Musings

Musings

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Trickster Training

Greetings all,

Last day of of the first month of the year.  I don't know about you but it has been a challenging one here.  Between the weather, family emergencies and trying to manage my own energies I have not been the most mellow about 2014 so far.  As I move into my own power more I am firmly convinced I had no idea what it meant to be what I am.

Perhaps I should explain.  I'm a trickster.  It's part of my energy.  Now when I say this people will immediately start thinking of the shady archetype of the con man or the one who pulls the wool over everyone's eyes to get his way.  I confess I thought this was what the trickster was all about myself.  I grew up watching Bugs Bunny (a kind of trickster).  I expect tricksters to be charming, plucky, witty, and unafraid of messing with the social order.  Someone who is ready to balk at authority and doesn't care whose feathers they ruffle.

If you know me personally you could see how the above description creates a very sharp divide in my psyche.  I'm not comfortable with dishonesty.  Not that I am above a little colorful interpretation of the truth in specific circumstances, but outright lies are a burden.  I am not consistently witty.  (Those comebacks don't occur to me until hours later).  I would never want to con anyone (well okay there is a burning desire to pull a caper on a few of the truly cruel out in the world), and I am certainly no brave clown tilting against the authorities of the world.  I'm not even all that clever, in fact a guide once told me to give up trying to be clever or witty at all.  So you might ask well what kind of trickster are you?

I honestly don't know.  I just know I am one.  (Ask around some people have seen me do it I swear).  What I am beginning to realize after a series of painful reminders about "being" tricksy.  Which is not the same as being a trickster is that my idea of what a trickster is seems to have been an ego based idea of one.  What I have been trying to find is the way to be the trickster within me and keep the energy of integrity and compassion at the same time.  I can hear spirits saying, "He doesn't ask for much does he?"

Traditionally the trickster in stories was a figure (man, woman, faery, deity, or animal spirit) who played tricks or disobeyed the normal rules and conventional behavior.  Usually this was to shake people up a bit, to help those that were disenfranchised, to punish the wicked, or to help people to see the world or their situation in a new way.  The trickster formed a vital part of any society making sure that those with power didn't take themselves too seriously.  Also they just didn't behave the same as everyone else.  They couldn't for whatever reason it wasn't in their nature, and because of this they saw the world differently.  They were in a way outside observers.  In many traditional societies they became spirit workers, medicine carriers, magicians, holy men(and women), alchemists, and hermits.  Some were just outright off their rockers and yet on occasion they would dispense a very lucid and brilliant analysis of a situation.

So I come from a long proud line of crazy folk.  I am odd there is no hiding that.  I am finding the more I delve into this archetype the less it is about me doing anything.  It is more just about me being me and loving what I love, and being different.  Every trickster shares the trait of seeing the world differently from those around us.  Some are kind some are not.  We are catalysts for change.  I once solved a problem by screwing it up so bad that professional help had to be summoned.  (I might add that the girl finally got her internet router to work properly  only after I royally messed it up…your welcome).    I do wish I had the confidence and pluck of Coyote or Crow.  I have to resign myself to knowing that sometimes I'll know the exact right thing to say or do to snap someone out of their foul mood.  Sometimes the universe will use me as its meat puppet in a reading to snatch the blinders off a client's eyes.  If I really look at it my work with shifting and clearing is really a trickster's game, altering reality with magic.  Magic is the province of our kind, the rest of the world sees reality as simply being what it is, we see it as a work in progress.

So what about you?  Are you a trickster?  What does it mean to you if you are?  If you are not what archetype do you identify with?  Are you trying to embody an ego narrative rather than the spirit of that archetype?  Are you trying to fit yourself into a role rather than letting that role fit itself to you?  Do you even think about what you are and what you contribute to your community?  Can you even trust anything I've said after all I am a trickster?

Peace and Blessings,
Thomas Mooneagle

p.s.  The answer to the last question on whether you can trust me is a quote from River Song (one of my favorite tricksters)  "If you like, but where's the fun in that."

Friday, January 24, 2014

In and Out

Greetings all,

Frigidity has once again descended upon my region.  The first month of the year is almost over.  I've been struck by the muse again as I recuperate from a nagging cough.  I've also been observing something lately.  I tend to hold my breath quite a bit.

