Guides and Guidance
Spirit
Guide Meditation
Great Sky
Guidance
Animal Spirit Guides
Red
Road and Blue Road
Within the Sky World of Higher Vision are Spiritual Guides and Guardians, Who are ready to help us with guidance and healing, and ready to help us in our work of service. If we are ready and willing, They can infuse us with their wisdom and love, and will lead us toward our own illumination and the expression of our inherent potentials. We see or hear these Guides as individual presences, and yet They are all part of the Great Spirit Mind of Love-Wisdom. Realize that the Great Spirit of Illumination and Guidance is already within your soul, yet you may need a catalyst or a helpful lead into the right spiritual direction and Way of Harmony, which the Guides and Guardians provide. To help us is Their service and Their joy. Some can be recognized as great Ancestors or great Teachers who once walked the Earth-Path, and others remain as Anonymous Helpers for those earth-walkers who can hear and follow the Voices of Wisdom. Some of these Teachers of The Great Lodge may decide to be reborn in the world in order to better serve the coming generations. Then, as they grow up in a new body and in a new world, they must gradually remember and re-acquire their spiritual wisdom, with help, of course, from the Invisible Guardians and from teachers already here on Earth.
Many people have visions of Spiritual Helpers or hear voices speaking from the Spirit World. Remember, though, that it is actually quite easy to contact spirits and voices from the Beyond, but it takes more inner work and experience to contact the Higher Spirit Guides and Teachers. So one needs to discriminate between lesser spirits and greater Spirits, or between trivial chatter and true wisdom of Spirit Mind. Often, there are close relations who have recently passed from this earth-walk, or ancestors, who may wish to tell you things. In fact, there are many souls who have a lot of ideas and a lot to say, but most of this is rather unimportant. Shamans rarely bother with passed on souls, unless there is a definite need for such communications. Instead, shamans seek the guidance and wisdom of the Greater Spirit Guides and Medicine Chiefs of the Spirit World.
In our meditations and journeys through the Spirit World, we must continually aspire toward the highest and brightest illumination of spiritual wisdom, and not merely get caught up in the glamors of spiritual mediumship. For if you merely desire visions of many guides and spirit appearances, like having a fine collection of paintings by famous people, then you are likely to be caught in the glamors of spirit guides and spirit messages and may be open to spiritual delusion. Then, true wisdom takes a back seat to glamor, and you are likely to attract lesser spirits and voices, who are often deluded by their self-importance. Just as we would be foolish to believe everything anyone tells us, we are also fools if we believe everything thought or voiced in the mind.
Truth and faith are the most important virtues we can have, but we must also be realistic about our enemy, and the enemy of Truth is gullibility, self-deception and dishonesty, which is what must be challenged within oneself. The struggle through delusion and glamor is part of everyone’s spiritual path, and it must be broken down by the power of the spiritual warrior, who perseveres intently along the higher path to greater truth and illumination. The greater challenge of the warrior is with oneself, and those who lack patience and perseverance will be easily fooled and diverted along the Journey to Truth. The spiritual warrior breaks through the barriers of false desire and self-deception, and rides with inner strength and perseverance toward the rising sun of Higher Illumination.
The test of any guidance or teaching is to be honest if you really understand it or not, and if it has some useful relevance to your spiritual path. It should make sense to you, not just by an act of reason or logic, but it should vibrate as truth within the heart. The heart recognizes the sound of truth, because in the heart is the knowing soul or spiritual self. The real truth will resound in the heart as being the truth, for through the heart comes the sense of true understanding. You may hear all sorts of things in the head, but you must judge what is true in the heart.
The truly Great Ones, the Great Guides, seek to lead us ever closer to the One Spirit of Love and Wisdom, toward the One Spirit which is already within us, and which can be found reflecting in the world of natural beauty. The Wise Ones can help lead us along the way, but it is truly the One Great Spirit which illuminates the soul and heals the mind, body and emotions. So we can receive and be helped by Spirit Guides, but never forget that all of the true Spirit Guides are part of the One Great Spirit Mind, of which you are also a part and reflection of.
Remember that the actual guidance, the inner visions and inner teachings, are what’s important, rather than the name or seeing of the spirit guide. Feeling the Presence of Guidance or just knowing that a spiritual presence is here to guide and protect and heal you, is more important than hearing names or seeing faces. The feeling of the Spirit Guide Presence is very important and will help build your inner connection and attunement with the Spirit Teacher. So begin by feeling the presence of the Spirit Guide, who is definitely here for you, who cares about you and wants to help lead you along your own Path to self-wholeness and service to the Whole. Then, once you are accustomed to this feeling of the Presence, you can begin to listen for the Voice of Truth, which you will definitely recognize as truth and Higher Wisdom.
