Archive for the ‘Four Directions’ Category

Medicine walk and 5th anniversary of BC Wilderness Visions

Sunday, July 4th, 2010

BC Wilderness Visions and the Monkey Valley Retreat Centre celebrates its 5th anniversary of nature programs this summer! The first program was a medicine wheel teaching in the summer of 2005, when 25 people came to Monkey Valley and created a beautiful medicine wheel. Teachers Joyce Lyke and Tracy Leach ...

Wisdom of the Four Directions—June 2011

Monday, June 21st, 2010

Finding Healing and Guidance in Nature: A Summer Solstice Celebration June 25, 2011 - Vancouver “Journeys start from where we are. Everything starts from where we are. Where we are is where we’re supposed to be.” - Evelyn Eaton, The Shaman and the Medicine Wheel This day-trip in the North Shore mountains, just 20 ...

Your one wild and precious life

Sunday, May 30th, 2010

Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life? - Mary Oliver, 1992 Do you ever wonder what you're doing with your life, and whether it is truly fulfilling your deepest joy, your purpose here, right now, on this earth, in this lifetime? Do you ever ...

Gnawing away at that anger bone

Monday, April 5th, 2010

It's been a while since I've written about anger, and I'd like to come back to the topic today to share recent experiences with digesting this aspect of my being. As you may recall, I last wrote that I was starting a new technical writing contract, and hoped that I ...

Returning to my people

Thursday, January 28th, 2010

I'd like to conclude my story of the medicine walk with telling you about how Ruth and Larry mirrored the story for me, and what has happened since then. As I mentioned in Three parts of the ceremony, the final stage is reincorporation. During this stage, we bring the gifts ...

The three parts of the ceremony

Thursday, January 21st, 2010

A medicine walk, just like a full-length vision quest, has three parts to the ceremony: severance, threshold, and reincorporation. The time spent mirroring my intention was part of the severance phase, during which I was preparing to leave my people and go out into the wild. This time also included packing ...

The medicine walk: getting down to the nitty gritty

Tuesday, January 19th, 2010

Continuing on with the story of the east shield ceremony, I was now near the mouth of the canyon, near the canyon wall on the north side of the wash. The wash was filled with stones, from tiny pebbles to large boulders, but I'd chosen a ceremonial spot that was flat ...

The medicine walk: ceremony with the inner masculine

Sunday, January 17th, 2010

I have been writing about my medicine walk in Eureka Valley, California, last October. After I completed the north shield ceremony, which involved gathering the bouquet of flowers and making gifts for my people, I felt that I wanted to do an east shield ceremony. I didn't know what form ...

The medicine walk: bouquets and gifts of the north

Saturday, January 2nd, 2010

For the next part of the medicine walk I've been writing about, I wanted to do some work in the north part of the wheel, which involves giving our gifts to our people. It can also involve making gifts, doing concrete physical tasks, craftwork, and so on. I walked farther down ...

The medicine walk: cholla cactus and golden braids

Friday, January 1st, 2010

If you have been following this story of the medicine walk, you might be wondering what my longing for a loving relationship has to do with the intention I brought on the walk, and why I chose to ask the lizard that question. I can tell you two things about ...