Medicine Carriers

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Medicine, Medicine Carrier

Medicine is derived from the Latin ars medicina, meaning the art of healing. When the term “medicine” is mentioned, many are triggered to think about our Western medical profession. Western medicine includes the science and art of diagnosing, treating, curing, and preventing disease, relieving pain, and improving health. A large part of the practice includes medicine that medicates the patient, also known as drug therapy.

However, there is another perception of “medicine” that originates from Native American culture. From this perspective, medicine is any object, spell, rite, or anything at all, really, that has natural or supernatural powers as a remedy, preventive, or protection. This form of traditional medicine (aka indigenous, folk, complimentary, or alternative medicine) comprises knowledge about plant, animal, and mineral-based medicines, spiritual therapies, and manual techniques that have been developed over many generations.

According to Native American beliefs, medicine is an inner power that is found in both Nature and all individuals. Annie Spencer defines Native American medicine as “a state of being in harmony and balance with ourselves, the world, and with Spirit.”

Medicine is not just a pill that can be taken to treat symptoms, but it refers to anything that promotes goodness or healing. Common medicine can include plants, healing techniques, teachings, and spirituality.

The simplest definition of medicine, then, is anything that is good for you.

Native Americans also call the individuals who provide this medicine as “medicine men”. Their role is similar to that of shamans. However “shaman” is a term that is from Siberian/Mongolian indigenous culture while “medicine man” is unique to North American indigenous culture.

Sadly “medicine man” is a term that excludes more than half the population. There are very powerful “medicine women”, too. And there are also Two Spirits or Third Gender individuals who quite often had been the “medicine people” of the tribe. So the term “medicine man” is just too narrowly defining and perpetuates a non-existent belief of a binary gender system.

I propose changing the terms to “medicine carrier”. Quechuan is the language of the indigenous people of the high Andes of Peru from whom a lot of my spiritual study has been with and about. The Quechuan term for medicine carrier is “collawaya”.

A “healer” does not heal. If a healer tells you that they can, then they are speaking from Ego. Every individual soul heals itself. Our souls are our one true healer. Our Higher Self has all the knowledge and resources needed to heal the physical body for its Highest Good.

As Karen Paolino Correia, a hypnotherapist says, the soul knows the root cause for healing and one of the ways this information can be accessed is through hypnotherapy techniques. She says, “It’s important to understand that the soul knows everything about your client; past, present and future and the soul will always guide with unconditional love, protecting and guiding your client to their highest and best outcome.”

It is the function of a medicine carrier to carry the medicine to the client. In Reiki, the practitioner is a conduit through which universal energy is passed to the client. In shamanism, the practitioner is called a “hollow bone”. It is not the practitioner that is healing the client, but the practitioner’s healing spirits work through the practitioner to assist the client’s healing.

Medicine carriers have many different tools in their individual medicine bags. Someone who is searching for assistance should research the available options and then choose the tools that most resonate or feel right. It is not uncommon to pursue many different options over the course of a lifetime because each alternative addresses specific issues. We are “holistic” individuals therefore we should treat ourselves with “holistic” solutions.

Western medicine has made incredible advances in healing the physical body but they only look at a portion of the entire picture of the human being. They routinely exclude the energy body and all spiritual aspects of the soul since these are not something that can be “proven” in a lab setting. Eastern medicine is very balanced in its approach to healing including not only treatment of the physical body but focusing largely on the energy body.

I know when I am in pain, I want to have my entire being treated, including body, mind, and soul. I don’t just want the symptoms treated but I want to understand the core cause of my suffering because it’s a soul lesson. So I will go to my Western medical doctor but I will also seek out assistance from medicine carriers.

MEDICINE TEST
There are a few questions you can ask to determine if a form of medicine is good for you. For instance, “does it grow corn?” This question is rooted in Native American philosophy. It means that if what you are doing isn’t making your life and the lives of others around you better, then why do it? “Corn” is an English word that means “ears of growth”. Corn is a symbol of sustenance and survival.

So ask yourself when you are about to take some medicine, “does it grow corn?” Will it provide healthy growth? Will it contribute in a positive way? Will it provide results that support your Highest Good? If the answer is “yes”, it is good medicine. If the answer is “no”, leave it alone.

Sometimes, when emotion and ego interfere with receiving authentic answers, we need to step back and get a bigger picture of the situation. Distancing ourselves emotionally can provide more clarity. Other techniques to aid in providing an answer to “is it good medicine” is to do muscle testing or use a pendulum. These techniques make it easier to tap into our unconscious which really holds all of the drivers of our behavior.

