The Sacred Circle

We cannot all sit on the same side of the Fire.

A Council Fire forms a circle, not a line or a square. When we move to the side, we still sit at the Fire with our Brothers and Sisters, but as we move away from one we move toward another.

The circle, like the Dream Hoop, brings us ever back to where we start. Any time words of respect and love are spoken, they will return as given. A harsh word runs forever in the circle, eventually vanishing from the wear against itself. Love settles within the Circle, embracing it and thereby lasting forever, turning within itself.

The Medicine Wheel is the circle of life. Starting with birth and continuing throughout our lives until death, when we have gone full circle.

The Medicine wheel has four Directions, each direction offering it's own lessons, color, and animal guide. There are two paths shown which cross in the center, at which point for me is the heart (for when you work from your heart, you can reach all directions).

The path from East to West is the path of spirits, (the Blue Road) the path from South to North is our physical Walk (the Red Road ).



East - Beginnings, purity, family, innocence, amazement of Life

South - Youth - passions of life, friendships, self-control

West - Adulthood - solitude, stillness, going inside oneself, reflection

North - Place of the Ancient Ones who have gone over - place of wisdom



Above - Freedom of mind, body, spirit

Below - Nuturing, Mother, life



[Luther Standing Bear]
Oglala Sioux 1868-1937

 ................................................................................................................................................................................

Related posts:-
Lines and Circles
The Colour Wheel
Maintaining the Balance
Native Wellness 
Giving and Receiving 

Begin It Now

Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too.

All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. I learned a deep respect for one of Goethe's couplets:

Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.

[W.H. Murray]
The Scottish Himalayan Expedition
(There is some dispute over the accuracy of the Goethe quote used by Murray, for more information see here)

................................................................................................................................................................................


No matter what your intentions, announcing them is an important step. I can say this with confidence based on many years of experience in business. 

From the time when I was a child, I was always telling people what I was thinking and what I wanted to do, and I was constantly being told that I talked too much. But the simple act of saying something is a way to gather energy towards you. Especially when you say something to other people, energy flows in your direction and helps you achieve your aims.

If you express your intentions, the realization of those intentions will follow. Of course, I'm not proposing that you make irresponsible statements - it's important to say what you really feel inside. Your word is your promise, so when you say something you must have the determination to commit yourself. Letting other people know your intentions also often leads to the arrival of required assistance from unexpected sources.

[Masaru Emoto]
The Hidden Messages in Water, p. 141-2


................................................................................................................................................................................

Related posts:-
Life Is Too Short!
Regret
Walk a Straight Line
Go Your Own Way

Tactfully Unconventional

................................................................................................................................................................................


Conventional people are roused to fury by departures from convention, largely because they regard such departures as a criticism of themselves.

They will pardon much unconventionality in a man who has enough jollity and friendliness to make it clear, even to the stupidest, that he is not engaged in criticising them.

[Bertrand Russell]
The Conquest of Happiness, p.89

................................................................................................................................................................................

Related posts:-
Personality and convention
Uses of Heroes | Experience
Creative Living
Status Quo

Imitation of Christ

The Christian subordinates himself to the superior divine person in expectation of his grace; but the Oriental knows that redemption depends on the work he does on himself.

The imitatio Christi [imitation of Christ] has this disadvantage: in the long run we worship as a divine example a man who embodied the deepest meaning of life, and then, out of sheer imitation, we forget to make real our own deepest meaning - self realization.

As a matter of fact, it is not altogether inconvenient to renounce one's own meaning. Had Jesus done so, he would probably have become a respectable carpenter and not a religious rebel ...

The imitation of Christ might well be understood in a deeper sense. It could be taken as the duty to realize one's deepest conviction with the same courage and the same self-sacrifice shown by Jesus.

Happily not everyone has the task of being a leader of humanity, or a great rebel; and so, after all, it might be possible for each to realize himself in his own way.

[C.G. Jung]
Psychology and the East, p.56, 57

Related posts:-
Facing Reality
Escaping Uncertainty