Good and Wild

Good and Wild
A Letter from Hinhan about Dualism, Freedom, and Wholeness

"In wildness is the preservation of the World. Every tree sends its fibers forth in search of the Wild. The cities import it at any price. Men plough and sail for it. From the forest and wilderness come the tonics and barks which brace mankind. Our ancestors were savages. The story of Romulus and Remus being suckled by a she-wolf is not a meaningless fable. The founders of every state which has risen to eminence have drawn their nourishment and vigor from a similar wild source."

-Henry David Thoreau, Walking

* * *
The Dualistic Conflict

All my life, I've been battered by the dominant paradigmatic metaphysical perceptions of my society. I say "battered" because in a world divided harshly between extremes of "good and evil" or "right and wrong", the sheer speed and motion of the simple binary mental machine, the back-and-forth dualism, can do nothing other than bruise and smash the skulls and brains of those who are sensitive enough to grasp moral subtlety.

I've said this for years- a world divided between "good and evil" will necessarily generate evil alongside its good- and in my experience of it, it seems to generate more evils than goods. The binary moral system is self-perpetuating, and, in the end, self-defeating, because it creates conflict only to continue conflict. The "good guys" of my society are only good insofar as they have fresh evils to face and defeat, or at least to sermonize against. Would a policeman ever want all crime to be done and gone? Of course not; the venerable Lao-Tzu was right to quip "a bad man is a good man's job."

In a strange sense, the whole root of the problem with neverending philosophical/dualistic conflict is found in the same tainted perception that gives rise to capitalism- the notion that people should be taught to prefer competition to cooperation. We are taught that good and evil have to compete, and taught to look forward to the day that good "wins"- just as we are taught that businesses have to compete, and taught to look forward to the day that the business you've invested in wins and absorbs the competition or drives them out of the market.

But what happens when a business finally out-competes all the others? A monopoly is created- the one thing that capitalism cannot allow, and cannot abide by. This paradox lives at the heart of the capitalist system, and a metaphysical equivalent exists at the heart of the "good versus evil" spiritual paradigm. A Buddhist prayer to wisdom states "If you abide in dualism, you live in the right and wrong country." What humor!

Defining Organic Evil

When people such as myself begin to rack on "moral dualism" or religions that teach absolute value-differences between what they call (and define as) "good" and "evil", there is a typical reaction from the "other side"- they love to toss pictures of raped women or dead, murdered children in your face and say "so you think this isn't evil?"

In no manner do I believe that naked, inexcusable violence against other beings to whom we are bound in a social contract of restraint, cooperation, and benevolence is "good"; I might even say it is "evil", so long as you allow me to define "evil" as "a situation, occurrence, condition, or rationale which threatens and/or destroys the healthy continuity of the mind or body of a person or persons, or the good, healthy continuity of a family or community."

If you give me that definition, I'm on board for the use of the word "evil". If you want "evil" to include talk about biblical devils, demons, or some failure to abide by the Christian God's rules that were supposedly given to the ancient Hebrews, or some other "godly law" that was passed down to some people somewhere, then I'm not on board. I'm not on board even if those laws seem pretty decent. They are still culturally encapsulated, and carry with them the prejudices and limitations of that particular culture, and cannot suffice to speak meaningfully to all of mankind.

I once tried to belong wholly to a culture, and later, other "cultures". I realized my folly when the sacred powers to whom I am kin made me realize that the world was different now- cultures and nations had made their transition into rivers of power, no longer mountain peaks and stones and pools. The powers of mankind, vital, living, flowing, had always been interacting in the past, changing one another, learning from one another, fighting, loving, and exploring with one another- but they had more distance then, both physical and mental distances.

Now, that was over. We are citizens of a planet now. The forms of ancient cultures that stand behind us are not useless; they contain beauty, wisdom, and usefulness, in most cases- and they certainly help us to understand our ancestors better, and this is important, because the ancestral powers also still exist. They can help us if we understand who they were and who they still are.

But "culture" is no longer a battle-standard, despite the fear that drives others to think so. Cultures have become shared songs of power, songs of memory, and songs of inspiration to help us as we go about in our new world. Our loyalty to them must necessarily take new forms. So many of our ideas of "good" and "evil" in the past were absolutely culturally defined- but what do we do when we encounter the massive variations of culture, and all their differing ideas of evil and good?

My answer is: "return to a simpler, more organic way of seeing." In the past, the most basic organic and spiritual realities, is found the future- when past and future meet, a circle is formed, and this world, this nature, this sublime spiritual field, is a circle, including all.

I seek an organic definition of evil, one that includes natural process for humans and communities, and the land itself. We need reason and wisdom to see precisely what each individual, family, or community requires with respect to "health" or "goodness"- we must have reason to see that there is no possibility of health or goodness without access to the basic necessities of life; but we have to have wisdom to see that there is no health or goodness without leaving people and communities their own private, sovereign space, a space in which to explore themselves without undue interference from others, or undue pressure to assimilate into a larger "meta-society" that may be far out of step with the natural rhythms established by nature herself in the lives of those individuals, families, or communities.

We have to be willing to "give room", to give respect, and not just give "necessities". Of course, in my way of thinking, room- or private, sovereign space of mind- and respect are necessities. Without them, we cease to live, and begin to just survive. These precious things should only be interfered with when there is a clear and present danger to the health of others, once again pursuant to the typical idea of a social contract.

We can have a social contract that includes many societies. But it will take respect- it will take a final admission on the parts of many that other people, different people, are not (as Wade Davis said) "failed attempts at being them"- that other people with all their differences are unique manifestations of the human spirit, deserving of the same care in preservation that we'd accord to an endangered animal species or a rare piece of artwork.

Good and Wild

What I have been talking about- our ability to recognize the uniqueness in other people, individuals, families, and cultures- and to restrain ourselves in a social contract which allows us to become self-sacrificing and sharing to aid in supporting a common welfare- this is my definition of "good". This is something that the true "wild" beast cannot and will not do- they do not see the "others" of the forest (beyond their mates or offspring, and even then, only conditionally) as beings that they must sacrifice to care for. They may look upon their own kind and see, in whatever instinctive social arrangement nature guides them to band into, some hope for survival, but this is not the same as human benevolence. It is a deeper, wilder law.

This is not to say that the wild is flawed somehow. It is marvelous and sacred, every bit as marvelous and sacred as the human style of socializing. What we humans must do is a monumental feat of spirit- to restrain the wild and embrace the good. By saying this, introducing this new dichotomy, I am not trying to start a new dualism. Wild is not in opposition to good. Wild is wild, and wild is good in its own way, serving its own valuable, sacred function for those beings who are immersed in it without choice, and (human) good is good in its own way, serving a valuable, sacred function for those beings whose destiny was to enter into it. Those beings are us.

And there is no need for competition between the "wild" and the "good". In fact, as ancient human societies all knew, their own good and the well-being of the wild, were tied together. They went hand-in-hand. Those societies- like ours- that have allowed "wild" to become associated with "evil" and "civilization" to become associated with "good"- have strayed into a deadly, fast-moving propeller of dualistic confusion. They have become blinded to the goodness in wildness, and the need to have a acceptance of, and even a measure of, the wildness in goodness.

"Good and evil" has now given way in my thinking to "good and wild". There is the good of social grace, whether it be the brutal social instinctiveness of the pride of lions, or the contrived social restraint and self-sacrifice of human beings for other beings, and there is the wild which is its own sacred, higher law- a law of non-restraint, of vital energy flowing defiant, of instinctive celebration of life, of no boundaries. In the wild, no being apologizes for being powerful, magnificent, faster than others, or vicious, and no Godly judge stands over them to punish them for pride. All wild power flows as far as it can, before it is checked by another, and the sun sets and rises as it always has.

In the human world, the wild must be restrained, true. But it cannot, like some evil demon, be hated or lined up for "final defeat" one day. The good and the wild must be seen as cooperating sacred forces, dwelling in their own specific metaphysical locations, thriving as they must alongside one another, but never as mortal foes.

It is certainly true that the most brutal crimes seen within human groups have everything to do with the "breaking loose" of the wild in us. I have no doubts of it; but this alone does not vilify the wild, or take away its sacredness or appropriateness. It merely highlights the point that the sacred powers require their own sacred manner of acceptance and handling, or they will, (like fire that is mishandled) burn all those around them, and, in the case of our wars, will burn down the forest.

