empathtoolkit book

The Complete Empath Toolkit:

44 Practical Steps to Master Your Energy

and Reclaim Your Personal Power.

By Michael R. Smith, Ph.D.

www.EmpathConnection.com

Complete Empath Toolkit 1

http://www.empathconnection.com/

“Whatever healing work we each do contributes to the healing of us all.”

– Sark


Acknowledgements

In 2004, I met a man who would alter the course of my life. We simply called him Bro.

He was a big muscle of a man, a spiritual warrior, as he liked to call himself.

He gave me encouragement in my darkest days. He wiped my nose, in full view of

others, when it was too filled with snot from crying.

He sat with me on many couches, underneath many grandfather suns, looking up at

many moons.

I danced with him. I sang with him. I prayed with him, and most of all, I laughed with

him. Occasionally, when he deserved it, I laughed at him. He gave me permission to do this.

He was the heyoka, the wise fool.

He knew I would write this book before the idea had even germinated in my own mind.

One day over lunch, in his usual gentle manner, and seemingly out of the blue, he said “You

will write three books.” I was a bit taken aback, because I had just left the world of books

behind (or so I thought). Too many years in academia does not a balanced person make.

“Yep,” he said, with authority, “And I daresay people will be lining up for them.”

A year later, I was working at a psychic fair when I encountered a sweet and wise old

Native grandmother. I intuitively felt that she had some things to share, so I walked over and

introduced myself. After listening to her rattle off a laundry list of her body's aches and pains,

with which I respectfully empathized, she vacantly stared off into the sky. “Three books,” she

said professorially, holding up three fingers in the sky and jabbing them at me to emphasize

the point. “Three books,” she said.

The following year, I ran into her again at the same healing fair and greeted her

warmly. I doubted that she remembered me, and yet I wanted to thank her for her advice of

the year before. Before I could even re-introduce myself, she asked, “Have you finished your

book yet?”

The book was indeed finished, even though I hadn't even lifted one finger to begin

typing it. In a medicine dream shortly after meeting with Grandmother Laura, I received the

opportunity to read my own book. I was shown the entire book, all of the stories, and it was as


real as the typing that I am now doing. The book already existed. I just hadn't manifested it on

the Earth plane yet.

I thought I would be well into my forties before I even started my first book. As has

usually been the case, Spirit has a different idea. So I give many thanks to Bro, to Grandma

Laura, and especially to Creator and Great Mystery for being the inspirations for this first

book.

I write about Bro in the past tense because my student-teacher relationship with Bro

ended a little while back. There was no drama involved. I made a personal decision, a long

time coming, that I did not want to be dependent on anyone. I wanted to reclaim my own

personal power and, as I told Bro at the time, I needed to “find out my own answers.” I felt

admiration, warmth, and respect from him as I shared these words with him. I think this was

his job all along, to get me to separate from him.

I hope that you enjoy the stories, and the tips, tricks, tools, and medicine contained

herein.


Introduction

As empaths, we’ve spent much of our lives in the world of Spirit and spiritual energy.

We intuitively understand the spiritual world and its natural peace, and we love basking in

these glorious realms in which we feel so at home. We are drawn to God, Creator, the Great

Mystery, like a bee to honey.

This book attempts to emphatically shift the focus to your body. Being in a dense

physical body can sometimes feel limiting for empaths, especially when many of us act as

sponges for others' emotional and physical pains. Being in our bodies can be painful; our

bodies can hurt!

This book will help you with concrete and practical ways to ease the pain and keep your

energy clear. This is a book of ideas about how to get in touch with, how to make friends with,

and how to form a relationship with, your body.

In the simplest possible terms, this is a book about how to do two things: first, to

remove negative energy; second, to amplify positive energy. The methods in this book are the

equivalent of learning how to open and close your valves; how to make energy stronger where

it’s lacking; and how to lessen or remove energy where there’s too much of it. Or, phrased in

another way, learning to live in Balance.

I gained the techniques and suggestions contained herein from nearly 15 years of

intense experiential metaphysical study in the roots of Chinese & East Indian medicine, the

science of astrology, the science of mind, yoga, Buddhism, and Native American ceremonial

healing. These, along with a 5-year apprentice program with two Native American Shamans,

have provided the basis for the techniques outlined in this book.

Granted, I am still a “baby.” I will forever be a baby, until I die. I learned that phrase

from Bro. And yet I’ve picked up a few things along the way that might just work for you,

because they’ve worked for me. That’s how the cycle moves. That’s how we “pay it forward.”

Only by the grace and wisdom of the teachers who helped and taught me is this knowledge

passed along to you.

This book will also help you to refine your connection to Spirit. And by Spirit, I am not

referring to esoteric electromagnetic waves out in the Ether nor random discarnate entities.


By Spirit, I mean that greater part of the Whole that is actually YOU. The energy that you

have been carrying around all these years is not actually you. You may mistakenly think that it

is you; quite easily to do actually. It’s not you.

We are all one. You’ve probably heard that phrase before.

It’s not a philosophy. It’s not a belief.

It is the law of the Universe, and it’s very real.

The energy from the time in 4th grade that you were thrown into a snowbank and

beaten up at school; that energy remains, to some degree, in your energy field and in your

physical body’s cells throughout your life.

Now is the time to get that old, stagnant, lethargic, energy OUT.

We are going to be shining a flashlight into dark corners of your dank and musty

rooms, those parts of yourself that have not been lit up in years. We are going to be moving

around the furniture inside yourself.

Everything in this world is energy: money, the kitchen chair you are sitting on, the

rocks on the ground, the winds you think you can’t see, the garbage can in your kitchen.

EVERYTHING is alive. The techniques outlined are based on the assumption that we must

have energy movement in order to be healthy and strong.

Circulation and Movement = Life. No circulation = Death

To be vibrant and strong, we must exist in a state of energy flow. Flow is about moving

downstream with the current, not against it. Flow is about catching the wave at just the right

time and riding it to it's natural conclusion. If we can catch the current and ride with it, then

we will ride that wave of energy to health and strength.

This is a practical guide to helping you do that. Some techniques are quite possibly

revolutionary; many you may have never heard of before. Some are downright odd. Some are

formed from the inspiration of my mentors. I give them credit in each applicable chapter. The

other ideas are mine.

This is not a theoretical book. This is a course about what works. The ideas outlined in

this book, when applied regularly and made into learned personal habits, will most likely

bring you some form of relief: relief from worry, stress, and a lessening of the ego's tyrannical

hold over you.


You will begin to see that YOU are not your mind. And your Mind is not what you think

it is. Your true mind is your intention, your creativity, your personal power.

That is what I hope to help you recover in this book.

Michael R. Smith

Santa Fe, NM

January 2009


On Being An Empath:

Spiritual Aspects and The Importance of Grounding

You probably have gone through life being more affected by other people’s energies

than you realize. Perhaps you already know that you’re off the scale, so to speak, in terms of

your ability to intuitively feel and perceive others. Perhaps only just now, you are waking up

to the fact that the shape and trajectory of your life has been unconsciously influenced by the

desires, wishes, thoughts, moods, and sensitivities of others.

As an empath, you are someone who has been hard-wired, from birth, to perceive and

literally experience the thoughts, emotions, physical sensitivities, and spiritual urges of other

persons. It is much more than being a highly sensitive person and is not limited to just

emotions. For you, it can be like living an episode of Star Trek! You don’t even have to try and

you just know the motivations and intentions of other people.

You cannot change the fact that you are an empath. It is akin to your eye color. You

either are or you aren't. It is not teachable; it’s not something to learn. However, you can

learn to manage and adapt to your empathic nature. Hopefully you have, or will now, make it

your intention to modify the intensity of the experience through adaptive means that I've

outlined in this book. It is quite common for empaths to modify their feelings through not-so-

adaptive means (alcohol, drugs, addictions). If you fall into that category, it is completely

understandable and you are not alone! Almost every empath whom I have encountered has,

at one point or another, sought to alter their mood through drugs, alcohol, sex, or other

addictions. We'll talk more about that later.

The definition of being an empath means you are always “on” to process other people’s

feelings and energy. As an empath, you have a gift, or in many cases, what may feel like a

serious curse! Perhaps you were bombarded by the frightening emotional rages of another,

hiding in fear in the closet. Or you may have actually experienced physical pain deep in your

chest, wanting to escape, because of a highly emotional situation. Physicians diagnose many

of our special needs children with Asperger’s or autism, which is characterized by little


http://empaths.affpsychic.hop.clickbank.net/?tid=15-PSYC

sensitivity to others. You were, and still are, a “special needs” child; however, you are at the

opposite end of the spectrum.

Being an empath can be challenging. It means that you are able to process energy for

other people. You feel everything, even if you are not aware of it. Many of us learn to shut

down overwhelming feelings with mood altering substances or experiences. Many addicts are

unconscious empaths who have never experienced the dignity of knowing they are gifted;

instead they falsely believe themselves to be damaged or wrong. Nothing could be further

from the truth.

Being what some may erroneously call “hypersensitive” to the feelings of others is not

a bad thing. It does not mean you are co-dependent. There is nothing wrong with you,

although it may feel like there is. For better or worse, because of your diffuse energetic

boundaries, you can feel, and in many cases, take on, the pain of others. While this is usually

helpful to others, it can leave the empath severely drained, always running on empty. As you

now awaken to your empathic gifts, if you are to thrive, you must have the courage to plant

your feet firmly in the ground and learn when to say no. You are being asked to choose wisely.

Just because you have this gift, does not mean you always need to use it. With the gift of

empathy comes tremendous responsibility.

Beware, though. Becoming a conscious empath may give you a noticeable charge. It

may cause lingering sensations of relief, bordering on giddiness. You will come to understand

that you are not alone. Despite what doctors may theorize, there truly is nothing wrong with

you. Chronic fatigue? Vague environmental sensitivities? Unexplained aches and pains?

These are more likely attributable to outside influences than to anything about you.

It’s not you. It really is not you.

You are walking through life with accumulated karma, emotions, and energy from

other people. It's a challenge, from the western viewpoint, to realize that there is no

separation between you and others. There is no duality; this is an illusion and an unfortunate

byproduct of years of over-dependence on science. Western culture tends to only look at

pieces and not the whole. Your ancestors made many bad decisions, had many rageful fights,

and it would astound you to be able to see the countless gun battles, murders, suicides,

sicknesses, and bad habits that have been directly passed down to you through your DNA.

Those bad memories linger. They are carried down through the generations, encoded in your


genes, and remain in the very cells of your body! That means that you are not you. You

are your ancestors. And your ancestors are everyone and everything. That's right. You are

related to everything.

In Lakota, the phrase "Mitakaue Oyasin" is uttered after every single prayer. It literally

means, "I am a relative of everything in the Universe." You're here on this planet right now to

clean everything up. Natives call this the circle, or the medicine hoop. And this time around,

we're going to mend the circle. In these times of spiritual transformation, this time, in the

fourth go-around before we enter the next world around 2012 (see the Mayan Calendar),

we're going to get it right. You may not intellectually know why you made the decision to

incarnate in a body, and yet here you are. So, wouldn't it benefit you to stop protesting and

stop fighting what IS? Isn't it time to stop fighting God, stop the blame game, stop protesting

your sensitivity, and start living your destiny?

Empaths are people who walk in two different worlds: the world of heaven & the world

of Earth. That’s one of the reasons why our journeys can be so difficult and laden with

obstacles to being grounded to Earth. We feel completely at home in the world of heaven; we

miss it and we long for our Spirit friends. We have the ability to merge our consciousness with

anything easily, even if we are not aware that we are doing so. We like being in the world of

Spirit. Compared to spiritual matters, Earthly matters are like getting a consolation prize. It’s

dense, darker, and full of violent and lower vibratory things that give us the heebie-jeebies.

If you follow the strategies outlined in this book, I'd like to tell you that the days of

disassociation and being out of your body will be coming to an end. To be fully effective, and

even to survive and keep your head above water, you simply must be grounded. You must be

in your body. You must know your body. You must live your body. You must honor your

body. No more crying because you're here on Earth and it's more dense and dark. No more

crying because you know the spirit world and it's more fun and exciting. Those days are over.

After you read this book and apply the principles, you will come to move into your own

power.

"Being grounded;" I never was fond of that phrase. I used to think that being grounded

would mean that I wouldn't be able to tune-in psychically to the other realms. I thought that

my dreams would die off, my visions wouldn't be as vivid, and my clairaudience would go

away. In actuality, it's the other way around. Being grounded helps you become MORE


intuitive. It helps you become MORE powerful. Intuition without proper grounding is useless.

You'll be no good to anyone else; you won't be able to help, because you'll be floating

somewhere. Mona Lisa Schulz, in her excellent book, Awakening Intuition: Using Your

Mind-Body Network for Insight and Healing, reports "Intuition without grounding in the

world is helpful to no one." Amen!

There is a shamanic process called Soul retrieval that some healers practice. This is a

fancy phrase for helping you to be more in your body and more grounded. For those of us who

are sick or disassociated, big chunks of us are trapped or hanging out too much in the world of

Spirit. When we are disassociated, we are barely in the Earth and barely in our bodies. We

don't notice little pains or even little pleasures that want to tell us messages. We don't notice

because we aren't present. Getting present in your body is critical for proper functioning in

this Earth world and for fulfilling your mission to help other people.

Part of our spiritual clan, Angela, Amaya, Wolf, Me, Lynn, 2006

I have worked with a man called Wolf (pictured center, above), a wonderfully generous

and helpful Native American shaman, for six years now. "Every time you float off," Wolf

initially lectured me, "You must come back. I don't want to see you floating off any more." I


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can't remember how many times Wolf has said those words to me. I still float off because it's

natural for empaths and those who walk between worlds to do. Floating off is fine; there's

nothing wrong with it. It can be healthy. The key point for us as empaths to learn is that we

can and need to come back! We need grounding much more than we need to float off.

Floating off should ideally be done on a schedule like the Sabbath: one day of the week. I'm

not saying to use your intuition one day of the week. I use that example only for comparison

purposes. If you're spending most of your days out in the spirit world and not enough as a

grounded human being, you're setting yourself up energetically for a lot of hurt. You'll have a

lot of accumulated spiritual energy and no where to put it.

A principle of energy is that it must be discharged. You cannot stay in any one state for

too long. All the energy that ever existed, ever, in all time, is currently present in this

Universe. Energy is infinite. There is no more, and no less. It doesn't ever dissipate; that's a

helpful law of physics that we can use for our benefit. Energy never goes away. It is just

moved around. It moves from place to place, from person to person, from sun to Earth, from

Earth to moon, from moon to water, from water to fire, from fire to rocks, from rocks to

hands, from hands to head, and so on. And if you're an empath, energy will certainly be

physically moving between other people and you. What you must learn, as an empath, is how

to maneuver energy. You need to learn how to freely move with it and also how to say no to it

and get it out of your system if it's hurting you. You must learn how to push energy away to a

place where it won't hurt you or anyone else. The only way you can do that is by being

grounded.

The function of the Earth is to take and absorb energy. Thus, the Earth is the ultimate

empath. She takes everything, but she is getting to the point now where she's way out of

balance and is throwing the energy off her that we've ruthlessly and unfairly instilled in her

through the years. Thus, many of us are preparing for what are referred to as the "Earth

changes," that many of the spiritual teachers have spoken about and on which many spiritual

channelings have been done.

Energy moves into and out of us two ways: from ground up and from top down. I

hesitate to say this because there are really no rules (spirit is constantly throwing us curve

balls, as we'll see in the Heyoka chapter), yet the more common way that energy is discharged


is through our feet and into the ground. We will be spending a lot of time in this book talking

about the various ways that you can discharge and clear your energy field.

This is a book about helping you to be fully grounded in Earth, as a human being who

has at this place and time made a commitment to being here to advance and help the people.

You may not know why you made this commitment, but the fact remains that you are a

human being, right now. So you might as well make your journey here as enjoyable as

possible, despite the energetic hard-wiring that makes you super sensitive and a super

conductor of electricity. This book is about practical steps you can take to make your life as an

electromagnetic being easier, more enjoyable, and less combustible!

So with that in mind, let's get started.


Introduction

How I Got Here

He had his eye on me. I knew it, and there was nothing else I could do. I walked

around camp pretending not to notice or be affected by his stares. He stalked my

every move. He was called simply “Bro.” And yet he was not just any spiritual

elder. He was “The” Bro, intimidating beyond belief. His reputation preceded him

wherever he went. We were regaled with story after legendary story. The

Canadian government once hired him to run sweat lodge ceremonies to heal their

hard-core inmates – serial killers and rapists. The rumor around camp was that

he got nearly 500 inmates paroled through his healing ability. He was subtle,

drawing only the proper amount of attention to himself. When he was in a good

mood, after morning coffee, he had a hearty, gregarious, and infectious laugh. He

had a special penchant for making fun of people, for tearing down the ego, and

sometimes for purposeful humiliation. In short, he was a paradox. He was called

a “heyoka,” otherwise known in Native circles as a sacred clown.

What if we were the historical figures we read about in books?

What if we were the Abe Lincoln's of the world, the Susan B. Anthony's, and the kings

and queens of times past that we have read about in history class?

And what if we decided, as a group of spiritually sensitive souls dedicated to God, to

incarnate in the world right now at this moment in history because of the profound changes

that are happening on a societal and Earthly level?

And what if we decided, before we were even born, to come to Earth to be vacuum

cleaners, to suck old energy up, process it, and clean it up, and in the process, transforming it

into something new and beautiful. It's my belief that many of us have made exactly this

spiritual commitment. And those of us who have made this commitment are called empaths.

~~~~~


On one particularly blustery, snowy, and winsome evening in February 1991, I made a

pot of coffee and sat behind an antique wooden desk, handcrafted by the Saint John’s Abbey

Benedictine monks. As a member of the Saint John’s University campus ministry staff, I

enjoyed the freedom of having a set of keys to a wonderful quiet space in the backwoods of

Minnesota, a space which merged work and play. This space was my evening refuge, a place to

reflect and decompress from the chaotic nature of campus life.

On this particular evening, as part of an assignment for my sociology class, I read the

book “Let the Trumpet Sound: The Life of Martin Luther King, Jr” by Stephen B. Oates, a

book that rests on the top shelf of my bookcase to this day. I give thanks to my sociology

professor, Dr. Michael Emerson, then an eager young professor in his late twenties, for

providing me with such an inspiring assignment. With the turning of each page, the

inspiration from Dr. King’s life ran up my spine. Through an hour of overt crying, tears,

bawling, and letting go, on this particular night, in February of 1991, I decided that I was

going to help people. The world of business and it’s accompanying trappings could be left for

others with more worldly ambitions to pursue.

Since then, although the scenes and the actors have changed, the unwavering

commitment of my life has been to learn about what it really means to be a full throttle

human being, not just a character in someone else’s play.

~~~~~

Fast forward fifteen or so years to a camp in the mountains just north of Santa Fe, New

Mexico. I am wearing a smoked-out winter jacket hunkering close to a fire and struggling to

stay warm against falling snow and blowing wind. I’ve got a pack of American Spirit cigarettes

in one pocket of faded cargo pants too dirty to even care. I smell of smoke and dried out

sweat. Cold, hungry, and fatigued, we are being battle-tested in preparation for an important

spiritual ceremony by our teacher, Bro, a shaman and medicine man from Saskatchewan,

Canada. I am preparing to spend four days and nights in prayer, without water or food, under

a tree with only a blanket. With an aching back and tired, wood-splintered hands, I am too


exhausted to even have the strength to consider how exhausted I really am.

~~~~~

Flashback to five hours earlier in the day. The alarm clock makes a racket. With a pre-

diarrhea feeling in my stomach, I roll over in bed, furrowing even further under the blanket. It

is Sunday.

Early on in my relationship with Bro, he pointed out that life is 80 percent work, and

20 percent “sinning,” (otherwise having a good time). As I push my body up off the bed, I feel

my back locked in spasm. I fight the urge to take half of a pain pill. The 20 percent rule does

not apply on Sundays. Sundays are for sweating, otherwise known as the sacred Inipi

ceremony, or more commonly, the purification or sweat lodge.

And that means work. Not white man’s work. This is work directed by a proud Lakota

man who barks orders like a drill sergeant. His goal? To break down our egos. On this

particular Sunday, I will not care about the lines forming on my forehead and the wrinkles

forming around my eyes. In a few hours, I will be wrinkled like a prune from the hot steam. I

believe that the history of our daily life is written long before we even begin to live out the

actual experience. If we learn how to consistently ask and then fine-tune our listening so that

we can hear the inevitable answer, we are allowed to experience glimpses of the future. We

may be able to see how the day will move by first feeling it in the clouds. There’s no technique

for this; with enough silence of mind, it happens.

Today is one of those days. I get out of bed, shower, throw everything into my all

purpose sweat bag, and drive an hour to Tesuque, north of Santa Fe, NM. Bro is decked out

in his finest blue jeans, white shirt, motorcycle jacket, and black hat, puffing away in

intentional silence. It is 3 p.m., a sacred time in many traditions, when the energies are at

their extreme polarities, according to Bro.

After first offering the traditional greeting to Bro, I ask to start hauling some firewood.

He nods. I happily scamper down the hill.

The winter snow falling against the backdrop of evergreens reminds me of a scene from

Valley Forge. I wonder how George Washington and his troops were able to survive such

destitution, while I have the benefit of The North Face outerwear.


I have enough time to grab about four pieces of wood.

“Coyote!”

Coyote was the Lakota spiritual name that I had been given in a ceremony a few years

earlier, and which I had grown accustomed to being barked in my ears at all times of day.

“Coming, Bro!,” I reply.

We seat ourselves in the traditional circle around the fire. Contrary to the past

experiences of some of the “older ones,” those who have been Bro's students for over 10 years,

we have the luxury of sitting on camp chairs. This has been the subject of semi-scandal and

constant needling from the older ones. We are about to begin a talking circle. However, this is

not your traditional talking circle. The talking involves mostly one person: Bro.

“How many people in camp?” Bro asks.

Friction. Come on, Michael, concentrate!

By the time I figure out where my mind is, Jay, being the good warrior, had the answer.

“Eleven, Bro.”

“Yup,” he says, authoritatively flicking a cigarette to the ground, his way of giving

praise.

Stupid! The voices chatter away inside my head.

I feel absolute panic.

~~~~~

“Pay it no nevermind,” Bro had earlier said of that angry, defiant inner voice. “The

human ego likes to think it’s in charge.”

Paying the pain “no nevermind” was something to which I was unaccustomed. The

searing pain in my lower back is intense beyond recognition. The more I try to fight it, the

worse it gets. Being sensitive to emotional and spiritual energy, I am used to fighting off aches

and pains. Pills help.

“You can still use pills for the pain,” Bro had said to me once during a private talk.

“Yeah?”

“Oh sure, you’re still learning, Bro” he said, with a smile.


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Earlier my spiritual sister Mindi had spoken of her desire to get off anti-depressants. I

shared the same confusion with Bro, wondering if the 20 mg of Prozac that I was taking was

interfering with my connection to Spirit.

“Don't worry about that, Bro. If Spirit wants you to know something,” he stated

emphatically, “you'll know it.” To this day, I use that same line with clients.

“Did you know you’re one of my favorite people?,” he continued.

“Really?”

“Yeeeaaah,” he said, slowly, while methodically lighting another cigarette. I knew to be

quiet. He was preparing to give a teaching.

“You see, the others, they don’t have that certain something,” he said, waving his

hands. He looked like a Muppet. I silently suppressed a laugh.

“They don’t have that certain je ne sai qois, you know what I mean?”

In his presence, his teachings entered my consciousness through osmosis. When Bro

was giving a teaching, he didn't need many words.

“Yes, I guess you’re right” was all I said. I needed to acknowledge it.

“Thassss right!” he said.

I chuckled like an 8-year-old. I loved the unsophisticated and utterly unselfconscious

way he pronounced his words.

“See, you’re getting it.”

He took another puff.

“You’re getting it. You’re finally getting it, Bro.”

Silence. Not awkward in the least.

“And things…..”

Important sentences ended with “and things….”

~~~~~

Sitting in the pitch-blackness of the lodge after some intense singing and praying,

nausea begins to set in like never before. We are beginning the third round, where we pray for

ourselves. I worry that I might vomit on the rocks in the center of the circle, the

“grandfathers,” as they are called. It feels like I am sitting on a pitchfork.


“Coyote, how’s your back?”

“It hurts Bro.”

“I don’t doubt it,” he says, pouring water on the rocks. That simple acknowledgement

is important. I earned it. And even though my back feels as if it is giving birth, I am acutely

aware that the ego chatter has quieted down. I am grounded. This is new to me, not letting the

energies and emotional pain of others affect me to a point where I want to run away. I

concentrate on the space in between nothing. It feels nice.

Within a short time we are finished. The pain in my back has subsided. Or perhaps,

more likely, it is only obscured by the frigid cold.

Moving out of the lodge, we typically lower our heads and honor all of our relatives by

saying “Aho, Mitaukaue Oyasin,” which literally means, I am related to everything. Often

when one’s prayer is particularly strong, you’ll get a rousing “Uh-huh!” affirmative, similar to

being in a charismatic Baptist church. This was one of the first times I received that

distinction from Bro.

My feet are completely numb. Searching for feeling, I crawl out of the lodge on the

frozen dirt ground, using my upper arms to pull my torso along. With perhaps 60 seconds to

go before the cold sets in, I hobble past the fire pit, now reduced to glowing embers, only to

fumble in the low light to find the frozen clothes in my sweat bag.

As the last man to leave the lodge, I notice Bro struggling a bit while crawling out of the

lodge. He doesn’t have his usual female assistant to help him. He walks over, in bare feet,

into the foot-high snow bank, to dress himself with some privacy.

“Coyote!” He still has enough energy to bark.

I run. Fast.

He needs some help dressing. I provide support and balance underneath his arms, this

gigantic warrior of a man. I mentally send him a little extra energy boost. I can tell this has

been a hard sweat for him.

“I believe that you have learned what you needed to learn.”

“Thanks, Bro,” was all I said.

“Don’t let anyone tell you you’re not strong, Bro.”

I held on even tighter.


~~~~~

In 1998, I made my first-ever appointment with a psychic practitioner. I was living

behind a Chinese restaurant that constantly smelled of egg drop soup, on the corner of 12th

and Wilshire in Santa Monica, California. I was a recent transplant from the Midwest where I

was raised, in search of mysticism and adventure. After seeing an advertisement for cheap

($15) psychic readings with students of the Clearsight Psychic Institute, I took a risk and

called to make an appointment.

At the start of the reading, the psychic and I settled into our chairs, facing each other,

and got comfortable. Or perhaps, more accurately, she got comfortable. I was terrified. I think

her name was Judy. Her first act was to push the record button on the tape recorder.

“I'm going to read your aura,” she announced.

I braced myself for the worst. Being seen by others was not a strong suit.

“Oh, my,” she said. “I've never quite seen anything like it. You have no boundaries. It's

like your aura is completely translucent.”

Her manner of speaking, combined with my own insecurity, combined into an

explosive mix that triggered the worst habitual defenses in me. I got up, shouted a few things

about her learning how to work with people, and stormed out of the room without paying my

$15.

Several years later, I sent the school a check for teaching me an important lesson about

myself.

~~~~~

Trailblazers: The 2004 Counseling retreat participants

with Wolf, pictured, center top row.


In the spring of 2004, I had an idea. I was determined to take what I had learned and

seen in my interactions with Wolf and Bro, and somehow bring my counseling students at the

University of Wyoming into the fray. I felt it was important that graduate counseling students

be exposed to the Native American views of healing and not just the medical model that I

learned when I was a counseling graduate student in Minnesota. And so I applied for grant

funding from the University and a few other places to make this happen. To my surprise, I

received enough funds to cover an all-expense paid trip for 10 counseling graduate students.

While most of the faculty in the College of Education were supportive, I did take some flak

from fellow faculty who never warmed to the idea and only half-heartedly supported the

students' trip to Santa Fe. A few were downright afraid, and although they didn't say so, it was

written all over their energy fields whenever I spoke about this in their presence. I proceeded

with the trip, knowing the power of these ways to change people's lives and the powerful, and

yet humble, way in which Wolf and his mentor Bro moved.

So, we loaded up the buses in the summer of 2004, with an adjunct faculty member in

tow, and made the trek to Santa Fe, where we spent nearly a week learning the ropes, being

healed, and being exposed to a new worldview. Needless to say, life was never the same after

that for Laramie, Wyoming or Santa Fe, NM, and the individuals who are connected to spokes

of the wheel of each place.

It started out innocuously enough. Soon many students were calling Wolf every week

for their own continued healing and counseling. And soon after that, many others made their


own trips back to Santa Fe, on their own, to continue to learn the ways. The results speak for

themselves. Over half of the original participants came back for another retreat in 2005,

paying their own way. Three master degree students, out of 10, eventually moved 600 miles to

Santa Fe, NM, after their graduation to continue to learn the Native American ways. Two of

my former students, Mindi and Donna, became Bro's students. Another student, Wendy, and

the faculty member, Lou, became Wolf's students. All four have done their own traditional

vision quests that I will describe in the following pages. And all of these people now use the

Native American teachings in their own counseling practices.

And guess what? We are all white. That's what mending the hoop is all about. We're

cleaning up the sins of the past. We're taking responsibility, each race, for the messes we

created back throughout the last several hundred years when the White man oppressed,

raped, stole from, ambushed, and beat the Indian culture into near extinction. It's because of

people like Wolf and Bro, who see the Big Picture, and who are big enough to teach the Native

ways to White people, that life is being made better for everyone. And I no longer consider the

individuals I previously taught "my" former students. I see them as spiritual sisters and

brothers. I have come to abhor that phrase "former student of mine," because it implies an

unequal possessive relationship.

Later, Angela, a friend of Wendy's, became Wolf's student. And then, even later yet,

friends of Angela's came to Santa Fe to learn the medicine and receive healing. The web, the

spider medicine of Inktomi (which we'll discuss in Chapter Nine) just keeps spreading! Where

will it lead next? I say this with a gigantic grin on my face and a huge smile in my heart.

Suffice it to say that the grant money and the dream of healing the wound and

mending the hoop is continuing to come true. Many people's lives have been improved all

over the web because of the courage of the countless individuals who realize that there is

MORE out there to learn, and that we have to face our fear in order to learn to overcome it.

And that's just one piece, started because of a Dream, a Vision, an Intention, a Thought.

Where will you take your thoughts? Where will your thoughts take you? Will you

nurture them, giving Light and Love and tenderness with a little mercy thrown in the mix? It

is my sincerest hope and prayer that the words in this book will help you to do so, and also to

find your courage, to honor your strength, and to face your fears and offer them nothing but

tenderness and mercy along the way.


~~~~~

By 2005, I had had enough of life as a tenure-track professor of counseling. A lifetime

of left-brained learning was frying the inner recesses of my mind. The corners of my mind

were stale and rusty. I had grown weary of this life in “academia,” which is still to this day a

word that incites something close to riot in my mind. Yes, the money was good, for sure, and

the prestige, well, it was somewhat nice. But for what? I kept piling up publication after

publication, and yet I yearned for something more. There had to be more.

I had enough of quiet desperation. I made the decision to pack my bags and head for

Santa Fe, where at least I had a friend and a spiritual community of which I could be a part. I

didn't have any job interests to speak of but a flicker of light in the Heart that things could be

better.

Once I got to Santa Fe, I felt the subtle vibrational Shift in energy, similar to when your

television goes a little haywire or static-y every now and then. The signal is different. The

antenna picks up other things, things that don’t at first glance appear in other cities or other

places. In Santa Fe, I picked up a degree in Polarity therapy from the New Mexico Academy of

Healing Arts, started working on and off the body, started exploring for the first time what it

felt like to be Grounded in my body. A good deal of my polarity therapy apprenticeship and

education appears in the pages of this book.

Soon, I started traveling, expanding my lifelong interest in dancing, movement, and

yoga. I traveled to Asia and spent some months hiking through rural villages. I shared a bottle

of hallucinogenic moonshine with the tribal chief in one memorable encounter. I started

attending ceremonies in other world religions in addition to my interest in Native American

ways: Buddhism, dharma talks, Japanese tea ceremony, Sufi Zikr, and African trance-dance

ceremonies. I spent a summer living in a tent on the side of a hill at the Lama Foundation in

Taos, NM, where I met a man, Mark, who included a part of my life story in a book he was

writing called "If Buddha Were a Texan." I still laugh about how he described me as a half-

crazy professor who was junking his education in an effort to live life more freely and go

“deeper.”


http://www.lamafoundation.org/

http://www.nmhealingarts.org/

http://www.nmhealingarts.org/

I became good friends with psychics and healers. I got my hair cut every month from

Jaoquin Torres, a high-priest in Santoria, and in the process learned about the African ways

of healing (the African Spirit of Oya subsequently appeared to me). I bought a drum and

started attending drum ceremonies, learning that the drum reflects back to us the precise

emotional and mental state we are in. My earnest steps were being reflected back to me and I

was rewarded with medicine dreams and astral voyages. I started working with channeling,

and much to my surprise, the angels started speaking through me. All this occurred in a few

years time. I learned that time is a spirit, and your relationship with it will influence not only

your perception of how fast it moves, but also how you physically age. It feels as if the last 6

years have contained at least 25 years of learning.

A wise mentor named Edil Torres Rivera, one of my counseling professors at the

University of Nevada, who himself worked closely with the Native Americans and planted the

seed for my doing so, once asked me ‘How far are you willing to go in order to be Good?”

It's a question that each of us must face at some point or another in our lives; and it is a

question that the universe may now be posing to you. Many of us, as empaths, are being asked

to go farther than others. Our hearts are being tugged at on a soul level. If God suddenly

appeared, right now, and spoke those words into your heart, what would you say? How

would you respond to the call? It is my hope and prayer that you would answer the Universe

with a knowing smile and a big, energetic, “as far as You ask me to go!”


1Harnessing the Power of the Four Directions

If you expand your mind a bit and take a broad perspective, you'll begin to notice a

trend: the number four appears everywhere. In Christianity, the sign and symbol of the cross

makes up four points, a symbol of wholeness and of unity. There are four seasons and also

four cycles of life. There are four races: the white man, the yellow man, the red man, and the

black man. There are a preponderance of animals who have four feet, the “four leggeds,” as

the plains Native Americans call them. The mammalian heart consists of four chambers.

There are four nucleobase types in DNA that make up our very existence: adenine, guanine,

cytosine, and thymine. There are four human blood types. And, lest we forget, there are “four-

letter words,” which refer to the forceful energy and often violent power contained in such

words (curiously, most of these words really do contain four letters). In the Native American

Vision Quest Ceremony, there are four days and four nights of intense prayer without food or

water. And finally, aboriginal, indigenous, and native people the world over refer to the “the

four directions,” or four winds, which we will now discuss.

Located in the four corners of the Earth, there are distinct powers and energies which

can be called upon in order to heal. In a Lakota “Inipi,” or sweat lodge ceremony, otherwise

known as a spiritual and energetic purification ceremony, the first action taken is calling in

the four directions. A pleading for the assistance of these powerful allies is done through

focused prayer of the individuals sitting in the dark under a circular dome made of willow

tree branches covered with cloth or tarps to trap the heat.

The circle of life, otherwise referred to as the medicine circle, is made up of four

quadrants, starting in the Lakota tradition in the West, moving clockwise to the North,

then to the East and ending in the South. In each of these directions, there are certain

animal spirits and non-human spirits that are associated with each of the four

directions. There is not enough space on all the pages of the Earth to describe these

powers and all of the lessons we can learn from them. For further reference, please see


the excellent book “Fools Crow: Wisdom and Power,” by Thomas E. Mails, one of the

best and most respected books on the subject of Native American healing. The four

directions are also a large part of the symbolism of Christianity, with the importance

of the four-pointed cross, which was used as a protective symbol even before the time

of Jesus. The powers of the four directions of the Earth are also explicitly referred in

the Christian bible in many different books including Ezekiel 1:4, Proverbs 25:23, and

Jeremiah 49:36, among many others.

The important point for all of us as empaths is to begin to see everything as a

living spirit that will respond to you if you call upon it. There is a spirit of time. A spirit

of fear. A spirit of creativity. These are not abstract concepts floating out in the ethers.

They are as real as you and I are. They may not have bodies, but they are very much

alive, and they respond to our attention and thoughtfulness in-kind, just as a friend

would. When we learn to become friends with these inherently powerful spirits, they

will assist us in our mission to help others whenever we call upon them. That is what

this book is about: helping you to see everything as related, and finding those

powerful energies which will help you, if you should only develop a proper

relationship filled with respect, honoring, and, ultimately, reciprocity.

COMMON SPIRITS AND ANIMALS ASSOCIATED WITH THE 4

DIRECTIONS:

West: Associated with the Color Blue or Black, the home of the thunder beings and the

buffalo, representing the spirit of abundance. As the sun sets in the West, it is the

home of putting things in the past. If you need to let go of things in your life, pray to

the Spirit of the West for help.

North: The direction of healing, health, and power, and associated with the color red;

home of the Spirit of The Great Wazea, a healing helper that Bro referred to as “kind

of like a white man's version of Santa Claus.” We can call on this spirit in our darkest

hours and times of need.



East: The sun rises in the east, thus the east is the place of new beginnings and fresh

starts; the direction of thanksgiving and understanding; associated with the color

yellow. The Eagle spirit resides in the east. It is associated with the air element.

South: The place associated with innocence, playfulness, and love, and rebirth. It is

the home of the Coyote and the Mouse. It's associated traditionally with the color

white, representing purity and love. If your life or loving relationships needs more of a

playful boost, pray to the spirit of the South.

Before every session with my clients, I honor the four directions and call on

their powers to assist me in clearing energy and understanding messages from Spirit. I

start in the West and move through the medicine circle clockwise, as taught to me in

the Lakota traditions, offering prayers and tobacco. I have a personal shield that I

created which is a physical manifestation of the four directions. This shield hangs in

my office and helps me to focus on calling in the power of the four directions when I

work with clients. It is a tool that you also can create for yourself, which we will

discuss in chapter twenty-eight.

Each of us is gifted by Spirit with a certain amount of inherent energy of each

direction, or “percentage” for the mathematically inclined. While there is not a

formula in the world that could explain or do this concept justice, suffice it to say that

each of us is absolutely unique in how the four directions are represented in each of

us.

Specific colors are used by different Native American traditions to represent

our human perceptions of the energies of each of the four directions. There are

varying colors in each indigenous tradition, although the most common are blue,

black, red, yellow, and white. I may risk grumbling from traditionalists, and yet I

believe that it does not matter what color you use to represent the directions. You can

create your own colors, or, better yet, ask Spirit for a vision of what colors are in each

quadrant.

You do not have to know about the theory behind the four directions in order to

benefit from their power and assistance. It may help your mind to focus, and yet you


do not have to know about them in order to start communicating with them and

calling their power into your reality. You do not even need faith that they exist. All that

is required on your part is the action of asking and then listening for their response.

