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
Musings
Thursday, January 16, 2014
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
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
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
Sunday, December 29, 2013
Retreading
Greetings all,
Well now we're most of the way through the holidays. Anyone out of breath yet? This month has been not just a whirlwind but a hurricane of activity. I'm late again with all the things going on here, but I remain committed to keeping up with my blog, YouTube channel, and ceremonies.
In these past few weeks it seems as though I have been retreading old tracks. Old friends have reappeared, missed opportunities have gotten a second chance. Emotional patterns have resurfaced either to be cleansed or examined for their purpose. I found myself on the road the day after Christmas quite unexpectedly. It wasn't a certainty until a day or so before after the weather forecast turned out clear. I'm not one to travel widely in winter, but sometimes you have to take the journey when the paths are singing.
I drove to Gatlinburg a place I haven't been for seven years. I hadn't been in Tennessee at all since 2007. Although I used to go there quite frequently. Family ties brought me back again and again, but now most of my family that lived there has passed onto the next life or they have moved. I drove down once familiar roads seeing the rock formations I'd look for on each drive through the mountains. I had an odd mix of familiarity and disorientation. Roads do change, detours appear. So what summoned me to the Smoky Mountains? A contact I had made years back when I was a work-study student at a craft school (lower case c crafts means arts as opposed to Crafts which are only taught at Hogwarts). I had made friends with the woman who ran the book store/ supply store at the school. I found out that I made quite an impression. That is how I came to have work in a gallery down in Gatlinburg.
I am often surprised at how people remember me. I don't generally know the impact I have upon people. I think the first time I ever realized people were even paying attention was about two years ago when I went to a seminar. Someone came up to me and said, "You're Thomas Mooneagle, I love Thomas Mooneagle!" They knew me from my YouTube channel, it was the first and only time that has happened in public. It was and continues to be strange as people connect with me via Facebook or email to hear how I have affected them. It's not something I am always comfortable with, and I don't think that I am alone in that. While it is good to contemplate our choices and how they affect ourselves and others, we simply cannot fathom the impact of small everyday actions. At least we can't all the time, on occasion a general reflection on our overall actions is a good thing. Just so long as we don't continually second guess our everything we do.
So this past connection drew me back to a place that had been quite meaningful to me. As if that wasn't enough of a retreading of the sands of time, I had another contact from a past era. This year I have expanded my social circle quite a bit (I pruned it too but you have to now and then), and it was through a random meeting that I found that someone new to me was friends with someone I used to chat with quite a bit, but had lost track of. Well just this weekend we finally got a chance to sit down at a party and talk face to face. You might say that was coincidence, but I have the third instance the one that proves the pattern. For years I have had an internet/phone buddy I met on a forum in the long ago. Never met in person, but we've talked for years. They even helped me beta test a few things for my healing practice. Well on my impromptu trip down to the mountains I finally had my chance to meet this friend. He even put me up for the night so I didn't need to get a hotel (the Mooneagle always appreciates this as he finds hotels hard to sleep in). Odd thing never having met and yet we just chatted on like we've done on the phone. No awkwardness.
Now not all this recycling of the past has been hearts and rainbows. I've noticed in myself old hurts and resentments rising to the surface. I've found myself thinking down old dead end streets of self inflicted wounds. I've wondered sheesh will this pattern never die? How many times must I kill you? It's like a Friday the 13th or Halloween movie you just can't get rid of the monster. So what is all that about?
Our past lives in us and only us. If you think it is shared ask a family member about a particular event from years back, one that was emotionally charged. Everyone remembers it differently especially on matters of who started something, or what so and so said to your mother. You get the picture. Your past is yours and yours alone. The lens in which we view it has a lot to do with whether it is a burden or a blessing. Take a good memory, it can lend you strength or be a source of contentment in hard times. It can also be a source of loss for something whose time is no longer. Goodbye is a hard word with teeth and talons. Yet it is part of the human experience. It is central to the human experience, in every hello there is an eventual goodbye. Still it can be a good farewell or a bad one. Some of my most satisfying experiences have been wishing someone goodbye and showing them the door. See I just retread a memory right there in front of you. Were you paying attention?
