Ask Your Mama - Purifying Ritual by Mama Donna Henes

Are you cyclically confused? In a ceremonial quandary? Completely clueless? Wonder no more.

                                *Ask Your Mama™                         

The What, When, Where, Why, How, and Who of

Ceremony & Spirituality

by

©Mama Donna Henes, Urban Shaman

Dear Mama Donna.

My partner and I are wondering whether there is some sort of pre-nuptial purifying ceremony from the shamanic tradition that we can do together before our upcoming wedding. I was thinking of a sweat lodge perhaps? Any ideas you have to offer us would be most appreciated.

A  Couple in California

You Dear Two,

Congratulations! Mazel tov! How wonderful that you and your beloved want to enter your marriage vows with clean hearts and pure intentions. Your sincerity of purpose bodes exceedingly well for the success of your future together.

To answer your question about traditional shamanic ceremonies: there really is no one shamanic tradition. Shamanism was and still is practiced worldwide, and each culture has customs and ceremonies that have grown and developed over time and that speak to the shared history and beliefs of each particular community.

A new life, a new day, a new year is universally begun by bathing. All sculptured images of the Buddha are washed during the festival of Songkran in Thailand every spring at the start of the lunar new year. The blessing water is poured from buckets on the statues and passersby as well — a refreshing splash during the oppressive heat of the season.

There are many cross cultural purification rites for the betrothed, including the sweat lodge ceremony or Inipi, which is used widely by many Native American peoples as a cleansing to be partaken of as the preliminary to any major ritual event. The most traditional sweat lodge, however, was/is never experienced in mixed company.

Most pre-wedding cleansing practices have been performed by the bride and groom separately, each half of the couple accompanied and assisted by her/his chosen group of friends and family members of the same gender. These sorts of preparatory rites eventually evolved (or perhaps, devolved is a better word?) into the current Bridal Shower ritual that is so popular today.

You mention that you want to perform your cleansing together as a couple. Since this is important to you, you should do so, despite the fact that it is not traditional. A basic shared tenant of all shamanic thinking is that each individual is blessed with a personal relationship to spirit that must be honored. Consequently, every ritual should be uniquely appropriate and particular to the wants and needs of the participants. The perfect ritual is one that is truly personally relevant.

What better way to achieve perfect relevance than to design your own purification ritual — one that speaks to you directly? All you need is an intention, which, it seems to me, you are already quite clear about. Your choices about how your ritual will proceed, what you can do, and what methods and materials you might employ are practically limitless.

Purification by water is by far the most widespread cleansing technique. How about bathing each other in a bath of salt to wash away any memories, emotions, blockages, or resistances that might interfere with your most positive motives and stand in the way of your most precious intimacy? Once you are free from any impurities of heart and mind, you can then anoint each other with fragrant oils to enhance your intentions of honesty, openness, closeness, devotion, and truth.

There are innumerable other scouring agents besides water. Fire is frequently used, combined with water as in the Inipi, or alone. During the annual Hindu Festival of Agni, worshippers pass their hands over flames to obtain a state of purity. Peasants in Northern Europe still leap over bonfires to ceremonially cleanse themselves.

Clay, adobe, argil, sand, silica, soil, loam, loess, mud, peat, dirt, dust, terra cotta, the multi-paletted, richly-hued flesh of Mother Earth Herself, was considered to be a sacred substance, a sacrament to be used in blessings and prayers. The ancient Greeks used to place a lump of dirt on their head to seal an oath, rather like placing their hand on a bible and swearing to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God. Russian farmers continued this practice into the twentieth century, making any promise in the honored name of Mati-Syra-Zemlya, “Moist Mother Earth.” Take a mud bath before you pledge your highest honor.

Incense, smudge, tobacco, and other highly scented herbs are often burnt to produce fragrant smoke to blow away any impurities. You can “wash” each other from head to toe in the holy smoke of camphor, frankincense, myrrh, sage, cedar, or copal, which are all used for their purification qualities. Afterward, you can “rinse” in the smoke of sweet grass, which invites the sweet spirits into your life.

Ashes, charcoal, dirt, sap, sandalwood paste, pigment, paint, peppers, sagebrush, oil, and dung are among the cleansers commonly applied to the skin; employed as a dry bath. The Nubians of Africa rub themselves with the sacred ash of burnt leaves from an acacia tree before every rite of passage in their lives. Similarly, Catholics are anointed on Ash Wednesday with ash obtained from burning the palm fronds that had decorated the Church on the previous Palm Sunday. This ritual begins Lent, the 40-day cleansing period preceding the annual vernal Passion of death and resurrection.

Why not each make a list of all of the various parts of your old lives — your beliefs, habits, orientation, and practices — as single people that you wish to release before you come together as a married couple. Burn the lists in a pot. Blend the ash together and use it to bless your new lives as a partnership team. Mix the ash with water to create ink and inscribe your loving intention.

There is a wonderful Mayan shamanic ceremony that does much the same thing. You will need an Uncrossing Ball. (These are made from copal and other natural bits and pieces and are available through Mama Donna’s Spirit Shop.) Hold it in your hand and put into it with your intentions all that crosses you, blocks you, stands in the way of your best self.  You then wrap it in cloth and smash it to bits with a stone or hammer. Burn all the pieces one by one with intention to release them. When the final piece is burned, you are completely cleansed and free of any negativity.

In addition to cleansing our selves and our deities before we pray, people have always taken special care to clean and maintain the temples, churches, synagogues, cemeteries, groves, and shrines, in which our prayers are said. Don’t forget to cleanse and bless the sanctuary where you will exchange your vows and celebrate your union.

And of course your new home where the most intimate and ordinary prayers of daily life are uttered. If a man's home is his castle, surely it is a woman's shrine.

Be blessed, dear ones. Bless your selves and each other. Bless your love and your life.

 XxMama Donna

*Are you cyclically confused? In a ceremonial quandary? Completely clueless? Wonder no more. Send your questions about seasons, cycles, celebrations, ceremonies and spirit to Mama Donna at: CityShaman@aol.com

Found Goddess: The Computer Goddesses Part 8 By Barbara Ardinger

Note. The term Found Goddess was created by Morgan Grey and Julia Penelope for their wonderful book, Found Goddesses: Asphalta to Viscera (New Victoria Publishers, 1980). I started Finding goddesses—Nerdix, Compuquia, Hostilia, and Whizziwig—when I was working on a Y2K project for a major corporation. I Found the other goddesses described here when I was writing a book on the subject, Finding New Goddesses (ECW Press, 2003). The newest goddesses are Fubar-Ma and Linker Bell, who have just now appeared. Well, maybe they’ve been standing around and/or hovering; I just got them down on paper.

Daymentia

(Day-MEN-sha)

Goddess of the Temp Job

It is said that Daymentia has sixty-four hands. She needs that many. It takes eight to work at the computer with the efficiency expected of temporary workers: one to hold the mouse, two to type, one to hold program disks, one to hold application disks, one to hold Windows for Dummies, and two to load and empty the printer.

In Her remaining fifty-six hands, She holds Her coffee cup, herbal tea bags, change for the Coke machine, a large bottle of water, Her brown-bag lunch, a stapler, a staple remover, the telephone receiver, the phone message pad, a red ball-point pen, a blue ball-point pen, a black ball-point pen, a #2 pencil, an eraser, a bottle of Liquid Paper, a box of little paperclips, a box of jumbo paperclips, a box of binder clips, a steno pad, a fax cover sheet, big Post-Its, little Post-Its, priority tags, transparent tape, masking tape, duct tape, #10 envelopes, window envelopes, brown catalog envelopes, a letter opener, a pair of broken scissors, a photo-blue pencil, a paperback dictionary, a paperback speller, Strunk & White’s Elements of Style, a twelve-inch C-thru plastic ruler, an eighteen-inch C-thru plastic ruler, a wooden straightedge, an X-acto knife, a box of Avery labels, a box of five-cut file folders, a box of Pendaflex folders, a ream of letterhead, a ream of copier paper, the gizmo that runs the copy machine, Her photo-ID badge, a Sort-o-Graph, the company phone directory, take-out menus from eleven neighborhood restaurants, the keys to the desk She’s using, the watering can for the philodendron on the filing cabinet, the company procedures manual (Vols. 1-10, in separate three-ring binders), a giant bottle of aspirins, a ragged bottle with a few Tylenol-threes rattling around in it, Her car keys, and two pairs of spare pantyhose.