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As part of the human spiritual world of souls is the Great Lodge of unseen Teachers and Guides. These are the human souls, men and women, who, while on Earth, achieved a perfect harmony and balance within themselves and with the circle of Mother Earth relations. They are the great Medicine Teachers and Wise Ones, who realized the heart of the Spiritual Sun and became illuminated with Its light. These Great Ones, also known as The Guides or The Spiritual Guardians, remain in the invisible world of Mind and are ready to help us with guidance, healing, and other kinds of service work. If we are ready and willing, They can infuse us with their wisdom and love, and will lead us toward our own illumination. We should realize the Great Spirit of Illumination and Guidance is already within our soul, though we often need a catalyst or a helpful lead into the right spiritual direction and toward the Way of Harmony, which the Guides and Guardians provide.
To help us is Their service and Their joy. And some of these Teachers of The Great Lodge may decide to be reborn in the world in order to better serve the coming generations. Then, as they grow up in a new body and in a new world, they must gradually remember and re-acquire their spiritual wisdom, with help, of course, from the unseen Guardians and from teachers already here on Earth. The Teachings of the White Buffalo can help you develop contact and communication with these Guides and especially with a particular Guide Who finds interest in your spiritual aspiration and in your potential service work. Many people have visions of Spiritual Helpers and feel Their presence around them. Yet we must remember to aspire toward the highest and brightest illumination of spiritual wisdom, and not merely get caught up in the glamors of Spirit Guides and spiritual mediumship. For if we merely desire the vision of many guides and many teachings, without aspiring always to the greater Light and Truth of The One Great Spirit, we are likely to become attached to dead souls who are merely deluded by self-importance and who merely appear as one of the Great Ones.
Just as we would be foolish to believe everything anyone tells us, we are also fools if we believe everything thought in the mind. We must all pass through the barrier of delusion and unconscious conditioning. The struggle through delusion and glamor is part of everyone’s spiritual path, and you cannot just jump over that barrier It must be broken down by the power of the spiritual warrior, who perseveres intently along the path to greater truth and illumination. The spiritual law states that the mind attracts to itself whatever it desires, so if our desire is not toward the highest truth or to Great Spirit Itself, then we are likely to be caught along the way by our own desire for glamor and self- importance. Trust and faith are the most important virtues we can have, but we must also pay head to the warning, just as the Native warrior had to be realistic about his enemy. The enemy of Spirit and Truth is self-deception and dishonesty, which is what must be destroyed within oneself. That is the path of the spiritual warrior. He defeats his own self-deception and dishonesty, and breaks through the barriers of false desire, and rides with inner strength toward the rising sun. The test of any guidance or teaching is to be honest if you really understand it or not. It should make sense to you, not just by an act of reason or logic, but it should vibrate as truth within the heart. Only the heart recognizes the sound of truth, because in the heart is the knowing soul or spiritual self. The real truth will resound in the heart as being the truth, and you will feel a sense of true understanding in the heart. You may hear things in the head, but you must judge truth in the heart.
The spiritual law says that we are given wisdom only according to what we deserve by our own efforts in study and understanding, and we attract to us vibrations and teachings according to our own vibration of love and aspiration to the Truth. We can make great leaps along the way, and receive new inspiring insights and visions, but only as we persevere toward the greater illumination of understanding. If we merely stop the search for truth and content ourselves in the self-delusion that we now know it all, or that we are now in contact with some all-wise spiritual guide, then we are denying the possibility of greater illumination and of becoming evermore closer to the very heart of the Great Spirit. The truly Great Ones, the Great Guides, seek to lead us ever closer to the One heart of Love, the One Spirit, which is already within us and can be found reflecting in the manifested world of beauty. The Wise Ones can help lead us along the way, but it is the truly One Great Spirit which illuminates the soul and heals the mind, body and emotions. Such is the truth. Ho.
If you wish to make contact with a Spiritual Guide, then begin by coming into your own self-honesty and your own natural knowing in the heart. Then, open your heart and mind, in humility, and make a sincere prayer for further guidance along the way and toward illumination. Your prayer, your humility, and your wish must be sincere and clearly known. As you ask or pray for guidance and presence of Spirit, know in faith that your prayer is heard in the spiritual world, according to its sincerity. Then become open and receptive to spiritual presence and help. Begin to feel the spiritual presence above and in back of you. When you have the feeling of this greater presence close to you, and feel yourself in the energy of this presence, then you have received contact and you know the presence is with you. You feel the love, the protection, and the care from this presence, and you will know it is right and good by the feeling of joy, peace, and being loved. If you do not feel good and nurtured by this, or if you feel uncomfortable or out of balance by this, then you need not accept this lower vibration and you should re-affirm your intention and prayer for a higher vibration or higher presence. Keep aspiring towards a greater light and wishing for the greatest presence of love that is possible.