So how about you? What has arisen from the past? Is it giving you an opportunity? Is it wishing you goodbye? Is it pointing out something that still lives in you that needs to be reborn or is it something that needs to die? Who keeps popping up from the long ago? How are you different in your relation to them? Are you different? Are you really, or are you just wearing different clothes? Are you wearing clothes? So much to contemplate before the year counts down and a brand shiny new one takes it place. It is time to walk again the paths we know or think we know and discover anything precious we may have dropped along the way, and perhaps empty our pockets of that which we no longer need carry.
Peace and Blessings,
Thomas Mooneagle
p.s. The gallery where my work is being sold (officially made several sales hurrah!) is called Dragonfly Art Dimensions located in Gatlinburg, TN. If you are in the Smokies definitely check them out.
Well now we're most of the way through the holidays. Anyone out of breath yet? This month has been not just a whirlwind but a hurricane of activity. I'm late again with all the things going on here, but I remain committed to keeping up with my blog, YouTube channel, and ceremonies.
In these past few weeks it seems as though I have been retreading old tracks. Old friends have reappeared, missed opportunities have gotten a second chance. Emotional patterns have resurfaced either to be cleansed or examined for their purpose. I found myself on the road the day after Christmas quite unexpectedly. It wasn't a certainty until a day or so before after the weather forecast turned out clear. I'm not one to travel widely in winter, but sometimes you have to take the journey when the paths are singing.
I drove to Gatlinburg a place I haven't been for seven years. I hadn't been in Tennessee at all since 2007. Although I used to go there quite frequently. Family ties brought me back again and again, but now most of my family that lived there has passed onto the next life or they have moved. I drove down once familiar roads seeing the rock formations I'd look for on each drive through the mountains. I had an odd mix of familiarity and disorientation. Roads do change, detours appear. So what summoned me to the Smoky Mountains? A contact I had made years back when I was a work-study student at a craft school (lower case c crafts means arts as opposed to Crafts which are only taught at Hogwarts). I had made friends with the woman who ran the book store/ supply store at the school. I found out that I made quite an impression. That is how I came to have work in a gallery down in Gatlinburg.
I am often surprised at how people remember me. I don't generally know the impact I have upon people. I think the first time I ever realized people were even paying attention was about two years ago when I went to a seminar. Someone came up to me and said, "You're Thomas Mooneagle, I love Thomas Mooneagle!" They knew me from my YouTube channel, it was the first and only time that has happened in public. It was and continues to be strange as people connect with me via Facebook or email to hear how I have affected them. It's not something I am always comfortable with, and I don't think that I am alone in that. While it is good to contemplate our choices and how they affect ourselves and others, we simply cannot fathom the impact of small everyday actions. At least we can't all the time, on occasion a general reflection on our overall actions is a good thing. Just so long as we don't continually second guess our everything we do.
So this past connection drew me back to a place that had been quite meaningful to me. As if that wasn't enough of a retreading of the sands of time, I had another contact from a past era. This year I have expanded my social circle quite a bit (I pruned it too but you have to now and then), and it was through a random meeting that I found that someone new to me was friends with someone I used to chat with quite a bit, but had lost track of. Well just this weekend we finally got a chance to sit down at a party and talk face to face. You might say that was coincidence, but I have the third instance the one that proves the pattern. For years I have had an internet/phone buddy I met on a forum in the long ago. Never met in person, but we've talked for years. They even helped me beta test a few things for my healing practice. Well on my impromptu trip down to the mountains I finally had my chance to meet this friend. He even put me up for the night so I didn't need to get a hotel (the Mooneagle always appreciates this as he finds hotels hard to sleep in). Odd thing never having met and yet we just chatted on like we've done on the phone. No awkwardness.
Now not all this recycling of the past has been hearts and rainbows. I've noticed in myself old hurts and resentments rising to the surface. I've found myself thinking down old dead end streets of self inflicted wounds. I've wondered sheesh will this pattern never die? How many times must I kill you? It's like a Friday the 13th or Halloween movie you just can't get rid of the monster. So what is all that about?
