Rattling the Bones

     By MaryRose Lessoway I n the late 1990’s, I lived in the interior of British Columbia where the land is saturated with crystals. You could walk beside a creek and find clear quartz crystals under your feet. Or crawl into a cave and see the walls sparkle with crystals of various sizes embedded in them. The land was powerful and had an effect on everyone who lived there. People consciously or unconsciously wanted to connect to the crystal energy. Many of the younger crowd who lived creatively and spiritually there collected in groups and land based communities. I joined in on a few of them. The Mayan Calendar was popular there at the time and some of us studied it and learned to follow time according to the 13 Moons and a 250 day year. To explain how the Mayan calendar worked would take an entire book, it is very complicated. The Mayans used a system that went beyond Earth time or the rotation of Earth around the Sun. They stretched their consciousness al...

How about a blog on Darkness and Shadow? What it is?   Where it comes from, and how to work through/ with it?   Do we want to get rid of it, bring to balance, work with it etc…? Jihad **** People these days understand darkness as a “spiritual evil.”   I’ve been teaching the Medicine Wheel and Indigenous Dreaming for over 20 years.   In the 1990’s I often came across individuals who would strongly suggest to people to ward off darkness.   Crystals, prayers, songs and even dances were performed for protection.   If you didn’t give in to this idea of smudging your space against darkness you were often judged as foolish. I was brought up Catholic.   Darkness in Christian circles is often described as sin or wrong doing.   Behaviors, attitudes, feelings and thoughts can be defined as dark and even evil.   We were told by the nuns and priests to be patient, generous, kind, loving, compassionate and humble.   I found that m...

Christmas is in 12 days.   When I was a child I loved the idea of the Advent calendar.   I was brought up Catholic and was educated by nuns at the convent.   In Latin the word “advent” means “coming”.     It explicitly speaks of anticipation and merriment two incredibly important characteristics in the experience of celebration.   For example, through time “we” told the story of Saint Nick and his reindeer to build up a sense of mystery and expectancy in children.   The same way children of the antiquity expected the coming of Christ.   The notion of having to prove ourselves good to a Father figure who only wants to be generous and make us happy,   invited children to prepare for his coming.    Where the hope and keenness during Advent was more spiritual in the past, it became more secular and focused on consumerism in modern days.   One way or another the month of December is devoted to the study and journey of magic ...

Montreal is buzzing with people (tourists, local residents and students) especially three weeks before Christmas and at rush hour.   While in the big city today I couldn’t help but notice how countless people were fiddling with their phones even while crossing the street.    Ironically, it was an unusual phenomenon for me.   It seems not too long ago, our parents used to tell us to stay off the phone because it was meant specifically for emergency purposes.    I remember being 19 years old.   ET (my husband but boyfriend at the time) and I used to talk for hours on the phone until his father couldn’t get through and get a ride home from the airport.   We were consequently lectured: “ Nobody needs to say that much to each other .”   I guess my father-in-law along with most people of his generation didn’t predict today’s major technological shift into cell phones. At a red light side by side to a city bus I couldn’t help but peek at the p...