He took the boys to heaven, a story of re-storying your life.

Mathew was twenty years old.  He was beautiful, in the peak of his youth, he was physically fit, handsome, he was an artist.  His blond curls lit up as he smiled.  He traveled around the world trading paintings for rides. He went to Patagonia, to remote places, and met people and painted more. He hitchhiked in private planes across the pampas, he laughed as he told the stories, every moment of his life was an adventure.

He came home for a vacation from his travels, he painted a picture of a bird as his spirit flying.  One night he was hitchhiking home.  The driver of the pickup truck was drunk, the truck went off the mountain and the driver, his brother, a friend, and Matthew were killed.  Their bodies were found in a ravine the next day. 

When his mother Beth heard, it was the next day.  She told me this story:

“When I saw him at the funeral home, he looked more beautiful than ever.  I washed him and I held him close to me like I did when he was a baby.  I dressed him in his favorite clothes.  As I held him he spoke to me,  ‘ Mother, do not worry about me, I did what I wanted to do.  I got in the truck to take the boys to heaven.  When they crashed they were so frightened.  I  flew as an eagle spirit and carried them upwards.  They are all right now, it was what I had to do. I love you.”   Beth went on, “He was that kind of man you know.  That is what he would do.”

She cried at his memorial service, but she looked radiant too.  She rewrote the story of Matthew’s death from the visionary experience she had.  She did not mean to do it, nothing in her life before this event indicated that she would do something like this.  It came to her and changed her life.  It helped her deal with the almost impossible task of a mother grieving for her son.  She sees him everyday in her visions as she drives to work  past the place the car went off the cliff.  She sees him as an eagle spirit carrying the boys to heaven.

art and healing
an old man
in pain
listens to a harp
in a hospital
my father
Marin General Harp Program
very beautiful
thank you
thank you
thank you
for one moment
of light
in darkness

Angels connections
of  heaven to earth
from visions
of the wind
of children
grandchildren
make anonymous art
every moment

you see angels
the connections between heaven
and earth
protecting you
with spirit animals
owls
everywhere

In TInos Greece
the light
the conncetion
 is deep

we do

Your whole life
is a ceremony
Everything you do,

in Greece
church bells ring
every hour
for some sacred prayer

you do not need
a separate ceremony
to worship creator/God/Goddess
Eating drinking loving
Gardening
Sunsets
grandchildren
each kiss

All are
your
artistic emanation body
Healing
yourself, others, community and the earth

A parable. There was a woman, she found her spirit animal. It came to her big time, an owl fell from the sky and bit her head. But… her teachers told her, no one works with owl, too much medicine bury it. so …

In ancient times, there were only animals not teachers, the animals were the teachers, get it….

Listen, watch, learn about who this animal is, watch them in the wild, movies, zoos, go to where they live.
Speak to them listen pray to them, get fetishes and feed them, put them in your medicine wheel. The animal is your teacher, you learn in visions, vision quests, prayers who this what this medicine is for you as  a priestess/shaman/ healer.

Then….your owl medicine, will be YOURS.

You will be… the teacher … because you learn from HER..

Get it??

The animal is your teacher. not a new age shaman

Ask yourself what the animal means to you, more from out book Shaman Wisdom
   
    To ask yourself what any animal means for you, relax deeply, close your eyes and rest a moment.  Ask for the animal’s voice to come to you. Ask the animal to tell you who they are. 

    See the animal in your mind’s eye. Watch it move, walk in its footprints.  Follow it along its journey.  It may glance at you.  If it does look directly in its eyes.  Now imagine seeing out of its eyes.  Feels its body and the way it moves feel its balance and its grace.  Feel the ground under its feet, look around you.  See what it pays attention to.  Flow into the animals way of being.  Feel your own being transformed into the animal’s. 