Our past lives in us and only us. If you think it is shared ask a family member about a particular event from years back, one that was emotionally charged. Everyone remembers it differently especially on matters of who started something, or what so and so said to your mother. You get the picture. Your past is yours and yours alone. The lens in which we view it has a lot to do with whether it is a burden or a blessing. Take a good memory, it can lend you strength or be a source of contentment in hard times. It can also be a source of loss for something whose time is no longer. Goodbye is a hard word with teeth and talons. Yet it is part of the human experience. It is central to the human experience, in every hello there is an eventual goodbye. Still it can be a good farewell or a bad one. Some of my most satisfying experiences have been wishing someone goodbye and showing them the door. See I just retread a memory right there in front of you. Were you paying attention?
So how about you? What has arisen from the past? Is it giving you an opportunity? Is it wishing you goodbye? Is it pointing out something that still lives in you that needs to be reborn or is it something that needs to die? Who keeps popping up from the long ago? How are you different in your relation to them? Are you different? Are you really, or are you just wearing different clothes? Are you wearing clothes? So much to contemplate before the year counts down and a brand shiny new one takes it place. It is time to walk again the paths we know or think we know and discover anything precious we may have dropped along the way, and perhaps empty our pockets of that which we no longer need carry.
Peace and Blessings,
Thomas Mooneagle
p.s. The gallery where my work is being sold (officially made several sales hurrah!) is called Dragonfly Art Dimensions located in Gatlinburg, TN. If you are in the Smokies definitely check them out.
Sunday, December 22, 2013
Solstice of Thunder
Greetings all,
I'm late with this entry, but I've been a very busy bee this past week. I've been closing a deal and planning a trip. I've been doing holiday baking, finishing up holiday gifts, and I led a gathering of weather shaman as well as led a drumming ceremony and despacho with one of my teachers. It's no wonder I am so tired.
It all started with an idea. With my Year of Transformation one of the benefits is the quarterly drumming ceremonies, basically on the solstices and the equinoxes I drum for power and blessings on behalf of the participants. A year ago I attended an enormous drumming event. There were over a hundred people drumming to celebrate the solstice and the end of the Mayan calendar. Since then I have wanted to do my ceremonies in community, at least on the solstices. I tend to drum alone on the equinoxes. I was planning a drumming gathering and my teacher was too, so we decided to combine our events.
The first thing we did of course was to journey to make sure we could even hold the event. December is a bit unpredictable. We've already had one snow and ice storm and you never know when another one will blow through. My first journey was to the weather spirits to ask if the roads would be clear and safe for travel. We were told there would be a window for us to hold our event. I was thinking we would have to worry about snow or ice, but we ended up with thunderstorms. Forecasts were calling for 5-6 inches of rain and flash flooding. There is a creek right near my teacher's house as well as a pond where the road dips down a steep hill. I was worried that the road would be underwater. I kept repeating to myself, "They told us we could hold our event I'll just trust that we can." When I arrived the creek was still in its banks and the pond had not overflowed. The weather had scared off a few of the participants which left the event packed instead of being insanely crowded.
I am lucky in that I have 3 shamanic teachers. Two of them live locally. Both of them were there last night. I was given the reins for the ceremonies. So here I was leading ceremony in front of the people who taught me and a group much larger than I had ever worked in front of before. I was very nervous. (Yes I do get nervous when I work in front of a lot of people). At least a third of the room were authorities in one or more metaphysical fields. No pressure at all you know.
Which of course brings me to the solstice itself. The winter solstice is the time when the world (well at least north of the tropics) is at its darkest. Here we are forced to rely more on what is inside of us rather than the light around us. We carry the light within us, and it is in the dark that we find out the quality of our light. What is our power and how well do we apply it? These are what the starkness of winter makes us look at. The trees are bare dreaming their roots deep into the ground. We too must go deep within ourselves and keep the spark of light alive within our hearts. This time of the year we feast and gather with loved ones to share our light and warmth. This is our response to the winter solstice. In Faery the good folk feast, the winter court celebrates the height of the darkness, the summer court celebrates the return of the light. We have to find our light and discover what it illuminates in us and in others.
