding a way back from the brink of danger. Polar bear wisdom is about solitude and the ability to find sustenance in the most austere places. They communicate through dreams and understand life, rebirth, and transformation. They are good providers and protectors of their families and their wisdom informs defenses and revenge energy.

In the January 2008 Llewellyn Witches Calendar, I wrote, “Polar bears have adapted to a world where the cold is eternal and daytime and nighttime have no meaning. In the Arctic, the summers are 24 hours of light and the winters are 24 hours of dark. Unlike other bears, the polar bear is able to go into hibernation when food is scarce and become active when abundance returns, using what is called “walking hibernation.” They lower their temperature and hibernate as needed, for a few days or longer. Only pregnant polar bears seek the protection of a dean, and they create a two-chambered tunnel in the snow banks where they birth their cubs. Polar bear sleeping habits include naps; they often sleep for short stretches during the day, since their prey is active at night. Napping helps conserve energy which is swiftly expended as they hunt. They sleep during winter storms and they sleep after play.”

My own personal discovery of the polar bear was through shamanic journeywork. In a class, a classmate retrieved a power animal for me which turned out to be my guardian spirit: the polar bear. I had been to the National Zoo the week before and spent a long time at the polar bear habitat. You could walk underground and see them as they swam beneath the water. At the time, I was swimming a lot and I thought, “Polar bear is like me, flabby but graceful underwater!”

Come play with me on the long winters night
Come hunt with me through darkness and light.
Be strong with me in loving protection
Be fierce with me in introspection.
Find the rhythm of life and death
Find the heart of it all, in all its breadth.
Swim in the waters’ depths to transform and restore
Be fluid and tranquil as you change even more!
Come play with me on the long summers day
Let anxiety and worry float far away
Be one with the Universe, in love and grace
You are happiness and power, all in one place.

Posted in Goddess and tagged , , , ,
23 May 2011
3 Comments

Majors Monday: The Magician

I am continuing to look at the majors for inspiration and for designing spreads. My desire is to make spreads as simple and clear as possible. Sometimes I feel that a lot of cards confuses the querent and the reader. Readers know the cards better and can probably absorb a lot of information, but sometimes the querent will shut down before they hear all the cards read because there’s just too much information.
The Magician is good at sorting out information and presenting it in a coherent and cohesive format. It’s not that he or she is simplistic in the power of thought, it’s just that the Magician can develop focus.
The arm pointed above and the arm pointed below indicates a firm grounding in earthly matters while understanding there is a celestial connection to things. He becomes a channel or conduit. Shamanic teaching tells us below or underworld is the source of information for earthly, bodily, and health matters while the above teaches us the wisdom of teachers and celestial energies. Neither above nor below is better than the other.
It can sometimes be a heady experiences to channel all that information and arrogance in his own opinion can be a danger for the magician. He has the tools on the table before him and he can use them anyway he chooses. The infinity symbol above his head helps him keep things in the perspective that he is a finite being working with huge infinite energies.
In shamanic thinking, the shaman is one who journeys between the worlds to gain wisdom and power to benefit the community; it is an act of service. A sorcerer may do the same journeywork and discover the same power and wisdom. The difference is the sorcerer uses that information in service only to himself or herself. The sorcerer’s hands are not connected to above and below in the stance of the magician, but rather directs it into his/her own being.
With this anchoring and the greater perspective, he can use his tools to gain wisdom and power to benefit himself in the service of others.
Wisdom and Knowledge
Use this spread to understand the purpose behind the querent’s quests and questions and to determine a future plan

Card One: Your view of the infinite, the long view, long-term idea
Card Two: Where your head is at, what your thinking, imagining, or dreaming
Card Three: Information from the infinite, your teachers, or celestial wisdom
Card Four: Information from the underworld about body, health, earthly matters
Card Five: What are you channeling, accessing; are there blockages?
Card Six, Seven, Eight and Nine can be read together as the tools you have access to; or seperately as Cups, Pentacles, Swords, and Wands.
Let me know how this works for you since it’s brand new!
May the wisdom of all your teachers from all the worlds be clear and delightful to you.
Posted in shamanism, Tarot, Tarot spreads, teacher and tagged , , ,
20 Oct 2008
1 Comment

Neo-Shamanism and Wicca: Can We Be Friends?

A friend of mine has moved to a new area and is tentatively seeking out new friends and new spiritual community. She was telling me that she had met someone who was a Reiki Master and a shamanic practitioner. When my friend mentioned Wicca, the shamanic practitioner had a mild reaction like an indrawn breath. She told my friend that she’d met some Wiccans and they seemed to be of the behavior and mindset, “I hate my religion of birth and so I became Wiccan. Can I tell you how much I hate my religion of birth!”

I drew my breath in too. If I were still a fundamental Christian, I’d be saying, “Bad witness, man, bad witness.” That means as the embodiment of our religion, others witness their understanding of that religion or spiritual path by the things you do or say. Quite a responsibility.

On the other hand, it is a phase that most pagans including Wiccans go through. We have left the religion of our birth and need to process the reasons for it and what that means for us. At some point, though, most of us cross a threshold where we our message for others to witness is “I am Goddess, I am God.” And that speaks volumes about where we are, but not particularly about where we’ve been.

