The Shamans Circle

In October of 1961 my daughter Robin was born, in February of 1963 my daughter Shelli was born and I was so happy to be a father. They were my life and I cherished every minute of it. Then life took a turn and my girls were taken away from me for a very long time. For years I couldn’t function on their birthdays as I missed them so very much. Life goes on and children grow up and you pray that they will come back into your life but you really have no choice. The Creator may bring them back or choose to keep them away. All you have is today and what it offers you. I tried many different things to ease my pain, drugs, alcohol, running, hiding, but it wasn’t until I entered my first sweat lodge that I found the answer to my pain, faith. Faith was  the answer for me and I started to practice faith with out doubt. For with faith without doubt all things are possible. I came to realize that I would not always get what I wanted but I always got what I needed. There was a purpose for my girls not being in my life and it is part of the reason that I am the man I am today. I came to understand that I don’t have control of the big picture, but I do have control of what is on my plate this day. Happy, sad, angry, mad, forgiveness, love, compassion those are some of my choices each morning and I am GRATEFUL that I have a choice. I choose happy, joyful and above all GRATEFUL. Gratitude sleeps next to me each night and I give thanks for what I have this day. Gratitude also reminds me each morning to be joyful that my eyes opened for yet another day.

Now after way to many years I have my daughter Robin back in my life. With her comes two grandsons and a great granddaughter. Am I bitter and not having them in my life for all of those years no, am I angry at not having them in my life, no. But I am GRATEFUL to have them in my life this day for that is what the Creator has given me. So my suggestion would be to be GRATEFUL that your eyes opened for yet another day and give thanks for what you have. Tell those you love that you love them or you will be telling them how much you miss them.

Balance and Blessings

Faith with out doubt means that YOU know that you will get just what you need always, not always what you want but what you need. This is not an easy thing to really understand as a human. You will get love, security, money, food, shelter, clothes, friends, rain, sun. You will not get more than you can handle. When you trust in your faith your whole life takes on a much different light. It is easier to laugh, cry, be joyful and you are always grateful when your eyes open in the morning. There is no such thing as a bad day. I have been asked a number of times, “how can you ALWAYS have a good day? Well each day is just what I am suppose to have and I have a choice to either embrace it and make the most of it or be miserable and I choose to embrace it. It is always my choice and I choose to be happy, joyful and above all grateful. I know that there are lessons in each day if I look for them. Most of the time they are right on the surface but we are too busy to see them. We get in our own way and think that we are in control. Well we are not and we only have what is given each day to deal with. Not yesterday and not tomorrow but TODAY. So today I am grateful for my friends, Kathy, Sarah, Peter, Roseann and many more and each is special to me. Faith without doubt means that we do the best we can in raising our children and the time comes that we must let them go. We will always be there when they stumble and fall to put on the bandages and tell them everything will be ok. But we have to let them go. There comes a time that we have to put ourselves first. When we do that everyone around us benefits for we are healthy, confident, excepting, understanding, tolerant and loving. And above all we are JOYFUL So my suggestion is to look at ‘FAITH WITHOUT DOUBT and see how you can start bring it into your life. You have a choice.

Balance and Blessings

Letting go is an easy thing to say but a hard thing to do. Some of your past that you want to let go seems to just hang on. Why is that? Perhaps it is because we are comfortable with it even though we want it gone. It is part of who we are. If we let go that means that we have to fill that hole and that can be a scary thing to even think about let alone do. But when we hold on to old hurts, abuse, and pain of any kind it just holds us back from becoming the person we want to be.

When we are sick and tired of living in the past, and it’s darkness, and tired of giving our power away we can then let it go and change can happen. That is what we do give our power to all the dark issues of of the past. It is a hard thing to let go of , often, because it is so much a part of who we are. Well if you want to grow you have to let go.

This is where faith comes into play. A spiritual path now becomes an option. With faith all things are possible and letting go can then happen safely. For some of us our past defines who we are, but is that who we want to be? If not then it is time to look at change. Letting go is looking at the person in the mirror and asking ” are you the person I want to be?” If the answer is no then letting go of the past has to be part of the change. When we let go we redefine who we are and “we” decide who we want to be without all the darkness of the past hovering around our necks. So are you happy with your life the way it is? If the answer is no then it’s time to let go of the past and move forward in the light. If you look you can find a Shaman, or a healer to guide the process and the rewards will carry you for the rest of your life.

