Spiritual Learning Blog - Tips and Ideas for Spiritual Growth

The Myth of Christopher Columbus: First Illegal Alien

Imagine a foreign-speaking stranger, by the name of Christopher Columbus, walked into your house one day, claimed it was now his and threw you out, or even enslaved or killed you and your family.

Would you celebrate him with a national holiday?

Neither would I.

Yet the United States and other countries in the West continue to celebrate Christopher Columbus as having discovered the “New World” even though there was a perfectly marvelous civilization already living here.

[Columbus Day in 2012 is Monday, October 8 – a Federal holiday.]

My Lakota dad Wallace Black Elk called Columbus “the first illegal alien.”

A Native American Teaching on The Gift of Food

“In our culture, whenever we receive a gift of food – whether someone buys us groceries or makes us breakfast or takes us out to dinner – we say that it extends our life. And as we accept that food, we breathe a word of prayer so that the dividends of that gift might be multiplied into the life of the person who gave it.” Bear Heart in The Wind Is My Mother

CEREMONIAL GIFT OF FOOD

Viewing food as a gift is one reason that most Native American ceremonies I have attended include a pot-luck afterwards: we are practicing the gift of life extension by feeding one another.

But before the people eat, a “spirit plate” is prepared and offered to either the Ceremonial Fire or Mother Earth. This represents a thank you for all that we have received and a prayer for the continuation of life and that all the nations on earth have enough food and water always.

Many Native American ceremonies also include Spiritual food on the altar. In the Lakota tradition it may be water, corn, berries and meat that are placed on the altar during the ceremony.

They are placed there as a prayer that the Eagle Nation will come and take the essence of that food to the places in the world where there is not enough food or water. So the food on the altar is a prayer that all the Nations have enough to eat.

Celebrating the Equinox: 16 Tips for Living a Day of Balance

This Saturday, September 22 at 10:49 a.m. Eastern Time marks the beginning of Autumn in the Northern Hemisphere. It is a day of balance of the hours of light and dark.

From here, temperatures begin to fall and daylight hours get shorter than the nights. The word equinox comes from the latin words meaning “equal night.”

Since a balanced life is something we all strive for, yet can be hard to achieve, why not set the goal of having the best possible day of balance in the Equinox? Just one day to start with. One day at a time is often the easiest way to make any change.

Here are 16 tips to help you live a day of balance this Saturday:

How My Grandmother Ran Her Kitchen Is Good Enough for Me!

Notwithstanding my love of my I-phone and other I-things, I am an old-fashioned girl at heart. For as long as I can remember, my food-related motto has been, “How my grandmother ran her kitchen is good enough for me.”

I have never owned a microwave. Native Americans teach that it kills the spirit of the food.

Even before hearing of that teaching, it intuitively felt wrong to put food in it. We even use the phrase “nuke it” – I rest my case with that statement.

Our society has become so dependent on microwaves that some foods come only with microwave instructions. I recently bought a spaghetti squash with a label for microwave cooking — no other cooking instructions. I was grateful to have a pre-microwave edition of The Joy of Cooking to tell me how to cook it.

Does the Energy in Food Matter?

Does the energy in food matter? Absolutely!

One thing that doesn’t get much attention in discussions of our food is how the animals we eat are raised and killed and the energy transmitted along with that.

In other words, what you eat affects more than just your diet.

MEDICAL MYSTERY OR CUTTING EDGE SCIENCE?

But first let me tell you about my friend Pete, who developed a sudden love of dark chocolate after receiving a heart transplant. It mystified his wife, but she heard similar stories in their heart transplant support group.

Unusual? Not at all. There are legions of anecdotal stories about organ transplant recipients taking on new interests and food cravings after their transplants:

Do You Know Where Food Comes From?

There’s a lot of discussion these days of where food comes from. And I’m not talking GMO, fertilizer, hormones and antibiotics.

How many of today’s children know that the meat in the package from the supermarket was once a life? That vegetables grow in the ground? That milk comes from cows? Unfortunately, many don’t.

The distance placed between us and the source of our food has desensitized us to the world around us. What we eat used to be a life – and too many of us have lost all awareness of it.

FROM VEGETARIAN BACK TO MEAT EATER

Being raised Irish-American, meat and potatoes was standard fare at my house.

Forks Over Knives: What Does It Mean For Us?

Do you ever wonder why you try to follow the conventional wisdom of recommended dietary guidelines and your health still declines? The brilliant documentary “Forks Over Knives” and the book “The China Study” provide the answers.

“Forks Over Knives: The Plant-Based Way to Health” has been getting a lot of well-deserved positive press lately. The bottom line: we would all be healthier if we eliminated meat and dairy products from our diets.

The film presents excellent research to support the claim that most, if not all, of the degenerative diseases that afflict us can be controlled, or even reversed, by eliminating animal-based and processed foods from our diets.

Three Questions to Help You Find Your Voice

This is a story about it never being too late to find your voice in every situation. I only just found mine.

Yes, I teach and write about being all you can be, going for your dreams and being fearless – but some lessons take longer to learn than others. Or they come in stages. And as I’ve said many times, we teach what we need to learn.

Backstory

Given a choice, I always choose a female health practitioner instead of a male. I have had incidents in the past of male practitioners making sexual advances so I figure, why tempt fate?

My primary physician is a man and I am very comfortable with him in all circumstances. But again, all things being equal, I will usually choose a woman.

And yet sometimes we are not given choices, and how often do we just go along with what is happening without expressing what we want?

Relationship with water — how to protect it and use it

“Pure water is the world’s first and foremost medicine.” Slovakian proverb

It seems to be an axiom of life that we take for granted those things that are always present. Our bodies are made primarily of water, as is planet earth. Yet how often do we think about our relationship with water? Or how to protect it and use it?

