Earth medicine, p.6
Earth Medicine, page 6
It follows, then, that we had conscious existence before we were born. Why do we not remember? Because we start each life with a clean ‘memory tape’. Using a computer analogy, a clean, new tape is inserted in Drive with each new life. But the ‘master’ tape is still held in the memory bank of the unconscious of the Real Self. Access to it is normally denied, though there are people who have an ability to recall past-life experiences – who have cracked the past-life recall code.
The directional totem is only one of a number of totems that comprise the personal shield. Each totem is connected with a different part or level of our total being. Each serves as a channel between the outer, everyday conscious existence and the inner reality of our subconscious and unconscious existence. Like a push-button tuner on a radio, it helps us to switch on to a particular wavelength of our being, or like a key on a computer keyboard it enables us to have access to a particular ‘menu’ of information and energies.
Another of these several totems is our birth totem which is related to the particular time of our birth and provides a finer tuning of the forces and energies that comprise our personality vehicle. For a person born between 21 March and 19 April, for instance, the birth totem is the Falcon; for someone born between 20 April and 20 May it is the Beaver, and for the birth month 22 May – 20 June it is the Deer.
The birth totem is similar to the ‘signs’ or glyphs used in Sun astrology – for Aries, Taurus and Gemini, for instance – and, indeed, in some ways relates to them. But as I have already indicated, a totem is more than a glyph or a sign on a package of information, it is an activating two-way ‘switch’ by which we can be directed to our inner levels and through which those inner reaches can filter through to our outer levels to become part of our everyday, physical lives. The birth totem will be dealt with in detail in Part Two of this book.
Each segment of Earth influence time has been allocated a name that describes a feature of Nature’s cycle that is evident during that period of the turning of the Wheel of the Year. Briefly, the three segments of the East and their totems are:
The Awakening Time (21 March – 19 April). The principal totem, or birth totem for those born in the Awakening Time is the Falcon which correlates to the Sun sign of Aries.
The Growing Time (20 April – 20 May). The birth totem for the Growing Time is the Beaver, which correlates to the Sun sign of Taurus.
The Flowering Time (21 May – 20 June). The birth totem for those born at this time is the Deer, which correlates to the Sun sign of Gemini.
To summarize: The East is primarily the direction for insight into spiritual principles, so East-born people are likely to be drawn into life-situations in which principles are of prime importance to them and to the direction of their lives. The power of the East expresses itself through the spirit by motivating a desire for new beginnings and new interests, so the response in the individual is an urge to start new projects and to take up new interests (see Figure 23).
Figure 23.
1.5
The Four Winds (2)
SOUTH, WEST AND NORTH
The South
AN ANIMAL ASSOCIATED WITH THE POWER OF THE SOUTH AND WITH the South Winds is the mouse. The mouse is a totem for people with birthdays between 21 June and 21 September in the Northern hemisphere.
A mouse may seem to be a rather unsuitable creature to serve as a totem for a great power. What’s more, it is an animal that is not well regarded and may even be feared by some people, and certainly most would regard it as a pest. So why should it be rated as a totem? Bear in mind that to the Indian every creature, whether large or small, whether it flew, ran, crawled or swam, had something of value to offer and to teach. There was a reason for its existence. So let us not dismiss the mouse or underrate its likely value as a helper in Earth Medicine. Indeed, little mouse does have much wisdom to impart to us.
The mouse expresses an important characteristic of the ‘spirit’ of the South because it is a creature that is particularly sensitive to its immediate surroundings through special organs of touch – its whiskers.
Consider how the mouse perceives things. It is aware of its surroundings by its closeness to them and by its sensitive feel of them. That is a special quality of the South Power and of people influenced by the South Winds – the perception of things by getting close to them. It is a special sort of awareness that comes through feelings.
Touch, and closeness, and feelings, are vital qualities of the South, which might be described as the direction of experience on the Medicine Wheel. We can’t adequately experience anything unless we are somehow touched by it, or unless we allow ourselves to express our feelings and emotions.
The mouse is near to the ground and near-sighted. It sees only the things that are right in front of its nose. People influenced by the South, and especially those born between 21 June and 21 September are like that – seeing mostly only that which is right in front of their noses.
On the other hand, the influence of the ‘spirit’ of the South can help us all to find our balance because it does stress the importance of not looking so far ahead that one overlooks what lies directly within touch – and perhaps we are all prone to making that mistake.
The mouse is one of the smallest of animals and as such expresses another important principle of the South: never confuse size with true value. After all, our own physical life began from a single cell of an infinitesimal size. A mighty oak tree grows from a tiny acorn. Even the largest enterprises have started from quite small beginnings, and the greatest successes often have their origins in the tiniest incidents.
