Dear Friends,
We are living in a time of great change and upheaval. It is a time that has been spoken of by mystics and prophets for ages, where all of the options that have ever been open to human beings are on the table now. The choices we make will shape the quality and direction of human existence for many centuries into the future, and so even with all of the distractions and divisiveness of our societies, we must choose well if we would not drag this mayhem into the future.
In the Seven Clay Pots, which have been guarded since antiquity by the Sisterhood of the Shields, one of the ancient scrolls says, “Only through love can you heal the evil that threatens to overtake you as a people.” Embracing love at this time is a tall order, indeed. To find love, it is essential that you embody the heyoka, which is really about trust. |
The heyoka is the energy of the sacred clown, the one who tests all of the institutions and situations of your life to find out what is real for you. It is not someone else’s truth that matters, although a wise person will listen to many different opinions before choosing her own path. But what rings with the clarity of truth for one person may sound very hollow and empty to someone else. We are all different.
If something does not reflect your own sacred truth, the truth that comes from the center of your being where you are one with the Great Spirit, you are likely to feel the heyoka tugging at your consciousness. This is the tug that is making you very uncomfortable, perhaps about everything in your life. When you feel this tug of discomfort or displeasure, take a good look at what is going on in your life and find those aspects that do not in any way resonate with what you know to be good and true and important for you on your journey. If something is giving you great distress because it is truly not part of your sacred truth, why are you investing yourself in it at all, especially when you see the negative impact it is having on other aspects of your life?
It is impossible to find trust when you are living someone else’s truth. Trust in yourself, trust in the Great Spirit, trust in the Sacred Clown who knows that the Great Spirit is going to take care of you even when you are unaware or distrustful of Spirit’s presence in your life, these things can not come into your consciousness while you are living someone else’s truth; how can you find trust, when you really never know what to expect? You’ve given over your power to someone or something else, who probably isn’t going to be there at the point that you really need to make important decisions and who certainly isn’t going to be helping you look at what is right and true for you. Can you see the disconnect that you have allowed into your life?
This is the time for everyone to see with new vision. Trust is the foundation of seeing with new vision, the trust that you find when you stand in the center of your own truth, at the place where you are one with the Great Spirit, one with the great forces of love and power which animate and energize all of life. Then you know that no matter what comes up, you and the Great Spirit, working together for your higher good, can get it figured out.
Through trust, we become open to the illumination that has always been with us, waiting for us to welcome it into our conscious lives. Agnes Whistling Elk told us many years ago, “There is an illumination of knowledge. The true answer, that which illuminates us, is within. It illuminates in a new way even that which is clearly seen.”
That is what all of my work is about: finding the illumination of higher knowledge within you and then reflecting that brilliance out into the world so that everybody can see a little more clearly.
Go on a short journey with me, if you would, please. Close your eyes and come with me to the jungles of the Yucatán, in Southern Mexico. You can feel the hot, steamy jungle all around you. You smell the fecund earth, and you can hear a cacophony of sounds from birds and insects and other wild life.

We are walking through the jungle to a clearing. You see a large temple complex in the center of the clearing. We walk rather quickly to a particular temple with Jaguar stone heads and carvings of these great cats on the walls, and we begin to climb a Jaguar staircase.
Once up the staircase, we come to a flat platform where you see a raised dais and a chair with carved Jaguar heads. I motion for you to sit in the chair. It is the Chair of the Jaguar, and it is a place of great honor.
You sit, and I stand to one side and begin to drum. You begin to hear chanting, and you look around to discover that on the other side of you stands Zoila, a woman of Mayan descent, member of the Sisterhood and one of my teachers. She begins to drum with me. You feel a bit sleepy and you close your eyes. Suddenly, you hear the scream of a large jungle cat. You try to stand up, but Zoila places a hand on your shoulder. She says to you, “No matter what happens, no matter what you see, do not leave this chair. Trust that you are safe here.”
You remain seated and listen to our drumming and chanting. You realize you are facing outward, towards the jungle. You strain to see what animals are lurking out there, but you see only the tops of the trees. You feel something behind you, and with difficulty you stay put as you feel something furry rubbing against the backs of your legs.
