DIY: The Ultimate Amulet

For a Little Edge

Heart, mind, spirit and body go into the creation of potent, functional amulets and talismans. The trick is adding a little more science to the project and mixing it with the best from the superstitious side of the question.

And let’s not forget a healthy dose of doubt and skepticism. We need that, too, because the only way to answer the doubt and skepticism is with knowledge and understanding.

Amulets protect and Talismans attract, basically, but it depends on where you ask. There are other names too, like fetishes, charms or enchantment. One thing they all have in common is their energy. No matter what we’re asking of the charm it will take some electromagnetic energies, to either attract or expel, won’t it? We could call them all magnets.

A well-built magnet/charm/amulet can indeed provide an edge and all the “ingredients” are in your reach.

We started working with amulets like most. We saw a rabbit’s foot or a lucky horseshoe and had to ask. Some of us leave the superstitions as we grow up. Others try to figure out why the superstition exists.

Blind belief in an object is ridiculous, but belief in oneself is not. We’re here to talk about programming matter to align with energy. That’s more leaning on ourselves, than the object we choose to magnetize. Maybe that’s not so ridiculous?

Of course, we can’t forget the role of faith. Faith gives us courage to go on when we don’t know what lies ahead. But after a little light comes in, it’s another kind of action that makes things work. Faith helps you persist, but persistent programming gets results you can see.

First: what do you want from your amulet, talisman, fetish or charm? There’s a world of choices here, but let’s agree on one thing. We want it to be functional. We want it to save energy, create energy, bring light to the dark places, increase ability, make good luck, find you a mate, whatever it is you seek from that long list of choices.

Next, let’s bring another critical element to our project from the world of Physics – science! As you well know, I am no scientist, so I’m only giving you the most basic explanation of why this programming works. If you want deeper scientific explanation, it’s out there. We’ll even help you find it.

Newtonian Physics is the obvious science around us: gravity, speed, math, mass, volume, exact and quantifiable, all that. If two scientists in different corners of the world perform the same experiment with all the same ingredients, they will both get exactly the same results. That’s the trusty scientific method that proves over and over the immutable physical laws of our planet.

However, in Quantum Physics, where one uses all but invisible items like waves, particles, atoms, neutrons, those two scientists might start the same way – all the ingredients and the procedures exactly the same, but guess what? They will not get the same result!

When science saw this, they naturally had to figure out why results were different in the quantum field vs the Newtonian field, and guess what they figured out. The results were different in the quantum experiments because both scientists had different intentions/desires for the result!

In other words, the quantum scientists were able to influence the ingredients of their experiment!

Both sciences manipulate matter and energy, like human beings do, in the daily come and go. Considering that science studies what the rest of us do, feel, want and need, and considering that we humans do manipulate matter and energy all day long, seen and unseen, do you see where you might be able to program some matter to align to your energy?

The key is programming within the bounds of reason. Reason is expanded, yes, but isn’t that what living is about, expansion toward our potentials?

If you’ve decided you want to do this, create the ultimate magnet then please find an arrowhead by Jan 8, 2021 when Part 2 of the Ultimate Amulet publishes. Any rock shop will have a supply of arrowheads. You can get three for $1 or pay $1000 for an original American Indian flint. No matter what arrowhead you wind up with we help you create a fine, functional, amulet, with an edge.

The only catch, and this wasn’t exactly planned this way, but neither were the dates of our coming new evolution: on 12/25/20 hempcredible.org becomes michaelparracallas.com, Legacy and Story. We’re making some changes and hope you will click us, opt-in our mailing list, explore us and hopefully stay with us. Until then,

MAKE ART

Why Are Spiritual Practitioners Called Seers?

Or What is Magic?

The work of this traditional altar happens mostly in the spiritual, invisible, worlds that surround us. Some worlds surround us closely, like our skin or our organs, or the ground beneath us. Other worlds start right beyond that, like with the next person, the house next door.

Perceptions makes a better descriptor of what we mean by “worlds” but both words point to the limitless potential of human beings and the magnificence that is our birth right.

The difficulty with “worlds and perceptions” relates to another special word, “reality.” One must determine which perceptions are real – real to you, actually having to deal with it, or not real, a temporary creation of our mind which only appears real, but which we’re not really dealing with.

For the longest time we were a practice composed of healing practices and what we loosely described as magic. We came, however, to an evolution, where our understanding and use of the word magic transformed. We saw enough real worlds to realize that the magic we thought we were performing turned out to be, very simply, perception and its use.

We perceived that our routine day could be described as our perception engaging with other perceptions to, hopefully, make things better for all the perceptions.

Arranging, adjusting and aligning perception follows many roads. We can pray, of course, or we might use a huevo, an egg, to cleanse a person, what we call a limpia.

