SPIRIT        LODGE   LIBRARY Spiritual Development Page 56

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RECOGNIZING YOUR MEDICINE AND POTENTIAL DISCUSSION
By CinnamonMoon

SEDD posted a comment on another site and I had added a comment to it that I thought I'd share here
as well. I think it will help some of you with your perspectives. SEDD, if you care to add your
post here too I think it's quite relative to what a lot of our community members are going
through. Here’s her comment:

“This is your time of maturity - don't waste it - for it will be 4 new seasons before this
opportunity to reap the harvest appears again in your ever turning cycle.”

My response to that was:
Thank you SEDD, you raised an important issue. I think a lot of people come "looking" for
what's in themselves already. Our birth comes blessed with gifts to begin with: talents and
abilities natural to our makeup, a Spirit Group of Guides, Teachers, Helpers/Allies, and
Protectors (whom if we ignore end up finding out they have a mule on their hands, poor things!).
Then as we begin our walk, if we are to serve with our Medicine that begins to grow.
The Ancestors/Elders/Ancient Ones will rise up from the Below World to teach us of hidden
knowledge or lost lore, of ceremony, and ritual that we are hence given "permission" to use. It
becomes *ours* in essence only. It is up to us if we feel we've found someone worthy of passing
it on to or not. This is not done lightly as it was hard won. They give us Songs, Dances,
Teachings and they initiate us into the aspect that our role is to take on through rites of passage.
This is how we know we can do these things and do them right because we have imparted to us
the appropriate use and methods of application. Added to our innate gifts we are "enlightened"
and our Medicine is enhanced.

Honoring our own Medicine is enough. We should never feel we need to compete with someone
else or allow the Ego in there. Medicine...personal Medicine is a compilation of all that we are
mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. It's our Totems and what they bring to us, our
abilities and what we can do with them, and our Gifts of Spirit and how we apply them ... serving
and sharing who we are with others that cross our paths...touching a life one touch, one life, at a
time. It is enough.

Medicine needs to be honored or it can be lost. It will fade away and weaken or it will simply
cease to be effective. It's like a muscle...unused it will atrophy, abused it will suffer damage and
thus so will we. Used appropriately and for the higher good it grows strong. The power we use to
wield it belongs to Spirit. For this reason when people thank me I tell them to thank Spirit
instead or to pass it on. The success of our work is because Spirit allows us to connect to Source
Energy, to Spirit's Love and Grace, and to act as a Hollow Bone to channel it and direct it where
it is needed. Our Medicine is our gift and our blessing for in the sharing and touching of lives
others touch us in the most beautiful and profound ways.

There is not one student, not one pathwalker, not one client that I've worked with, that does not
leave to walk their way without friendship between us on some level and for that we both are
blessed. In that giving or exchange we are blessed with bonds and learning experiences because
we do these things for the higher good. Those bonds are very special...even if we never touch
again.

In respecting our Medicine we learn to be humble and to give respect to Spirit passing our
gratitude on through prayer and thanksgiving to the Source, to Creator from which it all flows.
As you said, if we are given the gifts of artistic talents, of mechanical ability, of technical skills,
and many other things...in the mundane sense we need to follow those paths. We're best in those
areas and there's no reason to envy another. We're already good at what we do or have the
capability to become better.

Our spiritual abilities are the same. The trick is learning that they can intermix between the
spiritual and mundane and we can apply all that we are to any level of reality we happen to be
facing at the moment. Spiritual gifts are as much a part of the physical reality as they are the
dimensional realms and we need to remember they are in our pocket at all times and through us
interconnected just as we are. We need to honor them by using them appropriately in all that we
do. If we don't we can bet our bottom dollar that Spirit will see to it we have another lesson
shortly!

The NOW of the moment is where we are and where we need to focus ourselves. NA's have
always ignored the clock. Wisely!!! LOL When we stop listening to that tick tock tick tock tick
tock we are able to listen to the beat of our own heart in unison with Spirit and see things more
clearly. There's no pressure to be in the moment for we are there already. If you move with the
current of the Now/Season you are in you are in the flow and productive.
Thank you SEDD, and I hope you don't mind me running with this one. It's powerful.

SilverEagleDreamDancer:
Nope - don't mind at all. Here is what I originally posted:
I'd like to speak a moment on something that I've been feeling for a long time. What about our
own medicine? Each and every one of us have something (maybe several somethings) about that
is a gift of and to the Great Spirit and all those we touch throughout our lives. I guess I concern
myself that sometimes people will forget that part. Is your medicine music? Art? Expression?
Understanding? Fixing pipes? In your deepest heart, when you stand before your Creator, will
you point to a spirit teacher and say all the good you've done is because of them.... or is there
medicine within you that you will own and share back with Creator? Worth pondering for a few,
for me anyway.

Shamanic experiences come to us from exploring our own medicine and our own path. I didn't
go looking for thunder beings - they came to me as I searched myself and Creator. And for me,
that's far more meaningful. Maybe not for all... but that's how I learned. Creator saw when I was
ready to explore more of my medicine and sent me wolf teachers. I didn't go looking for the
experience. I asked the Ancestors for help in finding a small boy and I was sent a Crow teacher...
I could've easily been told no.