I said this and more when I called in the space. I donned my mask of leaves and shared my light and that of my drum with the circle as they shared their light. It was beautiful, lifting the heart and filling it with joy. We built our despacho and filled it with flowers, candies, wine, and our prayers. When we went to burn it the wind quieted the rain stopped and a stillness came upon the glade we were standing in. For the length of time it took for the bundle to burn the rain held off, and the wind stayed calm. The weather spirits had said we would have a window to perform our ceremonies and we made use of it. We also thanked weather often and profusely. The miraculous thing of course was the moment we all came back inside (for the food of course) a huge flash of lightning and clap of thunder broke the skies. A torrent of rain began and didn't stop for over an hour. It started as soon as we finished. Some might call it coincidence, but I call it as I see it and that was weather being generous at the same time demonstrating its power over the events of our lives.
Winter is a good time to reflect on the past year and to make plans for the new one ahead. I felt called to gratitude for this ceremony. I was grateful just to be able to hold it, that my teacher opened her home to host it, and that so many people joined in to make it so powerful. This is the time to stoke our inner fire and focus our light. What are you focusing on?
Peace and Blessings,
Thomas Mooneagle
I'm late with this entry, but I've been a very busy bee this past week. I've been closing a deal and planning a trip. I've been doing holiday baking, finishing up holiday gifts, and I led a gathering of weather shaman as well as led a drumming ceremony and despacho with one of my teachers. It's no wonder I am so tired.
It all started with an idea. With my Year of Transformation one of the benefits is the quarterly drumming ceremonies, basically on the solstices and the equinoxes I drum for power and blessings on behalf of the participants. A year ago I attended an enormous drumming event. There were over a hundred people drumming to celebrate the solstice and the end of the Mayan calendar. Since then I have wanted to do my ceremonies in community, at least on the solstices. I tend to drum alone on the equinoxes. I was planning a drumming gathering and my teacher was too, so we decided to combine our events.
The first thing we did of course was to journey to make sure we could even hold the event. December is a bit unpredictable. We've already had one snow and ice storm and you never know when another one will blow through. My first journey was to the weather spirits to ask if the roads would be clear and safe for travel. We were told there would be a window for us to hold our event. I was thinking we would have to worry about snow or ice, but we ended up with thunderstorms. Forecasts were calling for 5-6 inches of rain and flash flooding. There is a creek right near my teacher's house as well as a pond where the road dips down a steep hill. I was worried that the road would be underwater. I kept repeating to myself, "They told us we could hold our event I'll just trust that we can." When I arrived the creek was still in its banks and the pond had not overflowed. The weather had scared off a few of the participants which left the event packed instead of being insanely crowded.
I am lucky in that I have 3 shamanic teachers. Two of them live locally. Both of them were there last night. I was given the reins for the ceremonies. So here I was leading ceremony in front of the people who taught me and a group much larger than I had ever worked in front of before. I was very nervous. (Yes I do get nervous when I work in front of a lot of people). At least a third of the room were authorities in one or more metaphysical fields. No pressure at all you know.
Which of course brings me to the solstice itself. The winter solstice is the time when the world (well at least north of the tropics) is at its darkest. Here we are forced to rely more on what is inside of us rather than the light around us. We carry the light within us, and it is in the dark that we find out the quality of our light. What is our power and how well do we apply it? These are what the starkness of winter makes us look at. The trees are bare dreaming their roots deep into the ground. We too must go deep within ourselves and keep the spark of light alive within our hearts. This time of the year we feast and gather with loved ones to share our light and warmth. This is our response to the winter solstice. In Faery the good folk feast, the winter court celebrates the height of the darkness, the summer court celebrates the return of the light. We have to find our light and discover what it illuminates in us and in others.
I said this and more when I called in the space. I donned my mask of leaves and shared my light and that of my drum with the circle as they shared their light. It was beautiful, lifting the heart and filling it with joy. We built our despacho and filled it with flowers, candies, wine, and our prayers. When we went to burn it the wind quieted the rain stopped and a stillness came upon the glade we were standing in. For the length of time it took for the bundle to burn the rain held off, and the wind stayed calm. The weather spirits had said we would have a window to perform our ceremonies and we made use of it. We also thanked weather often and profusely. The miraculous thing of course was the moment we all came back inside (for the food of course) a huge flash of lightning and clap of thunder broke the skies. A torrent of rain began and didn't stop for over an hour. It started as soon as we finished. Some might call it coincidence, but I call it as I see it and that was weather being generous at the same time demonstrating its power over the events of our lives.
