Your Best Friend...

Always looking out for you. Always supporting you. Always there for you. These are qualities of a best friend. Sometimes best friends squabble. Sometimes they argue and fight. But they always make up and get back on track with each other. Best friends don't always have to agree.

I have often said that I know a person is truly my friend if they are willing to give me a kick in the butt when they see me screwing up. That is the type of friend I need on my side. Someone who is honourable and strong enough to not be afraid of losing it all if they confront me on poor behaviour. I don't want to have a friend who is a wimp. That is the sort of person who will chicken out and not have your back when you need them. I remember the first time I experienced that. I was about 9 years old and was being bullied. My best friend, or so I thought, watched and didn't stick up for me. In fact, he laughed along with the bullies. When all was said and done, he expected us to continue to be friends. I told him to get lost. We have never been friends since. The last I saw him was at my parents' 50th wedding anniversary. It was brief, the chit chat of people being polite in public, but certainly not anything meaningful. Near the end of our "conversation" he asked me why we drifted apart. I told him. He said I sure knew how to hold a grudge. I told him to get lost....again. It was grade 3 all over again, but only for the briefest of moments. Sometimes we catch on really quickly when a person is a friend and when they are not. I guess at age 9 I was quite astute. This is a good thing because, after all, the world needs more stutes!

Sometimes my friends don't know what to do with me when I challenge them on their behaviour. They think I am trying to pick a fight. I assure them that this is not the case and that I will always be there for them and help them through anything at all, but that in order for us to be friends we must be honest with each other and right now I am honestly telling them that they are screwing up. Most often they look at me with shock, not ever having had a friend who would be willing to go out on a limb like that. Then it sinks in. We then become much better friends. This type of interaction now and then helps to enrich relationships. I am fortunate that I have very high quality friends in my life these days. I treasure each and every one of them.

Blessed Be

Trent
www.deerhornshamanic.com

Winter

Don't you just love seeing pictures like this one when it is -30C outside? For those of you who are from locations much further south, -30C is like freakin' cold! Think, "The Arctic with Frost Bite". I knew that colder weather was yet to come (the trees told me so the other day when I arrived at work). So I made sure that the following morning I was able to get to the local art gallery and stroll through the solarium. I took a camera, of course, because at this time of year I find nature in bloom to be completely inspiring. This is just a small part of what I was able to capture.

This morning as I rode down the elevator to the parkade, a young man who also lives in the building got on the elevator and was going down to his level in the parkade as well. He was wearing a hoodie. Blue jeans and a hoodie!!! I smiled at him and said, "It's very cold out today." He laughed and said, "Ya, I guess that it is, after all, still winter." I agreed and said that if it continues into next week I was going to have to report it to the authorities. He laughed, not knowing just how serious I, as a shaman, was being. It made for some good chit chat though. I got off on my level of the parkade and started my car, unplugged it, of course, and began driving the spiralling 1/2 k down the parkade. On my way down I saw him backing his car out of its parking stall, still only wearing a hoodie. Ahh, to be young and blissfully ignorant! I hope that he makes it to his destination alright and doesn't have a break down in his battered up junker.

So now here I am in my warm office and with my favorite computer in the whole wide world, entering this and gazing at the beautiful photo of the tulips in bloom...... I can hardly wait for Spring to finally get here!

Blessed Be

Trent
www.deerhornshamanic.com

The 4 Rivers

It is so important to be able to go with the flow of things. That includes when the ride is a little bumpy and rocky. Those are the time, however, when we can both experience the adrenaline rush of the ride and be able to stop and enjoy the beauty of the ride. We so often worry about whether or not we have what it takes to make it safely to the "end", but we need to also remember that it is the ride itself that enriches our lives. I always utilize the "otter" method. What is the "otter" method? It is very simple. We otter have some fun, so let's get on that water slide and go!

The 4 River teachings of the Medicine Wheel teach us about the different aspects of life that we experience, all at once. There is a River of Love, a River of Surprise, a River of Inspiration, and a River of Challenge. How we navigate these rivers determines for us how we are able to grow through life. I have a 4 Rivers workshop that I will be fascillitating on the 7th of March. There are so many teachings with this workshop that it is one of those that people walk away from saying, "Wow! I can't believe you put so much information into such a short space of time!" This is okay with me. I always like to deliver my best. In the meantime, just remember everyone to "Row, row, row the boat...".

