THE HEART OF THE MATTER
by Dwayne Edward Rourke
He who lives from the creative
spirit in him lives not only in a determined, active and positive
manner; he lives in terms of the particular present moment in
the cycle of his individual evolution, and in the cycle of collective
human evolution as well. He acts within the framework of an evolutionary
whole, each moment of which has a particular meaning in terms
of the timely use of particular powers. Timeliness and the accurate
focalization of action upon the point of space which fits this
action are essential factors in significant living. Essential
also is adequacy in terms of the overall cyclic purpose of the
life of the one who acts.
The modern engineer, it is true, also considers these three factors--timeliness,spatial
accuracy and fitness to purpose--but he considers them in relation
to his machines rather than in relation to his life as a creative
participant in the organic wholeness of humanity and, ultimately,
of the universe. Thus many of his machines turn destructive.
They do so because they are produced and put to use by a society
that chooses to be forceful, rather than purposeful; that, by
seeking above all to control the automatic operation of forces,
has come to consider human beings merely as products of such
an automatic operation of meaningless and purposeless forces
of nature.
To be force-full is not to be purpose-full. Modern society today
functions for no really significant purpose except perhaps that
of generating more material comfort and abundance for an ever-increasing
mass of human bodies, thus making our planet increasingly uninhabitable.
Modern society demonstrates in the main a negative type of consciousness,
because any consciousness without a universal frame of reference
within which action can be seen in its timeliness, spatial accuracy
and fitness to cyclic purpose is a negative type of consciousness.
It is consciousness devoid of creative significance and therefore
spiritually empty, however great the intellectual and engineering
capacities stemming from it.
Dane Rudhyar
THE WOUNDING
Since before recorded
history, the ancient life path we call shamanism, has persisted
in all cultures of the world. And within those cultures, shamanism
has performed a vital healing function. Shamans themselves are,
in fact, persistent survivors, on a journey of self-healing and
transformation. They have overcome great personal crises commonly
known as "the wounding". From deep personal crisis,
each has emerged with a healing mission, and with healing tools.
ORDINARY REALITY
/ NON-ORDINARY REALITY
Fundamentally, shamanism
involves conscious use of the mind, to gain access to what is
experienced as another reality. It is possible to broadly distinguish
these two realities as ordinary reality and non-ordinary
reality. Shamans, male or female, are able, through a variety
of means, to move in consciousness, from ordinary everyday reality,
into non-ordinary super personal states of consciousness. It
is in these non-ordinary realms, in moments of resonant attunement,
that the shamanic journeyer receives expanded insight into the
human condition. It is this transpersonal insight that is brought
back to the community as a healing gift.
EARTH SHAMANISM
The term earth shamanism
is used to represent the contemporary manifestation of this ancient
and enduring tradition of transformation and wholeness. Transformational
objects and tools are now gathered from far and wide, providing
the opportunity to cross-culturally blend the best of many disciplines
and local traditions. It is with these resources, charged with
creative meaning, that the Earth Shaman endeavors to fulfill
the common shamanic mission: to heal the human family of its
self-created ills, and to bring this family back into harmony
with the rest of the planet.
The many ills of modern life need not be enumerated here. However,
it is important to acknowledge the instinctive urge for transformation
that resides deep within the hearts of so many of us. Each of
us must come to grips with this urge and must act accordingly.
We know that our very lives depend on it.
In coming to terms with this transformative urge, we may find
that the prospect of taking a healing journey is frightening
and uncomfortable. Most likely, the pervasive (and therefore
largely unconscious) world view we grew up with, shelters us
with familiar and secure beliefs that make unfamiliar realities
threatening. To truly experience the transformation of consciousness
in store for us on the shaman's path, however, we must move beyond
the limits of our acquired conditioning, into the void of unknowing.
MANDALA: THE
PSYCHIC VORTEX
From the point of view of Earth Shamanism, the time for transformation
is now. For those people called to this path, many qualities
are required. Among them are courage, vigilance, committment
and a willingness to be shattered and reassembled, again and
again. We need to craft a lifestyle that will support us in discovering,
and living, our true heart's desire. It is only in this way that
we will embody the purpose for which we were born. For it is
in the inner sanctum of a lifestyle devoted to ongoing transformation,
that we can be brought into closer harmony with the deep ecology
of life on this planet. It is an ecology based on our profound
inter-relationship with all Creation, seen and unseen.
