Puma Fredy Quispe Singona Archives - Owl Medicine: Shamanic Healing

Ring of Fire eclipse – Image: Space.com

Eclipse

Right now, as I write this post, the ‘ring of fire’ solar eclipse (so called because it is an annular eclipse, meaning the moon coming between the Earth and the sun does not entirely block out our view of the sun’s rays) has begun. It officially began at 11:45 p.m. EDT this evening, will reach its totality (thereby creating the ‘ring of fire’ where visible) at 2:40 a.m. EDT on Sunday the 21^st, and will conclude at 5:24 a.m. EDT.

In case you are one of those people who awaken shortly after I’ve gone to bed, here is a site where you can track the eclipse online. One of the places on the Earth where the ring of fire will be visible is in the Himalayas. Just the thought of witnessing this eclipse in the rarefied air of Tibet or anywhere along the track of the eclipse, especially high in those massive apus (sacred mountains), thrills me.

I’m definitely starting to feel the siren song of faraway travel calling to me again.

Happy Solstice

This solstice had an auspicious start for me this morning. I listened to and joined in on a solstice ceremony with one of my favorite and beloved paqos (Medicine Man/Shaman in the Q’ero tradition of the high Andes), Puma Fredy Quispe Singona. The heart in his teachings is undeniable and palpable.

I encourage you to watch the recording, which I’ve linked to, above.

This evening, Karl and I sat on our porch in candlelight, the western sky still streaked with hints of sunlight following the powerful thunderstorms that barreled through an hour earlier. We took to heart Puma’s reminder that today, Saturday, June 20, 2020, was the last day of our ‘old life.’

We opened Sacred Space.

Sitting in the waning light of this waning Time, we each made a list of those ways of being or thinking that we’re ready to leave behind. Of course, this is a timeless practice, as we are always growing and learning, accumulating lessons – some more painful than others – and experiencing the lessons that come with living a life on Mother Earth. In other words, it’s the rare person indeed who finds they have nothing to release in ceremony.

After completing our lists, we took turns offering these lists to our solstice fire, holding space for each other as made our offering and cleansed our mesas.

Tomorrow is the Dawn of a New Day

I know that during this time we are in alignment with the Galactic Center of our universe. As the eclipse takes place, the moon’s blocking of the light of the sun enables other energies to have more of an impact upon us. Some might consider us more open or receptive to downloads of celestial blessings or upshifts in our energy.

As we both ‘cleansed our palates’ this evening of the taste of old energies, lessons, hurts, and beliefs that were holding us back or weighing us down, we also each wrote a list of those attributes we seek to bring more of into our lives. Feelings, aspirations, ways of being that we want to cultivate not only in our own selves, but also in our interactions with family, friends, colleagues, and beyond.

We tucked these lists of higher vibration into our mesas. Doing so is not unlike placing them under our pillows and dreaming them into being – although I might argue working with our mesas is even more effective and intimate.

It’s not too late to set your intentions for this New Time. Take 5 minutes, or 15. Do it now. You won’t regret it.

(T-524)

Incoming! Share! – Photo: L. Weikel

Grackle Medicine – Part 2

Knowing a good thing when they’ve found it, several grackles continued to frequent our feeders today. While they did become a bit petulant and mouthy as the afternoon grew long and the peanut coil emptied, this only reinforced my commitment to sharing with you the message of Grackle Medicine – Part 2!

And so it was that, when I checked my trusted and dog-eared copy of Ted Andrews’s Animal Speak*, the entry for Grackle made my jaw drop. I will synopsize here:

Grackle –

Keynote: Overcoming Excess and Emotional Life Congestion – Cycle of Power: Early Spring

Although the grackle is often considered part of the blackbird family, along with crows and starlings, it actually is not. It is part of the meadowlark and oriole family of birds. It is a large black bird with an extra-long tail. About its head and shoulders are iridescent feathers that change from blue to green to purple or bronze, depending on the light.

This coloring often reflects a need for those to whom the grackle comes to look at what is going on in their life differently. It says that situations are not what they appear to be and you may not be looking at them correctly – particularly anything dealing with the emotions.

Keep in mind that black is the color of the inner and the feminine. The purple and bronze coloring about the head especially usually indicates that emotions are coloring our thinking process. The grackle can help us to correct this.

