Hummingbird Journals

I am brushing against a prickly call for me to practice what I preach.

I am close to the edge again and nervous about how I will face all of my bills. Back into the rat race and nervously chewing at my tail. From every direction, my world is closing in around me.

I need to scoot some people out to the next ring in my swiftly tilting planet. Make a little space for sameness. The gravitational pull has already wrapped itself around almost everyone in my life carrying them like drifting dandelion seeds away from my world, yet tethered to my heart.

Can I be solitary? Can I release the tenderness of praise? The longing of my heart is to hold my breath and plunge into the depths of my emotions. Feel them fully without the escape of my primal nature. Without sex, or the pen or brush or chisel to express them. Will they fuse into silence when they collide?

I am reeling against the words “too much, again” Two many words this time and too much thinking. The words and emotions bump into one another. My keen mind, the flipper that sends the pinball spinning. The noise of the ricochet dinging clamors with the acceptance that true stillness is the only way to score at the next level. Can I overcome the reflex to keep the ball in motion?

I am chastised once again, turned away by the “too much” of my being.
Too much and Amazing! sharing the surface of the same coin.

Oh sweet knowing will you buoy me?
Winds of Providence lift me beyond limitation.
Great Gratitude, open my eyes to the cornucopia of being.
Longing for the Divine engulf me, swallow me whole
leaving no trace of the fear that it isn’t so.

Cell phones

The idea of planetary, personal and cultural evolution is irrefutable. It provides motivation for glimpsing into the past. The path of evolution is traceable illustrating the many junctures in the road to civilization while guiding the steps into the future. The internet, with its far reaching implications, is a huge catalyst for the progression of the shift. It is the rogue factor that destabilizes the status quo. 

The Post Modern world is full of chaos ripe for the next step in our journey as a species. Cell phones and WiFi connect even remote areas of the world, ushering in the information age. The bombardment of social awareness is overwhelming. Cell use is being driven by its practical application. A loved one can phone and find out what to pick up on their way out of town enroute to a remote village. Elders have the reassurance of being able to connect with a neighbor in the event of an injury or illness. Cell phone sales are sky rocketing in developing nations offering a short cut in the evolution of culture by shifting critical mass. Millions of people once separated by geographical location now have access to anything in the world with Blackberries and Iphones in hand.

Skype allows people from all over the world to be present via video cameras. It is practically free and the experience covers a much broader scope. Loved ones come to life with gestures, mannerisms and familiar voice quality. A parent can call home from just about anywhere and see his or her children snuggled in bed or romping like puppies. Skype technology engages the heart. Transference of coherence patterns knows no distance or time. Therapeutic use in a number of situations could create healing through heart entrainment. Skype also calls us to transparency in relationships as people can read our body language and its congruency. Ironing out details for international transactions done via Skype lessens the carbon footprint. Expert tutorials utilizing this technology transport the classroom to global proportions. The potential uses seem infinite.

Adaptability is essential to the process of evolution. The internet has expedited the process with its ever changing focus on ingenuity. It creates a tumbling down effect for out-dated consciousness as creativity and the imagination soar to new heights. The momentum of this change in energetics is immense. The Baby Boomers who were indoctrinated in overcrowded assembly-line conscious classrooms are now at the helm of change. Motivations beyond the Cold War, Capitalism and competition for resources are free to flourish. 

Access to free information is proliferating. Wikipedia, a free public service, gathers information from volunteers around the globe. Ten years after its inception it is 40 million users strong. Educational opportunities abound and are accessible in semi-remote areas via computers. Webinars, on line workshops and web conferences make knowledge accessible from the comfort of your own computer, enabling millions of people to access learning as a recreational activity. Free chat rooms engage people of all ages, ethnicity and economic status in self-selective groups adding cohesiveness to the collective consciousness. Social media link people to events of common purpose or interest and have become a powerful tool for boycotting and organizing events that gain visibility for a cause. Exposure creates expansion as our awareness assimilates new information. 

Globalization creates a forum where simple folk, like me, can contribute to the conversation. This empowers Agents of Cultural Change. New ways of “being” introduced by integral living, cultural creatives, and other cross-cultural communities are all bridges into a New World. The tributaries they traverse are our collective thinking. Web sites that compile and cross reference civic action and sites that encourage social investments serve as world-wide hubs to direct an evolutionary shift.