Why do we do it? Simple. We enjoy paying the rent.

If you have any energy left after a day like this, invoke Daymentia with these words:

                        Hail, Daymentia, bold and true,

                        Have I got a job for you.

                        Either show a way to make me love it,

                                    Or take this job and kindly shove it.

Barbara Ardinger, Ph.D. (www.barbaraardinger.com), is the author of Pagan Every Day: Finding the Extraordinary in Our Ordinary Lives (RedWheel/Weiser, 2006), a unique daybook of daily meditations, stories, and activities. Her earlier books are Finding New Goddesses, Quicksilver Moon, Goddess Meditations, and Practicing the Presence of the Goddess. Her day job is freelance editing for people who don't want to embarrass themselves in print. Barbara lives in southern California. To purchase a signed copy of Finding New Goddesses, just send Barbara an email at bawriting@earthlink.net.

Herb of the Season: Lily of the Valley by Dawn "Belladonna" Thomas

Herb of the Season: Lily of the Valley

Convallaria Magalis POISON

Folk Names: Jacob’s ladder, Lily Constancy, May Lily, Our Lady’s Tears

Planet: Mercury

Element: Air

Deities: Apollo, Aesculapius

Powers: Mental Powers, Happiness

Botanical:

In early spring days, the send up quill-like shoots emerging from a scaly sheath. As they lengthen and uncoil, they are seen to consist of two leaves, their stalks sheathing one within the other, rising directly from the rhizome on long, narrowing foot stalks, one leaf often larger than the other. The plain, oval blades, with somewhat concave surfaces, are deeply ribbed and slant a little backwards, thus catching the rain and conducting it by means of the curling in base of the leaf, as though in a spout, straight down the foot stalk to the root. 

At the back of the leaves, lightly enclosed at the base in the same scaly sheath, is the flower stalk, quite bare of leaves itself and bearing at its summit a number of buds, greenish when young, each on a very short stalk, which become white and as they open turn downwards, the flowers hanging, like a pearl of fairy bells, each bell with the edges turned back with six small scallops. The six little stamens are fastened inside the top of the bell, and in the center hangs the ovary. There is no free honey in the little flowers but a sweet juicy sap is stored in a tissue around the base of the ovary and proves a great attraction to bees, who also visit the flower to collect its pollen and who play an important part in the fertilization of the flowers.

By September, the flowers have developed into scarlet berries, each berry containing vermillion flesh round a pale, hard seed. Though the plant produces fruit freely under cultivation, its propagation is mainly affected by its quickly creeping underground stem and in the wild state its fruit rarely comes to maturity.

Folklore:

In A Modern Herbal, Mrs. Grieve writes about an old Sussex legend that St. Leonard fought against a great dragon in the woods near Horsham, only vanquishing it after a mortal combat lasting many hours during which he received grievous wounds, but wherever his blood feel, Lilies-of-the-valley sprang up to commemorate the desperate fight and the woods, called St. Leonard’s Forest.

She wrote about another legend and how the fragrance of the lily-of-the-valley could draw the nightingale from a hedge or bush and lead him to choose his mate in the recesses of the glade. 

Uses:

The lily-of-the-valley seems to be a highly favored herb of devas. One of the most useful ground covers for deeply shared areas, there is a magic about using an herb of such medicinal value, one associated with the faerie folk found beneath trees which can be planted to fill out of the way places in a garden.

The flower may be gathered, dried and powdered as a magical additive to any incense or mixture. Some prefer doing the same with the rhizome or with the fruit (the flower produces a berry which turns red as it ripens). Under no circumstances should lily-of-the-valley be consumed or taken internally.

Lily-of-the-valley would be the most useful in herbal alchemy and would be among an alchemist’s patron herb. The lore connecting lily-of-the-valley with a Sun god combined with the preferences for the flower of growing in the shade and the astrological association of Mercury, that deity who moves between the light and the dark all provide a paradigm for an invaluable magic. It is also used to improve memory and mind. When placed in a room, these flowers cheer the heart and lift the spirit of those present.

Sources

Beyerl, Paul. A Compendium of Herbal Magick. Custer, WA. Phoenix Publishing. 1998

Cunningham, Scott. Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs. St. Paul, MN. Llewellyn Publications. 2000

Grieve, M. A Modern Herbal. Mineola, NY. Dover Publications, Inc. 1971

Griggs, Barbara. A Green Witch Herbal. Rochester, VT. Healing Arts Press. 1994

Photo courtesy of http://www.vandermeernursery.com/subpages/free/wallpaper/1024/lily-of-the-valley.jpg

Imbolc Solitary Ritual by Dawn "Belladonna" Thomas

Theme: Welcome the increasing light

Altar Needs
White altar cloth
Five white candles
Cauldron
Pen and Paper
Chalice

To prepare for the ritual have a ritual bath with some bath salts. Play some relaxing music. Set up your altar with the five unlit candles - one for each element and one in the center to represent the Goddess.

Call the Elements and the Goddess:
Hail to the Spirit of the East, Element of Air. The winter winds blows in a new season. Please join me tonight. Light the candle in the East.

Hail to the Spirit of the South, Element of Fire. The warmth of fire makes me aware of the increasing light. Please join me tonight. Light the candle in the South.

Hail to the Spirit of the West, Element of Water. The melting snow flows into the rivers and provide water to the beginnings of new life. Please join me tonight. Light the candle in the West.

Hail to the Spirit of the North, Element of Earth. The fruits from the last harvest have provided the nourishment during these winter months. Please join me tonight. Light the candle in the North.

Great Mother Brighid, Guardian of poetry and smith crafts. I am honored to have you here and to bask in the light of your eternal flame. Please join me tonight. Light the candle in the center of the altar.

Tonight I celebrate the return of the sun and the rebirth of light.

Work and Meditation
Sit in front of your altar and think about what you would like to manifest in your life. When you are finished, write your thoughts on your piece of paper.  Place the paper in the cauldron and light it to release your thought to the Elements and the Goddess. While the paper is burning say the following:

Great Mother Brighid
Watch over your daughter
Let your water heal me
Let your wind inspire me
Let your fire warm me
With your blessings and protection, I go in peace.

Drink from your chalice and offer blessings. 

If you would like to make a corn dolly, now is the time to do that.  As you are braiding continue your thoughts on what you want to manifest. When finished, open the circle.

Release the Goddess and the Elements
Great Mother Brighid, your growing light is increasing all around me. Thank you for joining me tonight. Hail and Farewell. Extinguish the candle in the center. 

Spirit of the North, the earth is beginning to show new life. Thank you for joining me tonight. Hail and Farewell. Extinguish the candle in the North.

Spirit of the West, the rivers are rising and the water is warming. Thank you for joining me tonight. Hail and Farewell. Extinguish the candle in the West.

Spirit of the South, the days are growing longer and the sun is providing much needed warmth.  Thank you for joining me tonight. Hail and Farewell. Extinguish the candle in the South.

Spirit of the East, there is a hint of March winds swirling around blowing in new life. Thank you for joining me tonight. Hail and Farewell. Extinguish the candle in the East.

The Circle is open but remains unbroken.

Blessed Be!

Maiden, Mother, Crone: Voices of the Goddess - Book Review by Dawn "Belladonna" Thomas

Maiden, Mother, Crone: Voices of the Goddess by Claire Hamilton

ISBN: 1905047398

I received this book from my husband as a Yule gift. He knows how important the Goddess is to me and thought this book would be special. He didn’t know the half of it. This book is full of myths and stories about Celtic Goddesses that haven’t had their stories told in a long time. The way that Ms Hamilton writes makes you feel as if you are watching it happen in front of you. It is so visual.