Lastly, when we experience those times when we feel lousy, when something hasn’t gone the way we wanted, or we feel something “bad” has happened to us, if we tell ourselves that it was just “good medicine”, then we can accept the experience as necessary for our soul’s growth and heal on… This also helps us move from victim mode to a place of self-empowerment.

SNAKE MEDICINE
The symbol associated with Western medicine is the rod of Asclepius, the image of a single snake wrapped around a staff. Asclepius is a Greed deity associated with healing and medicine.

The incorrect symbol often used to represent Western medicine is the Cauceus, which is the staff of Hermes. It was carried by the Roman deity, Mercury, the messenger of the gods and guide of the dead. The staff of Hermes has two snakes and a pair of wings.

Snakes are a predominant archetype associated with healing and energy movement. In the Andean energy medicine tradition, the healer uses the archetype of sachamama, the snake, to track energetic blocks and dis-ease in the physical body.

In Ayurvedic medicine there are snake-like energy pathways called nadi. Two of these are the pingala and ida, which flow along the spinal column. A third major nadi, the kundalini, sits at the base of the spine like a coiled snake, until it is stimulated through tantra or yoga to rise up the spinal column.

Snakes, then, are also medicine carriers in many cultures.

Copyright © 2015 Drake Bear Stephen. Except where acknowledged. www.DrakeInnerprizes.com

The Wheel: An Online Shamanic Apprentice Program

These days we all are very busy in our personal lives and perhaps a bit reluctant to leave our home. And we have an amazing tool at home with which to connect without leaving home. This is the Internet.

I have gotten numerous requests for shamanic training from individuals spread around the country. Most are not able to travel to me and it would not be economical for me to travel to each one of them. So I began offering many subjects from my Soul School: A Shamanic Mystery School as an online apprentice program.
The best aspect of an apprenticeship is that it is designed especially for you and you alone. So we cover the topics that you are interested in and skip the ones you already know or have no interest in.

The goal of this apprenticeship is to spend 1-2 hours on Skype every 1-2 weeks. Then we may formulate some homework such as doing a ritual.

It will be optimal but not required to eventually meet in person to complete experiential work that cannot be done over Skype.

The only thing we can take with us out of this lifetime is the knowledge and wisdom that our soul acquires. So any gain we make in knowing ourselves will stay with us. There are two rules of the road when you are traveling on a journey of personal transformation:

Can you answer this series of questions associated with self-knowledge? Who am I? Where do I come from? Where am I going? What is my life’s purpose? What are my gifts?

By knowing the answers to these questions, you become self-empowered. A self-empowered individual can manifest their dreams into being. Each one of us is a prize from the Universe to our Self and from our Self to the Universe. Each one of us has a unique gift to give.

What we see when we look in the mirror is what the world reflects back to us. We get what we believe we deserve. The more we love ourselves the more of our dreams we can manifest. When we believe we are not good enough or deserve what we want, we block the flow of abundance, prosperity, and love.

You may feel that you are blocked or stuck and unable to manifest your dreams. There are obstacles such as past contracts and vows, pre-life selection beliefs, past defeats and traumas that can be moved out of the way. Learning shamanic techniques will give you the tools to get your energy flowing freely.

THE CURRICULUM

Following is a list of subjects that are available in the Online Shamanic Apprentice Program:

1 GENERAL SHAMANIC
____ Shamanism & the Medicine Wheel
____ Shamanic Journeys: The 3 Worlds, OR & NOR
____ Power Animal Retrieval
____ Dancing Your Power Animal
____ Shamanic Tools: Drum & Rattle
____ Skeleton Dance
____ Smudging
____ Opening & Closing Sacred Space
____ Power Song & Passing Power
____ Entities & Protection
____ Entity Extraction – Crystalized and Fluid
____ Soul Retrieval
____ Psychopomp Work: Eulogy & Soul Flight
____ Working with Nature Spirits – Plant Spirit Guide
____ Ethical & Legal Issues for Shamanic Practitioners

2 ANDEAN SHAMANIC
____ The Q’ero
____ Q’ero Cosmology by the Numbers
____ Inka Archetypes
____ Tracking with Archetypes
____ The Mesa
____ The Khuyas
____ The Chumpis
____ Munay Ki
____ Build a Mesa: Inform Stones 1-12
____ Mesa Divination
____ Mesa Manifestation & Tawantinsuyu Cosmology
____ Mesa Huaca
____ Apu Calling and Energy Field Clearing
____ Qosqo & Poq’po Exercise – Hucha Mikuy

