2009 - Sacred objects: medicine

Dear New Breed Healers,
Thank you for your conversations, questions and reflections.

I would like to begin with a consideration and question.
What value does a feather or other sacred object hold?

In our tradition, the feather or sacred object holds 'medicine'.
Now if I am a person outside of my tradition, then a feather may hold no importance or conscious value at all. For some human beings on this earth plane a rock is a rock without consciousness, freewill or choice.
This is not our belief.
So from the aboriginal heartmind that all life is sacred and connected and that we are all a part of co-creation, I come from this place in consideration of the heartmind, as in All That Is. And it is through my lineage of DNA, Pattern and Belief that you are intricately connected to this lineage. Thus you have been given the Magic to explore this Medicine under my Spiritual Guidance.

2nd. ____________, you stated, "What i am realizing is that the feather teaching suggests that there is something wrong, immoral, harmful, and lacking integrity about giving or receiving feathers."

I believe that what you are saying is that your experience of the feather teaching is: "What i am realizing is that the feather teaching suggests that there is something wrong, immoral, harmful, and lacking integrity about giving or receiving feathers."

In my reality as your teacher, the feather teaching as any of my teaching is not about duality, fear vs happiness, ego ownership vs soul knowing, etc. but rather conscious understanding.

Considerations regarding the teaching of feathers.

What is the teaching of feathers and sacred objects?

Can anyone pull up the teaching that I supplied to the community last year?
What is 'medicine'?

When I consider medicine I look at it as something that will bring the bodies into balance. What medicine might be helpful to one may not be helpful to another.

I will also need to know the history of that medicine.
If I find two white pills on the table, do I simply assume that the one that I am choosing is aspirin, what of the other pill, is it something that I would give to a child, or even take myself?

Aboriginal medicine is medicine of Mother Earth InSpirited.
Feathers are, in our world, Medicine.
I am teaching you my medicine.

When I consider that 'thoughts' co-create matter into forms of dream and intention, then I know that I must be hyper diligent in what I can hold in consciousness for my students while each is learning to personally discern authentic truth, of what I teach my students and when, their capacity to learn, understand, comprehend and to share without ego's attachment to ownership and all staying in humility.

So let us consider the Medicine of the Feather or another Sacred Object.

Example: Say that Joyce is walking down the trail and comes upon two black feathers. She picks them up and places them in her pocket. Joyce believes them to be of a crow.

Questions:
What does Joyce know about Crow Medicine?
Does she know that Crow medicine will take her into the deep recesses of her soul and pull out all of her inners and reveal each and every aspect of the Fiery foundation? Does she know that Crow is the Wisdom Keeper of the Deepest spaces in all of eternity and can transform the dark into the translucence of the Rainbow Tribe? Does this mean anything, and after the experience of being in the center of the chaos, will Joyce say, "I didn't know" or will Joyce remember that she took medicine that she was not prepared for? Could the experiences that Joyce is in, been more smoothly transitional, steady and surefooted?

To speak of this consideration is this fear?
Is this fear or do personal fears of being told what to do come up for the ego's mind? What is action and reaction of your physical, emotional and mind bodies?
If a child is riding their bike down the busy intersection of a city, and an elder asks them to come to the side where they can be more conscious of the traffic, is this fear or discernment? Is there a difference? If the child says. 'you are not the boss of me', what responsibility does the child have to self? What is the child's ability to respond in Balance? What is the elders ability to respond in Allowance?

Continuing with the story,
Let us say the Joyce has found these feathers and decides to give one to her friend, What is the potential for the friend in her unknowings receive in trust and become a playmate in the chaos? Now we can say that Joyce s friend called it in as she has her own Karma. Yet, are we not here to change karma into the path of dharma? Could Joyce have been in a more conscious awareness, have relieved the trauma for both through personal transformation of self discernment?

If we believe that our thoughtful actions can further the transformation of our world, then what of the more microcosmic consideration of the small act of 'feather medicine' in consciousness?

Let us take this further, What if by personal assumption, Joyce thought that the feather was crow and it was actually vulture? You know these two types of feathers do look a lot alike. How would one who has not studied the medicine of bird and feather really know what is what?

What is vulture medicine? It is the medicine of Shiva, using the physical mental and emotional body as the place of transformation of poisons. Who is prepared for that medicine? What does it take to receive this medicine? What if Joyce, a student of a Medicine Woman were to give this Medicine to one of her friends, out of a kind and open heart. What is Joyce s responsibility to her friend in giving her the feather? What is the Medicine Woman's responsibility to this friend? Can Joyce s friend become ill from receiving the feather of a vulture?

A couple of stories:

I once had a friend who said that nothing that she said could hurt the spiritual development of another as all had freewill.

I said, 'we all have the ability to respond, yet our ability to respond in consciousness is also directly connected to our own experience and discernment of empathetic compassion.' If I say, I hate you, and I believe that this hate has no influence on the emotional memory of the soul, then I am not very advanced in my experience and understanding of empathetic compassion. If I say, I love you, how does that make you feel and does this or does this not enhance the very emotional wisdom of the soul/ego relationship?

