Category Archives: Awakening

Gimmie Shelter

I believe in the power of dreams and collective dreaming. In these mythic times, we have the opportunity to harvest our most sacred dreams. In Gimme Shelter, I share with you  a direct prophecy that traveled across time to awaken me in the middle of the night.

Gimme Shelter
“ A story is the shortest route between a human and the truth ” Robert Moss

Opening Salvo- Act 1
Featuring Mick Jagger as Bard

1:30 a.m. I am startled awake. Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones is screaming the opening verse of “Gimme Shelter” into my ear. “ There’s a storm that’s threatenin’, my very life today. If I don’t get some shelter, ooh I’m gonna fade away. Oh, children, it’s just a shot away, it’s just a shot away”


In the space of a breath, I am catapulted back to 1969, which marked my coming of age. The urgency of Gimme Shelter’s lyrics, written about the demise of the 60’s counterculture, ripped off the mask of the status quo to reveal the collective shadow, the illusion of a just democracy and along with it the remnants of our youthful idealism.

Ooh, see the fire is sweepin’
Our very streets today
Burns like a red coal carpet
Mad bull lost its way
Fire children,
It’s just a shot away
It’s just a shot away

In 1964 young Civil Rights activists James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner are abducted and murdered by the Klu Klux Klan in Mississipi. The streets of Mississipi are burning.

The words and actions of Dr. Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy ignite us with a vision of freedom and equality for all people. In 1968 they are assassinated within 2 months of each other.

“War, children, it’s just a shot away
It’s just a shot away”

The Vietnam War. We rally, we protest “ Hell No, we won’t go! ”, we commit acts of civil disobedience. In 1970, thirteen Kent State students are shot and four die at the hands of the Ohio National Guard.

We march on Washington. We burn American Flags. In 1972 we watch in horror the searing image of 9 year old Kim Phuc, naked, fleeing from her village in Vietnam after a napalm attack incinerated her village, her clothes, her skin, and ultimately her soul.

Intermission
We fall into a dreamless sleep… which lasts for 50 years.

Act 2. The Corona Virus.
Featuring Donald Trump as the mad bull
Covid 19 as monster
Ourselves as children
Covid 19 vaccine as savior

“Ooh, the floods is threat’ning
My very life today
Gimme, gimme shelter
Or I’m gonna fade away
Oh children, It’s just a shot away
It’s just a shot away”

We awaken to a living nightmare. Our umbilicus has been cut and we have been separated from our true mother. Pachamama. We suck on the teats of cows raised on factory farms. We have become orphans. Over the course of a half century, this forced separation has resulted in global warming, climate change, contamination of life-giving waters, the eradication of 60% of the earth’s wildlife, the loss of 20% of Amazon forests, the melting of the polar ice caps.

In this apocalyptic realm, a red-eyed mad bull roams the realms of social media, lost and spewing toxic fumes via Twitter.

Enter the Corona Virus, a modern day Godzilla. The name fills us with terror. It brings suffering and death. No one is immune. It is our mortal enemy. We flee, screaming. Sobbing and alone, we cry, “who will save us?”

“It’s just a shot away, It’s just a shot away”
“There, there children”, big pharma says. A savior is coming.
It’s just a shot away. It is a vaccine. It will cure everything. Hush now. Go back to sleep. Take shelter.
Obedient children, we take shelter.

Act 3. Sheltering in Place
Featuring Covid 19 as prophet
Pacha mama as our mother
Nature as our teachers
Us as Awakened Souls

Interconnectedness of lifeIn taking shelter, something miraculous unfolds. Devoid of external distractions, we begin to notice that sun rises to ignite our inner fire, the trees speak to us. The wind purifies us. Bees, hummingbirds make love to flowers. Flowers sigh and bloom and fill our senses with sweet fragrances and sacred patterns. The waters run cleanly and swiftly. Birds sing sweet songs of awakening, and the stars, so clear now, remind us where we came from. The four-leggeds emerge, bringing messages that are so clear that we cannot fail to know this truth. The Earth is not our property. She does not belong to us. Fear, greed, hatred flourish so long as we perpetrate this myth. We belong to her. We are all related and we have strayed far from home. We have awakened.