The book starts with an introduction with a look at how people honored the Goddesses in the past. Ms Hamilton makes a good point that everyone is familiar with Greek and Roman Goddesses because their stories have been told over and over again. But only recently has there been an interest in the Celtic Goddesses. She points out that Robert Graves was one of the first people to suggest the three aspects of the Goddess and their relationship with the seasons. The prologue is beautifully written and starts with this: “The voice of the Goddess spoke the first word. But it was not a word. It was an impulse, a thought, a quickening.”

The book is divided into three sections – Maiden Goddesses, Mother Goddesses and Crone Goddesses. There are four goddesses listed in the Maiden Goddess section. These goddesses include Brighid the Maiden, Blodeuwedd, Boann, and Sabrina. This was the first time that I became acquainted with Sabrina. Her life was so short and unfortunate.

The second section introduces us to Deirdre, Branwen, Brighid the Mother, Macha, and two stories about Rhiannon. I was so drawn in to the story of Deirdre and wondered why I had not heard of her before. It is obvious the women in these stories were so strong that it was important for others to keep them contained or controlled.

The last section shares stories about The Morrigan, Medbh, Arianrhod, Ceridwen, and Brighid the Crone. These stories show that Goddesses that were considered powerful were shown as manipulative. This is usually the case with powerful women or goddesses. Their power was considered a threat so they were demonized or minimized.

I am glad Ms Hamilton shared these stories with us in her book. I am now aware of more Goddess stories and my knowledge deepened on a few I already knew. Anyone interested in the Celtic Goddesses would enjoy it as much as I did. These stories should be told to anyone willing to listen. It is a great way to share the Goddesses so that no one will forget them again.

Mama Donna's Spirit Shop

Moon Schedule - Imbolc to Ostara by Dawn "Belladonna" Thomas

(Times are Eastern Time)

2^nd Quarter – February 2^nd 6:13 p.m.

Full “Quickening” Moon – February 9^th 9:49 a.m.

4^th Quarter – February 16^th 4:37 p.m.

New Moon – February 24^th 8:35 p.m.

2^nd Quarter – March 4^th 2:46 a.m.

Full “Storm” Moon – March 10^th 10:38 p.m.

4^th Quarter – March 18^th 1:47 p.m.

Moon Void of Course Schedule

Date                                   Starts                                  Ends

Planting Days

February 6^th, 7^th, 14^th, 15^th, 16^th, 19^th, 20^th, 21^st, 25^th, 26^th

March 5^th, 6^th, 14^th, 15^th, 19^th, 20^th

Harvesting Days

February 17^th, 18^th, 22^nd, 23^rd

March 17^th, 18^th, 21^st

Spirits: As Real As Any Other Living Thing By Angie Skelhorn

Spirits can make contact. Apparitions, in a state of transition prior to reincarnation, who sense all, see all, but can't touch, with much effort can appear.

I am one of many who have witnessed a Spirit. The first encounter I had was when I lived in Aylmer, Quebec. My choice of lifestyle had worn me down. I was drained at the time. My life was spiraling downward. It was late evening. Alone, I lay stretched out on the couch. The light from the television screen lit the small room. Something caught the corner of my eye. A faint image appeared of a man lying on his stomach on the rug in front of the glass sliding doors leading to the balcony. He was clearly dressed in black pants, a vertical striped shirt and he wore a fedora. Arms raised, elbows bent, his somewhat skull-like head rested in his bony hands. The skin was gone. The bones appeared burned.

He didn't communicate. I observed him watching me. I had no clue who he was or why he was in my living room. I didn't ask any questions. He was the scariest thing I had ever seen. I wanted to believe the apparition was a hallucination. He was there, then he'd be gone. I tried to deny what I saw, but the ghostly figure appeared again and again. With each visit the man lay in the same spot and commanded my attention. I could not look away until the apparition decided to fade away.

I never discussed what I was experiencing with anyone but my mom. She didn't think I was crazy. She has always been my voice of reason. My mom told me to bless myself and recite the Lord's prayer when the ghostly figure showed himself.

I did as she suggested. Wherever it came from, I wanted it to go back and leave me be. I prayed hard for the apparition to disappear but he didn't.

The ghostly man appeared many times before I moved from the apartment. The vision stuck with me as my life went on. At that time I knew nothing about sending Spirits into the light. Today I believe my visitor might have died in a fire and his spirit remains at the spot of his death.

My second visit from Spirit was a completely different experience.

I lived alone in Ottawa. Slowly, I had begun to repair the damage I caused to myself. I met an elderly woman who opened my mind to witchcraft. She explained to me that everything is composed of energy that can be tapped into for support, to cause positive or negative change to occur. At this point a customer came into the restaurant where I was employed and handed me the book Tarot of the Spirit by Pamela Eakins, Ph.D.

The building I had worked in for three years was sold. My job would be finished in a few weeks. I really had nothing to stay in Ottawa for any more.

I was in my bed not quite asleep nor awake. I sensed the presence before I actually saw what saw. I lay still. I felt someone was in the room. I looked up, still in a state of twilight sleep, my mind foggy. I saw a transparent figure – no eyes or features, but human-like, standing at the foot of my bed. Even though the Spirit said nothing he seemed peaceful. I pulled up the covers to make myself comfortable and felt a sense of calmness as I drifted back to sleep.

I didn't shrug off the visit. I told my elderly friend who was certain my visitor had been a relative who had passed over. She said to ask him the next time I see him what I was I needed to know.

That night even though he didn't show himself, upon request I asked Spirit what did I need to do to move my life forward.

Many things began to link together. Opportunities presented themselves to me. I found I was at the right place at the right time. I was open to change. Magicaly I was put on course to where I was destined to be. I moved home to the family farm.

My last physical encounter gave me sufficient evidence to make me a true believer that Spirit is real. Validation enough for me that spirit survives the death of the human body and continues to function on the astral plane.

I personally became acquainted with the Spirit of my grandfather. He assumed his human form so I could recognize him.

In the basement of the home where I was raised I practiced reading the Tarot cards. I requested guidance from my Spirit guide. I heard a voice say "Take a picture."

Without thought I stood, picked up the camera my sister Victoria had given me as a gift and took a picture in the mirror behind the couch that had hung above my head. When I had the film developed I observed the manifestation of my grandfather who had passed over in the 70's. His appearance proved to me that my belief is real, beyond hope, more than faith.

Click images to view larger

I have not a shred of doubt that there is eternal life because I have had many mystical experiences where I have communed with my Spirit Guide. My ancestor comes to pledge his allegiance so it would be clear to me to rely on family for support in the pursuit of unity, acceptance and contentment.

Spirit can make contact with the living even though a soul's afterlife is totally different from earthly life. The resurrection of the body and the everlasting soul will survive. Souls come from one lifetime to another, for each life contains valuable lessons to learn at their own rate.

My ancestors were born, lived their lives with free will, died, then joined with the God Consciousness and would be born again into the cycle.

Samhain is the time to honor those who have passed before us. Invite your ancestors in Spirit form to celebrate the start of winter. Seek strength and inspiration to know self, freed from so-called imperfections.

Spirit Guide will enter dreams, visions and rituals to open the mind the way to accomplish personal goals. Spirits give the eyes to see so your heart will know how to manifest potential in the physical world.

As I live Life's lessons of fairness and compassion, I ask Spirits Guide for support and guidance to put me where I need to be, prepared for opportunities to become a better me.

Spirits watch over. Go in peace.

Angie Skelhorn is the fifth child born into a farming family located South of Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. Her writing has appeared in The Simple Witch Magazine and Circle Magazine. She is hard at work on her novel, "On The Edge."

Stories of Tantrick Initiation by Chandra Alexandre

Part I

"I need to find a temple to the Goddess."

"Which one," asks the travel agent at my hotel in Puri. "Which goddess?"

Its summer in India, the time when the air is thick, sweat plentiful, and the monsoon’s rains swell the skies and the streets. I have come here, to this land of spice, spirit and the sacred, to further my work in ecofeminism by looking at women’s spiritual connections to social justice and activism on behalf of the environment. I am not here long, however, before Maa, the Divine Mother, shows me that there’s more to my quest than I originally thought.