The breath is the life, particularly in training the consciousness.  I use it to calm, meditate, and shift into other states of awareness.  I focus into it during yoga and tai chi.  I have become aware of an imbalance in my practice.  I seem acutely focused on the exhalation while barely being aware of the inhalation.  This may have become more pronounced since I started practicing the elemental sounds with my chi kung and tai chi routines, or it may be that this is what has brought it to my attention.  The fact is I have been doing long luxurious exhalations, but taking in minimally during the inhalation.

Several weeks ago on a journey my power animal expressed concern for me.  He told me that I was giving out many times more energy than I was taking into myself.  He also said if I continued to do that I would get sick. (You were right, happy dear?) So this is more than just about my breathing (as fascinating as I am sure that is to all you out there in cyberland) it is about the balance of nurturing.  The exhalation is the releasing of the old, removal, in effect the subtractive process.  People who have seen my ceramic art can vouch that I have a clear grasp of that.  I carve away from the surface of my clay leaving spiraling intricate patterns behind.  I am good at the subtractive process in artwork, but also in my energetic work.  Shamanically it is referred to as extraction.

As wonderful as the release and removal of the used and unwanted energies is it's only half of the equation.   Bringing in the new and the fresh is just as vital.  Like yin and yang they are linked inseparably to one another.  I have been stingy with this half of the process.  I seem to be fine giving out, but rather weak when it comes to filling up my own store of energy.  I am sure I am not the only one out there who is doing this.  I seem to think nothing of staying up half the night sculpting (and/or writing a blog), but  I seem to balk at making sure I had a good half hour of meditation.

 So I ask why?  Why don't I let myself bring in what I need to thrive?  The memes of societal programming seem to ring out as one possibility; the idea that it is selfish to self nurture.  There are things that need doing, people that need assistance, and aren't I just a narcissist for wanting time to sit and just breathe slowly for a bit.  Well it is selfish.  I am selfish.  I remember doing a journey to my shadow and it showed itself as this great hairy beast with huge grasping hands.  I know that I have this trait of being self absorbed and self focused, but one of the biggest challenges I've had in my relationships (or life in general) has been in my attempts to compensate for it.   I tend to overshoot.  It becomes another machination of the ego the "I'm the best giver no one gives more than I do. " Well isn't that just precious.

What about you?  Are you breathing in as much as you breathe out?  Are you allowing your needs to be met?  Are you letting the universe be generous to you?  If not why not?  Would getting what you need shake up your identity as a "nice person" too much?  If so why?  Try this as your affirmation if any of this rings true for you, "I allow myself to receive."  Until next week.

Peace and Blessings,
Thomas Mooneagle

Thursday, January 16, 2014

The More You Know

Greetings all,

I hope you are having a great week.  I am doing much better now that we are done with the polar vortex for a bit.  Last week's post was a very long one comparatively.  Still it was only a glimpse of what I do in a session.  It was simplified for ease of understanding.  I talked with my teacher about it and she was pleased.  As I told her it was just a dipping a toe into the river.  I'm not sure I could totally explain what I do and leave your sanity intact.

That said I had another interesting conversation this week with a fellow traveler on the roads of spirit and energy.  I have been studying more about how energetic healing methods work.  Yes I continue to study and do my best to upgrade my skills and practices.  There is a book called Life Force the Scientific Basis, it is volume 2 in the Synchronized Universe series by Claude Swanson.  It is an extremely dense book full of detailed scientific studies of energy healing and systems, from pranic healing and qi gong masters, to acupuncture.  What is interesting about all this is that I was reading through the chapter on acupuncture when I realized that the information presented was almost identical to some I had received on a shamanic journey to my upper world teacher over six months ago.  This was an incredible validation for me and it also increased the dimension of my understanding seeing the material covered in a scientific framework.

With all this new awareness though it hasn't changed the basis of my practice.  I may grasp a bit more of the underpinnings, but it is still all about guidance and awareness.  As I told my friend whether it is channeling energy like Reiki, bringing in shamanic spirit work, or shifting the quantum field around an issue, what matters is the space in which our energy rests.  It is about creating the sacred container for whatever will manifest in a session.  The same results can be achieved from any method or path.  Those are the embellishments.  Creating the space to allow and to be guided is what truly matter.

