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Current events in 2017 bring me back to the day after 9/11 when I sat in a packed concert hall at the University of Virginia. The administration had set up an open mike event where all members of the campus to share their thoughts and feelings about what had happened. I, like many others, stepped onto stage to speak about my grief and to call for everyone to seek healing not only of the wounds incurred by the previous day’s events, but of their own personal wounds from betrayal, loss, abuse, and violence.
When I went back to my seat, I suddenly felt a great opening in my consciousness and I heard these words: “You, like thousands upon thousands of others worldwide have been prepared for this time. The pathways for change are opening. All of you will take the lead in bringing a new world into being.”
If you are reading this blog, you are one of these people.
What does it mean that you have been prepared for this time?
It means that your journey to expand and deepen your spirituality and to heal the wounds you carry are directly contributing to a worldwide movement to transform the mind of dominion and power over into mind of reconciliation, collaboration and love.
You have recognized that the planet is in your heart, and you yourself are the very heart of the planet. You have recognized that by unwinding the old patterns in your life of lack, limitation, scarcity and fear, you are contributing to expanding the resonant field of peace in the world.
You can do this on your own and in community. Energy healing done hand-in-hand with ceremonies of the heart in caring community can exponentially expand, speed up and deep not only your own transformation, but the transformation of the world.
With the suffering mind of ignorance, hatred, and fear appearing in ever more stark relief now, this is a critical calling to heal the world.
I am reaching out even more to invite you to join me in ceremony and community to heal the wounds wrought by mind of dominion and power over and to dream a greater vision of healing, reconciliation, and love for the world to come.
Read more below for my thoughts on how recent events point to unhealed ancestral wounds within individuals and the collective and how ceremonies of healing, reconciliation, and love will penetrate this dark veil of illusion.
The push by some in power in the U.S. government to scapegoat and violate the civil rights of targeted groups and to push corporate agendas based on greed, alongside white supremacist rallies in my hometown of Charlottesville, VA, once again have brought home for me how much the unhealed wounds of the past impinge on the present. Recent challenges to statues installed in the early 1900s as a way to appeal to whites who continued to believe in the superiority of the white cause of the Civil War have created chaos. The vehement defense of these statues by some members of the population point to the fact that the wounds of war and the mind of dominion remains in place, unresolved and unhealed.
For millennia, humanity has been caught in a paradigm arising out of mind of dominion and power over.
The message I received on 9/11 is all the more pertinent now than even then.
In Buddhist practice, “mind” means both the larger conscious matrix in which we human beings participate, as well as the ways these webs of thought and belief then impact how we, as individuals, think and, ultimately, act. In shamanic energy medicine, we also see how the unhealed wounds of our ancestors and any communities, groups, cultures, nations, etc., may still live deep in the subconscious of an individual, and, thus, are the source of many symptoms, from anxiety to depression, to failure to thrive in work, creative pursuits, and relationships. In communities, groups and nations, these unhealed wounds also fester and, thus, create the conditions for the perpetuation of the cycle in acts of fear and hatred.
Fear, ignorance, greed, and hatred have been fueled by an idea that there are not enough resources to amply supply every human being. This, in turn, has fostered the belief that there are some people who are less than others, who deserve less, and, even worse, who do not deserve to live at all. Violence and domination of one group over another in repeating cycles through many hundreds of generations have been the result. All over the planet, much harm has been done, and many wounds left unhealed in individuals, communities, and nations.
Yet, it is also true that, over decades, a far greater understanding of the birthright of this living planet and all her inhabitants to live, thrive, and grow in collaboration and peace has been growing exponentially. Those of you who have stepped up in the past several decades, whether more recently or further in the past, to work on healing yourself and the planet, are the hundreds of thousands referred to when I heard that powerful message on September 12, 2001.
This greater mind of healing, reconciliation and love is gaining momentum and is meeting the shadow with equal force. While on the surface, the chaos of present times feels frightening, the fact is that we are seeing the death of the old paradigm. As the inner soul force of love, beauty, connection, and compassion has been growing in the minds and hearts of hundreds of thousands of people worldwide, so the roots of the old paradigm are being exposed. The great psychotherapist, Carl Jung, said that whenever a pathology arises to the surface of conscious awareness, it is always good news. It means that the imbalance is seeking transformation and resolution.
Healing through energy medicine and ceremony are powerful sources of change and transformation of what lies in the shadow, or the subconscious, of both yourself and the planet. It is part of your natural inheritance as a human being.
Let me explain.
For instance, if you had an ancestor who fought in the Civil War in the U.S. whose wounds, whether physical or mental/emotional, were never resolved, then they can operate within the matrix of your consciousness from your Luminous Body down to your cells. You and your family may still carry an imprint of your ancestor’s pain. This is true whether your ancestor fought on the side of the North or South. Indeed, if he was on the side of the South, the violence experienced on the field of battle may have been exacerbated by the impact of defeat. Those who are defeated in war, no matter whether they are on the side of right or wrong, may, in fact, carry an even greater wound than those who won.
Without healing and reconciliation, the mind of defeat then feeds into the mind of dominion: I am defeated and so, I must ultimately resort to revenge and violence to regain my dignity and freedom. Leaders such as our current U.S. President, Hitler in Germany, and Slobodon Milosevic in the former Yugoslavia are just a few examples of how this inner construct of victor versus defeated, power over and submission to a dominating authority, can be played upon in service of personal and group gain, whether consciously or unconsciously. So you see in history the perpetuation of these values. So you may also recognize within your family and your own psyche a manifestation of this same pattern. The appearance of such patterns may be subtle or overt: as I discussed in my recent blog, Make No Enemies, after events in Charlottesville, VA, my hometown, I recognized in my own mind a reaction of fear towards white men who fit a stereotype of a white supremacist. This is just one more exaggerated example. On a more personal level, you may find yourself feeling competitive for recognition with a co-worker based on fear for your financial well-being.
All of it is an appearance of mind of scarcity, mind of dominion.
How do you heal this deeply entrenched pattern in your psyche and soul?
First, you start with awakening self-awareness and looking deeply within. What patterns of mind of scarcity, fear, lack, and limitation continue to hound you?
Second, make a commitment to walk the path of healing and transformation.
Third, believe that change is possible–not only in you, but in the world.
The wisdom traditions of Buddhism, Native American spirituality, and shamanism which I have distilled into the Great Medicine Wheel of the New Earth provide a map to transmute the stories and deep subconscious beliefs which keep us stuck patterns of lack, limitation, scarcity, and fear. Walking this natural pathway through powerful practices of meditation, ceremonies of sacred song, dance, drumming, and fire, and the use of energy medicine, harnesses the higher destiny of your own soul and spirit and that of humanity, as a whole.
Your mind and body are stabilized. Your heart is opened and you thus strengthen the cords which link you eternally linked to the collective mind of love, beauty, connection, and compassion.
Human beings have used these practices since the beginning of time to help individuals and groups remain in balance and harmony.
Ultimately, the Great Medicine Wheel of the Awakened Heart shows that you–and all of us– have the power as an individual, along with others of like mind, to dream a new world into being. All we have to do is step up with our love and create beauty and connection.