 |
|
 |
| |
| Departments |
Home
Columns, Special
Topics & Features:
The Columns:
Angels, Guides, &
Loving Spirits:
Angel Blessings:
with Dr. Doreen Virtue
Ask Valerie Morrison,
Internationally
Acclaimed Psychic
Trust Your Vibes
By Dr. Sonia Choquette, PhD.
Internationally Acclaimed Psychic Healer & Author
Body Mind & Spirit with John Holland
Psychic Medium, Author
& Teacher,
Astrologer's Notes:
Carin Martin,
Astrologer
Donna Cunningham, MSW, Astrologer
Basil Fearrington,
Astrologer
Diana Stone,
Astrologer &
Huna Shaman
Jeff Jawer
Astrologer
Glenn Perry,
Astrologer
Ray Merriman,
Financial Astrology:
MMA Market Week
Noel Tyl,
Astrologer
Daily Aspect Calendar
by Care
MoonWatching with Dana Gerhardt and Friends
Creating Bridges:
The Spiritual &
Philosophical
Act of Power
Discovering the Key to Living Your Sacred Dream
by Lynn Andrews
The BUT Doctor
Healing America's Real Crack Problem One Person at a Time
by Eddie Conner
Avant-Gardening:
Insights by Frank &
Vicky Giannangelo
From The Heart:
Alan Cohen
Teachings from the Western Mystery Traditions: The Esoteric "Paths of Return"
by Jacquelyn Small, Eupsychia
"Letters from Heaven:" Spiritual Guidance from
the Hebrew Alphabet
by Avigayil Landsman
Spirituality in Daily Life: by Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron
The Conscious Column
by David Ault
Spiritual Mastery
for the 21st Century
Dr. Gwen MacGregor
Pearls of Wisdom:
with Care & Aeon
Encounters on the
Shaman's Path with
Dr. Hank Wesselman, PhD.
Anthropologist, Zoologist, Author, Shamanic Healer & Teacher
Feng Shui & Chinese Metaphysics:
Inside Chinese Metaphysics
by Barbara Finch,
Feng Shui &
Chinese Astrology
In Practice:
How to Create a Successful Holistic Practice- from Start to Success
by Shaun Brown,
CMT, BA BeWell Publications
Pet Care:
Dr. Carson's Holistic Animal Care
by Dr. Kathleen Carson, D.V.M.
Tarot:
Moment to Moment
by Gigi Miner
Author, Tarot Consultant, & Teacher.
Reviews:
Tarot, Cartomancy,
Oracle Decks,
Books, & Software.
by Bonnie Cehovet,
Tarot Master
Humor:
Wake Up Laughing.Com:
Swami Beyondananda
Features:
Blessings & Messages
Event Calendar
Historical Notes & Data
The MetaPersonals
Opinion-Editorial
Symbols, Seals,
Amulets & Talismans
The What in the
World Department
Trivia & Other
Novel Moments
Interviews:
Watch for Upcoming Announcements
Healing & Alternative
Health:
Living in Harmony-Astrology, Yoga & Ayurveda:
Venkat & Christine Machiraju
"Spirit and Practice
of the Wise Woman
Tradition"
By Susun Weed
Tai Chi & Qigong
by Bill Douglas
The Holistic Mystic,
by Lonny Brown
Medical Intuition: Tune
in to Your Body and Improve Your Health
by Caroline Sutherland, Sutherland Communications
Conscious Breathing
for Health and Self Transformation
by Dennis Lewis
Transformational Healing through the Violet Flame!
by Eva Kettles
Herbs for Health
with Kami McBride
The Directory
The Book Nook
Archives:
Past Issues
The Book Nook
Archives:
Past Issues
|
|
|
|
|
|
Creating Bridges: Spirituality & Philosophy:
Lynn Andrews and The Path of the Heart
Finding Your Power Center
Power Deck Card
of the Month: Flow
|
|
|
by Lynn Andrews |
|
|
"A person of power attains their goal and remains whole as a person. To truly have power, you must first love yourself.”
Lynn Andrews
Dear Friends,
This month I am continuing to share the stories from my time in the Yucatan with Zoila as described in my book Jaguar Woman. Within my story there may be some of your own.
“It is told that in the old culture of the Maya,” Zoila asserted to me one day as she and I were talking about her beautiful relationship with her husband, Jose, “women and men were taught about the translation of Mother Earth’s energy, and also about the female energy and how it reveals itself in a person. When we understand the great mothers in us, we can live in harmony and help fulfill each other’s destinies.”
“I believe many of the women in my culture have turned their backs on femininity,” I said.
“That’s a great sorrow for our Madre.” Zoila touched the dirt floor with the palms of her hands. “If women cannot assume their totality, as feminine, beautiful women, then men will never learn of their female side, and the earth will remain in great disharmony. Women say that it is the men who have created the imbalance on our Mother Earth. It is the men who have conjured our wars. But it is the women’s fault. We have permitted it. Men and women need each other; we need to learn from each other. That’s part of what life is all about.”
