Bounty of the Land

We live off the land whether we feel it or not. We live off the work of others, and the life of plants and animals, and the gifts of the universe.

I have been studying the Inuit way of life, and trying to learn a little Inuktitut, which is their language. I have been eating so much fish, feeling like I am living in a past life somehow. So Willow decided that this year we’ll take up fishing! I am excited to catch my own fish and eat it, living in harmony with the land, listening to the water and watching the sky. It feels beautiful, I can’t wait for spring to come.

Nakurmiik! Iiraaluk, nakurmiik, anirniq. (Thank you! Yes indeed, thank you spirit.)

Emptiness and Qiinuituk

In emptiness we come face to face with ourselves and the infinite. There is great peace to be found if we can accept a moment alone with our soul and the land and the universe.

Where I live in Canada there have been weeks of grey days. But I feel the heartbeat of the land that is more authentic joy than a glint of sunlight…the beat of Life.

The Inuit have a word for the meditative peace of emptiness, which in their barren landscapes has been anything but empty.

Qiinuituk…

“This is when you are alone, the lonely living thing far away from earthly things and filled with peace. This sense of peace fills every corner of your mind. It is more satisfying than any joy you have ever experienced in your conscious life because it runs deeper than happiness. It can mend broken thoughts and feelings, and having experienced it gives you the knowledge that it can come again when you feel there is nowhere to go.” (Quoted in Inuit Women: Their Powerful Spirit in a Century of Change By Janet Mancini Billson, Kyra Mancini)

Checking In

I want to reach out, I want to ask all of you — how are you doing today?

Does anyone need a helping hand? A bit of guidance? A kind word?

I’m here, holding space. I’d like to help.

Fear

Don’t give your fear as much imagination as you give your hopes.

Kassie’s Strength (Poem)

Acorn babe says

maybe this is the afterlife,

because she’s awakened

to the Earth; she knows

she’s always been an oak.

Here Kassie babe reigns

as the lollipop queen, owning

her land, herself

as if there is no separation between

us and us and us.

There is only freedom,

full like a vast land that knows

no emptiness

though there’s no trees in sight.

 

 

 

 

Music Inspiration

I thought I’d share some music I’m really into these days. It’s raw, gritty, lots of throat-singing, but beautiful. The kind of songs that take you to a different place.

 

Being a Multiple

I identify as a multiple, who is not suffering from dissociative identity disorder, but thriving with it. DID is a mental strategy to survive, and once freed from that survival situation, a multiple has near superhuman capabilities at her/his beck and call.

I have been trying to find a way to express my system, my parts, the essence and the variety of who we are. I think the best thing I can share right now is my Pinterest page…which is like a collage of our personalities. We create separate boards for our parts (not all our parts, but a good few), and each voice and flavour can be seen at a glance.

My Pinterest is here if you would like to see what I mean!  https://www.pinterest.com/storykai/

 

Intention and the Imagination

Intention gets talked about a lot in spiritual and self-help circles. It is believed that our intention holds energetic power that can make things happen. Intention alone is not a very clear concept, but nothing lights your intention on fire like the imagination. In fact, your intention is contained and carried forward like a passenger on the imagination. So your imagination is like a giant signal boost for your intention. Why wouldn’t you use it? It’s freely available to you all the time, any time, and you don’t have to be a master in self-discipline because this method is literally child’s play. It’s simple and fun.

The imagination is a direct sense of potential, as I’ve explained in previous posts. When we imagine a potential outcome we wish to achieve, we are co-creating the possibility for it to happen. this idea bears some similarities to the law of attraction, but I don’t believe that that law is valid as it has been described by others. I don’t believe that like simply attracts like, but that we must imagine things in order for them to be possible, or to increase their potential. We, as instances, are co-creators with the infinite.

So I would advocate that we work our imagination into our spellwork, our meditations, our prayers, our journeys, every part of life. You can bless your food and medicine before consuming it by imagining that it is healing to your body. When praying, imagine the outcomes you desire and especially imagine the emotions that you will feel when you do achieve those outcomes. When creating a spell or charging a power object, simply imagine that you are giving power to what you’re doing. This provides a clear picture that expresses your intentions, so they can better manifest.

The more confident you are in your imagination, the clearer and stronger your intention will be. Your imagination is the source of your magic, not mere fantasy! When you work with the imagination rather than against it, you will access the kinds of powers we think only a Shaolin monk could master, like healing one’s own body.

 

Past Lives

I feel like I am presently co-existing in a past life, or like a past life is calling to me so strongly I hardly know what to do. I believe I experienced a past life as an Inuit, living on the land, a vast expanse of ice and sky…eating the food of the land, like fish and caribou. I don’t even like the idea of eating gamey meat but I can’t get the craving out of my head, it’s the oddest thing. I want to honour this life and figure out if there is anything I need to do in my life now as a result of my past life.

To try to deal with this feeling, I made an Inuit-inspired amulet necklace with polymer clay to look like bone. It’s an ancient kind of fish hook with little charms of a fish, seal, and whale.

Shamanic Journeying is for Everyone

The greatest stumbling block we face when trying to use our natural spiritual powers is the fear that we are not powerful enough to use them at all.

Shamanic journeying is a prime example. In a shamanic journey, we enter a different consciousness to interact with a different world. It sounds like something only the most disciplined of monks could do, and yet it is so simple. We are ourselves spiritual beings, and the only thing stopping us from entering the spirit world is our own fear or doubt.

Close your eyes, let your mind drift, and ask for a spirit to show you what you need right now, or what your purpose is, or what is missing in your life presently.

Almost immediately a person will start to have an experience, only to doubt it because it seems like they are merely imagining it. We fight our imagination because it feels self-created, and we want a spiritual experience to feel out of our control. In the physical world, things seem to happen to us, so we want spirituality to happen to us as well.

The truth is, everything in life is both completely created in our mind and completely created outside of ourselves. This is the yin yang or yanantin duality that springs from our existence as an instance of being, one half of the greatest duality of all: the instance and the infinite. Both are equally powerful. You, as an instance of being, are as important and powerful as the infinite.

Close your eyes again, and let your mind drift, and speak to spirit. Simply ask for a spirit to visit you. Yes, you are imagining it, but simultaneously it is also completely real and happening. Your imagination is the way you understand the infinite. After all, the infinite contains everything possible — therefore everything you imagine is contained in the infinite.

Sometimes a shamanic journey will feel like a daydream, but if you have faith you will know that any spirit you could possibly imagine is real and exists in the infinite. It’s a paradox; you are dreaming them into being and the infinite is dreaming you into being. Your power IS your imagination. Let it work for you.