Eagle Medicine

The Lakota Sioux identify the Eagle as the spirit-keeper of the East on the Medicine Wheel. The gate of the east represents spring-time and new beginnings. They celebrate and honor this space of the East and the Eagle at the Spring Equinox and this time of year.

Many Native Americans refer to someone’s spiritual gifts used to heal and bring value to others as their medicine. Animals have medicines attributed to them to honor their essence and to acknowledge the aspects of self and medicines that human beings can awaken and learn from them.

Eagle medicine stems from the eagle’s ability to fly higher than all the other animals. This distance allows the Eagle to see things as they are. It can see the forest from the trees. Add to that the Eagle’s keen eyesight which allows it to see its prey from such heights. The essence of Eagle Medicine is clarity.

But the Eagle also brings the vision. It’s cousin, the Red-tailed Hawk, is seen as the messenger from the other side. This time of the year we need vision to create the focus and discipline to unfold our new life during this coming year.

So this spring invite the Eagle to fly down and pull you outside of yourself and carry you high above all the things going on in your life- so you see things as they are. And ask it bring your vision- so you can walk toward it and recognize the new things in your life that present themselves to you this coming year.

All you have to do is ask and be open to it…

Spring Equinox: Planting seeds of potentiality

Yesterday, March 20th, was the Spring Equinox. Many Native American, pagan, and earth-based spiritual practices celebrate Spring Equinox as time of giving birth to new beginnings. The Lakota Sioux begin their year’s cycle in the spring. They even enter the medicine wheel in the gate of the east which represents springtime.

I am viewing this Spring Equinox as a time to plant seed(s). A seed represents potentiality. It is an idea, an intention. It is something you want to unfold this coming year. So Spring Equinox is the perfect time to plant and awaken your vision for the coming year.

But before we plant, we have to be clear in what we are planting. That starts by asking yourself, “What is most important to me at this time in my life? What aspects of my life do I want to unfold.” This is your intention. Only choose it if you are willing and able to fully commit to it.

Then it’s time for the ceremonial planting. Take your intention and symbolically plant it in the earth. That is, take it from the concept that is in your mind and release it outside of yourself- so it can begin to interact and grow. This spring and summer, you will be watering and nurturing it. When the seedling breaks out of the ground, you will protect its vulnerability. You will water it and fertilize it- and pull weeds that come up around it. Until your plant grows strong. Until it reaps a harvest in the fall.

So this Spring Equinox (let’s extend it to this week and this coming weekend), you owe it to yourself to get quiet and ask yourself what is really important to you this year. What is the dream you would like to make real? And then do something to symbolically plant that in the ground.

This weekend some friends and I will be doing on the beach in North San Diego County.  http://michaelhoffman.info/retreats/

We will be planting seeds. Feel free to join us in person or in spirit.

The Winter Solstice- a time for introspection

This blog is re-posted from 12/21/2009:  Today is the winter solstice and shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. Due to the tilt in earth’s axis, the sun is shining directly over the Tropic of Capricorn- its southern most point. Now the sun’s migration changes direction and begins to move north again. Our days will start to get longer tomorrow.

In pagan and earth-based cultures, the Winter Solstice is a celebration of the feminine and the goddess. They celebrate this time of maximum darkness to awaken and acknowledge the unbridled power of the dark element in nature and themselves. The dark element represents the feminine, primal, yin, internal, rest, night, cool, dream, and receptive.

The Winter Solstice is when the dark element’s dominance over the light element hits is peak and begins to wane. It surrenders to the light element. The I Ching, Hexagram 24- “Return/ The Turning Point (Wilhelm-Baynes translation) describes this, “The time of darkness is past. The winter solstice brings the victory of light.” And later in the hexagram, “Therefore seven is the number of young light, and it arises when the number of six, the number of the great darkness, is increased by one. In this way the state of rest gives place to movement.”

In one tradition of the Native American medicine wheel, Winter Solstice represents the place of the north. It is a time of introspection for us to go inside and evaluate our life over the last year. It is our year’s existential crisis where we soul-search what is truly important to us. We can then assess whether we have been living our life consistent with what is important to us. If not, it indicates that a change is necessary for the new year.

So what is most important to you? Is the way you are living your life in harmony with that? If not, it may be time for an adjustment or change for the new cycle. It is, after all, the perfect time of year to reinvent yourself.

Happy Spring Equinox: Protect and support your new beginnings

The Spring Equinox occurred yesterday. It is officially Spring! One tradition of the Native American Medicine Wheel teaches that springtime (or the East) is the time of new beginnings- in nature and our lives. But the new aspects of ourselves have likely not taken form yet. They may exist solely at the conceptual level- in the form of pictures or ideas. It may not be clear as to how they are going to manifest in our lives yet.

The fact that it has not yet taken form makes this stage of personal growth highly vulnerable. The new beginning takes considerable faith and focus to be born. We must not allow ourselves to get distracted from it or talked out of it. I liken the new beginning to a tender seedling. It needs to be protected and nurtured until it gathers enough strength to stand on its own.

And likely not everyone is able to support our new beginning. It may reside outside of their comfort zone (let alone ours). They are used to us being a certain way that they can rely on. We may not fit into the box that they have us in anymore. When we start talking about developing new aspects of ourselves, they may wonder if they will still have a place in our world.

For these reasons, new beginnings require great compassion. We must have compassion for our new self- so it can come into being. We must have compassion for our friends and loved ones- because they may feel frightened and insecure.

You wouldn’t think twice about protecting a vulnerable child. Native Americans call them “undefendables.” Your new aspects of self require the same protection. Nothing is more precious or important.

Because… without your protection and support, the new you will never come to be.

Does it plant corn?

January is the perfect time for introspection. The perfect time to discern what aspects of yourself and your life to develop over the next year. A Native American teacher of mine used to ask me, “Does it plant corn?” when I was telling him of the new thing I was fired up about.

Seems like he was saying, “Will it develop into something that will reap value in the lives of you and your people.” Or, “Sounds like a great idea, but will it feed your people?”

Your time and energy is so precious. There are so many things that sound great in theory, but never really make a difference or accomplish anything of value. At one level these things are distractions. Distractions from the dreams we could be actualizing.

Economists and investors call this opportunity cost. Investopedia defines opportunity cost as, “the cost of an alternative that must be foregone to pursue a certain action” (link). In this case, the investment is your time and energy- the ultimate investment.

So I urge you to add, “Does it plant corn?” to the questions you ask yourself when considering which seeds to plant in your life this spring. A seed, after all, takes a lot of time and energy to cultivate.

And if it doesn’t plant corn- why bother? You could just as easy plant something that does.