Sooner or later, you will experience their power. Then, and only then, will your

academic concepts about the four directions be turned into something called wisdom.

Action Steps:

1. Greet the Directions Each Day. Every morning, while rising, greet the Four

Directions physically with a salute, mentally with your thoughts, and physically by

sending out a feeling of gratitude for their protection and guidance. You may want to

offer some loose tobacco or a cigarette, as this herb is considered sacred in many

traditions, and according to those traditions, the spirits of the directions are attracted

to tobacco.

2. Read Jamie Sams’ Sacred Path Cards, excellent oracle cards that not only will

give you a good self-intuitive reading and help you as you navigate through your day,

but will teach you all about traditional Lakota Sioux teachings, the same teachings

that I have spent years learning. It's no substitute for being personally mentored, and

yet I can state unequivocally that this is the most authentic book and closest to Native

teachings that I have yet encountered.

3. Prayer Ties. Making prayer ties is one of the first things you will learn if you

are mentored by any Native teacher. Prayer ties, sometimes referred to as tobacco ties,

are little pieces of cloth filled with tobacco that are tied up in a string. They are

typically done in the colors of the four directions, starting in the West. The point here

is that you use something to represent your intentions and to deepen your relationship

with the energy of the four corners of the Earth. It's quite similar to praying the

Rosary in Catholicism. You are using and creating a physical manifestation of that for

which you are asking. The tobacco is a sacred herb that also is known to absorb

energy. Native Americans consider tobacco to be a plant that bridges the gap between



heaven and earth. When it is smoked, the prayers are literally brought into the other

dimension and made so that the spirits can understand it, in their language. Whether

you believe in this is somewhat irrelevant; the ties serve, at minimum, a function of

helping us to focus our spiritual intentions on something physical. Below is a picture

of a short string of prayer ties. Notice how they are arranged similar to other spiritual

traditions (e.g. the mala beads of Buddhism or the rosary beads of Catholicism).

Typically, they are done in stands of 16 (one color is shown below) or 75. Generally,

for larger and more significant ceremonies, the more ties are used (405 prayer ties is

considered a sacred number by some plains tribes).


2Harnessing the Power of the Air Element (Tate)

“Moves, in Indian, means 'life.' Anything that has life moves. There isn't

anything that isn't alive. So everything moves. Even things like rocks are

alive, and dirt. Even boards and tin roofs are alive although they are

harder to see move. But they move. Just got to know how to see them

move. So that's the moves part. Moves moves is what makes moves move.

One move is a heartbeat. Moves moves is what it is that's beating the

heart. ”

- The Man Who Fell In Love With The Moon, 1991.

I noticed the first changes of my awakening in 2004. After returning home

from a day of teaching at the University of Wyoming, I would throw my academic

clothes on the couch, get into my workout clothes, and run up to the bluff about 2

miles from my house that overlooked the city. It was there that I grounded myself,

running for hours at a time, until my legs hurt. It didn't matter so much, the hurt. The

running, even the sore muscles made me feel in my body. I was beginning to accept

that it was better to feel something, even if it was pain, rather than disassociate and

leave my body.

What really got me moving was the Wyoming wind. Anyone who has lived in

Wyoming can tell you that there is nothing quite like the Wyoming wind. “Tate,” is

what they call it in Sioux. During my afternoon and late evening runs, I supercharged

myself with its power. I felt like the character played by Molly Shannon on Saturday

Night Live a few years back, Mary Catherine Gallagher, shouting “Superstar!” at the

top of her lungs as she entered the stage in her Catholic girl school uniform.

That's what the wind made me feel like when I ran up on the bluff: a superstar.

And thus, my conversation and relationship with the wind began and intensified. I


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thought, “I wonder if I can make the wind come like Bro does?” So I took a risk and

tried it. And much to my surprise, whenever I called, the wind seemed to blow extra

hard, on cue. Was this my imagination, or was this something real? I didn't really

know, so I kind of just chalked it up to something to learn later. I also noticed that

whenever I called the wind, I would feel an electrical charge underneath my armpits,

beginning the extreme left and right corners of each breast, and continuing halfway

down my arms. Interesting notice, I thought, and again, filed it away.

“Each of us are born with certain powers,” Bro said, during one of our infamous

one-on-ones, while huddling around the fire to stay warm. “You, you got the wind

spirit in you.”

“Does everyone have it?,” I asked.

“Sure,” he said.

“Well, how do I use it?”

“You don't use it. You ask it. But first you gotta learn to listen to it and treat it

like a friend. You gotta have a relationship with it, just like you and me talking,” he

said.

“How do we do that,” I asked.

“Well, we use the pipe, and prayer ties, and do these things that you been

learning.