When we choose conscious empathetic compassion, through our personal ability to respond to conscious consideration in awareness of the various aspects of what I believe and what I share, and with whom I share it with, and their capacity.................... am I not taking All that Is into my heartmind in center and balance?

Story two:
I have various friends of our Aboriginal walk.
Just the other day, I received a call from a friend who said that he had been gifted a number of feathers. He received them in trust, though not in personal awareness,
and that night experienced a number of mental and physical attacks.
He then put two and two together and realized that they were the feathers.

Now not to get into details about this, I just want to say that this is a perfect example of the discernment needed in giving and receiving of sacred objects from another.

For this very reason I have set up some boundaries regarding things like feathers and sacred objects.

#1 One - If you don't know the medicine don't take it and certainly don't give it to another.

#2 Two - If you are given a sacred object or feather and you choose to accept it then let me know. I hold you in spaces of conscious and unconscious awareness. It would not be of your highest potential and well being to take a medicine without consult.

In the case of ________, ________ do you remember that I told you of the dream I had of your ancestors giving you a feather of your origin in the healing of your lineage?

#3 Three - Boundaries are not negative and fear based unless you choose them to be. Boundaries are guide lines that allow us to test ourselves and each other and to help us to know where we are safe and in discernment. We call this the Discerning Heart, It is not about good or bad, punishment or guilt, shame or blame.

If you wish to study and know about feathers, I suggest that you get several bird books and learn about the makeup of the bird, it's habitat, it likes and dislikes, its way. It is through this heartmind understanding and rhythmic of life cycle that we learn about its medicine and offering to the world. Do you remember the various studies we did last year regarding the Kingfisher and Coyote.
If you choose to hold a medicine of a bird, one let me know, two keep it for yourself. When you know what it means to embody that bird then you may share your medicine. You may not share it with people who do not understand what you are giving them.

For example, ________ you are teaching Hawk Dance, you have had to learn some things about Hawk Medicine. Do you know everything about Hawk Medicine or are you still learning. What questions do you have about giving hawk feathers to another person. What responsibilities do you feel that you have to people who are learning about hawk medicine from you? Is it easy?

'Do not lead a person to drink sand when they believe that you are taking them to drink water.' (I heard that in a movie one time).
Is this attitude and boundary about fear?
What does this mean to you and your responsibility?
What is your ability to respond?

Let us continue the conversation.

Inlove with All That Is,
Willow

RE: Feathers

Sacred Objects:
There are specific gifts that a teacher gives a student.
These gifts are embuded with the teachers medicine.

Feathers are eternal prayers. Prayers of a teacher hold the essential essence of the Being being held. They are to be handled by the teacher with the upmost integrity and internal skill as they are to be passed on as the essence of the teacher holds the vibrational energy to the infinite eternal.

Feathers are received from Mother Earth or from ones teacher.

Questions a teacher must ask self when giving the gift of the feather.
Do I have an attachment to the gift being given?
Do I have an attachment to the student?
Do I have an attachment to the sacredness of the gift?
Do I give this gift to someone who holds the same heart space as I do?
Does this student hold the capacity to walk in centered generosity with this prayer?
Will my medicine be used in a way that holds the intentions that I hold in like harmony of qualities?
Can I as a giver of the feather hold this person for eternity without reservation?

RE: A staff

A staff is sacred object which reminds us of the path which we travel as individual and as a whole community.

A staff may be given as a gift from the student to the teacher as a sign of lessons learned and connections made through the teachers teaching and the students understanding.

A staff may be turned over from teacher to student.
A staff may be held by one teacher for another in times of aide and must be returned to the original entrusted. This includes the directional posts which are held by the entrusted.

RE: Medicine Bag

A medicine bag may be initiated by a teacher. For instance the leather may be gifted by a teacher to a student.
The student must create the medicine bag to hold personal medicine. It is wise for the student to ask about a medicine bag so that the initiation and prayer for personal medicine of the student be initiated.

RE: Altar Cloth

The cloth of the altar is given by the teacher to the student as a personal prayer for the spiritual life of the student to be explored upon the canvas of eternity. This gift given is a sign that the teacher understands where the personal commitment is of that student and the teachers prayer in the sanctuary which is held by the student.

RE: Scarf

A scarf or waist cloth is initiated by teacher as a sign that a student is inwardly prepared for inner initiation.

These scarfs or waist cloths can be designed by the community only when the vibration of the community is held in common agreement.

There are gifts that a teacher may give to a student which represent passages:
A shawl or a blanket is given as a covering which deeply holds the Being during extended deep personal examination times.

An item of jewelry is given when the student connects with the teacher in a heart knowing of the eternal path. This gift is a sign of an eternal soul sight/vision.

These are some of my thoughts on SACRED OBJECTS.

Love,

3/2009 - AWM #183: Divine Truth in Human Miracles

LSD 4/2009 - AWM #192: Walking the Beauty Way