“Rape, murder, it’s just a shot away, it’s just a shot away”
“Rape, murder, it’s just a shot away, it’s just a shot away”

From this place of awakened consciousness, and from a place of interconnectedness, we find the courage to turn and face our nightmare. We are not children. The corona virus is not the cause of our suffering. The promise of a vaccine will not save us. We are not orphans. The Earth is our Mother. We are family. We belong to each other.

Closing Act. Emergence
Featuring love as Truth
The Kiss as Sacrament

“It is in the shelter of each other that the people live.” Irish Proverb

“I tell you love, sister, it’s just a kiss away
It’s just a kiss away”
This is not a fairy tale with a happily ever after ending. We are in epic times and it is only through finding shelter in each other that we may just make it through.
Will we choose the shot? Or the kiss?
As co-creators of the Collective Dream, the choice is up to us.

Gimme Shelter
Rolling Stones: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kl6q_9qZOs
Playing for Change: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJtq6OmD-_Y

Awakening the Seeds of Our Becoming

In this first year of a new decade, within the darkness of winter, there is a stirring; something deep and primal within us. It startles us awake in the predawn hours. It populates our dreams. It is the awakening of the seeds of our becoming. These seeds carry the blueprint for our birthright and the codes for our awakened lives.  

The Incans referred to these seeds as the Inca seed, the seed of light that was planted inside us before we were born. They lie dormant until given attention and activated.

Like Heirloom seeds which have been passed from one generation to another, carefully tended to, prayed over, protected, cultivated and perfected,our seeds of becoming are part of a universal heirloom crop prophesied to come awake at the crossroads of our planetary destiny. The chaos and deconstruction of the times we find ourselves in have ignited our seeds. The Incan term for these times is the Taripay Pacha, which literally translates to the Age of Meeting Ourselves Again, a new golden era in the realm of the human experience. It is prophesied as a time when humanity will have the chance to consciously evolve in an era of harmony and shift the course of our collective destiny. 

In the recesses of our subconscious, we recognize these seeds, but have forgotten their presence within us, their deeper meaning and how to fully cultivate them. We do, however, carry an inner map to guide us.

To activate this map, we first call in our supporters and guides. There are universal gods and goddesses who come to us in this season; Breksta, goddess of twilight and dreams, Mari, goddess protector of dreams; Beira, goddess of Winter and Creation; Nammu, mother of all things. There are countless others. Call them in your native language, from your individual lineage, they are waiting for you. Pray fervently, summon all of your courage and all of your beauty.

As these supporters and guides  begin to arrive, ask that they serve as gatekeepers, that the doors and gates and paths to the birthing of these seeds be opened by them, and that for those who would do us harm, distract us, that the doors and gates and paths be closed.

Begin to sing your song of Awakening to your seeds. In Africa, there are tribes where the birth date of a child is counted from the day that the child was a thought in its mother’s mind. When a woman decides that she will have a child, she goes off and sits under a tree that calls to her. She listens until she can hear the song of the child that wants to come. After she’s heard the song of this child, she returns to the  man who will be the child’s father, and teaches it to him. When they conceive the child, they sing the song of the child, as a way to invite it in.

So too, do we come into this world with the song of our seeds. Listen deeply and allow your song to emerge. This song space opens us to the roads of dreaming, the place where our seeds reveal themselves to us.

Bring your attention to the cultivation of your soil, the ground of your being. In Biodynamic farming, sustainable growth requires freedom from synthetic pesticides, fertilizers and genetically modified organisms. A biodynamic farm works to grow health and fertility from within to address the life forces of the earth and help restore and maintain harmony.

On the physical level, what we ingest into our bodies creates the container of our growth.  We can begin by eliminating GMO’s, processed foods and nourishing ourselves with foods that are dynamically alive, those that are grown local. On the mythic level we extend this nourishment as we look deeply at our life story; where has our story become genetically modified? Where have the places ancestral wounding festered, where did we lose our connection with the forces of nature, created a space which is hostile to new growth? In reflection and prayer, we can see where old stories and old roles must be shed in order to make space for the planting of our seeds.

As we receive our seeds into this transformed ground, it is time to rest. In nature, fields must lie fallow to sustain and support new growth. Samaquy is an Incan practice taught to me by my teacher Maestro Adolfo Tito Condori. It means profound rest. It is not a place of sleep, of meditation or of dreaming; it is a place of deeply letting go for a prolonged period, in silence, daily. We can also engage the universal mantra of Ahhhhhh…; the sound of letting go.  Letting go, we create space where our seeds can rest deeply, nourished and supported, free to grow.