“...and things.”

~~~~~

Associated Body Areas:

In a polarity therapy session, if I want to help adjust a client's air element and

ability to breathe, I work with three particular regions of the body:

1. I give a good shoulder massage and work the acupressure points in the

shoulders

2. I place my hands on the kidneys and give them an energetic boost and physical

massage of the kidneys (in the lower back region) and

3. I work with the ankles by cracking the joints, creating space in the ankle joint,

and performing a technique called an "ankle gap."


If it sounds strange that loosening the ankles can help promote better air flow

and breathing, then read chapter 15 on the elemental meridians. Other parts of the

body that correspond to the air element are the lungs, the sternum (collarbone), and

the diaphragm (a huge organ that takes up much of our chest right below the ribs).

Most individuals have an extremely tense diaphragm, and it's an organ that is not

given much energetic or physical attention. A diaphragm release is indicated for most

of us.

Imbalances in air energy will usually manifest in these areas of the body.

Additionally, these are the areas that you would be advised to meditate upon, and give

a good self-massage. Manual stimulation combined with meditation promotes the

energetic health and balance of the air spirit.

Body Type:

Someone with a lot of air energy will manifest as a thin, wiry, or even

underweight body.

Sound to Promote the Air Element:

YAAAAAM. (High pitched and fast). Physically voice this mantra and sound for

one minute and notice the quality of energy in the air areas of the body. You will

eventually, if not at first, be able to notice a strengthening, tingling, and warmth (or

sometimes even pain if the energy is blocked) in these areas.

Action Steps:


1. Ethmoid Bone Sinus Drain

When we are stressed, why do we intuitively place our fingers on the top sides

of the nose? This is a seemingly universal reaction for when things go wrong. One

reason might be because there are acupressure points on each side of the ethmoid

skull bone (the top of the nose, above) which stimulate the flow of oxygen and help us

to breathe slowly and deeply.

Take two fingers and repeat the above process on either side of your nose,

holding your fingers gently on the nose. All you have to do is ask for Source energy to

be sent and directed to this spot. Sinus drainage will happen automatically, and your

breathing will be more fully restored. Better yet, have a friend or a partner gently

touch each side of your nose while you make it your intention to clear the energy in

your nose, asking for Source Light Energy to come out or your fingers and into those

spots.

2. Chest Clearing Air Pump

Place two fingers on either side of the center of the collarbone, at the top of the

sternum. With your intention and consciousness, go deep underneath these important

acupressure points. Pretend to take a journey and visualize your consciousness

moving underneath the skin, through the muscle, and down into the blood. Create

Light energy. Engage all of your senses to ask for Source energy in this spot. Using

your powers of creativity and intention, ask for warmth, tingling, movement, and

circulation. Make the Source energy big. Notice the changes in your body and in your


ability to take in air and oxygen. (This is an excellent technique to use to promote the

air element when you are suffering from a chest cold). You may also give these points

a good vigorous massage.

3. Underarm Air Meridian Stimulation

Hold out your arms to the left and right of your body and extend them as far as

they will go horizontally in each direction. Extend your fingers as far out horizontally

as they will go. Really push yourself to extend the tips of your fingers outward as far

as humanly possible (imagine someone pulling on your fingers outwardly so that it

pulls the arms out of their sockets). This will stimulate the air meridians in your body.

Hold for about 20-30 seconds and feel the quality of the air around the tips of your

fingers. Next, energetically call the wind, and ask for it to be amplified in your body.

Then physically gesture your fingers for the wind spirit to come to you. Notice.

4. Air Element Exercise

Allot 5 minutes of your time to do the following: talk nonstop, it doesn't matter

what words come out of your mouth, just continue to talk while you walk around from

room to room in your home. Skip from topic to topic as you move from your kitchen,

grab an item, and then take it into another room of your house. Then walk back to the

kitchen. Scratch your head fast. Open a window, then walk away. Come immediately

back and then close the window. Keep moving, in this seemingly random way for 5

minutes. Answer the following questions.

1. What do you feel like inside?

2. What is the physical quality of the energy in your head (pulsing, tingling,

warmth)?

3. What thoughts or associations come with this exercise? What feelings or

emotions or both are triggered (try to capture the feeling in one word)? What

memories are triggered by this quick movement?

4. Would you like more of this feeling? Ask your body if you need more of this

feeling.


5. Notice any judgments associated with this feeling.

Further Reading:

The Polarity Process: Energy as a Healing Art by Franklin Sills

Polarity Therapy Workbook by John Beaulieu, R.P.P.




3Harnessing the Power of Fire (Peta)

I should have known Bro liked me, because he asked me on the very first day

that I met him, supporting at my very first vision quest, to tend fire. At the time, I had

no idea how much he was honoring me with this gesture. I only felt an overwhelming

awkwardness and a feeling like I didn't belong anywhere near all the spiritual masters

and hardcore Indians who I was surrounded by.

“You,” he growled. “Come over here and build this fire up.”

My confidence felt like it had been tied to a brick and thrown off Mt. Everest. I

could have wet myself. I went to the fire, as instructed, but I had no idea what I was

supposed to do. I stared at the fire awhile, trying to size it up like it was a linear

equation. I hoped, with little internal confidence, that if I just kicked a few logs

around that this might somehow act as jet fuel. So I kicked. The logs. And that. Was.

A. Giant. Mistake.

And so began the start of countless hard-earned lessons over the course of the

next few years.

“If you ever,” Bro declared, practically decapitating me with his fury, “kick my

fire again, you will never set foot in this camp again.

He stared at me hard. “Got it?”

I nodded with deference. “How dare you molest my fire,” he barked. “This fire

is to be treated with respect, and you treated it like shit.”

Again, I lowered my head to the ground, not uttering a sound. This teaching

was as much for everyone else in the circle, although my small mind didn't really allow

me to see this in the heat of the moment.

“You white people think you can just come around and just control everything,

have everything your way,” he muttered. Bro didn’t trust white people, in general. And


he judged the white people he worked with against the high-bar of the “hardcore

Indians back home." To even be accepted into the clan was a gift. He worked hard to

get the maladaptive “white man’s ways” out of us.

“The White man got no respect for the spirit of the fire. In this camp, you will

treat my fire with respect or you won't be coming back.”

“Yes, Bro, I'm sorry.”

“Alright, that's enough for now. Let's have a smoke.”

Having a smoke was Bro's way of diffusing any tension, and helping us to not

take things so seriously, even though I felt like a failure and all the alarms of insecurity

and self-consciousness were blaring in my mind.

As we worked throughout 2004, both Bro and his senior "student" of 10 years,

Wolf, had me tend fire occasionally, slowly working with the fire in small increments

to build up the listening skills, and to have the fire begin to get to know me.

As Bro worked with me to build up my fire power, the next step, in 2005, was

having me tend a small fire, not a fire to heat the sweat lodge rocks, but just a fire to

keep us warm at our basecamp in Abiqiu, New Mexico. All 11 of us were huddled

around a small fire pit while eating cheese sandwhiches.

I managed to arrange the kindling, stack a few small branches, light the fire

and get it going. However, no sooner had the fire started moving vertically than I was

overcome with fear that it might go out. And therein, the fire began a rapid decline.

As I frantically began to rearrange the logs into something resembling a forest

decimated by a tornado, the oxygen was being sucked away. Within 60 seconds, it

was down to nothing. Not even a single flame, barely enough coals to relight it. I

fumbled and fumbled, pleading with it to come back, trying in vain to get air flowing.

Bro was sitting no more than 2 feet from me and watching my every panicked

move. I was keenly aware he could hear my thoughts that, at the time, I thought were

mine. I heard voices saying I was stupid and worthless. I didn't know that these voices

were not mine. I didn't know that these voices were just the energy of the shadow

trying to prevent me from doing my job, and that I could simply ignore them. My

spiritual warriorship was still in its early stages and I did not know that I myself could


exist in confidence and centeredness while still being aware and conscious of the

voices of the shadow warriors.

It was at that point that I experienced one of many “hard-to-believe-I-actually-

saw-that” moments.

“Here's how it's done,” Bro said, and just motioned toward the fire with his

head.

It was as if he had poured lighter fluid on the fire. It went from zero to 60,

completely ablaze in a matter of 2 seconds, all with his mind. I was stunned. I knew

his power was strong; I had seen him walk through a raging fire a few other times and

not be burnt in the slightest. Bro rarely revealed the true depth of his powers in public,

and this was one of those rare occasions. I was humbled.

I soon began to take the lead on building and tending the fire to prepare for

ceremony. While I was being supervised, a consistent theme emerged for me:

tentativeness. I didn't think I was as good enough to be building fire, and I certainly

didn't believe I was as good enough as the older ones, especially Ska, who had been a

student of Bro's for over 10 years. Ska was the regular fire keeper, a curiously quiet

man who revealed very little. He intimidated me.

Like Bro, Ska also had the ability to hear thoughts. I knew he could hear mine,

which were littered with negativity. Again, though, I didn't realize at this time that

these negative thoughts were just leftover energy from others, from another time, and

from the shadow warriors. I erroneously believed then that because I could perceive

these negative thoughts through my own mind, that must have meant that they

originated from me. I did not realize then that this is a common misconception of

empaths and highly sensitive people. We think we are the ones who are wounded. We

think there is something seriously wrong with us. We think we are damaged goods.

The result of this misconception? My fires were slow to light, sometimes even

refusing to light. No matter how much oxygen I gave the fire, most of the time it

simply would not stay lit. I began to rely on the skills of others to get the fire going. I

didn't realize that a fire, or anything in our physical lives for that matter, is nothing

more than a biofeedback device. The quality of everything in our physical existence,

especially a fire, is nothing more than a reflection of the quality of our thoughts.


After a few months of amateurish attempts, I started to get the hang of the fire.

My confidence rose as I learned that I could talk to it, listen to it, and especially, have

a reciprocal relationship with it. When I purposefully created and sent the fire my

gratitude for keeping us warm, it would crackle or the logs would move at that exact

same moment. I began to realize this was no coincidence; the fire was responding to

my thoughts! I started dialoguing with the fire as if it were another person who I

cared deeply about. I asked it where the wood for the altar (the base that holds the

rocks) wanted to go, where the rocks wanted to be placed, and where it wanted to be

lit. I sent the fire energy from my heart during the process of tending. During

downpours or blizzards, I learned that I could keep the fire going with my prayers and

energy. It fed off of me, and I fed off of it in the form of warmth and heat that would

clear my energy meridians. The more I felt and noticed the tingles running all over

my body, especially in my backside and down my legs helping me to ground, the more

that I sent it gratitude, and the more I received in return.

Soon Bro started to comment on my new skills. “Yep, that's real good Coyote.”

he said. “I think you have the makings of a great fire keeper.” After my rough start

with Bro, this subtle compliment kept me going and helped me to persevere after so

many perceived “mistakes.” With each compliment from Bro or the others, my

confidence rose. So much so that I knew in my bones that I was good. I knew that I

could not be touched by fear. I knew that I was a good person living in an imperfect

world. I was starting to get older. I was coming out of my boyhood. I liked this

feeling, and I was also starting to see how we mend the circle; through compliments,

through a focus on the good, and through a focus on gratitude for the countless, often

overlooked, living spirits that are constantly around us and helping us.

“There's only one thing more powerful than love,” Bro said. “And that is the

power of gratitude.” It stuck. I will often share this story and this truth with clients

when they are coming out of their darkest hours. It is a joy to share that gratitude for

what we do have is often the genesis, and sustaining force, of our healing process.

In 2007, I worked as the fire keeper at a Vision Quest that was run by Wolf on

his property in Santa Fe. To this day, this has been one of most overtly powerful

ceremonies of which I have ever been a part. It started off innocuously enough, feeling


the fire, as always, calling to it, singing to it; getting myself jazzed to keep the people

warm, and asking it to give it's medicine to the grandfather rocks for the benefit of all

the people in the sweat lodge.

Supporting at a vision quest is hard work. I believe that it's actually more work

than fasting for four days and four nights out on the Vision Quest itself. Hauling wood,

preparing meals, and more importantly, praying for those who are out on the hill all

take their energetic toll. If you're an empath in spiritual ceremony, you'll also feel

everyone else's little spiritual nooks and crannies. As fire keeper, my hard work

included getting covered in mud and dirt, being blasted with so much soot and ash

that I looked like I was a soldier in camouflage, having dry, cracked hands that looked

like an 80-year-old's, and enduring painful blisters from being bitten and burned by

the fire whenever my thoughts would stray.

After the first day of this ceremony, the fire and I became one. We merged our

energies and our consciousness, working together to keep the people warm. I

remember being surprised at how much I actually became the fire. I could both feel

and see the flames shooting outward from my own body and could feel the spiritual

fire energy running from the heavens down through my body and into the Earth. At

one point, something that a spiritual brother named Wolfman did irritated me, and I

saw a clear and instantaneous demonstration of how the fire responds to one's

thoughts. At the exact same moment as my thought, he recoiled his entire body a few

feet backward, as if someone was swinging a baseball bat toward him.

Unintentionally, the fire energy that had built up in me was taking a swipe at him.

“Whoa,” he said, retreating backward, something that I won't soon forget. If you have

one stray thought, just one, around the fire, it will act as a mirror and hurt you. If you

know in your heart of hearts that the fire won’t hurt you, it won’t. I’ve walked right

over hot coals and have not been hurt. Of course, I was unaware at the time that I was

even walking on the hot coals! It took Wolf to point this out to me. At some point, you

simply become the fire, and when this happens, the fire will never hurt you.

Back at my home the night the Vision Quest ended, I was so super charged with

fire medicine that I was woken up from a dream by my Guides and told to unplug the

BioMat far-infrared heating pad that I was sleeping on to soothe my sore muscles. If I


had kept the device on any longer, the fire energy in my auric field would have short

circuited the house and caused a fire! Although my family would disagree, we were

"blessed" in 1993 to have a house fire. Although everything was a total loss, the fire

spirit did bless us, and the entire community rallied around us. That happened at

Christmas, and it was the best, most memorable, and warmest holiday that I've ever

had.

At the Sun Dance, a Native American ritual, the energy is so super-charged that

the dancers, and some participant supporters, can stare directly at the sun for hours at

a time and not be hurt. The sun is what gives the dancers their energy and allows them

to dance for days on end with no food or water. Wolf has publicly shared his

experiences and stories of staring at the sun for hours. While I was supporting at his

Sun Dance, I stared directly at the sun for about 15 minutes. It was glorious, and I

could see all sorts of different colors around the sun.

On a daily basis working with clients, I constantly am dropping lighted and

fully burning sage on the floor. When I pick it up, it’s hot. And yet I know I will not get

burnt. I voice my words to Peta, and ask it to not hurt me when I touch it. It responds

in kind. One of the most brilliant displays of this reciprocal relationship with the fire

was watching (my mentor) Wolf work with the fire. In the middle of a huge roaring

fire, there he was, standing in the middle of 6 feet high flames, meticulously placing

rocks. The fire was not touching him; it was circulating around his body but never

touching him. I saw Bro do the same thing many times, including walking directly into

the middle of a roaring fire and again, the flames moved around his body, never

touching him. There is much I have to learn about fire. And yet, I’ve gotten a glimpse,

let’s put it that way, of what the fire spirit represents. It’s power, it’s healing, it's

passion, it's sexual energy, and it’s the basis of life.


The fire spirit manifests in our bodies in three areas, according to Polarity

Therapy. The positive polarity is the head (especially the eye area), the neutral area is

the pelvic/solar plexus region, and the negative polarity is the thighs. Imbalances in

fire energy will usually manifest in these areas of the body. Additionally, these are the


areas that you would be advised to meditate upon, and give a good self-massage.

Manual stimulation combined with meditation promotes the energetic health and

balance of the fire spirit.

Emotions:

Balanced (+): Enthusiasm, passion, and forgiveness.

Too much (-): Anger/Resentment

Body Type:

Someone with a lot of inherent or balanced fire energy will manifest as a

mesomorphic body type, that is muscular, near perfectly proportioned, athletic, and

an overall medium build.

Sound to Promote the Fire Element:

RAAAAAM (Loud and Staccato). Physically voice this mantra and sound for

one minute and notice the quality of energy in the fire areas of the body. You will

eventually, if not at first, be able to notice a strengthening, tingling, warmth (or

sometimes even pain if the energy is blocked) in these areas.

Body Conditions Resulting in Fire Imbalance

Diarrhea can result from too much fire, which then causes a water imbalance

because the body floods itself with water to extinguish the fire (lower the

temperature). Constipation is also a fire/water imbalance, with too little water, too

much drying air and possibly fire. For more information, read Dr. Vasant Lad's book,

Ayurveda: The Science of Self-Healing. Dr. Lad is one of the foremost authorities on

Ayurveda, and I had the good fortune of being mentored by his apprentice, Susanna

Andrews.

Action Steps:

1. Talk to the fire



Sit for at least 30 minutes and feel the heat penetrate into your skin. Calm your

mind and notice how the fire energy stimulates your meridians and supercharges you

with energy. Begin to merge your consciousness with the fire. Ask it how you can feed

it. Give your energy to it; help it become stronger, ask it what it needs, just like a child.

Notice how the flames begin to move and respond to your thoughts, with a crackle, a

shifting of the logs, or a pop. Treat the fire gently, give it your respect, and you will

become friends. It takes practice and time to form this relationship, and yet,

eventually, it really is that simple. Eventually, when you pray to the fire, you'll notice

that it will speak back to you by moving some of the logs or crackle for you at the exact

moment of your thought.

2. Raise your body temperature

When your body's temperature is raised, either artificially (infrared sauna) or

unintentionally (heat stroke or fever), the veils between worlds become diffuse and

your intuitive abilities are at their height. Many intuitive empaths and psychics report

the onset of their abilities during a childhood fever. I got heat stroke during my trip to

Thailand in 2005, and I was passing back and forth (mainly forth!) between the

worlds like a bad drug trip. I heard so many voices. It actually was quite frightening

because I thought I was going crazy. Only later did I realize how out of body I actually

was.


4Harnessing the Power of Water (Mini)

Storm at Sea, Thailand, 2005.

Later in the day, I got heat stroke and the veils were lifted.

It was day three of my own first Vision Quest. I had dutifully prepared for

several months. I had made my channuppa (the pipe) – carving it out of the pipestone

that is only found in only one location in the world – a small area of my native state of

Minnesota.

I had made my 405 tobacco prayer ties and tied them in a circle around my

spot, which was on a 45 degree angle on a steep hill on the side of a mountain. Bro

and I had spent the previous month raking and blessing my circle every few days,

creating and strengthening the “vortex,” as Bro called it. We put up the requisite

amount of cherry sticks, painted red and blue, and around them hung the 405 tobacco

ties which were used for protection from any negative energies (tobacco being an

absorber of negative energy). Sweetgrass hung from the trees to call forth the positive


energies and spirits (in contrast to the sage herb, which is used to ward off negative

spirits).

It was in this tiny circle where I prayed and fasted for four days and four nights,

in addition to trying not to fall down the hill in my slippery sleeping bag and destroy

my altar. It was on day three, typically known in Native circles as the hardest day of

any Vision Quest, that the thirst had hit and ravaged my body and mind. I was not

hungry in the least - the body pretty much shuts that drive off. What really posed a

mental challenge was the thirst. In between prayer fragments, I spent most of day

three pondering whether I would, if given the chance, take a Starbucks Frappucino or

guzzle a Slurpee from 7-Eleven.

Today was Heyoka day: the day of backwards, the day to do the opposite of

what we normally do. I will talk about that more in chapter 32. Bro arrived at my

circle later in the afternoon. He brought his female assistant with him. He was

holding a glass of clear, crystal water.

Without a word, he arrived into my circle, lowered himself to the ground, and

held the glass of water with both hands up outward from his body and toward the sky.

The outer edges of my aura were massaged by the gentle manner in which he was

holding the water. To this day, it was one of the most beautiful and humble prayers I

have ever heard. It was sincere, gentle, humble, and true. I can still hear the beautiful

simplicity as he ended his prayer, "I love you water spirit. I love you and thank you for

bringing us life."

Since then, I have adopted and modified this prayer. Every morning when I

wake from sleep, the first thing I do is go pour a glass of water and pray over it,

sending it my energy, asking it to be structured just right to nourish the cells of my

body. The Japanese are renowned for their reverence for the ability of water to cure

and keep people healthy (see Dr. Emoto's book, "Messages from Water").

The energetic power of water is in it's unique ability to purify. It cleans. It

resolves us of our sins, to borrow a Catholic phrase. From sweat lodges, to baptisms,

to rivers, to thunderstorms, to gyms, to saunas, to Turkish baths, to the Trevvy

fountains in Rome....water is used ritually to clear and clean. Not surprisingly, a

recent article on Yahoo News reported a scientific study which revealed that clean


http://boxstr.com/files/4650148_jolpr/Clean%20People%20Are%20Less%20Judgmental%20-%20Yahoo!%20News.htm


people are less judgmental. As an empath, it's vitally important to form a healthy and

reciprocal relationship with the water spirit. When you communicate and make it

your ally, you can call on it not just physically, but in the spiritual realm. You will

learn to listen to it's messages and hear what it has to say.

The three areas in the body that correspond to water are the breast, the pelvic

area, and the feet. Water also corresponds to the second chakra, in the pelvic area,

which governs emotion and where water energy can get stuck. Repressed emotion is

consistently located in the lower back or the pubic area. I can usually tell when clients

need a good cry, because my back will tighten up and get cramped. I then lead my

clients through meditations and energy exercises that are designed to release that

energy.

It is important to note that all of the elements are powerful, and the power

swings from one end of the pendulum to the other. It can and is often used for

destructive purposes and well as constructive purposes. This is not the equivalent of

good or bad, the elements and how they are used by the Universe are neutral. It's not

good or bad, it just is. A fire helps us by keeping us warm. It can also destroy things we

like. Same thing with water; we need it for life, and yet every year we see it destroy

homes and lives on all coasts. Air is essential, and yet it can be used to tear up towns.

It's just the way it IS. It's neutral. There is no judgment, no right or wrong.

The day that I spent writing the chapter on water, I received an email from my

dear friend Argus El'iam, whose artwork adorns Chapter 30. He told me a gleeful story

of being able to house-sit for his musical idol Toni Childs, who received a Grammy

Nomination in 1988 for her huge-selling album Union. I had forgotten how much I

loved Toni Childs, and realized that she had dropped off the face of the musical world.

So I went to her website to do a little research and found out that she had become ill

with Graves disease, completely dropped her fast-paced life in Los Angeles, and

moved to Hawaii to be near the water. She had felt that the water would heal her. In

her quest for healing, she not only received the healing benefits of water, but she

eventually created a line of cleansers and beauty products that are chemical free.

“Struggling with Graves Disease I realized that my dis-ease was directly linked to a lack of self-love. In an effort to heal myself, I created Chakra Body Polishes which I applied every time I took a shower. I created a water meditation, by lovingly touching and


http://www.ArgusSoulVisions.com/

http://boxstr.com/files/4650148_jolpr/Clean%20People%20Are%20Less%20Judgmental%20-%20Yahoo!%20News.htm

thanking every part of my body for providing me with a vehicle to experience the world. I am happy to say that for over four years I am medication free, and I no longer have Graves Disease. (See pictures from Dr Emoto's book, 'Messages from Water'). I became very inspired and created a line of sulfate-free shampoos, conditioners, lotions, and facial cleansers.” - Toni Childs Website, 2008.


The water spirit manifests in our bodies in three areas, according to Polarity

Therapy. The positive polarity is the breast area (in both men and women), the neutral

area is the pelvic region including the reproductive area, and the negative polarity is

the feet. Imbalances in water energy usually manifest in these areas of the body.

Manual stimulation of these areas combined with meditation will promote the

energetic health and balance of the water spirit.

Emotions:

Balanced (+): Ability to let go

Unbalanced (-): Attachment to persons and things, overemotional

Body Type:

Someone with inherent or balanced water energy manifests as an Endomorphic

body type, with a fully developed body, perhaps a little bit chunky or slightly

overweight (but not leading to problems or obesity). Hair and skin fluid quality may

be on the extremes. Hair may be either thin/lustrous or and oily/dry, and skin may be

radiant/dull or oily/dry.

Sound to Promote the Water Element:

VAAAAAM (smooth, mid-range, and flowing). Physically voice this mantra and

sound for one minute and notice the quality of energy in the water areas of the body.

You will eventually, if not at first, be able to notice a strengthening, tingling, warmth

(or sometimes even pain if the energy is blocked) in these areas.



Action Steps

1. Tears. Tears are a wonderful and divine combination of water and salt, cleansing

our entire energy systems. If you haven't had a cry lately, do it! One of the skills of

being spiritually conscious is being able to cry when you need to, in private, with ease.

After you master that, then it's time to bump it up a notch and be able to cry freely in

front of others, when emotions come, with no shame. This is a skill that may take

some of us longer than others, and may perhaps be a challenge for even the freest

among us. And yet, when you can cry in front of others without shame, without saying

"I'm sorry," and without grabbing for the tissues to wipe away the tears, that's a very

good sign that you are well on your way to emotional and spiritual maturity. It means

that you are confident enough in your own skin that you simply don't care what others

think.

2. Saliva

You will want to make sure you take every opportunity to spit out bad energy. It

may seem uncouth, especially for women, and yet it's absolutely vital that you spit

when you need to (and even sometimes when you think you don't). I would ask you to

be aware of your saliva, and how the quality of the energy contained in it. The body

releases toxins on a daily basis through your saliva. It's one of the exit points for old

energy that gets processed by the body. Many people report that they have an urge to

spit when they are fighting off a cold or when they are sick. For empaths, you may not

be aware of how much the glands in your mouth contribute and can assist you in being

energetically clear and clean. For many of us, we have a tendency to swallow saliva

when we should be spitting it out. Swallowing just makes it tougher for your body to

release and transmute the old energy. So instead of swallowing politely, refuse this

social grace. Spit unapologetically!

3. Remove water pictures

If you are feeling over-emotional and perhaps out of control emotionally,

remove all pictures and references to water. It's not that you are honoring, it's just that


you don't want to go overboard, and this technique helps put you back into balance.

Bro had me use this technique when I was going through my healing.

4. Go without showering

Do this for as many days as you can imagine. It's a tough task for many of us,

and yet it's one of the best teaching tools I know for empaths. Energy accumulates on

us throughout the day. Bro and Wolf limit showering 30 days before spiritual

ceremonies so that the energy that accumulates on us will be transmuted and released

during the ceremony itself. When you don't shower for 3-4 days, the next time you

step into the show or bath, you will not only be more appreciative of the water spirit,

but you will also be able to FEEL the energy slough off of you and being cleansed from

your energy field. Whenever I go on a shower "fast," I am all that more appreciative of

water and its benefits.

5. Sweat it out!

There are various ways to sweat: exercise, sauna, far infrared heating pads, etc.

And the more you get the body sweating, the more that water can do it’s natural job of

clearing toxins. And by toxins, I don’t mean just chemicals that you eat in your food.

That’s bad enough. Rather, as a highly sensitive person you are literally absorbing

other people’s energy, negative thoughts, and malevolent intentions into your own

energy field!

6. Spleen Massage

The spleen has been overlooked by medical science and physicians. Its utility,

function, and necessity has been called into question. Western medicine has little clue

what it does. Eastern forms of medicine, especially Chinese medicine, understand that

the spleen is an important organ which helps to process emotional energy. When you

are emotional, or when you are around people who are emotional, your spleen will be

working overtime. As an empath, your spleen is an organ that you'll want to dialogue

and deepen your relationship with.

The spleen energy meridian lines run down the sides of your legs. I've found


that my spleen lines will often "light up" after I do strong emotional energy work - and

this takes the form of minor "achy" leg pain. If you have this type of leg pain, it may

be the spleen cleaning itself out and processing emotional energy. Keeping the spleen

free of congestion is a good goal. Whether it's a good hand massage, a professional

massage, or my personal favorite, the percussion massager, you would be well advised

to keep your spleen area clear with manual stimulation. The spleen is on your left side

of the body; if you're looking at yourself it's on the right side. (INCLUDE PICTURE).

Further Learning:

Where Eagles Fly: A Shamanic Way to Personal Fulfilment by Kenneth Meadows - a

great book about shamanism and excellent information on all of the elements.

Messages From Water Series - By Masuru Emoto

Hugely popular bestselling books about the amazing ways that water

communicates with us, and the ways we can communicate with it.




5Harnessing the Power of Earth

Living close to the Earth – a village in Thailand, 2005.

I always had wanted to be in an Earthquake, but I was clear with Spirit that if

this were to happen, I didn't want anyone to get hurt. In 2001, I got my wish. And I

got not just a small earthquake, but a big one. I knew instantly this was a major

happening. Asking why the earth moves is like asking why does the air move. It just is

part of that beautiful force which the Natives call "Great Mystery."

One of the most beautiful acts I have witnessed was from a man named Tony

who I have only met one time. He is a master shaman who, like so many these days, is

a non-native who has been introduced to the ways, and has kept at at for many years.

One day, as we were preparing the fire for a ceremony, he gave me a little pep talk.


“We're both ghosts,” he said, gesturing with his hand back and forth between us.

“That's all we are. You're a ghost, I'm a ghost, it's just that we happen to be in physical

form right now.” Then he reached down to touch the ground with his hands, lowered

his head, and prayed. His prayer was strong, because my energy instantly got quiet

and grounded.

“We are children of this beautiful Mother. She's a real being, just as real as you

and me. Thank you Mother. Thank you Mother. Thank you, thank you, thank you

Mother.” One of thousands of unforgettable moments.


The Earth energy manifests in our bodies in three areas, according to Polarity

Therapy. The positive polarity is the neck, the neutral area is the

bowels/colon/intestines, and the negative polarity is in the knees. Imbalances in

Earth energy will usually manifest in these areas of the body. Additionally, these are

the areas that you would be advised to meditate upon, and give a good self-massage.

Manual stimulation combined with meditation will promote the energetic health and

balance of the Earth energy.

Emotions:

Balanced (+): Courage and Calmness

Unbalanced (-): Fear and Anxiety, spaciness or disorientation

Body Type:

Someone with inherent or balanced Earth energy manifests as a Endomorphic

body type, that is, with a thick neck, stable and stout frame, good strength, and a

farmer-like build; also, has a tendency toward cold hands and feet.

Sound to Promote the Earth Element:

LAAAAAM (very deep, low, droning and slow). Physically voice this mantra and

sound for one minute and notice the quality of energy in the Earth areas of the body.

You will eventually, if not at first, be able to notice a strengthening, tingling, warmth


(or sometimes even pain if the energy is blocked) in these areas.

Earth Element Meditation:

For 3-5 minutes, walk and talk as slowly as humanly possible. Pick one word or

sound and repeat it throughout the entire meditation period. Pretend as if you are

just covered in molasses and can barely put one foot in front of the other. Feel your

feet touching the floor. Breathe very slowly and deeply. After you're done, ask yourself

the following questions:

1. What do you physically feel like inside?

2. What thoughts or thought associations come with this activity?

3. Does this activity bring up any memories or emotions?

4. Would you like more of this feeling. How could you apply this feeling to a

particular issue that you're currently dealing with?

5. Do you have any value judgments associated with this feeling?

Action Steps:

1. Bury yourself in Mud

Give yourself a mud bath. This was recommended to me by Bro when I was first

working with him. It's a good way to absorb the energies of the Earth into your energy

field, and plus, it really does feel good. If you're obsessive about dirt, this would be an

excellent way to you to get over and face your fears.

2. Dig a meditation hole

If you live on a large piece of land, here's a project that may take several days to

complete. Dig a hole that would be large enough to be a grave. Then, sit in this hole for

several hours. Notice your fear, notice your emotions, and also notice what happens to

your energy. If fear comes up, just know that this is completely natural. Just observe

the fear and move on, don't get caught up in it or allow it to lead your thoughts. The

Earth Mother will bless you in many ways. When you come out of the hole, you'll be

very grounded. You can then continue to use this hole as a place to pray and a place to


discharge your energy. If you don't have access to a hole, use your basement. Because

a basement is lodged under the Earth, it is a good spot for prayer and discharge.

3. Get a colonic

This is a hugely important aspect that often goes overlooked by the medical

community and the general public alike. For you as an empath, the odds are very good

that you are carrying around years of excess energy and gas in your colon. Most colon

hydrotherapists estimate that between 10 and 20 pounds of excess weight is trapped

in your colon in little pockets of feces and gas. Gas can remain clogged in your colon

for 5 years or more. If you have a distended stomach, this is an especially important

activity for you to embark upon. Do not fear; today's colon hydrotherapists are

extremely professional and make the entire process as comfortable as possible. This

will help clear the bowels, and help better ground you to the Earth's energy.

4. Ground yourself before any Spiritual work

If we are working on an electrical project, when we're ungrounded, electricity

will hurt us. The same principle applies for working in spiritual energy. You must have

a place for spiritual energy to discharge into if you're going to work in spiritual realms

or energetic realms (performing Reiki on someone, counseling or healing someone, or

otherwise helping them in any emotional, spiritual, or energetic way requires that you

consciously connect your energy field into the Earth). All you have to do is ask for two

things: first, that the Earth energy come up through your feet, and second, that

anything you don't need be released down through your feet into the ground.

5. Bury the things you want to release

There is a difference between burning something and burying it. It's important

that we understand the difference, or we could inadvertently be hurting our ancestors

and sending them negative energy.

When we burn something, the smoke carries the energy into the other worlds

and the fire brings the energy up into the heavens. One of the jobs of the fire is to

change the energy from earthly form into heavenly form, and then transmit that


energy across the worldly divides. This is why you don't want to burn things that have

bad memories associated with them, because then our ancestors in the other planes

will experience that energy. Fire and smoke are closely associated with indigenous

spiritual rituals, because whatever is burned or smoked is carried off into the other

lands. We only want to give our ancestors the benefit of positive energy, and so it is

perfectly acceptable to ritually burn items that have been prayed over and have

positive energy associated with them. After a vision quest is over, the tobacco ties and

the prayer flags and all the other items associated with the strong prayers are burned

in the sacred fire. This is usually the final act of any Native ceremony involving fire.

Instead of burning, if you want to release the energy of physical items such as old

pieces of clothing that have negative energy or bad memories attached to them, then

you will instead want to bury that item.


6Harnessing the Power of Metal for Energy Opening

I’ve included this right after the other elements because some forms of Chinese

medicine consider metal to be one of the primary elements (also wood, which is in

Chapter 10). In actuality, both of my mentors claim that there are 11 elements, and

that they have not yet been discovered by science. And just like the trickster coyotes

that they are, they have not yet revealed this wisdom to me. I am definitely intrigued.

If and when I ever progress far enough in my training, and if I find out, I will be sure

to include an addendum in this book!

Soon after I moved to Santa Fe and began working intensely with my teacher,

Bro, a familiar routine began to emerge. The “clan” as we were called, performed

ceremony when Bro was in Santa Fe a minimum of once a week, and more often than

not, twice a week. At any given point in time, we were always in a state of preparation

for the next big ceremony, what is called a “humblecha” in Lakota, otherwise known as

a vision quest, and these were done twice a year.

After a particularly gruesome sweat lodge, the kind where so much low-

vibratory energy was expelled from so many individuals that I left feeling as if I had

been hit with a truck, I began what were to become early week rituals. We always

performed ceremony on Sunday. Consequently, more often than not, in those days, I

left the lodge feeling temporarily worse than when I went in. I see this now as just the

natural evolution of a powerful detoxification that sweating can bring; the lodge starts

the energy movement; and the next few days are days of continued release. And now

with the benefit of some years, looking back, this was almost certainly a test to see if I,

a pampered white boy, could keep going.

At any rate, I would eagerly look forward to our few hours together on Tuesdays

or Wednesdays. I would go have my personal one-on-one time with Bro.. As for Bro,


well, I am not so sure he anticipated these like I did. At the time, I didn’t understand

or fully appreciate how much work and energy he would expend on these days to

follow up with my personal healing.

When I arrived, I would usually find him sitting in the living room watching

Fox News. He always said it’s good to keep an eye on your enemy. He also had a crush

on Michelle Malkin, one of the anchors. On the days that he needed a change, he

would watch The Weather Channel. “You can learn a lot about the flows by watching

The Weather Channel,” he proclaimed. “And you can learn even more with the sound

turned off.” Soon I picked this up as a spiritual habit, and to this day, I watch the

Weather Channel with the sound off.

As was usually the case after an intense sweat lodge, I would have an aching

back. This is where emotional energy accumulates, and being a double water sign, I

had a lot of energy stuck in this area, which corresponds to the water chakra, which

governs reproduction and where the sexual energy is centered.

Bro lit a Cigarette. He preferred Canadian cigarettes and usually smoked

Players, but when he found out their business practices were hurting the native

community in his native land, he switched to DuMaurier’s. Whenever he lit a

cigarette, I knew he was getting a “download” and coming back from the Spiritual

realms.

“Okay, Bro, let’s check ya out,” he said, moving toward me. “Do you have any

quarters, Bro?" I ran outside and grabbed two quarters from my car. When I came

back, he instructed me to sit down and lift both my pants legs and my shirt. I

definitely felt exposed, because I had no idea what he was doing.

“Does this relate to the meridians?” I asked.

He laughed. “No Bro, I don’t know nothing bout no meridians.”

“The Tibetans, you know them? They used to do this,” he said. Keep in mind he

had also told me prior that Jesus had at one point lived in Colorado, at Mesa Verde,

where all the great spiritual Masters had gathered to share their wisdom and power.

“A little known fact,” he said at the time. I did believe him though, and still do. But I

don't know, and don't need to know what that was all about.


The tremendous power of the gentle way that he used his fingers to apply the

quarters was producing ecstasy and complete serenity in my energy field. If fingers

could have orgasms, his fingers were inducing one in me!

Action Steps

1. Lifewave patches: If you want more precise, but a tad more expensive,

technology than putting quarters on your body, you can get the new Lifewave patches

that are precisely engineered with nanotechnology to interact with your energy field.

They have additional benefits than using just quarters, but if you want a cheap version

of Lifewave, use this protocol below.

2. Using Quarters to stimulate energy meridians.

Use the placements that are indicated in the picture. I have included a diagram

of the spots where I’ve found they are most helpful for me, over the years. You will

want to experiment with placement for yourself, listening energetically to your own

body and where the coins want to be placed.

The key point is that you have 3 coins, one in the upper portion of the body (the

positive polarity); one in the middle of the torso (the neutral polarity); and one in the


http://www.lifewave.com/mrsmith

lower portion of the body (the negative polarity). Use your intuition to place the coins

in the areas where they want to be. You can't go wrong with shoulders or the points by

the collarbone, the middle of the chest or the pubic bone (right above the sex organs),

and any spot on top of the first two toes, right on the ridge before the toe forms.

Purchase some surgical cloth tape that is sturdy and strong and yet also softer,

less irritating, and won't hurt as much when you remove it. And, before you go out and

grab quarters from just anywhere, you must listen for which one’s want to be put on

your body. You must clean the energy from these metals first through smudging,

running under water, putting them in salt. Burying them in the Earth will also be a

good idea.

3. Protection when handling coins.

The exchange of money, every day, can really mess with our energy as empaths

without us even realizing it; paper money is not as bad as the coins, because the metal

obviously conducts and stores energy. Why all of a sudden do we feel irritated? Well,

like a dam ready to burst, coins release energy when they reach a certain threshold.

This same principle happens with all conductors of electricity and energy; the earth,

stones & rocks, and even ourselves. So when you handle money, do it with care. Make

it your intention every time you touch coins to not absorb the energy; I usually

visualize white light coming out of my hands every time I touch the money. This is

usually enough to absorb any vibes coming from the coins.

Also, be sure not to wear these outside in a lightning storm!

4. The Happy Head Trip

This simple copper device can be useful when doing energy work or when praying. The

copper in the device will raise your vibration and help to conduct electricity. I

sometimes use this device when I am doing remote energy work. The primary

intention of this nifty little device is to give you a good head massage, so that is great

in and of itself. And yet, I've found that it also has secondary, unintentional benefits


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when doing energy work. Lee Cartwright, my genius instructor and mentor in Polarity

Therapy turned me on to this product.

I've also met interesting characters, such as a former Los Alamos Labs scientist,

who creates electric devices out of all forms of metal. He lives on a $100-a-month

pension out in the hills past Santa Fe. He is one of the most underground individuals I

have ever met. He's a tad paranoid, but he is also a fountain of energy wisdom. He

claims that copper is one of the most prized and high vibration metals, and most

individuals are too focused on gold or silver to realize this.

5. Metal Detox

Many of us are walking around with metal poisoning or allergies to metal, and

we don't realize it. As empaths, we need to keep ourselves clean of metal more than

most individuals. So, in that respect, get a good commercially available metal clearing

kit, or find Ionic footbath detox practitioners in your area of the country. Check Dr.

Duke's free Chemical Analysis Website to avoid certain foods that might have high

levels of metal that you might need to avoid. It's very interesting to see that certain

vegetables and foods and herbs actually contain metals and silvers! You may also want

to find a practitioner of EFX/SCIO quantum biofeedback for further information on

what specific metals might be triggering allergies in your system.


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7Harnessing the Power of Space & Ether

As a child of the 1970’s, I had the benefit of having a mother who was mostly a

stay-at-home mom, although she did work 15 hours a week as an in-home preschool

teacher. Often, on her days off and after I was out of my half-day of kindergarten, we

would visit her friends’ houses for lunch or afternoon coffee.

If she wanted a peaceful life, I suppose she should have sent me to day care. But

she was a good mother and I would inevitably be tagging along. Being a sensitive

child, I was inclined to notice when the energy was off in other peoples houses. And

when it was off, I did something about it. This meant moving the furniture around to

the way it should be.

When no one was looking. I remember quite vividly using the power of gravity

to help my little legs to slide a couch all the way across the room. I remember moving

lamps, tables, even televisions, all on the sly, glancing over my shoulder every few

minutes and using my natural coyote powers of evasion so that no one would notice.

Until lunch was over.

It was at this point the hysteria began. The women would come out to the living

room and that is where I got the reaction that I so loved. Dropped jaws, mouths to the

floor, and profuse apologies from my mother to her friends. I, of course, was secretly

proud of my efforts, and I suppose I liked the attention, even if it was exasperation.

Duluth, Minnesota in 1976 was not exactly a hotbed of feng sheui. There was little

respect for it to begin with, let alone when it was performed by a 5 year old child. I was

providing excellent, high quality Feng Sheui services and not getting proper credit for

it! Not only that, but I actually was scolded! The unfairness of it all.

In all seriousness, I share this story to illustrate a point. Space, and the concept

of how energy must have space in order to MOVE properly, is an important and often

overlooked aspect of our lives. It applies to our physical environment; it applies to our


bodies and how Chi flows; and it applies to the (universe) . In fact, in Polarity

Therapy, space (otherwise known as Ether) is given so much respect that it is

considered an element! It is associated with the thumb and the big toe. The ether

energy meridians flow down the body in lines that are explained in Chapter 15.

Space is an important and often overlooked tool; a powerful ally to you in your

quest for spiritual, Earthly, and energetic balance. Space can be created in the joints.

It can be created in the house. It can be created in relationships. The more you focus

on the intention of bringing in space, the more free and less cramped you will feel.

Empaths need space more than the rest of the population. We thrive on space. When

our space and energy are invaded, we know it, because we hurt: emotionally,

psychologically, and physically. No wonder we've develop habits that make us want to

run away.

Let me start by giving an example that many of us will be able to relate to: a

clean desk vs. a cluttered desk. A desk is simply a reflection of the way you process

energy. If you have a cluttered desk, you process many layers of energy and can focus

on many things at once. This comes naturally to me. What doesn’t come as naturally is

to keep a clean, organized desk. However, once I made it my intention to keep my

desk clean, my productivity skyrocketed. So, when you unclutter your desk every now

and then, you will find that the circumstances of your life will reflect that change. I am

not saying that you need to change your style of work, but organizing will definitely

change your internal energy. Every small part (microcosm) is a reflection of the whole

(macrocosm).

Bro was constantly changing the room around, allowing fresh energy in and

stagnant to leave. He had a thousand little happy Buddha’s, and those were always

getting new homes as well. In his little casita on Canyon Road in Santa Fe, I would

inevitably be greeted with new floral arrangements, new plants in new positions, new

statues, and new placements for his altar. He appreciated and understood the power

contained in space.

As an empath, your enemy is clutter and cramping. All of us can and will

benefit from using principles of managing space to improve our energy and

environment.


Action Steps:

1. Make it your intention to keep at least one area of your home clean and

organized at all times. Some of you are already neat people; this suggestion is for

those of you whose cleanliness levels could use some improvement. How we keep our

environment is a direct reflection of how we keep our thoughts. If your environment is

disorganized, so is your thinking. Clean up your thoughts by cleaning your physical

space. You will eventually notice that depression will lift and you will feel better both

immediately after cleaning, and also in the long-term.

2. Change the design and placement of your furniture. Notice how this

changes the energy. Many will report a newfound energy, a new enthusiasm, and new

initiative. For added effect and power, do this on a new moon. The new moon is

associated with new beginnings. If you've had the same placement and design of your

home or office for a long time, why not give it a little energetic shake-up? It will help

you loosen stale energy and you'll notice a new crispness and freshness in your daily

interactions.

3. Remove yourself from Space Invaders. When someone is draining you of

your energy, taking it away from you, you simply MUST remove yourself from the

situation in order to be properly grounded and save your energy for yourself. There

are myriad ways and methods for doing this, and yet I've found the simplest and most

effective is to find a way to excuse yourself. We must know our own boundaries, and

not feel guilty when our boundaries are being challenged. I usually use the phrase,

“Excuse me, I need to use the restroom.” It's a perfectly acceptable excuse because I do

need a rest! I will go into the restroom and splash cold water on my face and wash my

hands of the energy that I've accumulated.

4. Call out space invaders. In more severe cases, you may need to call out the

person who is infringing on your energy. You can do this in a firm, but yet non-

threatening manner. Simply explain that you are a sensitive individual and that


energy is a real, tangible force that is exchanged. You simply may offer the “I've

noticed you've been talking for 10 minutes straight.” I have found that almost all

offending persons are usually aware, at some level, of their invasion of your energy.

You may offer some gentle education to the offending person that you're highly

sensitive and need a break. In the best case scenarios, I've found that many persons

respond with a heartfelt apology, so much so, that they reveal to another person for

the first time the reasons behind why they act out in this manner. This leads to deep

medicine on their part, and often will increase your bonds in leading to further

conversations about energy, empathy, and even extrasensory perception.

5. Sacred Space Retreats: If you can afford it, try going on of the sacred trips and

retreats that are offered to the sacred sites all over the world. My mentor Wolf leads

these trips through a group called Spirit Journeys, and my good friend Carolyn

Cobelo, a noted author, channel, and healer, also leads these trips. Carolyn's book,

The Power of Sacred Space, is an excellent way to experience the power of sites all

over the world, such as Stonehenge, England; the Pyramids in Egypt; the Temple of

the Moon in Mexico; and Huayna Picchu in Peru, without actually visiting. Her

photography is able to capture the stunning spiritual energy of these places.

Further Learning:

1. My dear friend April King, fellow empath and supporter at my vision quest, is a

fantastic professional organizer. Contact her for a consultation at

[email protected].

2. Check out my good friend and colleague Carolyn Cobelo's excellent book The Power

of Sacred Space .




http://www.akashaSacredJourneys.com/

8Harnessing the Power of the Planetary Energies

“You can wish upon those stars, and those star peoples will help you move things out in a

matter that is so fast that it would not be believed by any of you.”

- Angelic Channeling, 2007.

“What does the moon sound like when she's talking to you?”

- The Man Who Fell in Love with The Moon

It was a beautiful, sunny October day, the kind for which I would come to learn

that Santa Fe is famous. The fire crackled softly in concert with our gentle humming

energy. It had been a roller-coaster of a few days, this being my first ever Vision Quest.

There were just the three of us in camp at the time, Bro and the two newbies. The

others were either getting caught up on their sleep or were “out on the hill,” as it is

called in Native traditions. The discussion with Mo, a fellow Scorpio and astrologer,

soon turned to the awesome beauty of the planets. Bro was listening quietly and no

doubt hearing every word. He even laughed out loud at my naiveté as I foolishly

dismissed the planet Saturn as being unimportant to me, because it was “too Earthly.”

After a few waves of thoughtful silence, an intellectual crescendo started to

build; the excitement of talking about the planets was infectious. Soon Bro was in on

the conversation, giving us sacred teachings about the “star people,” and how Native

people have known since the beginning of culture about the beings from the stars and

how they have helped us quietly through the years, a far cry from the terrible images

reported by Hollywood.

Soon after his teachings, he gave me a curious, somewhat subliminal, smile.

Perhaps it was telepathy, but there was something extra in that smile, the way the

corners of his mouth turned up ever so gently. It communicated that he knew. I never


did figure out the full extent of his knowledge, because like any good sage, he didn’t

reveal his secrets, and the secrets he did reveal came only with time and effort on my

part; they had to be earned.

And then it happened.

Out of nowhere, what looked like a giant fireball blazed through the sky,

starting right above and behind Bro’s head. He didn’t flinch as he saw my mouth drop

nearly to the ground. The light had a giant bluish tip, and left a white streak of energy

as it sped through the sky, roughly 80 to 100 miles per hour, only about 40 to 60 feet

off the ground. It was amazing how close the ground it seemed, just barely above the

trees. It lasted for about 5 seconds before completely disappearing in front of my very

eyes.

Besides the speed, the most amazing thing about this object was the underlying

energetic vibration. It was so unusual, so non-human, and so different from anything

that I had seen on Earth up until that point that it just jolted my entire being to

attention.

And Bro smiled that smile again, without ever flinching or even turning around

to see what had caused my jaw to drop. He knew. And to him, it was probably as

natural as seeing a star in the sky. But for me, it was a moment that I would never

forget. I would eventually see several other instances of these star beings and they

continued to spark my interest in communicating with and forming a helpful, healing,

& reciprocal relationship with those energies. Our understanding of waves,

frequencies, electricity, electromagnetism, and just energy in general is in it’s infancy.

One of the ways we will learn, it’s my belief, is from merging our consciousness with

the Star People.

So with that in mind, let’s talk about a simple and yet profoundly effective

technique that you can use to harness the power of the stars, the planets, and the

healing energies of each planet, uniquely their own, that can enter into your energy

system if you would only ask for it.

I was taught a similar technique by Lee Cartwright, who is one of those rare

healers who is also an academic genius and scientific researcher. He was an instructor

in the Polarity Therapy program at the New Mexico Academy of Healing Arts. In his


model, you ask for the energy of the complementary planet under the sign you were

born. Thus, if you are a Pisces, you would ask for the energies of the other two water

signs (Scorpio and Cancer) to help amplify you. My adaptation of this technique is

presented here. I am going to present to you a list of the most common associations of

both the positive and negative qualities associated with each of the planets in our

Solar System, and you will call on a chosen planet to resource your being.

At the time of our birth, each of us is “imprinted” with the energy of the

Universe. I also believe that our basic energetic makeup includes a strong influence

from the planetary energy conditions during both the moment of conception as well as

the entire 9 month pregnancy. Modern astrologers have always used the exact time

and location of birth as the basis for all natal chart information. Whatever the genesis,

astrology is an effective way for you to understand your basic motivations in life. You,

being an empath, are even more sensitive to planetary influences than most other

individuals, so paying attention to the cycles of the planets is important.

Astrology goes well beyond the simple horoscopes that are printed in the daily

newspaper or now, more commonly, on the Internet. (You can get a precise daily

Cosmic Calendar at AstroNet.com). The planets, just like everything else that is a part

of creation, are living, breathing creatures. In the Western world, we have lost the

wisdom of experiencing the planets as living creatures. However, back in the days of

the Romans and Greeks, before Galileo, and most certainly in the days when we lived

as nomadic and tribal cultures, we did rely on the guidance of the planets. In this

technique, you don't need to know what “sign” you are in order to benefit. It's helpful,

and yet not required.

Take a close look at the list of the positive and negative traits that are

expressions of the energies of each of the planets. These are the general traits upon

which most astrologers can agree have been associated with the energies of each of

our planets. I use this technique in my Inner Power Coaching and have found that

clients respond favorably.

+: positive qualities; - : negative qualities

Sun


http://horoscopes.astrology.com/astronet/cosmiccal.html

+ self-confidence, dignity, joy, self-esteem, motivation, sense of perfection- pride, selfishness, overbearing natureMoon+ creative, imaginative, ability to nurture people, adaptability- disorganization, laziness, vulnerability, lack of courageMercury+ quick-minded, witty, adaptable- doubtful, indecisive, superficialVenus+ artistic, a taste for beauty, good-natured, soft, sensual- indulgent sensuality, superficialityMars+ motivation, stamina, dynamism, will-power- aggressiveness, harshness, angerJupiter+ generosity, optimism, joviality, capacity to 'think big' - difficulty to place the limit on things, neglect of detailSaturn+ the ability to structure and organize, practicality and groundedness- pessimism, depression, dryness, inhibitionUranus+ inventiveness, originality, independence, idealism- impatience, volatilityNeptune+ good at tuning in to people, compassion, inspiration, artistic ability- blurriness, nebulosity, lack of purpose, a tendency towards addictivenessPluto+ intensity, magnetism, a fascination for mysteries, the ability to take things to the extreme, 'all or nothing' people- a tendency towards self-destructiveness

Planetary Healing Protocol

You are going to identify the energies in which you are deficient, or the traits

with which you struggle. You will then ask that associated Planet to “resource” your

entire being. To use this technique, you identify the qualities that you struggle or are

challenged by, and also those which come easily to you. For many empaths, Earth and

grounding is a challenge. This of course, is just a general trait that I've noticed over the

years; it may or may not apply to you. If it does apply to you, however, then you want

to ask an Earth planet for it's help.

That's right. You are going to talk to the planets. You will have a conversation.

However, this conversation is not going to be in English or in any other verbal


language. It will be a conversation steeped in the language of energy; planetary

energy, to be specific. And all we have to do is ask for help, and then be quiet and

listen for the Planet's response to our call.

Protocol

1. Close your eyes

2. Faith in this process is helpful, and yet not required in order for it to work.

3. Repeat your request to your chosen planet, using it as a mantra, until you feel an

energy shift occur.

4. With your awareness resting in a particularly troublesome part of your physical or

energetic anatomy, you are going to ask the energy of your chosen Planet to transform

the specific emotional or energy block that you which to transform.

Examples:

“I ask Neptune to help to transform my inability to see the bigger picture.”

“I ask the Moon to help me bring more feminine energy into my being.”

Action Steps

1. Get a picture of the Planets that dominate your Chart, as well as a physical

representation of the planets that are in opposition or not as prevalent in your chart.

2. Get your chart done. It is more than mere entertainment; it will tell you deep

insights as to your energetic anatomy. Find someone you trust; or go to

AstrologySource. I also do astrological charts for individuals, and if you are

interested, contact me. My fee is $50 for a basic chart, which is about 25 pages of

information. Visit my astrology page for more information.

Further Reading:

1. Chart Interpretation Handbook: Guidelines for Understanding the Essentials of the



http://www.empathconnection.com/astrology.html

http://empaths.branch90.hop.clickbank.net/?tid=BOOKASTR

http://empaths.branch90.hop.clickbank.net/?tid=BOOKASTR

Birth Chart. This book explains the basic astrology principles in a clear, easy to

understand format. This is the book I used when I was just starting my astrological

explorations.

2. Julia and Derek Parker offer amazing pictoral books that are clear, concise, and

understandable at a level that will not overwhelm you.




9Harnessing the Power of the Animal Spirits

My encounter with a female Elk in Rocky Mountain National Park, 2008

No zoom was used.

Bro was not happy.

“Coyote!” he thundered, “Get up here!”

I was down in the forest valley, doing something that no doubt appeared

interesting to me at the time; probably talking to the trees, feeling them out, or

perhaps aimlessly daydreaming.

The thunderous impact of my new name reverberated through my Being like a

sonic boom. It was foreign, new, powerful, weird, and a bit exciting, all at once. The

day previous I had asked for, and received my first spiritual name.

“Grandpa says,” said the booming voice from the darkness of the sweat lodge,

“that you are to be called Coyote.”


“A-ho!” called out my spiritual brothers and sisters from the blackness. I was

nervous and humbled. My heart was frenetic and dancing a jig.

“Sometimes the Coyote will get caught up in it’s own tail. It will spin in circles,

chasing it's own tail,” he said. “That’s part of it's medicine, but that's what you gotta

watch out for. The coyote can become too caught up in itself. It can fool itself.”

Out of the blackness, a pack of coyotes, as if on cue, literally started screaming

and yelping. I was stunned.

“They are honoring him,” Bro said to everyone present. “They are honoring you

Bro,” he somberly said to me. My energy was clear and my head totally silent as we all

took a few moments to absorb the fanfare from our four-legged friends. In between

the staccato rhythm of the yelping, there were underlying moments perpetuated by

solemn silence. And in that silence, there was no doubt that each of us got the

awesome lesson of this electrifying moment. If I had any lingering doubt that the

animal spirits are real, they hear us, they know us, and they listen to us, then those

doubts were quashed at that moment. Our animal friends are always with us,

guarding us, wanting to share their Sacred Medicine with us.

A few years later when I was completing my second vision quest, I was offering

up my final prayer for the people and praying with my channupa. Just as I said my

final prayer and held it up to Father Sky, closing out my ceremonial commitment, the

howl of a pack of coyotes wafted through the air, in the middle of the day. I bawled my

eyes out.

Since the early years, I have learned more about my own medicine. The latest

lessons have been about the deer, and my spiritual name invokes the deer spirit. Bro

told me early on in my training that, later in life, I will learn about the Bear medicine

in me. “The name you have been given requires tremendous responsibility.”

When I was on the Zany Mystic’s radio show in late 2008, he asked me about

animal totems, and I dutifully gave an explanation of what I understood that phrase to

mean. And yet when I hear the phrase animal “totem,” I sometimes recoil a bit.

Animals are so much more than just a “totem.” The energy of the animal kingdom is a

real, palpable thing. It is medicine.


http://www.zanymystic.blogspot.com/

I will use term “medicine” a lot in this book, and that word and it’s associated

richness will hopefully become common and helpful to you as you move through your

own healing journey. Each of us, everything under the Sun, has it’s own unique

medicine, even darkness, and we shall get to that later.

The power of Animal spirits can be harnessed. You can go much deeper in your

relationship with these creatures than having a simple “totem.” If you make it your

intention to form a relationship with that part of Creation, then you can, like a

shaman, call forth that energy at will, to assist you in helping others.

Here are some examples of the animals and their common respective

medicines. These are my understandings of the medicine of each animal, which has

been informed through personal experience. Again, I ask you to listen to your own

inner ears, your own inner guides. Your experience may be similar, or it may be

different. In either case, your own experience is just as valid as mine, or even the most

powerful shaman or healer in the world. You are unique! No exceptions!

Mouse—During my first vision quest as a supporter, Bro assigned me the task of

working in the kitchen. This was clearly not where my talents lay and this became

especially apparent after Red Wolf screamed at me for my lack of precision in shaping

hamburgers (“They're not meatballs!”). Bro, being Heyoka, put me in the kitchen to

teach us all a lesson. We need to strengthen ourselves in those energies in which we

might be deficient. After bumbling around camp with a spatula in hand, ungrounded,

half out of body, dropping loaded skillets and hitting my head on tree branches

everywhere, I sat down on the chair near the fire for a smoke break, exhausted. Soon,

a little mouse scurried past me. Bro smiled.

“Aho. You got your first Animal Helper, Bro,” he said, puffing on his Players

smokes. “You see, every person has 9 animal Helpers,” he said, “and they are revealed

to you as you go through life. Your first Animal Helper is the Mouse. It helps you see

what's in front of you.” As I looked confused, not understanding what this meant, he

repeated it so that I would remember it later: “The mouse helps you see what's in front

of you.”


In ceremony, time and space are altered, and with the Mouse teaching, this was

most surely the case. It was heyoka day (explained later) and Bro was playing Bob

Seger, loudly. Despite the rock music, I could hear the little mouse scampering

underneath the hay with my actual ears (not my third eye ears!). This continued for

several hours, even into the night.

“It’s my understanding,” Wolf said later that night over dinner, looking at Bro

and the older ones, “that the Eagle and the Mouse are the same.” I was confused. How

could a mouse, so small, be the same as the giant, Majestic Eagle? Wolf gently

explained that the mouse is the beginning of the food chain; it is what sustains and

makes up the Eagle. One polarity is Mouse, the other is Eagle. Same Creator Energy;

different polarity expressions. Only much later did the full impact of the mouse

medicine infuse itself into my daily life. The mouse helps you to see the small things;

to see the details. If you're a Virgo, Mouse power is likely already inherent in your

personality and energy makeup. However, if your astrological makeup is dominated

by Sagittarius and the associated ruling planet Jupiter (the big planet, seeing the 'big

picture'), then noticing the small details might be a challenge for you. Mouse can help

you.

Eagle—Vision, scooping down to take away problems. Wolf has a set of Eagle talons

that adorn his sweat lodge. The spirit of the Eagle will often enter the lodge to take

away aches and pains. I have had numerous occasions where I saw an Eagle fly into

the lodge to rip someone's pain right out of their chest area and carry it away into the

heavens.

Coyote—The coyote contains the medicine of the helpful trickster and the wise fool

who is able to laugh at his own folly. Coyotes can fool experienced hunters by

doubling-back their seemingly random and unpredictable trails. See Chapter 39 for

more information about the coyote's trickster abilities.

Deer—Gentleness and gracefulness as a way of moving through life. Purity and

innocence, with a keen sense of direction and ability to forge a path through the


woods.

Bear—Protection, nurturing, and mothering. The bear is quite an Earthly energy; it

moves slowly and methodically, and it can teach us about the seasons and cycles of

life. The bear goes into hibernation in the winter, slowing all of it's bodily processes

down to emerge in the spring rested and refreshed. We can learn about slowing down

and honoring our bodies from the bear.

Owl—A spirit to work with to communicate with other realms, the owl helps us hear

and listen to what is being said. In my vision quest ceremonies, I am surrounded with

owl feathers to aid in this process of communication. Call on the owl for

communication across realms. Place an owl feather on your altar for this purpose.

Elk—Elk medicine is about sexuality and vitality, and raw stamina to get the jobs

done that need to be done.

Dolphin—The medicine of friendship and understanding. If you need to patch

relations with a person, then call on the dolphin for it's assistance.

Spider (Inktomi)--Look at how a spider spins and creates its web. It starts with the

symbol of the cross, and then links around it. The medicine of the spider is about

linking, networking, and bringing people together. Each of us spins a small portion of

the web of life by making actions here that manifest later into something larger. Start

small, end big. The world wide web is a physical manifestation of Spider energy (there

is an internet search engine called Inktomi). Call on the spider to help you achieve

your goals through networking.

The above are just examples of animals that are common to this hemisphere. In

Africa, the tribes there honor other animals native to those regions, such as the

elephant or hyena.


Action Steps

1. Pray to the spirit of the animal that you identify with.

2. Pray to Creator that an animal spirit be revealed to you, in messages and ways that

you can understand, of an animal that you do not readily identify with perhaps

because there is an energy you inherently lack.

3. Put a picture or a representation of your medicine animal on your alter.

4. Get a fur or a physical piece of the animal (for example, I have a coyote fur hanging

ominously above my alter for all to see).

5. If you see an animal on the side of the road, offer it prayers, and if you are

comfortable doing so, tobacco. Tobacco, as we will see in future chapters, is a way to

establish a connection between worlds, the world of Spirit and the world of the Earth.

The link between you and your animal protectors and Guides can be strengthened

with tobacco.

Further Learning:

Animal Speak: The Magical & Spiritual Properties of Creatures Large and Small by

Ted Andrews. Shaman and author Ted Andrews explains the metaphysical and

spiritual properties of just about every animal under the sun. Wolf has and uses this

book, by the way. It's the best book out there, referred to and used by many master

healers.

Power Animal Oracle Cards: Practical and Powerful Guidance from Animal Spirit

Guides by Steven Farmer, Ph.D. I use this deck in readings when appropriate during

my Inner Power Coaching sessions. It's one of two Native American-based oracle

decks that I recommend. The other is the Sacred Path cards by Jamie Sams.







10Harnessing the Power of the Plant Spirits

Bro once affectionately said that trees and plants are “the biggest chatters,”

they like to gossip. I found this to be a quite loving and kind description of our green,

deep rooted friends. Chatter away, I say! Plants do love to communicate! It is just that

their communication system is quite a bit slower than ours; they don’t communicate

quickly nor do they communicate in words. They communicate and respond to our

thoughts and our energy.

Having many living plants around your living and working space is essential

because one of their jobs is to absorb energy. They TRANSMUTE energy. If you think

about what plants do, they take in all of the stuff that we no longer need (carbon

dioxide!) and then they turn those waster products into clean air! Plants are just like

empaths; they are energy vacuum cleaners! As many of us, their primary purpose is to

clean! So if you are not using their complementary power, then you certainly are going

to be at a disadvantage.

In the Native American ceremony, the Sundance is the most important

ceremony of the year. It is a weeklong ceremony of dancing that is centered around

the “Tree of Life.” The tree is the center of the ceremony. Much ritual ceremony

involves finding just the right tree, cutting it down, and then replanting it in the center

of the dance arbor.

The tree absorbs all of the energy, all of the prayers, all of the negativity, all of

the tears. Literally. Indigenous cultures understand this in a way that goes well

beyond science or theory. During Sundance, as a supporter of my brother Wolf, I went

to that tree and just bawled my heart out. During the ceremony, I, like the others, had

accumulated a good deal of the spiritual energy that was being processed and released.


When I went to the tree, I offered it all of that energy. The tree responded by taking all

of that energy out of me, in a gentle manner, unconditionally.

The dancers keep their prayers focused on that tree. The tree is a

representation of ourselves as human beings, growing to the sky with roots in the

Earth. We can learn so much from those trees, and yet, like everything else that buzzes

with energy under the Sun, we must listen, and respect. Listen and respect; form a

relationship and communicate.

My cousin Steven loved trees so much he used to sleep with them when he was

a child. That might be a bit prickly and extreme, not to mention rash-inducing. But

you too can make the same effort at forming a relationship with the tall standing ones.

“White people, they got no respect for the standing ones,” Bro said on many

occasions. “They go into a forest and just snuff em out. Snuff em out, no respect, no

tobacco, no offering, no nothing. Just snuff em out.”

In the Native ways, instead of cutting a tree down thoughtlessly, it is customary

to offer the tree something in return for its medicine. In the native ways which I have

adopted, tobacco is offered because tobacco is seen as a universally sacred plant which

spirits like. Spirits are attracted to the energy and vibration of tobacco. So perhaps get

some tobacco, even if you don't smoke, and use it ceremonially. Use it to bless animals

that are dead on the side of the road. Use it to offer to an aloe vera plant that you keep

in your home. Do you have a rosemary plant that you use for cooking? Offer that

plant tobacco each and every time you take from it and ask for its medicine. You will

deepen your relationship with the plant kingdom.

Plant Medicine

There are plant medicines that will open your eyes; after all, every form of

medicine is harnessed from the plant kingdom. My mentor Wolf is a practitioner of

Ayuhausca, which is referred to as “the vine of death.” I have had many conversations

with him about partaking in these ceremonies, and until now, I have not felt the urge

to do so. At one point, I did feel the urge, but it was out of naiveté. At some point in

my journey, I may partake of this serious plant medicine. However, that point has not

yet arrived.


It is well beyond the scope of this book to go into any detail regarding these

more hallucinogenic plants. This book remains focused on giving you my

recommendations for the best plants most widely and practically available in the

United States, Canada, and most other parts of the world to use in your daily life to

keep your energy clear and clean.

Herbs

Tobacco: it's a bridge for communication between realms, and Spirits are naturally

attracted to it's vibration, whether smoked or not. When smoked, it carries the prayers

to the heavens.

Copal: the fire spirit likes copal. Use it to build your fire energy.

Cayenne pepper: use it to increase fire energy and stamina.

Peppermint: this will cool down your energy.

Garlic: wards off illness & negative energies. You can put garlic or garlic powder on

your head and it will help cure bad headaches. You'll smell awful for awhile, but it

might be worth it.

Hemp seed: good for building muscles, strength and overall vitality of the body.

Sage, sweet grass, cedar, juniper: warding off negative energies and allowing fresh

energies into your space. Using these in a blend that is called "smudge" will help you

clear your energy field. It's extremely important for empaths to use some form of

smudging. This involves burning the leaf of the chosen plant, and moving it through

your energy field. Watch my video for a visual demonstration.

Essential Oils

Aromatherapy is the art of using extracts of plants and flowers to treat a wide

range of conditions. It was a well known practice of the Egyptians and the Greeks, and

advocated by the famous father of medicine, Hippocrates, who elevated it to a level of

medical science. Essential oils operate on many levels: they can be directly applied to

the body or to wounds to clear energy and disinfect, and they also can be inhaled. The

aromatic qualities are so potent that they directly affect the limbic system of the brain


(the part that controls hunger, thirst, breathing, and sleeping) in the same way that a

"hit" of a narcotic drug affects the brain immediately after inhalation.

Listed below I have presented the essential oils that I have found to best serve

empaths and those who are highly sensitive. Of course, there are no absolutes. Please

experiment with each of these oils for yourself. The methods of application include

mixing them in a small bowl of water, putting a blanket over your head, and then

inhaling the steam. Alternatively, you can get a special diffuser to spread the smell

throughout your physical space. Or you can put a few drops in a bath and let the smell

and medicine of the plant be absorbed through your system. Watch my video for an

easy and affordable way to get the benefits of essential oils.

Nervous System Relaxers (to reduce anxiety):

Lavender, Basil, Chamomile, Bergamot, Cedar wood, Rose, Neroli, Ylang Ylang

Nervous System Stimulants (for more energy):

Cinnamon, Eucalyptus, Ginger, Lemon, Orange, Rosemary, Peppermint

Energy Protection (Repellents):

Rosemary, Frankincense, Eucalyptus, Lavender, Peppermint, Tea Tree, Sage,

Geranium, Citronella.

Action Steps

1. Sea salt. Place bowls of sea salt in every room of your home or office. Lower

vibratory energy is naturally pulled-in by the salt, which has a high frequency. Salt is,

after all, the stone people broken up into small pieces.

2. Flower Essences. These are similar in potency and quality to gem elixirs, and

there is a whole branch of health and medicine regarding flower essences. The most

reputable essences are of the Bach company. Give them a try. I use my flower essences

every morning, placing a few drops into my morning glass of water immediately upon

rising. Star of Bethlehem or Walnut are good ones for empaths - they help you to


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maintain good energy balance and be free of imbalanced attachments to other people.

3. Use Coffee

Bro called coffee "Black Medicine." This is an important medicine that will keep

your body and digestive system functioning properly. Not everyone enjoys coffee; that

is inevitable. Give it a try. Coffee is also used by colon hydrotherapists, who

understand its medicinal and cleansing benefits. When used in this manner, it's mixed

into a water solution and then sent throughout the colon to help loosen impacted fecal

matter.

4. Bring essential oils into your workplace

Whether you use a diffuser or occasionally anoint some on your skin, use the

plant medicine as much as you can get away with. When I was working in the College

of Education at the University of Wyoming, I was notorious in my department for the

smells coming from my office. Colleagues actually thought I was smoking marijuana

for a time because the sage I burned then (desert sage) smells quite similar to

marijuana. Students would walk by my office and I would be in the middle of an

essential oil “hit” in which I held the essential oil bottle under my nose and quickly

inhaled. Here I was, a professor with a reputation for sniffing glue and

unapologetically smoking up. Fortunately, the full story came out later when I shared

with my students that sage and essential oils were excellent ways to cope with taking

on others’ energies in counseling sessions. I don’t know if my reputation for weirdness

and eccentricities ever left. I was actually approached by a colleague, on behalf of my

other colleagues, to tone it down. I suppose I was a little naive. I thought everyone

loved these smells, but that notion was quickly squashed. Lavender is calming for

stressful workplaces. Lemon is stimulating for workplaces that could use some extra

energy.

5. Burn your Hair

If you don’t have smudge, burn your hair. Native people revere long hair as a

symbol of culture. Interestingly, when looked at from an energetic perspective, the


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hair is deeply personal materialized energy in physical form. It contains a historical

record of all of our experiences, good and bad, that accumulate over the years. If you

don't have access to smudge (sage, sweet grass), the hair can be burned with the same

energy clearing effect. Burning hair lightens the energetic load, and a part of our own

self is offered up through the smoke. However, to be forced to have one’s hair cut, as

was violently dictated to Native Americans for most of the history of the United States,

is a literal destruction of the energetic historical record of oneself.

Further Learning:

Garden Angels Guide to Aromatherapy. The best little, and only, guide that I've

ever needed. Packed with helpful information on each of the oils.

Watch the Energy Tips Video to see how to make your own Aromatherapy

Essential Oil Kit


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qxx4Yxm2MVo

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11Harnessing the Power of the Stone People

Lei Liang, Chinese Artist, Used with permission.

“The stone people were giving me a huge blessing. They were moving

with energy, and when I zoomed in, they had the faces of old, very gentle

native men. Their faces were filled with so much love, it was fantastic.

They were totally real beings showing themselves as such, and I KNEW

that I was totally protected by them. I was just in total awe. That was

key, that I was being watched over and protected.”

Dream Journal Entry, 4-30-2007


http://www.LeiLiang.com/

Stones and crystals are the oldest material on Earth. As such, they contain all of

the power and energy of recorded Earthly history. Recently I was watching a C-Span

documentary on the White House. The historians marveled at how old the furniture

and paintings were, and how visitors get such a thrill to walk in the same room as

Abraham Lincoln. I got a little chuckle, because while Thomas Jefferson's imported

china plates are certainly interesting, if you want to experience the thrill of being in

the presence of true history and something really old, all you have to do is go out into

the street and pick up a rock or pebble! Or better yet, go touch a mountain rock. You

won't find anything older than that!

Rocks and stones are among the slowest vibrating material on Earth. I had one

memorable shamanic experience in which I actually became a rock, and in that

experience I learned firsthand what it feels like to be a "stone person," as they are

called by Natives, with their exceptionally slow moving energy. Being in the presence

of stones and rocks does one basic thing to your energy field, and this applies to every

person on this planet. A rock, stone, or crystal brings your vibration more closely into

alignment with that of the Earth's. The bottom line is that they help you to be more

grounded in your body, plain and simple. While some stones purport to open the

connections to the heavens (such as Lapis Lazuli or Amethyst), what they are really

doing is aligning and balancing the chakras of the physical body so that you can

receive and perceive higher vibrating information. Stones don't actually have the

frequency or vibration of the heavens. They vibrate at a slow, Earthly frequency that

will restore balance and harmony to your physical body, regardless of the type of stone

that is used.

All stones, regardless of the type, bring you into balance and also help you to

bring a more feminine nature into your energy field (the negative polarity). There are

some stones that fulfill specialized roles and are better at removing negativity or old

energy than others. I've studied crystal healing for about 15 years, and the stones

listed below I've found to be the best stones for empathic and energetically sensitive

people.

It is important to note that stones absorb energy. When you're walking through

nature, be careful when picking up stones and use your intuition as to whether you


should touch a stone. While stones normally discharge their stored energy into the

Earth, they sometimes, rarely, may discharge their energy into you when you pick

them up. This is especially true of the tourmaline stones. Use your intuition as the

ultimate judge as to whether a particular stone will be helpful to you.

Energy Protection & Negativity Repellants:

Amber, Turquoise, Onyx, Obsidian, Tourmaline

Energy Grounding & Root Chakra Strengthening:

Smokey Quartz, Obsidian, Apache Tears, Clear Quartz,

For Self-Love & Heart Chakra Opening:

Rhodonite, Rose Quartz, Ruby

For emotional clearing:

Ruby, Orange Calcite, Lepidolite (contains Lithium, a nervous system relaxant)

To promote Spiritual connection:

Amethyst, Lapis Lazuli, Turquoise, Clear Quartz

Action Steps

1. Consciousness Merging

As you are driving down the highway, place your consciousness into the

mountains. Start a conversation with these rocks. If you ask enough times, and quiet

your mind, they will speak to you. When you do receive information, it comes quickly,

as if in a flash of intuition.

Because stone people work slowly, it may take some time to get to know them.

Having a conversation with the stone people for a year before you receive a message

back from them is quite common. Don't expect to hear results right away, and yet in

the same breath, if you do receive a message right away, consider yourself extra

blessed! Thank the rocks, or the "grandfathers," as we call them in Native traditions.


When working with a stone, ask each particular stone what message or

medicine it may have to share with you. At the same time, when you are in nature, use

your intuition to avoid certain stones that are on the point of discharge. You don't

want to touch certain rocks that might have so much energy stored in them that they

could affect your own energy field.

2. Make Gem Elixirs. It's a relatively easy process, and yet because you will be

imprinting water with the vibration of stones, you must be extra careful to be in a

good energetic state when you make your elixirs. A prayerful, meditative state is

required in order for your elixirs to be fully effective:

1) Pray before, during, and after the process.

2) Clean your stones with distilled water.

3) In a glass bowl, set the stones out on a completely sunny day. There can be

no clouds in the sky in order for this to be fully effective.

4) Let the stones soak up the sun all day; put them out in the morning and take

them in the evening. Some people suggest to leave the stones underneath a full moon

overnight for added potency. I do this on occasion, and yet it's tough to get a

combination of a perfectly sunny day and a full moon. This is referred to as your raw

source material. You will now engage on a process of dilution that activates the

homeopathic functions of the energy contained in this raw source material.

5) Make a mother essence. A 4-ounce amber dropper bottle can be purchased

in the vitamins section at a health foods store like Wild Oats or Whole Foods. Fill this

with 50 percent pure distilled water and 50 percent alcohol. The alcohol acts to both

inhibit bacterial growth and also to preserve the original vibration of the stones. Place

60 to 100 drops of the raw source water into this mother essence, then make all of

your other bottles from this main source. Keep the mother essence in your refrigerator

for extra preservation.

6) The final step is to take 10 to 12 drops of the mother essence to make a

smaller one or two ounce bottle for daily use. Combine 25 to 50 percent alcohol

(brandy works best) with 50 to 75 percent distilled water in a small amber dropper

bottle, depending on your intuition. You must use clear, clean distilled water. Tap


water will pollute the essence with the various other minerals that exist in such water.

Take four drops of this gem elixir four times a day with water or juice for a period of

two weeks. Your vibrations will be subtly aligned with that of the stones.

3. Make or Wear your own Medicine Kit

I recommend using the stones listed above, specifically for your energetic

balance and especially for repelling negativity so that you won't absorb other people's

energy. The first stone that Bro ever had me wear was a big chunk of black tourmaline.

If I had to choose one stone only, this would be the stone for empaths. Check out

Healingcrystals.com – a non-profit site to buy discount crystals and pouches.

Further Learning:

Gemstone Energy Medicine: by Michael Katz

Vibrational Medicine by Richard Gerber

Simon & Schuster's Guide to Rocks and Minerals: Does not focus on metaphysical

properties. This is a meant as a field guide, with excellent pictures, to help you identify

stones when you come across them in nature.





http://www.healingcrystals.com/

12Harnessing the Healing Power of Language (as Prayer)

What is the color of the letter A?

When you ask that question, you're engaging the right hemisphere of your

brain, and asking your intuitive brains to be engaged (your heart, your gut). The

answer you receive is unique to you and how you perceive energy. What you are

perceiving is the energy behind the symbol. How you perceive the color of the letter A

is different from how I will perceive that color. And yet there clearly is a color behind

the letter A.

You can do the same thing with the rest of the alphabet, and you eventually

begin to recognize that letters formed together are nothing more than pieces, like a

jigsaw puzzle, formed in certain combinations to represent an energetic state. The

word happiness is: H+A+P+P+I+N+E+S+S. In other words, it is the energy of H plus

the energy of A plus the energy of P, and so on. It's a formula; a recipe, if you will,

intended to produce an energetic state in the person who is perceiving.

Thus, the alphabet is a little bit like baking. In cooking, a little bit of salt, with

some milk, cream, vanilla, and eggs, when put together in a bowl produces vanilla

pudding. Language structures our reality in the same way. Therefore, we must be

careful to use a good recipe, to choose our symbols carefully and deliberately so that

we get in the right flow and have a good tasting experience!

Words are a representation of what we call forth into our reality. They structure

our reality. Every utterance from our mouth is a prayer. Therefore, we must

choose what we ask for carefully. You can literally re-write your life story to include

more of what you want.

Psychokinesis Section: Mind over Matter


Psychokinesis is not some fancy or magic talent that only a few have. We all

have this talent and we use it every day. The only difference between those who can

move mountains with their minds and those who can't is the quickness with which we

can manifest. We manifest everything we think, some quicker than others

(thankfully!). So if you have a negative thought, it will hurt you. In the same breath, a

positive thought will help you, immensely.

One day I had the brilliant idea to do energy work on my television. I went to

the TV, placed my hands just above it, and started to run energy. Later that day, when

I attempted to turn the television on, a quick burst of flames shot from the back of the

television. That was the end of that experiment, and the beginning of a new

cautiousness in how I applied my thoughts and my energy. That evidence was enough

to convince me that I was powerful, I don't need to do anything to prove it, and I had

better be very cautious and careful as to what I wanted to call into my reality.

