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SPIRIT
LODGE
LIBRARY
Medicine
Wheel
Page
7
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(Main
Links of the site are right at the bottom of the page)
The 24 pages in this Medicine Wheel section are linked below
Dancing the Wheels Raw Elements
Exercise 4
By CinnamonMoon
My method of teaching people to Dance
the Wheel has been greatly altered with our Dance exercises
in this section. While it's giving people the experience, it's
lacking full understanding of the perspectives each element
offers individually. I'm seeing this more and more so I'm going
to suggest we back up a bit now that everyone has the gist of
the idea. I'd like to suggest we take a slightly different approach
to the next one and instead of exploring landscapes, meeting
Guides, etc. in each quadrant, I'd like to see everyone examine
the elemental force itself in its purest form.
I want to bring to your awareness
the sensations of the force in a way that will let you totally
assimilate it. In doing so you will *know* that element personally
and it will enhance your perspectives and understanding of everything
you've gotten so far and that which is to come to you in the
future. Please let me know as soon as possible if you would
like to Dance to know the raw element and merge with it. I will
need time to prepare the exercise in a safe and simple manner
so you can get the most out of it efficiently. Please share
your thoughts.
Tarra:
This
sounds great. I can get into this one. But all the Raw Elements
in one Dance? That's an awful lot of energy mixing. After what
I've been through this week, I'm game to try
CinnamonMoon:
I know what you're thinking,
Tarra, but I don't want to take it too far. Just stepping into
the element and letting each sense really absorb the energy
like a deep centering process and unity through the Seven Sacred
Directions.
I'm thinking that once the elemental
forces are taken in we can then move up and down through the
worlds introducing the spiral as well. That will demonstrate
the elemental forces in action through those perspectives too.
Ya know? It's just that everyone is so caught up in the visions
they are losing sight of the element and side stepping; that
is not wise.
I see it as a fundamental that does
need to be understood or we'll end up missing a very critical
link to Dancing period. I'll make sure I add a good release
in the grounding section. It's the merging with the forces I
want to emphasize and then the union with Spirit. Learning to
read our senses when they quicken is so important and there's
a definite need to learn the elements in that way too. IMHO
Northernwolf:
I
was thinking the same thing.. all in a one shot deal. But you
have to understand the way I took what you said. Feeling an
element means to really go deep inside it. I know when I did
it with fire one, my body at the end of it had raised in temperature
I'm sure and it was getting quite intense. In these matters
I tend to be a bit extremist and feel it full force if I can,
at least go as far as I can until I chicken out which happens
regularly or one of my guides pulls me out. But to answer
your question, I'm game for it big time, it's going to be a
needed reminder and a good refresher course for me.
Earthwalker:
Yes!!!
Can we fuse them as well??? Just kidding! How do you get past
"just the visions"? Cinnamon et al. Can we also merge
the other elements when within each element. In others while
feeling fire cane we also feel the effect of air, water, earth
on it. etc. How do you enhance the ability to feel the elements?
I can see the effects of air on fire but cannot feel them. But
it is still from the outside looking in even when walking through
the element. I can see the effects but cannot feel them. Is
there a way to get past this inability?
Northernwolf:
I’m
pretty sure you can as of how... that I'm not so sure. But I
think this is more to really isolate them, I think. Once you
get a good feel for each of them you can recognize them more
easily when they pop in.
Earthwalker:
I
can see them very easily but I cannot feel them in the Spirit
world. In regards to feeling elemental energies, I particularly
like the following quote. “When a shift takes place it's
like a warm and cold front hitting and a storm breaks out as
the energies mingle for a time before going their way again.
Like a spill-over if you will and the cross-quarters are that
mixing. They have depth of dimension too but are more like a
doorway that is in the eye of the storm where things are calm
once you step in."
I particularly
like this statement not so much as it applies to the dance of
the wheel but to the reality found in nature. Personally, I
love the northeast because of the changes in seasons, nothing
is ever static. Mud season is a perfect example of the clash
and it never ceases to amaze me. I love it; most outsiders hate
it. It is the time when due to a sudden thaw the snow packs
on the mountains melt rapidly; simultaneously the ground thaws.
When you have three to six feet of snow melting into a thawing
ground you get mud, fog, and frozen running water. Most secondary
roads in Vermont are dirt. Need I say more? It is a difficult
time to drive in but a wonderful time to experience. You can
feel life starting up as the thaw occurs; one hears the honking
from the returning geese, streams begin to flow and skunk cabbage
break through the softened ground. All senses are made rapidly
aware of the change. The energy brings a sense of excitement
yet what Cinnamon says is true there is a center that one finds
during these extremes and it is like a doorway into another
world; a world where everything is enhanced. It is similar to
the times of dusk and dawn but the clashes can be much more
dramatic.
I do question
however, why I can feel the merging or oneness with the forces
in nature in the mundane world but still do not truly feel it
in the spirit world. Maybe this next dance will help me feel
in both worlds. Wisowl any ideas?
CinnamonMoon:
To address the issue you
raised Earthwalker, that's the purpose of this coming Dance.
You'll gain that understanding. You see, so far everyone has
been "looking" at things, seeing the Dance unfold
and seeking to see their Guides or the dimensional landscapes.
In that process they are overlooking the sensual reaction to
the elemental forces themselves.
I want to trigger your senses in
this next Dance so you do *touch*, *feel*, *smell*, *hear*,
and see what's taking place. The overall plan I have is to introduce
each element individually and merge with and into the next.
This way you'll feel the cross-quarters too as you take one
on and release it and then move ahead.