Sometimes we will undertake a spiritual/mental journey to determine what is wrong and while we are there, in that mental/spiritual place, seeing what is wrong. When we see it, we fight, or run, or reason with the spirit or energy that is keeping our patron from actualizing her life. Other times we retrieve energy from our patron’s past or get a glimpse of his future.

Spirit can show us a plant, or a saint or even a healing ritual that can help our patron, perhaps some advice and counsel. Our ancestors can make themselves known in a journey.

When we see something, we might apply Reiki, a Japanese healing tradition that involves both touch therapy and serious spiritual work. Maybe we will perform a soul retrieval for this person, or a ritual/ceremony.

Then, of course there’s the Tarot and other divination techniques, which apply from time to time.

All of this, as you can see, involves sight. Whether we heal by using the sight of an x-ray machine or the spiritual sight of an old lady, it’s the seeing that makes the healing. It’s all a matter of perception. Once we see it, we’re 90% done with the healing!

That covers why healers, magicians, doctors, are called seers, but it doesn’t cover how seers can make change simply by seeing the change.

It was through healing practice that we found this “magic,” this “science” we can’t explain because we don’t have enough vocabulary.

The answers we found through healing made sense; there was some logic, 2+2 level stuff, to using certain plants in certain ways, considering the properties of the plant and the person. We asked more experienced healers, we asked Spirit, we looked at books, tried to make sense of it.

But when we started getting results that just didn’t make sense, results that some call “magic,” with all the connotations, good and bad that word brings, our idea of perception took a somersault into the unknown.

In what people mostly refer to as imagination, we were able to perform what many might call bullshit, or others will call miracles, assuming they believe it even happened. Let me explain.

A client, Mary, comes in complaining of a rash that hits her head and face. She’s been to the doctor who continues to tell her nothing is wrong.

That is a typical scene at our altar. We work on lots of things the medical people can’t see yet, or at least not with their methods. They, of course, see things we don’t, as well.

We’ve tried some remedies already, herbs, supplements, we even brought in a naturopath: no relief. I decide we should journey it, see what we can about the situation.

What we call the journey, our critics label mere “imagination,” but you decide. After a little drumming, a blindfold and staying well-focused we’re in the journey.

We step into a myth, a story-land where symbols and images tell us the story. In Mary’s case we came to find her in her bed sleeping and we see a troll next to her bed running ugly fingers in a cloud around Mary’s head.

Being in-journey I’m not alone, so Coyote, one of our busiest totems, jumps into the scene and chases that troll right out of Mary’s room. While they are gone, we do a “imaginary” limpia on Mary and her room and ask about how that troll got in there.

On the way out we hear something about giving it a week or so. In other words, we come out thinking we didn’t get an answer. The scene we saw played out, and participated in as well, described the situation for us, which we already knew. As for the cause, we saw something about her parents’ lifestyle at the time, but something we’d work on after we find some relief, first.

We’re sure trolls exist or existed, but we’ve never seen one other than in journeys. Here they symbolize devourers, souls who eat the essence of other souls. Overall, the journey would translate to something related to a fear or a problem in her life – something that points to a stress draining her body’s ability to handle a rash. It’s become an illness pattern now and we need something that will change the pattern, like a remedy. That’s why we felt we got nothing, but we were wrong.

The rash disappeared three days later and months later has not returned.

Over time we saw many things like this, where the action/myth in the journey, played out in real life as a cure, a change or an answer – the things people seek at an altar like this one. These came without regard to remedies or herbs or even action other than in our so called “imagination.”

We think it’s important to open a dialogue about this level of perception, aka seeing. Our next article, and the last in Hempcredible.org for a while*, will invoke some of this “magic” for DIY: The Ultimate Amulet/Talisman. Meanwhile,

MAKE ART

* EVOLUTION ALERT

20 we will become michaelparracallas.com. We will continue to share our Legacy Experience and all the Story it inspires. Please visit and consider trusting us with your email once again. May your Sun always shine.

Evolution Alert

All Of Us Are Evolving, After All

Time moves through us and we move through time. The Altar taught us to see that movement, study it, slow it down enough to make adjustments, try to be in rhythm with the world around us. This is one of those moments, but not just for us.

The Planet and everything thing on it, dead or alive, is evolving. Fast.

Sure, on one hand, that’s one of those things you can just say, “Duh, of course it’s evolving,” but if you take a close look at what’s happening in you, around you, maybe you can see evolution turning.

No matter where we live on the planet, we are learning things about ourselves, some of them not too hot, but some of the things we’re learning speak to possibilities: human possibilities. Our history shows that when times get hard, we are capable of some amazing things. Why not now?

Here at our altar, we are coming face to face with our limitations, determining which limitations we can overcome, and which ones just have to accept. While words like retirement and legacy can bring sad, defeated thoughts, we’ve opted to see the opportunity in our limitations, or at least try to.

