Sacred Light

          It was light long before the sun finally came out from behind the mountain, but still cold. I stayed nestled in my sleeping bag for a while longer. I knew our supporters would soon be checking in on me. It was dawn, and I wanted mni wakhan like the inspiring woman had promised me. Also, I wanted to leave with them immediately! I thought my vision quest was absolutely over, finished, and complete. I was still so desperate for water!! It was not food I desired, only Life saving water! When they arrived to check on me, I was given pejuta wakhan, sacred medicine, blessed water, about two cups worth. They encouraged me to stay a little longer and to continue to spend the day in prayer. They said they would check on me again to see how I felt in the evening. Reluctantly, I agreed to stay knowing thirst would be my biggest challenge.          The fly’s and the bee’s plagued me yet again, ...

My sacred pipe was all ready to go, my 405 prayer ties were made, and I felt as prepared mentally and physically as I could be. I had stopped eating solid food two days before we left in order to shrink my stomach and empty my bowels. I was only drinking homemade lemonade and water to keep my body hydrated. There were five women and one man going on hanbleceya. We had supporters helping us through this experience. You can’t do this sacred traditional Lakota rite alone. It takes a team to make it possible. We left for Kamas, UT on the morning of Sept 10 th , 2015. We made our four prayer flags at our supporter’s home while the sacred fire was heating up the rocks for our inipi, which starts our vision quest. A sacred fire would burn for us the whole time we were out on the mountain praying. Someone would always be attending that fire, day and night, throughout our four days of prayer. When the ‘grandfathers’ were ready, we started the inipi. In this sweat lodge, ...

WAKAN TANKA, Great Spirit, teach me how to trust my heart, my mind, my intuition, my inner knowing, the senses of my body, the blessings of my spirit. Teach me to trust these things so that I may enter my sacred space and love beyond my fear, and thus Walk in balance with the passing of each glorious Sun. ~ A Lakota Prayer (Preparing for my first Vision Quest summer of 2015, creating my Chanupa.) I participated in my first Lakota Sweat Lodge ceremony, an inipi, at the end of June 2015. It was something I had wanted to do for a really long time. An inipi, or sweat lodge ceremony, is a purification ritual meaning ‘to live again’. It involves the five elements of earth, water, air, fire, and ether (spirit) at once. When you enter the sweat lodge you do so on 'bended knee' representing humility. We crawl around the rock pit clockwise to take a seat on Mother Earth, men on one side, women on the other. The sweat lodge represents the womb of our Pachamama, Earth Moth...

As we get ready to celebrate Christmas in my home, my thoughts have been centered around how much my beliefs have changed since leaving Mormonism. I am no longer a Christian, but I am devoted to the teachings of Jesus; not just his words in the bible, but also from the Gnostic Gospels as well. I believe great truths are hidden from the masses who are following the common Christian religion. Especially, the teaching of the Christ, or Chrism, within each of us. Many of us celebrated the Winter Solstice yesterday. Right now, the sun is resting for three days, rising on the same latitudinal degree until December 25th when it will move one degree northward signalling its beginning journey around the wheel of the year once again. Light will be returning, taking precious time back from the darkness of night in the Northern Hemisphere. In the ancient times, anything that stopped moving for three days was considered dead. The Sun God stopped in the sky, was dead for three days, and then ...

Our ancestors worshiped the Sun, and they were not that foolish. It makes sense to revere the Sun and the stars, for we are their children.   ~ Carl Sagan    In January 2015 while attending a study group for A Course in Miracles,  which was channeled by Helen Schucman, the teacher told me about another book channeled by the energy of Jesus called The Way of Mastery published by the Shanti Christo Foundation. I had never heard of this book, but I immediately felt it call to my heart. I ordered it the next day. Once I started reading it, it was clear my life was about to change again in a wonderful way. It affirmed what I had already come to believe, that God is only Divine Love and Sacred Light. As we celebrate the Winter Solstice this week and honor the return of the Sun in its journey around the Zodiac, I find my self reminiscing of the time I was illuminated by Sunlight during a sacred meditation from  The Way of Mastery. Even though my experience...