4
Why the Solar Eclipse is just what we need right now
There have been a lot of articles recently about the upcoming solar eclipse.
For the scientific perspective, here’s a good article from NASA
But I’d like to share a spiritual perspective, which is what many of us are looking for.
Why this? Why now? What does it mean?
Continue reading
2
My new Video course: Meditations on the Natural World
I’m really excited to tell you that my new meditation course, Meditations on the Natural World, is now available.
Meditation can help anyone struggling with:
Stress and anxiety
Health issues
Productivity
Sleep
Pain
And much more
Having taught meditation for years, I’ve learned that most people who have struggled with meditation just need to:
Continue reading
An exciting new book about Maya shamanism!
My teaching partner, John Kralovec, has just released his book about his 35 years experience with Maya and Native American shamanism: Pathways to the Divine; One Man’s Journey Through the Shamanic Realm of the Ancient Maya. If Maya shamanism is of interest to you, I highly recommend it.
Here is the book description from Amazon:
Over the course of his thirty-five-year spiritual journey, Otto John Kralovec III has studied and participated in ceremonies with shamans and indigenous spiritual leaders throughout North America, Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras.
Now, he vividly captures his inspiring personal shamanic odyssey toward his encounter with the Divine, supplemented by the latest anthropological findings on the ancient Maya, to guide us on a path back to the Source.
Continue reading
2
Why should we celebrate the spring equinox?
On Monday March 20, at 6:20 a.m. EST, the northern and southern hemispheres of planet earth are equally illuminated. This marks the spring equinox in the northern hemisphere and the autumn equinox in the southern hemisphere.
It’s a day of equal balance of the hours of light and dark before the sun continues its journey towards longer daylight hours and warming temperatures in the northern hemisphere.
The equinox energy is strong for four days before and after March 20th, giving us time to bask in the opportunities and lessons it brings.
Where I live, in Michigan, it’s still gray and dreary, and it’s snowing as I write this. But a few days ago I saw a red-winged blackbird, and local lore says they come back when spring is just around the corner. So I took heart!
Ancient cultures throughout history have celebrated this time of rebirth of Mother Earth. But what does it mean for us?
Continue reading
8
Decluttering: are we our things?
I’m an imperfect practitioner of decluttering. I try, but it’s hard. Which raises the question: Are we our things? Do our possessions define us?
For some, the answer may be yes. I think that was true of me for many years.
But perhaps the “things” evoke memories that go far beyond the physical representations.
I’m much less attached to stuff than I used to be, but I still struggle with my annual decluttering extravaganza.
How do you do?
Continue reading
8
Season’s Greetings!
Molly LarkinMolly Larkin is the co-author of the international best-seller “The Wind Is My Mother; The Life and Teachings of a Native American Shaman” and other books on health. She is passionate about helping people live life to their fullest potential through her classes, healing practice and blog at www.MollyLarkin.com
Continue reading
26
My heart broke Tuesday night
My heart broke Tuesday night, as I watched the unthinkable happen. Hillary Clinton, the most qualified presidential candidate ever to run in my lifetime, was defeated by a racist, sexist, mysoginist, bullying, pathological liar.
Of course, it didn’t help that Clinton was a woman.
Ironically, she won the popular vote, but our antiquated electoral-college system gave it to the other guy.What has happened to our country? What is happening in the world?I have always known the U.S. was a racist, sexist country, but never knew just how racist and sexist until now. Yet when there is an infection, a festering wound, the puss that comes out also leads the way to healing.Hopefully that is what will happen here. Seeing what is wrong in our country is the first step to fixing it.Continue reading
2
What if our leaders would marry the land?
In ancient Ireland, the ceremony of crowning a king included a marriage ceremony in which the king would marry the land, or more accurately marry the Goddess of the land.
This marriage meant that the King swore to protect the land and the people, and be a caretaker of the earth. In return, when a King was favoured by the Goddess:
• he would rule with wisdom,
• the land would be fertile and prosperous,
• the country would always be victorious in war.
When that sacred contract was broken, the land was no longer fertile.
Continue reading
2
Water is Sacred. Why are we poisoning it?
It is the first thing we use every morning, and the last thing we use every night.
It allows us to thrive, and plants, trees and our food to grow. It is essential to all life.
And yet we poison it at every turn:
It’s reported that at the Rio Olympics, swimmers need to ingest only three teaspoons of water to contract a virus. Rio de Janeiro waterways are contaminated with raw human sewage teeming with dangerous viruses and bacteria.
14 billion pounds of garbage, mostly plastic, is dumped into the ocean each year, killing sea life. In January, 2016, thirteen sperm whales washed up dead in Germany, their stomachs full of plastic and auto parts.
Continue reading
8
Why we should approach sleep as ceremony
There’s a lot of talk about sleep in the news lately:
• why we need it,
• how to get it,
• how much do we need?
• to nap or not to nap?
The advice even fills books, but there’s one important point I think has been overlooked:
We should be approaching sleep with the same respect and solemnity as we do ceremony!