Winter is a good time to reflect on the past year and to make plans for the new one ahead. I felt called to gratitude for this ceremony. I was grateful just to be able to hold it, that my teacher opened her home to host it, and that so many people joined in to make it so powerful. This is the time to stoke our inner fire and focus our light. What are you focusing on?
Peace and Blessings,
Thomas Mooneagle
Saturday, December 14, 2013
Time skipped
Greetings everyone,
I am happy to report that I have completed all my holiday shopping. It is time to breathe a big sigh of relief and try to get some much needed relaxation infused into my life right before holiday madness descends on us all.
I've been noticing a curious thing the past few months. Time has not quite behaved itself. It's been moving around, expanding, and contracting. My first real experience of time dilation was the Day of the Dead when I made my midnight ride. I moved through that drive in almost half the time it should have taken. I've also had time contract on me particularly when I am working on making something. That is nothing new time has always run away with me when I have done creative work. My perception of it alters which is a right brained phenomena.
This past week or so though someone else has noticed the time around me going all wonky. (Wonky being the technical term for a very timey whimey occurrence). I swim three times a week as part of my fitness routine. It helps keep me sane and on somewhat of a normal schedule. My sister swims with me twice a week. Now we swim at different rates she is steadier pace and can go longer but I swim a bit faster. Lately during my swim my sister asks me what lap I am on and when I answer she is dumbfounded. Apparently even though she usually starts a few minutes before me I end up being almost even or ahead of her after a few minutes in the water. Now I know what you're thinking, that I just swim faster. However by observation I don't swim that much faster. In fact I did a little experiment on the day that I swam alone. I checked the clock right before I got in the water swam my 20 laps and then got out. Maybe 16 minutes had passed, but it was noticeably under 20. I kept count carefully still it was unreal that I had swam a kilometer in under 20 minutes. Not that it can't be done. It's just that I wasn't winded, I didn't have anything close to a grueling pace if anything I thought I had been quite leisurely.
So what exactly was going on? The only thing I can lay my mind on is that while I swim I also mentally chant mantras. It helps to focus me and keeps my mind from dwelling on worries or get caught up in a daydream. I was definitely swimming my intended distance, but I was doing it easily without rush and still finishing before others who are either swimming at similar speeds or are going even faster.
So why do I mention this to you? Have I finally run out of topics for the blog? Well first I write about what catches my attention and this has. It raises interesting questions about time. Also this month I have revisited healing across time with a new and improved healing the past video. I've also been working with ancestral healing for people. So I have been playing in the sphere of time. Perhaps it has had a side effect of making time a bit more subjective than it usually is. It could also be that time is not as fixed as we think it is, maybe by playing in it so much my own perception filters of time have been broadened allowing more configurations of how time fits in my life. Maybe time like all other things is not a thing at all but a mode of consciousness, a lens of understanding. If we refocus the lens what we see is different.
In this season of holiday tasks, celebrations, and sometimes obligations it might be pertinent to contemplate our perception of time. Maybe we should rethink time. What if time listens? What if time could be your friend and ally? What would happen if you arrived before you departed how might that affect your understanding of the world? What if we could approach time in a sense of focused wonder? Think on it this week as we head into a turning point on the scale of seasonal time.
Peace and Blessings,
Thomas Mooneagle
I am happy to report that I have completed all my holiday shopping. It is time to breathe a big sigh of relief and try to get some much needed relaxation infused into my life right before holiday madness descends on us all.
I've been noticing a curious thing the past few months. Time has not quite behaved itself. It's been moving around, expanding, and contracting. My first real experience of time dilation was the Day of the Dead when I made my midnight ride. I moved through that drive in almost half the time it should have taken. I've also had time contract on me particularly when I am working on making something. That is nothing new time has always run away with me when I have done creative work. My perception of it alters which is a right brained phenomena.
