I sit in the near silence of the sedative state the Earth feels after a fierce storm. The only sounds are the flitters of rolling thunder above and the constant yet ever changing steady drip of water falling from the roof back into the thirsty soil. It's calming, humbling. The rain hasn't frequented us much lately, as with much of the country. The world, in parts. Yet the familiar smell of rain, the sounds of the pitter patter dancing through your ears, and of course the feeling. The wet, cold feeling of Father Sky dropping his sweet nectar upon the Earth so our Mother may drink up its richness and continue to feed their children. So refreshing. So needed.
Tonight is a new moon. This is an ever-developing strong energy that is dawning upon us. As I stood in the rain, feeling the earth beneath my feet and the rain on my skin I giggled in the reminder that these gifts are to be rejoiced and celebrated in. After I sat and watched the lightning pair with the rainstorm in a harmonious conversion of art, I reminisced my perception of the sequence of events that followed a woman's sweat lodge. It was in Cherokee National Forest in the midst of 2012 national Rainbow Gathering. A powerful Cherokee Chief join us at the Gathering to grace us with his Spirit and also facilitate several sweat lodges. The first sweat lodge took place at night under the nearly full moon, naturally embodying the divine feminine energy. We were under the moon after all. In respect to the Ancestors I did not go in the lodge. I was joining the full moon in my own moon cycle, undergoing the own cleansing. I accepted my cleanse and danced outside the lodge around the fire holding space and intention for the women inside. The energy was powerful. The drum beat was strong, the men exuding their masculine energy were providing the women, the ultimate providers of life, a safe and sacred space. That night I understood with gratitude the power and beauty within masculinity. The need. With balance from the masculine, the feminine energy of the sweat lodge brought the storm, a deep intense thunder, lightning and rainstorm. The women had just finished the first round of sweat when the storm came. She came fast and swift. I attuned to her power and realized I needed to go to my tent to put the fly on. I left my close sister, who was sweating, and moved as quickly as my very normal human body would take me. However, it wasn't enough to beat the rain. And the flooding. Thirty minutes of near running up the mountain, struggling to keep tread in my cork-soled Birkenstocks and soaked to the very core of my body I finally arrived at my tent. My soaking, flooded wet tent. Everything was wet. I covered the tent and realized I couldn't sleep there that night. With clarity I moved back down the mountain to find a place to get warm.
When my pace slowed down so did my blood flow. I became extremely cold and had my mere halter dress and a barely-there scarf to wrap around my body, both soaked. I quickly realized the most important thing for my body was to find a fire and keep warm, possibly dry myself. To my upmost pleasure and blessing Fantuzzi was sweetly strumming his guitar around the first fire I passed. The energy drew me in to the flames, and there I became captivated, surrounded by 15-20 other people trying to get warm, too. My spirits felt broken, I was cold and depleted. I didn't know where I was going to sleep just yet, but I wasn't worried. I knew I would be taken care of. Gradually, through song, dance, spoken word, the warmth of the fire, and the sweet ethereal bliss blessings of Fantuzzi, my spirits rose, my scarf dried, and all the fear and negative enegy in the minds of the people under the great storm was transmuted. That night, with the beckoning of the women in the sweatlodge, the support of the men outside, and the thirst of Mother earth, the rain came and cleansed us. She cleansed the Gathering.
When I awoke the next morning, it was noticeable. The air smelled clean, the sounds were cheerful and the sun was shining bright. I awoke in the tent of a sister, one who upon hardly meeting me for the first time in this lifetime took me in to her sacred dream space, laid out her only sleeping bag, and gave me a pair of dry clothes to wear. I knew I would be taken care of. Mother and Father had worked as one to provide the Warriors of the Light with a moment to come together. To unite once again on this plane we walk. Unite we did.
So tonight, precisely 16 days after that experience, I gather under the new moon, la luna nueva, to attune once again to the strength of Mother Nature. It's easy to remember if you just sit and watch, listen and feel, that we are very small, minute creatures on this planet. It's humbling and important to remember that we are a small spirit working for a greater spirit. That at any moment she can take us out. And on the reverse, the yang, we must remember that when we are open to receive her, she will fill us up. We have the conscious ability to surrender permission to the greater spirit to work through us on this realm and be her physical body. On this new moon, under that soft trickle of water and gentle cool breeze from the ethers, I surrender. I fill myself with love and choose to grow as a whole being into the powers of the Universe. This is my new moon intention. This is my meditation. This is me.
Namaste. Bow. I love you.
Tasunke
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