So it troubles me when I see people ask how they can ‘find' their totems or ‘get' their guides, like
they could buy them in a store off the shelf. They aren't things to have or possess. They are
sacred beings in their own right who have agreed to walk with you for a bit. They deserve the
respect of your heart and commitment of time.
A bit meandering but it's been on my heart.
(she's prodding me LOL)

CinnamonMoon:
Yeah, maybe I am but only...only...if you have time. I know you're swamped. I thought it would
help people here that don't frequent the other site too. Though I'd like to see more mixing of the
sights since both have unique and complimentary personas. Anyway, let's see what people think
and thank you for putting up the original post. It was your words that inspired mine!

Earthwalker:
Cinnamon, SEDD and SL.

As I read this post I sat down and cried, both in joy and sadness. The past few days have been
intense. Cinnamon's words:

“There is not one student, not one pathwalker, not one client that I've worked with, that does not
leave to walk their way without friendship between us on some level and for that we both are
blessed. In that giving or exchange we are blessed with bonds and learning experiences because
we do these things for the higher good. Those bonds are very special...even if we never touch
again.”

…weigh heavily on my heart, and express much of what I have been feeling since I
communicated with the White Grandfather Spirit who has come to me and indicated that the
“Time is Now”. He has come to me hence several times and has not spoken of my path forward
but has communicated things. I therefore look forward to my path with joy but also with sadness
as I move away from each of you. Yet, as Cinnamon said:

“The NOW of the moment is where we are and where we need to focus ourselves.”
I was gifted with the sight the White Grandfather Spirit with Rolling Clouds coming out of his
hands (nonviolently), a raccoon in the presence of the White Grandfather Spirit suggesting
disguise and balance, and the sight of a red tailed Hawk yesterday further telling me to balance
things as I drove along.

SEDD has said:

“Shamanic experiences come to us from exploring our own medicine and our own path.”
I would listen well to her words. I did not choose this path it was given to me starting first with a
longing and a dream, then meeting with the Spirit of Bear. Then meeting an individual that was
Buddhist and whose life I turned upside down. Subsequently, I met an individual that loved the
land as I did, was a minister in the past but led me unknowingly to accept shamanism or the
mystic world in my life (whatever it may be). From there I found the grandfather’s teaching in
"Awakening Spirits" by Tom Brown which was followed by Cinnamon’s book "Medicine Woman
Speaks". Spirit led me to these as I searched for my answers. Further searching led me to SL and
meeting each and every one of you. Cinnamon has shared her knowledge relentlessly and has
taken me from dreams to working with all types of power and totem animals, spirit guides and
teachers as well as the elements in multiple realms. As SEDD says

“They are sacred beings in their own right who have agreed to walk with you for a bit. They
deserve the respect of your heart and commitment of time.”

This I believe. I have been given immeasurable gifts by Spirit through the hand and sharing of
Cinnamon's knowledge and understanding through Spirit Lodge members. Although I do not yet
know the who, what, why, and when of my path, I am confident that I will in time; knowing full
well as Cinnamon’s says

“We're already good at what we do or have the capability to become better. Our abilities and
what we can do with them, and our Gifts of Spirit and how we apply them ... serving and sharing
who we are with others that cross our paths...touching a life one touch, one life, at a time. It is
enough.”

Yes, it is enough and Spirit guides us or pushes and pulls us along the path we are to walk!
I do not know exactly why I am being drawn to write this now. I hope to continue to visit
frequently yet there is a pull to thank you all for what you have shared and given me, each in
your own way. I have been on these boards for seven months (almost to the day) and have grown
immensely by knowing each of you (Cinnamon, Ghostkatt, Moonie, Northern, SEDD, Tarra,
Winddancer, Wiseowl and all of the others). It is with sadness that I leave but I need to walk
forward alone into the unknown. This I have been shown (despite the limited knowledge I
possess). Still I walk in confidence that Spirit will guide me as it has done over my entire life. I
also walk with the gifts that new friends have given me over the past seven months; never will
that be forgotten. Thank you all !

SilverEagleDreamDancer:
Earthwalker, Your questing has helped me in my growth. I wish you well on your journey and
hope our paths will cross again someday.

CinnamonMoon:
Earthwalker, please know you will always be a part of this community and welcome to return
whenever you like. The door is open. There are times in all our lives we must move on in order to
grow. Perhaps part of this is a lesson in the solitary life of the shamanic path. It may be
temporary, perhaps not, but you walk with Spirit in your heart and a good grasp of what you
need to do. You are in good company with your Guides and your foundations will only grow
stronger.

There are times when physical teachers are not necessary, when Spirit steps in and takes over
our training and we learn through trial and error. Much of my own training came to me this way
and I'd say some of the best of it too. *Soft smile* It's been a pleasure working with you. I've
grown in many ways myself in that process and love the exchanges we've had. We found two
radically different ways of perception can come together in their own harmony to communicate
and understand one another...at least to a point. LOL I've enjoyed that.

I thank you for your friendship and the opportunity to get to know you so well. It's been an
honor. I hope you won't be too far away and will stop by now and then when time permits.
Meanwhile, may Spirit bless the path you walk and fill it with enlightenments and understanding
so you can grow to be all that you are within. Let the light shine from your heart and you won't
go wrong. Many blessings to you!!!

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