Friday, November 28, 2008

M'TIME ANYTIME











The healing of the world starts with your heart
The Eagle of the world flies with your heart

How high do you fly as you soar through the sky
Can you fly to the moon?

Can you fly to the sun?

Can you fly until the healing of the world is done?


- Eagle Heart Icaro

Awhile back I had a discussion with the Maestro Juan Flores where he told how there was a time in the past when Grandfather Sun and Grandmother Moon where in the sky together. Its hard thing to imagine, but the more I realize how much our existence is a deep mystery and of the fabric of dreams, the less these kind of statements seem unrealistic. I presume that the time he talks about was a time of balance, unlike now.

Soon after I got back from Peru at the beginning of November I went to a meeting for the Sundance ceremony I will be participating in next summer. For those of you who don't know, Sundance is more than a film festival started by Robert Redford, but rather an ancient indigenous ceremony practiced in the plains of Turtle Island (North America). It is considered by many as the most sacred of the ceremonies. From what I understand it was originally practiced by the Dakota people, but since has been embraced by many indigenous groups of people. In Manitoba, it was not too long ago that this ceremony was illegal. That has now changed and it is spreading like a prairie wildfire.

A few years back when I approached some Elders about bringing the Maestro to Canada they told me I would have to Sundance for this honour and that I would have to ask the spirits for permission. So that is exactly what I did, and with the grace of Spirit, Maestro Flores came to Canada for his first trip abroad.

This won't be a long article on the Sundance as I am no expert. But I will say a few things. The ceremony can vary, but it usually last four days long. During those four days the Sundancers dance in one spot and look up at a tree that is placed in the middle of the dancing grounds. The goal is to pray the whole time to the tree. During those four days one gives up all water and food. The Sundance is understood as a spirit strengthening exercise as well as an act of sacrifice for the greater community. It is one the most beautiful and enlightening experiences I have ever had. I have participated twice.

In the summer of 2009, I will dance for a third time and this time it will be part of the inaugural year for a particular Sundance being run by a friend and teacher of mine, the Cree healer, Wilfred Buck. Wilfred has been preparing for leading his Sundance for years and to do so he must receive guidance from his dreams and visions. At the Sundance meeting I attended he shared with those in attendance a dream of his in regards to the coming Sundance.

In his dream he was in the Sundance grounds and it was a bright and hot sunny day. There was an old native man with him who pointed to the sky for him to look at. He looked to the sky and he could see the bright Sun shining, when suddenly half of the sky turned into the night sky with a bright full moon rising right beside the Sun and the other half of daylight. The vision he described reminded me of exactly what Maestro had shared with me the year before of how it used be in the past.























Wilfred said that he took the dream into pipe ceremony to understand it and what he came out with is that it was time to bring balance between the male and female. So in the coming Sundance he appointed a woman dancer that will lead a nighttime part of the ceremony in which we will dance at night under the full moon.

I have never heard of this before and for me its a sign that the times they are a changin'. I look forward to dancing and praying under both the Sun and Moon next year. I also plan to bring Maestro up to Canada for this ceremony so it should be quite special.

Not too soon after hearing about Wilfred's dream I was driving through Winnipeg when I noticed a new ad for McDonald's.


















I take it McDonald's is now open 24hrs a day in Winnipeg, or anytime as they put it.


















Seeing McDonald's stylized moon and sun together reminded me of the alchemical drawings of old and seemed to clearly reverberate this shift the earth is currently undergoing towards a balance of its energies.




















I find it interesting that Ayahuasca itself as a medicine represents the balance of male and female energies. The Ayahuasca vine being the Grandfather of all plants and the Chacruna Leaf being the Grandmother of all plants, just like the Sun and the Moon. Maestro teaches that when the two are mixed together just right they give birth to a Son. Perhaps that is what is happening right now, that as the energy of the Sun and the energy of the Moon are mixed and find balance they give birth to a Son, or an age of Christ/Cosmic consciousness and synchromystic paradise.



















What made me notice the McDonald's ad first of all was not the Sun and Moon imagery, but rather the three golden arches, or Ms in the alarm clock.










Ever since I started following Jake Kotze's blog The Blob as well as the work of the synchromystics, I have been tuned into what he refers to as the 3EW spinner. Go to his posts to best understand this concept. In short it seems to be a common pattern that emerges often and points towards what some might literally see is World War 3, but could also symbolically refer to the age we are in that is represented by the World Wide Web or another good one is a time where East Meets West. The idea is that no matter which way you turn the W's, that they can become E's, M's or 3's and will always have some syncnificance.