Then you feel something sniffing the back of your neck, and the whiskers of something large tickle you. You take a deep breath as the furry being comes around to your front. Now you are staring directly into the eyes of a large, female Jaguar. You grip the arms of the Jaguar Chair and close your eyes.
You hear me saying, quietly, “Move into your shaman center. Allow yourself to feel the risk you are taking now, with this wild animal so close. And yet, you don’t feel fear, do you? What you feel is more of an excitement.”
You remember Zoila’s words, that no matter what happens, trust that you are safe here. Slowly, you open your eyes and you see Jaguar Woman standing before you.
“What new vision has been stalking you?”Jaguar Woman asks, her dark eyes probing you intently. “What fear or fears still hold you back?”And you know that you will tell her only the truth, no matter how unpleasant it may be to say certain truths out loud. She knows this, too.
Jaguar Woman says to you, “You know, it was quite risky for you to sit here as that cat sniffed out your essence you.” Her voice has an odd, guttural quality to it, almost animal-like. You see her eyes sparkle, and her mouth twitches into a slight smile. For a moment, you see her face as that of the Jaguar, but you are not afraid. You trust her, and you realize that deep within, you trust yourself. You trust that part of you that is of the Great Spirit, that knows how to recognize when danger is real and when it is a scary story coming from some wounded part of your ego mind or your unhealed emotions.
Zoila and I stop drumming. We help you to stand up, and then we all pray together as we pass the sacred pipe among us, you, me, Zoila and Jaguar Woman. What an honor it is to stand with these amazing women of power. As you stand with us, you see yourself moving out into your life, standing within your own circle of power, moving into the world with your own strength and beauty and trust. And you know that you belong.
It is a time to really experience that you, we, all of us are part of the Great Spirit. It is so easy to sit in quiet reflection in the privacy and comfort of our own homes with a warm, fuzzy feeling of being part of the Great Spirit. It is not so easy to carry this feeling beyond our doorsteps, out into a world that can be so fractured, harsh and judgmental, stained with the blood of human ignorance.
There is a difference between feeling and knowing, and you experienced it a few moments ago when you shared sacred pipe ceremony with the ladies and me. You felt honored, as you experienced the knowing of who you are, the knowing with absolute certainty that you belong because it is part of your own sacred truth.
I speak often of the importance of finding our own community of kindred souls in this lifetime so that we can support and illuminate one another, bringing strength, focus and clarity to our quest for a higher spiritual understanding. Then our ceremonies will amplify our healing and send our combined healing strength all over this great earth.
The negativity and ignorance of the opposite forces around us want to survive as much as we do. But when our light becomes greater than all the negativity and ignorance, the darkness disappears. How can there be darkness when the sun is shining? It simply cannot happen.
This lifetime, difficult as it can be at times, is a gift to our souls. The possibility of enlightenment is within each and any of us in this and any lifetime, if we so choose. That is why the difficulties come, to see if we are ready, finally, to choose enlightenment.
The Sisterhood teaches always that we are here to learn, to wake up, and to find the essence of our own spirit. As 2010 begins to wane on our journey towards 2012, it is important for us to work together toward re-inventing ourselves and moving out of our laziness of the soul, moving out of the current of chaos and into the new dreams we are creating for a new world. Remember who you are, always, and see your life with new vision. Honor and trust yourself for the lessons you have learned on your own path of heart.
Great Spirit, whose voice we hear in the winds and in the trees; Mother Earth, whose breath gives us life, this is a prayer from the heart.
Help us to walk in beauty and strength and to learn the lessons that are hidden in the stones and the trees and the waters of the sea. Give us the strength to fight our greatest enemy – ignorance. Great Spirit, hear the sounds of our grateful hearts and help us to find the wisdom and joy and power that is locked within each of our souls. We are the reflections of you, Great Spirit. Join us on our path as we join you, for all the days of our lives, HO!
We risk all that we know for the great adventure of the unknown, the sacred mystery. Always remember, life is worth the risk. Living your truth is worth the risk. It is your heritage, your birthright. I am here to support you in any way I can.
In love and spirit,
Lynn
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