This past week or so though someone else has noticed the time around me going all wonky. (Wonky being the technical term for a very timey whimey occurrence). I swim three times a week as part of my fitness routine. It helps keep me sane and on somewhat of a normal schedule. My sister swims with me twice a week. Now we swim at different rates she is steadier pace and can go longer but I swim a bit faster. Lately during my swim my sister asks me what lap I am on and when I answer she is dumbfounded. Apparently even though she usually starts a few minutes before me I end up being almost even or ahead of her after a few minutes in the water. Now I know what you're thinking, that I just swim faster. However by observation I don't swim that much faster. In fact I did a little experiment on the day that I swam alone. I checked the clock right before I got in the water swam my 20 laps and then got out. Maybe 16 minutes had passed, but it was noticeably under 20. I kept count carefully still it was unreal that I had swam a kilometer in under 20 minutes. Not that it can't be done. It's just that I wasn't winded, I didn't have anything close to a grueling pace if anything I thought I had been quite leisurely.
So what exactly was going on? The only thing I can lay my mind on is that while I swim I also mentally chant mantras. It helps to focus me and keeps my mind from dwelling on worries or get caught up in a daydream. I was definitely swimming my intended distance, but I was doing it easily without rush and still finishing before others who are either swimming at similar speeds or are going even faster.
So why do I mention this to you? Have I finally run out of topics for the blog? Well first I write about what catches my attention and this has. It raises interesting questions about time. Also this month I have revisited healing across time with a new and improved healing the past video. I've also been working with ancestral healing for people. So I have been playing in the sphere of time. Perhaps it has had a side effect of making time a bit more subjective than it usually is. It could also be that time is not as fixed as we think it is, maybe by playing in it so much my own perception filters of time have been broadened allowing more configurations of how time fits in my life. Maybe time like all other things is not a thing at all but a mode of consciousness, a lens of understanding. If we refocus the lens what we see is different.
In this season of holiday tasks, celebrations, and sometimes obligations it might be pertinent to contemplate our perception of time. Maybe we should rethink time. What if time listens? What if time could be your friend and ally? What would happen if you arrived before you departed how might that affect your understanding of the world? What if we could approach time in a sense of focused wonder? Think on it this week as we head into a turning point on the scale of seasonal time.
Peace and Blessings,
Thomas Mooneagle
Friday, December 6, 2013
The Long Game
Greetings all,
This first week of December has been exciting. I have wonderful news in that a gallery has taken some of my artwork to sell. I have had new clients. I have also started writing my first book. Add to that the first snow storm of the season and it is has been a powerful week.
One of the things I've had to get used to is having good things happen. I know that sounds strange, but for myself (as well as many others) it can be odd when things start to go right for us. This is particularly so when the road has been long and full of twists and delays. It takes some adjustment to take the good in stride. Many spiritual and meditative tools are designed to help us accept setbacks and failures so it can be difficult to put the experience into context. The thing is though we must learn to accept not only things that challenge us but also those that make life fun and enjoyable.
This is in part exacerbated by the way I plan or strategize. I used to make lots of little plans almost all of which failed. For a while I made no plans and drifted, taking advantage of whatever opportunities arose. This of course was not very productive. So I took a step back and started to focus not on the immanent future but the far future. Making little choices here and there while still taking advantage of what opportunities drifted by. I did my best to make do and be happy where I was. From the outside it can look very passive and there is a sort of a relaxed approach. I mean occasionally I would pursue something quite vigorously but mostly I'd slowly move in one direction.