The release in this case is not external
however, it's internal...you tuck it aside in your sacred space
and explore the next element. As you go you keep tucking until
you get to the Middle World and unity takes place. There you
*should* be standing in union with Spirit calling up the presence
of the forces around you too. It's a sensual rather than visual
Dance so I don't expect to be seeing visions or having Guides
popping in on us.
My goal is to have you standing
in each of the elements consumed by it and consuming it to the
point of saturated understanding at a safe level. I don't want
anyone losing breath, being burnt, drowning, or being smothered
by the elemental forces. Those are real risks we can encounter
and they need to be guarded against. That will come through
our intent and the way we work. Since the overwhelming majority
here seem to be for this I'll be working on a guided exercise
you can all look over first to keep you on track with this.
Then when we come back from the Dance
I'd like people to describe the aspects of each element they
experienced in the Dance itself. It should be very insightful
to all of us. Once we're successful with this initial Dance
it should be incorporated into all future Dances you do to have
the full energy cycles working with you to enhance your results.
It will serve to attune you to these forces in nature and the
more you do this exercise the stronger your perceptions will
become. In the future it will spill into the mundane sense and
you'll *know* when an element is reaching for you in some fashion,
how to focus on it and step out of the mundane momentarily to
get that message, and what to do with it when you do. At least
that's my goal here. We'll have to see how our results come
back. It may take a few tries for some people and if that's
the case that's fine too.
“Can we also merge the other
elements when within each element. In others while feeling fire
cane we also feel the effect of air, water, earth on it. etc.”
Yes. It takes place once they are
defined and explored separately so you have the sense of what's
what. That takes place in the unification of the 7th Sacred
Direction at the Center of the Wheel within the essence of Spirit/Creator
and Self. That's where the energy is brought into unity to be
wielded/or released. In this case we'll ground it to Mother
Earth and practice our Healing techniques by intent to Heal.
She'll take it in and we'll serve a higher good rather than
waste the energy itself.
“How do you enhance the ability
to feel the elements?”
Through your sensual perceptions
and intent/will.
“I can see the effects of air
on fire but cannot feel them. But it is still from the outside
looking in even when walking through the element. I can see
the effects but cannot feel them....Is there a way to get past
this inability?”
Yes. That's advanced work and we'll
take it a step at a time. I don't want to get people too far
ahead of themselves here and once the basics are grasped this
will become very evident to you. The way you respond with your
senses to interact will create the communication link you need
to these elemental forces. Understanding their properties in
this way you will have an instant respect for their potentials
at both ends of the spectrum and know how to honor that. Mixing
them too soon can be violent in the reaction (thus the storms
that exist at the cross-quarters of energy) and you can find
yourself in a heap of trouble with disastrous results so first
things first.
Tarra said: “But all the Raw
Elements in one Dance? That's an awful lot of energy mixing.”
Northernwolf said: “I was thinking
the same thing.. all in a one shot deal. But you have to understand
the way I took what you said....Feeling an element means to
really go deep inside it. I know when I did it with fire one,
my body at the end of it had raised in temperature I'm sure
and it was getting quite intense. In these matters I tend to
be a bit extremist and feel it full force if I can, at least
go as far as I can until I chicken out which happens regularly
or one of my guides pulls me out. But to answer your question,
I'm game for it big time, it's going to be a needed reminder
and a good refresher course for me.”
This is to enter each to saturation
(as each person explores to their level of understanding) and
then stepping out of that element into the next setting the
prior one aside temporarily until the center point is achieved.
Then we'll ground it immediately. This way the "overload"
won't be a problem. We'll also get a lesson in stepping into
Source Energy itself through the unification stage and channeling
that energy too. So it should be a very good Dance for everyone
and it may even trigger some freedom of old blockages that have
held some of us back. Sometimes we get preoccupied with what
we'll see and we don't realize we are limiting our perspective.
This way we'll see, touch, hear, smell, and taste the elemental
forces in a way many have never experienced and an enlightenment
will be had. I hope. *Smiles* See you there!
Wisowl:
Hi,
I guess I’m in…hopefully I’ll be ready for it.
Lady Athena:
I am in though I am ‘lil
uncertain of what to DO.....I have tried to read all your messages,
but I must say I am in a hurry b/c my dear pc have a *down period*
and soon I will have to close it to 'log in' again & again!
So in short words, tell me what to do , and I am so interested
in knowing more,
Tarra:
03/21/03
Friday, Spring time around 6:00 pm PST We will be doing a Sweat
Lodge Ceremony. The intent of doing a Sweat before a Dance/Ceremony
is to purify/clean yourself, so as to be as balanced as you
can be for the Dance/Ceremony.
CinnamonMoon:
Lady Athena, I'll be posting
the directions to follow for this Dance prior to doing it. I'm
working on them now but need more time. You can print them out
if you want to and follow along that way rather than trying
to stay logged on if you're having trouble. Tarra, Thank you
for the Sweat Lodge Ceremony! It's always a blessing to have
such generous offers from you. I'll be there! the Dance will
be on the Full Moon of the 18th. But in spiritual terms we're
able to jump time so you can attend the Sweat that way. (Gotta
think ahead!)
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Libraries
are on this row
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INDEX
Page 3
(Main Section, Medicine Wheel, Native Languages &
Nations, Symbology)
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INDEX
Page 5
(Sacred Feminine & Masculine, Stones & Minerals)
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©
Copyright: Cinnamon Moon & River WildFire Moon (Founders.)
2000-date
All rights reserved.
Site
constructed by Dragonfly
Dezignz 1998-date
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