natural world

The waters speak

/ Shamanic Healing of Ames / Leave a comment

We, the various waters of the Earth, journey effortlessly across and through the land, finally reaching the great water where we gather together as one water.

From billions of tiny raindrops, thousands of streams lakes and rivers we flow downstream and merge into oneness – the global ocean.

We must flow and find our level, seeking the effortless path, carving the landscapes gullies, canyons, wide river valleys, woodland streams, prairie pot holes, wetlands, huge deep lakes on our journey to the great oneness.

We come together in the great oceans and seas, heaving and swelling, rippling or calm. Life giving. Life affirming. All our tiny drops melding into one mighty water. Then we separate again, as billions of our droplets evaporate and merge effortlessly with the air.

As water vapor we gather to create clouds, fall as rain, sleet snow, or hail and begin our long journey once again to the gathering place of all waters.

We begin our journey once again as we fall to Earth, gathering with other waters, becoming stronger and more powerful as we increase in volume.

We make our way downstream, meandering and slow or rushing in flood, blessing your Earth with the gift of life as we flow through and shape your varied landscapes.

Finally we reach our mother waters and pour into her. We cannot flow back upstream, or undo our transformation to salt water as we reach our destination.

We are the sacred waters of the Earth. We are the stuff of life.

Monoculture

/ Shamanic Healing of Ames / Leave a comment

Nature abhors a monoculture… That can be a planting of one type of plant like potatoes. Or fields of nothing but corn or beans as far as the eye can see.

A monoculture can create a dependence on one kind of food, one source of nutrition to the exclusion of others. These planted monocultures deplete the soil of nutrients and vitality, requiring every more artificial pesticides and fertilizer, further depleting the health of the soil and water.

Dead tree

If the crop fails, so do the humans who depend exclusively on it.

A monoculture can also be planting one kind of tree in a town, such as ash or elm. A disease or pest specific to that type of tree can come along and wipe them all out, leaving a sun bleached and unhappy town behind. In a human created monoculture, the strengths of each plant or tree can become vulnerabilities.

Monoculture is not nature’s way. Nature allows a mass of many different plants that complement and feed each other and the wildlife who live nearby. They are all adapted to the land and soil, the climate, the water supply. Nature, when left to herself creates thriving diverse communities!

A monoculture of thought is like a gated community. Uniformity of beliefs and habits can seem like a strength at first. Keeping those who look, think, and believe differently locked out may give the illusion of strength and safety and power, of rightness.

But these seeming strong points create isolation from new and vibrant ideas, adaptations to changing conditions, evolution in thinking and beliefs that can help individuals, families and groups move forward in life with opportunities for connection and growth.

Instead of getting stuck and dying of the viral infection and malnutrition of hate & fear of the other, bring some variety and newness into your life.

Plant your garden with a profusion and variety of growing things that thrive together. Let your diet be varied in what you eat, Let your mind be rich in interesting new thoughts.

Monarch butterfly and wildflowers

Let your beliefs transform when they are getting stale, stuck and dusty by welcoming new people into your life. Let your acquaintances delight you with their interesting take on life, their intriguing ideas and customs, their different ways of eating and living happily on this planet.

Open your heart and mind to the richness and variety of this earth and all who dwell here and life will thrive with true health and vitality.

Harmony with nature

/ Shamanic Healing of Ames / Leave a comment

Perhaps you fear the power of storms, avalanches, earth quakes, lighting, tornadoes… hurricanes…bob cats, mountain lions, bears…

Nature is not your enemy!

You are not here to conquer and subdue nature, but to observe and learn her ancient language, understand her patterns moods and rhythms and live in harmony with her.

Flooded creek

To respect nature is to live in unity and accord with the forces and seasons of the natural world, reading her signs, staying clear of any dangers you perceive, taking shelter when needed, paying attention to her slightest cues and hints of what is to come.

These signs will touch your early warning system: your intuition that is born of your existence on this planet. You must pay attention to what is around you and how that resonates in your body heart and mind!

Living in harmony with nature can mean nurturing the plants and rooted growing beings from the towering trees to lush shade loving ground cover, learning their ways, what they need.

Hosta in bloom

Living in harmony with nature can mean caring for your domesticated animals, letting them teach you, observing their ways. It can also mean a kind and healthy balance between the habitats and habits and needs of wild creatures and those of the human world.

As you commune with the spirits of nature, you will know your place in this harmonious web of life and learn to exist in peace with all conditions and all creatures.

Grandmother Cottonwood speaks

/ Shamanic Healing of Ames / Leave a comment

Because of my rooted nature, I am by necessity a homebody. I observe and experience my world…and I am never bored!

I am exquisitely tuned to the shifting air currents and breezes, the temperatures that rise and fall, that are different at my crown and my roots.

I know minutely the angle of the sun as it moves through the yearly cycle of seasons, I know patterns of bird migration, seasons of nesting, hatching, fledging, the first flight; the burrowing habits of the fur bearers, the call of the owl, the secret places they drop their feathers, the movements of the deer at dawn and dusk…

I am witness to the patient gliding and flicking tongues of snakes in warm weather as they embrace mother earth with their bodies; the buzz or quiet wing beat of insects as they go about their business of crawling all over me… or nesting in the soil nearby.