This will protect you from lesser spirits and lead you to contact with your highest Spiritual Guide. When do make contact with what definitely feels right, good and healing, then allow this presence to balance and harmonize your emotional body, and release any held emotional stress or turbulence through the out breath, allowing the substance of this stuff to settle back down into the earth compost.
And become more and more in attunement with the spiritual vibrations of this presence. Once you have released the old stuff, you may feel as though you are being raised into this spiritual presence, or you may feel the presence infusing your mind and body.
This is all part of your own spiritual healing and attunement with the higher vibrations. As this proceeds, you may begin to hear wisdom and guidance from the Spirit Presence. An image of the Guide may appear to you, as well, but this is not so important and we should not become attached to the glamor of who is our great guide and what does he or she look like. If appearances and name-dropping is so important to you, then true wisdom takes a back seat to glamor and you are likely to attract lesser spirit guides, if we can even call them guides. Most important is the Love-presence, the healing presence, the protecting presence, and the true guidance which may be given. The guidance or vision given will necessarily depend on what exactly one needs at the time, and will depend on what we exactly ask for, or the particular question we hold in mind. What we receive will also depend on our own self-acquired illumination and the stage of our soul evolution, and it will also depend on our particular ability to serve and on how we might possibly make use of this guidance in our creative expression. Any guidance proceeds under the spiritual law that we only receive what we need, what we deserve, and according to how we might make use of any given knowledge. The law of guidance says that nothing can be given without a willing receptivity, aspiration and without asking.
There must always be an asking and an openness for guidance, according to the law of free-will and individual evolution. Inner teachings are never forced upon one, though we may receive warnings or guidance which our lower self-desire would rather not hear, yet these truths come to us only because of a higher intention or prayer consciously made at some time or another. A basic and fundamental part of the whole process of inner guidance is our inner prayer and our asking for help, and the power of this depends on its sincerity. So the first step is prayer and asking.
The law of guidance says that nothing can be given without asking and a willing receptivity to listen and consider what is given. There must always be an asking and an openness for guidance, according to the law of free-will and individual evolution. Inner teachings are never forced upon one, though we may receive warnings or guidance which our lower self-desire would rather not hear, yet these truths come to us only because of a higher intention or prayer consciously made at some time or another. A basic and fundamental part of the whole process of inner guidance is our inner prayer and our asking for help, and the power of this depends on its sincerity. So the first step is prayer and asking for help, and the developed ability to be very receptive and quietly listen within for the Voice and Vision of Higher Guidance.
Many people ask for guidance, in the hope that they may be led to fulfillment or the right path in life. But few realize that guidance is already being given. The Voice of truth and Guidance is continuous within you, in each moment. Maybe you are just not listening. Or maybe it’s not what you want to hear? Truth and Guidance is continually being Voiced within the heart. But are you listening? Will you accept the Truth and the Guidance that is being given at this very moment? First you must hear and acknowledge this present guidance, which is to do with your very next step in understanding and in practical work, and then further guidance will be given. First one step and then the next. So many people want to see the whole picture, the whole path, and where they may end up, but they don’t want to hear the step that is needed right now. But if the first step is neglected, then the other steps cannot be revealed. Therefore, you must first acknowledge the inner guidance which is already being voiced within you; that which is being whispered but not really being listened to.
The Truth, and the next needed revelation for your next step along the Path, is being whispered to you from within your heart. Are you listening? Will you listen? You need to make a great commitment to listen, to hear, and to accept the truth and guidance which is given from within the heart. And you need to listen ever deeper, and evermore quietly. Listen to the whispers of truth.
Sometimes the head speaks of doubts and worries about the logic of things. Sometimes the logic of the head cannot understand the logic of the heart, but the heart speaks wisdom and truth. The head is meant to understand the wisdom of the heart, but if the head argues with the heart and dismisses the feelings of the heart, then there is trouble, like a husband and wife at war. The heart is meant to lead, and the head is meant to understand the heart.
Follow the heart. She knows the Way. The True and Beautiful Way is revealed through the heart. If you get confused or unsure about things, then listen deeper in the heart, and She will tell you the Way. The Truth and the Way is always speaking through the heart, in the present moment.
The guidance or vision given will necessarily depend on what one needs at the time, and will also depend on what one wants to know or the particular question held in the mind. What is given will also depend on the ability of the person to make use of the guidance in their life-expression or in their service-work. Any guidance proceeds under the spiritual law that we only receive what we need, in accordance to what we seek, the questions asked, and according to how we can possibly make use of any given knowledge or guidance. The spiritual law also says that we are given wisdom in accordance with our own efforts in study and understanding, and we attract to us vibrations and teachings according to our own vibration of love and aspiration to the Truth. We can make great leaps along the way, and receive new inspiring insights and visions, but only as we persevere toward the greater illumination of understanding. If we stop the search for truth and find content in the self-delusion that we now know it all, or that we are now in contact with some all-wise spiritual guide, then we may be denying the possibility of greater illumination within the Mind of Great Spirit.
