Just a reminder that tomorrow is the Summer Solstice, arriving at 7:09pm eastern time, right on the heels of today’s (Tuesday, 6/19/12) New Moon. This will create a powerful window to spiritual energies that you can (re)connect with and provide a chance to change the course of your life. We hope you’ll consider joining us in the Mesa Medicine Wheel for ceremony as a deliberate act, as it can provide a concrete avenue for noticeable life changes.
I mention this because we continue to hear from too many of our Mesa “tribe” and those who haven’t yet visited us that their lives feel like they are falling apart. They are short on money, can’t find good jobs or any employment at all, are stuck in bad relationships or feel unable to find love. They are struggling with chronic illness, depression, sleeplessness, or a lack of direction. They feel overwhelmed, stuck, and don’t know what to do to pull out of it. They’ve tried meditating, but can’t concentrate. They’ve said affirmations, but nothing has changed. They’ve tried holistic therapies, followed gurus, and read all the “right” books to no avail.
In our conversations in person and over the phone we’ve been reminding our friends, clients, and students of a couple of things. One is what we’ve been learning about Karma. Often, what people are experiencing has to do with what they’ve sown in the past. This could have been in the form of conscious or unconscious thought, speech, or behavior that was negative, unloving, egotistical, or downright cruel. This energetic is still in play for them, bringing them their current situation even though they may have seen the Light and changed their ways some time ago. Kate and I had lived through exactly this kind of scenario before we met.
So how do we change our Karma and get life moving again? As our friends the Tsawa Tibetan monks would tell us, we must do things that will gain us merit. Merit is not like “brownie points with God,” but a selfless positive energy we can generate from our consciousness (paying attention) as well as our actions. When we create this energy, all of the Natural World notices it and is affected by it. Then it comes back around to us in good ways. I believe that Kate and I met (in part) because we were each doing our work to live more consciously spiritually. We balanced our individual Karma just enough to find each other.
We suggest that people start where they are and realize that it might take some time to gain enough merit to overcome their Karma and get things moving again. What kind of meritorious things can we do or engage in for the meantime? We can start with practicing compassion for all things, working and praying for not only our own benefit but for that of All Our Relations. (A simple thing is to merely recite the Om Mani Padme Hum mantra a few times a day.) We can engage in charitable works and acts of compassion large or small. We can take a spider out of the house in a glass instead of reacting in fear and squashing it, or feed the birds. We can focus hard on what is positive and stop spewing negativity, fear, blame, and doubt. We can practice acts of conscious kindness for all creatures. Just engage with it for a while and see what happens.
The second thing is something reiterated by our Peruvian Shaman and teacher, Amaru Li, during his workshops last weekend; we can do ceremony. He reminded us of what he would call Karpay (pronounced “car-pie”). This is a simple and personal ceremony using the light of a fire or candle flame to reconnect and rekindle our spiritual nature. It is done with the intent of replanting “Seeds of Light” within our physical, emotional, and spiritual bodies. Amaru recommended that people do this once a month or so, near the full or new moon, but we can see that it might be beneficial for some to do so once a day.
Here’s how to do a simple Karpay: Light a candle (preferably white) and select an object that is important and an energy-holder for you. This could be a medicine bag, crystal, religious medal, or other “power object”. Holding the intent to do this spiritual and literal replanting, center yourself before the flame. Hold the object comfortably above the flame and use your other hand to “gather” light into it. Then hold the object to your root chakra (energy center at your genitals) with both hands for 5-10 seconds and say something to yourself or aloud about planting a seed of Light into your physical body as you envision absorbing the accumulated light on that level.
Do the same thing with the object at your heart for your emotional body, and your third eye for your spiritual body. Then hold the object with both hands in front of your face and with an upwards offering gesture, make a sound like a speedy swooshing to send the intent to Pachamamma (Mother Earth). You might just feel better on the spot! We’ll be doing Karpay during our Medicine Wheel Ceremony with the Light of the sun. It’s even more powerful when we do this together and becomes a meritorious act as we share it with the world around us. Good Karma to you!