"Well, Kālī," I state hesitatingly, unsure of how my request will be received. The man looks me up and down, trying to determine where I fit in the spectrum of visitors with whom he has to deal. Tourist? Devotee? “Wouldn't I rather visit Lord Jaganath,” he wonders?

Lord of the Universe, Jaganath, is honored at this time in Puri (the eastern dham, one of the sacred compass points in India) in a huge festival to which hundreds of thousands flock each year. Together with his brother and sister, this is the only time the Lord leaves the mandir (temple). He’s on a family outing to his summer home across the town and everyone comes out to get a glimpse of the royal family.

I’m restless though, and on a mission. It is Kālī I need to see and no one else. That She is responsible for my getting through a political uprising in Digha at the southern end of West Bengal unscathed has been made perfectly clear to me. I have come here to give thanks and find peace by the ocean waters. Sensing my urgency, the travel agent kindly calls to an auto-rickshaw driver with a shrug, not wanting to engage me further about goddesses.

The driver arrives. "Kālī mandir," I say to him as he pulls up alongside us. In my ignorance at this point, I have no idea that Maa has many homes here. After receiving no further instructions, the driver takes off towards the center of town. I later find out (after several unsuccessful attempts to again visit the place to which I am now heading) that there are at least four Kālī temples in town. Reaching our destination, I buy a hibiscus mala, a garland of her sacred flower, and add that to my pūjā (worship) basket. Into it too go coconut, juicy betel nut and other sweets to delight Her. My offering is noteworthy at this temple for its size; but no matter. I need to thank the Goddess for getting me out of Digha alive.

The pūjāri (priest) at Maa Batakali Mandir is a Brahmin of about forty-five (although to date, I have never asked his age). In his devotion and gratitude for the goddess having given him sons, Shyam has built this temple himself. A small roadside mandir, passersby usually drop rupees on the temple steps on their daily rounds. It is nothing too fancy, but Maa here is absolutely divine.

In his time, Shyam has doubled as a government worker, making regular trips back and forth from his office to tend to Maa and her devotees. Now retired, he tends to the temple and its congregation of worshipers every day for morning prayers and evening aarati (a beautiful celebration with lights and offerings).  As Shyam sees me approach for the first time, he stares. He asks me directly why I am there, and although he is not angry, his disposition and directness can easily be mistaken for exactly that at first. Truly, he's just curious, but I am startled by his question.

“Are you ISKON?” he demands.

Suspense broken, I have to laugh, and nervously let out a giggle. The International Society of Krishna Consciousness (a.k.a. Hāre Krṣṇas) has never drawn me, and in fact, I have never quite been able to understand the draw this tradition seems to have for Westerners in general. Puri, it turns out, is full of them. Lord Jaganath, I learn, is, like Krṣṇa whom those in ISKON worship, one of the ten incarnations of Lord Viṣṇu, the God of Preservation and one of the main Hindu deities.

"No," I reply, "I came to thank the Goddess." After a few more words, Shyam accepts my offering basket, performing a worship ceremony on my behalf. He asks my name in order to conduct the rites. When we're through, he asks why I'm there. But my eyes are transfixed on Her image, and I can only point to my heart by way of explanation. "She's here," I manage to say, and everything that has been kept inside until now in this challenging land of contrasts streams out through my eyes.

Between June and August of 1998, I live in Puri. My friends in Bankura up north forgive me for not coming back. My work on the spiritual motivations for grassroots environmental movements in India is put on hold. It was my pause when Shyam asked after the ritual, "Will you come visit my house?" that changed not only the course of my research, but also my life. A native New Yorker in addition to being new to India and aware of its potential surprises, I held a moment of silence in which I questioned his invitation and motivations after the asking. Yet, at the same time, I also felt on a deep level that with this question, no matter how sincere or otherwise instigated, a door was opening to me that might never open again. In the pause, I could see Her face dimly, and I wondered. It took me three days to surrender to the feeling and my vision of Her beckoning. And so, after careful thought and some time meditating with the ocean's wisdom, along with reflection on the significance of my waiting time, I said yes. With that word and a return visit to Shyam’s house, I met my new teacher and his family.

Shyam's mother, wife, and sons all live together in a modest and comfortable house just down the road from the temple. They greet me like a daughter, and later I learn that in many ways, my presence represents something symbolic to the family. I am, it turns out, the same age as the daughter they lost to an illness some years back. We get to know one another over the course of the ensuing days despite my poor Oriya language skills. But it's not language or communication problems that trouble them. The family, especially Shyam’s wife, is most concerned for my well being given the lack of western "latrine" facilities. I tell them that their style with its cool water and lack of toilet paper is much more refreshing in the summer anyway. We laugh.

A more surprising moment, however, comes when Shyam seats himself on the floor across from me to eat one day, clearly breaking from orthodox dictate, which requires him to eat separately from me, and from any woman for that matter. The more time I spend in Puri, the more I realize that Goddess is working in quite mysterious ways and that Shyam is no typical Brahmin priest. As time passes, I learn the extent to which She is working through him, and I absorb many levels of Her teachings—some straightforward, others much more obtuse.

Dikṣa, or initiation into Kālī’s mysteries, is the next profound unfolding of my spiritual journey. The day comes on the August new moon, and I am thrilled when I realize it will be August 2nd, the festival of the harvest often called Lughnasad (or Lammas) in the earth-based Western calendar. It is as though Maa has answered my burning question: Can I do this? The synchronicity of timing does not escape me, and I feel She is telling me that I can have it both ways--I can be Her priestess as a Witch and a Hindu, walking as a Goddess worshiper wherever I may be in the world. To Her, I imagine, there is no distinction.

The initiation is radical by most Hindu standards. Shyam is a Brahmin priest, and I am not only a westerner but also a woman; and women in India are not initiated by Brahmins. Following the Vedas in his public work, Shyam also practices Tantra…and this is the in-road to Maa that is clearly appropriate. Tantricks care not of my birth, only my longing. But perhaps there would be less to explain and fewer staring eyes as we sit working together at the temple were he to be more public about the various faces of his devotion. As Shyam manages to satisfy people’s natural curiosity with his answers to their queries and suspicious looks, I pretend not to notice the robust number of visitors to the temple in the evenings after the gates have closed and we have begun our private work and evening prayers together.

My practice deepens after initiation, and on Her sacred day of Kālī Pūjā some months later in October, I sit at the feet of the goddess in the temple, a spot that locals cannot come near. It is nearing midnight and the heat of the day lifting off the earth combined with the hot lamps that light Her image for devotees makes the sweat drip down my arms, makes my sari blouse feel even tighter than it already is, and makes me wish I couldn’t see the bugs and ants crawling on my feet and ankles. I honor Her by pouring ghee (clarified butter) for the homa (fire offering) ceremony, and I remember that I am Shyam's first sishya (student), a position of honor in the lineage tradition from which he comes.

I tend to my responsibilities dutifully as the Caṇḍi Pāṭh verses resonate off the temple walls and expand into the night air. In moments of quiet, I think about the day Shyam said he’d been waiting for me, how he said his own guru had told him that one day, he would be bringing someone other than his sons to the path. I remember how Shyam said he had found the signs in my face the very first day we had met at the temple--signs telling him that I was the student to which his guru had referred. We finish our time together and he tells me the most important thing: "Go! Go back to your home land, America, and spread Mother Worship!"

Upon my return to the States, SHARANYA, a Devi Mandir (goddess temple) is born and my dedication to Kali Maa takes root with the formation of community on western shores. The wisdom of the ocean is remembered.

For the light and depth of love;
For the truth in compassion and wisdom;
For the breath -- HA -- that inspires the spirit;

This to the fruit of life,
the womb of Earth,
the darkness of the soul.
(Digha, West Bengal - 1998)

Part II

"Babaji wants to see you."

I’m walking barefoot down the muddy side of Nilachal Hill at Kamakhya  in June of 2003 after witnessing one of the most beautiful Sanskrit recitations I have ever heard. The white kurtas of the Brahmin men gathered in a circle around a sacred fire stand in marked contrast though to the throngs of red-sari-clad women waiting in long lines to see their Mother. Both, I imagine, receive Her blessings.