We divided our experience in this process into Limitations, Lessons and Opportunities. It didn’t happen overnight, but the labels helped us mark progress along the way.

With the world upside down, chances are good something is pushing on you to look at it or change it. Maybe you too are facing limitations as you catch glimpses of possibilities? Wondering which way to go? Trust us, you’re not alone.

Limitation: Selling hard goods. We tried once more, in honor of what Hemp and Marijuana have done for us, to sell hard goods, in this case hemp. The message was clear: keep your day job. You have anything like that coming at you? Something you’re doing, maybe, that’s not quite working?

Lesson: While we won’t move, physically or spiritually, without CBD, Hemp or Marijuana anymore, and we invest up to $200-$300 per month, marketing and integrity in marketing take up lots of energy.

Is it the best place for us to put our allotted energy? Is it time for us to put that energy somewhere else? Are we doing something wrong?

Limitation: We can’t see the number of people we used to see. Hate to admit it but we just don’t have the energy to see that many people anymore. We make sure we have the spark when we commit to work, but just can’t handle the rushes like we used to.

Is it a weakness or is it a strength wanting to be used differently? How about you? Anything on overload?

Lesson: We notice that our teaching is reaching new levels. We used to help by doing the necessary work, of course. Now we can help by teaching others a more permanent way, giving them something useful, thereby hopefully and gratefully, passing on the legacy of our experience.

Lesson extension: We realized that our work ethic, our routine, while appropriate in our times, now needs to give way to something else. The fear of “something else” is real, but we began to remember ideas and projects we had put aside in order to make a living. We remembered, for instance, we had wanted to write it all down, and we wrote much of it, too – the experiences, the teachings and the stories it all has inspired.

Our humble, unauthorized altar, after 35 years, has given us both fiction and non-fiction, reams of it. We can’t guarantee how useful or entertaining it will be, but it is genuine (and naturally we’ll do lots of editing).

Opportunity: Now we see liberation from peddling goods, and perhaps a better use of our time and energy. While that’s really exciting for us, we have to admit we’ve missed a few opportunities either by circumstance or a bad choice.

Lesson: If there’s one skill we need in our, and yours, Dance of Evolution, it’s the ability to seek, recognize and take opportunities to build a better life.

So, we’re taking the leap. As of 12/25/20 HempCredible.org and CanaCura.org become michaelparracallas.com. We’ll continue to share our Legacy Experience and the Stories it inspires, along with our new online course, The Quest.

You’ll be happy to know we won’t be peddling stuff and sending countless emails about products that may or may not work. Instead, we’ll go deeper than all that, and take on this evolution thing with all we have in motion. We’re all in that Dance of Evolution anyway, aren’t we?

Above all, we don’t want to lose you. We hope you’ll explore us and maybe trust us with your email yet again. If you’re inclined to ride along with us, please visit michaelparracallas.com for a preview and to sign up for that first blog, 12/25/20.

It’s a time of change and evolution that we human beings find ourselves in. Time to see some things we don’t like, and also time to see the immense opportunities being placed before us.

Our First Holiday wish for you and your circle: May you Shine in your Earth Walk, and remember

MAKE ART

Is Cannabis Divine?

Or Any Other Plant, For That Matter?

The Garden of Eden, subject is one of the world’s oldest stories. We’ve learned it through religion, of course, but now for a while we’ve also learned of Eden via science, as well. Our point of view is like that: a little of both, science and religion.

We all know the Garden was a paradise. Paradise, it seems, always has trees, right? The Story we’ve all heard focuses on one tree, but our Story is around two trees, and also, by the way, about two gods (as opposed to one we always hear about). Honestly, I wish the trees could tell the Story, then we wouldn’t be so confused.

One thing for certain, whatever Story you buy, the Garden of Eden is deep in our historical and future evolution.

Eve’s apparent guilt came because she was the first to catch on that she and Adam were human beings with the power of reproduction. That was previously unknown by what passed for humans before Eden. We still wonder, don’t we, what it may cost to take a bite from the the apple?

I think Adam took a little longer to figure it ou simply because women have more DNA than men. That’s just science. She ate of the Tree of Knowledge and that knowledge turned out to be how we figured out fire and wheel, babies and funerals. And Eve, and Women, have taken that hit, huh?

We know the apple came from the Tree of the Knowledge. We know that after Adam and Eve ate the apple, we – all humans from that point on – were punished by having to go on the hard Earth to suffer and die.

Wait! That happened because we learned, because we awoke from blindness to who we were? Really?

The other Tree, as many of you may know, was the Tree of Immortality, and well, clearly, we are not immortal, at least not as humans in the flesh. Our parents never got a shot at that tree.

Here’s where it gets good. The alleged single God, Enlil, had plans to take both trees out of Eden – in other words punish everyone there! That would have wiped us out.

