Day 37 The Raven from My Shaman Grandmother’s Perspective.

The Raven from My Shaman Grandmother’s Perspective.

In my Shaman Grandmother’s tradition the Raven was not a welcome being. The raven was a carrier of death and bad news, a feeder on carrion and feces and so weak that even a mouse coud defeat it. My ancestors felt it was brought here by Creator to be a disrupter, a bringer of chaos, to keep us on our toes and to teach us awareness and make us take our guard. In Siberia there is a place where it is said that the Great Raven, his wife Miti and his family lived and you can see black rocks on the cliffs called the house and pots and pans.

If you think about the raven in the forests of Siberia, my people would take the reindeer into the forests in the winter time to stay out of the cold winds and to hide the reindeer from predators like wolves and hunters. But those pesky ravens might come and alert the wolves to the presence of the reindeer and the  people in the forest. It is not a far leap to then understand why the ancient peoples felt the raven was not a friendly thing. In my grandmothers traditions everything is sentient, living, thinking, feeling and not necessarily only what it looks like on the outside. So every time a raven appeared by the herd of reindeer, so too did the wolf show up and the hunters showed up and all hell broke loose. There was a saying that if a raven flew into your yurt, you might as well just slaughter your whole herd! 

My point is that when we look at ancient legends or superstitions or beliefs we have to try to place our feet into their circumstances, into their way of life and see why they might have believed that to be true. I think if you had grown up as a reindeer herder and spent the winter huddled in a Siberian forest with reindeer as your only means of warmth or food or clothing you might not like the raven so much either! 

The Shaman would sometimes go far away from the tribe and leave prayers and offerings of grain after building a wooden kind of scarecrow man hoping to relegate the raven to that area away from the tribe. So actions were taken by the Shaman to keep the raven from visiting the tribe. I wonder if that is where we got the idea of a scarecrow for keeping the birds away from our fields!

Aho

Shaman Elder Maggie

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Day 35 What about Ouija Boards

 What about Ouija Boards

An Excerpt from “The Shaman Speaks” by Shaman Elder Maggie

All that we see here is only 5% of the total energies around us; the slowest vibrating energies are the ones we can see with our eyes. These beings live in the other 95% we aren't normally aware of. And that 95% is the part that you are contacting with a Ouija Board.

I think it is important to be aware of this scientific fact, to use your own abilities to become aware of all the energies around you and to know that there are high vibration energetic beings who wish to help you and lower vibration energetic beings who care nothing about you, and even lower vibration energetic beings who wish to deplete your energy. This 95% is very much unknown to us in general and needs to be recognized, studied and respected just as we recognize, study and respect those things we see in our physical world. How very limiting of us to assume that what we see is all there is!

We have so much science now to back this up. We know how the moon affects even our emotions! We can't "see" that energy but we all agree it is there. What else is out there affecting us? From a Shaman's point of view, there is so much more here than just what I see with my eyes. Be aware of it, learn about it safely and carefully. I teach about it so people don't go running in headlong like a lemming leaping off a cliff. It is a fascinating study, not taught in too many places yet, but needs to be approached with awareness of the inherent dangers as there are inherent dangers in this physical world all around us. A Ouija Board is an open invitation to the astral world. I don’t recommend their use whatsoever. There are better, safer ways to travel the astral world.

Shaman Elder Maggie

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Day 31 Your Medicine Bag.

Every Shaman through time and space has carried some kind of medicine bag.  I have a very small leather pouch maybe one inch long and 1/2 inch wide on a leather thong strap that I wear around my neck under my clothes. You would have to look hard to see the leather necklace around my neck. No one has ever noticed it or asked about it because I don't show it off or draw attention to it. It is no one's business but mine. You could carry it in your pocket if you could not wear it. But I feel it should be close to your heart, to your essence.

Inside is my own personal medicine as well as medicines I am practiced in using. Select carefully and with guidance what you wear around your neck. You are responsible for each item in your medicine bag. You are charged with the duty to wear them respectfully, to honor their power and to use them only for healing yourself and others with their permission. You become the carrier of their power. That is a big responsibility.

Gather your items slowly. I have been gathering my medicine bag all my life. Right now I am going through a major transition so I have added a piece of moonstone to my medicine bag. You can look up moonstone if you want to know why I have added that.

Your medicine bag says everything about you, who you are, who you are as a healer, how you heal, how powerful you are, who your allies are, what your power is. It becomes a finger print of you, the shaman.

Your medicine bag contains all the power of the items in it. Those items are given to you, not selected by you. It is a holy thing.  It is medicine for you! I make custom medicine bags for people if you ever want me to make one for you. Just go to http://www.shamanelder.com/invitation.htm

Aho

Shaman Elder Maggie

www.shamanelder.com