Your spiritual helper or guide, and Great Spirit, is now here for you. The Great Spirit, or the Spirit Guide, is like a trustworthy counselor or friend, who is here for you, who cares for you, and who loves you and wants to guide you in a way in which you can express your inherent potentials and serve life as well.
When do make contact with what definitely feels right, good and healing, then allow this presence to balance and harmonize your emotional body, and release any held emotional stress or turbulence through the out breath, allowing the substance of this stuff to settle back down into the earth compost. And become more and more in attunement with the spiritual vibrations of this presence. Once you have released the old stuff, you may feel as though you are being raised into this spiritual presence, or you may feel the presence infusing your mind and body. This is all part of your own spiritual healing and attunement with the higher vibrations. As this proceeds, you may begin to hear wisdom and guidance from the Spirit Presence. An image of the Guide may appear to you, as well, but this is not so important and we should not become attached to the glamor of who is our great guide and what does he or she look like.
Allow the feeling of spiritual love to enter into you and overflow around you. Just relax and let this presence of love and guidance come closer to you, closer to know you and be here for you. Take a step of faith and trust, and let yourself be known by Spirit and let yourself be loved. Let yourself be known and loved. Be wiling to share your honesty and sincerity with Spirit. Yet, you need to un-hide your own feelings, unhide your own honesty, and let yourself be known and truly understood by the spiritual Friend.
Speak your truth. Share your heart and feelings, and sincerely ask for what you want, or sincerely ask for guidance along the Way. The spiritual Friend and Guide can be our complete confidant, if we can just trust more and allow ourself the privilege of being understood and loved and guided along our way by a spiritual presence, who knows us from the inside and who speaks to us from inside ourself.
So the keys to contact and communication with the Spirit Guide are first, this unhiding of ourself and allowing ourself to be known, as we, in faith and trust, reveal our feelings and self-sincerity and inner wishes with this knowing and loving Presence, this Wise and Loving One, Who is here for us and only hopes to help us and heal us in the wholeness of Spirit. You may think of this Presence as your own greater spiritual wisdom, or you may think of this Presence as One Who is further along the Way of Wisdom and ready to lead you toward your own Self-illumination and to a way of service in the world. Both kinds of belief are true, depending on one’s perspective, yet the key is nonetheless trust, faith, self-honesty, and an opening to love-wisdom. Then, just allow this presence to love, to heal, and to speak through you. And you will recognize the truth in your heart and in your natural intuition.
And remember that this spiritual contact and communication will grow, much like a growing friendship and trust, as you allow the presence to come closer and open up your sincerity and allow yourself to be known and loved. More and more you trust and listen to the guidance and follow the Voice of truth which is recognized in the heart. And that Voice of truth will become ever stronger and evermore clear. Yet we have to really want this love and guidance in our life, and we need to develop our faith in this, and follow the Voice of truth. It begins with a humility and self-honesty that we really want and need a greater healing and guidance. And that humility and honesty is a big step.
It is the first step we must make. For as we step toward the Great Spirit and the Spirit of guidance, with self-openness and receptivity, then an opening of contact and communication can be made, and then we can be helped and healed. Then, we can more feel this presence of spiritual love and be guided by its wisdom. As we move further along the Path, we realize, more and more, the need for help. And we realize a need for a greater kind of healing, not just a healing of the physical, but a healing of the whole person. The true meaning of spiritual healing is the coming into a greater wholeness of Being, a greater wholeness of consciousness, and a greater harmony of oneself with the wholeness of life.
If we can be completely honest with ourself, we will probably know that we have a deep longing to be loved, to feel completely loved, and if we look further into ourself we might see or feel the longing to be in unity and wholeness with life. There is this pain of separateness, or feeling separate from the rest of life, or the pain of feeling confused about the truth of ourself and the purpose of life. The path to wholeness and true self-healing begins with this honesty of self. And from that honesty comes a natural aspiration for wholeness and harmony. This aspiration and sincere longing is the burning fire of our soul. When we are in touch with this, we are in touch with true prayer, the prayer of the soul. This is the fire which will purify us, and which will make a smoke signal of prayer to the spiritual world.