~~~~

It was a beautiful, gorgeous October day in Santa Fe; the sky was clear, the air

was crisp. I was excited out of my mind to attend my first ever Vision Quest, the

spiritual tradition that I had heard so much about from my mentor Wolf. I had also

heard a lot about the man they called Bro, Wolf's teacher, who occasionally flew into

town from Canada several times a year to run the Vision Quests.

“Don't take him personally,” Wolf warned me. I had heard legendary fables told

by the older spiritual warriors of how this man worked. He operated like a drill

sergeant. He believed the best way to build someone up was to break them down.

While I understood intuitively this form of medicine, I was not going to let him affect

me.

That lasted 30 minutes.

I closed the windows to my Toyota Corolla, dressed in my green cargo shorts

and entered camp.


Nary a word from Bro, just a quiet handshake, and a stare into every corner of

my soul. I was keenly aware of the stares of the other 15 warriors, sizing me up as I

took my seat.

What made it all so much more (difficult) was the onslaught of silence. I was

perked up, ready to go, sitting on the edge of my plastic chair as the others were,

relaxed, quietly smoking, and deliberately exhaling their cigarettes.

Why wasn't anyone talking?

I tried to make small talk, but as soon as I did, I got that sinking feeling inside

that would become so familiar over the next few years.

Stay centered, Michael! I shouted to myself inside.

Don't take him personally. I remembered Wolf's words ringing in my ears.

After about 30 minutes of not one word being spoken, Bro stood up, and

efficiently flicked his cigarette butt into the tin can at the side of his chair. “Let's move

er out.”

Within minutes we were digging what I thought was a ditch, scooping out clay.

It was only later that I learned about how we were creating the medicine circle. This

circle would protect our brothers and sisters from anything harmful attempting to

influence them. The trenches we dug were filled with a mixture of tobacco and smudge

in the form of cedar, juniper, and sage. The work was back-breaking. We took breaks

every few hours.

“Yep, let's have a smoke,” he would say

It is at this point in the story that the onslaught began.

He stared at me, with his nose slightly upturned and his head slightly cocked.

He might as well have had sunglasses on. His eyes betrayed nothing. “So,” he began.

“What do you think of this Indian shit?”

How does one answer such a question?

I knew I was was being tested. I could feel the screwdrivers of pressure being

ratcheted up, and the energy was on pins and needles to see how the new one would

react.

I stared right back at him, attempting to show him I was not afraid.

“Bring it on,” I defiantly exclaimed.


What followed next was excruciating.

After the palpable gasp from the older ones, Bro sighed.

He then looked up at the sky, and began to speak in Lakota, and no doubt a

mixture of Cree thrown in as well.

It felt as if everyone in the camp were taking screwdrivers to me, and twisting

them into every part of my body, and doing it with glee.

They knew. I didn't.

Within 5 minutes, a large, dark mass of clouds suddenly appeared over the edge

of the faraway hills, and it was approaching our camp with alarming speed. The clouds

were moving in (like good soldiers) with a soldier-like energy, destined right for our

camp. The temperature quickly and dramatically dropped about 15 degrees. Soon,

little pellets of rain began to form. We gathered our things, and closed our bags.

Within five minutes, we were experiencing a torrential downpour. Another five

minutes went by, it soon turned into hail. Within another five minutes, it was snow.

We huddled behind our blankets and zipped up our jackets.

Wow, this guy isn't messing around.

A full blizzard.

In October?

What had been a beautiful late summer day in Santa Fe was now a potpourri of

rain, hail, and snow. In the span of 15 minutes, summer had turned into a scene from

Valley Forge.

And with that, the first lesson of a Spiritual Warrior was born.

Bro stared at me, glared might be a better word, through the blowing snow and

frozen wind.