I am in northeastern India, in Assam, participating in an annual Tantrick pilgrimage to the seat of the goddess’ power, the place where her yoni, or sexual organ, resides on Earth. It’s a powerful place, a place of contrasts where all come together, whether Vaishnava, Shaivite or Shakta, to honor Maa. It's a place, one might say, where all unites in Her name.

Babji, I learn, is a 400-year old Aghori. A believer in the preeminence of the divine as Shiva, pure consciousness, he is a practitioner of the non-dualistic or "left-hand" Tantrick rites. In short, this means that he adheres to a rather literal interpretation of what other Tantricks might do symbolically in ritual and devotion on the path to enlightenment. He meditates, for example, not only on yantras (sacred diagrams), but on yantras in cremation grounds on top of corpses; he drinks wine and liquor; he smokes hash and takes in other natural mind-altering substances. He believes that the pathway to the divine is through the body, through this world, through all of creation. His accepts it all, the pure and impure, the wicked and sane, as sacred. He is a radical non-dualist--one who believes in the One as well as in the reality of the phenomenal world. His path is fast and furious, sweet and sublime, potentially off-putting at the same time that it attracts wonder, excitement, and awe. He loves Maa.

The three black-clad initiates standing outside his cave-like shelter on the hillside welcome me in. I meet Babji. He’s old but looks young, his face the only give-away that he’s been around the block a few times. His body, otherwise, is baby-like. He looks pregnant, a little round belly on a very thin frame. I sit cross-legged in front of him. To his left, the fire pit. To his right, a kapala, or human skull cup from which wine and other mind-altering substances are drunk, sits upturned. He calls me "Beti," or daughter. Two followers of his are there; his initiates have left us alone. The woman wipes the snot dripping from Babaji's nose with a handkerchief and then moves to mop sweat from his forehead. No one, it appears, is immune to this sweltering summer heat. The Indian devotee next to her, perhaps her husband, has had far too much bhang (Cannabis) or something; his eyes have trouble steadying on me.

My Sanskrit is better than my Hindi at this point. Fortunately, I can make out meaning from of the ritual language Babaji is using. The man helps a little, but his English is as poor as my Hindi. We quiet. Suddenly, Babaji grabs me. He pulls me to him with unsuspected strength. Face against face, I feel the bristles of his long beard against my cheek, and I feel coolness where the snot has been touching. I am startled, but now I’m held. I am held firmly, with apparent intention. The touch is not violent or inappropriate. The strength is deep and calming. I stay quiet and listen inside to my belly and instincts. Presence prevails, and I allow myself to trust the moment. Just then, Babaji begins. His mouth now pressed to my ear, he sounds an ancient mantra. My heart trembles, my eyes close, and I go inward. I surrender to these sounds, soaking in the ancient reverberations, feeling in them the voices of the lineage, the guttural utterances of vibrations across time and space. All enter my ear. All penetrate my soul.

Moments pass and I eventually sit back upright in silence. One moment, then two. From deep inside, the sobbing begins. There’s no rational thought, no rhyme or reason, just the moment and my feeling of tremendous love and connection to all that is--I recognize a touch of sat chit ananada: being, consciousness, bliss. My forehead now on Babji's knee, he pats my head and strokes my hair. I sit back upright. Silence. One moment, then two. Babaji reaches to his left where a rusty knife about four inches long sits waiting. I follow his motion with my eyes. Instantly, I am terrified. I have visions of blood. Stop! One moment, then two. Stop! This time, it’s an admonition to remember. Allow yourself to be taken, it says. You’ve been here before; you know what's happening. It's safe. Breathe.

Babaji lowers my head with his hand and takes a fist-full of hair from my crown. He pulls hard enough to undo strands from my braid. Close to the scalp he cuts with the knife. Old and well-used, it doesn’t cut very well. He pulls harder to get through the thickness of my mane and it hurts for an instant. I deepen my surrender. He cuts. He finishes, and I sit back up. Dazed, with my awareness in another place, I still must know.

"What," I ask, “are you going to do with it?"

"A sacrifice,” he says, "will be offered in the fire tonight." He holds up my hair.

"It’s an equal exchange," he says, "the price you pay for being welcomed into the family.”

# # #

Biographical Statement: Chandra Alexandre is an initiated Tantrika and hereditary Witch whose practice and life are infused with a deep appreciation for the unseen realm, a belief in the importance of our ability to alter consciousness at will, reverence for nature, respect for Spirit in all its forms, and a commitment to doing the work of spirituality. She has worked since 1998 to help create a vehicle in the West for those seeking to embrace the ancient (yet living) embodied and goddess-centered spiritual traditions of India. This has manifested in the creation of SHARANYA (www.SHARANYA.org), a goddess temple run by community in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond, and the Sha'can tradition, a synchretism based on Hindu Tantra and Witchcraft. Sha’can is indeed a Western Shakta Tantra. She is also the founder of SHARANYA’s Kali Vidya, on online mystery school (www.KaliVidya.org). Chandra holds a Ph.D. in Asian & Comparative studies (her dissertation was on Kali and the Black Madonna), a doctor of ministry degree, and an MBA in sustainable management. She is fluent in French and a dedicated lover of Sanskrit.

The Conditioned Mind by Maha Vajra

Since our birth, we have been thru a series of experiences that allow us to grasp what is life, if we pay attention to it. However, we also received instruction that conditions our mind into structured thought processes. These mental structures permit us to exist in community, thus they are essential, but they also prevent us from seeing beyond them. We learned about numbers and their strict rules of application. We learned about letters and their strict rules of combination. From this, we learned how to read and count, but we also learned how to encase our mind into a fortress of knowledge, blinding us to the true nature of things, giving only a few openings to see the limited ranges of the wide possibilities life offers.

In Buddhism, there is a teaching about illusion that is often misinterpreted. The Buddha also thought a lot about reality and the pure perception of it. But most uninformed Buddhists simply say that everything is an illusion, which is not what the Buddha said. This leads the Buddhist students to confusion as to what is real and what is not.

Let us take an example at how we are thought about the notion of colors, when we are young. A rainbow shows us a complete range of possible colors. There is no separation between each color. The rainbow is continuous.

Using the grayscale image above, please imaging a continuous color range of light. On a color scale, we put worded labels where the colors seemed to be the most obvious. Red, yellow, green… we put tags on the scale to refer to colors, and in no time, we start forgetting that it is a scale of infinite possibilities, while we keep referring only to the colors where we put a label. Of course, if you go into a paint shop, you’ll find thousands of labels referring to as many colors. But when we are kids, we are first thought only a few colors, and that by mixing them, we end up with another set of colors. Quickly, we forget about the range of colors in the rainbow, and we only look at the colors where we were told there was a label. If you ask a kid to describe the colors on a rainbow, he will simply spit out the structured set of labels he was thought, and he won’t even understand the concept of a continuous range of colors unless we explain it to him. Because of his conditioning, he only sees the colors we told him about, and refers to them like if there was a separation between each of these labeled colors.

The same goes with time. Time flows in an un-separated continuity. In order to become more productive, we decided to put labels around a circle, using numbers as a structure, so that we could do things at the same time.

We created a system along the continuous line of time, so that we could become more efficient in whatever we do. However, within only a few generations, we forgot that we are the ones who put these lines around the circle, and we started to become enslaved by the system that we previously created. Most of us are no longer using time to remain in a state of mastery over their production means, but are encased in the structure of time.

Was the universe created from 9am to 5pm, Monday thru Friday? Is the flow of life so tight in time with any other species than the human? In fact, does anything else in the universe flow according to what the clock reads? Time is a concept that we created to understand each other, that we enforced to become more productive, and that we now fear. That is what we mean by “illusion”. Right now, it is not really the 28^th of May 2008 at 4:02PM while I am typing this line of text. However, this is how I would express it to another human being inquiring about it.

We have to keep using words to refer to colors, and numbers to refer to moments, or else, we would not be able to understand each other, let alone work together. However, we must strive to become free of the system, not by rejecting it, but by regaining control over it. Our systems are meant to empower us, not to enslave us. Until we can look at absolutely everything in terms of possibilities, we are encased in a fortress of definite and limited options.