Out from the clear Sky Above comes the Guides and guidances of Great Spirit, which leads us to the Great Sun of Illumination and to service and harmony with the Earth Mother Relations. The Medicine People and Shamans can become receptive to special guidance and visions coming from the higher Spirit Guides of the Sky World. They develop this ability to be receptive or to journey into the higher Spirit World. Help from the Spirit Guides is gratefully received, but the essential prayer for wisdom and guidance is from the One Great Spirit or Father Sky. For it is recognized that all true Guides exist within the One Great Spirit Wisdom, within the Father Sky or the One All-Knowing God. So the ultimate goal of Vision Journeys and the ultimate prayer is to contact and receive wisdom from the All-Knowing Father God, the Wisdom Mind of Great Spirit.
In the Native Pipe Ceremony of Prayer, we pray to the Great Father Sky for guidance, vision and direction. It is believed that the smoke rises up to Father Sky, or to Great Spirit, carrying our sincere prayers to be received and cared for. In the Pipe we smoke tobacco or herbs, which holds the consciousness and prayers of all the relations of Mother Earth, and in the smoke, the spirits of all these relations and their prayers are released to Father Sky, along with our own prayers. In the Pipe Ceremony all Relations are recognized, for inclusion in the ceremony and prayers. We recognize the sacred connection between all life, so that all of life may join together in the Circle of prayer and in the smoking of the Peace Pipe. Sharing of the Sacred Pipe brings all life together in peace and harmony. And the sincerity of our prayers and of our recognized connectiveness is known by Great Spirit, Who will then guide us on the Good Path through our awakened mind.
Father Sky IS Great Spirit, as the spacious Presence of Spirit Mind. We look up into Father Sky and we see the greater space of Spirit Mind, above us and all around us. This vast space above us IS Great Spirit. It is the Great Spirit of Freedom Mind and Expansive Vision. This is the Father Presence of Great Spirit, while the Earth is the Mother Presence and the embodiment of Great Spirit. So above us the Knowing Mind of Father Sky and below us is the Nurturing Mother Earth and all our Living Relations. Of course, the Mother Earth is already infused with Divine Wisdom, yet all the Relations and children of creation are evolving toward the Greater Wisdom and Conscious Knowing of Great Spirit, and thus, are receiving a greater infusion of Spiritual Wisdom. The Pipe Ceremony symbolizes the raising of embodiment, and all Relations, to be blessed by the All-Knowing Wisdom of Great Spirit.
Prayers are also spoken out through poetry and song, chanting, dancing, drumming and music, and through sacred ceremony as taught by the Wise Ones close to Great Spirit. It is said that Great Spirit created the world and all its relations through song and vibration. It is said that the universe was sung into existence, and all of the natural world is the manifested expression of song and rhythm as it spontaneously emerges from the heart of Great Spirit. So this natural world, including our natural selves, is the heart-felt song of One Creative Spirit. Thus we find the beauty of Great Spirit right here on Earth, and we can hear the song of Spirit as it spontaneously emerges from our own hearts. As we express the song and music of the heart, we harmonize with the music of all creation, and all our relations and all the Great Spirits recognize when these prayers and songs are truly of the heart and sincerely come from love. For ultimately we make communication with Spirit and with Spirit Guides through the sincere heart, through the prayers of the heart. This is what makes the connection and strengthens the connection. Prayers can be general, as in asking for overall healing or guidance, and prayers can be more specific, as in seeking answers to certain questions or specific needs in life. We can pray for ourselves, or ask questions for our own understanding, and we can pray for others or for all our relations. Yet the basis of all prayer is the sincere humility that we need greater help and the growing faith that what is needed will be provided by Spirit and the natural world.
Prayers can generally be distinguished into three kinds or three basic needs.
There is the need for material sustenance and good health, as provided by enough good food, good water, good air, things of enjoyment, and good environmental conditions for our material well-being and creative expression. Next is the need for spiritual balance and healing, which is the need for spiritual healing and the energies of love in our lives, and our prayer to become one with the spirit of goodwill and harmony. Next is the need for true guidance and vision. This is the prayer for true understanding of life and direction along the way, in the humble realization that we all need to grow in our understanding, and we all need some direction in life and guidance toward some form of creative service and artistic expression of spiritual harmony and beauty.
So many people feel lost and floundering in a confusion about their life-direction, or where they want to go and how they can possible get there. And many other people just don’t admit to their confusion or to their feelings of being out of balance and harmony with themselves and others. If we are really honest we can all admit to being at least somewhat in the dark, and needing a bit more light upon the way. It is in this humility that we pray and ask for self-guidance, and might pray as well that others are guided to truth and goodness.