Rallying global interest in a cause is faster and more efficient. The threat of Environmental Degradation is depending on Global ingenuity to problem solve solutions for the ramifications of off shore drilling, deforestation, climate change and a host of other interrelated facets of this interconnected world. Global conference calls expand the conversation offering different vantage points from remote areas and evidence in the form of cell photos that give the world a clear view of what is truly happening in our environment. Activists from every corner of the world have joined the dialogue, dispelling the power of the media to manipulate our perceptions. In this way, the snake sheds its skin and the adaptability of the planet is self-actualized. 

Globalization presents exponential promise for change by honoring diversity. People interacting bring diversity of thought and experience to the forefront. Making adjustments and accommodations for differences also shifts the stalemate of egocentrism. Although social media carry the potential of facilitating hate groups like the KKK, child pornography and militant right wing religious zealots, the positive potential outweighs the less then desirable. We can navigate our attention away from the abhorrent aspects of society and add our input to creating a better world. The tipping point of on-line interests will determine what is valued in the 21st Century. 

Each individual has an opportunity at hand to participate in a global democracy of thought, social activism and socio-economic change. What we do matters and the ease with which we can make a contribution has never been greater. NOW is the time to join hands with like minded individuals to cross the river of change. With our hands linked, we can overcome the swift current of previous mis-creations and maladies of the modern world.

I harvested beauty and bounty from my yard. What a pallet of fall colors awaiting my return home. I am truly blessed and I love how my Mother provides for me. I think food should be beautiful. No need to go to the store today.

Garden Greeting

August 3, 2010

Hi! I booked my flight to Nepal tonight and I will be travelling through the month of October. I start with a Habitat for Humanity build in Pokhara. I will be working with 460 people from around the world to build 50 houses in ten days.

The houses were all funded by micro financing. Instead of each family striving for a home, eight families pooled their resources in order to earn one house at a time. A much more efficient way to get ahead and meet a fundamental need.

As a teacher, I was dedicated to collaboration instead of competition. This is a beautiful illustration of the power of community and seeking a win-win solution.

The remainder of my stay I will be living primitively with a shaman learning about natural ways of healing utilizing Earth honoring techniques.

I feel called to do this work at this auspicious time in the evolution of the planet. I am dedicated to the task of morphing ancient ways into our future. They are simple, natural ways of healing that can create profound shifts on all levels of being. Those of you who have experienced  the Hucha Ceremony understand what a powerful catalyst for change it can create. I feel both honored and humbled to have been initiated to bring this tool to our community. I know there are many more blessings just waiting for me to retrieve and make relevant in the modern world.

If I had been born in another place in time, my work would have been supported by the community to whom I served. In the modern world, it is difficult to feel that sense of belonging and support.

My work is motivated by a desire to be a hollow bone and a conduit of Divine Love. I do not have set hours.  I have had people land on my doorstep at midnight with a genuine need for a session, and it was my joy to be there to assist.

I believe in Divine Providence, and my ceremonial work is done on a gratitude blessing basis. It is based on the principle of reciprocity where giving and receiving are held in the balance of appreciation.

This next adventure will cost about $5,000, and I need your help. I would love to slip you in my pocket so you can tag along on my journey. In exchange for your donation I will:
Send updates about my experiences, insights and teachings.
Make video available for you to check in and see, hear and be inspired by my interaction with people from half way around the world.
Invoke your name, visualize your face and connect your energy to each Medicine Wheel I build with blessings for you and your loved ones.
Return to you with deeper wisdom, expanded consciousness and new tools to better serve and support your journey.
Provide a means by which you can experience the thrill of adventure from the comfort of your computer. I offer a no risk way to live vicariously and step boldly into a more meaningful way of being.

The research I am gathering will eventually be assimilated into a book. My hope is that this book will be helpful to all of us, as well as future generations. These ancient ways, and the elders who carry them, are dying off. The indigenous way of life that is in harmony with the Earth and all living beings is near extinction.

The dominant culture has detached from the natural rhythms and sanctity of life. Like a droning sound in the background, we have been lulled into a deep sleep. This unconscious detachment undermines the potential renaissance on the horizon of humanity. It is with urgency that I make this quest before these teachings and ceremonies disappear from the collective awareness.

Please contribute what you can and with sincere appreciation, I promise to serve the highest best possible good.