We cannot wall ourselves off emotionally from the wild, as though it were some bogey-evil. It is the vital source of our lives, the wellspring of our passions and our creativity, even. Its raw power must be channeled with wisdom into a context of human good. Like fire it is sacred but neutral- capable of great benevolence and great destruction. The wild and the good must be loved, both; this is wholeness.

The great naturalist Henry David Thoreau has the single most powerful and beautiful thing to say about the good and the wild. He wrote, in his great work "Walden":

"As I came home through the woods with my string of fish, trailing my pole, it being now quite dark, I caught a glimpse of a woodchuck stealing across my path, and felt a strange thrill of savage delight, and was strongly tempted to seize and devour him raw; not that I was hungry then, except for that wildness which he represented. Once or twice, however, while I lived at the pond, I found myself ranging the woods, like a half-starved hound, with a strange abandonment, seeking some kind of venison which I might devour, and no morsel could have been too savage for me. The wildest scenes had become unaccountably familiar. I found in myself, and still find, an instinct toward a higher, or as it is named, spiritual life, as do most men, and another toward a primitive rank and savage one, and I reverence them both. I love the wild not less than the good."

Thoreau was blessed to live in tranquility and so close to the wild- and he was visited by the powers of the wild- true spirits- who appeared to him in the forms of these impulses and ideas that arose in him. He communed with the powers of the wild, and learned so much. May we all do the same, and find our way.

When They Realize

"Peace... comes within the souls of men when they realize their relationship, their oneness, with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the Universe dwells Wakan-Tanka, and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us."

~ Black Elk

Pte-Oyate

An old story says that men and women were created to serve the sacred powers. "Therein lies your happiness..." go the words of the chief guiding power of the creation: Skan, the sky-father and creative power of the world-order. It was the spirit called Wisdom that he set to the task of bestowing upon the first humans intelligence, and teaching them language, and how to live wisely, to please the sacred powers.

The first men and women, it is said, lived in the regions under the world, and ate the white fruits of those places. The sacred powers that combined to become the mystery of their true origin were many; Nothing comes to be without the combination of many sacred powers. Nothing persists without the participation of many sacred powers, in the present; when powers diverge, they are still sacred and they move back into new combinations of mystery or the incomprehensible (wakan). The system of life is sacred, and it is all. It is what we have and what we are.

The true nature of all things is wakan or sacred, incomprehensible. Is there a more liberating idea, born in the truest of all organic traditions, that of the animistic well of life? We are free to enjoy the experiences of our senses and minds without burdening ourselves with endless argument, labeling, and fruitless categorizations and discussions. To embrace the incomprehensible is to become flowing and alive- not trying to capture anything with words, but being flexible and in touch.

If you can melt the ice that often comes to cover your heart, you will re-enter the stream of warm, living incomprehensible forces that flow, rage, create, vanish, arise, fall away, destroy, endure, and love. We are all part of a true dance of powers, and none can deny this who understand. Is there any need for anything else? What religion could add to this sacred way of being?

The following story is true: it is a prayer of honor for the Sky.

* * *
Great Skan, Father first and foremost,
You have placed Sun very high,
Made Sun the Great Above,
Placing him above the blue dome of yourself.
Sun governs the two times; you have made it so.
You are the source of power and spirit;
You keep this authority through all time.
You are with the superior wakan,
The four powers that are Great Wakan:
Rock, who was first;
Earth, ancestress of all things on the world,
Sun, light and warmth,
Sky, father and shaper.
Many wakan relatives exist
Alongside you and the sacred powers.
In the regions under the earth,
The sacred powers were gathered by you, Skan
To create a servant fit for the mysterious kin.
For yourself and for all the sacred powers
Were man and woman made, the Pte-oyate!
From Rock, you took the substance of bone,
From Earth, you took what was needed for flesh,
From the waters you took what was needed for red blood,
The power of Beauty,
Who carries all prayers to you and the sacred powers,
She brought the white fruits of the world below
And from them, you made the entrails of men and women.
Two figures you created from these things,
Sacred mother and father,
The mother of mothers was made in the image of Beauty,
The father of fathers in the image of the Cunning one.
To each you gave a spirit
That is like that of the Great powers, but lesser in force;
From within yourself you took a spirit
And made of it a gift, a spirit to guide all men
And women through life and to the afterlife.
To each of your good shapes you gave a living power.
Sun you commanded
To give the gift of warmth to the people you made:
Thanks to Sun, each of us is warm.
Wind you commanded
To breathe into each of them the breath of life,
Thanks to Wind, each of us has that ghost of breath.
Without understanding the first living people were,
Until you commanded Wisdom to bestow intelligence,
And teach to them language-
A gift we have never forgotten.
The Great Thunder-powers who give increase and growth,
They were there in the below:
You commanded them to give to man and woman the gift
That makes them healthy and growing,
And drives them to make offspring.
To Moon, you gave the task
Of planting in man and woman affection for each other,
And it was so-
Men and women still seek warm embraces.
To Beauty, you entrusted the task
Of placing a longing in men and women
To cherish and love their offspring.
That longing has grown in us ever since!
And it was so, from that time to this,
Before the first people and their offspring
Came to live in this world above.
Before they came
From the great below to this world,
This is how they were made,
And how all the wakan powers are still part of us.
No power dwells alone; all are kin.
To serve the sacred powers is to recognize them;
To wisely recognize what we receive,
To wisely recognize what we owe, and what we can give back.
All my relations.

* * *
The story given above is written by me, with information drawn from James R. Walker's "Literary Cycle", from Lakota Myth. It illustrates well in mythical language what the wise of the world, from every part of the world have always known- we are one with all things, made by all things, for all things, and one another.

Wolves no longer protected in northern Rockies

How many times will we have to be at this point? Before you go on to read this story, be prepared for an interesting phrase- seemingly passed off like everyone just knew it was happening- wolves were once killed en masse by "government sponsored poisoning."

Government sponsored poisoning? Has dishonor sunk to new lows? What we poison out there, we poison in here, because in this web of living force, "outside" and "inside" are not absolute distinctions. They are poisoning more than animals, more than wolves; they are poisoning our right to exist in this world.

It grieves me to think that president Obama has decided to go forward with this, upholding a policy instituted by former president Bush; being an independent, I don't get involved in democrat/republican politics that much, but I was happier to see Obama in office than McCain, personally. However, I didn't have any hopes one way or the other; Obama, like all presidents, will have to prove himself. His "start" appears to be good- he certainly has a lot on his plate, (perhaps too much to care about wolves) but like with so many things in life, the true spirit is in the details- the trees that we can miss when focusing on the forest. And he, along with all government officials, has a sacred duty to care and to do better than this.

A good leader isn't just a leader on a macro level; they must love every grain of soil and every beast or bird that flies through their land. I am fully convinced personally that such a man or woman could not fail to be a good leader, because if they can care about something as "insignificant" (from most people's perspective) as wolf populations or Spotted Owls, they would have to have a care for people. It has to do with caring for the whole- not just the parts we single out for special treatment.

There is no such thing as "just" animals; there is only the immense sacred mystery that appears as both people and animals, and which demands from human beings a moral way of living that stems from the deepest places. And that moral way, for me, is demonstrated in how we treat every part of every thing.


Wolves no longer protected in northern Rockies
By MATTHEW BROWN, Associated Press Writer
Mon May 4, 8:46 am ET

BILLINGS, Mont. – Wolves in parts of the northern Rockies and the Great Lakes region come off the endangered species list on Monday, opening them to public hunts in some states for the first time in decades.

Federal officials say the population of gray wolves in those areas has recovered and is large enough to survive on its own. The animals were listed as endangered in 1974, after they had been wiped out across the lower 48 states by hunting and government-sponsored poisoning.

"We've exceeded our recovery goals for nine consecutive years, and we fully expect those trends will continue," said Seth Willey, regional recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Denver.

With the delisting, state wildlife agencies will have full control over the animals. States such as Idaho and Montana plan to resume hunting the animals this fall, but no hunting has been proposed in the Great Lakes region.

Ranchers and livestock groups, particularly in the Rockies, have pushed to strip the endangered status in hopes that hunting will keep the population in check.

About 300 wolves in Wyoming will remain on the list because the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service rejected the state's plan for a "predator zone" where wolves could be shot on sight. Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal and a coalition of livestock and hunting groups have announced a lawsuit against the federal government over the decision.

Freudenthal, a Democrat, claimed "political expediency" was behind the rejection of his state's wolf plan.