The night sky in winter is brilliant, the air crisp and clear. It reveals the essence of the moon, the stars, the planets. Those who study moon gardening note that the practice of cultivating seeds in conjunction with the moon phases allows them to germinate sooner and stronger, for plants to grow faster and healthier.  As we gaze upwards, we connect with all that we are made of, as Carl Sagan reminds us- we are all made of star stuff. As we drink in this divine nectar, we receive a most loving cosmic lullaby that lulls us into the dreamstate.

There are no limits in dreaming.  Robert Moss, shamanic creator of Active Dreaming, speaks of the realm of dreaming as a place where we can reclaim our magical child, unite with the beautiful dreamer of our soul, receive guidance from divine spirits, and ancestors, visit landscapes of our imagination and orchestrate journeys of our waking life. We can set an intention to be with our seeds in our dreams. We create a sense of spaciousness as we allow the time to capture our dreams when we awaken. In the dream state, we transcend the bonds of critical thinking, ignite our imagination and liberate our creativity. We become the Creators, the Magicians, the Alchemists. Our seeds receive critical information from this realm.

In this place of the liminal, the Voice of Spirit arises. The message of Spirit is clear in its directive. The directive may be totally unexpected and seemingly not connected to our current life course. Nonetheless, the magnitude of the message compels us to say YES from a place of faith and a deep knowing that we are about to undertake a major life course correction.

As spring approaches, our seeds become more active, preparing for germination and the breaking of dormancy which precipitates the simultaneous process of pushing upwards toward the sun while rooting downward into the earth. It is a profound effort requiring courage, strength and clear focus to overcome the resistance of breaking through something solid.

Many of us experience strong resistance and generalized anxiety to a shift that feels life threatening. This reactivity can be transmuted to action, to the tremendous amount of energy required for emergence. With the alchemy we have cultivated, however, we know in our bones that we are about to participate in a rare and collective  birthing experience. We are about burst forth as a part of a garden of exquisite and rare blossoms.

Let us honor the courage, creativity and magic of our collective awakening. May we recognize each other for the beauty and miracle of who we are and rejoice in our long awaited emergence.

All Our Relations–Making a difference in the world through spiritual wisdom in action

“Walking, I can almost hear the redwoods beating…. It is winter and there is smoke from the fires. It is a world of elemental attention, of all things working together, listening to what speaks in the blood. Whichever road I follow, I walk in the land of many gods…Suddenly all my ancestors are behind me. Be still, they say. Watch and listen. You are the result of the love of thousands.”

― Linda Hogan, Dwellings: A Spiritual History of the Living World

Wičháȟpi HinápȟA (Lakota- Emergence)

Oceti Sakowin Camp, Standing Rock,

North Dakota, December 2016

The elemental forces have called me, waking me from dreamtime and I have answered yes. One week later, I find myself in Cannonball North Dakota, in the midst of a fierce blizzard, joining thousands  who have also been called to join in the protest against the installation of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

A long time social justice activist, and a teacher of Sacred Activism, this model of action inspired by prayer, offerings and ceremony, this diverse community formed through our love for the pachamama ignited in me a promise to carry this work forward no matter what the outcome. The sacred fire was tended to, always in the presence of the elders. There was praying, the daily predawn gatherings at the frigid riverbank to make offerings, there was divination, there was music, there was dancing, so much dancing. And singing. Dancing and singing and falling and rising again. And always the chant: Mitákuye Oyás’in- a phrase from the Lakota language:.  “We are all related,” , “All my relations.”.

I was ignited and forever changed. As an outgrowth of this experience, my colleagues Sharon Oxendine & Sheila Pride are honored to offer All Our Relations, Spiritual Wisdom in Action, a three day retreat held on the campus of Warren Wilson College, October 25-27, 2019 which offers a new model of constructive, collaborative action, weaving together the principles and practices of Sacred Activism, Yoga, Qi Gong, First Nation and Andean peoples and breakthroughs in Neuroscience.

All Our Relations Incorporates the principles of sacred activism put forth by  Andrew Harvey, weaves together the paths of the mystic and the activist and binds them together in spiritual passion and sacred purpose.

Sacred Activism is a transforming force of compassion-in-action that is born of a fusion of deep spiritual knowledge, courage, love, and passion, with wise radical action in the world. The large-scale practice of Sacred Activism can become an essential force for preserving and healing the planet and its inhabitants.