Balance and Blessings

I have been asked to talk about my Alligator teaching. It is about consequences and the fact that they are not always what you expect.  I will explain.  We all know that if you throw a stone in the water you will see these beautiful circles. Each stone more circles that is what we expect. Just when you are comfortable throwing these stones and think you will throw one more and that stone hits the alligator on the nose and he bits you on the ass. It doesn’t seem fair as all you were doing is throwing stones in the water.

That is how life is at times. You do a simple action that “you” don’t think is a big deal but you hit the alligator on the nose and he grabs you by the ass and won’t let go. Here is an example of what I am talking about. A underage man drinks a beer. No big deal right? Well he backs his car into another car and the police are called. Now it is a big deal, the alligator has him by the butt. He doesn’t think it is fair because he only had one beer but the consequences say something completely different. So before we act perhaps we should think about what the consequences  can be and see if the action is worth the gamble. This is my talk to young folks that for what ever reason have gotten themselves in trouble, and none thought consequences was fair.

Balance and Blessings,

I have been asked how did shamanism come to me? It was placed in me during a near death experience when I was a young man 21 years old. I was hit by a drunk driver and was not suppose to live through the night. During that night I was given gifts from the Creator and when I awoke the next morning I was changed. I didn’t know how but I knew that something was different. It started me on my search that lasted for 20 years.

I knew that I had gifts but I had no one to talk to about it with. My family kept sending me to shrinks and they kept trying to give me drugs. Which I refused to take because I knew I was ok and did not need them. So I traveled and searched.

In 1985 I moved to Northern Wisconsin and was a sled dog racer and  made vintage beaded jewelry and placed it in local business. One was a store that specialized in true Native American arts. It was a wonderful and unique store and the owner and his wife were really nice to me. The man Greg was a very spiritual man and respected the native artist that he bought from. I was in his store one Saturday looking at some very old native made ceremonial pipes. When Greg came out of the back room and saw me there he said “I have something of yours.” I thought that he had a check for some of my jewelry. He then walked out and handed me a pipe. He said that he had, had this pipe for a number of years and that he would know when the owner (carrier) when they arrived. He said “this belongs to you” and I just looked at him for a minute. “I don’t have the money to buy that pipe but thank you. No this belongs to you and I want you to have it.” It turns out that my pipe is a men’s healing pipe, a warrior’s pipe because I am a veteran. Well that set me back on my heels for sure.

From that point it took about a year for me to meet an Ojibway pipe carrier and then a while longer before I asked to be his apprentice. It was the start of  me becoming a shaman. I have studied with Ojibway, Cherokee, Apache, Mexican shamans and a Buddhist monk. I now do healing work with hands on energy work, crystals, and sound vibration healing with a didgeridoo. And the journey continues today.

Balance and Blessings

Some times there are door ways that open to us humans. We can either walk through them or not walk through them. Most of the time they open for spiritual advancement. Not everyone is ready for spiritual advancement these doors will be life changing. Life changing like you can’t even imagine. It is up to you to take this big step as no one can walk it for you.

Door ways have opened that I have chosen to walk though. It is an act of faith to do that, and know that you will be able to handle what ever is placed on your path each day. The key here is each day. Not yesterday or tomorrow but today for today is all we really have in the big picture.

Doorways at times allow us to see who we really are through the eyes of others. Sometimes that is not so pretty. Here we thought that we were a wonderful, caring human only to see that others didn’t think that way about us. Doorways that open can be our teachers and guides. They take us to our past even past lives so we can get to the root of our issues and stop feeding old, ugly, disrespecting  thoughts and to take back all of our power. When we allow these old thoughts and voices to push us to bad choices in our lives we give them our power and feed them a little. A little is all it takes to keep them alive within. When we recognize what we are feeding and stop our lives can then change for the better.

Are you strong enough to walk through doors that are opening for you now? If you look you will find them.

Balance and Blessings

Original vintage beaded necklace

It has been a couple of days of angry words and attacks on me by someone that I love unconditionally. They were the result of me asking for respect. Not a lot to ask for from someone that says they love you. At least I didn’t think it was a lot to ask for. But when the other person is only concerned about themselves it then becomes a big deal.

I have walked in those shoes in the past and needed guidance on how to handle this without causing more anger and pain. The answer in ceremony was”Kindness and Compassion.” So instead of jumping into the shaming and blaming game I am showing only kindness and compassion. When I walked in those shoes I would have been shocked at being handed kindness and compassion when I wanted to fight. I will pray for this person as they have darkness within them but can’t see it at this time. I am quite sure that the other person feels bad, abused and not treated fairly. My only suggestion would be to please look in the mirror. I don’t want to see anyone feel that way let alone a person I love. So the next time you have a disagreement treat it with, Kindness and Compassion, a little goes a long way.