“What do men teach women?” I asked. “Isn’t there an exchange between them?”
“Very broadly speaking, men teach women how to organize their consciousness, especially out in the everyday world. Women teach men about the sacred dream, how to receive and implement the wisdom of their consciousness. Women teach men how to live. Men teach women how to express their dreams and bring an exchange of energy back from the world, such as money or food or other material goods.”
“But I see a lot of women make money without men,” I said, straightening myself in the chair.
Zoila turned to Jose and then back to me. “Yes, women today can earn money, but only if their man shield is well developed. If a woman is weak in her man shield, she will give and give and demand nothing in return. She will become a martyr. A man can teach a woman about that in many ways.” (Jaguar Woman)
What Zoila called the “man shield,” I call the male shield, and just as both men and women embrace the Mother energies, so do both men and women carry a male shield. It is this male shield that enables us to stride out in the world in an organized and conscious fashion. If you would live a life of harmony and power, it is essential that you embrace and understand both the male and the female aspects of yourself, and that they be in balance.
Make a place on your altar to honor both the male and the female aspects of your existence. The feminine resides in the west; masculine resides in the east. When you light a candle for one, also light a candle for the other so that you can sit in the middle, balanced and in tune with the energies of the universe.
The world is bereft of feminine consciousness. To bring Mother Earth back into balance, we must bring back our awareness of her. Woman is the Keeper of the Planet and must not let her energy be rerooted by the male systems within woman or man. We are all in need of world harmony. Mother Earth has been misunderstood, but she is the universe. She is the womb for all that lives. Feminine consciousness is the energy that embodies the wisdom you need at this moment. It is through the transformation of an overbalance of male energies that we will reinstate harmony and balance on earth, with feminine consciousness in perfect balance on earth and in perfect balance with male consciousness. (The Power Deck, Cards of Wisdom)
Because of male and female imbalances, the earth is in danger of dying. Remember that the power of the masculine explodes, as the power of the feminine implodes, and a sacred spiral of life is set into motion. One cannot live without the other. The masculine God is in search of the feminine Goddess. He brings gifts of driving force to her powers of intuitive, creative receptivity. Both are equal warriors in the fight against ignorance. Balance your masculine and feminine energies through meditation and awareness of when you are carrying a male or female shield. This is your struggle in life and a great source of power for you. (The Power Deck)
Finding Your Power Center
When I was studying with Zoila in the Yucatan, I went through a number of very harrowing experiences in order to find the exquisite power and magic of her teachings. Zoila called them ceremonies and initiations. I called them terrifying! But I trust that I have been able to share with you the essence of many of these teachings and that you have come to understand, as I did, their importance in our lives today. For me, this is a life commitment to the study of the sacred, a commitment to living a life of harmony and balance with Mother Earth, with one foot firmly planted in the world of spirit and the other rooted in the world of the physical. Exercising sacred wisdom in your life literally creates the light that revitalizes the earth’s life force.
Perhaps one of the most intimidating experiences I have ever had was when Zoila and I trekked through very dense jungle foliage to meet the guardian of la caldera who would “show me the sacred spiral and many aspects of myself.” When we arrived at a ledge, which Zoila called the “east lip of la caldera,” she pointed to an enormous crater in the jungle, a canyon that was so deep I couldn’t see the bottom. On my right was a jagged trail, a tiny ledge carved into rock, which spiraled around and around inside of la caldera, down to the center. Over my terrified and tear-filled protests, Zoila started down the trail, and just before she disappeared out of sight I knew that I had no choice but to follow her. I had gone there to learn something from her, and, like it or not, I had to trust her.
As we made the treacherous descent, it was as if all my concepts of self had exploded in my head, leaving me with only my will power to help me survive. My mind and its fear were useless on this precarious pathway. I was battling with my conception of who I was and what I could do. Knowing I couldn’t do it, I did it anyway. As we slowly traversed around and down, I became more sure of myself, letting go of my first level of terror. As we went further, other, deeper levels of terror became released, until an ecstatic feeling flooded through my being.
Just as I had gained some confidence, we came to a sheer cliff where the trail had crumbled away, leaving a four-foot gap to the other side, where the path began again. Zoila leapt easily across. But this time I knew I couldn’t do it, I could not make the leap across a four-foot gap on a sheer cliff.
“Then we part,” Zoila said. “Good luck on your climb back up. It’s about to rain, and it will be more slippery.”
When we finally arrived at the canyon floor, at the bottom of the spiraling trail, I stepped into quicksand, and the more I struggled against it the deeper I sank.
I do not tell you of my experiences to be entertaining, although as a writer and a teacher I hope that people will find my writing to be enjoyable as well as illuminating. I tell you of my own experiences because in so many ways they are like the things that we all go through in our every day lives – the loss of a job and perhaps our only income, moving to a new location where we know no one to start a new job for which we are not really sure we are qualified; the loss of a loved one, through anger or geographical change or even death; surviving the loss of a home, even if we have never gone through this experience most of us make sure that the one bill we pay every month is the rent/mortgage; even facing the prospects of success beyond our greatest hopes.