Wolves were taken off the endangered list in the northern Rockies — including Wyoming — for about five months last year. After environmentalists sued, a federal judge in Montana restored the protections and cited Wyoming's predator zone as a main reason. In the Great Lakes, the animal was off the list beginning in 2007 until a judge in Washington last September ordered them protected again.

Environmental and animal rights groups have also said they planned to sue over the delisting, claiming that there are still not enough wolves to guarantee their survival. The groups point to Idaho's plan to kill up to 100 wolves believed to have killed elk.

"We understand that hunting is part of wildlife policy in the West," said Anne Carlson with the Western Wolf Coalition. "(But) wolves should be managed like native wildlife and not as pests to be exterminated."

The delisting review began under the administration of President George W. Bush and the proposal was upheld by President Barack Obama's administration after an internal review. In a recent letter to several members of Congress, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar wrote that he was "confident that science justifies the delisting of the gray wolf."

Willey said his agency projected there would be between 973 and 1302 wolves in the northern Rockies under state management, a number well above the 300 wolves set as the original benchmark for the animal's recovery.

More than 1,300 wolves roam the mountains of Montana and Idaho and an estimated 4,000 live in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

* * *

May the wolf-father protect his people.

Wanderer's last trail found after 75 years

"Adventure is for the adventurous.
My face is set.
I go to make my destiny.
May many another youth be by me inspired to leave the snug safety of his rut,
and follow fortune to other lands."
"God, how the wild calls to me.
There can be no other life for me but that of the lone wanderer.
It has an irresistible fascination.
The lone trail is the best for me."

-Everett Ruess


Wanderer's last trail found after 75 years
After Everett Ruess vanished in Utah's wilds in 1934, relatives tried to retrace his steps. But a few overheard words are what have now led to his bones.

By Kevin Vaughan
The Denver Post

* * *

Archaeologist Ron Maldonado examines the crevice in the Comb Ridge area of southeastern Utah that held Everett Ruess' bones, above. The bones were from a man 19 to 22 years old who was roughly 5-feet-8, matching Ruess' age and size. (National Geographic Adventure magazine )

As the man's eyes wandered across the red-rock country of southeastern Utah, he first saw a weather-beaten saddle jammed in a canyon wall crevice and then, behind it, bleached bones sticking out from the earth — the keys to unlocking one of the West's enduring mysteries.

That discovery, made more than a year ago, came full circle Thursday with the announcement that the bones belong to Everett Ruess, a poet and painter, writer and thinker who vanished near the Four Corners area in 1934.

For 75 years, the answer to his disappearance at age 20 had been the stuff of speculation.

It might never have been solved but for a Navajo medicine man's admonition, a grandfather's story of long-ago death, a curious writer and contemporary forensic-science work conducted at the University of Colorado.

Maybe, some posited, he had slipped while climbing a canyon or met his end at the fangs of a rattlesnake. Maybe he'd been murdered.

Ruess died, not long after he was last seen, in a remote wash miles from anywhere.

"The family is deeply, deeply appreciative of everything that came together to solve the mystery," his niece, Michele Ruess, said Thursday during a conference call announcing that work by CU anthropologists and DNA experts had identified the remains as those of the wandering intellectual.

Tale of Ute chase, clubbing

Born in Oakland, Ruess was just a boy when he began writing, and by the time he was 16 he was exploring the West, on a horse or a burro or on foot. He trekked through the Sequoia and Yosemite parks. He crisscrossed the canyon country of Colorado, Arizona, Utah and New Mexico.

He painted. He made woodcuts of the beautifully stark images of the landscapes he visited. And he wrote of his own restlessness and the land.

He scrawled "Nemo" on rocks, maybe because it was Latin for "no one," or maybe because it was the name of the main character in one of his favorite books, "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea."

He was Christopher McCandless three generations before the subject of Jon Krakauer's "Into the Wild" wandered off in Alaska.

On Nov. 11, 1934, Ruess wrote a letter to his older brother, Waldo.

"As to when I revisit civilization, it will not be soon," it said, in part.

The next day, Ruess set out from Escalante, Utah, with his two burros, heading off on the Hole-in-the-Rock Trail. A week later, a sheepherder talked to him close to where the Escalante River emptied into the Colorado.

He was never seen again.

Daisy Johnson was a young woman in 1971 when she walked in on a conversation between her grandparents.

"Grandmother was getting after him, saying, 'You should have never, ever messed with that body,' " Johnson said. " 'You should have left him down there.' "

Daisy asked her grandfather, Aneth Nez, what they were talking about, and he told her the story of sitting on desolate Comb Ridge, of sometimes seeing a young white man riding a burro in the canyon below him.

He told her about the day he saw three Ute Indians chase down that young man, club him and leave him for dead, and how he later sneaked into the wash, where he picked up the bloodied body and carried it up the canyon, then buried it in a crevice.

Now her grandfather was sick. A medicine man blamed his cancer on what he had done with that corpse, and said he needed to return to it and take a lock of hair that could be used in a ceremony to cure him.

Nez had Johnson drive him out to Comb Ridge, and then set out on foot into the desert while she waited. Two hours later, he returned with a lock of hair. He lived another 10 years.

Bones, family's DNA a match

Uncle Everett was always a part of Michele Ruess' life. Paintings and prints hung on the walls. Books bulged with his writings. On a rock slab, her grandmother painted one of her uncle's favorite sayings: "What time is it? Time to live."

And her father, Waldo, spent his life trying to uncover the mystery of his brother's death. He went to Utah in 1964 to see whether any human remains had been found during work to build a dam, creating Lake Powell. He wrote to magazines imploring people with information to come forward.

Waldo Ruess died in 2007, still wondering what happened. He was 98.

In the spring of 2008, Daisy Johnson told her grandfather's story at a family gathering. Her brother, Denny Bellson, had never heard it before.

Bellson searched the Internet for disappearances in the Four Corners area and found stories about Ruess. He got a map of the Comb Ridge area and had his sister show him where she had taken their grandfather.

On May 25, 2008, Bellson drove to Comb Ridge. He parked and descended into Chinle Wash. In a slot in the chalky red rock, he saw the remains of a saddle. Bellson moved closer. There, behind the saddle, were bones.

"I looked around and I knew it was him," Bellson said.

Bellson took a friend to the site. That friend knew the Ruess story, and he knew David Roberts, a contributing editor at National Geographic Adventure magazine. Roberts had researched the Ruess mystery extensively in 1999 for a story.

Roberts approached CU anthropology professor Dennis Van Gerven, asking whether he would examine a jawbone discovered on Navajo land.

"I was actually not interested, but David persisted," Van Gerven said.

Van Gerven and doctoral student Paul Sandberg carefully exhumed the remains and determined they were those of a man between 19 and 22 who was roughly 5-feet 8-inches tall. All of that matched up with Ruess.

They photographed facial bones and superimposed them over pictures of Ruess. They matched .

Next, they turned to Ken Krauter, a CU biology professor, who directed the process of extracting DNA from a leg bone unearthed from the grave. They compared that to DNA obtained from Waldo Ruess' four children, and it matched exactly as one would expect between an uncle and his nieces and nephews. Krauter called it "an irrefutable case."

The scientific work and Nez's story answer many questions about Ruess. But they don't complete the tale.

There is no proof of how — or when — Ruess died, or how he ended up 60 miles from the place he was last seen. And there is no way to know who might have killed him.

Still, the discovery of his remains brought a measure of peace to his surviving family members.

"Even though it's very sad to imagine the manner in which he died, we're happy to know how it happened and where he's been resting all these years," Michele Ruess said, "and that there was such a man as Aneth Nez who cared for a fellow human being."

Her uncle's remains will be cremated, she said, and scattered in the Pacific Ocean near Santa Barbara, Calif. It's the same place where the ashes of Waldo and other family members have been scattered through the years.

It's the place where Everett Ruess will be one with the earth forever.

Making the Shamanic Journey: Basic Instructions

What follows is a paper I wrote to help a colleague during her first attempts to utilize the Core Shamanic trance-journey.

Part I
Radically Short Introduction to Shamanism

Now, I'm going to attempt to type something that can't be worded with any sense of justice or completion. The task you will attempt to undertake- that of the classical "Underworld Journey" or "Lower-worldly Consciousness Regression/Alteration"- is something that goes back to the roots of humanity, and it would take months to really explain and analyze in satisfactory detail.

