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Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Journal Entry from the year 2000
Mary Standing Otter: This was written based on a short excerpt from my journal. The original notes were written about eleven years ago. It has never been shared in written form until now. It is a weak and brief description of an experience I had in ceremony after days of isolation and prayer:
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I had been praying for a long time. There was a GrandMother in the west of the Lodge who seemed to be almost tangible. She was dressed in lavender. I had and have seen her many times before and since. I kept closing my eyes, getting a ‘handle’ on her presence and then opening them. I wanted to see her with my physical eyes, perhaps to prove to ‘rational’ self that she was actually there. I could not. After a time I let go of the need to ‘see’ her. I closed my eyes I relaxed, and I allowed myself to be taken by the hand. Suddenly and smoothly I was out of my body and “landed” in the center of a Circle of GrandMothers. Though I could not see the GrandMothers behind me I could feel them strongly all around me and their presence was crisp, solid and completely unmistakable. They were only the slightly bigger than humans yet somehow seemed to be two or three times larger. I realized their power, influence and presence extended well beyond the border of what appeared as physical form. I felt my own expanded Self, smaller than they but still present. There was no fear, no feeling of weakness or comparison.
The GrandMothers around me embodied so much power each one felt like a force of nature in herself. One, covered in robes and skins seemed to be a mountain, solid as rock and yet filled with all the secrets that can live in caves and dark places. Another like an enormous ocean wave poised at the breaking point and so on…
I was surrounded by incredible power but I felt no fear. Their intention was only to hold me in the delicate balance of their individual forces and help me to understand that I was precious to them, as all women are, and that I had a truth to learn that hopefully I would attempt to pass on. And to the best of my ability to place it in words, this is what they conveyed to me:
“You (meaning myself and my peers) think you have arrived. You think you have gained ground in bringing women to an equal value with men in your culture and time, you think ‘equal pay for equal work’ means something but we tell you it does not. We tell you that you have barely begun. All the success you have rests on a fragile foundation. All the so called respect and rights you have gained are built on a foundation designed and built by men. You are striving to prove your worth to men in a game where they have written all the rules and designed the playing field. This can all fall apart in a moment because it is still their game. Understanding must be rebuilt from the ground up. It must begin in the womb and move forward. You cannot raise Truth, as a mother raises a child, when the Foundation of that Truth is a Misconception.”
“Teach the women, all the women, any women. Teach them about the transformative power of their bodies, about their blood. Help them to learn to leave behind the competition and beliefs that are crippling them. Teach them how to heal themselves from the inside out, to heal each other. Begin to rebuild the foundation so our expansion has a balanced foundation.”
The next ten years of my life would be about bringing these Bits of Knowing alive in myself, they would be about learning how to teach such things to other women by creating a sanctuary in which they could teach and heal themselves.
This was the catalyst for Otter Lodge. It was the conception of Sisters In Circles and I suspect, more to come…
There is much more. This is all for now.
Mary Standing Otter
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I had been praying for a long time. There was a GrandMother in the west of the Lodge who seemed to be almost tangible. She was dressed in lavender. I had and have seen her many times before and since. I kept closing my eyes, getting a ‘handle’ on her presence and then opening them. I wanted to see her with my physical eyes, perhaps to prove to ‘rational’ self that she was actually there. I could not. After a time I let go of the need to ‘see’ her. I closed my eyes I relaxed, and I allowed myself to be taken by the hand. Suddenly and smoothly I was out of my body and “landed” in the center of a Circle of GrandMothers. Though I could not see the GrandMothers behind me I could feel them strongly all around me and their presence was crisp, solid and completely unmistakable. They were only the slightly bigger than humans yet somehow seemed to be two or three times larger. I realized their power, influence and presence extended well beyond the border of what appeared as physical form. I felt my own expanded Self, smaller than they but still present. There was no fear, no feeling of weakness or comparison.
The GrandMothers around me embodied so much power each one felt like a force of nature in herself. One, covered in robes and skins seemed to be a mountain, solid as rock and yet filled with all the secrets that can live in caves and dark places. Another like an enormous ocean wave poised at the breaking point and so on…
I was surrounded by incredible power but I felt no fear. Their intention was only to hold me in the delicate balance of their individual forces and help me to understand that I was precious to them, as all women are, and that I had a truth to learn that hopefully I would attempt to pass on. And to the best of my ability to place it in words, this is what they conveyed to me:
“You (meaning myself and my peers) think you have arrived. You think you have gained ground in bringing women to an equal value with men in your culture and time, you think ‘equal pay for equal work’ means something but we tell you it does not. We tell you that you have barely begun. All the success you have rests on a fragile foundation. All the so called respect and rights you have gained are built on a foundation designed and built by men. You are striving to prove your worth to men in a game where they have written all the rules and designed the playing field. This can all fall apart in a moment because it is still their game. Understanding must be rebuilt from the ground up. It must begin in the womb and move forward. You cannot raise Truth, as a mother raises a child, when the Foundation of that Truth is a Misconception.”