The deadline for tax deductable donations in my name with Habitat for Humanity is Aug. 15th. www.habitat.org/cd/gv/participant.aspx?pid=93345928
You can also make checks payable to Suzanne Rouge up until my departure Sept. 25th.
Bright Blessings

weeds

Every Tuesday of Summer, I work down at the Wildflower Habitat Project. I am motivated by a 360 panoramic view of the sky where the sunset rises to its crescendo. It is the best IMAX around, if like me, you savor lighting.

Nothing satisfies my pallet more than the play of lighting on the mountains and the robust colors of dusk. I take a little break from toiling to salute the sun and then try to beat the bugs home.

Tonight, the sky, pressing out wrinkles as highlighted colors ripple, ringlet upon ringlet, into the horizon. The hot, moist air evaporating the creases of my consciousness.

The sky invites me to linger in the moment and observe the messages my intentions sketch out in the clouds. Icons, symbols and shapes merge and move into clearer revelations of my mind’s meandering.

Sunset is the time for daydreaming and kicking back with contentment. Leaning against the pile of weeds I harvested, I feel a deep connection with the earth and sky. The Native garden boasting the cycle of seasons with plants in varying stages. Colorado wildflowers peak in July, but have a second round of yellow in early fall. I sit on a hillside in anticipation of what is yet to come.

Certainly there is an art to being still in a state of appreciation. The awe of life envelopes me as I watch in wide eyed wonder at how cleverly the sky moves back into the ebb of darkness. The void beckons me to explore a deeper darkness. Layers of my own history made visible by a shift in my fault line. Points of illumination, like stars, dot the dome of my consciousness. Venus takes my hand guiding me into the Divine Darkness of the soul.

Albino oregano

I had read the message from Arvol Lookinghorse right before I went to sleep. He had mentioned remembering the white animals who have come to remind us of the sanctity of life.

The prophecy stated that when the thirteenth white buffalo was born it would mark the changing times when the tree of life would flower again. People of all nations would return to Mother Earth with love, respect and nurturing. Perhaps the oil spill will be the tragedy that wakes us up. The call to action that returns us to right relationship with the natural world.

My mind drifted back to the memory of walking to the side fence so I could get a better look at the white buffalo in Flagstaff. When she noticed me, she came right over for a scratch behind the ears.

I was elated to touch this part of the prophecies unfolding. As the memory faded, I said some prayers for the Gulf infusing them with the joy and hope I felt in being so close to such a Sacred beast, and fell fast asleep.

The next morning I went into my garden to harvest and thin out a large patch of oregano that was choking out my lilies of the valley. There, in the center of the bunch, was a glorious albino oregano! Her glowing crown radiating amongst the dark green leaves that flanked her.

I was overjoyed to see her and ran inside for my camera. I prayed for two days about what to do. Being exposed to the sun was intense for her and the tips of her leaves were browning

I decided that she wanted to be consumed as medicine and nourishment. I put her in a vase and gave a leaf to every person who came to my house that week.

As I placed the succulent white leaf on my tongue, as meaningful to me as the Eucharist, I felt honored and humbled to be in her presence.

Truly, the prayers offered up the night before, manifested as confirmation that comforts me. My life, which has become a living prayer, is so richly blessed.

Life is not rewarded by money or material things. Abundance is recognizing that access to the wisdom of the whole universe is locked within each of us. Living with a vigilant awareness of the sanctity of life is the key to our greatest treasure.

Sleeping with my shadow

One of the things that I am learning is how to stay more present to the peculiar. This morning, as I went to make my bed, I came upon this site.

I have been contemplating the Jungian concepts of shadow and bright shadow. Laying awake thinking about all the relationships that have come to tell me what I am unwilling to see in myself.

The projective dream work I have done thus far, has been guarded in terms of the dreams I’ve been willing to share. Standing naked with the dream, “I had last night,” is a little too revealing..

Yet, I recognize that is the only way I am able to become intimate with my own shadow. To listen first thing in the morning to the whisper of my dreams as they fade back into the void. Sometimes just a snippet, like the shattering of light, is enough to reveal our deepest drama.

Like pressing an elevator button to the next floor, our dreams give us the opportunity to elevate our consciousness.

Symbols of the dreams open like the wide mouth of the elevator and illuminate our awareness. The more enlightened we become to our own shadow the more we contribute to the evolution of the cosmos.