If you have not read "The Way of the Shaman" by Michael Harner, please do; it is the work (still in print) that presented the “Underworld Journey” to the west in a rather academic fashion, while still keeping an eye to the practical use of this ancient and foundational pattern of spiritual experience. It is easy to get through Amazon.com.

The entire edifice of tribal shamanism- from any culture, worldwide, and from any time- rests on the shamans, either male or female, being able to alter their state of consciousness at will. To alter their state from an "OSC" (Ordinary State of Consciousness) to a "SSC" (Shamanic State of Consciousness" gives them a new way of experiencing reality.

Like Harner, I use the term “Shaman”, even though my use is a modern one. Each primal grouping of people on this planet had their own culturally specific term for their “consciousness alteration specialists”, but the Siberian word “Shaman”- which, ironically, may itself have roots in an ancient Indo-European language- has become a commonly used word to refer to the general and primordial act of altering consciousness at will for the purposes of accessing extraordinary powers or knowledge, and on behalf of a client in need of guidance or healing, or on behalf of a group of people. Some Shamans act on their own for personal reasons.

Shamans can alter their state of consciousness at will, and become able to experience the world in a new way. In this new way, this "non-ordinary state of consciousness", their experience of reality can be framed in extraordinary ways. This is the classic "trance" state in which extra-sensory reality can be reached; the "strong eye" or the inner eye can be opened.

These spiritual specialists- these psychonauts, as it were- are specialists in accessing reaches of the mind that most people don't get to consciously experience very often. As I said before, they access these reaches of experience so that they can "bring back" or access divinatory information, information regarding how to heal people of various mental and physical illness, and for other reasons of power-acquisition.

The "Underworld" is a description of the "world" or "way of experiencing" that shamans universally access for the purposes of healing power and divination, though other "worlds" exist within the cosmologies of primal peoples, and can be accessed in the same methods that you and I will discuss.

When we say "underworld", we are talking about both a spiritual/cosmological "location", but also a descriptor of something that can be framed as a "deeper" state of consciousness, perhaps cognate to the subconscious mind, but you must realize that this sort of comparison and this sort of terminology is definitely a western way of rationalizing or framing the "Underworld" experience. I'm not saying that this is "wrong" per se, but from the fresh perspectives of primal peoples, the Underworld is its own place, and not just some "state of mind"- though I can say with certainty from my own philosophical research that "worlds" and "states of mind" aren't so different after all.

Of course, we are not dealing with any religious notion of "hell" in the pejorative or evil sense, though elements of mainstream Christian culture have always thought so and preached as much when they encountered shamans among native peoples accessing this deeper world. In reality, the Underworld is the interior of the Land itself, the sacred depths from which all things grow, and the source of life- and the source of wisdom and healing. The "deeper world" or the "world inside the world" is the "layer" of reality that underlies our common perceptions, and when we "go inward" and experience it, we see things closer to their roots.

Seeing things in this way puts us closer to the "time" in the spiritual "past" (as it is normally perceived) in which animals and other creatures (like trees, rocks, rivers, winds, etc) were not simply "beasts out there" or "lumps of stone" or "senseless trees", but instead were "non-human persons", capable of communicating with mankind and with each other. Such a strange idea is captured in most "shamanic" mythologies worldwide, and even hints of it arise in the book of Genesis, wherein Eve and a well-known serpent had no trouble conversing with one another, in that ancient setting of primordial creation.

The Underworld journey is a "return" in the mind, a transformation of the mind, into a condition in which extraordinary experiences are possible, and vast amounts of personal insight can be acquired. Healing- of the mental kind, as well as the physical kind, is possible. I cannot explain, of course, how it comes about- but I can say that I have experienced enormously powerful effects on both fronts, for myself and for others.

The shaman of any primal grouping, worldwide, does not act alone- spiritual powers help them in their consciousness-alteration work. The concept of "helping spirits" is universal, captured in terms like "nagual" or "totem" or "familiar" or spirit-helper. The extraordinary journey and effort to acquire such helpers, and then the career spent interacting with them, is the career of the shaman in nearly all societies. These helpers are companions and helpers to the shaman; the shaman must (normally) do services for them, repay them in some way, for their help. A relationship has to be maintained with these spiritual powers, and in so doing, the shaman maintains the powers that are their living link to the altered states of consciousness that they need to access.

For the main purpose or function of these helping spirits is to help facilitate transition into extraordinary states of consciousness on the part of the shaman. These helpers appear normally as animals of various kinds, but can appear as humans or humanoid beings.

There are many theories, some tied to the mythologies of primal peoples, explaining who and what these helping spirits are; sometimes (oftentimes) they are tied to the ancestral chain of relationship that the shaman descends from; since primal people believe that human beings and animals are all from the same family, it only makes sense that many helping spirits or ancestral spirits can appear in animal shape. We are all related, and each human bloodline (shamanically speaking) is more or less related to various animals that are alive out in the world right now.

Other times, they (helping spirits) are simply spirits that are attracted to humans who wish to deal with them in such a manner that some mutual benefit can occur. Sometimes, helping spirits can be the spirits of ancestors or family members, or deceased members of the tribe/clan/extended family group, some being who would have an understandable reason for wanting to help. Whatever the case, discovering, forging, and maintaining relationships with these beings is a crucial thing to the success of shamanic operations.

As you can see, the worldview that these shamanic operations arise from has within it an implied notion of an "afterlife" for all once-living beings. Of course, westerners categorize "life" as something that only happens between conception and physical death, but to many primal peoples, life is an ongoing and perpetual process, though it undergoes (in common with all powers) many changes and transformations, some of which manifest outwardly (like the growth of a child into adulthood) and some manifest inwardly (like the process of emotionally maturing or having spiritual experiences).

Death, in this model, is an outward expression of a deeper transformation of life into a new condition, and often enough, dead people and animals are believed to descend into the Underworld, where they join the spirits of other deceased people and beings. Our European ancestors believed many variations on the very same thing, as you no doubt already know- crossing the river below (such as the classical Styx or some sort of barrier) and entering the Underworld was a common pre-Christian model of transition after death. It was a common model all over the world, even in places in Native America.

Thus, the "Underworld journey" or the transition into a "deeper state" of consciousness can possibly facilitate contact with those who have gone before. Shamans worldwide are expected to be able to access the dead, to gain the wisdom and guidance of ancestors that lived long ago, and who (in common belief) are thought to have a lot of crucial wisdom for human beings who are currently alive.

No one alive truly knows what happens when we die, though it appears that consciousness continues, and whatever our "consciousness principle" might be, it continues to experience things in its own terms in whatever state it inhabits.

This entire issue is one of perception. No one really knows what "we" truly are, or what spirits truly are. Who knows why some things appear one way and others appear in others? I hate to venture too deep of a guess at the "purpose" of our perpetual spiritual existence, except to say that finding a way to live in lasting harmony with ourselves and the whole of which we are an inseparable part would appear to be life's true sacred purpose.

I can also say with some certainty that the collection of all individual powers that exist- whether human or otherwise- seem to form an organic whole that is divine in its own right, though it is a far cry from the standard notion of "God" found in most western religions. It is more of a "Mystery"- and thus it is called in most primal religions: Great Mystery, Sacred Mystery, or Great Power.

It is at once the ground from which all beings arise and which forever sustains them, and (somehow) the force that unfolds intelligibly through them and through all interactions, appearing to have some sort of will or intentionality. It is the cosmos of interactions that can be experienced in an extraordinary manner as more than just material and measurable process, but also as spirit. The universe as experienced by shamans is not a threatening or meaningless place, but a place of never ending life and goodness. Dangers certainly exist in this universe, but they too, have a sacred purpose.

All communications or interactions between you and me, or between me and my helping spirit, or between any and all beings is a sacred transaction of power. All events are "religious" in this sense; all events have a sacred aspect about them and learning to see them this way is the key to "living and perceiving in a sacred manner" that primal peoples all speak of and put so much value on.


Part II
Altering the Consciousness and Journeying into the Lower World
In the matters of which I am about to write, I can only speak for myself and from my perspective of what you are about to undertake: the Shamanic Journey. The shamanic journey is intensely personal and subjective, though categories like "subjective" and "objective" cease to apply outside of our western expectations and other epistemological limitations. My instructions here are based largely on the techniques taught by Michael Harner and his Foundation for Shamanic Studies, but they contain some of my own notes and modifications that I have discovered really help facilitate the transition from one state of consciousness to another.