Blessed Be

Trent
www.deerhornshamanic.com

Angels Among Us

People often ask me if angels really exist. I tell them that I believe that they do. Then I get asked about how I know this. Well, often they appear to me while I am working on a healing for a person, or even for an animal. No, they don't usually have wings like the one in this photo, but some do.

A most memorable encounter with an angel was in relation to when I needed one myself. I was stranded on the side of a road at night during a blizzard. I tried to flag down oncoming cars, but no one wanted to pull over to help a man. I am sure that if I was a woman ten of them would have been lined up. But I was not so they would simply drive past and keep on going. This was before the era of the cell phone, so I knew I was in trouble because I would either have to risk freezing to death walking to find a farm along the road, or I would have to risk freezing to death sitting in my broken down car. Slowly falling to sleep in the cold was beginning to look like a definite option. There are worse ways to go, but I also knew that I was not done here and that if this was the end of it, I was going to have to come back and start all over again in order to get my work done. I sat in the car for a couple of hours, hoping that no one would run into me as the flashers were not working anymore.

Then a knock came on my window, which almost made me jump right out of my skin! I could hardly believe that anyone finally stopped. I rolled my window down and this guy who looked a lot like Grizzly Adams asked me if I needed a tow. I looked behind me and saw a tow truck with flashing lights. I immediately accepted the offer. Once my car was on the hoist, he asked me where I wanted him to tow it. The warmth of the cab of the truck was so wonderful that I almost didn't hear his question. Once it registered I realized that I was probably closer to home than to town so asked if he could tow my there. His reply was, "No problem!" and off we went. The strange thing was that I didn't give him directions to the farm where I was living. He just turned on all the correct corners and before I knew it we were dropping my car off in the yard. I didn't have enough money in my wallet, I was sure, so I said I would be right back and that I just had to go inside and get some money for him. "That's okay," he said, "There's no charge for this one." I asked him if he was sure and began to insist that I pay. "Nope," he said, "I'm just glad I finally found ya and that you can now get on with your tasks at hand."

With that he drove down the driveway and the blizzard engulfed his vehicle before he even got to the road. I couldn't even see the flashing lights. Then I realized I couldn't even hear the engine. I was going to walk down the driveway to make sure he made it, but as I started out, I realized that there were no tracks either! No tracks from his truck and none from my car that he was towing. I walked into the house and my mother was glad to see me, having been worried about what was taking me so long to get home. I told her that I was towed home by the tow truck and she said that she didn't ever see his flashing lights in the yard, which she was keeping a close eye on to see if I was driving in. No headlights either. "Well," I said, "I guess that I was just saved by an angel."

That was the first time that I recall having been assisted by an angel, although there were others since and probably many times of which I was not even aware. So yes, I believe in angels. Why not? After all, I also encounter fairies, spirit guides, power animals and the like! And for these many connections, I am eternally grateful.

Blessed Be

Trent
www.deerhornshamanic.com

Dreams After Waking

"All things appear or disappear like the sound of an echo: The clouds in the sky, the moon on the water, the lightning, the sea foam, the trail of a bird as it flies, or the visions of dreams after waking." Master Taisen Deshimaru.

Have you ever noticed how, once we wake up, our dreams and visions of what we were dreaming fades? Some would say that this is because we become conscious to reality. I don't believe, however, that all that is in the physical realm is all that there is to "reality". Part of the waking process might actually be a "falling asleep" process. Shamanic teachings tell us that the physical realm is the dream and that all the rest of the inter dimensional consciousness is the reality. I have learned that this is true. But the trick is to walk both realities and not get caught up on just one or the other.

This can apply to phases of one's life as well. In the few years that I have lived, I have woken up from one phase and entered into another many times. Sometimes the dream has been a good one. Sometimes what I have woken up from is a little more like a nightmare. We all have moments when we wake up and say to ourselves, "Thank God that was a dream!". In life we sometimes wake up and say, "Thank God that's over!". The essence of the situation is the same. We have come from one phase and entered into another.

When we enter into the next phase, however, we still must honour the one that we left behind. We need to thank it for all that it has taught us and for all the experiences it has brought our way. If we can't have gratitude, then we hold onto it instead of letting it go. When we hold onto it we draw it back into our lives in another form. Then we have that wonderful deja vu experience and wonder why it has come back like guzzled beer. The gratitude allows us to sip instead of guzzle and thus we are able to taste all the flavours and fully experience the situation, thus assimilating it fully and releasing it properly. This is not something that happens overnight. It does take some time and certainly takes some effort. When done properly, we can allow the fading process to occur without regret or sorrow and know that, like everything else in life, the next phase will also fade away, making way for the one after that. This is the natural and beautiful cycle that happens each and every day, as sure as the rising and setting of the sun.

