Earth medicine, p.5
Earth Medicine, page 5
The Indians related everything to what could be observed and understood from the environment. Any principle, or natural or cosmic law which affected the life of man – even the mysteries of birth and death and of man’s destiny – could best be understood through observing natural forces at work.
In order to comprehend an abstraction like a force, a power, an energy, an essence, or an intangible spiritual quality, it is necessary for the human mind to have something to ‘grip’ onto – a means of containing that elusive intangible in some kind of ‘form’ so that it might be examined and related to more readily.
The American Indians converted the intangible into a form that could be understood and related to by drawing comparisons with Nature and with the animal, plant and mineral worlds. Wild animals, for instance, shared the environment with them so they were familiar with the individual habits and characteristics of each species, aware of the different temperaments, and saw each animal species as having a personality of its own. They compared the ‘hidden’ force of Nature and the qualities they had with similar characteristics they observed in certain animals, reptiles, birds or fish. In other words, the Indians ‘personified’ these intangible forces in much the same way as people in other cultures ‘humanized’ their gods. The Indians, however, used animals, plants or minerals rather than human representations.
These personifications were called ‘totems’. A totem is a special kind of emblem or symbol that expresses the essential spirit nature and characteristics not of an individual animal or plant or rock but of the species as a whole and as expressed in the human condition. By being called upon mentally, the totem – whether animal, plant or mineral – becomes a ‘spirit helper’ to the human being, relating to the human ‘spiritually’ to specific areas of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual activity. The totems are thus more than psychological symbols. They are active ‘helpers’ – aids to the human spirit and to an individual’s essential nature through the essence of their own essential nature with which the individual has an affinity.
In this way totems make connections with abstract qualities or energies and with other levels of existence. Totems trigger the intuitive senses so that the person who is working with them perceives through the subconscious.
There are other powerful helpers which serve also as representations. The Moon, for instance, can be used as a symbolic representation of the feminine yin, the nurturing Goddess principle. The Moon is not the Goddess, but can give us a thrill when we gaze at her. And the Goddess is not a woman, but by responding to her as if she were, we can achieve a connection emotionally with the feminine, nurturing, receptive and tender aspects of the Source. We are thus tuned in, as it were, to receiving an input of energy (information) beamed out from the Source and we can respond to it.
Similarly, the Sun can be used as a symbolic representation of the masculine yang, the God principle behind all Creation. Again, the Sun is not the god – and in ancient times, contrary to popular historical theories, the ancients did not worship the Sun. The God is not a man, but by responding to it as if it were, we can become aligned to the masculine, creative qualities and we can become attuned to receiving an input of energy (information) on that wavelength.
The totems are different kinds of symbolic representations. They are active, living links that can connect our consciousness to the threads of subtle cosmic forces and natural energies that enter our auric cocoon, the electromagnetic energy field in which we live and move and have our being, and to the delicate but powerful inner forces that ebb and flow between the external ‘physical’ self and the Real Self at the core of our being.
Figure 22. The Powers of the Four Winds
The totems are like transistors in an electronic circuit concerned with directing the flow of energy from one level to another, whether physical (mineral, vegetable or animal) or non-physical (emotional, mental or spiritual). Directional and elemental totems are concerned with cosmic energies from ‘above’, while other totems are associated with Earth energies which come from ‘below’.
Again, contrary to popular belief which was based on ignorance and bigotry, the Amerindian did not worship the totems as ‘gods’ or venerate animals and other creatures as ‘gods’ or ‘demons’. Religious zealots among the early European settlers labelled native practices as ‘demonism’ and by arousing people’s fears of the ‘unknown’ and inflaming prejudice, encouraged the destruction of what their own ignorance prevented them from understanding.
The totems were but spiritual tools. They were honoured and respected for what they represented. The animal representations, for instance, served as a means of comparison. It was not the animal itself though, but its essential quality, its essence, which helped in the comparison. The animal itself was a ‘helper’ because its essential quality which could be recognized, helped the Indian to an understanding of the ‘hidden’ quality in Nature or in himself with which it was being compared. The creatures chosen to personify or represent the Powers of the Four Winds, for instance, were thus often referred to as ‘spirit helpers’ or ‘spirit keepers’.
There were hundreds of different tribes throughout North America and the creatures chosen as totems were not necessarily identical. The totems given in this book are those which I understand to have been in fairly common use throughout North America as were those indicated to Sun Bear, medicine chief of the Bear Tribe located at Spokane, Washington, through his shamanic vision of the Medicine Wheel.1 What is important, however, is that they are ones which people in other lands can readily relate to also.
It is advisable not to be swayed by any argument about which particular animal, bird, plant or mineral is the most appropriate or ‘authentic’, or which tribe used this and which group of people preferred that. It is what works for us personally that matters. Anything else is but a mental or academic exercise. The essential thing is to have ‘connections’ that ‘work’ and which trigger an understanding of the concepts that lie behind them. It is the concept that is important and the retrieval of information or manifestation of desired results, not the image itself. The totem is but a device, though indeed a spiritual one.