Shamans worldwide have used sound as their chief “practical and technical” method of achieving altered states of consciousness. The sound of rhythmic drumming is a common means for altering the consciousness and allowing for access into hidden reaches of mind. I normally drum for myself or have an assistant do it; I also have several recorded tracks of various simple drum rhythms that I use from time to time. I will provide you with samples of them for your use, and I urge you to purchase your own at your first convenience.

When you deal with peoples who don't believe in an absolute division between "person" and "world", then accessing the deep places of the mind is the same, in a direct way, as accessing deep places in the world. This is why trance is more than just a personal experience; it is an experience of the whole world in a new manner.

The mind and this world cannot be separated; without the world, there would be no mind, and (when you think about it) vice versa. This idea of "mind" is very different from the western materialistic notion of it; this idea teaches that what we call "mind" is a more fundamental strand in the web of creation than we imagine. "Mind" in this sense also doesn't really refer to the individual personalities or memories of people, but to the capacity for experience that humans all share, and which, as the theory goes, is shared by all life and even all things that seem "inanimate" to our ordinary state of perception.

You desire to seek guidance and insight through extraordinary states of consciousness. This is great; this is the cornerstone of the entire human spiritual quest and spiritual experience. You have always had all you needed to gain this guidance; what I will tell you here (and what I have told you here) is only a quick "pointing at the moon"- you will very easily use these words to fall into a surprisingly familiar "way of being" that will give you more conscious access to aspects of yourself and this world that you will likely be quite amazed at.

What you must do first is discover an entrance into the Lower World. It may sound strange, but again, when you realize how connected we "humans" and "this world" are, you can begin to see how a hole in the earth, or a cave, or a well, or a dark passage under a tree-root system can simultaneously act as a "door" that gives access to deeper places of consciousness. Traditionally, these sorts of phenomenon (caves, holes in the ground, etc) were seen as entrances to the Underworld, and were held in high sacred regard in many ancient cultures worldwide.

So you'll need to find a place that fits the description I just gave: I personally have a tree in the forest near my house that has a very deep "natural entrance" under its roots, going down to darkness. A body of water will work too- so long as it is not man-made. All bodies of water are seen to give entrance to the world below.

It works best if you can physically visit the place, in this world, and stare at it, committing every detail of the place to memory. However, if you only have a picture, you can use that image too, as long as you know where in relation to your current location that place is, and can create inside yourself a "feel" for where it is. If you know of a nice natural lake or river, or a natural cave or fissure, or any impressive entrance into the ground (tree root holes are my favorite) then please go to it, make a trip of it, and memorize how that entrance looks.

If all you have are pictures, then memorize every detail from the picture, and get an idea of where that place is in comparison to where you are. You have to make it as "real a place" as you can in your head.

When you are ready for your first journey, and when you have your "entrance" well memorized, you will take yourself to a room where you will not be disturbed for 15-30 minutes, by anything at all. No phones, no knocks, nothing. Any disturbance during these operations can be quite devastating on many levels.

Lie down comfortably and put on your MP3 player headphones, with the track ready to go- I suggest you "practice" a few times with the 15 minute track, before moving up to the 30 minute track, which is a pretty long journey. The "virtual time" that you experience on these journeys can be remarkably different from the “actual time” that your track is limited to- just like in a dream, what is 30 minutes in so-called "actuality" can seem like hours in the deep state, or it can seem like only a minute or two. There is no predicting it.

Lie comfortably and cover your eyes with a dark cloth. Always cover your eyes, no matter when you work. Also, do not ever undertake one of these journeys if you are tired- for you will fall right to sleep. I find that I get the best results when I work a few hours after I've woken up, right in the middle of the day! But I have had amazing results at night, too, so long as I wasn't too tired when I "went down".

Once you are relaxed, comfortable, eyes covered, and your track starts, you will hear the drums. The first thing to do is focus on the drumbeat and let it just "wash over you and through you" and relax into it. The sound is deep, repetitive, and simple. Just "go with it"- let it rumble along through your head and being. Let it relax you; it seems odd that a beat as rapid as that one can relax you, but you will discover that it has a strange effect. Think of it like a stream- literally a stream of power- and let your mind and body sort of melt into the stream of power that you are experiencing as drumbeats. When you feel like you are sort of "moving" with it, then you go to the next step.

Visualize your "entrance". See your hole in the earth, body of water, root-tunnel under a tree, cave, or whatever you picked. Let yourself really "see" it with your inner eye. "See" it as though you were walking up to it- and if needs be, you can "shrink" yourself to be small enough to walk right into it (as in the case of most tree-root holes). Really let yourself "see" as much detail as you can, but focus most on the darkness of the entrance, and always, always, always KNOW that the darkness beyond- the darkness that hides so much- hides a deep shaft that leads straight down into the earth, and into a world below.

You have to see the darkness of the entrance as concealing a shaft that falls straight "down", a tunnel that may go a ways "in" before slanting downward and slicing deep down into the earth, to the strange and mysterious world below.

Then, go in. Walk a ways in, visualizing the dark tunnel however you think it would look, and then, when you feel the "tunnel" starting to slant downward, (they often slant steeply) plunge into it. Go down. Maybe you'll be falling down, maybe flying, maybe running, whatever it takes- the most important things for this stage are as follows:

1. Some people find it hard to visualize the descent; it is FAR MORE IMPORTANT TO FEEL the sensation of "sinking" or "going down" of "falling way down" than it is to SEE it. You have to really feel that you are sinking deep, deep down, going far below the earth. You have to feel like your body is "up above you" somewhere, and "you" are going down into a deep, dark place. A sense of “separation” from the “ordinary world far above” and “where you are at this moment, deep below” needs to arise in you.

2. Do not try too hard, in any part of this. Do not ever in your journeys try too hard. Too much effort to "visualize" and "move" will block the state of consciousness that you are trying to summon. Of course, you do have to try somewhat- there is a perfect "middle ground" you have to reach to make this work, which is somewhere between trying too hard and not trying enough. You will know this "sweet spot" of the mind when you hit it.


Some people have trouble with visualizations- you do not have to "see" everything clearly. You simply have to know what you are "doing" in your inner experience, and "feel" the falling, sinking, or descending feeling as you make the descent.

At some point, you'll find yourself in the transitional stage- going down, down, down in your tunnel, feeling the descent, and hearing the nonstop thunder of the rhythmic drums. At this point, simply let it all go on- keep going down, down, down. If your motion seems to be interrupted, then let the drum "carry" you- let the beats "force you forward and down" with every "thump thump thump"- the drum is truly the "horse" of the shaman.

Now, we reach the part where I can say little more. But I will try.

If your chosen entrance is indeed an Underworld portal- and not all are- then you will, at some indeterminate “time” after you start going "down", arrive at a tunnel exit. Your tunnel will literally end and you'll find yourself in another "world". It looks different to everyone. It may be some forest, or plains, desert or sea-shore, or city streets. It can be day or night. You never can tell. It may be easy to see, or very unclear and distorted.

At this point, you must realize that you are still under the influence of the drum beats. You still have some power to "co-create" this vision, so as you walk through the inner landscape, or float, or fly, or just move through it in some strange, indeterminate way, you may doubt yourself and think "I'm making this up". That's fine. Keep going, and keep seeing things, and as you go, just accept what you see. Don't try to avoid "making things up", and don't try to "make things up". Just go and accept what you see, wherever you might think it came from.

A point will come when you will run across something- or some place- or someone- that you will realize you most certainly didn’t "make up". This is when the trance deepens closer to a pure vision. It may seem to "get out of your control". That's fine; you want this to happen; you want the vision to become a strange sort of lucid dream, generating images and experiences itself- for those images and experiences are the upwelling of the deeper reality, of the mystery. You must keep your wits about you. Don't let yourself forget what you are doing; don't surrender to sleep or unconsciousness, and yet, don't try too hard to stay "awake", or get too energetic, because you'll wake yourself up. The "middle way" of effort is very, very important.

At this point, your body should be lying still and relaxed, and even though you might still have a sense for the room you are in, and still maybe feel the headphones in your ears, you can also be "experiencing" this otherworld landscape in trance. This is normal. Sometimes you'll lose touch with your body totally, like a great numbness has overtaken you. Other times, maybe not so much. There are many levels to these trances, and until you get really used to this weird "between state", you'll have lots of variety to the experience.