It is perfectly fine and good that we pray for ourselves, and this is not just selfish, because we all have these needs, and to pray for our own spiritual healing and guidance is a prayer that we may become closer to Great Spirit and become more in harmony with all relations. Being led to spiritual truth and attunment to spiritual harmony is certainly not selfish, for it is becoming more at-One with Great Spirit, and if we all could receive such a gift, then the whole world would be a wonderful paradise. In this Way of the Original Truth, we do pray for others and for all our relations, for the protection and harmony of all life, and let us not forget to make these prayers, for those prayers do help the world. Yet, the healing of the planet and the world, and the guiding way for all, must ultimately begin with ourselves. It is you who first needs to come into spiritual balance and harmony. It is you who needs to be more in harmony with the natural world, becoming more attuned with Nature and all its living relations, and becoming more cooperative and ecological in how you live your life.
So do pray for yourself, as well as the whole world. We all need those prayers. Pray for your own peace and harmony and healing and guidance. You need it. Then, as these prayers are fulfilled through you, you will be the radiant answer to the prayers of others. You will Be the living radiance of peace, love, harmony, healing and guidance. This is the greatest gift and greatest prayer you can give to others and the world - The gift and prayer of your own being and the expression of Spirit coming through you. So if you want to give love and healing to the world, then first allow love and healing in your own life, and become healed by The Spirit, and then you become the healing vibration of Spirit and this healing radiates out into the world. First, allow love into you, and become love, and then love naturally ripples out from you, love overflows from you. First allow wisdom into you and then you have wisdom to give.
Native People will often tune into Animal Helpers or Animal Spirit Guides, or the Animal Spirits will spontaneously come as needed in your life. Great Spirit sends the Animal Spirits to help you on the Good Path and to help you grow into your potential Wholeness. These Spirit Powers will just emerge from out of the Spirit World or from the deeper Unconscious of the Psyche. They may come through dreams or visions, or they may appear in meditation or in shamanic journeying. Sometimes an Animal Spirit will come to give you a particular strength or talent needed in your life, or in order to deal with a certain problem or challenge. The Animal may come to give you particular assistance, such as protection, or a new vision, or some form of healing, or a specific practical skill.
In this sense, the Animal is a Helper or Ally, working from outside you, to guide you, or protect you, or assist you in some particular challenge or service work.
There is another possible meaning of the Animal Power, which is a recognition of that Animal as a potential power of yourself, or your soul. The various powers and qualities of the spiritual soul potential are represented by the animals, who each have their own particular skills and way of behaving in the world. This Animal representation of the soul-potential is symbolic within the psychic world and literal within the physical world. In other words, the animals are useful metaphors for the psyche to represent various inner feelings and potential qualities of the Self. This is the psychological explanation, realizing that the animals in one’s visions or dreams are symbols and metaphors of the Natural Self Potentials emerging into conscious understanding and self-expression. But one can also realize that animals in the physical world are, literally, manifesting expressions of the various qualities and potentials of Great Spirit. So we human beings can respect the animals as different expressions of Great Spirit, and we can understand the spirit-quality behind and pervading the physical expression.
The Animal is a particular self-power, self-quality or talent, which, in its distinctiveness, is represented in the mind by the particular Animal who most clearly expresses this power. And yet, this is not merely a subjective phenomena within your mind, but is also an objective reality because the Animal Spirit does truly come from the spiritual world to help you and give real power to your self-expression. Remember that all the many Spirits of Nature are Real powers within the spiritual and physical world, yet are also potentials of your own self-expression. The specialness of a human being is that one can self-integrate many of the Animal Spirit Powers, whereas each animal can only express what Great Spirit planned it to be. The human being has the potential Free Spirit, which reflects the freedom of Great Spirit, to be whatever one wishes to be, assuming that one takes the time to develop more of their inner potentials.
So, we can respect and understand the Animal Spirits, either as powers and qualities outside of ourself, just as the physical bodies of animals are separate from our own bodies, or we can realize that the Animal Spirits, who come to us from the World of Visions and Dreams, are mirror reflections or symbolic representations of parts of our own Self, of our own self-potentials and inner powers. The Animal emerges to remind you of your own potential strengths. If the Animal Power is accepted, it will give you its particular strength or quality, which will feel to emerge from within you. The Animal Power will come through, if you allow it. And you will eventually realize this as part of your own wholeness, or as part of your own potential. So in this second kind of understanding, which we can call the self-reflecting Animal Power, the Animal represents something about you or about your own potential, and it is a power or quality which you need to accept as your own and integrate into your self-understanding and expression. The first kind of understanding, that the Animal is an Ally or Helper, is equally true and useful, and it can be the first stepping stone to realizing the Animal as a reflection of your own potential power and the allowing of this Animal Power to actually emerge through you, as part of your own self-expression and abilities.
A special Animal Helper or Power will often spontaneously appear, when you are in need of it and receptive to it. Gradually, through experience, you come to know which Animal Spirits appear more often and are most important to you at this time.