It is universally accepted that there can be no life without water.

It is the first thing we use every morning and the last thing we use each night. It comes to us in the form of lakes, rivers, streams, ponds, springs and sacred rain.

Ancient prophecy told of a time when we would have to buy our drinking water – that time is here. So that indicates to me it is time to stop taking it for granted.

A Story of How to Become Wise

After a long, hard climb up the mountain, the spiritual seekers finally found themselves in front of the great teacher.

Bowing deeply, they asked the question that had been burning inside them for so long:

“How do we become wise?”

There was a long pause until the teacher emerged from meditation. Finally came the reply: “Good choices.”

“But teacher, how do we make good choices?”

Do We Take For Granted the American Lifestyle? If So, Here Are 10 Things To Help Us Mend Our Ways

I had a recent meltdown that caused me to ask whether Americans [including myself] are spoiled and take for granted all that we have.

Upon arriving at my hotel after an eight-hour drive to Northern Wisconsin, I was shocked, SHOCKED to find I had left my overnight bag at home.

The overnight bag that contained everything I need to make myself presentable each day!

I’m usually very cool, calm and collected, but this was a catastrophe of a high order for me.

But here’s the irony: Within half an hour, I was able to replace all my makeup and hair supplies at the Walmart next to the hotel.

I had the means and opportunity and I was still upset. How’s that for spoiled?

It was a good reality check as to how far I still have to go in my spiritual growth. And I know I’m not alone.

Hopi Prophecy of 2000

The following is the Hopi Prophecy of June, 2000 from the Hopi Nation:

You have been telling people that this is the Eleventh Hour, now you must go back and tell the people that this is The Hour. And there are things to be considered…

Where are you living?

What are you doing?

What are your relationships?

Are you in right relation?

Where is your water?

Know your garden.

It is time to speak your truth.

Create your community.

Be good to each other.

And do not look outside yourself for your leader.

Hopi Prophecy, the Mayan Calendar and the Weather in 2012

Ancient Hopi prophecy warned of a time of “earth changes” – a great cleansing involving all four elements. The Mayan Calendar also calls this a time of transformation. Might they explain the interesting weather we’re having in 2012?

Is it a scary thing, or part of the natural evolution of the planet and our consciousness? Let’s take a look.

The History of the U.S. Constitution We Weren’t Taught in School

If you’re like me, I learned in grade school that the U.S. Constitution was based on ancient Greek democracy. Which was nowhere close to the truth. The government of ancient Greece was not a democracy.

My research as to what children are taught today about the origin of our government is also disappointing.

Apparently the Founding Fathers simply created it out of thin air, or were influenced by European governments even though there was no democracy anywhere in Europe at that time.

THE TRUE HISTORY OF THE U.S. CONSTITUTION

The film classic “Psycho” and the value of clearing the clutter

Ever wonder how the classic Hitchcock thriller “Psycho” is related to clearing the clutter? Probably not, so read on.

If your nerves were on edge while watching “Psycho,” here’s why: every time director Alfred Hitchcock cut to the house on the hill, something was different.

In each shot he would change the location of the door, or the number or placement of windows, or the number of panes in each window.

The shots weren’t held long enough for the viewer to be conscious of what the changes were, only that something was “wrong” with that house. The result? An uneasy feeling throughout the film. That’s why Hitchcock was such a master director.

Adventures in Feng Shui

Feng shui is the ancient art of balancing energies in a space to bring health and good fortune for the inhabitants. Just as we want and need a healthy, balanced body, we need and should want a balanced living environment. This is what Feng Shui provides.

Developed in China over 3,000 years ago, today it is known and practiced throughout the world. It deals with placement of a building on land, location of doors, windows and rooms and objects within the rooms.

I am a believer because I study and teach about energy so feng shui makes perfect sense to me.

Expressing Gratitude on the Summer Solstice

Most people in the Northern Hemisphere are happy around the time of the Summer Solstice. The days are long and, if you’re not in the desert, the earth is green.

Beauty, fruits and vegetables abound. “Fun in the sun” is an oft-used phrase.

But how can we go deeper on this longest of days?

Father’s Day and the Native American tradition of adoption

On Father’s Day I remember how very blessed I am to have had three fathers, all at the same time. This was not a product of divorce. It was the product of the beautiful Native American tradition of adoption.

Read on to learn about my three dads: my birth father and Native American elders Wallace Black Elk and Marcellus “Bear Heart” Williams.

What to do when bad things happen

More wisdom from Bear Heart in the Wind Is My Mother on what to do when bad things happen in our lives:

Not long ago a woman called me and I went to see her in the hospital. She was a very young mother who had just given birth to a child with no arms. He had webbed feet and scars on his face and she was wondering, “Why me? Why me?”

I had to talk to her a long time, pray with her, to show her that there was a blessing somewhere in her situation.

In our culture, when such children are born we say they are specially blessed. The Creator had a reason for bringing that child into the world and we are helping the Creator when we make the child as comfortable as possible in every way.

It’s said there is a special blessing when we help someone like that, although that’s not our reason for doing it. My people don’t even talk about the reasons, we just try to help.

I told her the story of a similar situation where a little boy was born without arms and the doctors asked her husband to stay by his wife’s bedside as she came out of sedation so he could tell her.

Journey to emotional healing

I hope that the healed life is the goal of each of us: to work toward emotional healing, physical health and spiritual fulfillment.

Emotional healing includes learning what didn’t work and to no longer repeat our past, self-defeating patterns.

This lovely piece by Portia Nelson sums it up nicely.

AUTOBIOGRAPHY IN FIVE CHAPTERS

(1)

I walk down the street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk

I fall in.

I am lost . . . I am hopeless.

It isn’t my fault.

It takes forever to find a way out.

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