“My lips are my own worst enemy,” he barked. “My lips are my own worst

enemy.”

~~~~~

Now that some years have passed, I can see that the power of this lesson. Much

of my training was about using words carefully, deliberately, and only with full


intention and power.

Nowadays, rather than seeing my lips as my enemy, I see them as my friend, a

huge ally to call into creation what it is that I want to experience. I am thankful for the

lessons Bro taught me that first day I met him. It was necessary. Because of my

careless words, I caused my brothers and sisters out on the hill to suffer. My brother

Jay, who was on his first Vision Quest, had a river of water literally running through

his sleeping bag, which was his only protection against the elements. He was wearing

only a t-shirt and shorts. He made it through and he never shared his suffering with

me, but I know he suffered, because of my careless use of language.

So, with this in mind, let's talk just a moment about some ways that you can

change your language to change your reality and your experience in life.

Action Steps

1. Remove the following phrases and words from your vocabulary. They will

instantly raise your vibration and change your reality:

Get Rid of: I constantly hear this phrase from clients. They want to get rid of

their sensitivity, get rid of their shadow, get rid of the ego, and so on. It's not possible

to get rid of your sensitivity, your shadow, or your ego. It's just not. A better

replacement word for this unfortunate phrase is "accept." What you're actually and

really saying when you utter the words, "I want to get rid of my sensitivity" is "I want

to accept my sensitivity so that it's not a problem for me." For more information on

this important paradigm shift, please listen to my audio seminar, available as a free

download because you purchased this book.

Should: If you believe you should do something, then if you don't do it, then

Guilt will arise and energy flow may be stopped. Should is a utterly worthless word.

A better word replacement is "may" or "could" or "can." Those give additional options

and keep the energy flowing and open for more possibilities.

Need: You don't need anything. If you believe you need something, then you

give your power away. You already have everything you need; Spirit makes absolutely

sure of that. Sometimes we believe we are in need of protection because we're so


http://www.empathconnection.com/thankyou-link-bookpackage.html


energetically sensitive. While this might be true at times, the word "need" only feeds

into what can become an overgeneralized and illusory creation of our reality.

2. Forget "but." The word “but” is the most useless word in the English language.

Eliminate it's use entirely. In every instance, it can be replaced with the word “and.”

The word "but" cuts off energy. It also puts people on the defensive. When the human

ego hears a phrase followed by the word "but," it immediately gets suspicious and goes

on the defensive. No doubt you've experienced this phenomenon yourself. "I really like

you, but..." basically revokes what you just said prior to it.

But is a negative word with limited effectiveness. You can always replace the

word "but" with "and" and you will be saying the same thing. The beauty of using and

instead of but is that it allows for multiple realities at the same time! The word "and"

allows for energy flow. "I really like you, and I can't date you right now because of

other commitments." Replacing the word "but" with "and" eliminates defensiveness

and promotes better harmony in your relationships with everyone, lovers, friends,

children. Try it, and I think you'll be astounded how much better you'll connect to

people.

3. Replace "see," "hear," and "feel" with the word "experience." Everyone

has a different default primary sense and a different way of experiencing the world.

One very effective counseling technique is to replace the sensory words such as "see,

hear, feel," with the word “experience.” When talking to a friend, client, lover,

partner, or family member, instead of asking “how did that make you feel?”, ask “how

did you experience that?” or “What was your experience like?” If the person you are

speaking to isn't a visual person, then saying "what did you see?" won't make sense for

that person and the energy exchange between the two of you won't be strong. This

simple word exchange is astounding. Using the word "experience" will dramatically

increase your effectiveness at communication. Others will open up to you like a

fountain.

4. Harness the Power of Language as Prayer


In the Spiritual ways that I have been trained, we are taught that we never really

need to pray for ourselves because if we pray for others first, we are, in actuality,

praying for ourselves. All of our prayers are automatically attended to when we pray

for others first. Creator, God, the Universal Light always gives us back much more for

ourselves when we pray for others first. When a healer sends healing energy to

another person, the healer also receives the same healing energy in return. We are

always taken care of. Always.

So, take a few deep breaths and let go of whatever worries you carry right now. I

ask you to use your tremendous powers of creativity and intention to literally create

white light. Ask that Source energy be created and received in your own Heart. You

may want to place your hand over your Heart and repeat the phrase "I want to feel

God's love for me."

Then, after experiencing this blissful energy, send that love & light out to

someone who needs it, other than yourself. Send it from your HEART; create feelings

of warmth & tingling in your heart. Make it large. And then release it, letting Spirit

take it to the person or persons who might need it. Forget yourself just temporarily

today. Forget your own struggles. Forget your own problems. Give yourself

permission, for just one day, to forget everything that is worrying you or stressing

you. I can assure you that by this simple act, your life changes for the better starting

immediately.

5. Apply the Empath Bill of Rights

(A few portions are adapted from Jack E. Schaff, 1978).

I use the following mantras in my coaching work. I find they are extremely

helpful when combined with energy work (or with the Emotional Freedom

Technique). Put yourself into a meditative state and repeat these phrases out loud. I

have found that physical voicing of these words are important because they cause the

nervous system to more deeply ingrain the energy. The vocal work also stimulates

your energy meridians, causing energy to open as you repeat the phrases.

1. I have the right to feel good when I live my life in a way that is good for me and does


not harm others.

2. I have the right to express my angry feelings in a responsible manner.

3. I have the right to express my loving feelings whether or not someone returns the

feelings.

4. I have the right to feel sad for no reason.

5. I have the right to feel giddy and happy for no reason.

6. I have the right to feel any feeling without having to make my life conform to it.

7. I have the right to not feel guilty just because I don't feel the same way as someone

else.

8. I have the right to not feel sad or hurt when others are sad or hurt.

9. I have the right to not engage someone in conversation when doing so many hurt

me or drain me of my energy.

10. I totally love and accept myself even though I ____________ (fill in the blank).


13Harnessing the Power of the 3 Brains

When you think of your brain, what do you imagine? Most of us visualize or

refer to the 20+ pound blob of tissue resting inside the safe confines of our cerebellum

& skull bones. What if I told you that you actually had two additional brains that could

give you just as much, if not more data and information. Would you be interested in

tapping their power?

You’ve probably heard reference from scientists who have studied these things

with MRI’s, that we use only 10 percent of our brain power? I believe that perhaps this

could be rephrased in a better way. Instead of saying that we only use 10 percent of

our brain power, I believe it's better to state that we actually only use a small fraction

of our energetic data processing centers. The brain that is lodged in your skull bones is a

center to process energetic data. And so are two other important areas: The Gut and

the Heart Chakra. Yes, it’s true. We have THREE BRAINS! And no, we’re not

monsters or freakish ghouls walking around with three heads.

Western medicine completely ignores two important "brains," the Gut and the

Heart, much to our detriment. The gut area is the home of what is called the enteric

nervous system. This area has more nerves than the brain itself! There are about

100,000,000 neurons in the small intestine alone, which is more than is in the spinal

column. Messages moving upward from the gut to the brain outnumber messages

moving down from the brain to the gut by 9 to 1! The enteric nervous system, which

includes the large intestine, the anus, the stomach, and the umbilicus (belly button), is

the body's truth detector. It takes our experiences, eliminates the clutter, and leaves

the rest of the data for our benefit.

Cultural phrases that reflect the power of the Gut include:

"That was a gutsy thing to do"


"He's gutless"

"I had a gut feeling it wasn't right."

"My gut instinct is to say..."

"I hate his guts."

"He spilled his guts."

The heart chakra is also a brain. The heart chakra area is the very center of our

chakra system. It is the chakra where the upper chakras (the brow or third eye, the

crown) and the lower chakras (anything below the heart) meet. The function of the

heart chakra is to take the data from above and below and to make sense of them.

The heart chakra gives its output in the form of feelings and emotions. In the

coaching work that I do with clients, we acknowledge the heart as a brain. By

acknowledging the heart in this way, it responds by giving you feelings, emotions, and

memories for you to sift and sort through. We then follow that data, digging deep like

a good detective, and ask it additional questions. We receive additional answers based

on the questions that we ask.

Action Step

Keep your three brains functioning properly by anointing with essential oils,

salt, and giving good manual stimulation with percussion massager or through self-

massage throughout the day. As you massage, visualize data moving from and

between your head, your heart, and your gut area. Imagine that you're on the

autobahn in Germany and this data is moving fast, fast, fast!


14Harnessing the Power of the Chakras

Before we go any further, we simply must talk about the chakras, for these

powerful energy centers are at the very basis of how we experience the world and at

the very center of our energetic sensitivity as empaths.

A chakra means "wheel of Light" in Sanskrit. Barbara Brennan describes how

the chakras are spinning energy centers that extend from both the front and back of a

person's body. Years of repeated energetic "abuse" from other persons leads to a

consistent pattern of overstimulation of the Heart and the Solar Plexus Chakras. I

have found that these are the two primary areas are where most of an empath's

energetic blocks and stagnation lay. As we move through life, being sensitive to the

emotions of others, we feel emotions of sadness and grief in the heart chakra area. We

also feel emotions of fear in the fight-or-flight center, the solar plexus chakra, which is

located just above the bellybutton.

My empath clients will often talk in depth about how their chakras are blocked.

They experience the blocks with physical sensations such as restriction or tension in

the heart, and a pulsing or throbbing of the Solar plexus. There is a usually a repeated

pattern of shifting back and forth between excess energy or lack of energy. Some

clients are nondescript and simply describe these sensations as being blocked or

feeling hurt in some way. Others are more descript and are able to describe the

physical sensations with more precision. In the work that I do, I ask clients to make

contact with their chakras with precision.

Over time, the chakras learn that protection is needed. Initially, the chakras

close down or restrict their openness in order to protect you from feeling so much of

the lower vibratory energy that takes the form of anger, fear, hurt, grief, sadness,


loneliness that emanates from other people. This is a natural protection mechanism

that is initially helpful.

You have the ability to perceive, and often soak up, the emotions or feelings of

the person standing in line in front of you at Subway. Think about how many of these

public interactions you have with individuals as you move through your day, with

varying degrees of intimacy. Then take that and multiply it by the number of days

you've been alive. You'll quickly begin to understand that your nervous system has

been overtaxed and overstressed because of your sensitivity, and the chakras over

time begin to routinely close off.

Over time, this can develop into repeated habits that are maladaptive. We can

begin to withdraw from social situations, instead preferring to remain in the relative

comfort of our own energy, by ourselves. This leads to a Catch-22, because obviously

we are social creatures who are meant to exchange energy, and yet we seem to be the

ones on the short end of the stick.

This is what I mean by taking responsibility for ourselves. We have to learn to

accept the fact that we're sensitive, and begin to make adaptive methods to clear and

strengthen our energy so that we can absorb the "hit" of being around someone who is

sad, lonely, grieving, etc. One of the ways we must do this is by working mentally with

our chakras and giving them our attention. In the work I do, I teach a process that will

help you to dialogue with your chakras, to talk to them, and eventually to ask them to

stop always protecting you.

Common Metaphysical Associations of the Chakras

Root Chakra (Beneath your perineum)

Color: Red

Element: Earth

Musical Note: C

Qualities: Being grounded in one's power. Patience. Structure. Stability.

Security. Being able to manifest your dreams.

Essential Oils: Cinnamon, Garlic, Sandalwood.


Associated Planets: Earth, Saturn

Astrological Association: Capricorn

Positive Archetype: Mother

Negative Archetype: Victim

2nd Chakra (Reproductive area):

Color: Orange

Element: Water

Musical Note: D

Qualities: Unrestricted sexuality and free flowing emotion. Ability to receive

pleasure and abundance.

Essential Oils: Jasmine, Neroli, Orange Blossom.

Associated Planets: Jupiter

Astrological Association: Cancer, Scorpio

Positive Archetype: Emperor/Empress

Negative Archetype: Martyr

3rd Chakra (Solar Plexus)

Color: Yellow

Element: Fire

Musical Note: E

Qualities: Leadership, Passion, Instinctual knowledge, Gut feelings,

Confidence (or the opposite, fear). Self-worth, self-esteem, personal power.

Essential Oils: Cinnamon, Garlic, Sandalwood.

Associated Planets: Mars, Sun

Astrological Association: Aries, Leo

Positive Archetype: Warrior

Negative Archetype: Servant

4th Chakra (Heart Center)


Color: Green

Element: Air

Musical Note: F

Qualities: Unity, brother/sisterhood, Love, Peace, Forgiveness, Empathy. To

give and receive love are the life issues associated with this chakra.

Essential Oils: Rose, Carnation, Geranium

Associated Planets: Venus, Sun

Astrological Association: Taurus & Libra

Positive Archetype: Lover

Negative Archetype: Actor/Actress

5th Chakra (Throat Chakra)

Color: Blue

Element: Ether/Space

Musical Note: G

Qualities: Communication, Creativity, Truthfulness, Integrity (Also the center

where grief gets lodged). Harnessing your will and expressing your true self are the

life issues associated with this chakra.

Essential Oils: Chamomile, Gardenia, Ylang Ylang

Associated Planets: Mercury

Astrological Association: Gemini, Virgo

Positive Archetype: Communicator

Negative Archetype: Silent Child

6th Chakra (Brow or Third Eye Center)

Color: Violet/Indigo

Element: The Entire Cosmos

Musical Note: A

Qualities: Mindful knowing, fully developed intuition in the form of visionary

experiences, Wisdom and discernment, imagination. Knowing and being able to apply


knowledge for everyone's highest good is the life issue of this chakra.

Essential Oils: Camphor, Sweet pea, heliotrope.

Associated Planets: The Moon

Astrological Association: Sagittarius, Pisces

Positive Archetype: Wise Elder

Negative Archetype: Intellectual Academic

7th Chakra (Crown Center)

Color: White or Gold

Element: The Entire Cosmos

Musical Note: B

Qualities: Spiritual transcendance and Understanding, Grace, Serenity,

Oneness with all this Is. Connection with the Entire Medicine Circle and Hoop of

Life.

Essential Oils: Lavendar, Lotus

Associated Planets: The entire universe.

Astrological Association: Aquarius

Positive Archetype: Guru

Negative Archetype: Egoist

Action Steps

1. Take Your Chakras Out To Dinner

I am being facietious here, and you get the point. You want to give your chakras

TLC - fluff up the pillow for them, pat them down, give them a rub. Treat them with

TLC, and they will remain open. At various points throughout the day, physically rub

your chakras. Then put essential oils on them. Rub salt into them. And most of all,

direct and ask for healing light energy to come to them. They will open automatically


in response to your request for assistance. (Be careful not to use too much essential

oil, they can be very potent).

2. Drop, Sink and Fill. Susan Guio, a respected Reiki Master in Wyoming, taught

me this technique.

a) Drop your awareness into a particular chakra that needs assistance

b) Visualize your awareness moving out of your head and sinking through the

skin, down through the blood, and deeply into the roots of the chakra

c) Ask that the chakra be filled with Universal Light Source Energy. The Filling

happens automatically as soon as you think the thought. You simply start it with your

intention.

The velocity of your effectiveness will accelerate to the degree you practice and

focus on the three words “Drop, Sink, Fill.”

3. Dialoguing with your Chakras.

Here's the protocol:

1) Drop your awareness from you head to your heart.

2) Rest there, and then notice which chakra needs attention.

3) Put your awareness in the front of that chakra. Notice the quality of energy.

4) Put your awareness in the back of that chakra. Notice.

5) Make thought contact with the chakra. Thank it for it's help and protection

all these years. And tell the chakra that habitual closing is no longer needed. Ask the

chakra to remain open, and visualize the chakra being open in your mind's eye.

6) What color energy is the chakra? Ignore anything you know about the colors

associated with each chakra. However you perceive the current color of your chakra is

valid for you.

7) Ask the chakra what color energy it wants or needs to support it. Ask the

Universe for that frequency of energy to be sent to the chakra. Notice what this does

to your chakras. Spend a few minutes running this color energy.

8) Thank the chakra. Close this exercise by asking for it to send you messages

throughout your day. Tell your chakra that you want to continue the dialogue, and


that you are ready to listen to it's messages.

Further Learning:

Wheels of Light by Rosalyn Bruyere

Hands of Light: A Guide to Healing through the Human Energy Field by Barbara

Brennan

The Book of Chakras by Ambika Wauters





15Harnessing the Power of Acupressure Meridians & Reflexology.

The five elements run down the body in meridians that Dr. Randolph Stone, the

founder of polarity therapy, called the "long line currents." The easiest way to

remember these currents and where they are located is to take a look at your hands

and your feet. Each finger on your hand, and each toe on your foot, corresponds to

one of the five elements (ether, air, fire, water, & Earth, in that order).

Please look at the diagram and memorize the elements. It should be fairly easy

to do. The currents flow in lines down the body in the same order as the hands and

feet. Thus, starting at the head, and going all the way down to the feet in the same

pattern.

Action Steps:


1. Vectoring Energy between fingers and toes.

You can balance your elemental energy through having a friend or partner

connect the Earth finger to the Earth toe, and the fire finger to the fire toe, and so on

down the line. In a therapy session with clients, I will usually always vector the energy

between the fire toe and the fire finger, etc. Hold the fingers and toes for several

minutes until you feel that the energy is complete. The energy will balance whether

you put your consciousness into it or not, and yet more effectiveness will be generated

when you use your powers of creativity and intention to ask the energy to move and to

balance between the fingers and toes.

2. Reflexology Self-Massage

Take a good look at the diagrams below and on the next page.

You can have a friend or partner give you a massage, or it's almost as effective

when you do it yourself. You can focus on an entire foot massage, or you can

concentrate on one spot depending on your health needs.

Experiment with the three touches that are described in Chapter 37, and listen

to your body to decide which touch is best for each particular area.

It's amazing how the feet and the hands are representative of our entire bodies.

"As above, so below," is a saying that is used often in polarity therapy. The

macrocosm (the whole) is an exact mirror of its parts (the microcosm). In this case,

the hands and feet are representative of the energy lines and structure of the entire

body.


HAND REFLEXOLOGY


FOOT REFLEXOLOGY


16Harnessing the Power of The Law of Cure

I waved my little 5 year old hand as hard as I could. Mrs. Elaine Hofslund was

used to such outbursts from me, the student who she considered her nemesis. “I just

can't control him,” she would exasperatingly tell my mother, also a elementary teacher

herself. Mrs. Hofslund had an obsession with the word “control.” You must “control

yourself,” I remember her saying, ad nauseum. This was from the same school system

that taught us to never color outside the lines. It was 1976, after all. Mrs. Hofslund

never liked me, and I knew this because I felt it in my body. However, I didn't really

seem to mind. She sent me to the corner often when I didn't do things as she liked.

This happened more often than I probably even remember.

But today was different, because at the end of the day, she nor I would ever

forget what transpired/occurred. She must have really been upset, because today was

the day that my body said “no more.” I kept waving my hand, she kept ignoring me.

Finally, I knew something bad was going to happen, so I ran out of the story group

and raced for the bathroom. I almost made it, almost. A few more seconds, and I

wouldn't be sharing with you the lesson of this story.

I looked around the room, wondering if there was any way I could clean up the

mess. When I realized it was too much for my little body to handle, I yelled for help,

humiliated. “Mrs. Hofslund,” I cried.

The look on her face, I will never forget. She entered the room and her nose was

upturned in a manner that only could be reproduced by a seasoned actress, perhaps

Julia Louis-Dreyfuss in one of her sarcastic Seinfeld moments.

God love her; after that, I don't remember Mrs. Hofslund being so mean to me.

This outburst from my colon humbled her. Had I been a little older with more bladder

“control,” I might have held it in my body, to my own detriment. I see this behavior

constantly in my practice. Westerners have been conditioned to do the exact opposite


of what the body requires. We hold in so much in this “refined” Western culture. It’s

crazy, it’s backwards. We suck in our bellies, we don’t cry when we need to. And

what’s the bottom line of all this holding in?

Sickness beyond belief.

Preventable illness.

Imagine the health of our society if we would just get over our own stupidity

and shame about our bodies. Two of the most shameful things you can imagine, sex

and going to the bathroom, and yet these are two of the body processes that are most

fundamental to our own healthy existence.

One of the major learnings of the Sweat Lodge is that you have to flow and go

with what the body wants. For me, that means my body is constantly embarrassing me

at the most inopportune times. “Barking spiders,” are what my mentors call the

gaseous discharges from participants during sweat lodges. I have them every sweat

lodge, without fail. That's a good thing.

There have been times during a sweat lodge that I have peed. I asked to be let

out of the lodge because I knew what was coming. Wolf knew what was coming as

well, and Spirit told him that I could not leave. “In a few minutes you won't care about

that,” he said. And he was right. Part of my healing at that time was to let go of the

energy in that urine without shame. And I did, to the grace of God. It didn’t smell, no

one else in that lodge knew, and the urine just simply (thankfully) went streaming into

the rocks and that was it. As the urine was flowing out of me into the rocks, I had

absolutely no chagrin, no guilt, no shame. That’s the power of the sweat lodge; it’s

truly for purification. And the purifying will happen according to the body’s, and

Spirit’s, own laws.

Again, this might be considered repugnant by some but that is only a learned,

habitual, and misinformed pattern of thought. We’ve been trained, erroneously, to

believe that certain aspects of our bodies are shameful. Gaseous discharges, belching,

and the like are how the body processes and transmutes energy. If I didn’t belch, have

gas, or have diarrhea at times, then, well, I would be sick and of no healing use to

anyone. I am an empath. I process energy. I don’t know why. I don’t need to know. I

just need to be, exist, and if that means I belch, laugh uncontrollably, cry


uncontrollably, and make others uncomfortable, well, then I just need to do it.

As a teenager, I suffered from severe acne outbursts. I realize now that this was

not only genetic, but it was an outward manifestation of energy trying to get out of my

skin and out of my body (in the form of pus). If you are prone to infections or skin

disorders, you can help yourself immensely by seriously studying how energy

discharges and using the techniques outlined in this book. (Using olive oil on your

skin will also keep it looking and feeling healthy, by the way).

Here are some examples of the body's natural discharge system:

1. Crying

2. Yawning

3. Trembling

4. Muscle Twitches

5. Sweating

6. Tingling

7. Rapid Eye Movement

8. Flushing of the skin

9. Shaking

10. Laughing (quick, rapid bursts)

11. Sighing

12. Curled Toes

13. Stomach growling & movement of the intestines

14. Diarrhea

15. Vomiting

16. Spit production

17. Ear canal spasms

18. Nostril flaring

Ways of Energy Movement in the Human Aura

Energy moves through our aura in three-dimensions; well, actually in an

infinite number of directions, but for simplicity, let's just call it three dimensions!.


1. Top Down Movement:

This is the most common referenced movement which correlates to our

personal identity. The soul incarnates down into the body through the crown chakra.

Pay attention to how people speak, because there will always be subtle clues in speech

as to how a person's energy is moving (or not moving). Phrases such as "I can't stand

you" reference the person's actual energetic state. Instead of saying such a thing, a

person could say instead "my energy is not moving up and down in a proper manner

because my hate for this person is obstructing my energy flow," - and it would mean

the same thing! Powerful, huh? Other phrases that reference this type of movement

include "it's hard for me to take a stand," which references one's inability to remain

upright and have energy flow properly through the spine. "He's spineless," is also an

insult that references a person's lack of ability to have energy flow properly in an

upright manner.

2. Front-Back Movement:

This is the type of energy movement involved in the preservation of human life,

and includes the fight or flight response. We move toward something, or we move

away from something. Empaths have a tendency to run away from things that our

nervous system perceives will hurt us, thus, energy work in the front and back of your

aura will be indicated. One of the best ways to clear your energy in the front is to just

wave your arms left and right and up and down. This mere act will open your energy

field.

Phrases that reference this type of energy movement (or lack thereof) include "I

can't face it," "What is behind all this?," and "Get off my back," and "I can't put this on

the back burner any more." When you make hand gestures, you can also tell how a

person's energy is movement (or not).

3. Left-Right:


This is the energetic dimension of our aura that is involved in knowledge and

intellect. The way we receive and process information involves left-right energy field

communication. This dimension is also involved in the processing of feelings and

emotions. This is one reason why EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization

Reprocessing) and the left-right jaw movements offered in Chapter 18 are often so

effective at unlocking trauma. The movements get the held in place emotions to

loosen up.

Cultural idioms that reference this type of energy state include "I've got to

figure out the right thing to do," "He's not in his right mind," "She's got two left feet,"

"Will this turn out right for me?," ""I feel left out," and "That came out of left field."

According to Homepathic theory and philosophy, symptoms leave in the

following order:

From the top of the body down

From the inside of the body out

From the most important organs to the least important organs

In the opposite order of occurrence.

Allopathic (Western) medicine works by suppression. It may be effective at

doing the job for any number of years, and yet the energy of the original condition

remains in the body. If you suddenly drop allopathic medicine and switch to, say,

homeopathic medicine, then as you move along and engage in the healing process,

seemingly unrelated symptoms may develop in response to the original suppression.

This phenomenon happens because stored and suppressed energy is trying to

get out of the body. If eczema is originally suppressed by a drug, then asthma may

develop as a secondary symptom. Thus, when you are involved in healing work, many

times you get additional symptoms that you never had before. It's important to

recognize that this is a natural and temporary process. You may develop other


symptoms because the body is working that suppressed energy out of your system.

Secondary symptoms mean that you are healing!

And now, a word about vomit. It seems instinctual that we don't like vomit; it's

such an unpleasant experience. And yet, if you are nauseated, you as an empath in

particular must NEVER hold it back. The anti-emetics do the opposite of what the

body needs. If the body needs to vomit, then you must follow through and allow it to

get the toxic energy out of your system.

In my early years of working with individuals, and to a lesser extent today,

when I work with someone I will get a wave of nausea. This is a good sign! When

doing energy work, it means that the old stagnant energy is being released and

processed by your body (your liver is the primary organ for this). Also good signs are

coughing fits; this is old energy coming up from and through the lungs and being

expelled. Often I will cough in fits and spasms after doing intense work with my

clients. This is the body's way of processing the energy that I work with.


17Harnessing the Power of your Organs

Did you ever stop and ask yourself why people say they are pissed off and not

mucoused off? Why don't we say we're spitted off or phlegmed off? In this chapter

we'll learn why, and it directly relates to the energetic function of each organ. The

urinary system (including the kidneys and bladder) is a processing center for lower

vibratory energy, and it's byproduct, urine, contains all the toxins of the body and of

our energy systems. If you find that you are urinating frequently and it's not due to

water consumption, then there is no question that you are ingesting more toxins

(certain prescription drugs, diet, chemical residue) or being exposed to more toxic

energy (someone's negative thoughts) than you need be. If this is the case, then the

kidneys and bladder work overtime to get that toxic energy out of your system.

Take a look at these common expressions:

He's got a lot of “gall.”

He has a heart of gold.

I simply can't stomach the thought.

She is so anal.

He's spineless.

Get off my back.

I can't face it.

The hair stood up on the back of my neck.

What a pain in the neck.

What a pain in the butt.

Carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders.


I need time to digest this.

That was a gutsy thing to do.

Dialogue-ing with your Organs Protocol

1. Physically make contact with the Organ that you want to support

2. For each of the organs, say “hello (specific organ).” I love you. I appreciate you. I

honor you. I exist in a state of gratitude for you. Thank you for working to support

me."

3. Ask the organ for it's help in transforming your energy, transmuting any stagnant

energy and to do it's own “energetic job.”

4. It is extremely helpful to visualize the organ that you are communicating with, and

use your creativity to imagine that it's doing its job even better.

Sample Requests:

Stomach: Ask it to "digest" an issue for you that you need help understanding.

Gall bladder: The gall bladder is the organ that works overtime. It's similar to the

Little Engine That Could. When all your energy reserves are lowered and bordering on

depletion, the gall bladder kicks into overdrive and gives you the fortitude and

determination to continue. Thus, ask the gall bladder to give you the fortitude,

courage, and willpower to help you to move forward with strength.

Liver and Kidneys: The liver and kidney's jobs are to filter and metabolize. They are

both important organs in the body's filtering system. Thus, ask the liver or kidneys or

both to filter everything that you no longer need or to metabolize a new reality or both.

Small Intestines: The job of the small intestine is to assimilate, to bring the nutrients

together and prepare for elimination. Thus, ask its help to assimilate and bring

together everything that you need.


Large Intestines: This is a hugely important organ, and one of my personal favorites.

The job of the large intestine is to eliminate things we don't need. Thus, its

importance in helping you to get rid of energy you don't need is critical. Ask the large

intestines to help you to eliminate everything you no longer need.

Blood: The blood's job is to nourish and cleanse. Thus, ask the blood for its help in

nourishing and cleansing an issue. It is helpful to imagine the blood flowing through

your body as you ask for it's help.

Heart: Ask the heart to forgive or to love an issue. Ask it for love, to help give love to

yourself and to another person completely.

Lungs: Ask your lungs to breathe life and new energy into a situation.

Skin: Ask the skin to help you to establish good boundaries and for protection if there

is a situation that calls for it.

Testicles or Ovaries: Ask the testicles or ovaries for their help to create and birth new

ideas.


18 Harnessing the Power of Jaw Movement

At the New Mexico Academy of Healing Arts, I was taught a technique that is

not particularly well known outside of certain circles. This technique involves jaw

movement and was developed by my mentor and instructor, Lee Cartwright, who is a

Master's degree counselor, energy healer, psychic, and researcher. Lee has done much

work on the energetics of healing using three-dimensional bodily movement, similar

to Francine Shapiro's Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR). Over the

last decade, EMDR, which uses left to right eye movement protocols, has increasingly

gained mainstream acceptance in psychological and medical circles as an effective

technique for treating trauma. Much scientific research has been done on EMDR, and

yet there really is no scientific explanation for why it works. We know it works, we just

don't know why. And somewhat surprisingly, some insurance companies consider that

enough justification to pay for this therapy.

Lee Cartwright's work enhances the principles of EMDR and augments the eye

movements by adding jaw and tongue protocols. Early in Lee's practice, he began to

notice that many clients reported sensory distress in the heart or the Solar plexus area

(tension, restriction, heaviness). Lee discovered that movement of the facial nerves

was indicated in alleviating these symptoms and patterns.

By having clients tune in to the sensory distress in the heart or gut area, and

simultaneously shift their jaw and face back and forth, he discovered that clients

experienced significant, lasting improvements. He theorized that the success of this

method was likely due to the inter-relationship of the cranial nerves that control facial

expression and the vagus nerve which plays an important role in governing the heart

conduction system.

Regardless of the reason why it works, I rely on this technique and have

adapted it for use in my own practice. It is one of my clients' favorite techniques for


http://www.emdr.com/

permanently clearing the lower vibratory energy that is associated with old, unwanted

emotional states.

Here is the protocol. In each situation, the client shifts back and forth between

a) making and holding the facial expression for 3 seconds and then b) relaxing the face

for 3 seconds. As much as possible, keep the neck relaxed during the process

(although you may initially find this hard to do).

Left/Right Jaw Movement

Extend the lower jaw as far left as possible for 3 seconds, and then move the jaw

back to normal for 3 seconds and relax. Then move the jaw to the right, as far as

possible and hold for 3 seconds, and then move it back to center for 3 seconds and

relax. Repeat this process for between 1-3 minutes. Notice the changes in the energy

in your heart area, your solar plexus (gut) area, and your overall energy system.

Most clients report a much freer flow of energy.

In/Out Jaw Movement


Extend the lower jaw as far out horizontally as possible for 3 seconds, and then relax

for 3 seconds. Repeat this process for 1 minutes. Next, moving the jaw "in" toward

the body and neck for 3 seconds, hold, and then relax for 3 seconds. Repeat the

inward movement for one minute. Notice the changes in the energy in your heart

area, your solar plexus (gut) area, and your overall energy system. Most clients

report a much freer flow of energy.

Fake Smile: Create the biggest open mouth smile that is possible for you.

Open your mouth as wide as you possibly can. Focusing on raising the outer edges of

the lips and the check muscles is helpful. Hold for 10 to 15 seconds, relax, and then

repeat for 2 to 5 cycles.

Here's some additional protocols, a little bit more gentle, that I've found to be

useful. These are especially good for clients who may have symptoms of TMJ and find

the other techniques to be painful.

Chewing on Your Problems: Think of the tension pattern, amplify it, and

then make a gentle chewing motion. Imagine that, as you are chewing, the problem

energy is being released. Be careful not to swallow the energy!

Sucking the Life Force in through the Mouth: Recall the tension

pattern and make an exaggerated sucking motion (as if sucking very hard on a

large straw) for at least one minute. If you do this correctly, you should be sucking

so hard that your breath may sound quite strained or loud.

Polarity therapy offers an excellent TMJ release which is unique to Polarity

therapy. This involves the therapist using one or two fingers (with latex gloves) to

physically enter your mouth cavity and press down upon and release the muscles

(while you lay on your back on a massage table). It's a series of stretches for your jaw


muscles, and the therapist pushes down on the appropriate muscles to relax your jaw.

This is my absolute favorite technique to receive, and also one of my favorite

techniques to give as well. The relief is staggering because we are usually unaware of

how clenched our jaws become, with time, as the stresses of daily life accumulate.


19Harnessing the Power of the Tongue

The tongue's ability to erase trauma and amplify one's energy and power has

been well-known throughout history. The tongue is one of the most powerful energy

centers of the body. In fact, in Chinese medicine, it is considered one of the most

powerful energy centers of the body. Additionally, in my Shamanic mentoring, my

Native American mentors also gave many lessons on the power of the tongue.

Indigenous societies have recognized the tongue's power for thousands of years.

Movement of the tongue activates the nervous system and stimulates all of the

meridians in the body automatically. It clears energy in a way that other organs are

not able to do. Think about the expression of sticking out your tongue at someone.

Why is this considered an insult? When you stick out your tongue, it may be a playful

gesture, and yet it also can be an insult because your saying, without words, that you

are energetically eliminating that person from your own reality. You're saying, "I don't

need you; I don't acknowledge you, nor do I care to keep you in my energy system."

When you move your tongue, you are energetically transmuting, changing, and

ultimately ERASING memories.

Following up on the last chapter, techniques involving the tongue are also

taught in Polarity therapy by Lee Cartwright, although he keeps these techniques non-

publicized because he desires them to be taught only from his students. The

techniques I am going to outline for you here are an offshoot of his methods and

instructions with adaptations.

Again, with these exercises, it is important to amplify or recall the sensory

distress that you are feeling in your heart or your Solar Plexus. If you are having

problems with a blocked heart chakra, then you want to conjure up in your energy

system the feeling of a blocked heart. It is very important that you focus

simultaneously on the heart feelings and moving the tongue. These must be done in


unison, and it's important to monitor the moment-to-moment changes in energy as

you do these exercises. After a few minutes of these exercises, you will likely find much

more freedom in the area of distress.

Left/Right Tongue Movement

Extend the tongue outward and toward the left as far as possible. Hold for 4

to 5 seconds and then relax for 1 to 2 seconds. Next, move your tongue as far to the

right as possible, hold for 4 to 5 seconds and relax for 1 to 2 seconds. Repeat this

shifting back and forth process for 45 seconds to two minutes. Notice the energy

changes in your heart area or in the area of distress.

Sticking your Tongue Out: Extend the lower jaw down as far as possible

and stick out your tongue as far as possible. Hold for 4 to 5 seconds and then relax

for 2 to 3 seconds. Repeat the process for 30 seconds to a minute. Notice the energy

changes in your heart area or in the area of distress.

Tongue Analysis

Your tongue is a reflection of your overall health, and also the patterns of

energy that you have developed throughout your lifetime. Using a mirror, take a look

at your tongue. What does it look like? Now take a look at the following diagrams and

notes taken from my Ayurvedic nutrition class at the New Mexico Academy of Healing

Arts.

(Use the zoom feature in your Adobe .pdf program to be able to view these notes

with more detail and clarity)


Action Steps

1. Tongue Scraping. Every morning, in the Ayurvedic tradition, tongue scraping is

recommended to clear toxic energy out of the body. Purists recommend doing it with a

specially designed tongue scraper, and yet I have found that using a dull butter knife

works just as well. Start at the back of your tongue and scrape the surface with a firm,

hard pressure all the way to the very tip (the bottom) of your tongue. What you may

see on the knife after scraping may surprise you. This is the residue of toxins that are

processed through your saliva and through your tongue overnight. If it's a clear, clean

substance, then congratulations; your tongue is working efficiently to clear energy. If

it looks more like mucous (or if it has a distinct color), than that's a sign you need to

work on your entire energetic system (diet, movement, yoga, and other methods to

strengthen your system).


20Harnessing the Power of the Coccyx

“You got to remove the burr from the butt.”

-Bro, 2004

“We're going to perform an ancient ritual,” Bro announced, somberly. “This

ritual is one of the most oldest ones in the whole bunch.”

I silently laughed. I loved Bro's unsophistication in using phrases like “most

oldest.”

“Now I want you to take your hand, put it in the middle of your back,” he

intoned, with extra sincerity. “Now,” he motioned, “very slowly, move your hand to

your lower back.”

I laughed again, knowing intuitively we were in for a Heyoka moment. “Yep,

that's right. Now keep it going down your back.” he said. “Go lower, yes, that's it, go

even lower. Good.”

I looked over at Donna, the serious one in the bunch. She had a frown on her

face, contemplating the movements like they were a linear equation. The giggles

started coming from the older ones, who knew what this teaching was about.

“Now, very carefully,” he announced, “grab the stick that's up your butt.”

And with an extra slow speaking voice, as if he was speaking to someone who

did not speak English, he said, “And I want you to throw it into the fire.” Laughter

erupted all around as all of us threw it into the fire, and eagerly engaged him in this

medicine moment.

Your coccyx, otherwise known as the tail bone, is a tremendous seat of

untapped energy and power, and this is especially true for empaths and those highly

sensitive to all forms of energy (emotional, spiritual, environmental). It's also a place

where a lot of mental energy can get stuck.


Consider the cultural idioms that are often used for this energetic truth.

Phrases such as “he's so anal” are a reference to the energy that can get stuck and

trapped in the root chakra. Anal-retentiveness occurs when excessive mental energy

is created by an over-use and over-reliance on the upper chakras. When that energy is

not allowed to release into the ground because it is blocked by tight anal muscles, then

it gets trapped in the anus and in the coccyx.

And thus a detrimental cycle can occur in which it is even harder to become

conscious of our root chakra areas because this trapped energy often takes the form of

pain. Additionally, injuries or physical trauma to the coccyx are common throughout

life and can further complicate matters. The bottom line is that the coccyx area can

become a source of stored energy that is never fully released. This is often a significant

contributor to many forms of chronic lower back pain.

The coccyx release was developed by the founder of Polarity therapy, Dr.

Randolph Stone, Doctor of Osteopathy, Chiropractic, and Naturopathy (1890-1981),

who conducted a thorough investigation of energy in the healing arts during his 60

year medical career. Dr. Stone discovered that trauma to the coccyx, such as a fall, can

result in energy scarring and cause medical problems to occur, often years after the

original injury or associated mental trauma.

There are two ways that you can adjust your coccyx and, therefore, open the

energetic valve, so to speak. The first way is to have it professionally released by a

registered polarity practitioner (RPP) in your area of the country. Some other body

workers or therapists, such as rolfers or chiropractic physicians, may also be able to

release the coccyx. You can find a local therapist at www.polaritytherapy.org. This is

one of my favorite techniques to do with my clients. I love watching as my clients get

off the table in a blissful daze, realizing for the first time what it feels like to be fully

relaxed in the body.

The coccyx release procedure is powerful. It can sometimes be extremely

painful, although it is temporary, due to the quick release of lower vibratory energy. I

had the misfortune to have my coccyx released for the first time by a fellow student in

Polarity therapy who was about the most non-energetically sensitive person I could

imagine performing this procedure. What a tremendous lesson! I was sore for at least


a month; the coccyx release, because it was done with such brute force, was a full and

total release on the first attempt. My instructor, a fellow Native American-trained

shaman named Jeannie Swansea, said that I actually left my body during the

procedure. Indeed. It was one of the most painful procedures of my life, because there

was so much energy there that was trapped and not moving properly.

The coccyx and the surrounding nerves regulate and support the autonomic

nervous system, which controls the "fight or flight" response as well as regulating our

state of arousal and anxiety. When the nerves are physically touched (often for the

first time in a person's life), it will cause an overworked nervous system to surrender

and let go of cellular memories of all sorts of trauma. The parasympathetic nervous

system kicks in, breathing slows dramatically, and cerebrospinal fluid is restored to a

state of healthy flow. The entire nervous system resets, bringing you back to a state of

balance. Sometimes this takes several days to a week for it to fully restore to balance,

so be prepared for some days where your energy is all over the map. Eventually it will

reset to a cleared and healthy state. The coccyx can also be released energetically,

from a distance over the phone, in the energy work that I do. This is not as physically

intense as an in-person release, and yet the energy movement is similarly effective.

Below is a picture of the coccyx release. I remember my instructor Jeannie

Swansea preparing our class, in advance, for the graphicness of this picture. "It looks

worse than it actually is," she told us, to much laughter.


http://prhythms.com/

http://prhythms.com/

http://prhythms.com/staffprofiles.html

Coccyx Release Protocol:

1) Sit in a chair

2) Take seven deep cleansing breaths

3) Close your eyes, shift your consciousness to your coccyx

4) Loosen the muscles in this area, also known as the perineum

5) Tighten all of your muscles as hard as you can, hold for 3 to 5 seconds, and then

release

6) Repeat this tightening/relaxation sequence 6 to 8 times, enough until you can feel a

good pulse and blood flow to this area

7) Now shift your awareness energetically into the coccyx. Follow your awareness until

you’ve reached the very tip of the tail bone

8) Say hello to this area

9) Shine your flashlight of energy in this area, asking the energy in this area to

balance, amplify. Send white light to the area. Feel it with all your senses and know

that as you use your power of creativity, you literally are creating warm, tingling,

vibratory, buzzing, sensations. That light energy is moving out anything dark, old,

stagnant, or not needed.

Action Steps

1. Get a professional release by a registered polarity practitioner. You can find a

directory of practitioners in your area at polaritytherapy.org

2. Partner Release

Have a friend or partner, one you are preferably okay being intimate with, press

gently on the very tip of your coccyx for a minimum of 15 minutes while you lay face

down on a bed or couch. As the muscles relax, the coccyx automatically softens. Your

partner must be sensitive enough to listen and hear, with his or her fingers, when the

muscles soften. As the muscles soften, he or she can press down and follow the coccyx.

The goal is to follow the fingers underneath the coccyx. A word of warning to

whomever is assisting you: they must have enormous finger strength if they are going

to work on you until it fully releases. That is why a professional release is so powerful.


http://www.polaritytherapy.org/

Some doctors of chiropractic may also be able to perform this technique. The

professional polarity therapist takes a minimum of 45 minutes, probing, and waiting

for the right moment when the nervous system relaxes and shifts into an autonomic

nervous system response. By the end of the session, the therapist’s finger is actually

underneath the tail bone, and the tail bone automatically moves into proper position,

aligning the entire pelvis and body frame in the process.

Further Reading:

The Polarity Process: Energy as a Healing Art by Franklin Sills

Polarity Therapy Workbook by John Beaulieu, R.P.P.




21Harnessing the Power of Full Body Movement

My friend Jason snapped this gem in 2007.

Colleen Rae is a gracious and lovely woman. She was the first person who

introduced me to the term empath. I credit her for many things, not the least of which

was introducing me to my future line of work! For that, I am forever grateful. And I

will also be grateful for her stern and ceaseless lectures to me about the importance of

doing Yoga. For that, I owe her my health and sanity.

Every time my body becomes sluggish when I haven't received enough

movement therapy, I hear Colleen's firm voice echoing in my ear. "You simply must

do yoga, Michael. You can't get away with not doing it. You need to build up your

energy field. You MUST do Yoga. It's not an option. Must. Must. Must."


http://www.joyflow.com/

Must and need are strong words. Generally, I don't like generalizations. And yet

I believe that those very strong words do vigorously apply for empaths. Movement is

absolutely essential. If you don't get movement, I don't think you'll ever move forward.

I require it of all my clients. If you don't strengthen your aura and make it larger

through movement, then you'll be a victim of someone else's energy and it will be

difficult for you to move forward. And by the way, did you catch the purposeful

paradox that I threw into the beginning of this paragraph? Read it again if you missed

it. :)

Movement IS the best way to get grounded that I know, with an orgasm being a

close second. Of all the techniques in this book, some esoteric, and some basic, the one

that I advocate for empaths the most strongly is bodily movement. And by movement

I don't mean ceaselessly and repetitively jogging on a treadmill until your joints hurt

so much that you can't move! There are

hundreds, thousands of ways to use the

principle of bodily movement in creative ways

to move energy.

One of the best ways to clear your energy

field is by doing yoga. Yoga is gentle way to

build up strength and energy. It's also the best

complete self-healing system that I know of.

Yoga will end the need for you to ever see a

chiropractor, massage therapist, or any other

practitioner that manually adjusts the body. It

may very well end the need, if practiced from a

young age, of you ever seeing a doctor or even a dentist. When yoga is practiced

faithfully, it will cure you of so many ills that it would take the next 10 chapters to list

them all. Contrary to what you might think, yoga can actually be a quick and easy

process.


Pictured above are two very simple yoga postures. The first is a side stretch

that will help you lengthen your spine so that more space is created in between the

vertebrae as well as giving your internal organs a good massage to clear energy in your

intestinal area. This will allow for exceptionally smooth flow of cerebro-spinal fluid.

I perform the following two poses every morning upon waking, and it only takes me

two minutes for the complete drill. The second pose will help you to clear energy

around your neck area and in your arms.

There are other wonderful forms of movement, to be sure. Nia, Feldenkreis, the

Alexander Technique; these are all wonderful

educative tools for helping you to be grounded and in

your body. Explore one of them or all of them. Those

of you who have read my newsletters know that I

practice the Nia Technique three times a week in

order to stay grounded (Hillary Welles, my Nia

instructor and collaborator on this book project, is

pictured below). The main point is to get moving so

you can both clear and strengthen your energy field

and make your aura larger so that any lower

vibratory energy will be naturally dispelled when you

encounter it. You must have a large aura if you're

going to be doing any work that involves the Spirit

world or helping or healing other people. Movement,