Continue reading
The Truth About Cancer can save your life!
I’ve recently watched a documentary series that is brilliant – and can save your life. It’s called The Truth About Cancer.
In it, medical doctors and scientists present well-researched studies about the numerous holistic therapies that have successfully treated cancer – with or without chemotherapy.
We all have friends or family members who have succumbed to this disease. In fact, 21,000 people around the world die from cancer each day.
Why not get educated on the many alternative therapies that work and do not destroy the immune system the way chemotherapy does?
Or that can support the immune system while undergoing chemotherapy?
Did you know that cancer cells feed on sugar? Yet many cancer centers have bowls of candy available for their patients to eat. And oncologists rarely tell their patients to avoid sugar. How is that taking care of our health?
Continue reading
22
How to survive the loss of a loved one
We all have to face it at some time in our lives.
Learning how to survive the loss of a loved one can dramatically impact our quality life.
Learn what Native Americans teach.
Continue reading
11
Gay rights: let indigenous people lead the way
More and more, modern people are turning to indigenous teachings to learn a better way to live. Perhaps acceptance of gay rights could be the next lesson.
Here are a few things Native Americans have already contributed:
7 ways to celebrate the Winter Solstice
“Winter Solstice is the time when light is born out of the womb of winter’s darkness.” Mara Freeman, in Kindling the Celtic Spirit
To original peoples around the world the Winter Solstice is a time of great celebration. This year it takes place on December 21.
It signifies the return of the sun through longer days and shorter nights until the sun reaches its zenith at the Summer Solstice.
Many ancient cultures considered it to be the true beginning of the “new year.”
It’s something modern society takes for granted, and may not even notice. We always assume the sun will rise and set every day. But what if it didn’t?
What if it gave up because we never said, “Thank you!”
6
“America the Beautiful”???
Have you ever wondered what the Native American perspective is of the song, “America the Beautiful?” Here is your chance to find out.
The song’s original lyrics sing the praises of the natural beauty of this continent, referring to it as wilderness. There is no mention of the original inhabitants.
My Native American friend, songwriter Tia Shawnté, wrote “Native Son” in 1990 for Mother Earth, set to the melody of “America the Beautiful.’
She has performed the song across the United States and the mayor of Austin, Texas declared February 4 as Tia Shawnté Day. She has just released a music video of the song, which you can watch below.
5
What eagles can teach us about Courtship
There is always much to be learned from the animal world, even about courtship . . . and even from eagles.
Here’s what a Navajo elder says:
” … It amazes me that in the animal world, the female of every species chooses the fastest runner, the best hunter, the strongest fighter for her mate. Yet a woman, who is supposed to be Creator’s finest achievement, often will lay down with any and sometimes every man who comes her way. If anything is going to change for the better, we women must lead the way to higher moral ground. We have to begin teaching our daughters and sons that they have great worth and great responsibility.”
4
Little told stories of medicine men and medicine women
The Creek Tribe had about as many medicine women as men and their knowledge and abilities went far beyond the healing arts.
In the old days, when our medicine people were not doctoring their patients or away on some quest, they would occasionally get together and take some time for themselves, meeting and drinking and kind of letting off steam.
I don’t know where they got the liquor because in those days it was illegal for Indians to drink but they managed it somehow. They didn’t do this all the time, just every now and then as it was one of their ways of staying connected with the earth and humanity.
My mother told me about how they would show off in front of one another while they were drinking. As a child she saw one instance where one of them took a whisky bottle, said a chant, blew on the bottle, physically twisted the glass in his hands and set it down — it was still glass, but it was as though it became something else in his hands, something which allowed itself to be re-shaped.
Continue reading
4
Ten Commandments of Climate Change from Pope Francis
Well, just when I thought Pope Francis couldn’t be any cooler, he has come out with an eloquent 10 commandments for stopping climate change and the “disturbing warming” of our planet.
One would think he was Native American.
These 10 commandments were part of a 182-page encyclical on climate change entitled “Laudato Si [Praised Be To You]; On Care for Our Common Home.”
Encyclicals are teaching documents traditionally addressed to Catholics worldwide, but this one was addressed to “every person living on this planet.”
In it, he said, “The Earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth. In many parts of the planet, the elderly lament that once beautiful landscapes are now covered with rubbish.”
Here are the Ten Commandments of Climate Change
10
Have trouble feeling gratitude? Watch this
The link to this lovely film on Gratitude was sent to me by a friend in Finland. I just had to share it. It’s only 6 minutes long.
Continue reading
How to find the sacred in everyday life
“Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and find they were the big things.” Robert Brault
One of the things I love about the Native American spiritual path is the focus on appreciating the simple things in life.
Simple things are often hard to relate to in today’s world of overwhelm.
Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google, says we human beings currently create as much information in two days as we did from the dawn of civilization up through 2003!
And yet our bodies were, and still are, designed to be in tune with the sun, the moon, the seasons, and the cycles of nature. That simplicity is what our souls long for.