Autumn is Here!

I find there are no other seasons that can match that of Autumn. The colors and the smells and the crunch of leaves under my feet all make me feel like I am "home". Perhaps this stems from growing up in a rural area where I could explore autumn with great delight and get completely lost in the revelry of a nature walk. I think it also, however, appeals to my inner artist. The colors especially are what appeal to me.

Seeing this tree brought forth some interesting feelings while I was out for my walk this morning. When I saw it the first thing that came to mind was a tarot card by Master Osho. The tarot card is called "Friendliness" and in it is a picture of two trees dropping blossoms which are mingling around the base of the two trees. The teachings have to do with staying well-rooted and stable and knowing whose space is whose and allowing a "sharing" that is represented by the mingling blossoms. This tree indeed seemed to me to be quite friendly, although there were no other trees close enough to share the blanket of leaves it had already laid around its base.

So, felling compelled by friendliness, I walked up the the tree and hugged it and told it how much I appreciate its gifts. I could feel the tree sigh. Under the canopy of golden leaves the light changed. Everything became a strange color of gold and green, even my skin color changed! The sun was shining through each leaf, creating a stained glass effect on everything that the light then touched. It was delicious.

Although I am rarely out in the wilderness anymore, I do so appreciate the pockets of nature that the city provides with its parks and walking paths. In another park I had to stop and just listen to the rustling of the Aspen leaves. I could have sworn I heard the voice of the Green Man whispering "I am always with you..."

Blessed Be
Trent
www.deerhornshamanic.com
http://www.youtube.com/trentdeerhorn

Cultured

What the heck does "cultured" actually mean? In gardening terms it means to help to grow or to cultivate. And we all know what "culture" means when it is in a test tube or petrie dish. I don't even know how to spell that kind of dish let alone use one!

In modern society, to be "cultured" is something similar to being "bred" or "molded" into something more "refined" than the average person. In shamanic terms this is called "brain washed". We need to look very long and hard at the ways in which we have become cultured. When we do we often find that it was a means of taking away our innocence and our intuitive processes in order to make us conform.

I remember first going to school and finding that this was not a happy place. It was not nearly as much fun as my back yard and definitely not as fun as being with my grandmother when everyone else in the whole world (or so it seemed) was in school. It didn't help that my grade 1 teacher was a tyrant who enjoyed beating (especially boys) with a yard stick over the head. Don't ever be caught gazing out the window to the great outdoors, man! That was a sure fire instant death wish! She also liked to not let little girls go to the washroom during class time. So there were a lot of mortified girls with wet pants and skirts at the end of the day. In this day and age the woman would have been sent to prison for child abuse. Back then, Nazis like her ruled the day.

So that was my first introduction to culture. From there it continued to show its ugly head in terms of peer pressure, then social programming from the television and I won't even go into the whole church thing! Yikes!

So when I reached my early twenties I decided to say goodbye to much of that programming. That was my first step in my male liberation. Many women have thanked me for that because, unlike other men in their lives, I don't think a woman's place is to be barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen. I had three older sisters who were women's libers and I think that this helped me a lot to see things from an entirely different perspective than the one that was being shoved down my throat by "culture".

My most liberating moment though, was when I realized that, even though it had been a long time since preschool, the birds and animals and trees were quite willing to still talk with me. They never forgot me. I had forgotten them because I was told to. But they never forgot me. So now my revenge on culture is that no matter where I go, I have friends in nature as well as in the two legged variety. And I can inspire others to reconnect with their own natural way of being and with who they truly are, instead of who they "ought" to be!

Blessed Be
Trent

www.deerhornshamanic.com

Modern Day Pioneer

I remember when I was in grade 3 my family moved to the farm where I grew up for the rest of my years until mid teens. After getting over the shock that there was a moving truck half loaded in front of my house when the bus dropped me off from school (everyone thought I knew!) I was then mortified that we were going to be living on a farm. After all, this meant isolation, a new school, a longer bus ride, lots of manual labor....it was rocking my world, man! Then I discovered that we were taking out the boiler system (didn't work anyway) and installing not one, but two wood burning stoves to heat the house. Thank God it had running water or I would have been so out of there! Bad enough the whole chopping/hauling wood thing. It really did feel like we were living in the sticks and having to really rough it. I know now what "roughing it" really can be, so believe me I am not here to complain at all. In comparison we actually had it pretty good. A lot of work, yes, but pretty good.

I also discovered something that you can't get living in a hamlet, a town, or a city. I discovered the wilderness. It became my friend. When times got rough, I would go for a walk or a horseback ride and love every minute of the solitude and peaceful tranquility that the wilderness had to offer. I often, admittedly, concerned my mother because once I got out there I took a LONG time to get back, but I was never lost as such. Yes, I would go visiting sometimes, until I found my way home, but I never really felt lost or afraid. Actually, I found myself more at home out there than I ever had with the people around me. I listened to the leaves in the trees and they spoke to me. I had the honor of encountering a lot of wild animals and learning their habits and languages. I learned that walking silently was greatly appreciated by all the nature spirits and wild animals. I also connected with Spirit in ways that went much deeper than those experienced by others around me, it seemed.

I think that this is what led me to embracing my Shamanic Consciousness. Just like someone had to be the one to haul the wood, I had to be the one to become a shaman. I wrote previously about my mother and grandmother and how awesome they were in "knowing" things. I do have that within me. I both inherited it and developed it. Most of my teachings came from nature itself, but I also had the benefit of having other shamans and witches teach me along the way. I am very honored that they took the time to do so. They provided me with a road map that will forever be a reference point. I get to choose which direction my journey takes, but the map is always there and does indeed get updated along the way. I can't get lost that way. This is why I always have to honor what resonates as true for me. If I can't honor that within myself, then I end up entangled in others' expectations, which may not be at all realistic for who I am.

Blessed Be

Trent
www.deerhornshamanic.com