However, there’s evidence that there were plenty of other gods around, and one of them was a brother named Enki, a god who knew that without knowledge the Earth and its new inhabitants would not survive.

This god Enki and his god wife were top scientists and developed a heart for the humans of Earth, wanted them to survive and flourish. Imagine.

However, the god that takes all the credit for being the one god, Enlil, was taking both trees, Knowledge and Immortality, from the face of the Earth.

Enki obviously couldn’t save Immortality, but he found a way to hide Knowledge so the human race could survive.

They hid it in plain sight, putting the knowledge in the trees and plants, the Plant People.

And here we are, wondering whether a curative plant, like Cannabis, is divine. I think we need to wonder which brother we should call God, Enlil or Enki. Until we figure it out,

Make Art

Altar Work: Deities

The Virgen Guadalupe and Santa Muerte

In sharing the central experiences of this altar, such as La Limpia, we can’t go without telling you about two female deities who provide love: its power, not the fantasy, and divine know-how – its science, not the superstition.

Along with limpias, most of our practice has a dynamic with these two Ladies; we need their direction, access and many times their Hands, to get it done.

The Virgen Guadalupe

The Mother of all traditional dancers of our lineage, the Virgen Guadalupe, represents more than a church figure. Most of our tradition centers around Her, whether you’re a dyed-in-the-wool Catholic or you know Her from Earth and Cactus, She’s the Main Vein.

What many call the Great Awakening or the New Age we call El Sexto Sol, the Sixth Sun, from long before the Spanish alphabet came to Mexico. Aside from saving our people from extinction by the European epidemics, the Virgen’s gift of Fertility has governments still worrying about our immigration habits. wOur stories say She leads the coming of the Sixth Sun.

Day to day She is the Goddess of Fertility and Love, to bring all the good possible from Earth, such as healing, crops, livestock, children, family. She first appeared at a place where the Aztec Goddess, Coatlicue, Lady of the Serpent Skirts, had been retired by the Spanish and the Catholic Church for over 100 years. The sacred place is called Tepeyac, nose of the mountains, comprised of three small hills, actually.

It was an ancestor of our last Speaker (king), Cuahtemoc, a humble church-worker by the name of Juan Diego, who first saw the form now known as La Virgen Guadalupe. The rest is history, as they say, and worth checking out I must add.

The Virgen Guadalupe, Coatlicue Tonantzin, is the reason we have an altar. She is the sustenance of a culture long a target of genocide. Her Hand and presence energize our making of art.

The Virgen, later,gave us permission to work with the Santa Muerte, Holy Death,a most controversial deity!

The Santa Muerte

Times were especially difficult. Our work was getting darker and more dangerous. We needed expert guidance and on-the-ground help in the darkness we were facing. Ground Zero.

The concept of death as a sobering force in the face of life is very old with us. Carlos Castañeda sums it up nicely, “In a world where death is the hunter, my friend, there is no time for regrets or doubts. There is only time for decisions.”

At the end of the day there is nothing like death on the planet. He, she, it, as your beliefs may lead you, stands alone. We met Her when we were overrun by regrets and doubts and we needed to get our Will back – yes, that free will that the whole world agrees we have.

With permission from the Virgen we began a now 12-year relationship with the Santa Muerte.

So, can awareness of our death be useful?

All the major religions and philosophies have thoughts and recommendations about death, at the very least. Some religions have an active practice around serious dogma or deity.

Like the Virgen, the Santa Muerte has pre-Columbian roots.

Mictecacihuatl was the Goddess of Death who guarded the bones of the dead and governed over the festivals of the dead – clear connection to Día de los Muertos, Day of the Dead.

We came to see that the power of death can do much of what the power of love can do. While the power of love is beauty and life, the power of will, defined by death, can also bring beauty and life.

I think all of us can identify with the idea that while we won’t take our Mother to some of the places we go, we gladly take our Big Sister who seems to fit right in those places. For us at the altar, the Santa Muerte brings a way to take light where light won’t go on its own.

This combination of these two Mexican deities is rare. For the most part altars in the tradition go one way or another.

Balance is a goal and a standard. Being in the thick of it we can’t always be objective about how well we do, but over three decades individuals and their families have found healing, a better way, help with the courts, a hand with ghosts, pain relief, power over addictions and moved on from a hard divorce. The list of knotty human situations is long, as you know.

So, as for the Virgen Guadalupe and the Santa Muerte,

Without them we wouldn’t be here.

In the name of the Virgen Guadalupe and the Santa Muerte we wish you a safe and happy holiday season. We’ll be talking, until then,

MAKE ART

Raise An Altar 2

A Simple, Solid Start

All Altars, simply put, exist in time, space, energy and matter. Some of them project desperation and fear, yet others are Divinity on Earth. The humans and the spirits that work the altar determine how these four elements manifest, so we thought it important to mention, since you already have an altar or are contemplating raising one.

