What is your path and how long have you followed it?

Post by **Dancing_Moon_Child** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 8:25 pm

Post by **Dancing_Moon_Child** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 8:56 pm

I'll go first. For those of you who don't know, my path is Shamanic. I've always been interested in Animal Medicine and Spirit Guides. I'm also an old hippy so the protecting of Mother Earth is second nature to me. I use Medicine Cards on a daily basis and most of my practices are Native American.

It all started 22 years ago when I adopted my youngest daughter. Her father is Blackfoot and her mother is part Iroquois and Algonquin. In short, I really shouldn't have been able to adopt her with my being non-Native. I had to promise the judge that I would raise her as a Native American to the best of my ability. My home soon became filled with Native pottery, artwork and music. She was prohibited from going onto a reservation til she was 18 as they actually could have kept her. Tribal law supercedes federal law. When you enter a reservation you enter another nation. Brie flourished and loves her heritage. She always insisted she was bi-racial (which she is). Her husband is tri-racial...he's African American, Caucasion and Crow and Cherokee. Their daughter, Kyah, is 5 nations and is being raised to be proud of all her heritage. She is legitimately a true American in the fullest sense of the word.

Because I had immersed myself in the culture for so long I realized that it was where I was most comfortable. I'm allergic to any antibiotics so I've always used Golden Seal. Going thru menopause is so much easier with Black Cohosh and milk thistle is the reason my liver is pink as a new born babies. I kept struggling, waiting for my path to suddenly rear up its head and say here I am. Well, it wasn't my path that reared up its head. It was my friends who said...ummm......Dancer....why are you still looking? You've been on the Shamanic path for awhile with the drumming circles, singing in Cherokee (I love the group Walela), communicating with the animal spirits and using Native herbal lore. Quit whining and start walking.

So here I am. Finally settled on my path. There is so much coming up for me in the near future. I'm going to start journeying (traveling betweenhere and the spirit world) soon and I hope to complete a Vision Quest (meeting my Power Animal either in a vision or physically, very spiritual and powerful in Shamanism) by the end of the year.

Thats my path. There is so much more involved. There's healing and channeling and assisting those in distress thru the power that you develop in studying. I haven't decided whether to become a Shaman or a Shamanic practitioner. Only time and Wanken Tanka (Great Spirit) will tell me that. The rest is up to me.

Thanks for letting me share. Now it's your turn to share with us.

Peace and Love,
Dancing Moon Child

Post by **Starwitch** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 9:30 pm

I am what I like to call a New Age Witch. I believe in a lot of New Age concepts, such as visualization and meditation and energy work, but a lot of that is also part of witchcraft. If I want to do a spell, I mix the two... pray to the gods and angels, and light my candle, maybe say a chant or do a ritual of some sort, and then focus my energy on what I want, and visualize it coming true. Focus energy, direct energy, visualize. I believe that it's the visualization and directed energy that makes spells and prayers work. The rest of it, such as the candles, oils, crystals, etc. is there to help me visualize and also make my mind think I'm "doing something" to make my wish come true. I think it's the BELIEF behind the spells (or prayers) that make them come true. I believe you create your own reality by your thoughts - You are what you think.

I also believe strongly in reincarnation. There are many specifics regarding that, And I have rambled on quite a bit about that on this board previously. So, allow me to ramble some more please...

I don't believe that human souls ever incarnate as animals. They are a distinctly different species of soul, if you will. So if you're bad in one life, you aren't punished by being sent back as a worm, you just choose to live a more difficult life the next time. And I do believe we CHOOSE our life - our blueprint, so to speak. I think that babies that die when they are young, are full grown adult spirits, they don't "grow-up" in heaven. I do think that we go to a spirtual home when we die (Heaven, I like to call it), and we rest there and reenergize and plan our next life for many earth years before incarnating again. People that have had very rough lives have to rest much more than someone with an easy life. It's not rest exactly, but more like rejuvination and energy restoration. I could very easily go on and on about what I believe about the after-life. It's very detailed and complex. But I'll spare you (maybe).

I'm not Wiccan, and I don't believe that things come back on you 3 times. Maybe once, tops. I just don't really believe in a revenge or punishment sort of karma, although I may use the phrase, "He'll get what's coming to him", and sometimes I like to think so. But it's much more likely, in my opinion, that if someone does something bad to another, when they die and go back to the spirit world, they are confronted with the reality of what they did. They will feel guilty about it then, and they will plan their next life in a way that will teach them not to treat others like that again, and that may mean putting themselves in the same situation as the one who was treated badly, so that they feel empathy for that person and will not treat others that way in future lives. It may take many lives to learn just one lesson like that, but they will keep on until they get it right. They WANT to change, because if we do not change and evolve, then we can't ever reach the Source, or God, and merge with him/her/it, which is our ultimate goal as souls. We live our lives to have experiences that our God, who is us and we are it, will benefit from.