CHAKRAS
Male or female, journeyers
on the shamanic path, realize that they not only have tangible,
and touchable, physical bodies, but that they also have non-physical,
"light bodies," which include subt1e-energy vortices
commonly known as "chakras". These subtle-energy vortices,
are nodes of activity for the reception, assimilation, and transmission,
of multi-dimensional life energies.
Each chakra focuses energy into specific areas of experience.
For example, the sixth, or brow chakra, deals with the power
of imagery and of creative visualization. The fifth chakra deals
with all manner of self-expression and communication.The fourth
chakra deals with issues of the heart and of devotion. Third
chakra issues center on personal power and the release of joy
or anger. At the second chakra level, we deal with our sexuality
and the lifestyle that releases our sexual energy in various
ways. The first, or "root" chakra, deals with issues
of survival and primal trust.
We are able to safely and consciously extend our awareness into
these areas of experience, through se1f-disciplined spiritual
practice, over an extended period of time. Mayan spirituality
is meant to help in this process by providing symbolic guidance
and support on the journey.
THE PSI BANK
According to Mayan teachings,
human history is shaped by multi-dimensional galactic beams emanating
from the center of the galaxy (Hunab Ku). These galactic beams
have been energizing and orchestrating the global memory matrix
of human life on the planet for aeons. Known as the global brain,
or PSI bank, this memory matrix is potentially accessible by
all humanity.
It is in this PSI field of consciousness, that archetypes of
human evolutionary transformation and change are stored. One
of the many ways of accessing these codes is through the hieroglyphic
code languages of Mayan spirituality. By applying these languages
to our own lives, we are able to better understand our place
in the evolutionary flow of life.
TZOLKIN
Much of Mayan sacred
science is contained in one significant spiritual tool: the sacred
calendar or Tzolkin. The Tzolkin is a potent reference point
on any shamanic journey. Through learning to use the powerful
symbolic language of the 13 numbers and
20 hieroglyphs of the Tzolkin, each person today, has an opportunity
to understand more fully the forces that are acting upon them
and available to them at any given moment of time. In this way,
that energy and information is brought to Earth as an empowerment.
The Mayans believe the energy and information of the galactic
center to be a high form of intelligence, channeled through the
Sun, to Earth, passing first through the cyclic, and highly specific,
focusing field of the Moon. The constantly changing phase of
the moon provides us with a visual index of this channeling process.
It is this lunation cycle focus, that gives us conscious, up-to-the-minute
access, to the down flow of galactic energy.
THE LUNATION
CYCLE
Although the Tzolkin
has been used by our Central American ancestors for aeons, we
need not limit our use to what has gone before.
It is with this realization in mind that I prepared myself, in
1985-'86, to embrace the Tzolkin in a way that was compatible
with my own spiritual practice. That spiritual practice is based
on a newly-emerging tradition of transpersonal astrology pioneered
by Dane Rudhyar,
and elaborated by him, for over 75 years of sustained creative
output.
In 1973 I had encountered Rudhyar's book The Lunation Cycle.
It had set me on a course of inner spiritual development that
aligned me with the cycle of the changing
phases of the moon. Looking back now, over the many years
since first picking up that book, I realize that what Rudhyar
facilitated for me, was personal access to a fundamental cosmic
principle: cyclic periodicity. This is the principle associated
with the number 9, and with the great myth of the redeemer figure
of Mesoamerican mythology: Feathered Serpent.
Cyclic periodicity is manifest in the lunation
cycle (the complete cycle of moon phases from one new moon
to the next new moon), and represents a very tangible spiritual
tool for the creation of harmony on a global scale. For it is
a tool readily accessible to everyone on the planet, and is one
that combines easily with another powerful metaphysical tool:
synchronized co-creation.
HOPI
In 1976, I was shown
how these two principles could be powerfully united, when, I,
and many others worldwide, participated in a global ceremony
devoted to healing the Earth. Through that single ceremony, wherein
local earth healing ceremonies were simultaneously conducted
worldwide, all of us participating, were initiated into a planetary
domain of collective co-creativity that continues to this day.