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in any form, is guaranteed to help you achieve that.

If you're not one for workout clubs or the gym, then try the Nintendo Wii. I rely

on the Wii Fit system when I am too lazy to go to the workout room or not feeling up

to my Nia practice. It's great for late nights right before bed, or on those days when

you just want a quick 10 minute workout. One of the nice things about this system is

that it keeps track of your progress over time. It gives you an automatic daily Body

Mass Index Reading and also tracks your weight over time. I've found that, because

it's so interactive and personalized to your tastes, exercise goes FAST. It is a thousand

times better than pounding your legs ceaselessly on the treadmill. It involves your

brain in the process. It's one of the better ways to learn yoga as well. The investment of

roughly $250 (in the main system) and the separately purchased Balance Board are

well worth the price, especially if you are new to yoga and just getting started in a

regular exercise practice. Again, I can't emphasize enough what excellent work

Nintendo has done to get people moving in a way that makes exercise fun! Child

empaths will especially enjoy the way that it makes exercise and movement fun.

Movement clears our energy in the three-dimensions (and then some). Put

basically, energy moves in three-dimensions: from top down, from front to back, and

from left to right. The more you can do movements that involve all three dimensions,

the more effective you'll be at stimulating energy circulation in your entire aura. The

following exercise will help you do just that.

Brain Gym

I picked up this technique in one of my favorite classes of all time: Core

Integration taught by my favorite instructor of all time, Lee Cartwright, a Masters

degree therapist and energy healer in Santa Fe who specializes in healing trauma. This

technique was not devised by Lee Cartwright. It was originally developed by Paul

Dennison; however, there have been a few modifications to the original protocol.

Brain gym uses specifically coordinated movements that involve using both

sides of the body at the same time. Consequently, both hemispheres of the brain are

used and the connections between the hemispheres are strengthened. The right

hemisphere (intuition, creativity) governs the left side of the body, and the left

hemisphere (logic, reason) governs the right side of the body. If you make Brain Gym


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a regular practice, for just two minutes each morning, you'll find that your intuition is

heightened and your ego will be better able to make sense of the intuitive data and

energy you receive.

You can also use brain gym at work; it's a fantastic quick energy pick-me-up.

Use it with the people you lead or the kids you coach. Use it in all places as a fun and

stimulating way to increase productivity. We used it before every class at the New

Mexico Academy of Healing Arts. It gets the energy moving. Make sure you can do

these comfortably; don't push your body too hard, especially if you feel or experience

pain.

Here are the most effective protocols:

1) Front Hand Crossover. While standing in place, lift the right leg and touch

the right knee with your left hand. Then lift the left leg and touch the left knee with

your right hand. Repeat this for 2 to 3 minutes. This is even more fun when done to a

musical beat.

2) Back Hand Crossover. While standing in place, lift the right foot behind

your body and touch it behind your body with your left hand. Reverse. Repeat for 2 to

3 minutes. This is even more fun when done to a musical beat.

3) Figure-Eight Hip Loop. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and your

knees slightly bent. Clasp your hands together behind your back. Trace a figure-eight

movement with your hips. Reverse direction. This involves the front-back dimension.

4) Drawing figure-eights. Stand with knees slightly bent and your feet

shoulder width apart. Clasp your hands together and point them outward horizontally

from you body. Then make movements that you would do if you were drawing a figure

eight horizontally on a wall in front of you. Then reverse and make movements to

trace an imaginary figure-eight vertically in front of you.

Doing all of these movements to music is even more effective because you can

keep the motions to the beat of the music. Upbeat music is great for groups of people.


The Healthiest Position for the Body: The Squat

The Asian cultures know the power and medicine that is

contained in the squatting position. Dr. Randolph Stone,

the founder of Polarity Therapy, was a pioneer who brought

the squat back from those cultures and integrated it into

Western energy medicine. Dr. Stone's research that

spanned his 60-year medical career showed that the squat

is the healthiest position for the body. It gives the organs a

good massage, stretches the muscles of the back, releases gas, and promotes good

digestion. I actually prefer to sit in this position when I am in retreats and gatherings,

as opposed to using a pillow to sit on. I am convinced that if we all learned to squat,

the incidences of chronic digestive conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome would

be greatly reduced. Give it a try; start gently at first. Then see if you can rest your

armpits on top of your knees and remain balanced. If you can't do this, don't worry. It

would be a nice goal to work toward. As an added benefit, sitting in this position on a

daily basis will allow you to build up your lower leg muscles and ankle muscles.

Simply move the body up and down for 30 seconds to a minute each day in this

position. This exercise has the added benefit of promoting grounding. Having strong

leg muscles is an important factor in the ability to ground to the Earth energy.

Every morning when rising and starting your day, do the squat for just 1 to 2

minutes. It will help you to start your bowel movement and bring regularity to your

energy. That way, you won't have to rely so much on over-the-counter supplements

that contain chemicals that actually may be interfering with your energy.


22Harnessing the Power of the Auric Field

How you keep the quality of energy outside of your physical body is just as

important as how you keep the energy inside your body. Most individuals, and

medical science, do not even acknowledge the mere existence of an energy body. Ask

anyone who has had a near death experience (those who have actually died and come

back), and they will share with you these secrets. Additionally, healers who can see

auras such as Barbara Brennan and Rosalyn Bruyere have given us excellent physical

descriptions and pictures of the energetic anatomy of individuals. Again, the purpose

of this book is not to share all of the details of our energetic anatomy; that is far too

complex. My goal is to share with you techniques that you can practically do, so that

you can experience for yourself how your energy field is affected.

The neck is an important point in the energetic anatomy of individuals. When

intense, high vibrational energy comes down from the heavens, it often enters your

aura through two locations: a) the top of your head, and b) the back of your neck. You

may receive intense urges to twist, loosen, or crack your neck. This is an encouraging

sign that your old energy patterns are breaking up. (After one particularly intense

sweat lodge ceremony, my neck cracked four consecutive times so loudly that a

spiritual brother across the circle said “you almost blew the snow off the trees!”).

In certain indigenous healing ceremonies where the healer will allow the spirit

of some animal or healing spirit to come through him or her and perform what my

teachers have referred to as “The Bite.” During this ritual, the shaman bites you in the

neck, in a spot that author Carlos Castenada, a pioneer in anthropological study of

shamanism, refers to as the “assemblage point.” The healer will then suck the

darkness out of you through the neck. For the person receiving this treatment, it is a

pleasant experience; basically the equivalent of having an orgasm in the neck.

Curious as to how shamans can sustain this, I asked my teacher Bro if he



http://www.nderf.org/

sucked the darkness out of people to such an extent that he actually took on and

absorbed that energy into his own body. He paused and said “only the good ones, Bro.

Only the good ones.” Later, I asked my other mentor Wolf the same question. He

insisted, contrary to what Bro told me, that he does not take on or suck out anyone’s

energy. Wolf’s view was that he remains centered and clear in his own energy (so

nothing sticks) and Spirit does the sucking and clearing work, without his own human

intention to do so. Two different views and techniques; I am privileged to have had the

healing benefit of both.

According to Carlos Castenada, the function of the assemblage point is to give

perception to energy. Depending on the quality of the assemblage point and how open

it is, how large it is, where it's located, and how it points upward or downward, we

perceive many different things, some of us going beyond simple visual perception (for

example, simple viewing of a tree) and going deeper into being able to perceive such

things as the beingness of the tree, the spirits that take care of and feed off of the tree,

the insects that live off the tree, and the sap moving within the tree, etc. The point

here is the way the health and state of the assemblage point causes us to be able to

perceive more. The higher location of the assemblage point, the greater health of the

individual and the more one is able to perceive. Repetitive negative patterns of

thinking, drug use, shock, trauma, or other bad habits drop the assemblage point

below the neck area. In the work that I do, I make contact with the assemblage point

and simply ask it to become larger, more open, and come back "online." It's very

similar to other forms of communication with organs, animals, star people, and

Spirits. You simply ask for the power to be amplified, and just like that, it simply

happens.

I’ve had a neck twitch for years. I’ve grown to accept it now. I tried explaining

to a physician once that it twitches when I “run energy.” I received blank stares in

return. Those who are wiser than I will no doubt have an explanation or be able to

“see” what this twitch is related to, taking on too much energy? I don’t know. What I

do know is that when I work with clients, my assemblage point widens; it gets larger

and I have a huge urge, which I always fulfill, to crack my neck, move it in circles, and


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keep it free and clear. This points to the importance of keeping your neck area clear

and clean so that energy can flow properly throughout your entire system.

Action Steps

1. Aura Exit Ramps Stimulation. Use a commercially available percussion

massager to stimulate energy meridians on the hands and feet., which are the aura's

exit ramps. These are where energy enters and leaves the aura, and often energy can

get stuck in these areas. I recommend Homedics or Thumper, anything else will likely

fall apart. The percussion massager can be viewed in my energy tips video and is a

vitally important tool for empath self-care. If I was stranded on a desert island that

had electricity, this and my BioMat would be the two tools I would take with me. For

5 minutes per area, stimulate the top of your feet, the bottom of your feet, the palm of

your hand, and the tops of your hands (especially at the wrist junction where energy

accumulates). Remember that it must be a percussion massager. Other forms of

massagers will not clear the energy nor stimulate your energy meridians in the same

manner.

2. Healing forms of movement, such as yoga and Nia, help lengthen the spine and

keep the neck and your energy aura free and clear. If you’ve never had a chiropractic

adjustment, get one! It will open up and create space in the neck joints.

3. Make large circles with your neck. Hold your neck down & stretch the muscles

surrounding the neck.

4. Twice a day, lengthen your spine. Pretend as if there is a thin string that is

exiting from the top of your neck or the top of your head and is gently and slowly

pulling your spine up to the sky. Then, do the same thing with the pelvis; pretend as if

a giant weight is pulling it down into the Earth. This takes one minute to do, and it will

instantly change your energy, allowing it to be more open.


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5. Smudge! This is a technique used by the Native Americans and other societies to

help clear your energy. Watch my energy tips video for a visual demonstration. Burn

the sage, cedar, juniper, or sweet grass. The sage repels negativity and drives it away.

The sweet grass invites in the good spirits and brings in high vibration energy. You

don't have to know the science or the biomechanics behind this ancient practice to

benefit from its constant and regular use. If you are an empath or highly sensitive

person and you don't smudge regularly, you are missing out on an important way to

keep yourself clean and healthy of the influence of others energy.

6. Limit the use of narcotic painkillers. As someone who was once addicted to

painkillers, I can say with experience that they interfere with your energy field. You

may need them from time to time; I still do use them occasionally if the pain is severe.

However, it is well advised for you to carefully limit their use. They chronically lower

your energy and make it nearly impossible to create space in your vertebrae. You may

notice a tightness in your neck area and you may have the urge to crack your neck

when you use them. Narcotics cause the spine to contract and they interfere with the

delicate balance in the cerebrospinal fluid that runs up and down your spine.

7. Practice Energy Tapping on the meridians.

This is my modified protocol based on the Emotional Freedom Technique, a

well-documented method of energy medicine developed by Gary Craig and Roger

Callahan that opens meridians to help permanently eliminate trauma or other

unwanted states. Techniques similar to this have been taught in some form by

Callahan and Craig since the 1980's. Doing an internet search for “EFT” will bring up

countless advertisements and websites purporting to cure a variety of ills.

My clients have used EFT with varying degrees of success. I myself find that it

is only temporarily useful for myself, while some of my clients and colleagues have

reported that energy meridian tapping has permanently cured unwanted emotional

states.

Below is a modification of the more effective protocols that I have encountered

over the years. Perform each of these protocols for 10 to 15 seconds each, in this


http://www.emofree.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qxx4Yxm2MVo

order. Use these when you feel ungrounded or when anxiety arises, or some other

unwanted emotional state is giving you problems.

1) Tap the bone beneath your eyes

2) Tap the spot in the center above your mouth and below your nose

3) Tap the point(s) where the collarbone forms, right above your sternum (see

the picture in Chapter 2)

4) Tap the sides of the left and right rib cages, underneath the arms.

5) Tap the "karate chop point" underneath the padding of your hand. This is

the point that would connect with wood if you were going to karate chop a block of

wood.

Further Learning

Hands of Light:: A Guide to Healing Through the Human Energy Field

By Barbara Brennan

The definitive guide and million-selling book on the human aura and energetic

anatomy. Ms. Brennan is a world-renowned energy healer and has written a

comprehensive guide about her experiences in healing.



23Harnessing the Power of Color

The movie “A Mighty Wind” is a hilarious romp written and directed by

Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy, and I think is one of the most subversively funny

and under-appreciated comedic movies of all time. In it, two fictional characters,

Terry and Laurie Bohner, are presented as new age crackpots who “worship an

unconventional deity.”

“Now you’re not going read about this dimension in a book or a newspaper,

because it doesn’t exist anywhere,” Laurie Bohner proclaims, “except in my own

mind.”

“Through our ceremonies, and our rituals, we have witnessed firsthand the

awesome and Vibratory Power,” she said, pausing for effect. “Of Color.”

“We experience it as alive, and constantly shaping our experience,” she

continues. “We believe that this saturated energy is the basis of all creation.”

While this was said tongue-in-cheek and with a straight face on the part of the

actors, there is much underlying truth and usable wisdom in what is presented as a

joke. Every time I see this scene, I laugh hysterically. It reminds me to not take myself

so seriously in my own beliefs about energy, especially color!

Worship might indeed be a bit of a strong word when it comes to the power of

color. And yet, tribal societies and indigenous elders know that there is strong

medicine in color. Each person, according to Lakota beliefs, has his or her own

medicine colors. The ways in which I have been taught teach us that each person has 2

medicine colors. Sometimes they are both energies that are inherently represented in

your own personal medicine; those frequencies that come naturally to you. Other

times one of your medicine colors might represent a color that you inherently lack. In

this case, it’s a medicine color because you are honoring that energy, and looking to

establish a deeper relationship with that frequency. For me, my medicine colors are


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red and yellow. These are both colors that come naturally to me; I feel strong and

protected in these colors. They complement and amplify my own energy, thereby

making me stronger. For empaths and those who are sensitive, black is

absolutely the worst color that you can wear because it soaks up energy. You don’t

need to be any more of an energy sponge than you already are! My mentors constantly

admonished me whenever they saw me wear dark shades of blue or black.

The best color for empaths to wear, in general terms, is white. White is the

purest color and it deflects energy, as opposed to black, which absorbs energy. Do you

realize what that means? In tense situations at work, or with family, just changing

your wardrobe to white means instant protection and deflection of negative or highly

intense energy. The point is we don’t want low vibratory energy to attach to us. Try

switching to an all-white wardrobe and see how this radically changes the way you

feel. Granted, if you spill food the way I do, it means you'll have to invest in some

bleach or other stain fighters, and yet it will be worth it for changing the way you feel.

Intuition Deepening exercise:

What are the colors of the number 1? What about number 5? Every number has

a vibration. Math is nothing more than vibration; so is an alphabet. They represent

energy in pictorial form. So to deepen your own intuition, go through 1 through 9 and

see how YOU perceive those energies. For every person it is different; there is no right

or wrong way to perceive energy. Your energy perception is something that is unique

to you. You'll develop more right-brained thinking using this technique. Eventually,

you want to re-test your color perception on different days of the week to see if your

perception of the color of numbers changes or if it's consistent. Try to decide on a

color of each number. This will help you to advance your intuition because once you've

decided, then Spirit knows that, if you perceive a certain color, it automatically

associates with the number 2, for instance. For me, 1 is a silver color and 2 is a green

color, while 3 is a pinkish red. Every person's perception is different!

Seeing Auras Exercise


There is a whole new age subculture that is obsessed with seeing auras. Certain

psychic individuals are practically deified because they can “see.” You too can see; it's

just that every person's perception of the energy spectrum is different. My friend

Jamie, age 20, is a precocious young woman who can see energy emanating from

people above their heads, behind their backs; all through their auras. She sees these as

if you and I saw a mountain standing right in front of us. She certainly has excellent

skills at seeing spirit and seeing energy directly. And yet feeling is not her strong suit.

Each of us can “see” and we have a primary manner of seeing. The following

exercise helps to develop the neurology of your brain so that you, too, start to see, even

though it’s not necessary to become a good practicing, conscious intuitive empath or

psychic.

In my experience, auras of people or objects are easiest to see against a light

background; white, light yellow, or light tan. To

demonstrate, simply take a white piece of paper.

Cut out a red, blue, yellow, and green circle made

of cardboard paper or other deep colored

material. Place it in the center. Now stare at the

circle and let your eyes go soft. It will take about

1 to 4 minutes for your eyes to get used to the

image. Eventually, your eyes are attracted to the

edges of the circle. With soft eyes, you should be able to see a green color coming out

of a red circle. And a blue color coming off a yellow circle, vice versa. What your eyes

are seeing is the INVERSE, complementary color of the item you’re viewing; the

energy around the energy; the invisible aura of energy that pervades all energy. Is

that a bit heady? J

Action Steps

1) Look at old pictures of you in the colors that you believe are your medicine

colors. Look at how your entire energy either jumps right out at you or not. The


medicine colors amplify your aura, and this can be clearly seen, even in pictures that

are decades old. The colors that don’t complement you, you also notice.

2) Utilize the color pink. Pink is a protective and cooling color. It balances the

aura and is especially good to calm mental storms or overthinking. It's also a good

color to wear if you're prone to epilepsy or excessive mental energy in any form. The

frequency of pink allows us to cool down the mental energy and focus on the energy of

the heart. Using pink stones and crystals will augment the use of pink in your

wardrobe. Rose quartz, rhodonite, and ruby are three well-known stones that will

help attune your body and heart chakra to a naturally free-flowing state.


24Harnessing the Power of the Polarities

Ying and yang. Left and right. Negative polarity and positive polarity. Sky and

Earth. What do these terms all have in common? They all relate to various ways to

describe the inherent masculine and feminine natures of individuals, animals, and

objects. As an empath and person interested in spiritual matters, many of you know

what it's like to exist in two worlds. You may know the world of spirit like the back of

your hand, and you also know (and sometimes are less comfortable with!) the world of

Earth. Two different frequencies. Two different energy polarities. One of the most

important aspects of becoming spiritually conscious is to learn how to exist in a state

of balance between worlds: the world of Spirit and the world of Earth. And as strange

as it may sound, this is entirely analogous to living in balance between masculine and

feminine energy.

God, Great Spirit, or Creator, whatever term you use to call the Source energy,

has blessed each of us with unique energetic signatures. That's a fancy way of saying

we each are different, especially when it comes to our inherent gender and sexual

makeup. Each of us have an inborn amount of both masculine and feminine energy.

For the majority of us, one end of the spectrum naturally comes much easier than the

other. One of the goals of emotional & spiritual maturity is to live in a state of balance

between these two polarities.

But what about those of us who are gay or lesbian? We exist in a state of

constant back and forth between two ADDITIONAL worlds: those of the feminine and

masculine Earthly natures. If this applies to you, know that you are doubly gifted!

Traditionally, in almost all of the First Nation or American Indian tribes, there have

been the "two-spirits," those who are gay or lesbian. It's actually considered by some

to be a third gender. Sometimes two-spirits are referred to as "berdache," which in


actuality is quite a sexist term originally given by ignorant Europeans meaning "kept

boy."

Terminology aside, because of their unique gifts, it is much easier for gay or

lesbian two-spirited individuals to tap into both the masculine and feminine energy

polarities. Therefore, it is also easier for them to bring the masculine energy of Father

Sky (the heavens) down to Mother Earth. Because of this, they have traditionally been

the healers, shamans, and medicine men of the tribes, a far cry from the historical

banishment they have experienced from most institutional religions.

Early on in my training, one of the first things my teacher had me do was to

wear a dress during spiritual ceremony. He was one of the most masculine men I have

ever met, and yet he was telling me to wear a dress? When we were in ceremony, all

the other men could wear their normal clothes. I had to wear a dress, and I was not

exactly thrilled about it. Over the course of the last half-decade, I have come to

embrace the feminine aspect of my nature. In fact, without access to that Power, the

profound work that I do in Inner Power Coaching would be almost entirely useless. I

invoke and help you to call upon on the Divine Feminine energy that is the very basis

of healing. There was a very good reason why my teacher had me wear a dress!

Eastern medicine has always appreciated that certain parts of the body are

either masculine or feminine in nature. The physical manifestation and shape of our

faces actually tell a GREAT deal about how well we are using (or not using) our

masculine or feminine powers. That information is quite detailed and goes beyond

this article.

And yet there is a profound amount of power and beauty contained in the

energies of Father Sky and Mother Earth. If you've never considered why we call our

Earth a "mother," then now is your invitation to find out! There is a good reason why

she's called that. Once you learn why, then you will be more fully able to live in a state

of balance and harmony.

Here are some common associations related to describing the polarities:


YIN (Femine Polarity) YANG (Masculine Polarity)

Right Brain Left Brain

Intuition Intellect

Pull Push

Receive Give

Negative Positive

Mother Earth Heaven (Father Sky)

Empty Full

Listening Speaking

Inward Outward

Inhale Exhale

Contraction Expansion

Unpredictable Predictable

Vague Precise

Small Big

Heart Head

In many yogic and indigenous traditions, the space in between the polarities is

described as the place where God resides. It is the NEUTRAL polarity, and this is

where we find God. The space in between the in breath and the out breath is the place

of ecstasy and the place of enlightenment. This is the place of BALANCE.

At some point in your Spiritual development, you'll get to a place of neutrality.

It may seem awkward and even downright uncomfortable, especially if you're used to

being expansive and Spiritually enthusiastic. While preparing for a vision quest, I

found that I cared a lot less about certain things than I used to. It felt "weird," I told

Wolf. He gently reminded me that being in a neutral place, where you really don't care

about anything, is the best place you can be to advance your intuition. When you are

neutral about things, it means you are not biased, you are not projecting. It means

that you are seeing and experiencing things for what they are, and not reacting. You

truly are centered when you can be in this state of neutrality. Again, don't equate

neutrality with a loss of passion. They are not one and the same.


There's a time and a place for passion (in the bedroom, or in the boardroom

when creativity is needed). However, you cannot be passionate at all times or you will

be unbalanced. Some astrological signs like Aquarius and Sagittarius might find this

notion inherently difficult, because they are ruled by planets and energies whose

natural inclinations are for expansion. On the other hand, those Earthly signs that are

ruled by Saturn, such as Capricorn, or other Earth signs like Virgo, are naturally

blessed with energies of contraction and reservation. This can be extremely helpful,

and yet it can lead to lack of passion when you are out of balance. Are you getting the

point? There are no absolutes. The key word is balance, balance, balance!

Action Steps

1. Invoke the opposite gender power. Wear a dress if you are a man; wear a suit

& invoke the masculine if you are a woman. Some of the most powerful male medicine

people I know invoke the female power by wearing dresses at certain times.

2. Salute the sky & salute the Earth each morning. Deepen your relationship

with these masculine and feminine energies. Doing so will automatically bring about a

balance in your own gender harmony and in your energy field in general.

3. Examine your Eyes & Face for Polarity Markers. One's inherent polarity can

be easily discerned simply by looking at the small but noticeable differences in

individuals between the left and right eyes. As a fun experiment, get out an old photo

album and look at the differences in expression between the polarities as it shows up

on people's faces in pictures.

I have a theory: those who are naturally the shamans, intuitives, and those who

are geniuses in any particular domain (mental, spiritual, physical, etc), show a

profound difference in the shape, movement, and expression of their left and right

eyes, and if strong enough, it will pervade the entire side of the face.

Get out a piece of paper and an old photo album. Take the paper and cover one

half of the face in a photo, so that only a left side is showing. Notice the quality of the


eye. Then do the same, covering the other side of the face. You will notice that, in

many cases, there are slight differences. If you search long enough, you eventually find

a picture of yourself where the differences between your left and right eyes is

pronounced.

For some, including myself, this is a chronic condition (which I believe reflects

one's own inherent ability to be split in their gender or nature). For some, it's a more

acute phenomenon, which reflects

the state of mind during the time the

picture was taken.

Take a close look at the

following pictures. Ralph Nader is a

good example. He is such a driving

force, so masculine in his nature, that

it is the right side of his eyes and face

that has become active. His intuitive

left side has taken a backseat, and

again, looks quite dead.

Woody Allen, a famous athiest, is another example.

His feminine, intuitive side, the side that is connected

to God, is quite under-active and sags. Even George W.

Bush has a prominent difference in his left and right

eyes.


25Harnessing the Power of Foods that Ground

My relationship with food began to slowly change after my first 4-day fasting

experience. After pushing my body toward starvation and shut-down, I realized how

many of Spirit's gifts that I had taken for granted. I always had the benefit of someone

else cooking for me as a child; my mother was devoted to putting a nutritious meal on

the table every night. My two siblings and I had the luxury of sharing our meals each

night at the same time, and always with our family over conversation.

Food is at the center of most indigenous societies. After Native ceremonies, we

always engage in a feast. The countless feast ceremonies in Santa Fe that I've been to,

the food has typically been prepared in a fairly health conscious manner. On the

reservations, because of the extreme poverty, nutrition takes a backseat. Many an

Indian has extolled the virtues of fry bread.

A ritual that I suggest that you adopt immediately is to start feeding your

ancestors and your Spirit Guides, before each and every meal. This is the first thing we

do in a feast ceremony is feed our spirit protectors, and we don't cut corners! Our

relatives are treated as if they were physically still in body with us. We prepare fairly

large portions for them, and then we place the food on the altar. Bro's refrain still

rings in my ears every time I prepare a spirit plate. "Don't be cheap with the

grandpa's," he would say loudly for all to hear.

The food is seen as a living spirit. In the more important and formal Native

ceremonies, a more ceremonial Spirit feast is prepared. In the ceremonies that I have

been a part of, we use corn as a symbol of abundance, and raw buffalo heart and

raspberries as symbols of the sweetness of Life. The first time I tasted raw buffalo

heart, I wanted to spit it out. It has a certain slimy texture to it, and yet, it's

energetically one of the greatest gifts that you can receive. If you're ever in a Native

ceremony, don't refuse buffalo or anything else that you might consider not for your


palate. Eating buffalo heart is not about palate. Buffalo heart is energetically pure; no

processing, nothing refined, and it's vibration is very high. It will act as medicine for

you. To refuse to eat Buffalo heart in ceremony is considered a insult to the spirit

world, and to the spirit of the Buffalo, on which the Native Americans survived.

If you don't pray before meals, you will want to make this a ritual habit. Before

each meal, you call in Light energy to bless the food. The food absorbs the energy,

which consequently nourishes you. I believe that if you pray strong and hard enough,

nothing that you can ingest will hurt you. When you reach that point, you will be a

spiritual master. Jesus was the ultimate master of this; he had so much power and

energy that nothing could hurt nor touch him.

Praying before meals is a great way to build up your strength and power as an

empath. Not only will you form important connections in the spirit world with your

ancestors, and with the plants and animals, but you power-up your aura with Light

every time you pray. It's okay, by the way, if you skip a few meals. Larry David asked

in a memorable episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, "Why don't you Christians ever

pray before snacks? It's very curious to me." I laugh every time I see that episode,

because he's certainly got a point! We can become lax in our prayers before meals, and

yet it also is a reminder to laugh at yourself if you do miss a prayer before a meal. Or

snack.

My colleague Amaya, a fellow healer and channel who works with the

Archangels gave me one of the shortest and most effective mealtime prayers:

"Creator, bless this food we are about to eat and the hands that created it. Bless the

plants and animals who have given their lives so that we may grow and prosper."

Short. Simple. And powerfully effective, especially when you say it with your heart.

(Pretend your heart has a mouth when you pray; it will make all the difference in the

world).

Here's a critically important point for empaths: we, more than other people,

need foods that come out of the Earth. You simply cannot get enough of carrots, beets,

potatoes, squash, watermelon. Anything that grows underneath the surface of the

Earth is good. Eating foods grown underneath the Earth's surface helps attune your

energy field and your personal vibration to help you to be more grounded and in your


http://www.amayacenter.com/

body. This is an important principle of Ayurvedic medicine and nutrition as well,

although different and more complex terms and theories are used.

Sometimes it's common for empaths to crave heavy food, like greasy beef or

meat, because the lower vibration of the meat and grease brings us back to Earth. I

relied, and still rely, on this concept. Sometimes there's just nothing like a good

hamburger.

Do you have a craving for salt? It might very well be because you have taken on

too much toxic energy and the salt will help absorb that. I've noticed that I crave salty

foods whenever I take on too much energy from other people. I eat pickles by the

jarful whenever I am engaged in intense spiritual work or after sessions with clients.

Pickles contain huge amounts of both vinegar and salt, which are both tremendous for

cleaning out your energy system. Vinegar is one of the best all natural cleaning

products. In fact, you can replace your toxic Formula 409 with vinegar. Just use one-

part water, one-part vinegar in a bucket, and it will do just as good, if not a better, job

of cleaning your house. You won't be inhaling toxic chemicals, and you just might

want to take a few gulps of it as well. Just as vinegar is excellent for cleaning our

house, it does the same thing to our bodies. It cleans us out from head to toe. Not

everyone's palate or digestion is the same, and yet if you can tolerate it, make it a point

to eat foods that have some form of vinegar in them. It also helps regulate your

metabolism.

Action Steps

1) Have a juice and water tasting party. When I told my friends I was inviting

them to a juice and water tasting party, they kind of gave me strange looks. And yet

after the weirdness of the idea had worn off, they embraced it with a vengeance! This

idea came to me during a vision quest while visions of juice leapt through my head. I

decided then and there that my relationship with juice and water had permanently

changed and that I wanted to do everything I could to honor those Gifts of the Earth.

So I gathered 5 different brands of each of the major juices: orange, apple, grape, and

cranberry. I also got several different brands of bottled water and invited a few friends


over to revel in the fun. This is an excellent idea to promote true interaction among

friends and to honor the spirit of water and also the spirit of the fruit that provides

you so much sweetness in life. (You may want to liven things up a bit with a little wine

as well).

Further Learning:

1) There is useful and eye-opening information in documentaries like The

Corporation, SuperSize Me, The Future of Food, and 2009's Food, Inc. that present

some disturbing factors of our chemicalized and biogenetically altered food supply.

These will help you make informed decisions about what you put into your body, and

how it can help or hurt you depending on your own biochemistry.

2) Deepak Chopra's books "Ageless Body, Timeless Mind: The Quantum Alternative to

Growing Old" and "Perfect Health." These are the books that put Mr. Chopra on the

map. Ageless Body, Timeless Mind was the one book that jump-started my

explorations into spirituality, in particular, applying quantum physics for longevity

and vitality.





http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000V5IOWK?ie=UTF8&tag=httpwwwimagin-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B000V5IOWK

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0007DBJM8?ie=UTF8&tag=httpwwwimagin-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B0007DBJM8

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0007DBJM8?ie=UTF8&tag=httpwwwimagin-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B0007DBJM8

26Harnessing the Power of Energy Technology

This is one of my favorite subjects, no doubt if you've been a reader of the

newsletters you've seen me mention some of these technologies.

I absolutely love all forms of toys, gadgets, widgets, and gizmos, especially when they

are effective at improving the energetic sanity of empathic individuals. Bro laughed

at me awhile back when I was showing him my latest discovery. "Why do you need

that?" he barked. "You can just do it with your mind." Obviously, I agree with his

sentiment or I wouldn't be effective with coaching & energy work – my Inner Power

Soul Therapy is all about teaching you to use your Mind power. I guess it's the old

Atlantean in me. I love energy technology. So with that spirit in mind, I'd like to share

with you some nifty things that you may want to check out. I have a small financial

stake in the MindZoom Software and Lifewave patches. Everything else, I list simply

because I know that this stuff works and it would be a shame not to share it.

1. BioMat: My all time favorite, although it's not cheap, is the Amethyst BioMat. Far

Infrared light waves and negative ions suck out stagnant energy. Watch the video. The

BioMat is the best thing I have ever purchased, ever. It was not cheap, but the

benefits have been phenomenal. I use it twice a day like clockwork.

2. A simple, cheap way to ground your bed for better sleep is to plug a 25 or 50-foot

long phone cord into a phone jack and then wrap it around your bed on the floor.

Circle your bed at least once, if not twice, with the cord on the floor and then attach

the end of it to a small plant next to your bed. The plant's energy, combined with the

circuit contained in the wall jack and cord, automatically creates a grounded electrical

circuit that protects you during sleep!


http://www.empathconnection.com/faq.html

http://www.empathconnection.com/faq.html

http://www.bio-mats.com/biomat_videos


3. EarthCalm Electrical Field shielding & grounding pendants. These devices are

scalar resonant circuits that shield you from electromagnetic waves. The creator of

this device is a woman who was ill for years and took matters into her own hands.

With a background in electronics, she investigated what worked and what did not,

and then came up with a really amazing product. I have an Earthcalm that I wear

around my neck. You can also wear a pendant around your ankle to help promote

grounding to the Earth's energy field. This device is different than some of the others

in that it actually attunes your energy field to that of the Earth's.

4. Lifewave Energy Patches. Nanotechnology that interacts with your

electromagnetic field to boost energy or help you sleep. . Bro actually got into the

Lifewave patches. I was so impressed with their technology that I gave him a package

of the patches to keep his energy up during a ceremony one time. I don't know

whether he was just humoring me or not, but he seemed to really like the patches and

actually said he really liked them and thanked me for bringing these to him.

5. EPFX-SCIO Quantum Biofeedback. A technology developed by NASA to monitor

astronauts is now available through independent practitioners all over the country. I

was profoundly impressed with the treatment. Personalized frequencies are sent into

your energy field to heal and detoxify. The technology behind this is nobel prize

winning, and I believe it will be the future of medicine. The practitioners are trained

for months to properly operate the advanced equipment.

6. Perkl-Light Energy Spa. I have not experienced this directly, but I just found it the

other day online. I thought it was interesting enough to warrant a mention. It

operates on a principle similar to the Rife Machine, which has been around for years

and claimed by some to be able to cure cancer.


http://www.perkl-light.com/

http://www.nelsonhealthandwellness.com/


http://www.earthcalm.com/

7. The Energy Ball. This one is great for kids and adults alike. Want a fun and

inexpensive ($4!) way to feel and see proof that we’re all electrical beings? Go to

Amazon and pick up an energy ball. This device is a great way to get across the

principle of energy to children, and it's also a great group activity for adults. Connect

one person’s finger to one of the two metal circuit conductors on the ball. Arrange as

many people in a circle as you can. The person closing the circle puts his or her finger

on the other circuit. You not only hear the buzzing of everyone’s electricity going up

and down, like the breath, but you feel a small electrical charge running through your

body. This is also a great way to practice feeling your body and listening to your body

because the electrical charge generated by the device is extremely subtle.


http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000OU9RMS?ie=UTF8&tag=httpwwwimagin-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B000OU9RMS

27Harnessing the Power of Sound & Vibration

Lost in the music, during a drumming ceremony with my

counseling students at the University of Wyoming.

Some tools of the sweat lodge leader are the fan, the rattle, and the drum. These

are all used to break up energy, literally, and to move it around. A drum is played

ceremonially, not just because it sounds good. It is played intentionally because the

sonic boom of the drum not only is attuned to deep Earth energy but also breaks up

pockets of stagnant energy in our bodies. It’s a similar principle to using lasers to

remove tumors in western medicine. Using our vibrational tools, we focus on where

there’s too much energy and we use these techniques of vibration to move the energy

out.

These techniques take many forms, including using tuning forks, rattles,

Tibetan or Crystal bowls, drums, the human voice, and other esoteric cultural

instruments that shake up energy and get it moving. A simple hand clap is enough to

move energy. When we clap our hands as a way of applauding someone, we are doing


two things. First, we are extending loud, crisp sound waves that move throughout the

room to break up energy and get it moving. Second, we are activating the energy

meridians in our own bodies, especially as a way of opening the minor chakras that

are located in the center of the hands. You may not have thought of it as such, and yet

clapping is a completely spiritual experience designed to raise everyone's vibration.

Those cultures that stomp their feet instead of clapping understand and promote this

same principle. It just wouldn't be the same if we tapped our noses! I sometimes clap

during my Inner Power Coaching sessions with clients to get my own energy moving,

and I will sometimes as clients to do the same. It's a great and simple way to clear

energy.

It may appear mystical or somewhat intimidating to see aboriginal dancers

with their hands thrown to the sky dancing to the beats of hundreds of drums, as I

have experienced in Santaria/Ifa and Sun Dance ceremonies. There certainly is

mysticism and Spiritual connection involved; however, on a more practical and

scientific level, these aboriginal dance ceremonies are harnessing the power of large

amounts of sound waves to expel energy in places where there is too much of it (in our

heads, in our blocked heart chakras, in our third eyes).

When we are exposed to a certain vibration for long enough, our entire energy

fields, and the waves in our brains, attune to those frequencies. So we simply find the

most appropriate sound frequencies, and our brainwaves change so that we can reach

our desired outcomes, such as connecting to Spirit more easily and otherwise reaching

an altered state of consciousness. Some very effective sound technology has been

developed over the last 10 to 15 years that involves binaural beats that "trick" the brain

into entraining (a concept explained in Chapter 39). In short, we become what we are

exposed to. So if we’re exposed to more of the good stuff, we can’t help but change,

ascend, transcend, grow, learn, expand, and every other word you can use to describe

the process of Spiritual Expansion! Check out the excellent mp3's that are offered by

the Unexplainable Store. I use these on a consistent basis to attune my energy.

Action Steps

1. Listen to the Sacred Sweat Lodge Songs: Wolf, myself, and a few spiritual


brothers and sisters recently recorded some sacred songs that we typically sing in the

Sweat Lodge. These songs are designed to call forth the ancestors and help to clear the

energy in your field. The best way to experience these songs, other than in the lodge

itself, is to listen to them in a small, dark room with no light, like perhaps in your

bathroom (even better if you're in the bathtub). These songs contain ancient medicine.

It's not quite the same as being in the lodge, so turn up the volume as loud as it will

go! Sing along. If you don't know the words, hum. Eventually, if you play these songs

enough times, you'll notice the pattern of words and how they are sung in 4 repetitive

cycles. Notice where your Spirit and energy go when you hear these songs. Click to

listen to the Releasing Song or the Star, Sun, and Moon Song. They are in mp3 format

playable on your computer. (Click directly on the links above to download or use a

right-click if using windows).

2. Humming and whistling: Whistle while you work is not just a folksy saying. It’s

a literal way to keep your energy meridians open and energy flowing. Sustained

whistling has the added benefit of taking in more oxygen into your system.

3. Toning the Chakras: To align the chakras, use the following sounds, which are

derived from East Indian traditions. Tune each of the chakras by making the

appropriate loud, deep throated sound for one minute per chakra:

Crown Chakra: Eeeee

3rd eye: Aye

Throat: Eye

Heart: Ahhhh

Solar Plexus: Ohm

2nd Chakra: Ooooh

Root Chakra: uhhhhhh

Further Learning:

1. My friend Mark David Gerson of Albuquerque, NM is an amazing sound healer. His

chanting and toning, along with his sound healing workshops, are available on CD


http://www.markdavidgerson.com/

http://www.drmichaelsmith.net/StarSunMoonSong.mp3

http://www.drmichaelsmith.net/ReleasingSong.mp3

from his website.

2. The Way of the Pulse: Drumming with Spirit

3. Traveling the Sacred Sound Current: Keys for Conscious Evolution.




28Harnessing the Power of Physical Objects to Amplify Your Intention

If you have a coaching session with me, one of first questions that I ask you is

the following: What are your intentions? What is it that you would like to create more

of in your life? This is the starting point from which everything else will naturally

flow. In order to move from point A to point B, or otherwise create Change in your

Life, you must have a prayer, an intention, a psychic goal that becomes the sole focus

for your Mind.

Once you have decided on your intention, then it is a rather straightforward

process to use your powers of manifestation to call forth that intention into physical

existence. Native cultures know that everything must be dreamed before it is made

real.

You've no doubt heard the phrase “I'll believe it when I see it.” Perhaps you

yourself have even said this at times, or even worse, made this a part of your regular

language and vocabulary. If you say this, strike it from your thought, from your

reality!

What if you changed this phrase around? What if you instead said “I will see it

when I believe it.”How would that radically change the process of manifestation?

Believing, for our purposes, means the following: a combination and powerful

amalgamation of feeling, seeing, tasting, sensing, hearing, smelling. Belief, as a

shorthand, basically consists of a giant heap of sensation. The strength of your

sensations = the quickness of changing your reality.

So, logically, in order to help you focus on your sensations, to serve as a

reminder, an amplifier, we create altars.

Altars are a way to manifest and amplify the things that you are intending to

call into creation. An altar should be created in a place of peace and tranquility. It


should be given a physical location where you pray. This is a physical place inside your

home where you go to; it is a place. Once you create the physical place, you begin to

make a natural psychic connection between the physical place and the Mental place.

In other words, the mere physical place automatically puts you in a better, altered

physical place.

On your altar, you place the following items:

1) Pictures or representations of your ancestors. Place something that represents the

seven blood generations that paved the way before you. Also place something that

represents the seven generations that are yet to come. This must be something unique

and personal to you. It is a physical symbol; something that on which focusing your

attention helps to speed up the process of manifestation and quickly connect you to

your deepest Prayers. On my altar, I have a picture of my great grandparents holding

me as a baby. You may want to place a sacred object to represent yourself and your

own journey through life. A blanket that you were wrapped in as a baby, your

childhood shoes, a favorite childhood book; anything that represents you as a child.

For many years, I kept a tiny solitary leaf that represented my desire to grow from a

small leaf into a strong, tall tree

2) A physical representation of your Animal Guides and Protectors. This may be a

picture, an actual piece of fur or a part of the animal (I have an entire Coyote skin on

my altar, in addition to deer antlers, tails, hooves, etc).

3) A physical representation of your Angelic Protectors. On my altar, I have a picture

of Archangel Michael. I also have a statue of Quan Yin, the feminine energy. I have a

statue of the Happy Buddha, to remind me to be jolly and happy at all times. Who are

the angels or Spiritual Energies that you identify with? Place them on your altar for

guidance and protection.


4) A representation of anything you are praying for or wanting to call into existence.

On my altar, I have money. This amplifies the process of manifesting money.

5) I have a picture of the Scorpio, my astrological ally and symbol. Place

representations of the planetary energies that are your allies, and especially those that

are deficient in your Chart. I can do your chart for a fee if you're interested (see

chapter

6) The Plant and Stones with which you resonate. On my altar, I have a giant quartz

crystal. Crystal amplifies; thus, placing crystals on your alter helps give all of your

intentions a nice juicy energetic boost! I also have lavender, rosemary, sage, and sweet

grass

7) The books with which you resonate. If there are good ideas in books that you like,

books that have changed your life, place those books on your altar. They keep you

reminded on those ideas that have changed your life

8) To enhance the altar further, place a live plant on each side of the altar. Their

unique ability to amplify energy keep it clean and protected

9). Keep your prized power objects energetically protected in red cloth. Red cloth is

the color of protection. In the native ways, all sacred objects are kept in red felt or red

cloth. When you present a gift to someone, give it in red packaging

Creating a Personal Shield

In indigenous traditions, one would never undertake explorations into the

Spirit World without Allies to protect oneself, and that includes a Personal Shield to

protect you while you are in the world of Spirit. A shield is a tool that you have at your

disposal, a tool that is there not only to assist in focusing your intention, but also to

physical alter the energy of your environment. Spirits do hop around; If there is a

lower vibratory spirit around you, which I can assure you that there are, these spirits


will be changed/altered by the presence of your Personal Shield, on which you place

your highest prayers and intentions.

The shield is a symbol of the energies

that you are focusing on, calling forth those

energies to strengthen you and also to

protect you. The shield pictured in this

chapter is a simple shield representing the

four directions that I used during a vision

quest to represent and keep me focused on

mending the medicine circle, in particular on

mending relations in my family. I gathered

the tree branches from our family's cabin

during a family reunion in my native Minnesota, which made the connection and

prayer for my family even stronger.

The important point here is to have things around you that remind you of your

prayers, and keep you focused, like an arrow. In reality, everything in your physical

environment is your altar. You yourself are an Altar, just like you are a channupa. You

are the living, breathing prayer. Bro always told us that there will come a time when

we don't need the pipe to pray; we'll transcend the need for these ritual tools because

we will be the pipe.

What about your appearance? Is your physical appearance sloppy? Is it casual?

Is it formal? How do you dress? Do you pay attention to detail in your appearance? I

can assure you that the more you focus on precision in your appearance, just like your

environment, the quicker you Change and the quicker and more powerful you become.


29Harnessing the Power of Intuitive Listening

“Imagine us being out of frame on a camera.

Does it mean that we don't exist?”

- Angelic encounter, July, 2007.

So you've learned now how to refine your prayers by focusing precise attention

to your language, now you will want to learn how to listen for the answers. A