The words of my teachers as they have watched me go through my trials carry so much wisdom, and have universal application. We are all in this life together. The first lesson of power is that we are all alone. The final lesson of power is that we are all one. And I hope that by reading about what I have gone through and sharing in the incredible wisdom and insight of these amazing native women, watching sacred spirit move through them to help me on my path toward enlightenment, you will see the parallels to your own life experiences and become able to use these teachings in your own process of healing and enlightenment.
As I stood there on the canyon floor, mired in quicksand and sinking even deeper with every breath I took, Zoila said to me, “You’re stuck because you think too much. You think your knowledge is going to get you out of the mess you’re in. You believe you’re going to master the situation with your mind. You have left yourself. You don’t listen to your will, and you are full of fear. Your clinging mind has brought you to this sad state….
“We have trouble finding our way back to the center of the spiral because we have enthroned the mind. As long as the mind is the ruler, you will spend your life stuck in a swamp just as you are now. You are full of addictions that will strangle you, just as the quicksand will if you let them dominate…. The joke is that these addictions prop you up in a false way, just like the mud with no bottom is propping you up. The very sands that are destroying you make you feel safe for a while. Then they begin to suck you under to interminable sleep…. Ponder the lesson of life. We come here to go back to where we came from. But our mind tells us that we need props to survive. We believe the king we have enthroned. We obey him and choose intoxicating props such as fear of success or fear of failure or fear of death. Or we don’t think we’re good enough….
“You didn’t feel you were good enough when you were at the top of the canyon,” Zoila said to me. “You had to be pushed beyond your king’s limits to see that your self-concept was an illusion. That’s the addiction you had, and it kept you from walking down toward your own mystery, your enlightenment. If one addiction doesn’t work, you find a new one. You were afraid to jump over the abyss, but you finally did it. You overcame your self-imposed limits. When the spirits of la caldera offered you a treasure, you could not avail yourself of it because you didn’t feel worthy of such riches. And then you slipped and hurt your back because you’re afraid to take your power. You backed away from power, your own power. It sounds simple. You lost your faith in your own capacity….
“And then you punish yourself even more. That’s King Brain talking, incessantly talking. You’re too hard on yourself. That’s a big addiction for many women. King Brain likes to rack you, doesn’t he? Your fear of desertion is one of his big whips. Your need for approval. All these addictions leak your power right out of you and make you slumber.
“You are lucky you have experienced these ordeals, these lessons, for new wisdom is afoot. Be proud of yourself and what you’ve accomplished. Cease your struggling now. You have ambushed yourself. Sometimes a guide is helpful.
“There’s a trick to walking on this quicksand. But it is nothing that can be put into words. It can be realized only in the heart and in the total being.”
I hope that together we will have a long and prosperous walk on this beautiful path of heart.
In Love and Spirit,
Lynn Andrews
POWER DECK CARD FOR THIS MONTH
6 – Flow – South
The flower of your being begins to bloom when you move with the flow of life. This is a process of letting go, of moving your consciousness out of your mind and into your body-mind, which is an inch or two below your navel. Feel your receptivity as you become still. Watch the river flow as if you were a mountain high above. Be serene, at ease, and totally within your power. Then let the waterfall of life work for you, as you become like a twig carried on the surface of the rushing water. Become one with the river, dissolving the sense of mind and living totally in your instinctual nature. Let go, and relax into the eternal flow.
Definition of the card
The painting is entitled Flower and Song. Follow the river flow. As in life, it is easy to float downstream with the driftwood but very strenuous to paddle upstream against the current. Because this is a south card, it teaches you about your physical self, about letting go physically as well as mentally. To go into the flow of energy in the universe, move into the instinctual side of your nature. The universe of stars and planets at the bottom of the waterfall indicates the universe of your inner self, of the highest part of your inner being. It is through this life on earth, represented by the mountain and the waterfall, that you can move into the eternity of enlightenment and sacred flow.
Continue to Lynn Andrew's Prayer
|
|
|
|
|
|
Lynn Andrews,
Shaman, Author & Lecturer
|
 |
Internationally acclaimed author, preeminent teacher and 21st century shaman, Lynn Andrews has written 18 books and created The Power Deck, audio meditations, and videos.
Lynn Andrews offers a variety of opportunities to work with her at her annual events and through online courses She also offers a degree program and a 4-year mystery school. CE credit is available for nurses and therapists. Lynn is available for private phone sessions.
For information about Lynn Andrews' Mystery School, events including Joshua Tree and Hawaii, Online Courses, or to schedule a phone call with Lynn please call 1-800-554-7414 (US), or 1-213-683-3804 (international), or visit Lynn's website at www.lynnandrews.com/.
www.lynnandrews.com
|
 |
You'll find it in
The
Directory! |
|
|
|
|