You can come to an understand of which Animal Powers are most significant to you by one the following methods. The first method is to simply recognize what animal you most feel like at the time.
At different times, and in different circumstances, you may feel to be a different Animal Quality or more expressive of a certain Animal Power. Each of us may feel and express, during the course of a day, maybe a handful of different Animal Qualities, each emerging as a unique and different part of your personality, according the need or circumstance at-hand. Most people are not aware of these different sides of themselves. But the Native Medicine People could often recognize when a particular Animal Power was emerging and expressing through them. It can be useful for self-understanding and self-integration to recognize which Animal Powers are working through you, or assisting you. Most often, a person has a predominate Animal Quality-Power expressing through them, and this can be viewed as the person’s major strength or personality type, but if this is overly dominate in the person then it could make that person too one-sided and may hinder the emergence of balancing self-qualities. So, self-awareness and self-understanding is important along the path to greater self-wholeness. Great Spirit, or the deeper Unconscious Wisdom within you, will send forth an Animal Power to help balance you and further your spiritual growth, and this emerging Animal Quality needs to be recognized and allowed into self-expression.
As a meditation, begin to feel what kind of self-quality is spontaneously trying to emerge from within you. Let this recognition begin as a feeling, emerging from within. Now, what Animal do you feel like? Let your mind freely associate, in order to reveal the name of this Animal quality. Let the Animal Spirit emerge into your inner vision, and then imagine being this Animal.
What does it feel like to be this animal? The Animal Quality may be just a feeling for you, but it can be recognized in your inner vision. What kind of animal do you feel like? How do you see yourself in your imagination, as you allow yourself to feel this way? Spend some time in this feeling and vision of yourself, and get to know it better. Let yourself feel what it’s like to be this animal quality. Identify with it and accept it as part of your own nature, as part of your own self-potential.
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The particular Animal Power needed or sent to help you will often come in dreams or visions. These Spirit Powers will just emerge from out of the Blue or from the deeper Unconscious of the Psyche. Often, they will appear in meditation or in shamanic journeying. Great Spirit sends them to help you on the Good Path and to grow in Wholeness. Sometimes an Animal Spirit will come to give you a particular strength or talent, in order to deal with a certain problem or challenge. If you are receptive, an Animal Power can help you.
The Animal will have one of two possible purposes. Either it will be given for a particular assistance, such as wider vision, healing, protection, or a practical skill. Or, it will be a revelation of your own soul potential. In this second kind of purpose, the Animal represents something about you or about your own potential, and it is a power or quality which you need to accept as your own. So, in the first sense, the Animal is a Helper or Ally, working from outside you. This Helper might guide you on the best path, or protect you, or assist you in some challenge or work. But in the second sense, the Animal is part of your own potential and is representative of particular self-qualities or talents. The Animal emerges to remind you of your own potential strengths. If the Animal Power is accepted, it will give you its particular strength or quality, which will feel to emerge from within you. The Animal Power will come through, if you allow it.
And you will eventually realize this as part of your own wholeness, or as part of your own potential.
A special Animal Helper or Power will often just appear, when you are most in need and most receptive. Gradually, through experience, you come to know which Animal Spirits appear more often and are most important to you. You can also come to understand your personal, most significant Animal Spirits by one the following methods. The first method is to simply recognize what animal you most feel like right now. Do this in a quiet time, as a kind of meditation. Let your imagination be free, and feel yourself as an animal, any animal. What kind of animal do you feel like? How do you see yourself in your imagination, as you allow yourself to feel this way? A certain animal will come to mind with its corresponding feeling. This is one of your Animal Powers. Spend some time in this feeling and vision of yourself, and get to know it better. Then, maybe you will feel like a another animal. Allow the feeling to come out, and let the imagination correspond to the feeling. Let yourself feel what it’s like to be this animal. You are getting to know this particular quality, this feeling, this power in you.
Identify with it and accept it as part of your own nature, or as part of your own self-potential.
Here is a different method to try. Review in your mind the animal kingdom and then recognize an animal which you specially appreciate. If you study this animal you will find that a particular quality is appreciated. This is a quality which you need in your life, or it may be a quality which you already can identify with as your own. Either way, the Animal quality should be accepted as your own, and you can be grateful for this strength or quality in your being. The key is to identify with it, accept it, and allow it to be expressed. Eventually, many of the Animal qualities are self-accepted and allowed into expression, and thus the person becomes more integrated and whole. We do not need to become attached to any of the Animal Natures, for the human being has the potential to integrate and express many qualities, in useful and harmonious ways. The Animal Natures should not be feared or ignored, for they represent and carry important qualities of being and self-expression, all of which are spiritual and all of which can be integrated into a harmonious expression.
