February 4, 2017

Establishing Relationship with the Spirit of the Tzolk’in

Don Alejandro, “Wandering Wolf,” is a 13th Generation Maya shaman, and recognized Spiritual Leader of the 84 Mayan Nations. He is our Grandfather preserving the wisdom of the Maya. Alejandro is the president of the National Mayan Council of Elders of Guatemala. Don Alejandro holds the wisdom of the Mayan Cosmology and travels the world sharing the Mayan prophecies and participating in world Sacred Ceremony. He is a medicine man and works as a catalyst for healing on global levels.

Daily Meditation from our Maya Spiritual Elder

1. Ground and center yourself in your own spiritual practice, then move your awareness to your heart center, feeling love, appreciation and compassion for all life, and respect and honoring of our indigenous elders on every continent, past and present.
2. See and feel the world united in oneness. See and feel Guatemala and the world in peace and harmony, in fulfillment of the Mayan prophecies of this time. Appreciate the living presence and deep wisdom of the Mayan people as Guatemala and the world recognize this precious wisdom from the Heart of the Earth.
3. Affirm with our Mayan Elders:In the name of the Heart of the Heavens; Heart of the Earth, thank you. Let the Spirit of our Ancestors, our Grand Mothers and Grand Fathers, be here today. Brothers and Sisters of all colors, holding hands around the planet, we are one, like the fingers of one hand. Let us reflect on this, let us meditate and pray in our own way, in our own language, according to our own culture or religion, because we have only one Sun to shine upon us equally, one air that we breathe and give us life, one water that we drink and becomes blood in our veins, and we all live on our one Mother Earth. She feeds us, she holds us. Brothers and Sisters of all colors, together united we ask to be guided on the good path, to give us good thinking, strengthen our hearts and our faith, strengthen the conscience of the governors of our communities and of our nations. Illuminate us, so there can be Life for our children and our children’s children. We are one, like the fingers of one hand. We are the ones of yesterday. We are the ones of today. Thank you Heart of the Heavens. Thank you Heart of the Earth.
4. Smile in your heart to our Sisters and Brothers around the Earth joining with us right now in Oneness.

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October 9, 2016

Sacred Ceremony of Offering

The following Offering Ceremony is shared from the Pachakuti Mesa Tradition. We can remember that No One is separated from the facility of Sacred Ceremony by limits of access or physical capability. Our Sacred Intention is the critical Element of Ether that we can evoke through an outer physical representation or as a Vision carried out in Spirit.

All indigenous wisdom is offered as a proven and worthy tool – to creating your own myth and your own Sacred Ceremony. This is a beautiful ceremony – wrapping up an experience of the beauty of nature, and can’t help but draw Communion with Divine Agency.

The indigenous Andean tradition preserves the practice of making sacred offerings, or despachos, to the Pachamama, Mother Earth.

• Gather the elements of your offering. Flowers, herbs, spices, cookies or candy, a poem or thank-you note you have written are all excellent items to include.
• Arrange the various elements with care on a piece of paper or cloth, then wrap up and tie with string, (Use biodegradable or natural materials.)
• Give your offering to the Earth by burning it in a fire or burying it in the soil.

View your Offering as a payment for our debt to Mother Earth. You can also view it like flowers given to a Loved One – a beautiful and unexpected gift that blesses the relationship of the Receiver and the Giver.

The most important aspect of your ceremony will be the genuine love, gratitude, and care you put into each step. The following pictures show step by step in the traditional way. Open the Offering Ceremony by lighting a candle and sprinkling some libation or floral water where you will begin.

1. Lay cornmeal circle clockwise starting in the South.
2. Lay tobacco East to West and North to South.
3. Breath your prayer of intention and blessing into the 3 bay leaves to be positioned in the center as Mind, Body and Spirit.