The South’s special relationship is with the plant kingdom – the form of life which includes trees and plants, herbs and flowers, and vegetation of all kinds. Trees, especially, are a vital and essential part of the Earth’s environment and forests act like lungs to the planet, breathing in carbon monoxide gases that human and animal life expel and exhaling oxygen which human and animal life need to inhale.
Trees and plants provide the animal and human kingdoms with much of their required nourishment. Flowers, herbs and plants have medicinal properties for soothing and healing and restoring the body to a proper balance so that it can function effectively.
We discovered in our study of the East that the principle function there is of determining. In the South the main function is of giving, and the plant kingdom contains the great givers of the Earth, giving entirely of themselves to provide for other life-forms.
The forms of life that comprise the plant kingdom are thus man’s helpers and teachers, too. Essentially, they are endeavouring to teach us the necessity of giving – not of things that can be bought and exchanged but rather of ourselves which is the only giving of any real value. Without the giving of the plant kingdom, we could not survive and physically would wither and die. Without giving we cannot grow, develop and evolve spiritually, but would wither and ‘die’ spiritually. The Indian knew that. Educated, sophisticated, scientific modern man has moved away from closeness to Nature and has lost touch with that knowledge. The South Direction can help us individually to regain it.
South-influenced people and those born between 21 June and 21 September are likely to have an affinity with plants. They like to have plants around the house, and enjoy gardening or being in gardens. They may feel drawn towards trees and woodlands and find inner harmony by walking in woods and forests.
South people are also likely to feel drawn towards herbal remedies for physical health problems, and to flower remedies in times of stress and when under psychological pressure. Of all people, those most influenced by the South are likely to derive the greatest benefit from these remedies.
In the human world, the South’s influence is on the emotions and feelings. So – applying the principles we have already learned – harmony within ourselves can be attained by giving with the emotions. All too often we have our ‘wires crossed’ again. Many of us are afraid to express our emotions because we fear vulnerability. So we hold ourselves back from expressing our true feelings. Love, fondness, appreciation, are more often expressed in the giving of some physical object. There is nothing wrong in that, and I am certainly not advocating that we should dispense with giving gifts, but they are only tokens. We need also to give of ourselves but often fail to do just that, so we hold on to our emotions and feelings.
Worse still, when dealing with loved ones, we seek to hold on to our emotions and give with our minds, when we should give with our emotions and hold in our minds.
Love is more than a physical expression, though in our complex consumer society, love – which is a spiritual quality and expresses the soul – is stripped of all that to become a mere physical expression, so that even the sexual act is measured or evaluated by mere athletic performance. Love is a giving of oneself. Feelings express love. By locking up our emotions and feelings we lock up our hearts and suffer the consequences.
Figure 24.
Briefly, the three times of the South are:
The Long Days Time (21 June – 21 July). The totem is the Woodpecker, which correlates to the Sun sign of Cancer.
The Ripening Time (22 July – 22 August). The totem is the Salmon, which correlates to the Sun sign of Leo.
The Harvesting Time (22 August – 21 September). The totem is the Brown Bear, which correlates to the Sun sign of Virgo.
The Power of the South expresses itself through the feelings the individual has of the self. Often the response has been to build myths about oneself and one’s feelings.
The Power of the South also expresses itself through feeling the need for events to move forward rapidly. Such traits will be shared by those born between 21 June and 21 September.
The West
An animal associated with the Power of the West and with the West Winds is the grizzly bear. The grizzly bear is a totem for people whose birthdays are between 22 September and 21 December in the Northern hemisphere.
The grizzly is the strongest of all the bears. Self-sufficient, it lives by its own strength, even healing itself of most illnesses and injuries through its knowledge of herbs and its closeness to the Earth.
So the Power of the West is an influence that urges self-sufficiency and the development of the kind of strength that comes from within and which is the most powerful strength of all. West people born between 22 September and 21 December are generally endowed with a degree of inner strength with which to cope with all of life’s difficulties, but often need to recognize that it is there for them to drawn upon when needed. They also possess a greater degree of self-sufficiency than most, and are more introspective. They may also feel drawn towards natural healing and complementary medicine.
The grizzly hibernates in winter and makes careful preparation during autumn for the long sleep ahead, eating well and building up its strength, so that when spring comes it will be ready for the time of reawakening and renewal. So the West is the power behind the need for preparation and for gathering in – whether it be the fruits and rewards of past activity, or information and knowledge – before undergoing a period of refreshment or barrenness preceding a new direction or a fresh enterprise.
West people make good gatherers, collectors and storers of things which can be retrieved later and used for further progress.
The grizzly arrives at its decisions slowly and carefully and, in spite of its awesome strength, has a gentle side to its nature. The West is the direction for ‘looking within’ to examine past actions and to learn from them so that future decisions may be wise ones. It is also concerned with looking within the heart to examine true intentions.
The special relationship of the West is with the mineral kingdom; the principal function is of holding; and rocks, stones, gems and mineral substances are the great holders and storers of energy.