In Raise an Altar 1 we focused on your authority to approach divinity, on your own, in your own way. Raise an Altar 2 focuses on creating a functional altar. Practical functionality is the difference between superstition and spiritual intelligence.

Four Elements, well in the range of your power, create and sustain the raising of an altar. Simply stated, in the spirit of true religious freedom: the use of Time, Space, Energy and Matter in the proper balance create dynamics, as opposed to creating a pretty altar with no focused energy behind it.

If you’ve come this far you already have some idea of what you’d like your altar to look like and what you want it to do, and that is as it should be. Here we want to help our altar become more than sincere. You have sincerity already. Now let’s grow sincerity into functionality.

TIME

Time, like the other three elements, offers both challenge and opportunity. You have to put time into this, effort, maybe cancel or reschedule something. Preparation time, Maintenance time, Prayer/Ritual time.

How much time, when and why should be well-considered – commit wisely, not under or over. At an altar that hums a minute stretches to eternity, if and when necessary.

SPACE

Space is critical, no doubt. Where can I put this? How much shelving, room, table space do I have available? How much space can I really handle properly, to make this happen?

Your Altar takes the Light into that darkness, to do righteous combat, to find the Light one needs, and Light that speaks to evolution, yours and the world around you. When that level of dynamics happens, it happens in a spiritual/mental space from within the physical space you consecrated.

ENERGY

How much energy are you willing to put into this? Are you willing to commit to a discipline? The energy you contribute here is energy you already use for work family, exercise, play and so forth. How much will you take from those things to work your altar? Will your altar work be worth the effort?

Energy – all things, including us, reduce to energy: this energy obviously counts, counts for you in some way. We each have a finite amount of energy we can play with. If you’re raising an altar you’re already thinking about frugal uses of that precious energy.

MATTER

The altar will require a few objects and the choices are up to you, of course. For much of your work you will use objects or representations of Earth, Water, Air, Fire in one form or another. These, by the way, are the “objects” that spark dynamics.

When we ask something of Divinity, we look for the blessing in the things we around us, which are indeed made of Matter, or, AKA, real. The acts you perform with your space, the time you give it, and the energy behind empower this matter to perpetuate the dynamics at your altar.

One More Thing:

An Altar doesn’t have to take your last penny. Give it the best you have but don’t overdo it, rather let your work, and the combination of these four elements, bring it, make it happen for you.

In Altar 3: Communication with Divinity we’ll speak in detail about the Divinity you and we call upon. And we’ll talk about some of the obstacles in that communication and how to turn that to greater awareness and into that functionality we’ve been talking about.

MAKE ART

The Fireplace

The Quest to Know: Lesson One

A Fireplace opens its doors to you one day. The Fireplace in question is known as “solid, dependable” in your community, but this Fireplace is also known for working with some “controversial” spiritual ideas and practices.

Anyway, through your own seeking, which is the way of all humans, you obtained entrance to the Fireplace.

You find, with a little concern, that your attention to reality – what, when, possible or not – is in back of your mind. Instead the myth you just walked into takes center stage.

A Shining Woman stands in front of you. From the regality of her carriage and the colors, furs and feathers she wears so gracefully, you are facing a Medicine Woman.

It seems she takes forever to speak, but if you had reality at center, you’d see it happened the moment you saw her.

Woman says, “We know you’ve been seeking, perhaps with enough fervor to do something about it. So, in the spirit of ‘Be careful what you pray for’, welcome.”

You want to answer, show your good manners, but nothing comes out. The Woman, however, has no such impediment.

“Lesson One, Niña: leave all judgment at the door, the family, the church, the boss, and particularly your own judgments of who and what you are.”

You manage to get half of “What?” out.

“You’ll need to do that if you’re going to master Lesson One.” Woman says and walks away, and the second teacher appears.

A Wild Man in loincloth, feathers and earrings, moving in long definite strides steps up and slams a palm into your forehead. No pain, but all gravity disappears, and you experience weightlessness, like the astronauts.

The surprise is how well you’re handing all this. The lack of gravity doesn’t seem to be affecting you at all.

Now there comes a tap at your forehead and you have the Wild Man up close, face to face. “What did you just have?” he asks.

“An experience,” you say, also surprised at the clarity in your mind, a clarity immediately challenged when you suddenly drop to the ground with a dirt raising thud.

“Lesson One,” says Wild Man, ‘Your experience is your teacher and your judge, should you need one. Experience, simply, is the only thing you take with you.”

“Sir, you mean be my own spiritual authority?” you say, happy you were able to say anything, but then, poof, you’re in the school cafeteria, with a Personal Plan index card sitting on your food tray. It shows five lessons with a checkmark on the first one: Experience.