3 ENERGY MEDICINE
____ Energy Medicine: The Energy Body & The Physical Body
____ Energy Systems & Exercises
____ Grounding & Running Energy
____ Cutting Cords
____ Body Stories
____ Meridian Tapping
____ Aikido – Breath & Ha! Exercise

4 METAPHYSICAL
____ Components That Make Up Who We Are
____ Levels of Beliefs
____ Ways of Perceiving & Projecting
____ The Sensory System
____ Muscle Testing
____ Using Pendulums
____ Crystal Gridding
____ Soul Stages & Levels
____ Vibration Scale of Consciousness
____ Time Frequencies
____ Ascension
____ Lightworkers & Light Beings
____ Symptoms of Spiritual Awakening
____ DNA Activation
____ Divination Techniques
____ Reincarnation & Journey to the Afterlife
____ Two Spirits & Gender Energy Quotient
____ Structural Clearing & Blessing
____ Magical Names (Bean Naming Ceremony)
____ Spiritual Bypass & Spiritual Arrogance
____ Ecstatic Postures & Mudras

5 CEREMONY
____ Despacho
____ Fire Ceremony

6 HEALING TECHNIQUES
____ Chakras & Auras – Repairing & Healing
____ Soul Clearing Techniques
____ Sandpainting

7 SPIRIT CRAFTS
____ Spirit Traps
____ Mojo Bags
____ Corn Husk Dolls
____ Candle Dressing
____ Prayer Stick
____ Medicine Bag
____ Prayer Ties

8 OTHER
____ Anointing
____ Letter of Manifestation
____ Creating Core Statements
____ Forgiveness Exercises
____ Vows & Contracts
____ Journal Quest
____ Self-Referencing Exercise
____ Role Exercise
____ Tarot Exercise

Copyright © 2015 Drake Bear Stephen. Except where acknowledged. www.DrakeInnerprizes.com

Journal Quest

WHAT IS VISION QUEST?

A vision quest is a Native American rite of passage, similar to an initiation. In traditional the Lakota culture, Hanblecheyapi (crying for a vision) is one of seven sacred rites. A vision quest is a journey alone into the wilderness to seek personal growth and spiritual guidance from Great Spirit. The seeker finds a special place and sits in a rectangle, approximately 4-6’ wide and 6-8’ long. Usually the seeker brings nothing with them except water and a blanket. A usual vision quest lasts 4 days within this rectangle. The isolation in nature and the associated hunger is designed to trigger a vision or a message from Great Spirit. Visions from a quest can guide an individual for a lifetime.

Vision quest is a time of transition, a death or ending of something old, and a passage to new beginnings. In that respect, preparation for quest is a psychological grieving process. Thus vision quest is done with great sacredness.
Anthropologists have identified three universal stages of vision quest:

1. Severance (Departure) – Severance begins as soon as you answer the call to quest. You prepare to die to an old life as the unknown awaits you. To prepare emotionally, you must be willing to separate, detach, and let go of the old.

2. Threshold (Trial/Initiation/Transformation) – This is the time of aloneness, hunger, exposure and the trials that test your spirit and your purpose. Threshold is entering into sacred space, ritual and ceremony, and being with Great Spirit, one on one. You must empty out that which no longer serves you before you can be filled with something new. You awaken to a new way of seeing.

3. Incorporation (Return) – A quest never really ends because the vision is brought back to make your life better and to create changes for you and your people.

The goals and purposes of a vision quest include:

1. Gaining power and clarity through self-discovery of life goals and purposes.

2. Healing emotions, relationships, and illness.

3. Receiving a vision or message that will spiritual helps your soul.

4. Develops self-confidence by surviving in the wilderness and your fears alone.

5. Strengthens connections to your higher self, spirit guides, nature, Great Spirit, and Mother Earth.

6. Taps directly into your own source of wisdom assistance from books, churches, or teachers.

7. Fosters a greater appreciation of life after the temporary deprival of material comforts.

Vision quest is not only a Native American tradition. A very famous vision quest was done by Usui Mikao, a Japanese doctor. During his 21 day fast on Mount Kurama, he received the wisdom of Reiki.

In Buddhism, a peaceful warrior is defined as one who is willing to know oneself and willing to face one’s fears. This is the intent of vision quest in a nutshell. Change your perception, change your life.

WHAT IS A JOURNAL QUEST?