fundamental law of intuition is that the quieter you can make your own mind, the

more intuitive hits you will receive. These will come in flashes. Would you believe me

if I proposed the zany idea that many of the thoughts that enter your head are not

your own! Well, believe it!

Sometimes these thoughts or feelings come from other humans (usually when

you're in a group), sometimes from your spirit Guides, sometimes from random

Spirits happening to float by, and sometimes from your own Higher Self. If it doesn't

come from you, then you can dialogue with the energy that brought such a flash to

you, and take it deeper. In taking it deeper, you travel to the source like you are taking

one hand in front of another hand on a rope that's extending from your bellybutton.

You are following the trail. To be a good intuitive, you must be a good detective. They

are one in the same. You must have a natural curiousity and ask questions of the raw

intuitive data that you receive, and then wait for the answer. It's a fundamental law

that you receive answers to all of your questions. The answers may not be in the form

of what you expect, so your psychic antenna must be alert and perked up at all times

to notice signs. The answers may not come for years, or in any time frame that you

expect. And yet you can have faith that if you ask a question, you always get an

answer.


Learning to interpret the answers is a skill that we will now cover. Learning the

language of intuition is like learning a completely new language. It's as if one person

(the spirit world) is speaking Hungarian and you are speaking English and you have to

work together and focus on things other than spoken word to ultimately get your

message across. Instead of speaking in words, the language of intuition and Spirit is

one of emotions, feelings, memories, and vague impressions. Some people, including

myself, have abilities to actually hear phrases in our native tongues. I don't have any

idea how spirits are able to speak English phrases into my head that make sense, and

yet it happens constantly, all day long. The difference between me and a

schizophrenic is that I am able to tune out the voices if I so choose. I can turn down

the spirit volume like a radio, so that I can barely hear it if I choose. Schizophrenics or

persons with other mental "illnesses" (which I believe is often an illusionary concept),

are not able to do this.

In most indigenous or tribal societies, those who exhibit traits of schizophrenia

are included in the society and daily life of the culture. They aren't considered throw-

aways as they are treated in the United States and other Western cultures. In past

tribal societies, many times those who would be considered schizophrenic today's

world actually functioned as the oracles and the high priests of the society! People

back then recognized and honored the fact that schizophrenics operate on a different

frequency and are able to tune-in to other dimensions, even if it is overwhelming for

them. I hesitate to say any more on that subject because I certainly am not an expert

in schizophrenia or mental illness.

With time, you eventually begin to exhibit traits of telepathy. You would be

surprised at how often you may be unconsciously walking through your daily life,

picking up on other peoples thoughts, in addition to their emotions. Some authors say

that being an empath is strictly limited to feeling other people's emotions, and yet I

believe this is much too limited. If you're sensitive enough to feel someone's emotions,

you're also going to be able to pick up on others thoughts.

A client once asked me if I could read his thoughts. I answered that I don't

purposefully try to read someone's thoughts; but yes, sometimes random words pop

into my head and these are related to what clients are thinking. This only happens


sporadically, and I don't purposefully try to read someone's thoughts. It just happens

naturally, with no apparent logical reason. I suppose that if I truly wanted to, I could

tap into someone's thoughts at will and get some information, and yet I doubt it would

be with any true depth. We are all ascending, however; our vibrations are getting

higher and higher. With the Spiritual and Earthly shifts that are occurring, this

phenomenon is happening more and more. We are all truly awakening.

This spiritual awakening can lead to somewhat of a challenge. To what extent is

telepathy or being able to feel and hear other people an invasion of privacy? Is there

even such a thing as privacy in the Spirit world? If you'll look at the picture on our

dollar bill, it's includes the "all-seeing eye." When I was first starting out, I was keenly

aware that my mentors could hear my thoughts. This instilled a semi-paranoia in me;

my mentors would probably be more emphatic and call it a full paranoia! I was

constantly worried that they were going to find out “the truth” about me; that I was

wounded, that I was damaged goods. I protested to Bro I didn't want to "be seen." Bro

finally took me aside and uttered words that will be emblazoned in me forever. "The

Spirits see you," Bro replied, "but the difference with them is that they don't judge."

Formulating a Proper Intuitive Question: Eliminating Why?

When you want to know something, all you have to do is ask the Universe and

your Guides a question and you will always get an answer. That answer may not

initially take a recognizable form, and yet, with time, your question will be answered.

I often hear phrases from clients such as "why am I so sensitive?," "why do I

feel so wounded," and "why do I suffer so much?" I always gently encourage my

clients to eliminate "why questions" because they are stagnant. "Why questions" don't

lead to any worthwhile information nor do they lead to productive action. Even if

you get an answer to your why question (such as having your sensitivity originate from

an unresolved karmic issue in a past life), where does that leave you? Stuck in your

head, and that's it.

So, instead of asking "why questions," I recommend that you begin all of your

questions with the word "how?" I remind clients that what they are really saying

when they ask "why do I suffer so much?" is actually "how can I cope with my energy


sensitivity so that I don't suffer so much?" Do you see this profound difference? It's a

radical paradigm shift. How questions lead to productive action. Why questions lead

to what can sound like whining and protesting to your Spirit guides. Keep this in

mind.

Action Steps

1. BONUS: Download my 62-minute Audio Seminar, Empath Intuition.

Enjoy the seminar and apply the techniques included in it. If you would prefer a

physical copy of the CD, you can order it online by clicking here (or ordering it on

Amazon.com here).

2. Is This Me? As you move through your day, ask yourself "Is this me?" If the

answer is no, then write your impressions, feelings, emotions, and intuitive hits down

on a sheet of paper or in your journal so you can piece it together later (if you want).

Affirm vocally and mentally to yourself, "this is not me, I don't know what it is, and I

don't need to know." Then let it go. The act of writing it down on paper helps you let it

go. If you decide to go back later and review your impressions, you may find that some

of it will indeed later make sense. And you inevitably find that a lot of it makes no

sense. This gives you some reassurance that whatever intuitive hits, spirits, feelings, or

memories may be pestering you at any given moment in time, it may ultimately not

be of concern to you!

3. Lower the electrical levels in your home. Turn off your refrigerator for 12-24

hours (your food will be safe, the temperatures rises only slightly). Did you ever realize

how much noise this machine makes? It’s usually in the background so you may not

have noticed; and yet it’s such an irritating buzzing noise. If you’re meditating, turn it

off. You can also protect yourself from electromagnetic waves with the EarthCalm

pendant and home protection system.


http://www.amazon.com/Empath-Intuition-Using-Your-Oracle/dp/B002G9U9E0/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1247010909&sr=8-3


http://www.createspace.com/1765449

http://www.earthcalm.com/

4. Watch TV with the sound off and use the closed captioning button available on

most televisions. This allows you to still enjoy television, and yet it allows your mind

to stay focused on the other areas.

5. Look at the room upside down. Look at the room physically from a different

perspective. Simply lay on the floor with your head upside down, and then look up

around the room. Pretend the floor is the ceiling and the ceiling is the floor. This

exercise may not only make you laugh, especially if you do it with another person, but

it helps you to see things that you have not noticed. It will help you to really listen.

This exercise also helps you boost your dream power and ability to remember dreams

if you do it every day. This exercise is entirely analogous to what it's like being in the

dream world, astral traveling, where everything literally is upside down! The ordinary

rules of what we think are “reality” don't apply!Make this a regular practice. You

engage your inner child and boost your intuitive and listening power at the same time!

6. Listen and observe.

One day over lunch, Bro and I were watching television (with the sound off).

Tom Cruise appeared on one of the Hollywood shows, which Bro liked to watch with

curiosity from time to time. “That guy,” he stated emphatically, “he's losing it. You can

tell by the way he moves his hands. There's a small shaking going on there.” As with

all things, shamans and good intuitives are masters of observation and of small

nuances.

To help you observe, quiet your mind, and then engage all your senses. Start

with your hearing, and take five minutes to do nothing but hear every single noise in

your environment. Once you've heard something new, acknowledge it and then go

deeper into the subtle layers of that sound. Just as a piece of apple can be split into

smaller and smaller pieces, your perception of sound can be cut into smaller and

smaller pieces.

Next, move to your sight, and look at everything in your environment. Once you

see something, acknowledge it and move on, going deeper in your process of

perception. After five minutes of that, switch to your feelings. Do the same five-minute


process for taste and smell. I've found that doing this in an extremely dark room

(closing one's bathroom door) is an effective technique. If I really want to connect with

Spirit, I do it in a room with no lights simply because there is less distraction on other

things. Sensory Deprivation tanks offer this same level of static-reduction.

7. Try The PSI Dojo. This is a free online community where you can hone your

intuitive skills in a safe, private environment - a place to practice psychic martial arts.

A random photograph will be assigned to you by their computers. But you don't see

the picture. Your "task" is to use your intuitive remote viewing skills to describe the

picture, in advance, using your psychic abilities. After you submit your guesses, the

photograph will be revealed to you, and you can see how well you did. And, if you

allow your work to be open to the community, you can be judged on your best work.

The best clearly rise to the top. I've been a member of this site for about three years.

Be careful, though. It's addicting!

8. Try The Eyeballing Game. This will activate your right brain. Practice this for a

few days to quickly jump start your intuition.

9. Keep a psychic diary next to your bed. This is where you write down all of your

dreams and visions and intuitive hits. Be sure to have a small lantern or light that is

easily turned on during the night, when many of our psychic visions occur as we pass

between worlds.


http://woodgears.ca/eyeball/

http://www.dojopsi.com/tkr/

30Harnessing the Power of Sacred Symbols

Earth Initiation, by Visionary Artist Argus El'iam, 2003

Used with permission.

www.ArgusSoulVisions.com

The importance of sacred geometry is that they are not just symbols, they are

working tools that assist you in maneuvering energy. Most sacred geometry takes the

form of harnessing the power contained in triangles and, sometimes, circles. I am

listing only a few of the amazing tools here. Continue your own research on the

amazing mathematical and spiritual properties of various sacred shapes.

Circles Symbol for unity, wholeness, interconnectedness, and never ending energy.


http://www.argussoulvisions.com/

Five-Pointed Star—It's my understanding that this applies as a symbol of the self, your

human self, and the protection thereof. When I see it, I know it refers to me being

confident in my own energy. For you, however, it may be a different interpretation, so

this is where developing your own symbolic language is important. When you see a

five-pointed star, attach your own interpretation. How does it make you feel? What

does it mean for you?

The most common association of the five-pointed star (the pentagram) is that

of protection and shielding. Many countries use it as a symbol on their nation's flag. It

would be an excellent choice to include on your personal shield, or as a piece of

jewelry. Other common associations include health and friendship. It is

metaphysically related to the planet Venus, and it associates with sensuality and

Earthly energy.

In Polarity therapy, we use the five-pointed star protocol to balance the body

between the head (occiput), the two arms, and the two feet. If you outstretch your

arms and your feet, your body makes a five-pointed star.

Six-pointed Star—The six-pointed star is otherwise known as the "Star of David," has

it's roots in Egyptian culture, and is also significant in the Jewish traditions. It is also a

symbol of protection in those traditions. Bro said this is the symbol that protects

Spiritual warriors. In an angelic encounter, I was told that this is a symbol that

protects one and gives strength when going back and forth between worlds. Thus, its a

great symbol of protection for empaths. It's also been associated with the kingdom of

Atlantis.

Eight-pointed Star—A symbol for all of existence, the universe, and DNA. The number

8 turned on it's side is the symbol of infinity. The number 8 is also the symbol of the

Spiral, which was known to exist thousands of years before science's “discovery.” On

all sweat lodge doors, we place an eight-pointed star, which is called a "star blanket."

This is a symbol to call in everything in the universe. In a traditional vision quest, the

vision quester is wrapped in an eight-pointed star blanket throughout the entire vision


quest for protection and visions. This star has also been historically associated with

spiritual transformation.

The Cross—The cross is representative of the sacred number four, and the four

directions, the four seasons, the four life cycles, etc. The cross is also a protective

symbol that was used well before Christ. It is a symbol of energy movement in vertical-

horizontal directions as well as movement from left to right (horizontal).

Triangle—I learned in an Angelic encounter that the triangle symbol is good for sleep.

Indeed, the SACRED G technology uses a series of triangles to help promote excellent

sleep. It also structures water. Try the Sacred Geometry water test. You'll be quite

amazed at how this really works!

Further Reading:

1. Carolyn's Cobelo's book The Power of Sacred Space has wonderful, precise

information on Sacred Geometry.

2. The Mandala Healing Kit: Using Sacred Symbols for Spiritual and Emotional

Healing by Judith Cornell teaches you to use the symbols of sacred geometry in an

experiential way.





http://www.sacredg.com/

31Harnessing the Power of Sex and Orgasm

“There's only one therapy in this world...Love.”

Archangel Michael, 2007

And now for the subject that terrifies many of us: sex.

There is so much fertility in this subject; it is a rich area to explore grounding

and the true power contained in the sexual chakras and the sexual acts themselves.

One of the best viral emails I ever received contained a rant from a woman who only

identified herself as Victoria. The question was about how to best ground oneself.

Forget all the visualizations and other techniques, she said. Simply have an orgasm.

There's nothing better, she advocated.

Unfortunately, the Western-influenced culture is bordering on sexual

bankruptcy. Sexual bankruptcy means that our children's sexuality is kept in the dark.

It means that pornography is kept in the dark, even though it's one of the biggest

industries in the world. It means that we turn our backs on the Power of sexuality. We

ignore our root chakras. We are disconnected from our orgasms, continually.

Robbie Kirkland was 14 years old two weeks before I arrived on the job as a

residence hall director in Miami University of Ohio in January of 1997. Two weeks

later he was dead, the victim of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head. His sister,

Danielle, then a brand-new Resident Assistant and who eventually became a dear

friend, found him in her attic on Christmas day. Another gay man died in 1997, this

one just as violent, although not of his own doing. Matthew Shepard was tied to a

fence in Laramie, Wyoming and left to die in the cold Wyoming winter.

I had three job offers as a newly minted Ph.D. in spring of 2002. I had to decide

which of these three places I was going to live. At the last minute, after already having

decided to accept a job offer in San Antonio, Texas, I quickly and radically changed my


mind. I decided to follow my intuition and not my head. Matthew Shepard's murder

was one of the reasons that I accepted a job at my 3rd choice school in Laramie,

Wyoming. The prayer to mend the circle was why I took the job.

When I came to Wyoming in 2002, I proposed a memorial to this man and

what the crime represented. My proposal was immediately met with vocal resistance

from the local gay and lesbian leaders who insisted that Laramie, Wyoming, would

never tolerate nor accept a national memorial. While the University did establish a

national symposium on Social Justice, which I was honored to participate in, there

was never any memorial regarding this crime and what it represented. Only after

Newsweek pointed out in a feature article in the 10 year anniversary of the crime in

October of 2008, did the University hastily respond, as a bordering-on-insulting

afterthought, with the “Matthew Shepard Memorial Bench.”

This is another example of our denial; our denial about the shadow, and our

confusing the shadow with sexuality. All this confusion over the most powerful and

natural aspects of being human. Far too many people in the Western society have

reversed course and cut ourselves off from the sexual Power. In doing so, we cut

ourselves off from Creator, from God, from Source, and from Movement. Our shame

about sexuality is one of the wounds that I prayed would be healed in my most recent

vision quest. We have cut ourselves off from the circle. The circle includes sexualities

of all forms. We need to mend that circle and, in doing so, bring us back to full Power.

Reclaiming your personal power means being fully sexual, without shame.

There isn't this shame in the Native world, or more properly stated, there

wasn't this shame there to begin with. It was the European culture and Puritanical

backgrounds, ashamed of sexuality, that twisted Native Americans' views on sexuality.

The sexual power might just be the greatest power on Earth, next to Love and

Gratitude. It almost certainly is one of the best ways to become grounded and can be

the best way to quickly attain a state of profound connection to the Spirit world.

Before our vision quests, we are required to go 30 days without any forms of

sexual acts. This is to preserve the sexual energy; to not “spill the seed” as is quoted in

the Bible. This means we are not careless in our sexual energy, we hold it and nurture


it intentionally, nursing our sexual and Spiritual powers, slowly but surely building

them up from the root chakra.

In Native ways, women are not allowed to enter most sweat lodges when they

are on their “moon time.” At first, I thought this was a bit misogynous. Only later did I

come to see that it was quite the opposite. A woman's sexual power is at her strongest

when she is menstruating. It is at that time that she is at her peak of power. To have

that much power present in the lodge is often too much and that's why they are asked

not to participate. There are special lodges and ceremonies for women surrounding

their moon time, to which I, as a man, have not been privy. And yet what I have seen

has been nothing but reverence and respect for the female power, the feminine power

of the Mother and how that feminine power is given to each of us to access every time

we have an orgasm.

Men can actually have multiple orgasms. Thousands of years ago, the Chinese

recognized that orgasm and ejaculation in the male are separate processes. They also

discovered, and science has backed this up, that sperm creation is a complex and

hugely energetically draining process. Vitality can be increased with the holding back

of ejaculation. If you're a male empath, you want to learn how to hold back your sperm

to increase your energy.

In the book, the The Multi-Orgasmic Man: Sexual Secrets Every Man Should

Know, the authors quote a New York Times report that "creating sperm is far more

difficult than scientists had imagined, demanding a diversion of resources that might

otherwise go to assuring a male's long term-health."

Action Steps

1. Hold Your Sexual Energy for 15 days.

Whether you are a man or a woman, hold in your sexual energy for 15 days and

do not have an orgasm or ejaculation in any form. See how this affects your

connection to the spirit world. In my experience, it takes at least 10 to 12 days without

an ejaculation to build up enough sexual energy reserves to notice a strong difference

in my own power. I find that there is a pleasurable tingling throughout my entire




body, and often my head will have a slightly higher pressure in it. I find that I can hear

much better clairaudiently, I can perceive better, and my thoughts are more powerful.

Give it a try and you'll be pleasantly surprised. Be careful not to overdo it, though. If

you're feeling too much pressure in your head, then release it through orgasm or other

grounding methods.

2. Read The Multi-Orgasmic Man.

For all men, and for all women and men who love men: get your partner to read

this book! It will change the way he thinks of, and you respond to, his sexuality

forever. For a man, orgasm is completely separate from ejaculation. Ejaculation can be

controlled, and the act of having orgasm without ejaculation can be learned in about

14 to 30 days. He just has to learn how to use both the perineum (which was called

"the gate of life and death" by the Taoists) and also the PC muscle that controls

urination and ejaculation.

3. Exercise the PC muscle. A relatively quick way to gain control over these areas

for more intense sexual power and orgasms is to tighten, and then loosen these areas.

The easiest way to do this is to practice stopping your urination in mid-stream every

time you use the restroom. Practice this technique for 15 to 20 days and you may find

that your orgasms are more intense and have more power. For males, this exercise

alone may be enough to allow you to have an orgasm without ejaculation.

4. Engage the Tongue right before, and during, orgasm. One other powerful

technique is learning to press the tongue to the roof of your mouth right before and

during orgasm. This serves to ground and recirculate the sexual energy through

specific energy meridians in the body. For males, it will help you to cool the sexual

energy down and bring it out through your feet so that you can be in better control of

your ejaculation.

Further Reading:

The Man Who Fell in Love with The Moon by Tom Spanbauer




The Multi-Orgasmic Man by Mantak Chia & Douglas Abrams.

Radical Honesty by Brad Blanton.




32Harnessing the Power of Heyoka Energy

“Tonight you're gonna go down in flames.

Just like Jesse James.”

-Cher, 1988.

There is much that we can learn from Native American traditions about the

concept of doing things in a backwards, or opposite manner. Just as empaths are born

with highly sensitive nervous systems that are programmed to perceive all sorts of

subtle spiritual and emotional energy, many of us are also energetically hard-wired

"backwards."

In many Native American cultures, this is referred to as "heyoka." Heyoka is all

about the power of doing things backwards to help us stay energetically in a good state

of flow. If you've ever felt different, like you don't quite belong, then you may identify

with the magic of the Heyoka story. Many of us will zig while others zag. We may be

happy at times when others are sad, and vice versa. We will be taking breath in when

others are exhaling. We may even read books backwards; from front to back, or even

read from right to left. For the most part, these inherent "backward" urges are

programmed in our DNA; they simply are a part of who many of us are.

In certain Native cultures, the heyoka is honored as a sacred-clown who teaches

the value of purposefully acting in a manner opposite to our natural instincts so that

we don't get too serious. The heyoka is not comfortable with too much linearity,

predictability, or social order. The heyoka has an intimate relationship with ambiguity

and chaos as tools of spiritual advancement. If you have heyoka power, you may use

this type of energy naturally, and often to your own embarrassment! You may spill

food all over your shirts during meals, trip yourself up at the most inopportune times,


constantly lose important items, or all of the above. These heyoka moments help us to

take ourselves less seriously.

Even if you aren't Heyoka by nature, the universe gives us days to experience

the Heyoka energy. For instance, I recently asked a client to tune in to the energy that

I was projecting toward her over the phone. When I asked her to concentrate on the

subtleties of the jangled, anxious energy I was sending (as a teaching tool), she

perceived it as completely calm and tranquil. When I projected feelings of being on a

tropical island, it made her nervous and she felt her heart chakra close. I became

excited at this because it allowed for a discussion of heyoka.

During spiritual ceremony, at the end of important talks to the people, Bro

would tell us that he based this lesson from that morning's CNN broadcast. "I get my

best material from CNN," he would cackle. This, of course, not only was a lie (he

watched Fox News), but it caused all of us to drop our ultra-serious spiritual warrior

attitude and see how easily we can tighten up during ceremony.

During another sacred ceremony, when the spiritual and emotional energy was

so high it seemed many of us couldn't take it anymore, he gave us each a bowl of green

Jello and whipped cream and asked us to pray to our whipped cream. The resulting

laughter and ridiculousness was priceless.

The dozen or so Vision Quests run by Bro that I attended through the years

were infamous for many things, but especially infamous for the third day, the day that

we all looked forward to: Heyoka day. As Bro called it, Heyoka day was “a day of

merriment and laughter.”

These were the days where we do the exact opposite of our regular rituals.

Instead of walking clockwise, we walked counter clockwise. We took food out to the

fasting Vision Questers and taunted them good-naturedly until the evening, when we

brought them in for a bit of food, water, and coffee. We dressed up as Janis Joplin,

Elvis, put on wigs and cowboy outfits. It was generally an outrageously fun day.

“The grandpas,” Bro said, “they don't like getting stuck in one thing. They like

to shake things up a bit, you know what I mean? They like it when we have fun. They

like to join in.”


One of the most important preparations for any Vision Quest run by Bro had to

include the musical accompaniment. One Vision Quest was particularly memorable

because Bro was in a 1980's mood. He dedicated the Vision Quest to Cher. He wasn't a

huge fan of Cher's; he teased us “gay guys” about liking Cher so much, and yet there

were a few of her hits that he loved. I had a gut feeling that he would like the song

“Just like Jesse James,” so in preparation for the Vision Quest, I downloaded the song

and surprised him with a CD of this and a few other hits. It went over quite well. All

Vision Quest long, we were serenaded with the hits of, and especially Bro's versions of

the hits of, Cher. “Tonight I'm gonna take you in dead or alive.” I would hear him

singing while walking around camp. He even, much to my surprise, liked the newer

hits, including the all-out dance anthem “Believe.”

My first Vision Quest as a quester was memorable for straining my neck to hear

the sounds of Elvis singing “Blue Suede Shoes,” through the trees. To this day, I have a

newfound respect for the bouncy-ness of that song, and how it perked me up after so

many hours of nothing but me and myself. The other Vision Quests, on heyoka day, we

would hear the hits of Bob Seger, Neil Diamond, and Elvis. Prior to memorable vision

quest, he got in the mood for Aerosmith and the song “I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing.”

One day over lunch, he told me the story of what this song meant for him. I will not

repeat it here. Suffice it to say it involved a woman. Some things are meant just

between friends!

In many indigenous cultures, heyoka power is associated with the animal

Coyote. This animal is full of tricks. Coyotes are notorious for zig zagging and fooling

even the most experienced hunters. If you need a good laugh, at your own expense,

ask the animal spirit of the coyote to come into your life. You will be starring in your

own Candid Camera episodes before you know it! Do some additional research on this

topic; you'll be suprised at how you may see yourself in what you read.

Why is it important to know about Heyoka? Because there are times when our

normally reliable empathic perception and trusty intuition may be purposefully

fooling us. On certain days, it may be best to do the exact opposite of what your

empathic intuition tells you. With time and refinement, you will be able to discern

when this might be happening for you. It's random and unpredictable; and because of


this, it helps us pay closer attention and listen more carefully. It keeps us on our toes!

Action Steps

1. Create a Heyoka day Ritual for your family.Teach your children, your

partner, or your parents about the Heyoka power by taking a day out of the month and

declaring it the Heyoka day. It's a great tool to teach your kids to not take themselves

so seriously. It brings you closer to your family. They will think you are nuts, but

that's the point, isn't it? You allow others to be the wise fool when you yourself can

allow yourself to be.

2. Be the wise fool at work. Purposefully allow others to laugh at yourself by

wearing a costume. Wear clothes from the 1970's. Radically change your hairstyle for a

day. Do something to break out of the normal routine, but the key is to not really tell

anyone about it. Act as if it were the most natural thing in the world! It can create

meaningful connections in the workplace if you have the right environment, feel free

enough, and can do something like that. In 1997, I was a residence hall director at

Miami University in Ohio and supervised a group of 12 resident advisors (student

leaders who in turn supervise the students living on their floors). In one-on-one

meetings, I asked each advisor to pose for a photograph with the hall vacuum cleaner

that we had nicknamed. At the end of the year, I gave them the pictures as a fun

reminder of the insanity of our year together. Most of them had forgotten that

moment with the vacuum cleaner, and it was good for a fun laugh.

3. Masks can be a useful tool to allow us the freedom to access that Heyoka power.

Masks, of course, have been used as spiritual tools since the beginning of human

history. They allow us to more easily access the wise fool in each of us. As a ritual at a

party or in a therapy or community group, get some cheap masks (which often can be

found at the dollar store). In one of my counseling classes, I took the students out of

the classroom and up onto the stage in the theater. I had students wear the masks

while dancing their most outrageous dances. We then processed and discussed how


the masks allowed them a previously unknown freedom to be someone other than

what they thought was their "normal" self. It was phenomenal how people loosened up

and just became more outrageous and expressive.

4. Honor the Coyote. Place an emblem or representation of the Coyote on your

altar, and then notice how this act manifests change in your daily life. The coyote will

trick you and you are often the victim! Be prepared to have a self-deprecating sense of

humor when Coyote comes calling.

5. Put Your Mother on the Ceiling is a great little book and treasure that I found

back in 1992. It's been on my bookshelf for years, and I read it occasionally when I

need to look at things differently. It's designed for children, not adults, and so that's

part of the reason why it's such a fun little book.

6. Read a book backwards. If you're obsessive-compulsive, this will help you to

break the neurological strangleholds that your obsessions have over you. You can start

in the middle, or at the end, and the main trick here is to work your way back into the

story. People who have inherent Heyoka power will do this naturally and it's not a

problem.



33Harnessing the Power of the Written Word & Journaling

“You’re living in Poetry. Everyone lives in Poetry.”

–Archangel Michael, 2007

Remember when you were in Second grade, and your teacher was teaching you

all about vowels, consonants, nouns, verbs, and adjectives? Did you ever stop to

consider that at that moment, you were also being taught how to alter your

consciousness? Obviously the authors of the world readily acknowledge a little secret

truth: Part of the reason that we write our books is that we actually get high from

writing! Your teachers never told you this?

Writing is a powerful act that releases accumulated energy. We take what's

inside of us, and we have a way to get it out through the fashioning of symbols. I had

quite the time writing this book. At some point during my writing, I gathered over 15

years worth of Dream journals, Vision Quest & Ceremony diaries, Daily diaries, and

my so-called “Psychic Diary” that I used when I was first starting out.

I had to wear my medicine kit to protect myself!

Not all individuals like writing, however. Perhaps in the future we can find

ways of helping individuals better derive pleasure from the act of writing. We may

very well have machines that will help guide us, like a virtual Vision Quest, a virtual

writing machine. It will take our thoughts, our images, our feelings, our tastes, our

smells, our intuitions, and it will be able to put it to words? The mere act of

envisioning this right at this moment means that that idea has already been set into

motion. I doubt that I will take that idea up, but someone as far away in Japan may be

picking up on this idea right now!


Action Steps

1. Draw the Moon Phase On Your Journals. Connect your emotions with the

phase of the moon. Draw a symbol at the top of the page that represents the moon

phase. When you go back later, you will likely notice a trend of how the moon exerts a

huge influence over how you feel on that particular day.

2. Bury your journals for a clean break with past energy, it's a radical and effective

act. It's a huge act of letting go.

3. Wear a medicine kit when re-reading journals, or be protected in some other

way. Energy accumulates, and re-reading or even touching your old journals expose

you to that old energy.


34Harnessing the Power of Laughter

My grandmother "Lil" and her sister, enjoying a moment.

This one is a no-brainer, and yet I felt compelled to make it into a simple, no

nonsense chapter. Literally. So with that in mind, I include one of the most hilarious

personality inventories that I have ever seen. It's been making the rounds for years,

and there is no author attributed. I include it here for your (and hopefully others)

enjoyment! So, invoking the spirit of the Heyoka trickster, here it is:

NO-NONSENSE PERSONALITY INVENTORY (NNPI)

For each of the items, answer: Like Me (L), Somewhat Like Me (S), or Not Like Me

(N).


_____ 1. I salivate at the sight of mittens.

_____ 2. At times I am afraid that my toes will fall off.

_____ 3. As an infant, I had very few hobbies.

_____ 4. Some people look at me.

_____ 5. I often use the word "feh."

_____ 6. Spinach often makes me feel alone.

_____ 7. Sometimes I think someone is trying to take over my stomach.

_____ 8. Dirty stories make me sneeze.

_____ 9. Other people's warts don't make me self-conscious.

_____ 10. Sometimes I think someone is trying to take over my stomach.

_____ 11. I often think I am a special agent of Fidel Castro.

_____ 12. I become homicidal when people try to reason with me.

_____ 13. My teeth sometimes leave my body.

_____ 14. I like to put chameleons on plaid cloth.

_____ 15. Recently I have been getting shorter.

_____ 16. I think I would like the work of a hummingbird.

_____ 17. I have always been disturbed by the size of Lincoln's ears.

_____ 18. Most of the time I go to sleep without saying goodbye.

_____ 19. Bubble gum makes me sweat.

_____ 20. I believe that I smell as good as most people.

_____ 21. Most people stay in the bathtub until they look like a raisin.

_____ 22. Constantly losing my underwear doesn't bother me.

_____ 23. It is hard for me to know what to say in a room full of cockroaches.

_____ 24. I believe that halitosis is better than no breath at all.

_____ 25. I believe in life after birth.

Action Steps

1. Give the above Personality inventory to a group that you might be involved

with, such as a church or a teen group. Introduce it as a serious inventory and prop it


up with an introduction along the lines of "I've found this great new personality

inventory and it's a great way to understand yourself." I've done this with groups and

classes that I've run, and it invariably leads to much laughter. The really anal retentive

students inevitably asked me if this was a real assignment and some have even asked

when it was due!

2. Watch Candid Camera. Laughter is medicine. Again, it's literal. Endorphins are

released and energy meridians are opened when we laugh. Candid Camera (now

available on DVD) is particularly good because it doesn't degrade the participants.

Some of the newer hidden camera shows are fake, manipulated, and energetically

cause people to get angry for the sake of what they think is funny.

3. Take out a bowl and fill it with whipped cream. The next time you pray; in front

of others, pray to your whipped cream. Better yet, ask your family to pray along with

you. Pray as if it’s your best friend and you are invoking all of its tremendous power. If

you set the right precedent, the others will follow, and invoke tremendous folly. You’ll

make that into a medicine moment.

4. Feign laryngitis. Make it your intention to trick the right person (someone with a

good sense of humor) into believing you are sick with a terrible cold that has caused

your vocal cords to shrink and shrivel. The results will be hysterical. If you can get

past five minutes, you've done well.

5. Scare someone. If you've been really bored lately and need a good spice of energy

in your life, scare someone (who doesn't have a heart problem). Then, ask them to

scare you the next time you least expect it. Not only is a great way to get the blood

pumping, it leads to a softening of relationships when you know that you can tease

someone and get away with it. Be prepared to receive a good scare in return.


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35Harnessing the Power of The Archangelic Energies

“This will all make sense tomorrow, I promise you.”

- Angelic encounter, 2007

"What is it that YOU want, dear one, Keep this in mind."

-Angelic encounter, 2007

I used to think that the Angels were a figment of imagination. In early 2007, I

had the most intensely difficult sweat lodge of my life, during which I felt as if I was

physically and literally reborn. I could feel ancient karma being removed through the

top of my head and into the rocks in the center of the sweat lodge. After the

experience, I was so exhausted that I could barely walk or even stand.

That night, the Archangels and I had our first "meeting" (or at least the first one

while I was conscious and awake), I was vibrating at a very high rate, and they came

down to meet me halfway. This was a personal experience; their primary message was

one of encouragement for me to be confident in myself. They gave me hope and told

me that I was not wounded, as I had thought, and that I was "a master." I have never

felt such peaceful, loving energy in my entire life. It was a peak moment that I will

never forget. The words that they spoke were encouraging and gave me confidence

that I was to use my abilities and find my own answers. I was wrapped in the arms

of pure bliss and Love.

From that day forward, I began to channel the Archangels, including Archangel

Michael, Raphael, and Gabriel. For several months thereafter, the energy continued

to saturate me. I would go to my computer every day and type the words that

appeared so quickly in my own head, third eye, and feeling center. It became a bit


overwhelming after awhile, so I put a stop to that and haven't had the urge to channel

words since then, although I do channel and use Archangelic energy in my healing

sessions.

When I call in Archangelic energy, the very top of my aura will tingle and

vibrate at very fast rate. It feels like fire energy rapidly moving down a tube or tunnel

that extends from the very top of my crown chakra, at least two to three feet above my

physical head and entering my head and neck area. I start buzzing at a very high

vibration.

They told me that for me, the easiest way for them to communicate is though

my mind while I am conscious. Here's the best metaphor that I can think of as to how

their communication feels to me: when using a typewriter, you need to pluck each key

individually to get the messages. With the Angelic realm, the messages appear all at

once, as if you were using a rubber ink stamp to get the same sentence across in one

fell swoop. It's faster, quicker, and simultaneous messages can come all at once. They

are just there. They also revealed that their communication system is different for

each individual.

Whether or not you feel this energy initially or not, trust that the Angels and

Archangels are there. They hear you and will respond to your invocation and calling

in. Spirits can be in many places at once - and the Archangels can both listen and

respond to you at the same time they are responding to a little girl in Armenia.

Here's a little of what I understand about the Archangelic energy from working

with them.

Archangel Michael is the king of the Archangels and angels in many religions

and traditions, including Christianity, Judiasm, and Islam. He is the one whose job is

primarily to protect. He is often pictured with a sword, and many individuals who

have seen him say that he carries a gigantic, energetically invincible sword used to

quickly, efficiently, eliminate darkness and evil. In my interactions with him, he has

been extremely firm, he feels absolutely gigantic in terms of his presence and energy,

somewhat intimidating, and carries a warrior-type energy. You can call on him in any

situation, and he will be there to help you instantaneously. I call on him daily.

In many traditions, Archangel Gabriel is depicted as a female or feminine in


nature. He feels androgynous to me. He is the Archangel of understanding and

communication. He brings the Heavenly messages down to the Earth and puts those

messages in understandable form. He helps us to speak our own inner truth. The

energy is soothing and beautiful, with a deep appreciation of beauty in all forms,

including the material world, with a Libra/Taurus/Venus type association. Sweetness,

sugar, and honey are other words that I would associate with him. Gabriel is the ruler

of inventions, harmonics, harps and "yes, even country music," as was the direct

quote.

Archangel Raphael is the ruler of healing in all forms, body, mind, spirit. The

name means "Divine healer," and if you or anyone you care for is in pain, call on the

healing energy of Raphael. Raphael appeared to me as having jet black hair and had

kind of an impish, playful energy to him. I sometimes will invoke this energy when

intense remote healing is needed for a client.

Action Steps:

1) Try the consciousness altering audio technology that changes your brainwaves to

connect with Angelic realms. It has been the experience of both myself and my clients

that these audio frequencies work exceptionally well; it's sometimes frightening how

deeply you can go into a trance state.

Further Learning:

1. The Angel Oracle: Working with the Angels for Guidance, Inspiration, and Love by

Ambika Wauters. Includes an excellent oracle deck to use for daily readings.

2. For full channelings about the Earth changes that are coming up, visit my archives

at coyotesong.gaia.com

3. Listen to my one-hour discussion with the Zany Mystic, who has written in great

depth about his own angelic encounters in his spiritual adventure autobiography,

Tales of a Zany Mystic.



http://www.drmichaelsmith.net/A_Fireside_Chat_2008-11-01%20Michael%20Smith-edit.mp3%20

http://coyotesong.gaia.com/


http://empaths.unexplain.hop.clickbank.net/?tid=BOOK

4. My friend Mark David Gerson of Albuquerque, NM offers excellent workshops and

teleseminars. In particular, he works with and can help initiate you into the energies

of Archangel Michael. He also is a prolific author of award-winning book “The Call of

the Muse: Answering the Call to Write”.

5. My friend and colleague Amaya also channels the Archangels, in a collective

consciousness known as "Isaiah." These are exceptionally profound energies that

know everything you will ask before you even ask it. They don't mess around; the

energy is intensely loving and yet very firm. I had the honor of working with and

being initiated into these energies throughout most of 2007.







36Harnessing the Power of the Breath

My friend and fellow Empath Colleen Rae introduced me several years ago to a

fantastic exercise that demonstrates the power contained in the breath.

Right now, put your awareness into your nostrils. Take a long, slow, deep

inhale while at the same time noticing which nostril appears more open. If your left

nostril is more open than your right, that means that your intuitive right-brain is

balanced and functioning in an open manner. If your right nostril is more open, that

means your left brain (intellect, logic) is currently dominant. These change

throughout the day in the moment to moment changing energy.

Alternate nostril breathing is a yogic technique that represents polarity.

Breathing for 60 full seconds in this manner restores equilibrium to the nervous

system and gives your body a rush of oxygenated blood. Take your finger and place it

over your right nostril. Breathe deeply and inhale for as long as you can. Then take

your finger and place it over your left nostril. Repeat the long, slow, inhale. Go back

and forth for as long as you need to for oxygenation of your blood and energy system.

And now that brings us to the topic of flaring of one's nose. This is a natural

reflex of the body that is often a natural precursor to the “fight or flight” response.

When your nostrils flare, it's your body's way of preparing to bring in a rush of oxygen.

It is also a trait that is more common in empaths and people who are sensitive to

energy. Our nervous systems are on hyper-alert much more than other individuals; so

if you've had a nostril flaring tendency, and didn't know why, perhaps this will give

you some perspective.

Breathing Exercise

There are 1440 minutes in each day. Are you able to set aside just five of those

minutes each day to balance your mind and restore your body to harmony and peace?


If so, then here's a simple plan for your well being. First, set a timer or alarm clock

for five minutes. Sit down comfortably and close your eyes.

Focus your awareness on your breath as it comes and goes from your nose. Feel

each breath coming and going. Don't count the breaths, don't control the breaths,

simply observe and feel each breath, coming and going, like waves on the ocean,

coming and going.

When your mind wanders off from the breath (and it will!), simply call it back to

the breath. Each time you return to the sensation of the breath, you have taken

control over your mind. Each time you return to the breath, you have become less

reactive to your thoughts, and more in control of your life.

Practice this mindfulness technique every day for one month and you will notice

that you have become less reactive to the negativity of others and more effective in

your ability to maintain harmony and peace in your life. five minutes a day is worth

being well!

Action Steps

1. Alternate Nostril Breathing.

Breathing for Grounding: Close off your left nostril and breathe only through

your right nostril. This is the nostril of your ego and personality. If you're spacey and

need grounding in the world, breathe for 60 seconds only through this nostril in quick,

intense, and fast bursts.

Breathing for Promoting Intuition and Connection to Spirit: Close off your

right nostril and breathe only through your left nostril. This is the nostril of intuition

and the right brain. If you need a boost of creativity and inspiration, then breathe in

quick, short, intense, and fast bursts for 60 seconds.

2. Flare your Nose, on purpose. This activates the energy meridians to help you

bring more oxygen into your system. You also notice that this has the effect of opening

up the muscles and energy centers in the back of your head. Eventually, with enough


focused practice, you begin to be aware of how one simple movement of your nostrils,

such as an intentional opening, activates your entire energy system, bringing it all

back into balance.

3. Get a diaphragm release. A good polarity therapist can manually, with little

pain, insert their entire five fingers underneath your diaphragm (the organ that runs

right along and underneath your rib cage). In most people, there is a certain level of

tension here and, often, it's extremely tense. Manually rubbing this area on your part

helps to relax it, as does the organ dialogue technique described in Chapter 16.

4. Essential Oils. Use the following essential oils to promote proper breathing in

the body: Eucalyptus, Rosemary, & Sage.


37Harnessing the Power of Touch

The Nursing profession, and its emphasis on bedside manner, can teach us a

good deal about the power of touch. Touch does not have to be physical. When our

auras and energy fields interact with another person while we're in his or her

presence, we are literally touching that person. The quality of our energetic state as

healers often has more power over the healing process that any specific healing

protocol or other physical medicine. Perhaps this explains some of our cultural idioms

such as "that was so touching," or "she really touched me." We intuitively understand

the power of touch, whether it be physical or energetic.

A significant portion of our training and education in polarity therapy is

focused on the three touch qualities. There are three ways that we can touch someone,

three ways of approaching someone with our energy. In traditional Polarity therapy

education and theory, these three different kinds of touches refer to physical touch. It

is my belief and experience that these three ways also apply to our energy interactions

as well.

In polarity therapy, the three ways of touching someone, which correspond to

the three gunas in Ayurvedic theory, are referred to as rajasic, sattvic, or tamasic. Not

surprisingly, they correspond to the three energetic polarities: positive, neutral, and

negative.

A rajasic touch is indicated when energy is lacking and you need to help

someone get their energy moving. When a client complains of too little fire in their

energy system (which can manifest as constipation), I attune my own energy field

rajasically. That means I will be quick and fast in my thinking, my force, my

movements, and, if I'm working on the body, my physical touch. Rajasic touch is

stimulating, quick, intense, vibrating, and rocking. It can be shallow or deep on the

body, but the main intention is to make movements that get energy circulating in a


quick fashion.

Rajasic self-touch protocol:

1) Flail your arms back and forth from left to right in front of your heart chakra

2) Flail your arms up and down in front of your body

3) Flail your arms from front to back to the side of your body

4) Make the motions, quick, intense little bursts

5) Take your hand and put it on your bellybutton (the fire center)

6) Quickly shake the energy in your bellybutton, moving it quickly and

chaotically, asking for the energy to move up to your head. Focus on connecting the

energy to the bone called the sphenoid bone, which is the bone right behind the eyes.

You don't have to know where the sphenoid bone is located, only that it exists and is

receptive to this energy.

Sattvic touch corresponds to the neutral polarity. Sattvic touch is calming,

gentle, and doesn't challenge or activate any resistance in you or your body. A sattvic

energy experience would be the equivalent of sitting in the presence of the Dali Lama

or another enlightened being such as Mother Meera. In September, 2008, I had the

good fortune of receiving darshan from Mother Meera, who is believed to be a divine

incarnation of the Great Mother. When she took my head in her hands, time and space

seemed to dissolve. Blissful neutrality was the overwhelming feeling. With sattvic

touch, there is no objective, no goal, and no movement intended. You just touch

someone lightly and gently, just like a feather.

Sattvic Touch Protocol:

1) Touch your eyelids ever so gently. Approach your fingers toward your eyelids

as slowly as is possible for you

2) Your objective is to barely make contact with your eyelids and to allow, and

make room for, energy circulation

3) You may likely feel a pleasant sensation on contact, as if your eyes are having

an orgasm


http://www.mothermeeradarshan.org/

4) Hold this for only a few seconds (perhaps 5 to 10 seconds) and then stop

5) After releasing your fingers, notice that the energy of the touch remains in

your eyelids. You will still feel the touch long after the fingers have left your eyes

6) Alternatively, you can touch the tips of your eyebrows or the corners of your

nose (the ethmoid bone as shown in chapter two). You receive the same gentle

energetic benefits

7) Notice how the touch, even though it's incredibly light, is also extremely

powerful and effective.

Tamasic touch is touch that corresponds to the negative polarity. This is the

kind of touch that is empathic, inviting, and feminine in nature. Don't confuse this

with being gentle, however. Tamasic touch can and should be intensely deep in nature.

It probes. It is the kind of touch that goes deep, is firm, and yet at the same time is

completely at ease. The physical touch itself can be quite painful, depending on how

deep you go into the body, and can elicit soreness if there is energy stagnation.

Tamasic touch Protocol:

1) Take both hands and push them as deep into your intestines as they will go.

If there is energy congestion in the area, you experience some moderate pain as the

coldness of the energy block is dissipated

2) Make sure you go right up to your own personal "edge." This means, on a

scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the most pain you can endure, that you want to get it to a

9 or 10

3) Hold the tamasic touch for a minimum of two minutes, and try to go for 5 to

10 minutes to really clear out your intestines. I use this protocol at least once a week

and do it for about 7 to 10 minutes each time

4) Probe gently but firmly in the large intestines and small intestinal areas. You

may want to also include the liver and gall bladder (underneath and just below the

right rib cage). This is the kind of touch that you can expect if you get a colonic or a

treatment from a colon hydrotherapist