Blessed Be

Trent

www.deerhornshamanic.com

Happy People

I received an email from a friend today, and in it there was a wonderful quote, "The happiest people don't necessarily have the best of everything, they just make the best of everything they have." I love this concept.

So often people find themselves striving to get the best home, the best car, the best laptop, the best schools for the education of their children, the best clothes and so on. In striving to constantly have the best, they are creating an undercurrent of deep stress in their lives. This undercurrent doesn't just exist within themselves, it also ripples outward to others around them who can feel the judgement and contempt that comes from these people who are, whether or not they are aware of it, looking down their noses at others. This then makes people around them feel like trash, if only for a moment before they say, "Hey! Chuck off and stop projecting your expectations onto me!" The undercurrent of stress will also, eventually, create illness within them. This could very easily be avoided.

I have found that the happiest people are the ones who live simple lives. They don't have a lot of things, but they have a lot of love for others and for life itself. Furthermore, they don't allow themselves to be seduced by the materialism of the world around them. They are able to appreciate the beauty of that which is in their environment and not worry about making anything something that it is not. These are the people that I trust. I know that they don't and won't judge me for having or for not having anything. We can relate to each other as human beings and on a deep heart level. This allows us to truly connect in meaningful ways.

In a culture that is media possessed and weight obsessed, it is refreshing to connect with people who don't care if I own an ipod or a laptop, who don't care about the size of my bank account, who don't even notice what kind of car I drive (I like it, but simply can't define myself by it). What these people appreciate about me is easy. It is stuff like my smile and the fact that I like to connect with stones and trees and animals. They are the people who see that I am a good father and that I love life.

Wouldn't it be nice if everyone in the world used this criteria as a way of seeing people for who they truly are?

Blessed Be

Trent

www.deerhornshamanic.com

Love Day

Valentine's Day. A celebration of Love. I remember being told, "It's just a day like any other, so let's just skip it, shall we?". I was devastated. I had been told the same about an anniversary. It just came across as harsh and uncaring. Any wonder this relationship didn't last?

I know that Valentine's Day is a Hallmark holiday, but really. Why not celebrate Love, no matter who initiated it? And there are so many forms of love that can be celebrated. The love of a parent for a child and vise verse, the love of a husband and wife, or one partner for another, the love of two deeply connected friends, the list can go on.

I find that the highest form of love is that of compassion. It is like the scent of a beautiful flower; available to all, no matter who or where they are. Love really doesn't discern between who "should" have it and who "should not" receive it. It simply is, and it heals all.

Blessed Be

Trent

Birthday Boy

I don't know why, other than alliteration, they use that term. I am hardly a boy anymore. But before anyone found some weird photo of me in the newspaper announcing the event, I thought I would simply own up to it an let all my readers know....yes....it is my Birthday today!

Forty-six years ago today I was brought into this world. I am sure that, other than the fact that I was by far the largest baby of 5 that my mother gave birth to, it was quite the usual event. One thing that was consistent for the first 24 years, however, is that no matter where I lived there was a snow storm on this day. Thank goodness that karma changed. Not that I don't appreciate snow, but really we all like rain as well, just not the flooding kind.

My last 46 years have been excellent in so many ways. Although there have been quite "challenging" times through my life, I find myself looking back and feeling gratitude for all that I have experienced. Whether the experiences were fun or not, the lessons have been learned. Yesterday I received some absolutely excellent handmade gifts from my beautiful daughters and today I am celebrating both at work and after work. Celebrating what? Well, the mere fact that I was brought to this earth. I think that it is important to celebrate these things every moment that we get. Without acknowledging things like birthdays, we miss the whole point of what we mean to the world and what the world around us means to us. So yes, if you like, I do not at all mind being wished a "Happy Birthday". And if I am astute enough to know when your birthday is, I will sing it to you!

Blessed Be

Trent

www.deerhornshamanic.com

Truth

The ear is the first organ to develop on the fetus, and the last one to shut down upon death. It is related to the conch shell in terms of the shape and the fact that it enhances our ability to hear. The eyes can be fooled by optical illusions. There is no equivalent for the ears.