You notice your tray has only empty containers, but you don’t remember eating anything, which is a perfect segue for the next teacher who just walked right out of Hogwarts into this cafeteria, which is suddenly full of students with empty trays. Your index card says, “Lesson Two: Called or Stalled?”

Conservative suit, dark gray tweed, matching vest, hanky in coat lapel folded perfectly, wearing classic round glasses with thin wire frames highlighting, again, the immense of amount of Hogwarts-ness. All of that seems to disguise the fact that Señor Hogwarts’ face is an explosive red: afraid what’ll happen if he takes his glasses off.

In a loud pompous tone – Scottish accent, maybe – the teacher says, “Students, names ending A through M report to the exam room to tell your Guides what your experience taught you…Again, I say, ‘to tell your Guides what your experience taught you.”

After a short pause, with students speechless, he continues, “Students with last names N through Z report to Lesson Two: Called or Stalled? in the first auditorium named affectionately around here, The Confessional.”

Nobody moves. Señor Hogwarts pushes his glasses up his red nose and says, “Experience takes the lead in this path you say you seek and is the only reliable judge of how you fare in this Quest. Forget that and you won’t make it to Lesson Three.”

“Now,” he says with an arrogant little sneeze, “’Calling or Stalling’ separates the wheat from the chaff in you. After that, you’ll either be walking forward or healing the path so you can move forward. Good luck to all of you: you will need it.”

While we are curious about your next class and whether you’re walking or healing the walk, we’ve run out of time. We can tell you that when you get through Calling or Stalling – and who knows how many teachers you’ll meet there – Lesson Three has a long title: Totems, Angels, Buddhas, Saints and The Ones That Go Bump in The Dark, too.

If you seek a path outside the mainstream, living the myth is part of The Quest. See you at the next class. Meanwhile,

MAKE ART

A Corner In Plant World

A Scientist’s Dream

“We’ve always been about sustenance,” says the spokes-plant, “since the Beginning.”

“Yes,” I say, “and you were here before we were, hoping to say the right thing to these plants that, just a few minutes ago, dragged me from my lab into this what? Plant World?”

“We feed every living thing from the time they begin to breath,” says the stumpy Palm Tree, the one chosen to speak to the captive – me.

I was having a dream, you see, about a discovery – the kind of dream scientists dream of having; and these fucking plants ripped me out of my dream and now, well, I’m not dreaming anymore, or so it seems.

“Yes, sir, I understand,” I say not really knowing what to say, “In fact the photosynthesis process I’ve studied my entire life is the reason I have the job I have.

The plants, and all I can make out are shapes, tall ones, short ones, spicy, weedy, fruity, pulpy ones, all shaking their leaves. I realize that my biology vocabulary got lost somewhere. The sounds have my attention fully, because they stream in one direction and another, much like the voices and noises coming from human crowds.

The Palm Tree puts its “eyes” on me, then a lanky, long-leafed plant, that for some reason I know is a “Medicine Plant,” slides up next to Palm Tree. She leans in toward Stumpy.

Stumpy, apparently translating her whispers, speaks, “She says humans are entitled buffoons and pompous narcissists.”

This could get nerve racking. “Wait,” I say, “Buffoon? I received my first science award in the sixth grade. My parents were NASA originals and my career in biology is well documented.”

Immediately I wish I had thought about that a little bit. Talk about foot in mouth. Medicine Plant leans in again.

The stumpy Palm Tree says, “Do you see what I mean?”

My mind imagines for a moment the prospect of proving plants can talk, but then I worry they read minds, too. I mean, look where they have me.

And again, she leans in, flaps a leaf or two. Stumpy translates, “Of course we read minds, Buffoon.”

I really couldn’t argue with that right now, so I threw out an indignant, “What?”

Then Medicine Plant leans toward me. Turns out she flaps English, too. “How do you think Earth has survived humans this long?”

My moral button pushed, I found some energy, “But we’re not destroyers, not us scientists anyway, and we feed people like never before on this planet.”

“Yet more than ever are starving,” she replies.

“OK, there’s that, but that’s just humans confusing feed and greed.”

I thought I was rather clever saying that, but this lady plant had another agenda. She answers, “So fattening people on GMO production while their mind and body lose their innate abilities, you believe, will save the world?”

I couldn’t say much to that. GMO was the price of getting the money we needed to continue biological research.

She adds, “You’ve done enough in the name of this ‘research.’”

“We really try, really, to use your gifts well,” I say, wondering why it all upsets me so. Thought I’d already reconciled these issues some time ago.

Now panic comes, I want to cry even, “Why do you have me here? Hell, this isn’t even possible. This will ruin me!”

The Plant People flap their leaves a bit, not toward me but among themselves. Slowly my gasps for breath subside into short grunts.