A wise high priestess once told me that in her coven the behavior that we call “Christian bashing,” can go on for a short while, but then if it continues, she goes to the person and says it must stop. All the bashing and complaining serves to do is to demean the new witch, and does not create change. Without change, there is no magic.

Wiccans and pagans can be friends with any religion since tolerance and acceptance are one of the outcomes of our ethics. Sometimes within our own community, our behavior creates misunderstanding. Yes, we can be friends with each other as well as the outer community.

My personal practice for many years has been weaving the threads of seemingly separate practices to create a pattern of wholeness. To me, shamanism and Wicca meld and dance together. We are all walkers between the worlds. We dance, play, grieve, and celebrate our divine aspects in both paths. For me it is the whole cloth. And there’s a great book that demonstrates just how that can be done. I am pleased to announce that my new book The Shamanic Witch is now available from RedWheel/Weiser or from many other booksellers including Amazon.com

 

Posted in shamanism, Wicca, witchcraft, writing and tagged , , , ,
26 Feb 2007

Shedding, Shoveling, and Getting it Backwards

Questions to ask in Meditation and Shamanic Journeywork
It’s a cold Monday, with three more inches of new snow. The shovel I’m using is not a snow shovel and it’s rather short. So getting it to do something it wasn’t designed to do was part of the challenge. So, I’m breaking up the ice and shoveling the snow and I start to think about this season. We really are transitioning to spring, but we only feel it on the deepest levels. It hasn’t reached our conscious mind yet. And we long for it. We are getting ready to leave our underworld journey and move upward into the light. The way may still be blocked and we might have to shovel our way out. So what is it that we need to shovel out of the way in order to find the sunshine and light?
Then I trundle over to the car and climb inside. My coat is all bunched up and the seat protector is askew, so I bounce around and squirm until everything is workable. It is so dorky. When it gets to be this time of year, I really get annoyed at all the gloves, hats, scarves, bulky coats, layers of clothes, socks and boots that go into being warm and safe in the climate. I long to shed it all and go unfettered and free into the warmth. So what is it that I need to shed in order to move freely into our wishes for the springtime?
So then I get to work and sit down at my desk and I still feel all bunched up and uncomfortable. I check my clothing and find that my shirt is on backwards. Jeez. So I go into the bathroom and set it all right again. At least I brushed my teeth and combed my hair. So what do we have backwards or twisted around that needs to be set right?
Can you tell what I’ll be journeying on tonight?
May your clothes always be right side out, too!!! Good journey..
Posted in meditation, shamanism and tagged , , | Leave a comment
02 Jun 2006

The Bob Collection, or a good Bob is hard to find


Okay if you know me, you know that I find this picture hilarious. It’s from a library vendor hawking its digitzing wares. It’s just funny. For a very long time, I worked with Bob, the librarian. A friend of mine worked with someone who self-identified as “Bob, the blind guy.”
And of course there’s Bob the dog. I’ve written a lot about my dogs because they are wonderful, loving creatures and they’ve taught me a lot. My new book, The Wild God, was recently sent to press and will be out soon, devotes some time to Bob. Bob is efficient and rather tubby. We reduced his food and put him on a diet. He reduced his activity to maintain his physical presence. Several years ago, I used to double check to make sure he wasn’t dead, he was so still that he seemed to hardly breath. A few months ago, Mouse did the same thing, calling, “Bob, wake up. Are you still alive.”
He is efficient. He lies on his back in complete relaxation. If I walk by, he’ll wag only his tail to show he’s glad to see me. It is slightly obscene. He lies on his back, completely open and all of his privates open to the entire world and all that moves is his tail. Or maybe so natural that our so-called civilized morality can’t really comprehend it without labeling it as something naughty.
So I do collect Bobs. The first time we went to our current vet, I introduced Bob to him as “Meet Bob the dog.” To which the vet replied, “Hello Bob, I’m Bob-the-Vet.” One of my friends is married to Bob-the-Statistician, or Bob-the-Husband. I’ve met Bob-the-Postman and even Bobbi-the-art-historian [don’t tell her I said that!]. We are gender equitable in our Bob collecting.
There’s a local Druid clan and one time I met a Bob there. Bob the Druid. I was in heaven!!
Another time I attended one of Michael Harner’s Way of the Shaman workshops. I’ve done shamanic journeywork for many years and my first teacher generously taught us all she knew. I wanted to take the course in case I ever got the opportunity and money to take some of the more advanced courses. Anyway, I met a guy there named, you guessed it, Bob. I was being very friendly and chattery and said “That’s fabulous. Bob the Shaman!” and briefly explained my Bob collection. He was not amused. Really not amused. Good thing it was a large workshop. The second day might have been uncomfortable if it had been smaller. He could pretend I didn’t exist very nicely. Nevertheless. Bob the Shaman. I do tell Bob the dog that he is a good Bob; good Bobs are hard to find.

My rowdy sense of humor remains intact.

Posted in dogs, Goddess, Library goodness and tagged , , | Leave a comment

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