“Teach the women, all the women, any women. Teach them about the transformative power of their bodies, about their blood. Help them to learn to leave behind the competition and beliefs that are crippling them. Teach them how to heal themselves from the inside out, to heal each other. Begin to rebuild the foundation so our expansion has a balanced foundation.”
The next ten years of my life would be about bringing these Bits of Knowing alive in myself, they would be about learning how to teach such things to other women by creating a sanctuary in which they could teach and heal themselves.
This was the catalyst for Otter Lodge. It was the conception of Sisters In Circles and I suspect, more to come…
There is much more. This is all for now.
Mary Standing Otter
Thursday, September 15, 2011
What is Shamanism?
Shamanic healing is a spiritual and physical practice based on the belief that all healing includes a spiritual dimension. Shamans use altered states of consciousness to communicate with other realms of reality. The shaman's journey is to help the patient or community to rediscover their connection to nature and spirit and then use that connection for healing and balanced living.
Shamanic Healing is a process that can be used to to unite our body and spirit and heal ourselves. We then become able to live in a more peaceful and aware manner. We gain understanding of life’s changes and events. We become able to restore balance, health and happiness and to be a positive influence in the world.
The essential perspective of the Shaman is:
~ Everything is alive. Everything has spirit and awareness.
~ Energy and matter are the same. Everything is vibration. Everything that exists is an energy system within a greater energy system.
~ Everything that exists is connected to everything else in a web of energy or life.
~ Unseen / inner / spiritual reality affects visible or physical reality.
The Shamanic understanding of health and illness focuses on personal power. Power consists of balance, health and self-knowledge. Disease and sickness results when a person's spiritual power is weakened in some way. Illness is caused by patterns of energy that are harmful for the individual. Shamanic Healing focuses on finding and changing these patterns.
Shamanic Healing works with the unseen to create changes our in everyday reality. It is a method for accessing the spirit or energy field of anything or anyone. Working within this system of perceptions, shamanic healing strives to create balance and harmony of the spirit for the individual, the community and All Things.
It is important to note that anyone can take part in the Shamanic Healing process. It is not a religion or club. It is a method of healing that can and has been practiced by Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Celts, Native Americans and all other peoples on Earth. mso-2008
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Dear Friends~
I invite you to also visit Sisters In Circles. A new website designed to help women sponsor workshops in their area that will assist them to form a Women's Group or Sisterhood Circle that will last long after the workshops are over.
"The teachings of the weekends will form the foundation for sisterhood but each Circle will be defined by the women who participate in it. Each Circle will be unique. While we use some language common to Native American Shamanic teachings we also use knowledge from other traditions and some teachings unique to Mary Standing Otter the facilitator of the weekends. This program is not limited to any lineage, tradition or spiritual path. Coming together in Sisterhood is a practice, not a religion."
sistersincircles.com
"The teachings of the weekends will form the foundation for sisterhood but each Circle will be defined by the women who participate in it. Each Circle will be unique. While we use some language common to Native American Shamanic teachings we also use knowledge from other traditions and some teachings unique to Mary Standing Otter the facilitator of the weekends. This program is not limited to any lineage, tradition or spiritual path. Coming together in Sisterhood is a practice, not a religion."
sistersincircles.com
Friday, March 25, 2011
moment by moment
If I think about my desire to release attachments an automatic list pops up my head of the many things I will have to release one by one. It begins with the most difficult and entrenched attachments and continues with habits and goes on seemingly endlessly.
If I simply practice presence I bypass the list entirely.
I am just here, moment by moment making simple choices and breathing...
If I simply practice presence I bypass the list entirely.
I am just here, moment by moment making simple choices and breathing...
Sunday, February 6, 2011
from:personal journal
Last night the Lodge was like a flying saucer spinning through space. Our prayers spun out among the stars and filled the sky with colored lights. Each person had a voice, each voice had a color, each color filled the sky with light blending and bringing white pure crystal into the night sky mirroring the snow on the earth below.
The mirror of earth called us back when it was time. The spinning slowed and we descended back into the winter night. The cold became a factor again, our bodies called out for care and we remembered to live in this world while we carried within us the space of the cosmos and all the potential that danced there.
Food tasted better, laughter was deeper, love came easier, my husband seemed bigger and warmer when I climbed into my bed. All became peaceful.
A rocket ride like that makes daily life sweeter...
Thursday, February 3, 2011
A Prayer
May I walk side by side with my sadness with the same dignity and grace as I do with my comfort. May I find peace in both. May I walk away from clinging to either.
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