Following this logic then 3 M's in a McDonald's ad is a doozy of a 3EW spinner, and on an alarm clock to boot. Its as if the universe is telling us that its NOW 3EW spinner time all the time or ANYTIME as the McDonald's ad suggests. I also attribute the flip of the W's into M's as important as well. The big M seems to be a recurring theme for me ever since I first noticed the big circle M on the Manitoba Legislature, or Galactic Centre Temple.













What is also interesting is that the big M on the Galactic Centre Temple is on an ark type chest with two woman flanking it and its name is PEACE.

The big M is here to bring peace is how EYE see it.


















I remember at the time of noticing this big M theme Jake and I went to see the MuMMY: Tomb of the Dragon, which only re-enforced it all.























I also remember noticing at the end of the film the sub-titles that foreshadowed the next muMmy film in the franchise that will take Brendon Fraser to Peru of all places (hot on the tail on Indiana Jones nonetheless - I wonder when they will come to Manitoba.)

So last month when I went down to Peru and I met the Maestro again at Mayantuyacu, his healing centre in the jungle, I was pleasantly surprised when I noticed that his signature feather crown had changed. No more was it the three long red scarlet macaw feathers pointing up. ( a W on its own right)...























But now it was a crown of all BLUE feathers with stylized M and W's, or your quintessential 3EW spinner right smack dab on his crown's band.























As the McDonald's ad goes "its M time - ANYTIME!"

Meequetch

Jim




Wednesday, November 12, 2008

The Kosmic Wine Icaro















I am back from my journey to the Amazon and my rendezvous with the Maestro - Juan Flores. I am officially done the production phase of my film Nosis: A Cinematic Vision Quest and I will now settle into the post-production phase of editing the film. If you haven't see the trailer yet check it out below.



We expect to have the work done by Spring 2009.

I have so much to process from my trip so it often seems daunting to even try to write about it. So I figure short little blog bursts will suffice rather attempting long posts. The footage we shot is great, but it is HD so it will take time to format and edit in order to share with others as I need to upgrade my software. Instead I thought I would share with you one of the most important teachings and facets of Amazonian shamanism - the Icaro.

An Icaro is a song of gratitude for the plants. It is a song sung in exchange for healing imparted by the spirit of a plant to the patients of the healer. During an Ayahuasca ceremony the Ayahuasquero sings these icaros for most of the ceremony, which is usually up to three ours long. Each icaro has a different power and purpose. As an Ayahuasquero, one over time develops what is called Mariri, which is the essence of the various plants the healer is working with and which builds up in his chest. When the Ayahuasquero sings the icaros they interact with the Mariri and provide the power and vibrations necessary to heal the patients.















The Ayahuasca medicine specifically gives the healer increased energy and power to sing these songs. I like to think of it as sonic surgery. Most of all the icaros are mean't to bring happiness to the heart - the key to all healing.

Here is the Maestro singing one that I recorded on my first visit to Mayantuyacu in 2005.



Different ways to learn Icaros are through mentorship with a Maestro Ayahuasquero like Juan Flores, or through one's own dreams and inspiration.

I have found that my own journey in becoming an Ayahuasquero has led me to discover new melodies and I have attained a few Icaros of my own. Juan has encouraged me to follow this path and to compose English one's that still maintain the essence of what he is teaching me. Up until recently all my Icaros have come from him and have been in Spanish, Quechua and Ashanican.

As soon as I got back to Canada I was inspired to create a new Icaro. I call it Kosmic Wine. I recorded it on my computer and threw some images from trip over it. The pictures are from my Father who I brought with me this time (that's a post in itself!). Its a little rough around the edges, but its straight from the heart and that's what matters in the world of Curanderismo.



Kosmic Wine

I heard it through the Ayahuasca vine

peace is coming to earth

and all will be fine

I heard it through the Ayahuasca vine
the Kingdom is here
and now is the time


white dove
bright love
descend on me

white dove bright love
shine through me

white dove bright love
help me see

clearly like the water that flows
dearly like the Lord that knows

cup at my mouth full of the cosmic wine
love fills my body
thank the divine

welcome to the trance that gives you dance
Ayahuasca, Chacruna

thank all of the plants

rise you souls
rejoice as one
shine as the stars I know you are