So I take my new understanding and basically just try to be in the awareness that there is more going on than I can know.  I try to dwell in the space of mystery and possibility.  That is the thrust of my studies, to seed my consciousness with information that allows more to be.

How about you?  How do you use information?  Is it the directive?  Does it form the scaffolding of your life?  Is the information you accumulate the treasure, or is it merely a pathway to undiscovered treasure?  How do you use information?  Is it to accumulate knowing, or is it to accumulate awareness of what is unknown to you?  I had a dream character tell me I had no idea of what I didn't know.  I couldn't conceive of the myriad possibilities.  Information can be a door to knowing, but it is the door to the unknown that contains the riches we seek.

Peace and Blessings,
Thomas Mooneagle

Friday, January 10, 2014

The Mooneagle Method

Greetings all,

I hope you are settling into the new year post holiday time warp comfortably.  I've had a cold which has forced me to finally slow down.  I've been going at full tilt for probably two or three months.  One of these days I will learn to schedule more chill time in my life.  That is the trick when you work for yourself because there is always something you know needs to be done.

One of my teachers approached me this week and asked me to write about my method.  She thought it would be good for me to put down how I blend together the various teachings and traditions I have studied and apply them in my healing practice.  My immediate response was "Oh God No!"  Trying to explain how I do what I do and where the various pieces and bits come from is always a challenge.  However as a shamanic practitioner my teacher is generally right when things like this come to her.  So this post is my attempt to explain the madness in my method.

So where to begin?  I suppose on this insane little jaunt I should mention the sources I draw upon.  My psychic training comes primarily from decades of working with the tarot.  That is what first helped me to be aware of patterns.  It is something that comes natural, seeing faces in tree bark, stone, or the folds in a carpet.  I see patterns everywhere.  This is helpful because everything is a pattern of energy.  Some are beneficial to us others are not.  Remember the song, "One of these things is not like the others, one of these things is not quite the same."  So piece one of my method is the awareness and identification of pattern.

I've also been influenced by some ceremonial magical traditions.  I learned the basics of setting sacred space and raising energy from things like the tree of life meditation (simplified not hermetic) the qabbalistic cross (to purify the aura and strengthen it), and the lesser banishing ritual of the septa gram.   WAIT!  Did you catch that last one it is supposed to be pentagram right?  Well yes originally it was, I altered it to use the seven pointed star to bring in faery energy to the ritual.  Some of you might be thinking (particularly if you are staunch traditionalist) that you can't do that.  Too late I already did.

Which brings me to my next bag of tricks or is it tricksters.  I work on occasion with Faery and that energy.  This is seen most clearly when I make a charm or amulet for someone.  When I make my artwork I put my heart and soul in it and probably a good bit of faery too.  Occasionally I use it in session work, but not broadly.  Some people just aren't ready for the wildness it brings into their pattern.  However when I'm being tricky or clever or I use illusion to mask something to accomplish another goal that is me with my faery mask on.  The thing you have to remember is it's important to really love faeries, if you don't and you have shady ideas of one upping yourself on their backs well let's just say you couldn't pay me enough to help you.

The next piece of the puzzle is my body work.  I've practiced tai chi for half my life and some yoga for almost as long.  It has helped me be aware of the relationship of the mind and emotions to our physical form.  It has also taught me about the energy flow within the body.  Sometimes I do play with meridians or stuck energy in a body part.  (I really should study some anatomy to help me specify more).

So let's see I covered basic magic, the body, trickiness,  leaving … the mind.  You gotta feed the mind with the right stuff.  This includes meditation, contemplation, and learning all sorts of new paradigm twisting thoughts.  I feed my brain with sci-fi, sci facts, and fantasy.  I studied some quantum physics and not just some of the easy to read for the masses books, actual physics books.  This helps me seed my consciousness with more possibilities.  This is important because your paradigm determines the set of options of what is possible for you.  We're brought up in a scientific materialist paradigm.  Which is different from a purely scientific paradigm.  Meaning there is science that accepts the unseen things as part of the world.  I'm not talking pseudoscience I am talking about rigorous double blind experiments with repeatable results.  By taking in more and more of this information I am reprogramming my subconscious to allow more possibilities through its filter.