Palm Tree, mercifully, says something, “We have a message for your science, but it’s so simple that we wonder how you haven’t figured it out yet,” followed by more flapping from the Plants.

“You humans are so smart,” adds Medicine Plant.

Ok, that sounds safer, but now I have to deal with the observation that Plants have a sense of humor, sarcasm, in fact. I respond, “Is it something we don’t understand, got wrong? Is the GMO worse than we think?

Medicine Plant responds with some firm flaps, then says, “You haven’t missed anything, on the contrary, you’ve learned so much, you’re dangerous.”

“And dangerous you’ve been since you learned you could reproduce,” adds Stumpy the Palm Tree.

I think I’ll have to ask what that means someday, then I remember this isn’t real. I need to get out of here. “So, do you want us to stop something?” which could be easier said than done in my lab.

“Oh, you won’t stop anything until the big change comes, but meanwhile our message could make things easier…” says Medicine Plant.

“By ‘big change’ you mean the inevitability of the human suffering that’s coming, in truth, no matter what we do.”

I am, after all, a scientist. We can’t deny it any longer, global warming, GMO and other mutation work going on all over, crisis with water and list is a long one. True, unfortunately, it’s all coming, at this point, no matter what we can do to slow it down.

Palm Tree says, “Now you’re getting warm, Human.”

Then he turns his trunk slightly toward Medicine Plant and says, “I never thought he’d get there.”

I can’t wait for this, “Is it about how to produce more?”

“No.”

“Preserve water?”

“No, no.”

“Nuclear energy?”

“All these things tie in, of course, but they are from your point of view. Ask from your heart, Scientist,” says Medicine Plant, “the only question most humans miss.”

I’m giving up here. What do they want from me? In the most pathetic, meek way I’ve ever had to perform, I hang my head and ask, “How?”

The next moment brings panic again when the Plant People go into a leaf flapping storm. When the sound becomes disturbing, Medicine Plant slaps a long leaf on me that brings, surprisingly, a most profound calm.

“What did I do?” I say.

“You asked ‘How?’” says Palm Tree as the flapping decreases to a whisper.

My own clarity shocks me when I know that I shouldn’t be asking about higher production, GMO corrections, no, no; those questions just won’t do. I speak loud and clear, “How do we save the Earth?”

I never expected what came next and to this day I am not the same person. Get this image.

Medicine Plant says, “Yes!”. She unroots herself with a little hop and then with a dive she goes in my mouth. Before I have a chance to start choking, I’ve swallowed her whole.

I awake, slumped over my desk, morning slobber on the foam box of Chinese food, dripping onto a budget request.

MAKE ART

A Protection Enchantment

Seems Appropriate These Days

Not really sure how this spell came to us. We knew it at puberty, thereabouts, but found out in our fifties it has roots in Faerie Magic. When protection is needed, it doesn’t really matter that much where it comes from, if it works.

Even when one has security, guns, fences, all that, it only makes sense to bring the mind and heart into a proactive role. The power of an enchantment, a spell, lies in a simple, focused use of the natural elements to create a projection.

This new protection tool, a metaphysical security device, would see dangers all the high-tech gear can’t see; blind spots is how they get us, after all. If we place our mind, clear and focused, together, in harmony, with Water, Earth, Air and Fire, we have a solid chance of projecting the feeling that the blind spots are covered, that we’re safer; it’s an attitude of sorts that spreads through the object of our protection.

You already do this kind of thing all the time. Just notice how the room atmosphere shifts when you walk in with some strong attitude. You don’t have to say a word. The people that see know you’re upset, excited, suicidal, aroused, whatever, because your attitude, walk, demeanor, is showing it, without saying a word.

INGREDIENTS

A clear glass Container, bowl, glass, or cup, a little more than half-filled with good Water, covered for now. Place a piece of Silver – a coin, an old earring, a bracelet, or even a silver wire – next to the bowl, along with some Wooden Matches.

We capitalize these ingredients since they are characters in the attitude you seek to create.

RITUAL

Start with a Prayer, or a Mantra, or a Goal, or a Maxim, however it feels stronger to you, call it what you like. Be clear in what/who you want to protect, focused, brief and definite – your person, house, business, boyfriend, family – clear.

Focus it in as few words as possible.

As you work the word number down, think about a visualization, something you can imagine, a thought, a feeling, about what you want to experience. We are looking for the vibration, the essence, of what you seek, how you need it to feel.

The right words will yield better results. You want the most impactful words you can find, impactful on you. You’ll have a chance to include everything and everyone you’re thinking about before you use, but first we need a clear, concise focus.

Protect my livestock, for instance. If you ask for that protection you’re thinking about specific cattle, horses or pigs that you actually own. There is some kind of thinking and feeling in your head and heart. As you put together your focus, let those thoughts, feelings, come and then keep them in your head when you perform the ritual.

