Simply Incredible

Sometimes, I am frustrated by the pace of these MooseBoots travels ... the learning, the living, the knowing.  Other times can provide unanticipated visions and glimpses.  This morning, after taking care of the animals, I looked up to see a red-tailed hawk soaring over head.  It was a beautiful Father's Day gift.  The sun back lit the wings, showing a red-orange glow through the feathers on the wings, providing a striking view of the black bands near the wing tips.  It looked similar to this.

I tried to follow it as long as I could, but lost it behind some trees.  I was very grateful for the gift.  Then, it got better.  I turned and spotted another lower and closer.  I watched it for a few seconds and decided to share the gift.  I ran into the house and shouted, "Come outside quickly!"  The whole family got to see this beautiful sight.

Red-tailed hawk medicine includes seeing the bigger picture while staying grounded.  The message is that one needs to open his/her eyes and pay attention, be aware. It is something I have been trying to be mindful of.  I thought about the message, but really there was really nothing unusual other than the fact that we don't see them every day.  I chalked it up to a being given a precious gift of seeing these beautiful creatures.
 
Wendy and I have been trying to make our yard more environmentally friendly ... composting, chem-free gardening, reusing and recycling.  Wendy purchased this book and has started a forest garden.  One of the things she's been talking about for years is hazelnut.  They grow wild in our area, but we never seem to find them ... except once in a friends recently purchased yard.  Last fall, we planted two ... silly people thinking Mother Nature needs our help!

We have had a plant growing under our oil tank for years.  Initially, we mowed it down.  Of course, it was more resilient than we were persistent.  So, as we were admiring the billions of immature black raspberries, we noticed something on this particular plant.  Here are some photos.

Apparently, all of this time, even after we planted two more hazelnut bushes, we had wild hazelnut growing in our yard.  At this point, Wendy squealed with delight.  It seems that the Universe, Great Spirit, provides the things we ask for.  She quipped that we should ask fro something cool ... like avacado.

Little Fire Faery and I walked down the road looking at the things growing in the brook behind the house.  We noticed all of the Jewelweed, Goldenrod, Violet, and some raspberry canes, that we threw down there, thriving.  I continued to wander down the road and found this.

More hazelnut, growing wild just 50' from our yard, right on the edge of the road.  So, I turned around and saw this, on the other side of the road.

I guess the Earth does know what to do.  Nature is incredibly resilient and will, like our bodies, heal herself, when given a chance.  She is also generous with her abundance and love.  I am awestruck by the things I see and learn on this, my MooseBoots journey.  Thank you, Earth Mother and Great Spirit for helping me, and encouraging me, to grow to my fullest potential and for allowing me to share these blessings and teachings with those open to receive these gifts.

Ravens Vs. Crows

I stumbled upon a web site, eNature.com, a while ago, when I was looking for some plant identification stuff.  I also found they have a lot of good information about animals.  By entering you zip code, you can get specific listings about the plants and animals in your area.  Check out the site. Leave a comment here, at MooseBoots, and let me know what you think - maybe you know of similar sites specializing in certain topics.  I would appreciate the link.

Regardless, I signed up for their mailing list.  I just received the latest mailing and thought I would share this article, because I mentioned Ravens a few posts ago. 

 
Raven, if you did not know, is a trickster like Coyote in many traditions.  Here are a couple of stories I found to demonstrate this point. 

Have I mentioned that I want to learn to tell stories?  I am convinced that storytelling will be important for my growth and subsequent sharing of this wisdom, especially healing stories.  I would enjoy any stories you might have and wish to post here to share.  And so, my journey continues.

A New Milestone

The focus of my MooseBoots journey is very wide, ranging from learning native skills to practicing healing.  It is really a study of "technologies" that we, all being from some indigenous tradition if we dig back far enough, have lost.  It is this wisdom that helps us all to live more satisfying and fulfilled lives, to be a part of the natural world, which, in my opinion, is alive with spirits, love, and purpose. 

The reality is that this knowledge, these beliefs, have been dying, slowly fading from the general consciousness as fewer and fewer people practice, or even acknowledge that it exists.  I have read, but have no first hand experience, that even in some native tribes the youth show no interest in learning these practices.  As such, elders carry these treasured teachings to their graves and beyond into the spirit world.

There has been a resurgence of interest recently.  There are people, my teachers for example, teaching these skills.  Perhaps because of this renewed interest, there seems to be some shift of consciousness occurring in the world.  Maybe, the inverse is true.  It has been suggested that the world will end in 2012 ... the Maya calendar starts a new cycle on December 21, 2012.  Perhaps, it will simply be the beginning of some new phase of humanity.

Last weekend, I achieved a milestone, a part of my conscious shift out of the mainstream goals and focus.  I completed my initial 2-year training program in Shamanic Studies.  During the course of this training, I was introduced to techniques of healing, divination, working with death and dying, and general spiritual practice.  Regardless of any cosmic shifts that may be occurring, it has triggered a mental shift for me.  I will be continuing on, with Wendy's encouragement and support, to the Graduate Program in Advanced Shamanism and Dreamscaping the New Earth.  I am also planning on furthering my studies of herbalism, storytelling, and general native skills.

As I've said many times, knowledge gained but not applied is useless.  It is even worse than useless, it is wasted.  I do not wish to waste these precious, treasured teachings.  I will continue to practice these things, to use this knowledge to help make the world a better place.  I do not claim to have any super-human power or to be an all-powerful shamanic practitioner.  I am simply a man who would like to help any way he can.  I am but a cub in my awakening, if you need assistance,  I would like to help in any small way that I can.  Send me a message.

Thank you for following along on my MooseBoots trail.  I am grateful for all of the gifts I have been given, especially the love and support of Wendy, the Girls (Big Little Sister, Little Fire Faery, and Precious), my family and friends.  Of course, my gratitude also extends to each of the connections I have made on this path.