What is ultimately important, however, is that we develop our ability to listen. I have a friend who is deaf and is one of the most adept listeners I have ever met. I had a father with fully functioning ears who didn't know how to listen to most people. No matter how acute our hearing is, if we don't want to listen, we simply won't hear.

How often we could avoid heart break if only we would listen. But active listening is something that most people lack in their training. Active listening has to do with focusing on what the other person is saying and meaning. Their verbal inflections, tones, and facial expressions tell us so much that words cannot express. But when we hear their words, we need to hear their words. We can't project onto their words our own interpretations and meanings. We can't let ourselves go onto tangents mentally and miss a paragraph or two of what they were saying. And we can't try to fake it or inject our own thoughts into their story. We simply must be in the moment and listen. We can ask for clarification and bounce ideas off the the person to whom we are listening. That way we gain more understanding. Most of all, we need to get ourselves out of the way of their story, even if their story involves ourselves. That way we can get down to the emotions that energize their story and help them, and ourselves, to grow through the energy that is in motion. This way we can get to the truth of any situation.

Blessed Be

Trent

www.deerhornshamanic.com

Awakenings

"If every day is an awakening, you will never grow old. You will just keep growing." Gail Sheehy.

I have a new morning ritual that has awakened within me. I used to always do a 20 minute meditation absolutely every morning. I find that in doing meditation I become much more centred and grounded. This prepares me for the day in the most lovely way. Recently, however, I have found that my life is extremely busy and I have had to adapt my definition of "meditation".

I no longer have time to sit in a half lotus position and light a candle and incense and chant and breathe. The ritual has had to change according to my circumstances. Now my morning meditation has more to do with watching the sun rise on the horizon and greeting it happily as I sip my cup of coffee. This is done on my 20th floor balcony when it is warm, and in my living room when it is not. Either way, the view is spectacular and the peaceful feeling that is achieved is phenomenal.

When you look at the sun rising, how can you not know that you are witnessing the blessing of the Cosmic God upon the body of the Earth Mother? No matter what the morning rush hour traffic is like, every morning the sun rises and a new day is begun as naturally as breathing itself. I often offer a prayer to the sun, thanking it for illuminating my heart, that it, too, can do the work of the Divine. And all this I do while sipping my French Vanilla coffee. It is exquisite!

Blessed Be

Trent

www.deerhornshamanic.com

We Just Need to Look

If we just look at something and allow our eyes to take on different focus, we are able to see things that are right there in front of us and always have been. In the top quarter of this photo, for example, there is the face of a nature spirit. People don't often notice these things and if they do they write them off as optical illusions.

The thing is that these "optical illusions" can move around and communicate to us if we allow them to. I was unsure as to whether or not I saw what I saw, until it moved and blinked. Then I knew that what I was seeing was real. But part of me already knew that. I get signals from my body when something amazing is about to happen. So when it moved, I knew that this was not just my imagination. And when it came forth and spoke to me it gave me a message for someone else that was at the same gathering. When I delivered the message, the person was able to find peace and the spirit was able to then help her more effectively.

I love this kind of stuff!

Blessed Be

Trent

www.deerhornshamanic.com

Desire

The name of this Goddess figure is "Desire". When I first picked it up and held it, I felt such a complete sense of peace that I had to instantly adopt it as my own. That is code for "charge it!". It took me a long time to reconcile the name of the figure with the experience I have inwardly in response to holding it or even just seeing it. This is because of worthiness issues that I had been carrying.

I now understand that what brings us peace is having our desires acknowledged and honoured. This means that we not only have to know what our desires are, but we have to own up to them. Once we do, they can be fulfilled.

Some people feel ashamed of their desires. I used to. I no longer feel that way. I have found a number of ways in which to express my desires and have them fulfilled. But many struggle with that, as did I for many years. What it comes right down to is understanding that we all have needs and desires. These are not whims. These are things that actually feed our souls.

We may not know for sure why it is that we desire a trip to Greece, for example, but once we get there we have an overwhelming feeling of deja vu and understand that this is a location that we have visited before and in which we have had excellent lifetimes. We may not understand why we have always wanted to try singing or dancing or learning accounting skills. Yet once we do these sorts of things, we find a part of us becomes nourished in a way that nothing else can achieve.

