Best Wishes

I am told that the symbol on this little pot is for good fortune and best wishes. Considering that I don't read this language, I will have to take that at face value. I use this pot to make my best wishes. I open it, put an offering of Nettle, Corn Meal, Birch Leaves, Fairy dust etc, into it, and I thank Spirit for the goodness that Spirit brings to me. Then I offer a prayer for those around me. Sometimes people are struggling with different things, and I figure that every little bit of assistance that I can provide would be welcome. So I ask Spirit to help them through and to help them to learn what they need to learn and to give them the strength to heal whatever they may need to heal. Then I ask Spirit to do the same for the people of the Earth. Then I ask the same for the Earth, Herself.

My wish pot is quite powerful. I was told to put my written wishes on a piece of paper and place them into the pot. I decided to discard that when I asked the pot what it wanted me to do and how I could honour it best and utilize its medicine the best. Thus, I make an herbal offering while using it. As I put the lid back onto it after the ceremony, sparks of energy emit from the bamboo and grass tassels on the lid. It is quite magical to watch, and feels great as all those good intentions and best wishes go out to those in need.

For this and other rituals and ceremonies, I am very grateful.

Blessed Be

Trent

www.deerhornshamanic.com

Giving and Receiving

Lau-Tzu said,"If you would take, you must first give." This is a very basic law of the universe, yet one that eludes many. I remember being bullied in Junior High and then, later, taking up martial arts. My instructor, also an accomplished acupuncturist and practitioner of Chinese Medicine, asked me why I wanted to learn how to hurt and possibly kill. My response was that I no longer wanted to feel weak and vulnerable around those who would bully me about and possibly beat the bejeebers out of me as they had in the past. He said two things that really stuck. The first thing that he said was,"If you embark on a journey of revenge, you must remember to dig two graves." The second was, "before you can learn to kill, you must learn to heal."

Having been raised with pagan thought systems, the idea of giving before receiving was something that I understood. I was told by my grandmother to always send prayers of gratitude before I received what I desired. Thus, the Goddess would understand that I already have within me that which I desire, and would then respond by bringing more of the same to me. But when it was put into the context of learning to heal before learning how to kill, it quite frankly floored me. Suddenly it all made sense. Had the bullies in my life learned how to heal before they learned how to torment and possibly kill, they would not have even embarked upon the path of bullying! Thus began my training in martial arts. Yes, I had a natural talent because I learned as a young person how to "street fight" and that made me exceptionally resourceful. But my interest soon became an obsession with the healing aspect. I learned many methods and avenues of helping people to heal. Energetically, there is so much that can be influenced in the mental, emotional, physical and spiritual bodies that the results are often profound. At the same time, you cannot learn how to simulate, say, the liver meridian without also learning how to hinder it, causing great pain and illness. Knowledge is the accumulation of information. Wisdom is the appropriate usage thereof.

So I learned how to protect myself. But what was most important was that I learned how to heal myself. I was able to let go of all those aspects of my personal history that no longer served my well-being and embrace aspects that do. I became an energetic adaptogen and in doing so I opened myself to becoming a shaman. That was a title that I resisted for years. It is one that I now wear with great honor. In an age when there are a lot of popcorn elders and shamans emerging from the woodwork, it is important to know that there are some, like myself, who work with honor and integrity. Those who are like myself I embrace with great love and appreciation. Those who are not don't last long enough to worry about.

Blessed Be

Trent
www.deerhornshamanic.com

Creation Manifestation

Many people talk about manifesting things in their lives. Manifestation is one of the many gifts that Spirit has given us. But we also need to understand how that gift works so that we can use it efficiently. It is similar to receiving your first stereo from your parents at Christmas time or for your birthday. It is one thing to own it, but another thing to actually know how to use it.

First off, there is a difference in manifestation styles. One style is that of Affinity manifestation. With Affinity manifestation we know that what we seek to posses is “out there” and all we need to do is draw it to us and then we will have it. The difficulty with this concept is that we have within it the ingrained belief in lack. If it is “out there” then it is not within our realm of existence. This basic belief then delays the process of creating it in our realm.

Then there is Creation Manifestation. This one is my favorite because it works so quickly. With Creation manifestation we know and understand that we are at one with the Universal force. As this oneness (the true meaning of Atonement is at-one-ment) moves through us we allow what we are manifesting to unfold from within us. So we do not “seek” what we don’t believe we have. We allow what already is to unfold, thus appear in the physical realm. This is very much the concept of “praying rain” which is in a previous entry. So if we need transportation in the form of a new to us vehicle, we allow ourselves to feel what it is like driving that vehicle and feeling safe and secure on the road. Next thing you know, that vehicle comes into our lives in a very affordable way. We see ourselves as prosperous and prosperity embraces us. We see ourselves as worthy and everyone treats us that way. None of this lack stuff is ever involved in creation manifestation.

Most of us do a combination of these styles. That is okay, so long as we are completely conscious of the difference in styles and how they need to work in order to work well for us.
Blessed Be
Trent