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The White Buffalo Teachings speak of two main Paths, both of which are walked and both of which are to be integrated. This is the Red Path of the Earth Walk and the Blue Path of the Sky Walk.
We can also think of the Blue Path as the path to self freedom and the Red Path as the path of responsibility. Freedom may sound much nicer than responsibility, just as self-realization sounds more exotic than farming or taking care of people, but but as we come into greater freedom and unity of Spirit, the sense of responsibility and caring for the greater whole of life actually becomes stronger in us, and as we freely give to life, with love, appreciation and care, we find that true freedom and self-wholeness become more realized in us. So, meditate on the relatedness of the Blue and Red Paths, the way up into the spiritual Sky and the way down toward spiritual expression and giving.
Traditions often speak of the Blue Path as the return to Great Spirit after death, but in the Secret Teachings we realize that the Blue Path to Spirit is a living quest, possible right here and right now. At death, it is believed that the body returns to the Earth soil and the soul returns to Great Spirit in the Sky. But in the secret teachings, it is believed that death can be a continuous part of life, and we can return to Great Spirit before we physically die.
We can return to Great Spirit right now in our lives, as we give of ourself to the Great Spirit. This is also one of the meanings of the Sun-Dance Ritual, when the spiritual warrior hooks his own body onto a rope connecting to a center pole, and lets himself hang by this pole as he dances and prays in a circle around the center pole. The inner meaning is about surrendering to the central Will of Great Spirit and sacrificing the little personality to the greater Spiritual Self. It is also an initiation of transcending suffering by the strength of one’s integrity, decisive commitment, and by surrendering oneself in faith to whatever comes in this life.
There are many kinds of death initiations in Native cultures.
These rituals have a number of purposes, yet one of purposes is usually about surrendering the conditioned ego personality, in faith, to the Greater Spiritual Power, and be reborn from the Compassion and Strength of this Greater Power. Through faith we can be reborn in Spirit, but in order to be reborn we must allow ourselves to die, which takes a lot of faith and courage and a fearlessness of death. Faith, courage and fearlessness are the qualities being tested during the death and sacrificial initiations. And through this faithful surrender to the Greater Spirit, a new spiritual realization is possible, a realization of Unity or of being One with Great Spirit. Such a realization of Unity, or return to Great Spirit, is certainly possible in this life-time, if we can get through the fearless death initiation.
Later on, we will meditate on this initiation. Remember that you don’t have to physically die to return to Great Spirit. You just need to let go and let the Greater Spirit live through you, dance through you, and speak through you. Much of the initiation is about letting go and surrendering to the natural powers within the Unconscious. This letting go to Unconscious forces can have its dangers, as in trance mediumship or spirit dance, but if there is proper support from a Medicine Teacher, then one can go much deeper into these forces and become the medium for their expression.
Remember to surrender to Great Spirit, or to one of the Four Greater Powers, and to nothing less, and this will protect you and it will lead you on the Blue Path.
The Blue Path is the Path to spiritual illumination, to the sunlight of spiritual Truth, to freedom and Self-unity. The Red Path is the Path of giving and expressing this spiritual truth in life. The Blue Path leads to self-knowing and unity of Spirit, and the Red Path leads to harmony, balance and unity in the world. Both Paths compliment each other and can intertwine together, to form the great Rainbow Way, where all the wonderful qualities of Spirit are realized and expressed through oneself and through the whole world. This Rainbow Path of life is the combination of the Blue and Red Path and leads to complete fulfillment, for oneself and the whole world. The Blue Path is the path to our own self-unity and wholeness, where the body, mind and emotions are all in harmony together, under one spiritual truth and direction. This spiritual healing means that all of oneself is in harmony with spiritual purpose and one with Great Spirit, so that there is true unity of the person with spiritual will, spiritual love, spiritual wisdom and spiritual harmony. This spiritual unity is true healing and true wholeness. And yet this self-wholeness is not unrelated to the harmony and unity of all life. Our own wholeness must be realized in the unity of all life and in the growing harmony of all things.
So the Red Path is toward the evolution and completion of harmony in all life, which is a path that we each can contribute to, through our service, our givingness, and our expression of this ideal of harmony. The Red Path is how we each walk on the Earth and what we give to the Earth, which is just as important as the Blue Path into the spiritual Sky of Self-illumination and Self-realization
While walking the Blue Path of the spiritual Sky to the illuminated sunlight of Great Spirit, we also walk the Good Red Path, which is the exploration of Earth beauty and the responsibility for living in harmony on Earth. So the Teachings tell us that the Way is both upward into spiritual freedom and illumination, and also downward into earth beauty and harmony.
These two ways eventually blend together, as the Spirit Walk and the Earth Walk become the same, when spiritual illumination and freedom are found right here on Earth, and Great Spirit is finally found to be living through all things.