I do believe that we are pieces of God, and that our souls came directly from God's soul and we will return there someday in the far off future, and that is our ultimate goal as souls, and it's the reason we all have a strange feeling of homesickness at times, even when we are at home. That's what we are longing for, and what we are living and dying and living and dying for. To reunite with God.

I don't think God watches over us. I believe there are Angels and Spirit Guides and spirit friends that watch us and guide us. But I also believe that in most cases, you have to ASK them for help before they can help you. So don't be afraid to ask. Even if I'm wrong about that, you can't lose by asking, but you can lose by not asking.

I don't believe in Hell. I don't even believe Sylvia Browne's theory of a "left door" if you've heard that one. She says people who are evil in life are reincarnated instantly without going to the spirit world first to recuperate. How would they ever get better if that were the case? They wouldn't, and they would continue being a hazard to society. Her explanation certainly explains the huge amounts of evil men in this world these days, but I still don't believe it. I think most evil people are new souls that don't know how to act as humans. They are frustrated trying to get along in this human world, and they end up killing or hurting people out of stupidity and frustration. The reason we have so many of those types of people NOW is simply because the population has grown so rapidly that there aren't enough old souls to fill all the bodies that are created. The majority of human bodies have new souls in them. Inexperienced souls. There is a never-ending supply of new souls. It never stops, and as long as the population grows, more new souls are developed. Please use birth control so we can stop some of this madness. I wish everyone would, but of course, they don't, and two new souls get together and get pregnant (again and again and again as though they've never heard of birth control pills) and they are filling the world with more new souls. These are the souls that are destroying the world with their violence and hatred and killing and abusing. There are just too many at one time.

Okay, I'm tired of writing now. (Thank Goddess for that, right?)

Post by **Starwitch** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 9:42 pm

Dancer, that's fascinating. My ex-mother-in-law collected Indian dolls, plates, etc. too. She also made beautiful dreamcatchers. She was totally into the whole Native American thing. Well, because she is Indian. So was my ex-husband of course. I don't know that she was much into the spiritual side of it though. I believe she claimed to be Christian actually, but being raised here, I wouldn't expect anything else. She really has so much stuff. I was talking about her like she was dead or something, but she isn't dead. She got very ill with a brain anuerysm and almost died in 2002, and she was a lot different after that happened, but still alive and fighting all the way. She is a true warrior. She says her Indian name "Lavenda" means "Screaming Warrior" and she is definitely that! (Although my guess is that "Lavenda" is form of "Lavender" lol.) But it's a beautiful name anyway. I don't see her anymore since the divorce, but she was a great woman.

It sounds as though you have truly found the path you were seeking for so long. I'm very happy for you. When you become a Shaman, does that mean I can come to you for healings? That would be cool. Good luck with your Vision Quest. Be sure to let us know when you meet your Power Animal, unless that is something private of course.

darkestlight* · Post by darkestlight* » Sat Apr 10, 2004 12:44 am

huummm.... ok i am not sure what i call myself but i believe in the power of nature and the elements and i believe in karma and that whatever you do will come back, and that everything is connected somehow, i also i very strongly believe that wichcraft and a persons path should not be told to them by someone else i think they should find there path for themselves, so i dont know what you would call that i think its just "my path" as far as how long i have been doing it about 2 yrs. but it feels like my whole life because i have always had an interest in this even when being taken to church by my mom so sorry i couldnt give an exact answer but this is the best i can do.

Post by **Starwitch** » Sat Apr 10, 2004 11:18 am

Sounds great darkestlight, and I'm glad to see people taking an interest in the question of the week.

Frank N Sense · Post by **Frank N Sense** » Mon Apr 12, 2004 1:00 pm

Hmm well not sure that I've followed the path I'm on now for the whole time, but I've practiced magic actively and purposely for about 12 years now. Although I've always searched for a truth that fit me.

My beliefs are varyied. I think I in some ways become a part of everything I read and experience. I believe that souls are born and reborn until they are ready for the next phase of thier growth. I also believe that people can interact with beings on this plane or spirit plane with use of magic. I also believe that no matter what I believe it doesn't represent any real truth because words on Earth mean very little when dealing with the spritual. You can only find what works for you and let others do the same. Hope that helps peeps understand my beliefs a little bit