| The Medicine Ways of Our Ancestors:
A Dreamtime Vision for Happiness in a World Rife With Chaos In Faith | by Kara Hawkins "It is a starry night and the air is electric. The stars are moving. I hear the electricity in the air and see little bursts of light popping around me. I am wondering if this is a good night to fly. The winds are blowing so strongly, and I recall that all my lucid flying dreams have been in calmer weather. Out on the horizon the gathering clouds plummet to earth, moving as a tornado. Dark and churning a path this way and that, they are heading my way. 'OK, that decides it, no flying,' and I hold Tara, a little girl who is shaking in my arms, as folks around us run for cover." This lucid dream excerpt affords a window into an incredible resource all of us have within: The Dreamtime. From a traditional Native understanding, our Dreamtime is not limited to our nightly romps, but to our day dreams as well: those we intentionally create, such as journeys and visualization, as well as those fleeting bouts of fancy we indulge in throughout the day. It is in the Dreamtime that all healing takes place and outcome is visualized. It is here we retrieve the medicine ways of our ancestors. "Medicine" according to traditional Native understanding, is wisdom gathered for healing and enrichment for our lives and those of all our relations. The key to happiness is being in the present moment and recognizing that all our thoughts are real. We come into the awareness that all we are experiencing is our own creation. "How can this be?" you might wonder. "Why would I want to create this and how can I be happy when all around me is not?" The answers, again, are within. Beginning with the core issue or root cause at our center, we can view holistically how everything within us is connected and interrelated. This is a first and primary understanding of healing with Native American Medicine Ways. Recognizing healing as fourfold -- spiritual, mental, emotional and physical -- we realize that energy generated from a triggered core issue, such as a past traumatic experience, affects our emotions, which in turn affects our thoughts -- our thoughts create outcome. All are related and all are interconnected. What affects any of the four parts of self will affect all others. Intention and vigilance of thought, all part of the Dreamtime, are integral to manifesting happiness. It matters not the chaos around you, so long as your intention, held like a true warrior of focus, is maintained. This is spiritual warriorship. It takes persistence, and it takes discipline of thoughts and feelings. You must walk your intention in thought, word and deed. When emotions come up: fears, anger or any other thought that is not of the outcome you are intending, let it go, as in meditation. Recognize the emotion is triggered from a core issue, and not necessarily from the present situation -- and allow its release. Be as the Fool in the Tarot, holding the vision of your outcome while stepping off the precipice into the chaos of the world. Another ancestral practice is that of hollow bone. This Native American medicine practice is in many ways similar to the art of quieting the self in meditation. However, where the focus on meditation is the continual emptying of thought and inspiration, the purpose of becoming a hollow bone is to become a vessel for Spirit to work through. In both practices, the art of emptying the self is integral. When emotions flare, the wise woman or man will know that a core issue has been triggered and to not attach to the emotion. He or she will allow it to pass and release itself. To the degree we are able to let emotions pass and allow their release -- and to the degree we practice emptying ourselves of judgment, random thoughts, preconceptions and assumptions -- we become a good vessel for Spirit to facilitate healing -- a hollow bone. The art of emptying oneself can be tricky. Trickster coyote will find ways to "trip you up." To circumvent the trickster, i.e., our ego, we set our sacred space, set our intention and call Spirit in to help us in the way we are used to doing. For many who practice Native American Medicine Ways, it is in the calling of the Four Directions, the One Spirit that we are all a part of. We recognize Spirit before us, behind us, to the left and right of us. The Fifth Direction is the Father above, and the Sixth is Mother Earth below. The Seventh Direction is within. Broadening and expanding our consciousness, we understand the Spirit to encompass the universe and we rest within the center of that consciousness. In so doing, we allow our regular thought processes to quiet. We let go of presumptions, judgments, fears and preconceptions. We do ceremony to attain this, for ceremony, along with song, chanting, rhythm of drum and rattle, aligns our bodies (mental, spiritual, emotional and physical) into the present moment, the point of all power and the point where healing can take place. Most importantly, add to your spiritual practice beginning each day with intention and prayer. It can mean the difference between a less-than-productive day of scattered energies, and one that unfolds serenely manifesting your innermost desires. Cultivate thanksgiving. Be thankful for ALL THAT IS, both the perceived good and the perceived bad. This will help you to "get out of the way" for Spirit to work so that your intentions may manifest. Dream on, my relatives. Aho, mitakuye oyasin! Rev. Dr. Kara Hawkins lives in Kansas City and is the American Indian member of the Kansas City Interfaith Council and Team Leader for its Personal Crisis Task Force. Hawkins teaches and presents in the greater KC metropolitan area, as well as around the country. She is currently working on a CD with flautist Stumbling Deer. Buffalo ThunderDreamer will be released later this autumn. Contact her at KaraHawk@aol.com Copyright © 2003 Kara Hawkins |
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