In 2008, I did a vision quest at Mount Shasta, spending 4 days and 3 nights in a small square encircled by 808 prayer ties. Preparation and execution of vision quest is quite rigorous. A seeker sits in sweat lodge before entering the sacred space and sits in sweat lodge again when returning and before breaking fast. It is a very powerful experience. However, not all are able or willing to undertake this intense journey.

I believe that there are other roads that can be traveled to obtain the same results. For one, someone might consider camping out in their back yard for several days. Another way is to take a shamanic transformation class most commonly marketed as “going around the medicine wheel”.

I combined the intent of self-discovery with the art of journaling to create a “journal quest”. The journal becomes a record of your journey of self-discovery and revelation. By examining the deepest, darkest recesses of your soul and bringing your secrets into the light, a transformation of vision occurs. I have prepared a series of questions designed to prompt a self-examination. My integration stage includes a ritual to anchor your vision in the material world.

The benefits of journal quest is that it is done at home, in your own time, and at your own pace.

I expanded the three stages of vision quest (Severance, Threshold, and Return) to four, so that the model represents the four directions, hence a medicine wheel of transformation. The four stages are:

1. Initiation – South Direction. Know Yourself.
2. Foundation – West Direction. Love Yourself.
3. Transformation – North Direction. Be Yourself.
4. Integration – East Direction. Share Yourself.

INSTRUCTIONS

The only materials required for journal quest are a journal and pens. However, additional items that support the journey are music that entrains the brain or shamanic journey drumming or rattling tracks that facilitate dropping into a beta brainwave state that facilitates deeper meditation.

Journal quest can be customized to your style and needs. Associated activities might include:

1. Creating a vision altar placing items that represent your intent for this journey. Perhaps finding a vision stone in nature, lighting a candle, placing cornmeal, sage, tobacco, flowers, herbs, crystals, and/or prayer ties as offerings.

2. Creating a vision stick decorating it with feathers and other natural items. Focus on the intent of your journey as you create the stick.

3. Creating a small sacred circle with rocks or crystals to sit in just as you would on a vision quest.

4. Taking an Epsom salt/herb bath before and after the journey. (This is a substitute for sweat lodge.)

5. Opening sacred space.

6. Saying a prayer requesting clear vision or messages. (see below)

7. Doing your journey in isolation, perhaps taking a day or two from your schedule to do nothing but focus on your journey.

8. Fasting during this time to intensify your experience is also an option.

9. Do some drumming, rattling, singing, chanting, or dancing.

10. Fire ceremony to conclude the quest, burning petition papers so that your prayers and intentions are taken on the smoke to the spirit world to be manifested.

While journaling, sit, meditate, breathe, be, think, watch, listen, feel, surrender, be in the present moment with no judgment, expectations, or goals.

I offer the questions and mentoring support for your journal quest. If you are interested, please contact me.

SAMPLE VISION PRAYER

Heya, Great Spirit, Ancestors, and Spirit Guides. I feel you here with me, showing me the way and sharing your wisdom. I open my heart, mind, and soul to your spirit voices. Open the doors of opportunity as I am ready to step through them. Let me meet my guides and be shown a vision to help me as I travel my path and live my purpose in this lifetime. Protect me from my fears and any harm that might come to me. I have so much love and gratitude for all my spirit guides and teachers who help my Highest Good. Thank you, Great Spirit, for the clear vision that I will have. Let my love and gratitude float on the four winds to the corners of the Universe. Aho!

QUOTES

When you begin to feel you are a spiritual being which, in fact, you are, you begin to activate the medicine wheel in your life. –Tony Ten Fingers

ON VISION QUEST

Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. Vision with action can change the world. –Joel Barker

Vision is not forecasting the future. Nor is it walking around with your head in the clouds or peering into crystal balls. It is a creative act. It is creating the future by taking action in the present. –Jim Collins

What I hear is valueless; only what I see is living and when I close my eyes my vision is even more powerful. –Giorgio de Chirico

I started concentrating so hard on my vision that I lost sight. –Robin Green

Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens. –Carl Jung

Vision is the art of seeing things invisible. –Jonathan Swift

The nature of the cosmos is such that whatever vision you have about yourself and the world will become reality. Whether we realize it or not, we are all dreaming the world into being. When we’re unaware that we share the power to co-create reality with the universe itself that power slips away from us, causing our dream to become a nightmare. –Alberto Villoldo

Vision does not truly exist because it is ever changing. The vision is really the journey. And your journey is now. –Stalking Wolf

ON JOURNALING

Writing makes a map and there is something about a journey that begs to have its passage marked. –Christina Baldwin