Next step: If you are calling on God, Deity, Saints, Ancestors or any of these, this is where they come in. Equally respected is your decision to not call on Deity, instead to call on yourself, your Inner Self. If you decide to call on the Virgen Guadalupe, for instance, this is the time to call on Her the way you normally do.

Now speak your need, your desire for protection. Take the time you need here to talk out the issues, where are you vulnerable, who/what hurts more and so forth. Maybe you need courage, as we all do, maybe we need some kind of answer to come to us – now is the time, talk it, cry it, sing it out. Affirmations, things that must happen, changes needed, all of that’s good now.

Remember, pay attention to thoughts and feelings you like or want. Keep them for both Performance 1 and 2 below.

Performance 1

The glass Container should be a little over half filled. Take the Silver in one hand and the matches in the other. Light the Match and heat the Silver as long as possible, while speaking and repeating your mantra/maxim/prayer/goal, as many times as possible. Use more than one Match if you need to. Drop the Silver in the Water when it’s too hot to hold. Once done here, do

Performance 2

Walk away as if…it’s done, as if you don’t have a worry in the world and you’re exited to no end about the next activity that’s going to take the next 15-30 minutes! We walk away with laughter if we can bring it, because we proceed as if we accomplished exactly what we asked.

May your spell bring more light to the world…

There it is. You just combined Earth, Water, Air and Fire with your mindset and the attitude you projected is working out there in the unseen energies that touch our lives. In the near future we’ll talk about Why It Works and Why It Doesn’t Work. Meanwhile, do let us know how it goes.

MAKE ART

Raise An Altar

Empower your Spiritual Path

What does it say about you reading an article about raising an altar?

Divine expression is worth time and energy, maybe? At some level, from whatever spiritual/religious background you come from, you’ve either decided you need that divine communication (whatever you believe that is) or you’re thinking about it. And why not?

An Altar reflects a belief with a mission and provides the structure, safety and strength for the journey. Again, regardless of your spiritual background an altar enables you to worship, pray, invoke and evoke. At your altar you can use faith and action to protect and bless your home, relationships and work. Of course, we seek healing in various forms at an altar.

An altar is a place to take a breath, have quiet, private time; maybe a chance to discover and develop goals and missions. Just setting up and maintaining an altar, just that action is cultivating sacred space that opens to more serious altar work:

For instance, commune with the Spirit side of life, be it the Holy Spirit, the Santos, the Buddhas or the Ancestors. That communication, which comes through consistency, leads to deeper and stronger ownership of your altar, giving you greater direction working with the energy of your altar.

And that – Energy and Communication – is what altars are all about, however before we get to that we have to talk about the authority, permission or license to raise and maintain an altar. If you don’t think you have a right to raise an altar, we need to talk.

Let’s get this out of the way quickly. The authority to have an altar or a fireplace is written on your heart, in your mind and is included with you soul.

You have the right, perhaps the obligation, to reach out to whatever you consider divinity. If you choose to follow paths set before you, you have the right; if you want to evolve your own spirituality, you have a right. It’s between you and Creator what happens between your birth and death.

A tricky issue – the authority to raise an altar – for many, no doubt. We want to get this kind of thing right, so some due diligence makes sense. If it might help you, we talk about a religious/spiritual reset in Five Toltec Principles . If you read it, pay particular attention to the Third Principle. It led us to depend on our own experience to make this decision, rather than the powers-that-be.

We’ve been working our altar 30 years, from spreading a bandanna with a few objects on it to maintaining a full room with all the elements of life represented. We worship, pray, love, learn, heal, get help, give help and from time to time, we make a little magic – a science, actually, we don’t understand yet.

Working with the energy and the matter of the altar, creating a sacred space and applying our time, we focus on creating a functional spirituality. To possibly give you some ideas for you doing the same, we’re preparing a couple of articles moving forward:

Start Simple – Prayer, Invocation and Evocation – Here we bring some concrete detail and suggestion with a little energy work. What goes on the altar and how do I use it? And,

Communication with Divinity – This begins the minute you put up a table for an altar, but the fine tuning requires a little more knowledge.

To give you an idea of where this is going…remember this science, or something like this, from High School science class?

“Energy and Matter can neither be created or destroyed; they can only change form.”

Our experience with that fact prompts us to reply, “So energy and matter are finite quantities, yes, but our ancestors remind us, the quantities of time and space are infinite.”

Again experience, the Third Toltec Principle, helped us see the possibilities in that. Our energy and material conditions can indeed change! And if we use time and space properly, we can create the change we seek.

Our altar, also known as fireplace, Indian Way, is composed of objects – matter – and we apply energy to these objects with prayer, proper use, placement, etc. Then we pour mind and spirit into our space and time.