Archive for the ‘Four Directions’ Category

The medicine walk: cell phones and lizards

Thursday, December 31st, 2009

After the ritual of the south I felt it was time to move. I couldn't get comfortable in this place. It was too hot in the sun, too cool in the shade. All the rocks felt rough and uncomfortable to lean against. So I gathered up my things and headed ...

The medicine walk: hiking up the canyon and the ceremony of fire

Sunday, December 20th, 2009

I have been writing about the medicine walk I went on in the Eureka Valley in California, east of the Sierra Mountains. So far I've described the process of mirroring for intention. The intention I formed was "I am mother and father to myself. I have the strength and take ...

Mirroring for intention: putting it all together

Sunday, December 20th, 2009

I've been telling you the story of how Ruth and Larry mirrored my intention for my day walk, also known as a medicine walk or contemplative walk. Mirroring for intention is an important part of the vision fast ceremony. This process usually begins months before a participant's fast, with a ...

Taking the time to care for the hurt self

Tuesday, December 15th, 2009

I have been describing a process of exploration and healing that occurred on a medicine walk in Eureka Valley. There is one more piece to the puzzle that arose as I explored my intention with Ruth and Larry. I've already talked about the defense of anger, and how I was ...

Clarifying intention – caring for the hurt self

Friday, November 13th, 2009

I have been writing in the last few postings about my experience working with anger on a medicine walk in nature the last time I was in the desert. A friend from Ireland sent me an email about this topic, and he said something very pertinent about anger: "It really ...

Understanding the cycle of anger

Friday, November 6th, 2009

As I mentioned last time, when they mirrored my intention for my day walk, Ruth and Larry helped me clarify something about anger. I have long understood that when I have a very angry, charged response to a situation, it is usually because I am feeling hurt about something. The anger ...

A lifetime of anger – breaking the cycle

Sunday, November 1st, 2009

As I have written previously, the south is the place where we feel our emotions and act on them in an unmediated way. When we mature from childhood into adolescence, moving around the wheel from the south to the west (from summer to fall), we start to be aware of ...

The wheel turns to fall again

Friday, October 2nd, 2009

Before I leave for California I need to make formal recognition that the wheel of the year has turned once more... another fall is here. This is the time when the child of summer grows into the self-reflective adolescent. Where the child is pure emotion, the adolescent is more hesitant to ...

Returning from the retreat: innocence, security, anger, and a good burger

Sunday, August 30th, 2009

As I mentioned previously, I just returned from the Diamond Approach 10-day summer retreat in California, and I’d like to share some of the learnings from that, because they tie in with the summer part of the wheel. Summer is the time of childhood innocence. In fact, Bill Plotkin writes ...

Red hot summer

Monday, August 3rd, 2009

Summer is here and it's a hot one. At least in BC and the Pacific Northwestern states. I've previously written about the Fall, Winter, and Spring quarters of the wheel of the year, and now it's time to take a look at summer. Summer is in the south quarter of the wheel, ...