Journal writing is a voyage to the interior. –Christina Baldwin

You are conversing with someone much wiser and saner as you write: your authentic self. –Sarah Ban Breathnach

To have some account of my thoughts, manners, acquaintance and actions, when the hour arrives in which time is more nimble than memory, is the reason which induces me to keep a journal: a journal in which I must confess my every thought, must open my whole heart! –Frances Burney

Writing is medicine. It is an antidote to injury. It is a companion for any difficult change. –Julia Cameron

Writing is a means of prayer. It connects us to the invisible world. It gives us a gate or a conduit for the other world to talk to us whether we call it the subconscious, the unconscious, the superconscious, the imagination, or the muse. Writing is a spiritual housekeeper. –Julia Cameron

Writing is a spiritual tool. We undertake it solo (soul-o). Moving alone onto the page, we often find ourselves companioned by higher forces, by a stream of insights and inspirations that seem somehow other than our routine thinking. –Julia Cameron

Your own words are the bricks and mortar of the dreams you want to realize. Your words are the greatest power you have. The words you choose and use establish the life you experience. –Sonia Choquette

The soul lies buried in the ink that writes. –John Clare

The palest ink is better than the best memory. –Confucius

We do not write in order to be understood. We write in order to understand. –Cecil Day-Lewis

A journal is a book that is entirely yours. It not only belongs to you, it is you… the best you, the worst you. –Charlene Geiss & Claudia Jessup

When we write from experience we harvest our lives. –Bonni Goldberg

Journaling connects me with my inner self; it’s like a safe harbor for expression and privacy. –Sondra Holtzman

Every person is a book yearning to be written. Journaling your life will give you the edge to rediscover yourself through the creative power of your journal or diary. –Journaling Your Life

Every minute of our lives is so precious. By documenting those moments, journals can give us wonderful glimpses into our souls, hearts, and minds. –Kelly TM Kilmer

Telling a true story about personal experience is not just a matter of being oneself or even finding oneself, it is also a matter of choosing oneself. –Harriet Goldhor Lerner

For $10 a journal you can be your own self-analyst. It’s the cheapest therapy a person can do. –Janice Lowry

I will write myself into well-being. –Nancy Mair

We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospection. We write to be able to transcend our life, to reach beyond it. We write to teach ourselves to speak with others, to record the journey into the labyrinth. –Anais Nin

Leave self-consciousness at the gate. A journal’s destination is itself. –Jean Francois Podevin

Live life then write it. –Dan Price

Once you begin to keep a journal, the entire world and everything in it instantly becomes material to be observed, written about, drawn, photographed, or collected in some manner. –Dan Price

Seems like most of the good journal keepers are collectors. They have a passion for noticing and gathering all those things of value to them. Collectors of life you might say. When you decide to look at the world in this new way, life become an adventure, because you are always on a treasure hunt, saving things. –Dan Price

A journal is like pages from your soul. A journal is an interior journey. –Sark

Your Journal … It’s not just a book. It is a part of you; a place you can share your innermost thoughts, feelings and reflections. Your Journal is the repository of your experiences. It becomes a guide, a mirror … a confidant and friend. It is important to have a journal that is a statement of who you are. –Gerry Starnes

RECOMMENDED READING

ON VISION QUEST

The Sacred Journey: A Quest for Vision – Carol Hannagan
Quest: A Guide for Creating Your Own Quest – Denise Linn
Book of Vision Quest – Stephen Foster & Meredith Little
The Trail to the Sacred Mountain: A Vision Fast Handbook for Adults – Steven Foster & Meredith Little
Vision Quest – Wolf Moondance

ON JOURNALING

Journal to the Self: Twenty-Two Paths to Personal Growth – Open the Door to Self-Understanding by Writing, Reading, and Creating a Journal of Your Life – Kathleen Adams
Keeping a Journal You Love – Sheila Bender
The Artful Journal: A Spiritual Quest – Maureen Carey & Raymond Fox
Writing Down Your Soul: How to Activate and Listen to the Extraordinary Voice Within – Janet Conner
Journalution: Journaling to Awaken Your Inner Voice, Heal Your Life and Manifest Your Dreams – Sandy Grason
Writing Begins with the Breath: Embodying Your Authentic Voice – Laraine Herring
Spiritual Journaling: Writing Your Way to Independence – Julie Tallard Johnson
Complete Idiot’s Guide to Journaling – Joan Neubauer
Journaling Basics: Journal Writing for Beginners – Lisa Shea

Copyright © 2015 Drake Bear Stephen. Except where acknowledged. www.DrakeInnerprizes.com