Compassion in action begins first and foremost with embracing radical practices for self-care and healing. Participants will experience the need to embrace their innate compassion,wisdom and resilience in order to take effective Sacred Action.
Scholarship funds are available to eligible participants.

For more information, to register and/or become a donor/sponsor visit:  www.yourawakenedlife.net or e-mail Suzannah.

Cosmic baby floating in space before the tree of life on top of Earth

Reclaiming Our Birth

Cosmic baby floating in space before the tree of life on top of EarthThe intensity of the times we find ourselves in is akin to the birthing process. There is an increasing intensity of contraction, interspersed with evolutionary expansion.

Descending through the planetary birth canal we come to the moment that we reach the precipice, gaze out and in that moment, remember why we came here and who we really are. In awe we ask- Is it possible that this extraordinary brilliance is my true self? In terror we ask – Is it possible that I can accept the immensity of why I am here?

Why is this mass awakening, this cosmic rebirthing occurring now? The indigenous ones offer us a perspective that is foreign to our western paradigm. According to Incan prophecy, we are in the midst of a Pachakuti, an overturning of the space time continuum. Each Pachakuti lasts about 500 years. The Pachakuti we are experiencing at this time will set the world right-side up and return us to a golden era. The prophecy speaks to the tumultuous nature of our current world, in particular the environmental destruction of the earth, transforming and returning to one of balance, harmony, and sustainability. This Pachakuti heralds the death of an old way of thinking about the world in which we live and an elevation to a higher state of consciousness. In this way, we can describe ourselves not only as who we are or were, but who we are becoming, which is called the Taripay Pacha, the age of knowing ourselves again.

How did we forget who we truly are and how can we reclaim this? Reflecting back to our physical birth, we can again source from the wisdom of the Q’ero, the direct descendants of the Incans.

The Q’ero believe that in addition to a physical birth mother and birth father, we have a spiritual mother, a spiritual father and a guiding star. Our Spirit enters the earth plane through a cosmic doorway—a star. That star is our guiding star, connected to us always. Don Mariano Quispe, a medicine elder of the Q’ero lineage, shares that our inner stars are connected to our souls and link us with the kawsay pacha , the world of living energy, and with the cosmos. Each of our inner stars holds information about where we came from and where we are going. These inner stars are guiding lights, illuminating the pathways of our souls from the past (as informed by our biological lineages and by our past lifetimes) through the present and into the future.

When Carl Sagan posited that ‘we are made of star-stuff’ he meant that all the elements on Earth were once produced in the heart of stars before being flung out into the universe in giant supernovae. Almost every element on Earth was formed at the heart of a star. As we are conceived, we contain all of the elements of star stuff, replete with our guiding light.

Our spiritual father is the mountain nearest to the place where we shed our first blood. Our spiritual mother is the body of water nearest to the place where we shed our first blood.

Floating in the womb of our biological mother, we are nurtured throughout our gestation, perfectly harmonized with all of the elements- digestion: fire; breath: wind; sound: our mother’s heartbeat, water: blood; earth: our mother’s body; stars: our essence.

Contractions begin and we make our physical passage into the outer world. Only 1.5% of all births in the U.S. occur at home. Most of us emerge into the landscape of the hospital. Within our first moments of arrival, we encounter the place where our first blood is shed. Our umbilical cords are cut. This act is performed by a doctor, not a village medicine person or a family member. We are greeted by artificial lights, concrete walls, chemically treated water, filtered air, masks and sterile instruments, cell phones to record our first moments. No earth, no sky, no sun, no moon, no stars, no rivers, no birds welcoming us with song; no trees, no wind. We are cut off from nature. And, increasingly that is how our lives evolve.

Never having been introduced to our spiritual mothers and fathers or our guiding star, who would initiate us and guide us, we become orphans of the earth. We are separated from our innate wisdom. We contract spiritual amnesia, forget who we really are and what our place is within the world of living energy. This one simple cut, severing our cord, the energetic connection to our power and our connection to the sacred, and we are lost It is no wonder that this unconscious act is so widespread in our western culture that the Q’ero believe that we suffer from a collective soul loss.

We lose our wisdom and become enslaved by artificial intelligence born of this age of technology. Longing for true connection, we attempt to replace the umbilical cord with electrical cords, the waters of our mother with indoor plumbing and chemically treated water, the luminosity of our guiding star with a computer or phone screen.