Hopi Indians led that first ceremony as part of the United Nations
Conference on Human Settlements, here in Vancouver, Canada. They
had encouraged people worldwide to join with them, at the exact
time of the full moon, to telepathically merge in a united act
of honor and respect for the Earth as our common sacred home.
Hopi assured us that through prayer, ceremony, and the heart,
we could, "together with all nations, protect both land
and life, and hold the world in balance."
I was so deeply empowered by the truth and beauty of that first
ceremony, that I have endeavored, each year since, to hold an
event, of similar quality, in the same area. And over the years
since taht first ceremony, hundreds of other people, from all
walks of life, here and abroad, have joined with me in this form
of spiritual communion. As a result, the power and simplicity
of the Hopi message continues to emanate out, into the planetary
community. That message continues to act as a healing force,
as others take up these same spiritual tools, and begin to facilitate
their own healing rituals. In this way, lunar cycle, by lunar
cycle, the sacred work continues. And it has been my experience,
that this spiritual work is not without its surprises and unexpected
gifts.
THE NEO-MAYAN
LUNAR CALENDAR
SACRED GIFT
FROM A RADIANT FUTURE
On the morning of March 5 1986, one of these
unexpected gifts came to me, when, in a flash
of intuitive insight, I entered spontaneously into non-ordinary
reality, and "saw" how my life path, aligned as it
was, to the mystic spiral of the lunation cycle, was now guiding
me into the much broader realm of consciousness symbolized by
the Mayan sacred calendar, the Tzolkin.
So empowering was the effect of this initiation, that I was compelled
to release myself from the limitations of a now ill-adapted lifestyle;
and to move on, in peaceful attunement to the other-dimensional
guidance of the sacred calendar.
As a direct result of staying with this process over the many
moons since, my inner life has opened up dramatically, revealing
domain after domain, of sacred knowledge. Concurrently, my outer
life has changed dramatically as well, providing me with adventure
after adventure, into new realms of experience.
NOVUS ORDO SECLORUM
Through the death of
countless limiting beliefs, I have experienced revelation of
a unitive convergence of human consciousness unprecedented in
human history. The image you see here, is meant to evoke this
spiritual domain of consciousness. It is a domain of consciousness
accessible through alignment to the mystical qualities of number
7.
In this image, visual
components from a variety of sources have been consolidated in
order to evoke the presence of this inner spiritual domain. It
is named: Novus Ordo Seclorum, meaning New Order of
the Centuries .
INNER/OUTER
The appearance of this
New Order, within the context of my own life, has simply been
the coming into outer manifestation, of an inner spiritual tradition
into which I have been spontaneously initiated. As an initiate,
I am charged with the task of facilitating this manifestation
through whatever means are available to me. In this way, with
my heart fixed on the inner domain, I act. I am in the world
as "heartist", shape shifting toward fulfillment, the
seed ideas gifted to me by spirit.
And it is intended by spirit, that I "re-member" myself,
as a mystic "pillar of heaven", vibrating here on Earth,
to the mystic power of number seven.
MYSTIC POWER
AND THE TEMPLE OF THE FEATHERED SERPENT
When we choose to align
our own lives with the qualities of number
seven, we are brought ever-more-fully into alignment with
the vertical, central channel at the core of our being. This
vertical sequencing of energy centers is commonly known as the
chakra system. Within this model, the human heart resides at
the fourth, of seven levels. It is considered to be the meeting
ground of heaven, above, and earth, below. It is the home of
the "witnessing consciousness", the "observer-operator"
whose most immediate function is to simply be an open vessel
for the marriage of spirit and matter.
To dwell in one's heart, is to dwell in compassionate awareness.
It is to find in oneself, a full and complete resonance to the
unity of life. "Following one's heart" refers to following
the course of one's deepest awareness of truth and beauty, for
the heart is fed on these things.
NUMBER 7
The key to accessing
the tremendous scope and power of this central channel of consciousness,
is mindfulness of the present moment. For if we are truly
committed to being aware of the present moment, we are able to
move beyond the many distractions of life, into realms of authentic
being, aligned with our true identity.
In summary, we could say that seven aligns the axis of our open
mind to cosmic order. What comes to us as a result of that alignment
is a matter of mystery. How we deal with it, is a matter of choice.