The outstanding amount of conditioning we have acquired since birth goes way beyond words and numbers. Everything we perceive with our senses is categorized, labeled and classified within our mind. This behavior creates a schism between what is perceived and the experience resulting form its perception. No wonder most humans feel anguish and despair. We look at life while remaining separated from it.

If you wish to gain the true knowledge of what is “Time”, you have to stop looking at a clock, and turn your attention inwards. While breathing softly in a natural manner, pay attention to your experience of time. Do not dwell in an intellectual recitation of what you thing about time. In fact, try not to think at all in terms of deduction and comprehension. Rather, contemplate your experience of time. Breathe softly and feel. Be aware of what is the flow of time. Experience it in a conscious un-worded thought. Try your best to keep your mind silent, and be mindful of what is time. It can take a while for your thoughts to go down. It can take another while for your mind to start experiencing time in an un-separated, continuous flow. You will succeed in experiencing time out of the illusionary perception when you are spontaneously filled with a rush of life, or happiness, that you cannot explain. This can only happen if your mind is calmed, and if you spend enough time not counting time, paying attention to the pure experience of it.

The same goes with colors. Imagine a complete range of colors while trying to relieve your mind of its references. Contemplate the un-worded experience of color in a single unified range of infinite possibilities. If you start counting colors, or thinking about specific colors, you are not doing it right. Don’t think about it; simply contemplate it with no thoughts. Eventually, your entire visual perception center will be purified, and you will start seeing the reality of color, not the illusion of it.

If you practice yourself at perceiving all things in a united, continuous and infinite range of possibilities, you will eventually awaken to what reality is.

Control, Power, Manipulation

In our habit of managing everything in a compartmented way, we have developed a need to control everything. Everyone according to each their own system of belief, will try to control each situation they face, so that they may bring about a stronger sense of security. This need for control is the result of our insecurity. We wish to avoid suffering, and we use drastic ways to prevent it. However, these drastic methods go beyond the control of immediate situations. While we are un-awakened to reality, we wish to control absolutely everything.

When we do not control a situation, or the information regarding a situation, we will try to regain control by using power. The only thing that can prevent the un-awakened mind to use power is the fear of a more intense opposing power that threatens to apply pain. Thus, rule number one about avoiding suffering comes back into play. In order to remain in control of a situation, or at least to remain in control of our level of suffering, we learn when to use power in order to gain more control, and when to refrain from using power, so to keep the lowest possible level of pain.

However, we humans have another tool for situations when power simply won’t work. It is manipulation. Manipulation is still another defense system that we use to gain more control over various situations, when raw power simply won’t work. We have all been thru situations when we start to make up plans to try to get a hold of a daily life situation. Manipulation is yet again a method used by the un-awakened human, hoping to gain more control, in order to avoid pain.

Control, power and manipulation are the ways of war. They always end up in painful situations. The outcome of their use is always the perpetuation of suffering. The main reason for this is that these behaviors are the result of attachments to definite separate definitions of our existence. When we wish to possess something that is not ours, when we wish to receive more reconnaissance than we deserve, when we wish to receive more attention than what we worked for, or when we want to be compensated more for our work… these situations result in producing attachment to things, feelings, emotions, and it results in producing pain.

The source of any conflict is our attachment to their object. The only solution out of this battle is to look inwards at our attachments, and to try to understand them to the best of our ability. Yet, understanding will not suffice. We also have to feel our attachments, and feel their resulting conflicts. By allowing ourselves to feel all that is related to each experience of suffering, we become free of the enslavement of the object of attachment.

Why then don’t we just delve into ourselves and resolve every suffering in our life? The answer is simple: fear of the unknown.

Fear of the Unknown

What we fear most is what we do not know. The only way to resolve any type of conflict is to look within and become fully conscious of all the emotional implications of this conflict. The first hint to every conflict is to ask ourselves: what am I attached to in this situation? What do I fear losing, or not gaining?

Paying attention to what we fear losing, or yearn to acquire, implicates that we look at the core of our motivations. A normal human being has no idea about what really drives his decisions. We are more used to react to built-in stimulation than to really think about each and every choice we make. Even when we believe we are spending a lot of time thinking about something, we are not even noticing that what we are thinking about is how much suffering we hope to spare. We seem to be thinking about the goods and bads of each alternative, but we mostly are comparing levels of suffering depending on the various types of attachments we keep in our lives. Yet, we hide this level of reflection to ourselves, sustaining the belief that we are in control.

If we were to look straightforward into the heart of every situation, we would immediately pay attention to what we are attached to, and to what is the resulting suffering. Why don’t we do this? Fear of the unknown. Where we are not in control of the situation, we fear. Looking inwards, and simply the act of feeling something inside us, we try to avoid. We wish to avoid feeling something that we don’t already see inside us. While we are unaware of what lies inside our mind, heart and body, we fear what we could find out.

However, it is only by going inside to feel what is there, that we can acquire the knowledge of it. The solution to all our suffering is to delve inside, without knowing what we will find, and to pay attention to whatever comes up. This requires faith, and it is possible. With practice, looking, thinking and feeling what is hidden inside of us actually becomes fun. But at first, we have to face the dark and jump.

Its like standing dry next to a pool filled with people playing and having fun, and the only thought that we have in mind is “I hope it won’t hurt”. Well, the apparent thought seems to be “I hope it won’t be too cold”, but the real underlying thought is about the fear of possible suffering. Eventually, you simply have to jump in to notice that the water is quite easy. Then you start having fun.

Maha Vajra

Modern Enlightened Spiritual Master

www.MahaVajra.BE

This is Your Life - Embrace the Experience By Angie Skelhorn

I ventured to the open meadow. A full moon hung suspended, surrounding the earth with a blue-gray light. A quiet evening surrounded me. I laid on the grass and felt the night air move around my body. Twinkling stars shun down upon me. With a deep breath, I centered myself. I allowed all my burdens soak into the ground beneath me. I asked the keepers of the secret knowledge, my Spirit Guide answers to the unknown, "When did the soul enter the physical body?"

What happen next seemed to take hours, but actually happened in a flash.

The answer revealed to me was:

The soul is the innermost being of self and is dedicated to its life's work. The energy thinks, feels and desires. The human body is born as a vehicle for the soul to prefect itself. The frame allows the soul to live an earthly life through touch while expressing itself in humanitarian ways; a free agent for the divine powers. Born from the four elements, a human is formed; a living soul resides within, individual energy, a complete unique experience.

The soul is introduced to its physical frame while the embryo develops into a fetus in the mother's womb. It is a slow and compatible process. The liquid in the womb acts as the timeless, weightless substance the soul is used to. There is still connection to the other world and the soul will struggle to adapt and conform to its physical body.

The life of the soul was decided long before conception. A meeting took place between the soul and its energy guides, relatives and friends who had passed on in the physical world as well as Higher Powers and our Creator. The soul's past actions, the Karma, is recalled and that which was not cleared or properly handled returns. The soul has many layers of reality woven together to tap into evolve the further the growth, all which relates to the past, present and future; CONSCIOUSNESS, UNCONSCIOUSNESS, SUPERCONSCIOUSNESS, COLLECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS.

Before the soul re-enters it chooses its race, parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, friends, home country and location. The environment is selected, the emotional and physical experience needed are put into play. At birth the influences of the planets and other cosmic energies will offer a glimpse of the soul's fate and fortune. The new individual with a soul, using mind and heart and higher powers' backing will create the new existence. No matter the mission on earth, until the soul perfects itself it will continue to live the same experience over and over again.

The whole process is a miracle in itself. Each cell, every movement is perfectly coordinated with a master plan. Each unique individual's innermost being had decided to come to the planet. It was their own free will to live earthly encounters using their six senses to experience the life placed before them.

I wanted to know why I could not remember the time spent in energy form in the other world or past lives. Why are the memories not quick and fresh like events that happened only yesterday? Why must I seek and dig deep within my mind to recall a past needed to live in the present, to evolve into the future?