4. Create your offering of flowers, fruit, candies, personal notes – whatever you might be called to include.
5. When you are finished, fold the four corners to the center, then in half and then to quarter.  This was secured in a second piece of tissue paper, then tied with red embroidery thread.  The offering can be offered to the fire beings, or can be buried in the Earth. If you bury it, first bless the spot with libation, floral water, or cornmeal. If burning, attend to the fire until the bundle is completely consumed.

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CEREMONY OF INITIATION: A Sacred Ritual for Any New Beginning

1. 

   Sunrise Ceremony offered at the Spring Equinox, 2009

   We stand facing the East and acknowledge the dawn of a new day. We bring with us an offering of cornmeal that is held in the right hand.

2. We offer a prayer to the East. Following is a traditional prayer that may be used, or you may find your own words.Great Spirit, who brings new light and new life to each new day, who’s beauty I see in everything around me, and whose voice I hear on the wind – Here am I. I bring myself to you in the place of a new beginning asking to be made One. May I be opened to hear and know the Truth of your Divine Guidance as I surrender myself to your Divine Will. Open my eyes to the beauty of every experience so I am drawn closer to you, and to a new understanding.
3. We turn our attention to the cornmeal in our right hand. We remember corn is the symbol of all the people. We give thanks for the cornmeal that was brought to us in this moment for this sacred purpose, acknowledging all the hands that made it so. We ask permission that it might be used for this blessing. We raise the cornmeal in our right to our lips. We hold the thoughts of our own personal prayers and breath them 4 times into our handful of cornmeal. Then, we raise our hand in offering to the Great Spirit and release the cornmeal and our prayers before the light of the Sun.
4. We complete our ritual with thanks to the Grandmothers and Grandfathers who preserved this sacred wisdom. Aho!

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NEW MOON CEREMONY

The New Moon offers us a beginning as a new “coming of the light.” We can be blessed at this time through a ritual of offering our Sacred Intentions to Spirit. ALL ceremony is offered as ritual of communication with Spirit. We are always free to create our own Way. Below are some suggestions for Sacred Ritual to acknowledge this power of a new beginning.

1) Spend time considering your intention. What situation or circumstances would you choose to let go. Consider how you would be changed by it. Draw a clear vision of the change you would hope to manifest.

2) Draw the Spirit of your Intention to a physical representation. This could mean writing down your intentions on a piece of paper, or imbuing your thought to a physical object that serves as its representation.

3) On the New Moon – begin by consecrating a Sacred Space. Smudging with Sage and then Sweetgrass is a traditional way. (You might also choose to enact a purification through ritual bathing.)

4) Our New Moon ritual is best done outside under the stars. If this is not possible, we can draw ourselves to that place through a Vision of Inner Spirit. Call yourself into the moment. You can call on sacred breath – breath in the Sacred Power of Spirit, and breath out the Light of Love. Chanting the 4 directions is another sacred use of the breath. (East, Ahhhh; South, Ehhhh; West, Eeeee; North, Ohhhhh – 4 times in each direction)

5) Call upon the Forces of Nature, recognizing our Oneness with the Earth.

Looking to the East – We give thanks to the Direction that brings new Light, Life, Inspiration and Happiness. We present ourselves as Here and Now.

Looking to the South – We give thanks for the Gift of the Natural World and the relationship through which we are offered new understanding. We present ourselves as Here and Now.

Looking to the West – we give thanks for our personal experiences, though which we acquire wisdom. We give thanks for the Light that shines in the darkness. We present ourselves as Here and Now.

Looking to the North – we give thanks for the Wisdom of the Ancient Ones who walked this way before and who are present to share their wisdom. We present ourselves as Here and Now.

6) We take in the beauty of the All Around and offer our own prayer of Intention. If we imbued our Intentions into an object, we might hold these things by placing them on our altar or leaving them outside through the light of the moon’s full cycle.

7) We can close with a prayer of gratitude, to give thanks and acknowledgement of our Sacred Exchange and the Power of Spirit to help us out.

FULL MOON: We can bring our Ritual full circle on the next full moon when we might choose to burn our paper and release our ashes, or bury the object of our intention as an offering to Mother Earth who has the power to transform all things.