5) Be prepared for a bowel movement after using this tamasic touch protocol


6) You can do this safely with your partner as well. You may want to trade colon

massages

7) For a professional treatment, visit a polarity therapy practitioner and ask for

a psoas release. The psoas is the gigantic muscle that holds the entire body frame

upright. It is a muscle that runs from our pubis and attaches to our spinal vertebrae

areas. It is excellent for pelvic and structural alignment, and helpw you especially if

you have lower back or abdominal pain.

Further Learning:

1. The Polarity Process: Energy as a Healing Art by Franklin Sills

2. To experience Sattvic touch, receive darshan from Mother Meera. She charges no

money for her blessings. She travels internationally on a consistent and regular basis,

appearing in small and large cities alike. Her schedule is posted at

www.MotherMeeraDarshan.org


http://www.mothermeeradarshan.org/


38Harnessing the Power of Creative Expression

(Otherwise known as Channeling)

“We were always waiting for you to come back to us.

You've waited your whole life for this moment.”

– Archangelic Encounter – July 4, 2007

The notion of Spiritual channeling can sometimes seem a bit off-putting, like

it's only for those who are seasoned psychics or have some supernatural ability.

Nothing could be further from the truth. We all have the ability to channel, and it's in

the form of engaging our creativity.

The best description of channeling came from Albuquerque psychic Betsy

Morgan Coffman, who described it as “nothing more than engaging your creativity.” I

loved this description because it allows for a host of possibilities, and it's more down

to Earth. It's less intimidating and more inviting. Using this definition, anyone can

"channel," and you don't have to be a psychic or healer to do it!

If I want to use my creativity to channel spirits, then I can certainly do that. If I

want to use my creativity to channel a fabulous new recipe, then, I may want to do

that. If I want to use my creativity to channel a song or write a book, I have that

option. I believe that channeling is engaging our creativity to manifest something

from the heavens and bringing it down to Earth.

It is completely up to us, as humans, to decide what it is that we want to

channel. I have definitely had many moments of channeling where other spirits took

over my consciousness and body. I dabbled in that for awhile before deciding that it

really wasn't for me. I didn't particularly like how I "spun-off." Pretty soon, every day

was about listening to others in my head and not so much about living life as myself.


It is true that when we "channel," sometimes spirits can come through.

However, that form of channeling is not to be undertaken lightly, as it can be fraught

with danger and risk. It requires a tremendous amount of clarity, light, and opening.

Even if you’re clean and open, and assuming you make it that far, you don’t always

know who is coming to dinner, so to speak.

You don't just open your home and invite anyone into your kitchen, do you? In

much the same way, it would be somewhat incredulous for you to open the doors of

your house (for example, your body and mind) for anyone to come in and have a seat

at your table. You must be selective. If you decide to allow this to happen, you must

invoke the protection of the Archangels, especially St. Michael to protect you. He is the

one of the sword.

The sweat lodge is a place where spirit channeling happens each time the

ceremony is conducted. At some level, the ceremony leader has his or her

consciousness overtaken by the Spirit world. Often this takes the form of animal

spirits (Bro and Wolf often have the puma spirit take over their bodies), and it can

include the spirits of individuals who have passed, or even Angelic or Star People

energies.

On one memorable occasion, an old Native American ceremony leader who had

crossed took over my body and used my left arm to basically make the motions of a

rattle. I remember feeling his total joy at being a part of our ceremony, and at being

able to inhabit my body in order to do this. He was such a joyful spirit! I couldn't stop

laughing at the total glee that I felt from him in that he was able to be part of

ceremony again.

I've sung songs that came from other places, other dimensions. My spiritual

sister Angela, when I met her, was shy, reserved, and full of neuroses. Over the years

of sweating with her, I've come to see her power. She regularly sings songs that are

channeled in the sweat lodge from the Spirit of a Native woman who overtakes her

consciousness while in the lodge.

On another memorable occasion, the spirit of Archangel Raphael came to do

healing work on the person sitting next to me, and used and directed my own arms in

the lodge. I remember being in the background (my ego consciousness) and being


acutely aware that my hands were moving to the person next to me in the lodge. My

arms were acting, under the direction of Archangel Raphael, to physically remove

black energy from this person's chest and then having it go through my arms, out my

fingers, and into the rocks. I was touching the burning hot rocks with my hands,

holding my hands on the rocks for minutes at a time, feeling the energy flow out

through my fingers, without even the slightest hint of discomfort. These were peak

experiences. There was no fear whatsoever present in my consciousness. It was pure

love, and it was NEUTRAL. I was aware of all of the thoughts of others in the lodge,

what was happening to them, and I didn't react out of ego. The ego was still, quiet, and

was fine being there.

That is the power of channeling; that is the power of entering other dimensions.

Ordinary “rules” of what we think are reality do not apply. I've communicated with

the star people, who said "hello, brother" while I was dozing off in front of the fire at

one Vision Quest. They then proceeded to tell me that they are here, although we can't

see them, and they are helping with the Earth Changes. Many of them live

underwater. The reality is that we don't see much of reality. Occasionally, if we are

earnest, we are given glimpses.

Many of you will resonate with these experiences, for part of being an empath

means that you can cross between worlds. You can go back and forth. However, we

must work on the back, and not so much the forth! The forth (going into Spiritual

realms) can come easily for many of us. It's the getting back to Earth that often poses a

serious challenges.

If you're early in your spiritual development, don't worry so much about the

Spirit World. My teachers always told me, and I will offer to you, that we are in a body

for a reason. We are protected when in body. We are protected when we're grounded

in the Earth plane. Serious ventures into Spiritual realms should be done under the

guidance of an experienced shaman or guide who can bring you back when needed.

In 2006 and 2007, I had the pleasure of working very closely with world-class

channel Amaya, who for 30 years has been channeling a soul group known as "Isaiah,"

who consist of the Archangels and other entities. When you experience an Isaiah

channeling, not only do you get the words, but you also get the energy healing that


http://www.myspace.com/theamayacenter

comes along with it when she allows those energies to completely take over her body

and mind. After she is finished with a channeling, she will have absolutely no memory

of what occurred. Amaya and I have traveled together often, visiting several psychic

fairs, and I helped her to set up some private channeling groups out in Los Angeles.

She is not cheap, but then nothing that is top-notch is. Her rates are around $180 for

a one hour channeling.

After working with her for some time, I found that the Archangels were coming

through me fairly easily. You can view some of those channelings which are archived

at the Gaia spiritual community site.

Here are some of the more profound words of Isaiah:

"Dear ones, this place, and the realities above and below and around it, are moving up the spiral to the place of the color, the energy that has no color in it. The color of the energy that goes beyond all the teachings that you have now been given. Big things will happen on this planet, that will not perhaps be perceived as so much of goodness, and will accelerate for these Given Times. Three or four years from now, as each of you accelerate into that place of no words, and yet all Knowledge, no harm and yet all Feelings, no color and yet all Colors, there will be an equal acceleration of that which must be changed, you would call it destroyed, and there will be those who choose to leave this place. This lesson is more energy based than words for this evening. It has to be. Because where you go has no words to it as of yet. Only Love. That is the best word we can put there for it. Where you are now is much denser than where you shall be, if you will let go, allow, accept, enjoy, and Move Onward. The discomfort you are feeling as we are speaking is merely the energy. That is how fine it is. It pushes everything that will not sit with it outward from you. Many times we have been asked who we are, and there are many words. We can give you all sorts of stories, but the truth is what you are experiencing now is Who We Are, and Where We Reside – of a place that is well beyond your realities right now, and yet a place where you all have come from. Each and Every One of You. "

-ISAIAH, April 20, 2007 Channeling, through Amaya.

Further Learning

1. The Spring of Hope - Messages from Mary by my friend, spiritual healer Carolyn

Cobelo. A nifty little book with beautiful divine messages from Carolyn's channeling

sessions.



http://coyotesong.gaia.com/blog


2. Listen and Download audio channelings from my friend and former business

partner, Amaya. She has been channeling the Archangelic energies for nearly 30 years.

To this day, I continue to see her as the most profound channel I've ever encountered.

Her work is not for the faint of heart. The entities she channels know everything

about you and cut right to the core of what you need to hear, often with great humor.

3. View some of the interviews I did with Amaya on my YouTube page.


http://www.youtube.com/imaginewellness


39Harnessing the Power of Chaos

Are you fascinated with earthquakes,

tornadoes, hurricanes? Do you find yourself

watching and being titillated by disaster movies,

like Airport, The Poseidon Adventure, The

Andromeda Strain, and the like? If this is the case,

you probably know and respect, and carry with you

the medicine of Chaos; that is, the ability to tear

things down in order to build things up. Some of us

are just hard-wired to understand, be fascinated by,

and “carry” the medicine of chaos.

I should have known that I carried the

medicine of Chaos simply from the title by my first

book, written at age 11, and called, simply, and

dramatically, “Tornado!” Here you can find the

highly advanced, 6th grade cover art. I actually was

determined enough back then in 1983 to write two full chapters. Needless to say, I

won’t be publishing this almost-masterpiece anytime soon.

The larger truth contained in that picture and why I share this story is the

intuitive recognition and acknowledgement, at even a young age, of the destructive

and medicinal power of Chaos that is encoded in our human DNA. Later on, my

fascination with destruction and Chaos would lead to me, quite unintentionally, being

trained by the only two social scientists, at separate institutions and years apart, who

were working to apply the (at that time) novel idea that social systems are organized

according to principles found in hard science and in other natural systems. Many

thanks to Bud McClure for stimulating my inherent interest in Chaos Theory at the


University of Minnesota-Duluth, and for Edil Torres Rivera for refining it at the

University of Nevada-Reno during my doctoral studies.

If you're somewhat clumsy, disorganized, and find it hard to keep things clean

and in their precise place, then you’ll understand this section better than others,

because you live it! Everywhere I go, I am constantly tearing things apart. I myself

have been in two tornado’s and one of them almost was a direct hit. Earthquakes, yep,

been in one of those too; a 5.7 trembler while living in Reno. A Hurricane? Well, let’s

just not pray for that!

Without getting too detailed, chaos theory can teach empaths about how things

break up and come back together, and that includes us as empath individuals. Natural

systems are a good example of this. Sometimes, in order to be fully whole, empaths

must be willing to die to old selves, and be willing to endure having ourselves be taken

apart, sometimes through trauma, sometimes through intentional processes. However

you get there, when you come out the other side, you come out a stronger empath than

ever before; less likely to take on other people's negative energy and more fully

realized as a strong, healthy, conscious empath.

When you are embroiled in the midst of what seems like a sea of chaos, fighting

to stay afloat, and being battered by the powerful waves that slosh us to and fro,

remember, above all, that all of this movement brings us out stronger on the other

side. While it may not feel like it at the time, in the larger scheme of things, something

fundamental is happening to you, to your energy system, to your ability to process

energy, and to your emotional maturity. Bro used to say that we are like rocks in the

river. Sometimes the constant friction will smooth us out, like a shiny rock. The

friction itself wears us down, and, in the long run, actually smoothes us out.

Entrainment is a word used in Chaos theory to describe what Native people

know happens when people are together in ceremony. We move together. Literally.

You, as a sensitive person, know this better than most others. Entrainment is the

quickest way to move up Spiritually (and part of the reason why I use audio

technology to change brainwaves). If you are exposed to a certain frequency long

enough, you eventually change your vibration to match the frequency to which you

are exposed. This happens in interpersonal relationships, in student-teacher


http://empaths.unexplain.hop.clickbank.net/


relationships, in the workplace, in every single interaction in the world. The more

you know about entrainment, the better you will be prepared to change others to your

frequency rather than let them change you to their negative frequencies.

Did you ever stop to wonder why in history, at various times, there were scientists

working on the same ideas independently of each other? Nikola Tesla and Marconi

were devising the same devices to harness the (at the time) supernatural power of

electricity. This is an example of entrainment. It's the same phenomenon as women's

menstrual clocks beginning to tick in unison when they are living together for long

periods of time.

The more you actively use the techniques in this book, the more you will entrain

others to your positive frequency, the more people want to be around you, and the

more abundance and joy you bring into the world.

Action Steps

1. Engaging the Trickster Medicine

The medicine of chaos is associated with the Heyoka and also the Coyote.

Coyotes are constantly doubling-back on their trails and can fool even the most

experienced hunters. For some trickster fun, try speaking nonsense sentences in the

middle of an ordinary conversation with people you love. I do this constantly, and I

can't tell you how much enjoyment all involved receive. Huge belly laughs result, and

you'll practice your cunning and ability to trick. Believe it or not, being able to trick

someone is an important spiritual skill (of course, you are usually tricking the ego, not

the person, and it's always done for their own benefit). Heyoka tricking skills take

practice and your ability to invoke the inner actor in you!

2. Make a list of the things you want to destroy in your life. Keep these in a location

near your altar. Take the items that are listed on the sheet of paper, and then rip it up,

using quick, intense, near-violent bursts of energy. This will help you to manifest the

destruction of these qualities or things.

Further Reading:



1. Bud McClure –Putting a New Spin on Groups. Bud is my former professor in

Minnesota who introduced me to the concept of Chaos Theory. If you're in a

counseling or healing type profession, this book will be interesting to you because it is

specifically about how chaos theory applies to people and social situations, such as

energy exchange between people in groups.



40Harnessing the Power of Dreams

At one early retreat at Wolf's property, I woke up and asked the group of

students laying in their sleeping bags on the floor around me, “what did you dream?”

Karen reported that she didn’t dream. She then asked me the same question, and I

replied ‘I had very educational dreams.” She paused and grimaced. I asked her, she

didn't like educational dreams? She replied,“No, I don’t want fricken PBS playing in

my head all night!” We broke out into hysterical laughter.

If you're interested in learning more about yourself and how your spiritual

antenna operates, focusing on your dreams is an excellent place to start. The messages

contained in the dreamworld helps you decode and demystify the language of Spirit

and help you make sense of the energy and messages you may experience in waking

life. This is a language that speaks in energy, symbols, and feelings, and just like

learning a foreign language, it takes time and effort to perfect.

The biggest obstacle to mastering the language of dreams is an inability to

remember dreams. What most people don't realize is that dream recall is a learned

skill, and an inability to remember does not mean there is anything wrong with the

way that your brain works. It just takes a little bit of sustained effort and a few small

nighttime behavioral changes. So, do you want to heighten your dream awareness?

The answer that I hear consistently from my inner power coaching clients is a strong

yes!

If that is the case for you, then it may be helpful to realize that Dream Wisdom

is something that comes directly proportional to a) the strength of your intention and

b) the strength of your actions. If you already are able to remember your dreams, give

yourself a pat on the back! Only about 3 to 10 percent of individuals regularly

remember their dreams. For the rest of us, it's a skill that takes perseverance and hard


work. Your dream "muscle" becomes stronger with intention and especially with

action.

Every night we have an opportunity to connect with our Highest Selves, our

Guides, & our Guardians. In order to connect with those sources of information, we

need to make an effort and show Spirit that we mean business! Over the last 15 years

of dream study, I've discovered some effective and simple techniques for helping to

cultivate Dream Wisdom. You may want to try some or all of these suggestions. With

that in mind, here are some concrete action steps and behaviors that will help you on

your quest.

1) Just before sleep, actually voice your intention to remember dreams.

While you may initially resist the suggestion to physically voice the

words, I have found that it is more helpful than simply saying it mentally.

There is something about engaging the vocal cords that helps to

energetically program your nervous system to carry out your wishes.

2) Create a dream altar on a table near your bed. On the dream altar,

place a dedicated dream notebook, several pens, and have a flashlight or

convenient lighting source. I have found that placing a quartz crystal on

the altar helps raise the vibration and helps you tune in to the Dream

frequency.

3) Date your dream journal entry before you fall asleep each night, as

this will help produce an expectation to remember.

4) If you do not mind the intrusion into sleep, you may want to set your

alarm clock to wake you at a specified point during the night. If you are

worried about waking a partner, drinking several large glasses of water

prior to bed may be another way to assure you will awake (and help you

to remember).

5) Establish regular sleep routines. This means starting your night of

sleep in the same position every night, as well as going to bed and waking

at the same time. Do not eat heavy meals before bed as this will interfere

with your sleep cycle.


6) Upon waking, gently probe your mind and pay attention to bodily

sensations. If you don't immediately remember, stay with a feeling, and

follow it deeper by asking the feeling to be amplified. Specific

recollections will often be triggered by focusing on vague feelings and

sensations. If you're in a different physical position that you were while

dreaming, try shifting your body back into that position. This will often

be enough to trigger recall. If you cannot remember an image or event,

stay with even the smallest feeling, try to make it larger, and it often will

trigger a memory.

7) When you write down your dreams, include as much of the sensory

impressions that come to mind: colors, images, sounds, tastes, people's

expressions, settings, feelings, and emotions.

8) If you do remember a dream, especially if it's in detail, make sure to

write as much as you can. If you're sleepy or feeling lazy while awakening

(common), then just use your willpower to bust through that. Even

though you are groggy and tired when waking, it's worth it to write as

much as you can before you forget. Here's some text, verbatim, from one

of my more amazing, and yet frustrating, dream journal entries. It

sounded like I had a near death experience. I had written the following:

"I actually died. I drifted away. Things were then neutral and then sped

up very fast into a vortex of life recall. Every memory of my life happened

very fast. I was in awe." My current reaction to reading this past entry is

"that's it?" Probably one of the most amazing dream state experiences I

have ever had, and I didn't write more? This vague entry highlights the

importance of taking those few extra seconds while sleepy to be as

specific and detailed as possible!

9) Some persons have reported that certain dietary supplements (for

example, lecithin, melatonin) may promote memory and dream recall.

Please consult with your health care provider before starting any

supplement or diet program.


10) Check out the International Association for the Study of Dreams. It is

the best source on the web for a societal and scientific focus on

dreaming. I joined ASD in 1996 and have attended past conferences,

which are exceptionally fun!

Symbols: The Language of Dreams

Decoding the language of dreams involves decoding the language of symbols.

Just as you use symbols to communicate with spirit realm, the spirit realm gives you

symbols every night that you must decode.

The dream dictionaries that you can get for a few bucks in the checkout lines of

the grocery store are okay for the average person with little spiritual interest. For you

as an empath, however, it will likely require a bit more nuance. You want to

investigate the symbols and the actions of your own dreams with deep precision, and

come to your own conclusion about what this means for yourself.

In dream interpretation, I've found that symbols are the most important way to

come to the message of the dream. The other important elements of good dream

decoding are feelings, actions, and how you react in the dream. If you are angry and go

off on someone in a rage, then spirit is trying to teach you to learn to control your

rage. If you are constantly running away from someone or something in your dreams,

this is Spirit's way of trying to teach you to stop running. Spirit always gives us

"lessons" in the dream school until we get it right. If we constantly are running from

someone or something in our dreams, this is a pretty good indicator that in our own

lives, we tend to escape from pain or our responsibility by running away. As we've

discussed, this is easy for empaths to do.

Technique: Dream Re-Entry

In meditation upon waking from a dream, close your eyes and go back into the

dream with your imagination. Using the above example, you could then create a

different, more productive course of action instead of running away. You could

confront whatever is chasing you and voice your lack of fear. You can point a finger

and shoot waves of White Light at whatever is persecuting you. You could engage it in


http://www.asdreams.org/

dialogue and ask it what it needs. If you practice this upon every disturbing dream,

your Earthly reality will begin to mirror the re-created dream. Giving your dreams

different endings trains your nervous system, so that the next time someone chases

you in the dreamworld, you then make different decisions. With sustained practice,

your days of running away from perceived threats will be over.

Some common symbols and their meanings:

Key: A tool to unlock a secret. A key is a symbol of power, and a symbol of being

able to fit. A key moves into a hole, and if it is the proper fit, then you unlock

some gift. If a key appears in a dream, it is usually a symbol that you are close to

learning some important lesson.

Hills: Often one moved uphill or downhill in a dream. This is important because

what you do in your dream is a reflection of the way energy moves in your daily

life. If you are moving uphill, it's a sign that you are fighting energy in your daily

life and perhaps examine what it is that is holding you back. If you are moving

downhill and out of control, then this means that Spirit is telling you that

perhaps you should slow down and put on the brakes in some of your daily

interactions.

Elevators and/or Steps: Same interpretation as hills.

Vehicles: These get you from point A to point B. A vehicle in a dream is a symbol

of movement. It can often be interpreted as yourself and your journey through

life. When a vehicle appears, it means you are wanting to move forward with

some project. Depending on how the vehicle reacts in the dream, it's a good

indication of how you are moving forward in your life with your important goals.

What do you need to do differently to get to your goal? Are you moving fast, out

of control?

A complete interpretation of dream symbols is beyond the scope of this book.

And yet for you as an empath, it's very important to focus on the symbols of energy

movement. How is the energy moving in the dream? Is it stopped? Is there too much


movement? Pay careful attention, and then do some dream-reentry to train yourself

for new, more positive outcomes.

In a word, our dreams are powerful. And with practice, it is a power that we can

indeed harness. With a sustained effort, practice, and a healthy dose of patience, you'll

be remembering your dreams and making your waking life richer because of it.

Further Learning:

Transcendant Dreaming: Stepping into Our Human Potential

Our Dreaming Mind - Robert Van De Castle. The authority on dreams.




41Using 7 Senses to Manifest Your Dreams

“It's already written down in the other lands.”

- From a diary entry, 2008.

This is another technique that was inspired by my mentor Lee Cartwright. It's

an experiential technique that will help you to bring about the physical manifestation

of all of your dreams. It will invoke feelings, memories, emotions, thoughts, and will

travel all around the corners of your Soul.

Getting Started

a) Select a positive, powerful representation of what you would like to call forth

into your reality. This inspiration might come from a memory, a waking fantasy, a past

experience, or even an actual dream itself

b) Know that your dream is already fulfilled, and it already exists in the other

lands. You are just going to be bringing it back from the other side into this reality

c) Know that your guides and anyone who ever has had this same goal either in

the past, now, or in the future is "rooting for you"

d) All the souls that will benefit from the fulfilling of your dream are especially

rooting for you

e) You will now be going inside this experience and move around inside of it.

Shine a flashlight into the corners of the experience by using the protocols listed

below. Your attitude should be one of curiosity and investigation. Pretend you're a

detective, private investigator, or an undercover agent, and that you need to find out

as much sensory detail as possible to piece the puzzle together


INVOKE THE 7 SENSES:

Use a combination of left versus right brain and left side of body versus right

side of body when doing all of these protocols. That is, you might smell with your left

nostril in one sequence, or view with only right eye in one sequence, all while hearing

only out of your left ear. Play with this left-right dimension as you sense the dream

into reality. It will attune your nervous system more quickly to bring your dream and

goal into reality.

1) Taste: Put your tongue on the dream and lick it. Lick your dream in

different directions, notice which directions and licks feel better and amplify those.

Become your dream. Pretend that your dream is now licking you. What is the quality

of the taste? Bitter? Sour? Sweet? How do you want it to taste? What taste do you

want to be left in your mouth when this dream becomes reality?

2) Smell: Smell everything about your dream, smell it through both nostrils

simultaneously. Then smell it through the left or right nostril only. Become the dream

and let the dream smell you. What do you smell like? If you're not happy with what

you smell, change it. What do you want the smell of your dream to be? Pungent?

Sweet? Like lilacs? Choose your smell and amplify the smells of this dream experience

3) Sight: Look at the dream for brightness, color, location, focus, contrast and

all the other indicators of sight. Become the dream and look at yourself; what are the

expressions of your body and on your face? If anything does not look right, change it

4) Kinesthethic (Static): Be still. If the dream is moving, change it to a still

image. Make this one image, like a looking at a photograph, and one image only. Play

with it until it feels just right, and then take one snapshot of the dream. If it didn't feel

right, rearrange things and then take another snapshot. Frame it, and then enjoy the

sensations as you view your masterpiece hanging in an art gallery.

5) Kinesthetic (Dynamic): This is my favorite part of the protocol; I love

doing this step. This is where you get to move through the dream. Look at your dream

from different angles, as if you're floating outside your body and can zoom in on any

detail. Where does it feel best to watch this dream? From above? From below? From

ground level? From the heavens? From inside a picture on the wall? From inside a


piece of furniture that's in the dream? From inside another person who is in the

dream? Move yourself into and out of different things and places. Walk forward, walk

backward, sideways, go up in the sky and pretend your a bird looking down on your

dream. What feels best?

6) Hearing: Listen for volume, beat, duration, speed, and dialogue. Who is

talking? Are you speaking? If not, talk with the dream. What do you hear back from it

when you ask it questions? Is it loud? Quiet? Still? Chaotic? How do your ears feel

when listening? Are your ears comfortable? Are they straining? Play with this until it

feels just right. Make it sound exactly like you want your dream to sound

7) Touch: What's the temperature like in your dream? Notice the warmth or

coolness, and make it just right. What is the response as you apply pressure and touch

your dream? What happens when you touch some of the objects or dream sequences?

Is it soft? Hard? What is the texture feel like? Does the surface of the dream have

depth? Ridges? As you run your fingers over the dream, how does it feel in your

hands? If anything feels wrong, then change it to make it feel just right. Become the

dream, and have it touch you. Become a character in the dream (or your Spirit Guide)

and have that person touch you. How do you feel from that person's perspective

touching yourself?

Reflecting on Your Experience:

What was the most significant aspect of this experience for you? How

comfortable would you feel sharing this experience with the person or persons that

might have been involved in your dream? Consider doing so, if there were significant

people in your dream. They just might get a kick out of hearing how they were

perceived, and it may deepen your relationship.

Was there any sensory system that you preferred or seemed to be more

enjoyable than the others? Was there any sensory system that held difficulty for you?

Please take note of which senses were the easiest, and which perhaps posed a

challenge for you. Then, ask your Spirit guides to help you with any senses that

might need extra support.


42Harnessing the Power of the Shadow Energy

“We were being exposed to a ton of harmful radiation. For some inexplicable

reason, I was getting zapped willingly with intense amounts of radiation. It

was almost as if I had willingly accepted this. I knew I was slowly dying as

this was happening. I decided to say NO and stop this process before it was

too late. I then went into the bathroom and had the biggest bowel movement

I think I've ever had.”

- Dream Journal Entry, November 28, 2007.

“One day you will fight demons,” Bro said to me over lunch, as I devoured a

Sonic Ham & Egg Toaster sandwich in between sips of his root beer, his favorite drink.

This was our weekly ritual, I brought him junk food, which reminded him of the

reservation and which he certainly wouldn't get from Paul, my spiritual brother, who

used to own an organic catering company, and in whose home he lived part time

during the times he was in Santa Fe.

I thought this notion quite ridiculous at the time, and even now, in times of

doubt, I think to myself “what demons have you ever fought?” while remembering a

great book title, “Every Person's Life is Worth a Novel,” that usually brings me back to

the core belief that each of us are here for a reason, and no one person's journey is any

harder, or easier, than anyone else's. Sure, we may have luxuries that so- called “third

world” countries don't have; and yet how much spiritually richer are they to fall asleep

on a bed that they themselves constructed? “We are very lazy,” my mentor Wolf told

me the other day. He revealed that every day for 8 years, he made prayer ties in

preparation to be a sweat lodge leader and carry the prayers of the people in


ceremony. This kind of discipline is necessary in order to be strong enough to face the

Shadow when it appears.

Before my vision quest, Wolf put us through an initiation ritual which most

tribal societies use at some level. He led us out into the woods, placed the three of us

in our own space, our own circle. And then he started to cover us in horse shit. I had

known this was coming, because I had heard the stories from my older brothers and

sisters, so I was somewhat prepared for it. Even when he sprayed us down with the

water, to make it even more juicy, I didn't flinch. The sun was shining through the

trees, and I chose to focus on the sun and the heat that felt so good against my skin.

Before long, I didn't even realize that I was covered in shit. Thankfully, Wolf was

rather gentle on us compared to other medicine societies. In the old days, they used to

defecate and urinate on the medicine leaders of the tribes, and, if the medicine person

didn't flinch, he or she passed the test.

Native people test their aspiring medicine people and healers because, in

ceremony, a lot of shadow energy comes up. It's inevitable that the "shadow warriors,"

as Bro called them, appear to distract you and to try to fulfill their own mission. I have

seen, as a participant-observer in countless ceremonies, how the Shadow comes up

during Spiritual Ceremony.

When I was at Rosebud Indian Reservation for Sun Dance in 2007, I never felt

so many spirits of suicide in my life. Every few minutes, I would feel the spirit of

suicide around in the circle as we danced for days and days to transmute that energy

and turn it into Light. Suicides routinely happen on the reservation, especially from

young people who have no purpose for living and would rather take a quick escape

from all the poverty and hopelessness. During the making of my first channupa, every

time I picked up the pipe, I would receive an unbearable, sharp, stabbing pain in my

head. It was later revealed that this painful spot in my head was where I was killed in a

past life. The light energy that I was creating was simply bringing the darkness to the

surface, and I was experiencing the pain. Unresolved or painful energy does linger,

and the only way that we can change it is to transmute it. I worked through that

painful fashioning of the pipe with a steely determination to not let the shadow

warriors win. They didn't.


During my recent vision quest, my channupa stem, which is traditionally made

from tree branches, was deemed not good enough by my mentor. I was heartbroken. I

had to make a new stem in a matter of 8 hours, which is a process that normally takes

weeks. I passed the test, staying up all night in the cold and rain, and got it done with

much help from my Spirit helpers. The Shadow was present, and just doing it's job.

What is important to note here is that darkness is an invitation to Create Light.

It's a motivator for change. When we are aware of shadow and darkness, we must do

everything in our power to change it with Light energy. “Unknown to itself,” said

Isaiah during a channeling one afternoon at my Albuquerque home, “the Shadow

serves God.” I never forgot that lesson; it encapsulated just about everything up until

then that I had to deal with in order to be clean. All the years of pain, the fishing hooks

in my chest, the sternum pain, the chakras being closed, the heart being tugged at, the

hurting in my muscles from other people, it was all for one thing and one thing only:

TO MOVE FORWARD INTO THE LIGHT. Period.

We as a collective are learning to see fear as an opportunity, not something to

ignore. Fear is natural, it is a part of God. Unknown to itself, Fear Serves God. And

the fear right now that we see on our television screens, well, this is all part of God's

plan; that part of each of us that KNOWS. Don't get caught up in the screaming

headlines. Don't get caught up in everyone else's fear. As empaths, it's especially

important that we monitor our television habits and make extra efforts to discharge

in nature.Darkness and Light go hand in hand. We must experience one polarity in order

to experience the other. If we didn't have darkness, we could not have Light. Often a

vision quest experience produces profound realizations about how Darkness is to be

respected and accepted, just like we accept anything else that is Created in the

Universe. After my sister Babette's vision quest, she realized that her mission in life

was to teach her fellow German people about toilets, about shit, and about the power

contained in such. She realized that the German people had been living in fear and

shame over the Holocaust, and had turned that energy inward on themselves in guilt.

Last I heard, she was back in Germany doing her education about elimination. Once

you can accept your own shit, you can work to heal and truly help people.


I write these words to offer you encouragement to endure and persevere over

whatever hardships that are currently testing you. Every time we make a decision that

moves us toward the Light, there are shadow forces that do not want us to Change.

Everything wants to grow and develop, including your limitations. It's not as spooky

as it may seem; there is nothing out there that can harm us unless we let it. The one

sure thing that will stop darkness from moving forward is by creating massive

amounts of Light energy.

After you set any healing intentions, there will likely be obstacles thrown your

way, to test you. Your job is to keep moving forward, despite the obstacles. If you fall

down seven times, you get up eight times. Do not quit. Do not let the shadow warriors

win. There is nothing that is strong enough to break you, unless you let it. Thank the

shadow for helping you to move forward. Acknowledge it, accept it, and then move

forward by holding the vision of the good things that you want to create.

In his book The Hanged Man, psychotherapist Sheldon Kopp shares the writing

of one of his patients who began to understand the importance of facing her shadow,

that is, her opposite self:

I know I'm better because I feel worse.

The nicer you are, the harder it gets.

The stronger I grow, the weaker I feel.

You can't give it to me because I already have it.

I can't be littler because you're not bigger.

The more lost I become, the clearer it gets.

I'm feeling confused, I must be in the right place.

I move furthest when I am stuck.

The more I cry, the harder I laugh.

The safest places are the most dangerous.

I can't make you love me, you already do.

I can't be special, everyone/no one is.

Given permission to rest, I work harder.


I may not get to win, but I don't have to lose.

Action Steps:

1. Take something that represents your shadow. Place it on your altar to befriend it, to

remind you that it's never going to be far away. Your shadow never leaves you; it only

lessens its hold on you. Then bury something that represents your shadow, to lessen

it's hold.

2. Write your biggest fears, your worst thoughts on a piece of paper. Put it near your

bed. Every day, take one minute to shoot white light at that piece of paper out of the

tip of your (air) pointing finger. It dissolves, and it eliminates its hold over you

3. When you are engaged in battle with the shadow, or when the ego throws a

tantrum, you can use jaw protocols in Chapter 18 to lessen its hold on you. Move your

jaw & use tapping protocols.


43 Harnessing the Power of the Vision Quest

"Humblecha," as it is known in Lakota, is one of the traditional ceremonies of

Native American tribes. It literally translates to "the seeking of a vision." In our

culture, many refer to this as a vision quest. In our clan, we simply call it "the VQ." If

you pick up any new age magazine today, you'll probably come across a shaman or

commercial business who will lead you through a vision quest ceremony.

Recently, Wolf shared his belief that the term vision quest is perhaps not the

proper word for this ceremony, and I tend to agree. The traditional vision quests done

in Native American ways were not done for the purpose or benefit of the person

seeking the vision. Those vision quests were done for one reason: to pray for the

people.

All of the vision quests of which I have been blessed to be a part have been

intense prayers in action. They have not been done for the mere benefit of the person

doing the fasting and praying. Instead, they have been focused on praying for the

community and the betterment of all of society. The ways in which I have been taught

call for at least six months of preparation with the carving of a channupa (pipe) into

which prayers are put forth. There are too many details to get into in this chapter, and

yet I write this because whether or not you have a spiritual teacher or mentor, you can

create your own ritual experience of seeking a vision.

Anyone can have a significant vision quest experience. The more preparation

you put into making your ceremony and praying for others, the more spiritual benefit

you receive in return. The Spirit world sees your efforts and your sacrifice and

responds in kind. The definition of sacrifice is different for everyone; it could mean a

day without food, it could mean a traditional four-day fasting experience, half a day,

or even two weeks as some of my friends have done. The point of the vision quest,


which is perhaps better termed a Prayer Quest, is to show the Universe and your

guides that you are earnest in your Quest to receive knowledge and wisdom that will

help you “walk in a good way,” as my Native elders say.

Vision quests are intensely personal experiences. During my first vision quest, I

felt someone or something underneath the ground knocking on my blanket. This was

not a hallucination, it was a real three-dimensional event. I then heard what sounded

like a group of squirrels moving underneath my blanket. Again, it was not

hallucinatory in the least, contrary to what I expected at the time. I have no rational

explanation for this; and Bro didn't offer one. And yet, with time, I have little doubt

that the deeper meaning of this vision will be fleshed out.

During my recent vision quest, I had absolutely no so-called "paranormal"

experiences. I simply was praying for my family, and that the circle be mended and my

family be brought together. I also received the inspiration to write this book and share

some of the knowledge that has been passed on to me. The very day that my vision

quest ended, I received word that my grandmother had pancreatic cancer. It

seemingly came out of nowhere; I was riding on a jet ski with her just a week before.

Over the course of the next six months, my family was indeed brought together in the

most meaningful way that I could ever imagine: to prepare, in a transparent and open

way, for the passing of my grandmother. We got a chance to say our goodbyes, and

this has been a huge blessing. She died on the very day that this book was released,

January 15, 2009.

I believe that it is helpful but absolutely not necessary to have a mentor lead

you through a vision quest. It can be done on your own. After all, why should there be

a middleman between you and God? There isn't. My friend Joaquin Torres, a high

priest in the African Santaria religion, says the same thing. “You don't need anyone

else,” he states emphatically. “No one stands between you and God.” Joaquin is

responsible for bringing Mother Meera to Santa Fe, whom he credits with changing

his views on the need for Spiritual teachers. Coincidentally, I met Joaquin because for

a time, we both had the same teacher, Bro. And now we are both mentoring ourselves,

relying less on others. To a certain degree, we've “graduated,” as I was told by one of

my Spirit Guides. And by that, I mean I've probably graduated from Kindergarten,


maybe even preschool. We've still got a lot of living and learning to do! First grade is

up next!

Action Step:

THE URBAN VISION QUEST PROTOCOL

1. This is a personal experience, similar to the time of Lent in the Catholic traditions,

where individuals pledge to make a sacrifice in order to receive Spiritual blessings. It

does not have to be a magical experience. Think of it simply as your prayer in action

2. Set a time on your calendar, preferably around the full or new moon, to have your

own Vision Quest experience. This ideally would be at least two weeks in the future, so

you can have sufficient time to prayerfully prepare

2. Set aside time to meditate and pray every day leading up to your experience. You

can't put a time limit on this. You'll know when you've prayed enough each day

3. Limit your showering and hair washing. Go as little as possible. This will allow

many forms of energy to accumulate on you, and will intensify your transmutation of

energy when you discharge it during your vision quest experience. The more energetic

build up you get on you, the more clean you will feel at the end of the experience

4. Keep a dream journal by your bed to write down your intuitions and dreams during

the time before and immediately after your experience

5. Pray for others first; pray for yourself second. This is a golden rule of spirituality

6. Go with as little contact with the "outside world" while you are preparing for your

time in spirit. Pretend you are a bear going into hibernation. When you do have


contact, be as neutral as possible. Limit your swearing, cursing, negativity, and other

bad habits

7. For your actual questing experience, find a place in nature where you camp out for a

minimum of several hours. Better yet, if you can manage it, find a spot to "camp-out"

overnight, without a tent. You want to experience and absorb all of the Grounding

sensory experience of nature, the stars, the sun, the planets, the birds, the sky, and

even the creepy-crawlers on the ground

8. If you'd prefer not to camp-out overnight, find a place in nature where you can be

quiet and not bothered by noise or other people for a period of several hours. Aim for

several hours at minimum to experience the deepening of your connection to Earth

and Heaven

9. Bring a journal if you'd like. If this would get in the way and cause you to think too

much, save that part for later and write down your experiences after the experience is

over.

10. When you're done; say your closing prayers of gratitude to the Earth and to

Creator for the experience. Then close off the ritual with a long, hot shower. As you

experience the warm shower or bath, make connection with the water spirit and ask it

to slough off any energy from your body and your energy field that you do not need

Further Learning:

Sacred Path Cards by Jamie Sams

Healing Quest: In the Sacred Space of the Medicine Wheel

Black Elk Speaks: The Life and Wisdom of an Ogalala Holy Man





44Harnessing the Power of Cycles

Empaths work hard. We're an earnest and vigilant group of people. We know

we're here for a reason, and we tend to not stop in our efforts to learn more, grow

more, and otherwise advance our spiritual connection and consciousness. You are

likely reading this book because you are sincere in your efforts to better yourself, to

learn more, and to make your Earthly journey as rewarding as possible.

And sometimes we work too hard. It's easy to get caught up in ourselves, like a

coyote, and take our spiritual efforts too seriously. Bro used to have a saying that was

well known throughout our camp. He worked us hard, for sure. And, at the same time,

he knew when to stop and relax. For all his talk of being a tough Spiritual warrior, he

also lectured us ceaselessly about red days and blue days. For every red day, that is, a

day of intense prayer or hard spiritual work, we must balance those days with the

exact number of blue days. Blue days are for cooling off and "taking er easy," in Bro's

words. Are you balancing your own red days and blue days? I've found that most of my

clients do not balance these days well. Hearing about blue days usually results in a

wave of pure relief from most of my clients. What? We don't have to take on the

weight of the world? We don't have to take on or lift others' burdens? Sometimes this

concept of the existence of blue days comes as a complete revelation and downright

shock!

Bro had another rule, which he called the 80/20 rule. If you were to look down

at your life, in general, from a larger perspective like "the grandpas" do, then you

should see yourself working roughly about 80 percent of the time. The other 20

percent of the time is for "sinning." And by sinning, he didn't mean turning into Satan

and pushing over old grandmothers to get ahead in line in the grocery aisle. Twenty

percent sinning means time for yourself: time to play, to have fun, to take a vacation,

and simply forget the Spiritual stuff. he 20 percent sinning is time to be a full throttle


human being and experience the sensual and sensory experiences that come along

with it!

We must live our life in balance.

If there is one word that would describe what I've learned over the last six

years, it is about Balance, Sacred Balance, and not letting the pendulum swing too far

in any one direction. As much as we may like to be passionate, we can't do it all the

time. We must sometimes be neutral. Sometimes we must hibernate, like a bear.

Balance means going with the flow in terms of all the flows and cycles: the seasons,

the times of the day, and honoring your own hour of power.

Hour of Power

Every human being has his or her own internal timing. Some of us are slow like

turtles, others are quick in action and word. Some have slow metabolism, and some of

us can burn calories just by thinking. You have your own unique hour of power; the

time of day when you are firing on all cylinders. For some people, including myself,

this is early in the morning when all is quiet, just before the sun rises. I can hear the

inner workings of my energy at that time; I can hear my heart beat. For others, it's at

night, when the energy of the moon radiates and permeates all of Being. For others

still, this is around 1 p.m., at the height of the sun's power.

What is your hour of power? Honor that time of day. Make a ritual around that

time of day, whether it's taking a break or throttling up. Give that time of day special

attention and ritual. Just as we have an hour of power, we also have the polar

opposite, that hour of day when we seem to drag along, when time slows down and we

feel perhaps like we're trudging through mud. What is that time of day for you? Make

a ritual out of that time of day as well, and give yourself extra support and nurturing

during this time. For many people, their hour of non-power is exactly 12 hours

opposite from their hour of power. Keep tabs on this and find out if this is true for you

as well.

Daily Time Cycles - The Importance of 3 a.m. & 3 p.m.

In general terms, 3 p.m. is an important part of the time cycle in each day.

Those are the times, again in general terms, where the energies are at their peaks. 3

p.m. is the positive peak, when the flows are smooth. Both Bro and Wolf both start


their ceremonies at this time. And 3 a.m. is the time where the energies are a bit more

chaotic. If you find yourself waking up in the middle of the night around 3 a.m. that is

likely no coincidence. You are likely responding to this time of peak energy flow. If

you're Heyoka by nature, you may find that 3 a.m. and 3 p.m. are reversed and your

energy is smoother and flowing at 3 a.m. than 3 p.m. Take notice of your energy, and

how it ebbs and flows near these peak times.

Indigenous cultures understand the cycles of the Earth and planets much better

than the Western, European based cultures. In those cultures, ritual ceremonies are

always performed in harvest with the full moon, and the new moon, etc. In the west,

we actually go against the flow simply by our flawed calendar. The Gregorian calendar

is actually off; that's why we must add a leap year every few years. The Mayan

calendar was in precise conjunction with the cycles of the planets and the Earth. The

Western calendar is forced to what we think time should be, and it has energetic

consequences similar to jet-lag, although we may not recognize them as such in our

own energy fields.

Action Step

1. Discover your Hour of Power

Take this time to pray, one minute per day. As time moves on, you'll find that

your connection to yourself, and your connections to the heavens, to your Spirit

Guides, and your Higher Self can be enhanced when you pray at this time of day

2. Honor the Moon Cycles

The full moon is a time of heightened energy and Spiritual connection. It is a

time where emotions and energy are at their peak. Police officers are well acquainted

with, and sometimes dread, the power of the full moon, otherwise known as "luna" in

Spanish. Hospital admissions, fights, murders, and crime in general are at their peaks

each day of the month during the full moon. The word lunatic derives from the

knowledge that the moon influences and causes sometimes crazy behavior.

The new moon, on the other hand, is a quieter but just as powerful time. It is a

time to start new projects, to refresh yourself with new energy, and to initiate new


beginnings.

Here's a great website that offers a real-time picture of the moon and the

current cycle. Begin to track "Grandmother moon's" cycles and her influence over us

and how we feel. As suggested in Chapter 33, write down the moon's cycle on every

diary or journal entry.

The website also offers a handy little calendar that you can use to go back to

any point in history and check what cycle the moon was in during important days in

your own (or society's) history. Find out if your parents, friends, or your siblings were

born under a full or new moon. You may be surprised to find that your most

memorable days often will correspond to within 1 to 2 days of either a full moon or a

new moon.


http://www.shetline.com/java/moonphase/moonphase.html

http://www.shetline.com/java/moonphase/moonphase.html

Somewhere down the road

there will be answers to the questions,

Somewhere down the road though we cannot see it now

Somewhere down the road there will be might arms reaching for you,

and they will have the Answers

at the End of the Road.

- Amy Grant, Behind the Eyes, 1997


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