As I reflect upon these past few weeks, I am so drawn to my mother's pride in our American Indian heritage. She even spent time with Ashley reviewing the family history, sharing photos and stories of our relatives since Ashley had interest in learning more.
I had many opportunities to meet my great uncles, Art and Walter, who looked just like many of the photos of our Indian ancestors - beautiful sky blue eyes with a bronze complexion - and oh, yes, those high cheekbones - a sign of beauty in our culture!
Mom was pretty cool about different ceremonies - yoga, drumming, certain forms of meditation - and as I've mentioned in blogs before, she was one of the group. During these past few years, especially since my own concentrated health journey, I have been witnessing and experiencing these traditions more closely. I attribute an expanding awareness to my mentors, Kristina and Heather and have so much gratitude for their wisdom and guidance. I am certainly more "awake" with regard to the connections between what we see and what is not seen, gaining increasing trust in my intuition, which often guides me in sessions with my clients.
Given that Thursday was the anniversary of Mom's passing, Kristina had suggested a fire ceremony, both honoring what was beautiful and letting go of habits and energies that have been passed down. Right away, I started down the trail of "will I do it right", "what if it is not what it is supposed to be" - all that Virgo stuff that can sometimes get in my way! At least now I am more aware of the pitfalls of my personality thanks to Heather, thus I have the opportunity to see it, name it, and use techniques to move on.
All day I was aware of the happenings of Oct 13, 2013, but I had passed through my grief during the days before. I wrote out slips of paper with messages beginning with "Dear Mom", and continued to create each message about gratitude and letting go. I used Holy Wood as my incense, blessing my area with this wonderful smell and then lit each piece of paper after reading the message aloud.
This ceremony felt so freeing and also so connecting to our lineage. As I think about this personal example, expanding into our present times, I cannot help but think that taking time to stop, reflect, honor and let go, would be so very beneficial in our fast-paced daily lives.
May you take time to follow these principles.
With Love,
Julie
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