In the next chapter we will examine some of the principal totems and the Directional Powers they represent – the Four Winds – which helped to shape the inner dynamics of our birth.
1 The Medicine Wheel: Earth Astrology by Sun Bear and Wabun, Prentice Hall Press, New Jersey, USA, 1980.
1.4
The Four Winds (1)
THE EAST
THE CREATURE ASSOCIATED WITH THE POWER OF THE EAST AND with the East Wind is the eagle. The eagle is a totem for people with birthdays between 21 March and 20 June. Now let discover how the creature helps us to understand the totem and how the totem helps us to open up our awareness to the Power of the East.
The eagle is a bird that flies higher than any other, so the Indian considered it to be ‘closer to the sky’. Of course, such an expression meant something more than its literalism. To the Indian, the sky was synonymous with the realm of spirit and with spiritual things. So the eagle was symbolic of the importance of principles. A principle might be defined as a fundamental truth, the essential spirit or intention, or a guide to action.
The eagle is also attributed with remarkable vision. It can see clearly over great distances and identify quite small creatures and objects from a long way off. So the eagle is associated with far-sightedness and the ability to look ahead. Since the eagle is also able to look directly into the Sun without being blinded by its intensity, this ability indicates another attribution of the East – illumination – illumination which comes to the mind through spiritual vision (remember, the Sun is also a ‘living’ symbol of divinity or spirituality) or the ability to see into the essence or spirit of things.
Eagle feathers were greatly treasured by American Indians because they had helped to carry the bird to great heights where it could be close to the sky (spirit) and from an elevated viewpoint that was detached from the Earth itself and material things, extend its range of awareness. It was able to see more clearly where things on Earth fitted together, and the Indians wanted to acquire this ability for themselves. All too often we are too close to things to understand how they can possibly be part of a meaningful pattern. We go through life like someone trying to make sense of a tapestry or a painting by viewing it from only a few inches away from our nose. Only by taking a position farther away and viewing it from a distance can the picture become clear and the true creativity and intention of the artist be recognized and appreciated. The eagle helped American Indians to acquire more of that ability by tuning in to the ‘Spirit’ of the East and opening up the mind to that energy.
Each of the Four Winds and the Four Cardinal Directions has a special relationship with one of the four principal forms of Earth life which, in Western philosophy and theology, are sometimes referred to as ‘kingdoms’. They are: the human, animal, plant and mineral kingdoms. An understanding of this relationship can help us to further the insight we are beginning to develop about ourselves and our Earth.
The special relationship of the East is with the human kingdom. As I have already indicated, the East Winds emphasise spiritual considerations and principles, so the ‘Spirit’ of the East will help us to comprehend more of the spiritual nature of the human being rather than the physical, mental or emotional nature.
To the Indian, a human being was far more than just a highly evolved animal – a sort of naked ape with brains! The Indian regarded the human being as a ‘divine mortal’, or a ‘divine physical being’. Indeed, I have had it explained to me that the prefix ‘hu’ in some tongues meant ‘divine’, and man, of course, is mortal. So a human being is a divine mortal being – a dual being existing in the realms of both spirit and matter; one spiritual, the other physical; one eternal, the other temporal.
Let us pause here for a moment, for it is important that we bear in mind that the Powers and Forces and Essences we are discussing regarding the Directions, and their qualities and characteristics, are in a moralistic sense, neutral. By that I mean that we cannot label them ‘good’ or ‘bad’, because they just are.
It is the human being who determines the use to which they are put. It is we who determine how the forces and energies shall be directed and used.
Each of us, in our own lives, determines whether we apply our energies in a positive or negative aspect – whether they shall be used constructively or destructively. It is we who determine by the intent of their use whether they shall be ‘good’ or ‘bad’. Motive is everything.
The principal function of the East is the power of determining – the power of making choices. It is the power of deciding the way we make use of the energies at our disposal.
With the East concerned with spirit and the human being, the Indian concluded that man was in harmony and balance with himself when he determined with the spirit. That was the way the human being’s energy system was structured. Disharmony and imbalance would result if, to use a modern cliché, he ‘got his wires crossed’ and determined with another part of his being – with the mind, for instance, which is associated with the North, or with feelings, which are associated with the South. This harmonious and synchronous functioning of the entire human being was absolutely vital to well-being. Indeed, health, happiness, abundance and security depended upon it. Finding the right balance between the inner and outer aspects of one’s being, between the conscious and subconscious aspects of the mind, and being in tune with the natural and cosmic forces, was to find true contentment and fulfilment, for with that state of equilibrium anything and everything became possible.