I call this strategy the long game. I first got a taste of it years ago when I was purging my space of accumulated papers and possessions. (I was quite the packrat of notebooks and old assignments). I came across a notebook from high school and in it I had some of my goals and wishes listed from when I was first discovering creative visualization (a good beginner's guide is by Shakti Gawain). As I read through it I realized that I had achieved almost every goal I had listed. It took years but I got there. For some people they get what they want very quickly, but back then I was operating under the belief that I couldn't get what I wanted. Discovering that I had gotten what I had requested was a big turning point. I had done it. I had achieved my dreams, my timetable just was different than other people's and my own expectations. Now I plan my goals a bit further out. I plant the seeds and slowly tend them. Occasionally I take drastic action but more often than not I just allow things to come to me in their own time. I gently apply new skills gradually. I work in my own slow rhythm and low and behold it works. The effects of my efforts are cumulative and so the more I accomplish and do the more that lays the groundwork for what is next. The long game spends a lot of time building the pathways for what you desire to come to you, but once you do, things just seem to happen (some would say as if by magic).
So why am I telling you this? Well maybe you've been too hard on yourself. Maybe you have felt like a failure, like you are getting nowhere. Look back to where you were 10 years ago. Do you remember what you wanted to accomplish? Has any of it come to pass? Are you closer to your heart's goals? What if you slowed down and played the long game? What if you did one small thing here and another down the line as you could? What if you realized that wherever you are is the perfect place for you to live your life? Maybe this is a pivot point and things will happen faster now, or maybe just some things. We can look at the world or our life and be discouraged or we can look for those small signs of change. Eventually they reach a threshold and our life seems to magically transform. Try it out for a bit, I've got another move to make in my game.
Peace and Blessings,
Thomas Mooneagle
This first week of December has been exciting. I have wonderful news in that a gallery has taken some of my artwork to sell. I have had new clients. I have also started writing my first book. Add to that the first snow storm of the season and it is has been a powerful week.
One of the things I've had to get used to is having good things happen. I know that sounds strange, but for myself (as well as many others) it can be odd when things start to go right for us. This is particularly so when the road has been long and full of twists and delays. It takes some adjustment to take the good in stride. Many spiritual and meditative tools are designed to help us accept setbacks and failures so it can be difficult to put the experience into context. The thing is though we must learn to accept not only things that challenge us but also those that make life fun and enjoyable.
This is in part exacerbated by the way I plan or strategize. I used to make lots of little plans almost all of which failed. For a while I made no plans and drifted, taking advantage of whatever opportunities arose. This of course was not very productive. So I took a step back and started to focus not on the immanent future but the far future. Making little choices here and there while still taking advantage of what opportunities drifted by. I did my best to make do and be happy where I was. From the outside it can look very passive and there is a sort of a relaxed approach. I mean occasionally I would pursue something quite vigorously but mostly I'd slowly move in one direction.
I call this strategy the long game. I first got a taste of it years ago when I was purging my space of accumulated papers and possessions. (I was quite the packrat of notebooks and old assignments). I came across a notebook from high school and in it I had some of my goals and wishes listed from when I was first discovering creative visualization (a good beginner's guide is by Shakti Gawain). As I read through it I realized that I had achieved almost every goal I had listed. It took years but I got there. For some people they get what they want very quickly, but back then I was operating under the belief that I couldn't get what I wanted. Discovering that I had gotten what I had requested was a big turning point. I had done it. I had achieved my dreams, my timetable just was different than other people's and my own expectations. Now I plan my goals a bit further out. I plant the seeds and slowly tend them. Occasionally I take drastic action but more often than not I just allow things to come to me in their own time. I gently apply new skills gradually. I work in my own slow rhythm and low and behold it works. The effects of my efforts are cumulative and so the more I accomplish and do the more that lays the groundwork for what is next. The long game spends a lot of time building the pathways for what you desire to come to you, but once you do, things just seem to happen (some would say as if by magic).
So why am I telling you this? Well maybe you've been too hard on yourself. Maybe you have felt like a failure, like you are getting nowhere. Look back to where you were 10 years ago. Do you remember what you wanted to accomplish? Has any of it come to pass? Are you closer to your heart's goals? What if you slowed down and played the long game? What if you did one small thing here and another down the line as you could? What if you realized that wherever you are is the perfect place for you to live your life? Maybe this is a pivot point and things will happen faster now, or maybe just some things. We can look at the world or our life and be discouraged or we can look for those small signs of change. Eventually they reach a threshold and our life seems to magically transform. Try it out for a bit, I've got another move to make in my game.
Peace and Blessings,
Thomas Mooneagle
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