Monthly Archives: September 2009

Announcing the Fall Harvest Give Away

The Give Away

The Give Away ceremony is a Native American Tradition. In Native American cultures, the give away ceremony is the ultimate act of selfless giving. Rather than expect the community to shower a person with gifts on a special occasion, the reverse occurs: the honored individual presents everyone else with something special. Another underlying value of the give away held over from the nomadic days is keeping one’s belongings to a minimum and sharing abundance with all those around. Once something is given away, all strings to that gift are broken and the gift is given with no expectations. There is a high value placed on giving away and sharing what is ours. We all know the saying “It is better to give than receive”. This is the give away ceremony. Continue reading →

A Coyote’s Tail

Back at the beginning of the month, I required a “mental health weekend”. I was nearing a point of completion with a shamanic death and restructuring process that began with the full moon and lunar eclipse in July and was due for the final integration at the full moon and lunar eclipse in August. This was a intensely deep process that completely picked my bones clean, disintegrated me down to my DNA and slowly began the process of recreating me. Needless to say, this certainly rattled my cage and shifted many things in and around me, much to the dismay of some people and situations that no longer fit into the new me. But, that’s another story. Verging on the point of explosion, I called for a “mental health weekend”.

Often I’ll tell Gary “I need a vacation” and we both agree and that’s where it gets left. Not this time. Immediately after I made my declaration, I returned and asked just where we were going camping. I needed to spend time with Mother Earth and the Elementals. So, we packed up the Taj Mahal (our roomy tent), air mattress and the rest of our camping gear and headed toward north eastern Arizona.

We found a lovely primitive place to camp, amidst the noise of several families with little ones. And, in spite of the screaming babies, we reveled in the cooler weather, journeyed to the moon and stars, danced with the fire spirits and played with the Elementals and ravens that happened by, and just sat and did NOTHING! Continue reading →