    Now  open your eyes and write the first things about the animal that come to mind. Perhaps, you can go see your animal in the wild, in a zoo, or on TV and then write down your impressions. The more you see your animal, the more you learn about its power and spirit. After its body speaks, its spirit will sing to you in shamanic songs and visions.  They begin to speak louder, they talk in poems and images, and they tell you who they are in the spirit world.  They are speaking to you as your spirit guide.

    Take note of the animals that live near you. Every place has its animals.  In New York State, it is the bear, hawk, owl, dove. Florida has alligators, snakes, dolphin, deer. Remember the animals that were there, but are now gone, like the buffalo.  Remember the ancient animals, the mastodon, the saber tooth tiger. And remember the animals that are endangered like the Florida panther. These animals will  populate your own medicine wheel. Call forth the animals; listen for their calls; hear the hawk, the owl, the crow. See their footprints. Walk in their footprints. 

    The animals teach us about ourselves by teaching us about their  special essence in the earth. For example, the eagle is independent, free. It flies high. So the eagle might teach you about your own independence.  The animal's message is the nature of the animal itself in the outer world. Recognize its nature and then see what part of you is like that. The animal speaks to you in the inner world, but it speaks from within its own nature.
   

Spirit Animals are basic to healing art. You need them to heal, you don't want to be alone, their power brings spirit.

From our book Shaman Wisdom :

Spirit animals and guardian figures are the voices of the living earth received by the shaman. They are visions of the oldest spiritual forms manifest, they are healing protector spirits manifest. A spirit animal or power animal is the manifestation of the spiritual energy of the animal on earth. The spirit animal is greater than the actual animal because it embodies the essence of that animal. It is not a human form of the animal, or a human dressed as an animal, it is the animal spirit itself.

For example, a spirit bear is the voice of all the bears that have ever lived. It is the shamanic bear. It is the bear that can see itself and speak to you. A spirit animal appears to the shaman as a vision. It is the voice of the wild, the voice of nature, the voice of the earth. This animal informs the shaman of the earth energy it holds and gives the shaman power and protection. It is a helper that assists the shaman on the journey inward.
   
    No shaman would attempt an inner journey without the help of a spirit animal because the spirit animal conveys to the shaman and their people an energy they need to heal. The spirit animal gives the shaman the ways to travel and the powers to vanquish spirits of illness and destruction. The spirit animal gives the shaman gifts of sight and teachings of knowledge. The spirit animal gives the shaman protection and wisdom.
   
    Traditionally, the shaman had animal helpers to go with them into visionary space.  The animals protected them and gave them power.  They made the space different.  Mercia Eliade says that the shaman could not exist without the animal guardians.  This view of shamanism is traditional, for the shaman healer, the spirit animals may not be as necessary.

From ancient times, the shaman embodied the animal and had the protection of the animal. The animal brings the shaman the power of the God or of the divine, the spirit animal  is more accessible and can speak and journey with the shaman.  In this book, we do not believe it is absolutely necessary to have animal guides.  A shaman can have divine guardians, nature guardians of simply be in harmony with the earth directly.  But the tradition of spirit animals is so strong in shamanism that we have instructions of how to get an animals guide and how to speak to ancestor or ancient ones.

you can do it
you can become the new healing artist for the future with something totally new......

you can make art environments- make your studio like  a hospital  for healing
you can make your art piece a healing environment and put the person in it
you can find all your shamanic tools, medicine wings, skins serpents totems,
you can make a ceremony
you can be the one visioning
you will become the new women priestess healer of today tomorrow.
You will invent a fully embodied process to heal, a flexible, embodied process
go and do it
watch
get it down
understand it as it grows
teach it, make it something for people…

become a women priestess healer for today,
a way to be

right now

know who you are
own it
be it
have it seen, recognized, taught and understood

medicine men don't do it you do

be flexible
sensitive to each’s individuals situation
feminine
fast moving
see and respond to what you  see
art, healing, shamanism is part of the larger ceremony

GO AND MAKE IT MANIFEST