A few weeks ago we had the great honor of having Tiokasin Ghosthorse come and share some Lakota Sioux wisdom with the Golden Drum community. The evening was beautiful and edifying, and I found myself deeply moved by the teachings both spoken and inferred.
In Lakota, there is no word for I. The entire language is based around inclusivity, identification, and interrelation. Not only do the Lakota ( and many indigenous peoples for that matter) identify as intrinsic with one another, but they also do so with the earth, the skies and stars, lands, soil, the great waters, animals and plants.
Each of these elements is a people. To be clear, they don't represent a kind of people, they ARE a people. And each of these people is not simply a reflection of the self, but an actual extension of it.
This is not an intuitive concept for most western minds to grasp, particularly because we have been engendered to identify with our, I, me, my ness.
Our relationship to mother earth, to the skies, the ground, the winds, the plant, animal, and elemental people, this is not a way of being that is imparted through transmission or education. It's deeply personal. It's very intimate.
Our inherent connection to this planet- to all of life- is not something that can be given to us because it was never not there. It has always been.
How can this be explained to a people whose very identity construct is separation, compartmentalization, competition?
This is why we have been so moved by the impeccable display of humanity by many indigenous nations across the globe who have come to stand in solidarity with the water protectors of Standing Rock. It is understood that they are not going solely to support someone else's mission or prayer, but their own.
When we pray for water, when we clean it, when we bless it and protect it, we enter into direct communion with all of the waters of earth. Not only that, but we become sacred activists and protectors over the water in our bodies. Our feminine nature. Our subconscious. Our yin energy. Our mystery.
We are water. Not only is water the most populous element in this universe, but it accounts for 70-80% of our bodies. Water coats everything down to the codons in our DNA.
We ARE Water. Feel that. Let it sink in.
Wisdom keepers have known this since time immemorial. That is why sound, which causes vibration, has been used as a technique for healing across every tradition. It's why we enter tipis and sing songs in prayer ceremonies. Why medicine people chant over the body of an ailing person. Why entire structures such as the Serapeum in Ancient Egypt were erected as temples to commune with great spirit of sound.
Sound creates vibration. Vibration influences form. Form takes shape and becomes physical manifestation in reality. This happens through water. This is how illness takes root. This is how health can be restored.
Water listens.
We may not be aware of it, but this progression is what is taking place. Inside all of the waters of earth are tiny microscopic crystals. These crystals collect memories. They are record keepers. They can be programmed. They amplify.
Mystics all over the world use water to scry. If you can hear/see the water, then there is no question about what is going on with the earth water, your own body. It's all connected... it's all interrelated.
Many seekers are awakened to the mystery of crystals, but few are only now becoming aware of the mysteries of the waters.
The black snake of oil is not solely a threat to the waters in the earth. This attack on water is an attack on consciousness. On all of us, it is so deep and so premeditated.
Everything that happens to us happens to the earth and vice versa.
But energy moves in so many directions. So I invite you to stand with the waters of life and claim your direction and sovereignty. Stand with Standing Rock, with Split Rock, with the emerging human consciousness, with your own sacred Self, and pray. Become responsible. Claim your relationship.
Pray over your own body as though it is the earth. Because it IS the earth. Pray over the waters of your own being as if life depended on it...
At 2pm EST, the water guardians who have been tirelessly protection Oceti Camp are being forcefully evicted from the land.
I beg you to stop what you are doing just then- or now- and close your eyes and find your ineffable and unshakable connection to the earth.
Do not look without. Look within.
Imagine an earth in each of your cells. Imagine a million earths vibrating in their purest health and radiance. Call upon the benevolent forces of whatever deities you pray to, whatever animal people, whatever form of great spirit and invoke the energy of divine intervention. Invoke the sacred imperative of life. Anchor the energies of peace, of freedom, joy, the brilliant rainbow of love and compassion, within every last cell of your being.
RADIATE IT OUTWARD.
We belong to each other. We belong to life.
Thank you for all of your efforts and your prayers and your breathtaking vulnerability toward our collective healing and remembrance.
I am with you in mind, body, and spirit.
Support Standing Rock Sioux in Washington DC today. Buy a t-shirt. Proceeds will go directly to Elders. They are available in Small, Medium, Large, XL.