I remember wanting to explore painting on canvas. Part of me was excited when the opportunity came up. The other parts were scared as all get out. Painting brings me peace. It allows me to express myself in ways that I can't express through other avenues. With the skill, however, there also came opportunity for me to heal many karmic issues that were associated with painting. Some of these issues were not very pleasant, but as I have walked my path, each of them has been healed. So I continue to paint because that is a desire and a passion of mine that must be fed. As I feed this passion and desire, I feed my soul.

Blessed Be

Trent

www.deerhornshamanic.com

Taking the Redeye

This is a photo of me at a Christmas party for the staff of the Aquamarine Healing Centre. No matter what I do with the red eye removal on my photo shop program, I just can't get it to work. Then I thought about how often we try to force things that just don't matter. I decided that I don't mind having a red eye photo. The thing is that the eyes are the windows to the soul. That is what matters most. It doesn't matter if that soul is red, black, brown, yellow, white, orange or any other color of the spectrum. A soul is a soul.

I enjoy having fun. Although I don't "party it up" all the time, I like to have fun in just day to day conversations. I enjoy making people, especially myself, laugh. Most often I am not the only one laughing at my jokes or my antics. I do have coyote medicine, so I am a trickster by nature. This usually comes out in word play and the like. If others aren't laughing, I just cease the fun. Either they don't get it, or I have missed something that they are sensitive towards. So I check in and see what is up.

I am not a stand up comedian. Some friends who know me well say I should become one. But I find that if you have a "routine" people pick up on the lack of spontaneity. I prefer to be spontaneous in my humour. That way it leaves everything open as fair game.

Blessed Be

Trent

www.deerhornshamanic.com

Friends of a Feather

I have this thing with birds. I love them. They also tend to love me. This is a good thing because otherwise it would only serve to feed my abandonment issues! A new friend asked me where I learned the stuff I do as a shaman. I told her that it was from my family as well as from the forests, fields, rocks, rivers, animals and birds. This is all true. After over 45 years of living, I have had plenty of opportunities to gain insights from the many friends that are abundant in nature.

It is amazing, for example, the amount of power that can be carried energetically in just one Eagle feather. The medicine that this can give over for the purpose of healing and protection is profound. Feathers have been used in many cultures to cleanse and clear the aura, thus enhancing healing of the body, mind and spirit. I find that they also can be used to direct energies, much like a wand, and to receive insights into the Third Eye. When this happens for me, it is because I hold the Eagle Feather to my Third Eye and "listen" to what it has to offer in terms of guidance. It comes in images, feelings, colors and journeys on which I am taken.

I like using feathers to brush off my energy field at night before bed. This simple practice helps me to sleep better and enables me to do my dream walking with clarity and ease. I would highly recommend it for everyone. It doesn't have to be an Eagle feather that is used for this. It can be a simple Turkey feather, which holds the medicine of "give away". This medicine is appropriate when it comes to brushing off the junk from a hectic day.

Blessed Be

Trent

www.deerhornshamanic.com

Don't Ya Wanna Dance?

Okay, so if you click on the photo you will get an enlarged version of it. Look very closely. I don't know about anyone else, but I see people dancing on a snow bank or cliff top or something. I see this and I know that I just gotta dance! I felt this way this evening at the Drumming Circle.

We had an Imbolc celebration. There were a lot of people that came out and we had an excellent time of it. Planting our intentions into the fresh, fragrant soil of the Light Garden, then lighting candles that had been dedicated to a variety of "causes" created both peacefulness and a desire to dance within me.

And now the dance of life continues on...

Blessed Be

Trent

www.deerhornshamanic.com

Putting Your Best Foot Forward

It might not be the prettiest foot, but it's mine. My toes remind me of my father's feet. He had toe knuckles that were gnarly as well. And the big toe has had surgery on it when I was around 15 years old, so it is not the most beautiful toe either. But when it comes to self-esteem, I don't base it on pretty feet, on myself or anyone else.

I base my self-esteem on whether or not I am doing my best at any given moment. I don't like to be lazy. I like to do my best. Doing my best has more to do with my own personal performance rating than it does with achieving anything that anyone else would expect of me. All I can really do is put my best foot forward and step into any given situation without fear and certainly without remorse. If I have done my best, I have nothing to feel remorseful about. It is a matter of knowing what is good enough for me and keeping to my own personal standards.

Blessed Be

Trent

www.deerhornshamanic.com