We are all essential

I have been thinking about relationship, and the relationship we have with our environment. This leads me to think about the relationship we have with our spirits. As I get into the part of the year when I am teaching more of the healing methods, I am often asked why the spirits don't do the healing themselves--why is our effort necessary? We are essential to the equation, but how?

It should come as no surprise to us that humans have an impact on our environment. We see the impacts every year, as the environment changes in response to our actions. Just yesterday, we had (unexpected and unforecasted) catastrophic rains in the western part of Connecticut, with some areas receiving 15" of rain. And yet, even as we recognize the

impact that all of humanity has on our planet, many people feel helpless and hopeless, as they consider how miniscule their own individual impact can be.

When we work with the spirits, our own impact is far greater, because we work with their power. As someone's wise uncle once said, "with great power comes great responsibility." That can be the responsibility to act, and to bring healing; or the responsibility to honor our ethics and not to act, because the action we would take does not align with our principals of compassion and autonomy.

When I have asked my own helping spirits why humans practitioners are essential for healing, I have gotten multiple answers, each opening up new avenues of exploration. What is on my heart now is the idea of reciprocity--that there is something sacred in asking for help, and something sacred in offering it. The compassion required to help someone else mirrors the compassion of the spirits, and reflects how we grow in compassion when we deepen our own work with compassionate spirits.

I encourage all of you who know how to journey to explore this for yourself--why are we essential?

In relationship with weather

Well, it has been hot!

My body does not cope well with heat or humidity. When we have these heat waves, I find myself cooped up inside, often uncomfortable even in the air conditioning.

Also this month, I watched my friend and fellow faculty member Anthony's city on the news as it took a direct hit from an early hurricane (he is ok, I checked).

It can be easy for us to judge or be angry at weather when we have these intense events--events that are becoming more and more common. With this in mind, my circle worked this past month with weather, and asked to receive a teaching. We received similar messages, that we are not separate from weather, and that weather is inside us, is a part of us.

Animism, from which shamanism comes, teaches us about the interrelatedness of all things, and that everything that is is alive. When we become angry at the world, this becomes reflected in our relationships with ourselves. It is important to see ourselves always as in relationship, and to acknowledge our impact on the greater systems of which we are a part. This comes from human action in many forms, including the spiritual.

I invite you to notice your relationships with the spirits in the world around you--all spirits, not only those you like, not only those with whom you are comfortable. We do ourselves a disservice when we push away parts of the environment, because in doing so, we disown a small part of ourselves.

As the days grow shorter and the nights grown longer, notice the turning inward, notice the return to focusing on relationship within you. When we nurture these relationships, we heal ourselves, and we heal the planet.

Walking the path

The days are growing shorter now. It's hard to tell, but sunset is getting a bit earlier every evening, and sunrise is getting a bit later. As the days shorten, I tend to find myself turning more inwards, looking more at myself, and thinking about my "stuff."

We are on a journey, here in the Middle World. That journey is never a straight line. There are twists and turns in the path, and sometimes we feel that we have diverted in some way; but rather than think of difficult times as diversions, consider that they are still our path. The path is sometimes easy and sometimes hard, but we are always on it, putting one foot in front of the other.

As I feel the beginning of the period of shortening days, and feel the cosmos affect my own body and soul, I begin to notice myself on this path of life. I begin to take stock of where I am, and where I want to be, and what I want to consider in myself.

As we work with the Spirits, the Spirits work on us. Part of showing up for the work is allowing ourselves to shift, and allowing the work to shift us. If we don't allow ourselves to change, if we don't engage in our own change, then not only do we stay still on our path, but we do not become the practitioners we can be.