Of course, this raises the question: ‘What is spirit?’ There are some very confusing ideas about what constitutes spirit. Some define it as a disembodied soul, or a ghost, others as a force. The Indian’s understanding of it was less obscure. Spirit was individuated consciousness expressing itself in differently organized ways.
The Indian saw every entity – including the individual human being – as an individualized spirit expressing its conscious awareness. The human soul was the dwelling-place of the individualized spirit and provided the link between spirit and matter.
The Indian regarded the soul as the storehouse of experience and the seat of the permanent personality that survived all incarnations.
The Indian concluded that as divine mortals, we should determine our actions with the spirit because the spirit was the vehicle of intelligence and had to do with intentions. Intentions were related to principles, to ethics and morality, all of which were activities of the spirit. So, even if our ‘hearts’ are right and we have ‘good’ intentions, we may still obtain a ‘bad’ result because we have determined with the mind or with the emotions and feelings and not with the spirit.
Let me give an example. Laws are framed by an activity of the mind and should be designed to establish and safeguard principles (which, as we have seen, are activities of the spirit). It is possible to determine the application of those laws with the mind by keeping strictly to the letter of the law and following its literalism, but be contrary to its spirit and intent. Clever lawyers may find what they call a ‘loophole’ in the wording of a law that enables them to disregard the intention of the law yet still keep within the letter of the law. The guilty can sometimes ‘get away with murder’, therefore, on a technicality of law.
Much truth contained in religions whose authority rests on scriptural texts has been sadly perverted and misunderstood in this legalistic way.
We each travel through life at our own pace, making our own choices, and determining in our own way how to exert our own energies in the choreography of our Earth life.
We are, then, each the product of our own determining, creating our own circumstances as we go. We are not the mere robots of Fate.
How do we know when we are determining with the spirit? We determine with the spirit when we follow what the heart wants us to do because the true heart is the voice of the spirit.
‘We give with the heart in order to determine with the spirit.’ This was the advice given to me by Swiftdeer. That, he explained, was ‘the Way with Heart’ or ‘the Beautiful Way’ because it was the way of Love that sought not to exploit or disadvantage others to further self-interest, but rather sought to embrace others in an advantage that could be shared. In that way the Indian considered that one touched oneself and others and even the Earth itself with beauty.
From his understanding of the Four Winds, the Indian concluded that man was composed of all the other ‘kingdoms’. His flesh, blood, bones and marrow, and the waters of the body, contained life from the mineral world, life from the plants and their fruit and seed as well as their substance, and life from the flesh of animals. So man was not merely a part of the physical world – the physical world, which included minerals, plants and animals, was literally a part of man. Man was a miniature solar system, a microcosm of the universe. Understand man and you understand the Earth and the universe. Understand the Earth and its environment and you understand both man and the universe.
The Real You is the spirit entity that existed before your present Earth life and will continue to exist after your Earth death. The spirit is the inner self that is the eternal you. It is ageless. An elderly person understands the reality of the ageless self. Only the very young think that you feel different as you get older – that somehow the consciousness feels much older at 60 than at 16, that with old age the consciousness gets feebler alongside the body. The truth is that although our ideas and opinions may change with the maturity of the years, we remain the same conscious, individual entity that doesn’t feel any different. The body may not be so physically capable, and its limitations may bring frustration, but you are as you have always been – you. Age does not change it, nor does death. Death is merely a change of consciousness.
So what is the purpose of it all? In general terms, the American Indian understood the purpose of life was to expand and magnify the Real Self. The purpose of life was the continuing evolution of the divine spirit within.
The purpose of life, then, is the education of the spirit.
Now let us go back to our examination of the Earth Web. Although people born in the same Earth influence time segment will share similar directional influences and qualities, they will not be identical. Though they will share the same emblemic totem – in the case of people born between 21 March and 20 June, for instance, the eagle – I must stress again that it is not just a two-dimensional image printed on the page of a book, or a representation, or indeed the creature itself. The totem is indicative of a mobile, fluctuating cosmos in itself, governed by its own internal dynamics. So whilst we may share similar influences, the effect is determined by the degree of exposure to those influences and also to the level of our internal responses to them.
We have just discussed what spirit is and that the Indian defined it as the essence of the real entity. Your spirit, then, is the essence of the Real You.
Now the Indian accepted the reality not only of a life after death, but of a life before birth. Nature was his witness to the veracity of that. Before new life sprang forth in the Spring there had to be life before it, and life before that, and so on. Each life in whatever form produces the seeds for its self-perpetuation. Life must go on. That is a cosmic law. Does it not follow that if there is life after death, there must have been life before birth?
The Indian went beyond that, believing that the seeds of the life now being lived were sown in a previous life, and the seeds of the next life were already being prepared by the way the present life was being lived. In other words, there was no real escape from the consequences of our actions. Sooner or later the past does catch up with us!