I know the prairie grasses, from their first show of green in early spring to the late summer when they’ve grown taller than a man, seed heads heavy and nodding, swaying in the wind.

Prairie grasses

I know the exquisite blue of the sky, sometimes perfectly clear and fathomless, sometimes holding storm clouds that move swiftly to the south, sometimes holding clouds slow and heavy, blotting out the sun, stalling over our valley for days.

From my height, I feel the sunlight gilding my upper branches on clear mornings. I know the gentle swelling and unrolling of my leaf buds in spring, the effortless growth of my bead-like seed pods from tiny and tender to dry and brown and bursting with tiny seeds.

Cottonwood seeds

I know the flight of my cottony seeds on spring winds. I fill the valley with my white fluff. I know them all. I know every leaf on the crowns of my offspring.

From my chosen place on this great planet, I observe the beauty, the variety, the oneness of all things and I am richly blessed!

GCW’s speech is to be continued in the next post…

Signs from nature

/ Shamanic Healing of Ames / Leave a comment

Ask your spirit helpers for a sign that you are on the right track with your life.

You can’t force a sign to appear or expect it to come in ways you control. To control something is to limit it…

DSCN9006 (640x480)

Magnificent spider web

Ask, then drop your awareness into your heart and open yourself to what appears before you as you go about your day.  Perhaps you find a large feather, or see a perfect spider web or a shaft of sun illuminating a single wildflower, an eagle soaring overhead.

You will know immediately if the sign is meant for you and what it means. It will speak to you through the heart and ring true.  ( This is no time for overthinking!)

When you work in harmony with the spirits of nature and trust them, nature becomes your teacher, your guide, your advisor.

Slow down.  Let your busy mind rest.  Pay attention to the present moment. 

Allow yourself to be filled with wonder and amazement as your spirit guides and helpers surprise and delight you in ways you could never imagine!

Intoxicating…

/ Shamanic Healing of Ames / Leave a comment

Must you intoxicate yourself? If so, intoxicate yourself with the summer day.

Lose yourself in the shifting and dappled shade under a friendly tree, the breeze moving through the grasses like waves on the sea.

DSCN5653 (475x640)

Female red winged blackbird

Feed your spirit with the shimmering silver leaves on the crown of a cottonwood tree, birdsong, insect music, cloud patterns, rushing water in the creek weaving patterns in the sand and silt, the scent of wildflowers and tree blossoms…

Come under the influence of the soft morning air embracing you, the hoot owl at dusk, patterns of sunlight and shadow in the leafy neighborhoods, soaring birds riding the thermals, the hot sunlit air…

Surrender to the beating of your heart, the breath flowing in and out of your lungs, the weight of your body and limbs as you let yourself rest, as you allow the earth to support you

Fall in love with the moon waxing to full, filling the night sky with her silvery light, waning to new, repeating her ancient cycle without end.

This is your world, your precious gift. Give yourself to it, body and soul.

Invitation from a tree

/ Shamanic Healing of Ames / Leave a comment

Dear ones, I invite you to rest here against my rough bark, soaking in the energy of the earth and sky that I channel through my my roots and branches. Rest in my shade and I’ll wrap you in peace.

2013-01-01 00.00.00-50 (640x480)

Grandmother Cottonwood and hand

I’ll help you root to the earth, to feel at home; to feel belonging and kinship with all creatures here below. I’ll help you reach to the heavens and feel your connection to the source of creation.

We trees might be simple life forms when measured against your mighty accomplishments. Yet you grew up on this earth in the company of trees in forests, jungles, savannas, or those purposefully planted in your neighborhoods.

We belong together!

We trees wish to be reunited with you and your higher selves- the part of you that can feel and know the harmony and healing love we offer. Sit with us quietly and feel peace.

The true heart of nature

/ Shamanic Healing of Ames / Leave a comment

Open your eyes and hearts to the myriad creatures who dwell here in perfect harmony with you here on our sweet green planet. Yes, I’ve mentioned this before, but…. have you done it yet?  Then I must repeat myself…

Do you see your fellow earth dwellers as you rush here and there in your cars as if you were on a racetrack? Do you live in your head, ignoring the magnificence of nature as you drive on autopilot? Are you trapped in thoughts of the past or future…shoulda… coulda… woulda…?

Do you see the soaring hawk, the amazing cloud formations, the sparkling creek, the interwoven tree branches like writing on the sky? Do you see the doe and her fawn at dusk, the bright red cardinal sitting like a king at the tree top and singing his heart out?

dscn4391-640x480

Winter clouds

You can see and know this beauty and more besides, because you are made of the same stuff.  You belong here.

Can you park your car and walk along the forest path? Can you take some time to sit at the base of a gorgeous tree as you breath in and out and attune yourself to her energy? Can you feel the gentle loving aura, the healing and soothing energy of the natural world that is your gift as a child of this planet?

dscn4588-640x480-copy

Geese swimming in creek

Do not squander your precious birthright by living in your head and rushing here and there, never slowing or stopping to connect with the true heart of nature. When you connect with the true heart of nature, you will find yourself.