During courting season, the male grackle will fold its tail, creating a diamond-like trough. This diamond shape is often reflective of activation. It hints at a need to become active in regards to emotional situations. Have we been too passive in our emotions? Are we simply rehashing and talking about them without doing anything to correct the emotional situations of our life? The grackle is a noisy, chattering bird and may be a reminder to quit talking and do something.

(…)

Grackles have inside their mouths on the hard palate a keel which helps them cut open acorns and eat them. We have often heard the expression, “It’s a tough nut to crack.” Well, this reflects the role a grackle can serve as a totem. Dealing constructively with our emotions and those people and things in our life which aggravate them can be a tough nut to crack. The grackle can show us how to do this.

Grackles love to live in pine trees. Pine trees are very therapeutic to emotional states. In a form of homeopathic medicine known as flower essences, the essence of pine can be used to help alleviate strong emotional states, particularly feelings of guilt. Again this reflects the grackle showing up as a sign to help you clear the emotions.

Emotions that are not dealt with can congest our life, aggravating or even creating congestion in the body at some level. The grackle can serve as a warning to be careful of this possibility, but it can also help show us how to prevent it from occurring. The droppings of grackles can serve to culture fungi which, if the wind blows, can cause a pneumonia-like infection.**

Most illness is symbolic. Congestion, especially pneumonia-like in appearance, can tell us that we are holding in our emotions. It can reflect a suppressed crying or a refusal to deal with certain long-standing problems and issues. (Have we neglected situations, giving them time to be cultured?) It can reflect a refusal to take in new life and new approaches to life, and so we become congested with old emotions.

The grackle shows us how to handle this. It can teach the proper expression of emotions. They can show us where excesses are dissipating our life force and facilitating a congestion of growth and movement. They can teach how to get back to creative and beneficial experiences and expressions of emotion.”

Grackle sampling – Photo: L. Weikel

So Many Take-Aways

Hmm. Wow. A lot of the information contained in this entry set bells a-ringing and whistles a-blowing for me.

First of all, who can deny that emotional overload hasn’t been an increasingly powerful factor in our lives as Covid-19 took root in our country? Since none of us have faced anything like this pandemic in our lifetime, we don’t have a first-hand frame of reference with which to deal with it. So our emotions are all over the place. And when we don’t know what to do with them, they clog up our systems; we become congested with emotion.

Secondly, I had to laugh at the admonition: “The grackle is a noisy, chattering bird and may be a reminder to quit talking and do something.” Umm, yeah. Point taken. Indeed, I think we’re all realizing the importance of action over words. Social distancing. Wearing face masks. We either do it or we don’t.

Biggest Confluence of Meaning

But almost immediately, I see how much more Grackle’s message applies in a cultural sense, in light of the George Floyd/Black Lives Matter eruption over the past two weeks. Indeed, it was easy to draw parallels between our current social experience vis-à-vis guilt and facing hard emotional lessons (tough nuts to crack) in the first several paragraphs.

But I nearly fell over when both the trauma of the pandemic and the trauma of systemic racism in our nation dovetailed in the paragraphs on illness. It is as if Grackle was signaling me with flares and sirens that our current experiences are a perfect storm for transformation. We must process our emotions instead of deflecting and burying and denying them as we have, as a culture, for 400 years.

The pandemic is a symptom of the guilt and shame we carry, collectively, over the shameful act of exploiting others based on the color of their skin. And this infection is, in a sense, carried on the wind (which is why face masks protect us all), yet the brutality and inhumanity we are confronting now has been carried on the winds of time.

A Lot to Contemplate

I’ve read this information by Ted Andrews over and over since I finally succumbed to Grackle’s insistence that I pay attention. And I keep gleaning additional perspectives and tidbits of information that can help us all navigate this cultural storm.

Probably one of the most important concepts we can all apply to our experiences at this point is something one of my most beloved teachers, Puma Fredy Quispe Singona, suggested in a FB broadcast today: We must take care of ourselves as we deal with these great changes. And beyond that, we must remember that Mother Earth is here for us. She wants to support us; she loves us; she stands with us; and she is always there to ‘back us up.’