Balance and Blessings

Admin Note:  This is an excerpt from my TruJournal at Token Rock posted just before the end of the year, 12/29/2009.
~ Sarah Nash

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Gary & Dolly

Gary has been my teacher in many lives. We have walked the same path countless times. Truly, we have an ineffable connection that extends to our friends and family. MOST of that is just Gary. You’ll not meet a more interesting, real, sincere, genuine or humble man.

Because Gary has more confidence in his little finger than most of us will possess our entire lives, a few people wonder if he is an egotistical man.
These are people who don’t know him very well.

Never mistake confidence for arrogance. It has been my experience that those who are unable to discern the difference are the very people who need an ego check of their own. Typically it is people who are incredibly insecure or even filled with self loathing who follow this line of questioning.

Spend a few deep moments discussing anything with Gary and he’ll give you a personal spin on your own reality guaranteed to shift your paradigm. He will heal you in ways that you didn’t know you needed healing until it happens.

Healing. This entire year has been about healing. The power of healing energy.

In October, a friend of mine allowed me to travel with and use a small crystal skull she called ‘Dolly’. Dolly had been charged with the energy of the infamous crystal skull ‘Max.’ It is uncertain how long Dolly accompanied Max, but we think it may have been quite some time. There was a bit of a misunderstanding regarding Dolly in the beginning of our travels with her, and it has been cleared up. Sadly, there are some very jealous and unenlightened folks who attempted to thwart and block the positive energy around Dolly & Gary. I’m happy to say that they were unsuccessful in thier silliness.

I want people to be absolutely clear that Dolly was probably manufactured on an assembly line somewhere — she is not one of the ‘missing skulls.’ She is simply a piece of rock that was charged with Max’s energy. However, what is absolutely stunning is what happened when I brought her to Gary. You can read more about that in my previous journal entry.

I’d given Gary a large crystal I’d been holding on to for some years until I ‘found’ the proper owner. From time to time I will be given messages and I have long ago learned to ‘listen.’ This particular crystal resonated with me, but I knew it was not mine. I was simply meant to hold on to it. For six years it lived on my sacred altar space. Waiting.

I nearly handed this piece of rock to Gary the day I met him! What I did do was bring it with me for my first ‘Wednesday with Gary’ and said, ‘This is yours. It’s been waiting for you.’

Now I know why!

Gary, Dolly & Joonah in Ceremony

Dolly and Gary’s crystal were buddies from the very beginning! They sat in ceremony together and shared information. I’d been looking at Gary’s crystal for six years in all different sorts of lighting. I had never seen a prism in it UNTIL it sat with Dolly. It now has a rather large and very noticeable rainbow at its center. Information was passed and given from Crystal to Crystal because Gary is a powerful healer. His energy and his gifts are enhanced greatly by the vibrations of these fabulous rocks.

Again, my inner scientist had to do quite a bit of research on crystal formations, their chemical compositions, what they are used for in daily life and more before my inner mystic was allowed front and center. Then my inner mystic did a great deal of research on the healing elements of crystals, and how we are conduits for their energy if we are open to it.

Gary laughed at me, because he doesn’t question anything. I question everything.

A belief is something we hold in our head, faith is what we hold in our hearts.

We sent Dolly back home to her caretaker and while we were sad to see her go, we know that her essence, her energy and what she represents is alive and kicking with Gary still!

Gary was told that the crystal I gave him is called ‘Joonah’. Joonah accompanies Gary in his healing ceremonies and magnifies any positive energy in the room. I lost all final shreds of doubt when I handed Joonah to my very skeptical 18 year old daughter a couple of weeks ago.

It was stunning. Within seconds of holding Joonah her face lit up with and she laughed out loud.

‘What?!’ Gary and I said, unsure of what had just happened.

‘It … it … it’s electrical! It made my whole arm light up!’ Aside from what I’d witnessed on a personal level, this confirmation was complete. I was thrilled that Gary would be able to continue Dolly’s message and intent through this new medium. If Joonah could reach my daughter, Joonah could touch anyone.

Healing.

We all need healing in one way or another. The earth needs healing. It’s easy really. There are no hidden mysteries, just things, events and energy that we can’t wrap our heads around. Yet. Try explaining to someone in the Middle Ages that in the future we would be able to pick up a small piece of plastic and have a conversation with someone across the ocean in real time. The miracles we cannot explain yet by any source other than faith or magic are just a little of what Gary Lockwood has to offer you on your journey.