Source, the place of origins

In this world of mass information at our fingertips and being surrounded by such a diversity of culture and spirituality, I find that I often bare witness to the time old saying "this is the right way".
I grew up in a family of diverse heritage, my mother being First Nations with a strong Catholic upbringing intermingled with First Nation beliefs and culture. My father was a Muslim with traditional Islamic views intermingled with a more lenient expression of them. During my childhood I explored various avenues of Christianity and my adult hood brought me down the path of traditional First Nation culture and ceremony as well as Shamanism from a First Nations perspective and from a New Age perspective. You dont have to have lived a multicultural, spiritual and racial upbringing to  find teachings on these various perspectives. One just needs to type their inquiry into any search engine to peek into these many views.

Today I found myself in conversation with a friend who comes from a Christian background. Later this evening while visiting with my sister she brought up the controversy between traditional First Nations spirituality verse New age Shamanism. I found myself reflecting on these two exchanges. Its so easy for any one religion, culture or even teacher to claim that their way is the one true way, any deviation considered a bastardization of the teachings.. If my experiences have taught me anything it is that all things stem from the same Source. Regardless of the name given, it comes from the same origin.

When I quiet my thoughts and listen with my heart, I find that I can feel and hear so much more. My thoughts of what is right or wrong, what I have been told or learnt step back and I can hear truths in many things. These truths can be felt moving through river stones, trees, animals, ceremony, spirituality and even organized religion. If we quiet our intellectual thoughts and egos, and we let what I call our human condition go still, this makes room for Spirit to speak. Spirit does not speak to just one people or region. There is a whole planet filled with many lands and many people. Spirit speaks in each of these places. It feels quite arrogant and naive for me to assume that what is spoken to me is but the only way. Spirit spoke long ago before the birth of religion, there has been and still is expression of these sacred whispers. Each of us but a vessel filled with our own human ego and experience uniquely expressing these whispers.

Often when in session with clients they bring up messages that had been delivered by other practitioners, or spiritual advisers. They often ask, how do I know who to listen to, or who is right? I explain that all things come from the same Source. Each religion and spirituality is but an expression of this source, and each individual yet an interpreter of the message. When looking at where the message is coming from, look at the vessel delivering the message. Each of our issues, wounds, experiences, lessons, and perspectives touch the message. We are the filter that this message comes through. How do we filter it, shape it to fit our beliefs and understandings, do we taint it with our reactions and wounds?  When I look to other advisers and healers I always look at their journey and ask, have they done their own journey of healing? Have they faced and continue to face their own egos? Are they confined within a box that they hold onto under the name of tradition or religion? These are bold questions, but in a world of many expressions these questions need to be asked.

I leave you with the image of an egg newly laid and in time hatching, in the kingdom of animals new life is birthed and the transition from child to elder to dust continues. Earth, she spins. Each rotation brings the passing of day into night and seasons too pass from Spring,through Summer and Autumn into Winter. As the earth spins our view of the night sky shifts, our eyes falling on different constellations, and yet the night sky we peer upon tonight is different then the night sky that our ancestors looked upon. Some stars long ago extinguished, the moon further from earth then she once was centuries ago. All things are constantly in motion and change. An Elder once told me that our ancestors followed the stars, based the teachings of the medicine wheel on the constellations.  They understood that all things cycled and were in motion and they too allowed for this change. They followed Spirit, not just the way of their ancestors before them, so that they could continue this natural evolution that all things follow. If you find yourself asking, or perhaps boldly claiming that your way or belief is the "right way" then ask yourself if you have anchored yourself within your views. Are you learning from those before, yet allowing for Spirit to speak today? Are you listening with your heart? 

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Dreaming with the Land & the Ancestors

An Elder once told me that we dream with the land.
I remember when I first journeyed from the prairies to the majestic west coast. The scenery was awe inspiring. On our journey home we drove across the province and made our way to the interior of the Okanagan, I became aware that there was a shift of energy that had taken place. We continued our journey making our way through the Rocky Mountains, again the energy completely shifted, until we made our way to the land of the Prairies. A feeling so familiar that it resonated as home.  In the weeks that followed I reflected on the shifts of the land that I had felt.

It was while I attended a workshop in Montreal that I was brought back to explore the energy of the land and how it speaks to us. This energy was felt instantly as I left the airport and made my way across the country side of Quebec. My gaze was drawn to the trees as I found myself wondering who planted those trees, were they native to the land, who were the settlers who first farmed this land, and the First Nations that tended to this land as their Ancestors before them. I could feel the stories and history just beyond, as though somehow the veil between the worlds was thinner here.

A recent move to the West Coast has me once again journeying with the land. In the first few months here I found myself mourning the familiar grounding feeling of the prairies. Its not only the grounding signature of that land, but also the Ancestors who walked there before us. We touch these stories in our day to day, often unaware. These stories help to create the culture of our society and every so gently impact our attitudes and way of being.

The land has a unique energy signature that is different from place to place. Some say that it is the lay lines that run through the Earth, creating vortexes where these lines come together. Our Ancestors may not have called them lay lines, but they were aware of these energy signatures in the land. It is no coincidence that most sacred sites are located where these lay lines meet.

These energy signatures are not only felt physically but also have an impact on our dreams.
My new venture has me once again exploring the land, how it impacts me, where I feel it in my body, the stories I feel here, the history of the land, and the subtle shift in my night dreams. The energy of the land speaks to us, whispering her story through the stories of the people here. She always has, if you look into the history of the peoples of the land you will find her whispers echoing.

In the same way that the land impacts our stories, our stories impact the land. She absorbs them and they intermingle with her signature ever so subtly flavoring her story as salt to cuisine. If we pay attention to our night dreams we see these same shifts as we dream in different landscapes. The energy in our dreams shift, the places we go to while dreaming, and the ancestors who visit us.

There is much to be learnt from the land, and there are dreams that we have access to that we otherwise may not have. Dreaming with a Cedar tree on the west coast will give you access to different dreams than dreaming with a Pine tree in Alberta.

What is the land whispering to you, what Ancestors may come visiting or be showing you their story through impressions, history and dreams?