Our time of reckoning is here. Our birth contractions are too strong to postpone. If we can summon all of our courage and make the conscious decision to cut our energetic umbilicus from the web of artificial intelligence and midwife our souls into full embodiment, only then can the Earth shine with the luminosity of the stars that are us so that we all may heal and fulfill our collective destiny.

Three words I Rarely Use

elipsesDe-cluttering has become a buzzword for many, an act of shedding that which no longer serves a functional purpose and allows space for forward movement. Typically, de-cluttering is associated with physical possessions. I offer an additional perspective, the de-cluttering of words.

Some years ago, during a shamanic retreat, our teacher, a paqo (the medicine people within the Q’ero nation of the high Andes of Peru. Paqo means priest, or mystic) relayed that the paqos consider Quechua, the language of the Incans, to hold a high and sacred vibrational essence. Quechuan words are used with deep intention during ceremony as part of the healing process. He went on to offer his perspective that the English language was a dead language. I have heard this belief repeated by several different sources over the years, always from teachers I highly respected. This led me to engage in a personal reflective practice, one that has spanned the last four or five years.

I began to pay attention to primary words I use that have bound and restricted me, which are as subtle and toxic as breathing in polluted air, drinking polluted water, listening to fear induced news and readings, eating processed food.

Worry

woman worryingThe first word I engaged with was “worry”. During a rather charged conversation a number of years ago, a friend adamantly stated “Do not worry about me. When you worry about me, you project that something is wrong with me, that I am in need of help or rescuing. You place me in the role of victim.” The truth of her message deeply resonated within me. I could remember, during times of uncertainty in my own life, requesting prayers, requesting support, requesting space-holding. I could not recall one instance of requesting that someone worry about me.

I became conscious of when I verbalized the word “worry”. It emerged around friends who were experiencing obstacles, a healing crisis, a societal disruption, around perceived personal limitations, for instance money, at the juncture of a major life change, at the growth edge of leaping fully into my Soul’s expression. Worry is a disabler. It is a cement block attached to our feet to drag us down. It emanates from a place of fear, not love. I made a conscious decision to remove this word from my vocabulary.

Hope

Sign pointing to Hope

The second word that emerged was “hope”. This word presented challenges as it is so often paired within a daily social construct – “Hi Jane, How are you? I hope you are well.” The implication is that Jane is not well. The definition of “hope” as a verb is “to want something to happen or be the case” Its vibration feels like a swimmer paddling furiously to keep from submerging. I practiced substituting, ”I trust you are well, or simply- “I am thinking about you. “ With respect to the use of “hope “ as a noun, which is defined as a feeling of trust, I engage in judicious use, generally when I strongly call in Spirit, or wish to join with another’s hope, as part of a collective vision.

Just

My current dance partner is “just.” This one offered up some surprises. In the beginning weeks (it’s been about two months now), I became aware that I used the word “ just” on average of 8-10 times a day. I began paying attention to other peoples use of the word, without bringing their attention to it. I noticed how much more frequently this word is used by women than men. “Just” is most commonly used within the context of diminishment, i.e. I’m “just” writing this blog. I’m “just” a healer; I’m “just” a mother.” I’m “just” wanting a break. Just is a necktie, a corset, a constrictor of our full expression of power.

Just is also used in the context of marking time, in quite a linear way; i.e. I “just” arrived I decided to substitute other words in this context, as I don’t feel comfortable be the linear restriction. Also, I have observed that the use of “just” or “justice” as a noun, the definition being: the quality of righteousness, equitableness, or moral rightness, is rarely used. At this phase in my practice, I may have to reframe a sentence once or twice daily as the word emerges without my conscious awareness. The majority of the time, I catch it mentally, and notice, as I speak my sentence without it, how much more powerfully my words and intention vibrate. I am (delete “just”) engaged in this project; I (delete “just”) realized how important this issue is.

It is remarkable how the deletion of one word so powerfully shifts the energy and flow not only of the oral communication, but the life force. I am stunned by the shift in my life flow through the elimination of these words.

I invite you to consider that English is not a dead language, rather that much of the sacred quality of its roots have become polluted, suffocated and poisoned by words that are distorted and toxic in their vibration.

I invite you to notice what words have become the unconscious disablers in your communication and your life. Where can you become a more powerful manifestor of your truest expression by consciously using your words from the place of the Sacred?