Rattling the Bones

Recently, MICH asked about Guides. Are they from other planets? Are they past souls, ancestors? And why do they pick us to work with? In my early 20’s I spent some time with a group of psychics and mediums, which spent a few evenings a month ghost busting. Some of the members were also scientists who were studying in parapsychology. I attracted their attention because of my dreamtime charts. They were impressed and curious about my dreaming skills. For a couple of years we shared our unique skills with one another, and also had the opportunity to work together on a number of projects. It gave me the chance to learn about parallel realities; past lives; clairvoyance; mediums and so much more… One of the ladies was a medium. She spoke to a collective of Spirits who she called her Guides. She was also a teacher at a local alternative school. Her guides often gave advice; which I found helpful and usually synchronic with what I was living. I found this woman fascinating. She would...

There are sixteen roles and sixteen mysteries on the Sacred Circle. There are eight roles which we use every day to face fears, meet challenges, pass initiations, inter-react with others. Those roles are: Fire keeper, visionary, peace keeper, warrior, nomad, dreamer, initiator and healer. We often refer to the outer roles as winds. What we call the inner roles imply long term commitment. They are vocations which often start with a call. These roles are: Ceremonialist, deboner, keeper of prophecies, keeper of the wampums, keeper of sacred sites, keeper of new borns, keeper of the dead, and keeper of the wheel. For some outer roles become vocational roles which imply a process, a journey, and a life long devotion. No matter how you look at it everyone who seeks out their unique roles will live through profound and phenomenal experiences that will literally change and shape their lives. Recently Tom asked if I could write a blog on the topic of ceremonies and share some of my ex...

My parents often said that “they were on their own once they hit puberty.” I suppose this was the norm in the 1940’s and 1950’s. My grand-father was actually in an orphanage for most of his childhood even though he still had a living parent and several siblings. If we look at humanity as a whole, the topic of parenting isn’t a skill that was ever mastered. Children equated to a growing human population. The idea was to have soldiers for the King; carpenters and bakers for the community; or workers on the farm. Women were always seen as baby makers and even after the Church got into indoctrinating families, women were respected only if they were married and mothers. Young people didn’t choose to be parents. They simply met the expectation. While most knew how to take care of babies because they practically reared their brothers and sisters, they didn’t have any knowledge of adolescence because adulthood was a burden to those as young as twelve years old. I guess we could say that...

Imagine the Medicine Wheel as a wigwam (tepee). The anchors hold the wigwam fasten to the ground. In the east there’s the door. The clans are at the center where the fire should be. The moons are orbiting at the top where there’s usually an opening to let out smoke. The poles which give the three dimensional aspect to the wigwam are the mysteries. The elements identify everything that moves or remains within the dwelling: People, stories, blankets etc… The winds refer to life’s challenges: Natural storms, death, accidents, war etc… Lots of people come knocking at my door to learn about the Medicine Wheel. Most will say that the reason why they are approaching this indigenous philosophy is because they are looking for healing and self-discovery. From a Western point of view or from a New Age point of view this actually makes sense; but from a Sacred Circle perspective it hides a few inconsistencies. The whole idea behind the Medicine Wheel is that we are born and we live ...

Ten years ago we traveled from Montreal to the Maritimes pretty much every month. We had regular workshops in several cities of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. It often meant driving ten to fourteen hours in all kinds of weather. We literally had the pleasure of journeying through the Maritimes during every single season. One thing that we noticed is that we could basically divide the territory across Quebec and the Maritime Provinces just by impression. Everyone who traveled with us agreed that certain regions were heavier to handle than others. There was even some landscape that we called “vicious, angry and vengeful”. When we mentioned our experience to Maliseet, MicMac and Passamaquoddy elders they often confirmed us with stories which were handed down to them by great-grand-parents. What was fascinating is that the lines we identified across the land were often identical to the lines that were drawn by our First Nation ancestors. After a few years of...