The mineral kingdom is the most ancient of the four great life-forms on Earth, for rocks and stones were here long before there was vegetation or animals and humans. The Indian believed that when the Earth was in its embryonic state, the primitive rocks developed like the human skeleton to become the Earth’s ‘bones’. Gemstones were likened to sense organs and quartz crystals to brain-cells.
It was from the ancient knowledge that certain gemstones were related to parts of the physical body. For instance, in the ancient wisdom, peridot was related to the eyes and with seeing, onyx to the ears and with hearing, carnelian to the hands and with touch, topaz to the tongue and with taste, jaspar to the nose and with smell. The reason was that these gemstones were connected with the Earth’s own sense ‘organs’ of sight (direction), hearing (the input and sampling of sound vibrations), touch, taste and smell.
Quartz crystal was highly regarded by the Indian, who considered it had special properties as a transformer as well as a storer of energy. The tribal shaman used stick-like pieces of quartz crystal as healing wands. It is not without significance that quartz is an essential substance in the manufacture of computers, calculators, timepieces, and so on.
Modern science has discovered that quartz crystal contains the same chemical composition S1O2 as silica, which is a natural mineral within the human body. Silica is concerned with balancing the energy field within the human aura just as strategically placed deposits of quartz around the Earth’s surface were believed to balance the Earth’s electromagnetic fields. The human body is dependent on essential inorganic minerals and any physical disorders may be due to deficiencies of these energy-storing minerals.
When you hold a piece of quartz crystal in your hand, you are in touch with something that has been in existence long before man first appeared on Earth. And this, of course, is true of all rock. Just reflect on this as you hold a piece of quartz or other natural gemstone and you will come to appreciate why the American Indian had such an affectionate regard for ‘Grandfather Rock’.
The emphasis of the West is on apparently ‘solid’, physical things, so in the human world its influence is on the physical body. Our physical body is what holds us here as a part of the Earth. We are each the centre of our own universe within the human aura which is similar in a way to a space capsule. In it we can explore and experience the realm of physical matter.
The human physical body is a complex and highly sophisticated piece of equipment – a far greater wonder than any man-made space vehicle. Indeed, it is the most wonderful vehicle that has ever been devised!
Just think you grew from a cell smaller than the point of a pin. That cell was like a miniaturized microchip, so tiny that it was invisible to the human eye, yet it contained a program, a genetic code, which contained the image of what you were to become. This program, this image, was eventually objectified into physical form with body, head, legs, arms, facial features, hands, feet and vital organs all of which developed in accordance with cosmic and natural laws. And all within itself!
The genetic code is a system of transmitting information between cells and is embraced within a mathematical structure of binary progression to the 6th power – that is 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 and 64. The genetic code from which you were physically structured produces 64 codons or code ‘words’. The Medicine Wheel on which the Earth Web is based is also structured in a similar harmonic way. So is the oriental I Ching which is composed of 64 hexagrams. So is the ancient Circle of Life and Power.
In that genetic code were packed the instructions for building the organic bio-computer that is your brain whose components would be packed together and contained within a protective casing which would also be the seat of normal, everyday consciousness – the skull. The skull itself is an octave of eight bones, like the basic octave of the Medicine Wheel and the Earth Web and of the Circle of ancient ‘Mind’ Science. That is why it was revered as a symbol by the ancients. Only ‘civilized’ man turned it into a sinister object. The skull is the container of the brain, which is the bio-computer driven by the mind.
What put that genetic code there to produce such a marvel and such a wonderful physical vehicle for you? Intelligence put the program there. It didn’t just ‘happen’. It was no conceptual ‘accident’. There was intelligence behind it – and give that intelligence whatever name you wish. Can you still believe that your birth was just an ‘accident’?
That first cell of yours was like a microchip – a tiny electronic circuit that had the capacity to memorise and to process and circulate information – a whole, fantastic ‘universe’ of information and all contained within a simple code. And it did so instantly.
Yet for all its awesome wonders, that physical body of yours is but a vehicle of expression. It is not you, only your servant – a means of transporting you about and enabling you to function on the Earth and within the physical realm of existence. Never, after this, devalue yourself or your body!
We have seen that the principal function of the East is of determining, and the function of the South is of giving. The function of the West is of holding.
Now ‘holding’ does not mean freezing or imprisoning something in order for it to stay as it is. The ancients regarded holding as a reflective pause before change or transformation. ‘Holding’ is a pause in the transfer of energy – from giving to receiving, or from receiving to giving. It is the ‘bit in the middle’. It is an acceptance of what has been received whether through one’s own efforts or from others, and a consideration of what one can give of oneself to keep the ‘Wheel’ turning.
The West Direction is likened to autumn, which is the season of consolidation when growth stops and when, in the natural scheme of things, humans held onto and stored the fruits of their endeavours and also examined themselves to discover what changes were needed to make progress when the time of renewal came.