I learned that deep within the mind lives experiences of prior incarnations. Buried material of sensations of lives lived hide in the unconscious part of the mind Memories of past lives are universal. The layers of the mind work in amazing way.

The mind will retain good experiences easier or more willing than bad ones. Our minds can forget anything that is unpleasant or painful. The mind is able to recall details of positive things quicker than negative ones. This is a protective feature to help keep humans mentally sane. Misery, bad or harmful situations happen to everyone. The brain can forget the details of those experiences, bury the episodes deep within and block out any traumas including our physical death. It is a great survival skill. The birthing process is a traumatic experience for newborns and the soul. For nine months the baby laid in an environment that was protective and safe. The baby fed, slept, dreamed then suddenly the mother’s body triggers time to leave the comforts and enter a new and unknown environment. The shock activates the mechanisms in the brain and the experience is forgotten. The same applies to the experience of death. Our fear of the unknown or the traumatic event leaving the physical frame creates anxiety, a feeling of crisis and we forget.

Angie Skelhorn is the fifth child born into a farming family located South of Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. Her writing has appeared in The Simple Witch Magazine and Circle Magazine. She is hard at work on her novel, “On The Edge.”

Unwaiverable Faith: The story of Maria Yraceburu by Joe Montoya

     "Spirit is the foundation of my life," says author/ceremonialist Maria Naakai Ts'ilsoose Yraceburu (Quero Apache).  "I want to unite the people and the earth in a way that brings heart sensation. I want them to experience a multidimensional understanding that will stay with them, not fade into doubt the next day."

    Yraceburu says messages in rituals are a conscious choice, a way of sharing the wisdom of earth.  "I believe we can change the world through honoring rituals.  Everyone right now needs healing; earth ceremony has something for everyone.  Love is the force of life given to us in the sacred rite of connection.  Belief and responsible choice put the wisdom to work in reality; it helps the atmosphere of universal love grow."

     In these whirlwind times, Yraceburu's focus remains on the teachings she received from her grandfather.  "We have a responsibility to the future," she says.  "We have to demonstrate the power of earth life and claim our responsibilities as humans.  We must express our gifts, and I love watching people discover their talents.  We've conducted EarthRenewal Camps for over 35 years.  It’s great watching evolution unfold." With her life partner, Lynda Yraceburu, a traditional Gypsy healer and EarthSpirit photographer, Maria established a traditionally structured spiritual community called EarthWisdom.  "The focus is earth renewal and the human spirit," she states.  "We're fulfilling prophecy and stepping into actualized potential."

     Despite the power of her teachings, her work has had its critics.  She has been called a fraud by "guardians of the traditional way" who condemn mixed bloods sharing wisdom as instructed by their respective elders.  However, the recognition she has received for her path actually spans the philosophical dispute, coming from the elders of Cherokee, Inca, Chumash, Wiyot and Hopi, as well as the traditional elders of her own Apache Snake Clan.  She has simultaneously walked in two worlds while establishing a traditional lifestyle in contemporary time.  Her alternative camps of earth teachings that she transforms with the eclectic array of cyclic time - The Magic of Earth Women, SpiralDancing Family Reunion, Courageous Crossing, Rainbow Bridging Elder's Gathering, among others - have become experiences of boundless exploration for participants.  "My favorite gathering is always the one just completed," she states.  "You can't beat the faces full of wonder.  It's a wave of love that carries you to the next moment of celebration."

     As a Snake Clan member of the Quero Apache from the Sierra Madre Mountains in Mexico, Maria was given her adult name Naakai Ts'ilsoose (Returning Star) at age 50 after being struck by lightning.  Her grandfather Juan, was a clan priest and healer.  He provided direction and inspiration.  "I assisted him with almost everything he'd let me help with, starting with tending to injured and orphaned animals, gathering medicinal herbs, dreaming and curing ceremonies," Yraceburu recalls.  "Now I'm teaching Earth Renewal as he, and other Elders, have instructed me to do."  The proceed the EarthRenewal Camps gather benefit various EarthWisdom Community Service Projects such as Youth Assistance and Mentoring, Elders Support Program, Sacred Sites Preservation, and the Taanaashkaada Retreat Project.  "That's the beauty of it all," she says, "a turnaround... the cycle from which we all benefit."

     A drug addict in the 70s and again in the 80s, Yraceburu experienced the soul sickness she had once helped her grandfather assist others with.  She turned her life around by returning to her Path of Beauty.  "I hear from friends now that I probably was always following the way, but had lost sight of my connection," she reflects.  "Now, they tell me I was always teaching and living these ways... I just stepped out of time!  I didn't sync up with the reality I knew to be Esonknhsendehi... Changing Mother Earth.  I had experienced the sadness of a mother who has lost her child; I found the purpose I live now in those days."

     Almost two decades later, she has written four books, appeared on numerous radios shows and at universities including the 2006 Global Medicine Project, UCSB and the Anthropology of Medicine for UCSD from 2000-2006. 

     Combining her massive extended family with her traditional knowledge and dedication, Yraceburu EarthWisdom originated in 1972 as the Native American Students Alliance.  Acting in community as a mediator, a long standing dispute between the college and local tribe was resolved and the support of local elders began, while presenting educational programs facilitated by these and other elders of the Ohlone, Cherokee, Lakota, Apache and Nez Perce traditions.  NASA forged ahead with the establishment of Native American Studies Programs.  "We had passion back then," claims the grandmother of three.

     NASA evolved in 1974 into the Minority Students Alliance... "We were becoming more inclusive... recognizing the Power of One."   This quickly moved into Yraceburu beginning to teach.  The lessons were simple, the Child's Count, the very foundational lessons on life perception.  They were popular and have evolved into what has come to be known as ecopsychology.  "It's funny," she laughs.  "It's an illness fix for the art of life.  Can we even begin to comprehend that?!"

    In 2001, Yraceburu EarthWisdom officially became a 501 (c) 3 spiritual community and life really began to change.  In August of that year, the Shooting Snake Way EarthRenewal Camp was attended by De Se Mana (Hopi).  "When she came as a messenger, I was very moved.  I cried, knowing that these Wise Ones worked continuously on behalf of all of us so that life would continue."  Her initiation as a diiyin... HolyOne... began within five days.  The third momentous shifted occurred in 2002, with the release of Legends and Prophecies of the Quero Apache (Bear & Co.)... "fairytales for adults that awaken the truth within."  This attributed to "listening well" to her relations.  The stories took our detached sensibilities into creative earth waters.  The Isaiah Effect author Gregg Braden pointed out, "It's in a language that is ancient yet familiar, Maria Yraceburu weaves the timeless traditions of her ancestors into meaningful lessons of our lives."

     Yraceburu's far reaching effect grew in 2004 with the release of her second book, Prayers & Meditations of the Quero Apache (Bear & Co.)  The idea began with the Child's Count Lessons again.  "Legends" had been the first "teaching stone," presenting a life philosophy through storytelling methods.  The second "teaching stone" helped nontraditional minds to understand the concept of earth connection and empowerment through a prayer and meditation ritual called doohwaa'gon'ch'aada... entering the silence.

     "I had my dark times," she says.  "I've probably walked every place of shadow a human could go, but then I heard my grandpa explaining about fear... like the hand shadows on the wall when we were kids... the closer to the wall you are, the smaller the shadow."  She has been the subject of three film projects recently.  In 2004, she appeared on Bridging Heaven and Earth television show. "It was kind of surrealistic," she says, laughing.  "They were all very nice, but I can't comprehend the lifestyle."  Seven Sacred Fires of the Star Nation People filmed by Rod Bearcloud Berry in 2005, accelerated included teachings of the Circle, which laid the structure of the Hero's Journey we each travel through.

     Amid the accelerated community events, conferences and camps, she continues to be guided and motivated by age old love for this planet she calls "Esonknhsendehi... Changing Mother."

     Yraceburu's open nature, delivered in her joyous way, exudes a unique authenticity.  Its little wonder Native and non are beginning to awaken to her Words of Power.  Her teachings speak of earth, generations of connection to the land, and the evolution of humanity.  There is great treasure being presented.  She ends our time with a pause, "I'm just doing what the elders said I would be doing.  I share like they did with me.  It's up to you to choose what to do with it."