I can't say much more except that it is possible in your experiences that you will meet some animal (it can be any sort of animal) who will never act threatening to you. You may meet it after you emerge from the tunnel into the Lower world. It will help you greatly to make this contact and talk to this being or beings, to get their help and guidance. Ask them questions. Follow them through the interior/Lower-worldly landscape. The answers you get can come in words from these animals, or in things you see or are shown in the deeper landscape. You may see people; there is no telling, really. The best way to acquire true “helping spirits” is to need their help, and journey specifically with the intention of meeting those helping spirits that have a destined relationship with you.

There are two levels of vision- you may find yourself lucidly interacting as I describe above, or you may slip into a deeper, half-conscious state, in which you experience all manner of dream-like images, with less notion of "where you are" and much less notion of "control" for the experience. Either way, try your best to remember what you saw in the Lower World, when you return.

The recorded drum-tracks have a natural end-time and a "call back" drum. Your drum-beat (which you will discover does change you and sustain you in these innerworldly visions) will suddenly end- changing your mind-state suddenly, and then "call you back" with some swift strikes, before starting up again, though this time far more rapidly. The rapid "ending cadence" is meant to drive you "back up" the tunnel, and back into ordinary consciousness. Visualize yourself "running or flying" back up the tunnel and back to yourself. If you can, run or fly back to the tunnel entrance before shooting up it. Then the track will be over.

Remember that we live in a world of communication- even communication between the surface places and the deep places of ourselves, and between the world that is seen and the world that is unseen. The shamanic journey is an ancient thing, and part of the oldest religious tradition imaginable.

People like you have taken it, or found others to do it on their behalf, since the dawn of history, for the same purposes you want it for now- guidance for the direction and purpose of your life, and possibly insight into ways you can heal yourself of any of the things that may be tormenting you. The sacred powers in the unseen world seem to be willing to help us if we are willing to suspend what we think we know about things, and venture into strange states.

They seem to be willing to help, out of a sense of kinship, perhaps, or out of a sense of feeling pity for us confused beings trying to make sense of things. Maybe we'll help others one day, just as we are helped. Who can say? But don't ever think that your time and effort on these journeys is wasted. It may take several attempts, but you will discover that your skill at achieving this altered state grows with time. Success at this is worth any effort you put into it.

Good Journeys!

Fire in the Mountain

Love is the name given to our experience of the sacred connection between ourselves and all other things, places, times, and beings. Experience it just a little through the mind and body of another person- all their appearances, words, emotions and actions- and you'll feel great love for them. Experience it just a little through the rolling shapes of the land around you, and you'll feel great love for that place. Experience the entirety of your connection to all things, and you'll love everything.

If you can relax secure in the knowledge of your connection while you are alive, death will let you have it all. Death will strip away the blinders and let you have it all. If you can't relax in this truth during life, then death won't be near as grand. We all have to die. Go to your death as far more than you ever imagined you were. Let your death be the ultimate act of love and the experience of love. You can do that by letting your life be the ultimate act of love and the experience of love. Then, there won't be any "life" or "death" at all.

Love is the death of death.

The Soul Speaks

I've heard a lot of people talk at length about how westerners have "forgotten" how to listen to the voice of nature, and forgotten how to communicate with the unseen powers of this world in the natural, extraordinary way that human beings can. For a while, I was in agreement- a sad time, indeed, that we've forgotten such a natural and powerful thing.

Later I realized that we never "forgot" anything- most people today, east and west, have never known how to speak with the unseen world. After ages of living apart from our native animistic traditions and cultures, we found ourselves feeling very alone in the world. Then, we encountered other cultures that were still mystically awake enough to both hear the voices of the unseen, and speak back. Our reaction was understandable enough- we wanted to see and hear, as well. We wanted to speak. Not all of us did, but those who felt the pain of isolation strongly enough were desperate to do whatever they needed to do to get the voice and the sight back.

And we tried to get them, and failed. The reason why we failed is because we heard the words "hear" and "see" and "speak" and assumed that these words were directly describing the experience of soul-talk, of extraordinary communication. But they aren't; they are just the closest words available to try and express the inner reality of this experience. We weren't just isolated from the direct experience of the sacredness of things; we were imprisoned by the concreteness of our thinking with respect to words and concepts.

Life is nowhere concrete; the stone is all in our heads- life is water. Thinking is fluid, even if people try to fix it into stone. And experience itself- on any level- is foggy, permeable, fluid, and strange. We only really get a taste of that directly in our dreams, nowadays. You can fight with the rock-hard understandings that words create in us, and fail, or you can let the hardness go and fall back into a stream of experience that ties us inseparably to things.

This is where the soul can get its voice back, and open its eyes again. Even words like "song" or "chant" or "spell" or "speech" have an inner reality, a truthful nature that escapes the usual understandings attached to them.

We live in a world of sacred powers, and we are ourselves sacred powers. There are many ways to communicate in such a world, and human speech is just one way. I have always believed- and continue to believe- that the soul of each person, the non-ordinary aspect of each human being, is in constant communication with non-ordinary powers all around them, day and night. Even if we don't realize it is happening, we are having conversations, singing songs, and chanting constantly. We are both sending information and receiving it, in a great hoop of joy and rich experience. Sometimes those communications can become fearful or sharp- and we know it when it happens because we feel "spooked" or ill at ease, and usually, we can't explain why.

Every place, and all its powers, is singing away, day and night. And some part of us is listening. Some part is singing back. Trying to hear the song of a place is a good, wise thing, but learning to hear what you are saying back is harder, but perhaps wiser.

The soul speaks and sings to things. If you want to learn to "talk to spirits" or communicate in one of the many non-ordinary ways that you can, you must forget about your mouth and eyes, and let yourself become aware of what the deeper parts of yourself are saying. This isn't hard, and any thoughts of it as "hard", or beliefs that it will be "hard", will render it almost impossible. You let go, because water isn't hard. It's fluid. And what the soul is singing, and hearing, appears first to you as feelings.

Every morning I go out and greet the Sun with a song. I find it, look at it as much as I may, let its light fall all over me and through me, and, facing it in this way, I let myself hear what my soul is saying to it. I've never heard a "word", and yet, I've heard entire themes and conversations, entire songs of praise. The "Song to the Sun" every morning is a tradition found in more than one indigenous group- and it happens to be indigenous to this soul, as well. I think it's native to all souls, because the sun is one of the three greatest powers to bless mankind- so singing to it is easy.

This is the key- not given and yet given- to "speaking" to any spirit or power. You have to realize that there's no need to "begin" a conversation that has been in progress for quite a long time already. You just have to slide in and let yourself become a part of it. The soul speaks to everything already. Go outside tomorrow morning, and let yourself feel it.

We didn't forget how to speak to the sacred powers. We lost awareness of the fact that communication with the unseen world doesn't cease. We just became afraid to feel, and began questioning our feelings, explaining them away somehow. Stop the explanations. I've discovered how useless they really are, at least from the perspective of perfect happiness.

The soul- without a need for explanation- speaks to everything already, and always. Go outside tomorrow morning, and let yourself feel it. You'll find your voice easily enough under the face of the sun.

Ecstasy is the real "Old Time Religion"

Q: "What can Christianity learn from other religions?"
A: "That God is not a Christian."

-Archbishop Desmond Tutu


"Shamanic ecstasy is the real "Old Time Religion," of which modern churches are but pallid evocations. Shamanic, visionary ecstasy, the mysterium tremendum, the unio mystica, the eternally delightful experience of the universe as energy, is a sine qua non of religion, it is what religion is for! There is no need for faith, it is the ecstatic experience itself that gives one faith in the intrinsic unity and integrity of the universe, in ourselves as integral parts of the whole; that reveals to us the sublime majesty of our universe, and the fluctuant, scintillant, alchemical miracle that is quotidian consciousness. Any religion that requires faith and gives none, that defends against religious experiences, that promulgates the bizarre superstition that humankind is in some way separate, divorced from the rest of creation, that heals not the gaping wound between Body and Soul, but would tear them asunder... is no religion at all!"

-Jonathan Ott

By Your Life, I Will Serve

I had need.
I have dispossessed you of
beauty, grace and life
I have taken your spirit
from its worldly frame.
No more will you run in freedom
because of my need.

I had need.
You have in life served
your kind in goodness.
By your life, I will serve
my brothers and sisters.
Without you I hunger and grow weak,
Without you I am helpless, nothing.

I had need.
Give me your flesh for strength.
Give me your covering for protection.
Give me your bones for your labors.
And I shall not want.