My last pieces come in my shamanic training.  I first learned what is considered core shamanism.  I learned to journey, find my power animal, and an upper world teacher.  I learned to speak with the spirits of place, animals, stones, plants, and forces.  I use this a lot when I am preparing something new or trying to learn a better way to do something.  An example are the energetic downloads like the Removing Religious Programming Download.  I did over eight journeys to enlist help from various spirits and gain advice.  The other type of shamanism I employ is working with the mesa, a portable stone altar, where each stone is a helping spirit.  My distance clients are most familiar with this because I always do a set up for them and send them a picture of it.  I blend the two practices calling in spirits with the mesa, moving the stones around, and asking for guidance from power animals and helping spirits.  Sometimes a session is overtly shamanic and other times is more like quantum energy healing practices.

Those are the bases my practice rests on.  How they manifest depends on the circumstance though.  I let my attention guide me to areas that can be shifted.  Tracking issues or patterns is more about letting my awareness be open and just following along.  I never know how a session will be.  That used to drive me crazy but I have gotten used to it.  The less I plan the better it works.  When I start to plan or think it means my ego is trying to run the show so I refocus into my heart and start again.  This is the simplest way I can explain how I combine the various traditions, methods, and knowledge into how I do my work.  It is far from complete, but it took years (many in fact) to get to where it is today.  When people ask me how I learn to do what I do they have no idea how large a question that is.  They are usually looking for a simple short answer like read this book, take this class and you have it.  It is closer to read this library of books, have these life experiences, take these classes, and experiment... a lot.

So how does this apply to you?  Well how did you become the person you are?  What different branches of knowledge and experience converged to create you and what you do?  What did you change and make yours?  It is good to acknowledge our influences and how they shaped us.  Once we know we can then shape them.

Peace and Blessings,
Thomas Mooneagle

Friday, January 3, 2014

First of the Year

Greetings all,

Happy New Year!  I hope your holiday was a blessed and joyous one.   It can be a strange time between the winter solstice and New Year's Day.  The days blur into one another and our normal rhythm is disrupted.  I think that is one of the traits of the midwinter holidays that they happen in a zone where our routines can't flow without thought.

The first of the year is always looked at as a time to take stock of our lives.  We make resolutions for change to alter the circumstances of our lives.  Many people start diets or exercise regimens.  Others try new activities or try to learn a new skill.  This year I was hard pressed to come up with a new year's resolution.  It's not that everything is perfect in my life (what is perfect anyhow), but rather that an external change lost most of its motivational value.  I don't mean to say I wouldn't like to have some areas improve, but I have come to realize over the past year, as many aspects of my life have improved, that few external things bring any sort of lasting satisfaction.

So what is a man to do when there isn't something to fix upon for a change?  I have been pondering that.  There are ways of being that if made habit would bring about a change in my internal self.  It is those practices I would like to make my focus.  What are they?  Well being more regular with my meditative and prayer work (other than that I do to prepare for clients) is one I believe will create a more centered presence in myself.  More regimental practice of yoga which would likewise create that mirror of ease and presence in my physical self.  Simply resolving into taking a more hopeful and optimistic outlook on my own life.  There is no harsher critic to me than myself.

These resolutions may indeed bring about external changes in my body, and my efficiency with work.  However the real gem is what they give to the unseen self.  Most people who have met me tend to think I am very calm.  Sometimes I am.  More often than not they are simply not perceiving my internal state. I have been a very anxious person.  It is one of the motivating factors that started me on my spiritual practices.  I needed them in order to function.  My sensitivity which I use extensively now for my work was for many years a burden.  Some days it still is.

So my friends how does this apply to you?  Well as you review the year past and make your resolutions be sure to look within you for those things that maybe no one else will see.  Do you speak harshly to yourself in your head?  Do you lack faith in your own abilities?  How is your internal emotional landscape?  Yes we all want fitter more attractive bodies but what about calmer more creative minds?  Can you cultivate warmth in your heart through your everyday life?  Don't let your success be only about numbers on a scale or getting that raise.  Let your year be about the part of you that only you know and live with.  May your internal kingdom shine brighter this year.

Peace and Blessings,
Thomas Mooneagle