Joe Montoya is a Native American Church roadman and Apache Snake Clan Priest.
More can be found out about Maria Yraceburu and her work through Yraceburu EarthWisdom at http://www.yraceburu.org  and look for Maria's latest book release Words of Power at the Store while you're there!

     Maria is descended from thirteen generations of HolyOnes on her father's side, individuals who charted cyclic times for earth renewal.  "The hearts of the people are linked to the spirit of the land, and ceremonies will always keep the connection alive."

What We Do Right by H. Byron Ballard

The Goddess-honoring and Earth religions communities are a weird amalgam of deities and ceremonies, of colorful robes and shiny new liturgy. We are often seen as flaky and insubstantial by followers of larger, more mainstream religions, who may look down their noses at our outlandish ideas of worshipping the Earth as Goddess.

It is refreshing sometimes to see their notions about us soften a bit, to witness a sudden change of heart in the Abrahamic traditions.

I had the distinct pleasure of serving on an interfaith panel presenting a public forum on initiations and rites of passage. My fellow religious panelists--and they were fellows: each one of them a man--represented Judaism, Unitarian Universalism and the Anglican Communion. They are three men for whom I have much respect and affection, and I enjoyed each of the talks they presented.

When my turn came, I briefly outlined the initiation and rites of passage in my own Dianic Wiccan tradition. I spent most of my time describing the tribal initiation that we refer to as First Blood, contrasting it with the ritual celebrating the retention of Wise Blood, Croning. We each had 10 minutes to talk and then answered questions from the audience.

To be honest, I’m a pretty good speaker. Years of theatre and a silly sense of humor help me put my audience at ease. And years of public work on behalf of my spiritual tradition have given me a kind of sixth sense about how far to go in a mixed crowd. So there were lots of questions for me and most of them were around these two things: honoring women from the onset of menses until its cessation.

The three religious traditions represented in those three speakers didn’t have much to go on in the menses department and they were interested in what we did. The Episcopal priest was especially interested and we made tentative plans to have a further discussion on the importance of these celebrations.

There was an older Jewish woman who stayed after the program to talk about her women’s group at the synagogue. She was so wise and her heart was filled with the importance of re-weaving women into the basic fabric of the Abrahamic religions. How could we have been lost for so long?

We’re not perfect, over here in Goddessland. Far from it. We fight and snipe. Fold our passive aggression into our hearts to fester and spoil us. We don’t have organizational structures that are easy to use and we fight stereotypes and suppositions from the dominant culture all the time. We are independent and proud, sullen and cranky. We are working through layers of misogyny and waves of self-disrespect and still forging new ways of celebrating the Divine as female.

Every time we initiate a new person into our traditions, we add a building block. Every time a young woman looks forward to her First Blood (and the party after) before thinking of her prom or wedding, we forge a link in the chain of history. Every time a woman sets aside space in her life to gather with others and celebrate the Wisdom Years, we undo a little bit more of a system that has oppressed women and destroyed their lives and hopes for so long that it is hard to see where it all began.

The reality is that women keep the mainstream and institutional churches functioning, at least in the US and western Europe. It is women, for the most part, who do the unpaid labor of hospitality, altar guild and potlucks. They create programming and lead religious instruction for the children. In smaller churches, women even do the cleaning of the sanctuary. They should be honored within their own spiritual tradition, respected for the work they do to keep the spirit alive. And, as an outsider, I would like to see them raised up into positions of visible authority and leadership, where they can serve as an inspiration and as a model for a new way of doing this church-thing.

A couple of months ago I had a conversation with an old friend who is also the minister of a Christian church. He was lamenting the conservative turn his denomination was taking, telling me that at a recent convention there was even muttering about retracting the ordination of women. I shook my head in sympathy.

“Do you mean to tell me that the church has trained them, given them congregations to serve and is thinking of pulling the rug out from under their feet?”

He nodded, expecting a tirade from me. Instead, I smiled. Send those trained liturgists and ritualists, those counselors and organizers to us. Our fast-growing religions and our new houses of worship can use them. We can’t pay them. Yet. But they are welcome in the house of the Goddess. Very welcome indeed.

Byron Ballard
Asheville's Village Witch
www.citizen-times.com/villagewitch

Why Are Spirits Among Us? By Angie Skelhorn

Since the beginning of recorded time almost all people have believed in some form of after life.

Primitive hunting bands that roamed earth believed in the immortality of the vital spirit. Most intentionally buried their dead with various tools, personal belongings, and offerings; suggesting the belief in life after death.  The Egyptians may have mummified their dead bodies so their spirit would recognize their earthly bodies and unite with their wealth and position.

The Sumerian civilization, closest to the truth, had an awareness of the partnership with other living things.  They prayed and honored Nature Spirits, Spirit Guides, the Sun and the Moon to ask for blessings for important endeavors-hunting, gardening, pregnancy and warfare.  Ancestral Spirits kept a close watch on their descendants.  Spirits made contact with human beings to help work out their destinies.

There are a number of views where and what happens to the immortal spirit after physical death.  There are too many stories from the ancient text of different faiths to document.  I don't know if the after life can be described in earthly terms.  I can’t remember what happened to my spirit between my last death and this birth, but nor can I remember infancy and most of my childhood.  That doesn't mean this stage of my life cycle didn't happen.

Death of the Physical body is not the end of all living things.  Death is a transition, a change in being.

Our commitment with Spirit Guides over time had drifted apart.  The bond has been weakened.  People have been conditioned to listen more to their sense of reason.

Earth is far from filled with healthy and happy people.  Generations of free will has created the state the planet and ourselves are in today.  Self interest activities and other serious wrongdoings have thrown life into conditions we experience today.

In an overly critical environment instability is created on every level.  People have a lot of unanswered questions.  Most are trying to figure out who they are and wondering if this is it: a brief life span with family, a few good friends, a job, a home, and then dying?

More and more people are unhappy living through trails and tribulations to survive. Sometimes good things in life are hard to find.  People need hope.  In the face of personal problems or difficulties, to make sense of it all, human beings are returning to their spiritual roots.

Human beings have a natural need to connect with one another and spirit (higher power).

Mediums from the highest and greater good interpret messages sent straight from spirit.  The information given is what is needed to know, not what one wants to know. Spirit will tell what's coming and give insight into the situation; one's free will decides the outcome.

There is no hocus pocus.  The mediums have very little to gain, only their reputation to lose.

Everyone can foretell specific events or details aided by spirit.  Human beings can communicate with the spirit of departed persons.  Spirit is living and is personally interested in our development.  Spirit understands completely how everything is created and will provide one with a much bigger picture.  Spirit's aim is to bring messages for hope and recovery.

Spirits who roam the earth do not indulge in the whims of those left behind.  Spirits are invested in our physical survival.  There is a real possibility of our own extinction to do our doings.  It is crucial that we change our thoughts and behaviors.

Our future is in peril.  We will destroy ourselves if we continue on the extreme ways of life and do not balance our personal needs and wants for the greater good.  We are created of all things.  What we do to all things we do to self.

Life takes on another dimension and meaning when one takes the time to speak with and appreciate spirit.  The fact is you will begin to stand up for what is right and act in everyone's best interest.

Spirit will listen to and answer prayers.  The information given usually reminds people that they need to form and maintain bonds with others and to recognize our unity as one people.

Our true goal in life is to mature and improve by employing honest and constructive means.  Each person is assumed to act and react with compassion, insight, knowledge and respect to create stability.

Spirits want the best for people.  I am sure spirits would be pleased if human beings would cultivate earth in a respectful, balanced manner and not cause irreparable harm and damage.

Experience for yourself close encounters with spirit.  Honor and respect the intelligent intervention in your life.  A guard granted to your personal spirit to enable you to travel safely and wisely from one life to the next.

Angie Skelhorn is the fifth child born into a farming family located South of Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. Her writing has appeared in The Simple Witch Magazine and Circle Magazine. She is hard at work on her novel, “On The Edge.”