-Ojibwe Prayer to a Slain Deer


* * *

"Shoot your four-legged brother in the hind area, slowing it down but not killing it. Then, take the four-legged’s head in your hands, and look into his eyes. The eyes are where all the suffering is. Look into your brother’s eyes and feel his pain. Then, take your knife and cut the four-legged under the chin, here, on his neck, so that he dies quickly. And as you do, ask your brother, the four-legged, for forgiveness for what you do. Offer also a prayer of thanks to your four-legged kin for offering his body to you just now, when you need food to eat and clothing to wear. And promise the four-legged that you will put yourself back into the earth when you die, to become the nourishment of the earth, and for the sister flowers, and for the brother deer. It is appropriate that you should offer this blessing for the four-legged and, in due time, reciprocate in turn with your body in this way, as the four-legged gives life to you for your survival."

-Instruction to Sioux Hunters on Hunting in a Sacred Manner

The Story of a Place: Religion Doesn't Travel

You cannot bring a "religion" to a new land. Each land is different and sacred, and has its own powers, its own stories. A set of customs and Gods from somewhere else simply cannot and will not thrive as it did back where it came from. Over time, it can become integrated with the powers of a new place, of this I have no doubt. But it will necessarily be changed if the integration is done properly. To fail at the integration is to invite disaster and loss of spiritual power. To succeed at the integration is to accept a new sacred story, complete with its own secret history and its own powers, into your way of seeing. This changes a lot about you, as well as your "religion", if you happen to carry one of those around.

Some things, to me, are not "native" to any place- they can travel anywhere because they belong everywhere. The belief in the spirit, the belief in sacred powers, the belief in the need for respect or inter-connection between all things; these ways of seeing are parts of a universal truth about our existence here in the middle-world. They are not the "religion" I am talking about. You can't carry The river-God of one people into a land of rivers that is thousands of miles away, which has its own river-Gods; to do so is at the very least rude, rude to your new hosts- and at most dangerous. I think that the river God of the distant country might still be able to "see" or "hear" you in some extraordinary way, especially if you make the effort to contact it, but the local river-Gods in whose presence you immediately dwell certainly are aware of you. Just as you wouldn't think to enter a person's home and ignore them as they try to speak to you, so you shouldn't ignore the beings of the sacred story that is embedded in whatever land you come to inhabit, should you move across the land and change your home.

Coming to live in a new place always entails learning new stories, new secrets, and learning to interact with new powers. I can go so far as to say that each place has its own "religion" naturally carved into it, in many ways seen and unseen. Keeping your old religion means integrating it with the voice of your new place, and that means that it may change. But life is water, not rock- change is no evil thing. Perhaps the religion you were born in has undergone many changes long before you knew it, or your ancestors knew it, and so who can say what "it" really is supposed to be. I think our respect for our ancestors is the only and best reason to keep a religion you know they cherished, but no one- our ancestors included- can make life into rock. We have to live as they did, and engage places and powers with flexibility and wisdom. Living respectfully demands no less.

When I come to a new place- at some point, I set about opening my mind to "learn the story" of that place. That story, learned piece by piece over time, learned through visions and dreams, must become the basis of my "religious" practice in that place. Religious practice is really just a formal way of showing respect to a story- whether the story of a place, the story of your ancestors, or what have you. There are many ways to show respect; some ways are shared by many people, formed into traditions over time, and others are personal, but no less important.

I bring my seven basic beliefs- described in my last post here (and in other places) everywhere I go. To them, I add some things I know my ancestors believed, but always- now more than ever- I set about learning the story of a place, to add to the mix. That is my way. When I leave this place, this place that I have lived in for years, and whose story is still being revealed to me slowly, I will find a new story. Discovering that is part of life's enjoyment. Life and religion is water, not stone.

Seven Sacred Things

I practice seership, and perform the rituals of an ancestral faith, but at heart, I'm really a seeker of stories and songs- and a person who seeks respectful, harmonious relationships with the many powers in this world. I seek for simpler things, too- but things no less important; the safety and happiness of my family, and my own peace of mind.

That might sound lackluster to some people, but I've come to find that a great and holy power dwells in such simplicity, almost as if this world itself orients us towards those sorts of ends, and sanctions a sacred path to them. When we're living right, living on the heart, we know it, we just know it, though many people have learned to doubt such thinking.

If life is a power-story, then here is what I bring to the story- the bare bones of a personal epistemology. I have seven basic beliefs: a belief in the natural goodness of humankind; a belief in a lasting spirit for each person and an unbroken communion with other powers who are also lasting spirits; a belief in the interconnectedness of things and the need for respect; a belief in the sacred powers, the three worlds and their ongoing contact between one another, a belief in the importance of dreams and visions, and in the purifying power of certain plants and other powers which are helpful to man.

I've been a part of many spiritual traditions, and what I always found, at the end of my days with them, is that life is water- not stone. Ideas and perspectives came and went, had their seasons with me, but eventually faded. But these seven beliefs of mine never left me; they became refined over time, and remain with me now, hovering about, healthy in their power but always ready to undergo a revision here or there. Still they are always with me, my seven primary beliefs.

I don't even "call" myself anything anymore; everyone loves those names and titles, but I'm just a guy looking for stories, looking to hear stories from the land itself. I sometimes do healing, and sometimes look for visions, and I sometimes get visits from my helping spirit, but that's it. I don't know what that makes me; just a guy who focuses on strange places and things, I guess. There's help there, power there, and it's what I have to do to be on my heart's road, and so off I trot.

I give details on each of my seven primary beliefs here, now- and I say pretty much all I have to say about them. The rest you'd have to be me to know, or experience as I do, and well, that can never happen. No one can live another's life. So here is more clarification, for myself (for I like to spell things out for "me" every now and then) and for you, if you're interested.


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1. I have a belief that humankind is not a foreign power to the world, not a temporary visitor, nor an exiled, accursed species, suffering from the spiritual transgressions of mythical ancestors, nor in need of some redemptive grace from spiritual powers. Humankind is a natural and normal part of this world, and of the cosmological schema of nature as a whole. It bears no innate flaws or unavoidable wickedness.


2. I have a belief that humanity, like the other animals who share our common world, are not beings that vanish utterly into oblivion at death; the idea of "non-being" is refuted due to the impossibility of "being" arising from "non-being". "Being", whether in the general sense, or in the "embodied" sense of a human or animal life, is seen as perpetual, and continues on through many times, phases, and worlds, as marked by transitions like birth or death.

Each person, like every other part of nature, has a "non-ordinary" aspect, a "non-ordinary body" which is similar to the idea of "soul" in mainstream religions, but different in other ways- my concept of "personal identity" is more fluid ("life is water, not rock") and I believe that this "non-ordinary aspect" of a human being is at the core of what we call the "mind".

Neither mind nor personality has a "fixed" state which never changes, though I believe that the wholeness of things- the wholeness of sacred reality- is at heart unchanging, despite the paradoxical appearance of change. For me, this "sacred stillness" is also part of the mystery of silence, encountered by indigenous spiritual workers in many cultures, and used by them as a route to spiritual insight. This "sacred silence" ties into both the experience of isolation and quests through night or darkness.

Just as a person is conditioned by many occasions and experiences in life to "be" one way or another, to develop personality in one way or another, or believe one way or another, this process of personality is always changing and in motion, and even in death, there is no firm or fixed "identity" for the fluid power that resides with each human person. I also believe that human beings communicate with and interact constantly with sacred powers- seen and unseen- via the "non-ordinary" aspect of themselves. I believe that the results of these ongoing communions- most of which are normally unconscious- arise in terms of intuition and dreams.


3. I have a belief in the necessary interconnectedness of all beings- human or otherwise- and of all ecological systems, and powers, whether seen or unseen, all acting together as a sacred and natural whole. We rely on so many others, and so many others rely on us; the implications of this belief necessitates for us human beings a sense of respect, first and foremost, as the central guideline for our interaction with any other part or parts of the whole. I believe that those who disrespect others enough to needlessly hurt or kill, or disrespect the world enough to damage it cannot rest in death. Living in harmony is living respectfully, and harmony follows a person in death.

If life were to have a "purpose", it would be (to my way of thinking) to find a state of lasting harmony, through a lifelong negotiation of power between those things we experience as "self", "other", and "world". One quick road to the proper state of mind needed to successfully make that life-long negotiation is to overcome our idea that we are ultimately "divided" away from those "other things", accept our full sacred participation in the unity of things- and accept it without reservation of any kind. You don't get to be even a bit "separate" from this world and this universe. It's home; its our natural environment, our source, our origin, and our eternal stage of activity. It always was and always will be.


4. I have a belief in "sacred powers"- some of whom are experienced directly as natural phenomenon or creatures, or as the non-ordinary aspect of those same phenomenon or creatures, and some which are experienced only in terms of non-ordinary reality, but who are just as real as those who are more immediate to human perceptions.

These powers are, like humankind, natural and necessary to the world; all of these powers are non-human persons, with will, volition, memory, and reason; some are benevolent to human beings and other creatures; some are not. Some played a large role in the shaping of the world as we see it or in the early development of humanity and other beings in our world; some did not. All are worthy of respect and have a lot of wisdom to share. The dangerous powers should be avoided, but not hated.

All sacred powers can be approached, or conceived of as a "collective" of great spiritual presence/totality, further conceptualized as a "Great Power", though without the usual limited associations given to such an idea by monotheistic religions in the west.


5. I have a belief in a "three layered" cosmological schema- that this "middle world" is below an "upper world" which is populated by spiritual powers, and above an "underworld" which is also populated by spiritual powers, as well as the spirits of departed human beings and animals.

There is a webwork of power-transactions between all three "layers" of this basic cosmological schema, including places and events that can be conceptualized as "connecting points" between the worlds- tunnels, holes, and caves in the earth giving access to the Underworld, or rainbows and the rising smoke of fires giving access to the Upper World. The "power transactions" between the three worlds also include communications like prayer. Power-transactions also occur within each world (of course), making a horizontal and vertical web-work of communication, which is ongoing.


6. I have a belief that human beings can have visionary experiences of a sacred character- including experiences of the other worlds above or below this one- under the influence of certain things like repetitive drum beats, rattle shaking, certain vision-inducing natural substances, or extremes of pain, hunger, or exposure.

The idea of a "mere hallucination" is not valid to my worldview; all non-ordinary states of consciousness or subjective experiences falling outside of the range of what is called "normal" are still experiences of some aspect of this sacred reality and can be taken within a sacred context of understanding. Dreams are likewise important as conduits of non-ordinary experience.

Guidance can be sought for a people or a group of people through such experiences. It can come from the synchronicities of natural phenomenon (whether experienced normally, when walking and "seeing" in a sacred manner or in a non-ordinary way, in dreams or visions) or from interactions with sacred powers or spiritual beings who act as tutelary powers, protectors, guides, or helpers to human beings.


7. I have a belief that fire, sunlight, and water are three sacred powers that are also sacred gifts to human beings, and that they can do more than just slake thirst, cook food, or drive away cold- they can also purify a person if they are approached with the proper respect. The sacred powers of sage, sweetgrass, cedar, and other aromatic plants and woods can purify a place when burned, keeping away dangerous powers. Living respectfully is the best way to keep dangerous powers away. Acceptance of wholeness, perpetual life, and all-around sacredness is the greatest healing power there is.

The Half People

When we ignore the gifts of our humanity
They become a great burden.
Imagine it, but don't try too hard,
Because you live it everyday:
A world of people afraid
To listen to their own voices
And to go where their hearts push them.

I've made a lot of decisions
In my time:
But when I decided with my head,
And not with my heart,
I've always ended up a half-person
Half-alive, half-guided,
With half of the joy that power promises.

Half-people are half-protected;
Some powers circle us in the world
Like sharks, waiting for bloody injuries.
A half-person is half-injured,
Half-bloody, half-awake
And pursued day and night
By their failure to themselves.

Wholeness is easy,
And wholeness is very hard,
Because it offers itself constantly
But expects us to offer back.
To offer oneself takes courage
And courage is born in faith
Faith in what?

That we are not alone;
That our lives are sacred;
And that the world will show us the way.

The Still-in-Danger Gray Wolf

Published: January 28, 2008
This editorial was found here from the New York Times.

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One of the great wildlife management stories of our time is the reintroduction of the gray wolf to the Rocky Mountains. From a few dozen animals released in Yellowstone in 1995, the wolf population has grown to about 1,500 in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. This remarkable comeback means that later this year the gray wolf will be removed from the list of endangered species, at which point its fate will be entrusted to federally approved state management plans that conservationists warn are unacceptably weak.

Yet the wolves could find themselves in trouble even before they are removed from the endangered list. At the same time it was negotiating the state management plans, the Bush administration was quietly revising an important rule in the Endangered Species Act. The purpose of the rule is to give states flexibility in managing reintroduced species. As revised by the administration, it would require only that each state protect 20 breeding pairs and 200 total wolves. That could allow as many as 900 recently protected wolves to be slaughtered.

The revised rule is aimed not at protecting cattle or sheep but at protecting elk and deer for hunters. In our view, hunters would be wise to oppose this. The question for them is whether they want to hunt in what passes for nature, complete with a predator like the wolf, or in what passes for a game farm.

Since the gray wolf was reintroduced, studies have shown its importance to the balance of nature. What matters isn’t just the presence of wolves in the landscape, though that is profound in itself, as anyone who has seen a wolf pack crossing Yellowstone can attest. What matters is the effect they have on their ecosystem: suppressing coyotes, changing the behavior of elk and benefiting grizzly bears, which routinely take over the kills wolves make. The wolf has had to wait eons for humans to become wise enough to coexist with it. That can’t happen until this cynical loophole in the Endangered Species Act is closed.

Wolf Kills To Begin Again

A Yahoo! news story today has spelled out some distressing news about the Gray Wolf.

Gray wolf hunts planned after de-listing

In a remarkable and oft-repeated example of how much the United States Government doesn't care about the sacredness of life, and how much people do care about money, Gray Wolves- once on the endangered and protected list, are now off, and an army of morons is preparing to hunt them back onto the list.

In the Yahoo! story I linked to, there is a pretty telling quote. It reads:

Wildlife biologists estimate there are now 41 breeding pairs in Idaho, in 72 packs. If that number falls below 10 breeding pairs, or 15 during a three-year period, the wolves could be brought back under federal protection.

It's outrageous to me that 15 breeding pairs in Idaho is considered "endangered" for the Gray Wolf, but 41 isn't. One would imagine that they'd be taken off the protected list only after they had expanded in population a bit more. But before these (and many other) perplexing questions are asked, we might as well level the playing field and just say what's really going on: these proud and powerful creatures, whose spirit has been part of the continent of North America since time immemorial, are a danger to the contrived and overblown hunting industry. The myth is that they depopulate elk and deer populations, thus preventing bored idiots from hunting them for sport, and from bringing revenue to the states.

How terrible that doctors and lawyers from the city might have their hunting vacations trod upon by other creatures that actually need to hunt to live, and who never kill for sport! Imagine it!

It goes deeper- how people are choosing to deal with this "problem" is reflective of the distance people have grown from the simple animistic duty we all have to respect life, and to respect the well-being of the animal nations that live alongside us. Farmers claim (as they have always claimed) that wolves destroy and harass their farm animals, and indeed, the government has given farmers a free pass to shoot as many wolves as they can claim are "stalking" their livestock.

So money and guns once again take the center stage of human thinking on these matters of spiritual importance. Why not just get dogs? Since very early times, humans have used herd dogs and sheep dogs and just dogs in general to protect their livestock from wolves. It worked then, it would work now. Instead of going straight to bullets, why not re-engage the rules of nature, and have these canine creatures place each other in check, as they will? Why not consider better ways to contain and protect livestock?

These people are really wrapped up in the myth that they "own" land and that they have the moral ground to decide life and death for other creatures that have been living on this land far longer than they. We may have papers saying that we have the legal right to stay in a place, but we don't "own" land in any sense beyond the shallow perceptions of our ownership-obsessed society. And we certainly don't have the right to hunt creatures onto endangered lists, when the real issue is our lack of flexibility and creativity for learning to co-exist with them.

Farmers were the original cause of the wolf exterminations of the last three centuries- to "protect livestock", wolf populations were excoriated as "pests" and "intruders" and hunted to near nothingness.

The Master Spirit of Wolves will not be an advocate for humanity on the day that our species is represented before the powers of life. If humans can't think more systemically and ecologically about how they approach this matter (and don't get me started on the other animal nations that have suffered at our lack of wisdom) then perhaps we don't deserve the friendship or advocacy of the spiritual powers that we refuse to live in harmony with.

If you want to find out more about this travesty, and find out what you can do to help, EarthJustice has an excellent informative article about it, and lots of contact numbers for environmental protection groups that are fighting for the wolves. You can see it all here:

EarthJustice Press Release

And long live the fighters!