OFFERINGS: The Universe is grateful for you! You are a gift to the world. Feel gratitude for everything in your life, even the things that don’t seem perfect. Appreciation for everything flows through you in great bounty. Cherish the preciousness of life and everyone and everything around you, and thus you will be cherished.
You Native Spirit Wants You to Know: Every native culture throughout history has made offerings, often on a daily basis. Offerings were made to the sun, the earth, the plants and animals, and to everything in Creation. The offerings varied culture to culture, but they were always made with a feeling of extreme appreciation for the bounty of life. Gratitude was the secret to a joy-filled life. True thankfulness can work like modern-day alchemy in your life, yielding happiness and peace beyond imagination. And it’s simple: Find what’s good and wonderful in every moment. No matter what’s happening around you. Whatever you appreciate in life will grow, so discover what you’re thankful for – even the people and situations you’ve found challenging – and watch miracles unfold.
The Journey: As a suggestion, make an offering to whatever nurtures your soul. If you’re nurtured by a particular place in nature, for example, you might consider leaving some fruit at the base of a tree for the animals in that area to give thanks for the beauty that is there.
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SPIRIT OF FIRE: Transformation. Take risks. Face you fears. Break out of old patterns and conventions. Just because you’ve always done something in the past doesn’t mean that you need to do it in the future. Try something new. Change your routines and habits. Reach out in new directions. The thunderbird is rising in you; out of the ashes come new growth and new beginnings.
Your Native Spirit Wants You to Know: In native cultures, fire was thought to be a gift from the Creator that carried the power of renewal. Fire can maintain life – and it can destroy it. It is the warmth of the tribal fire, but it’s also the thundering lightning bolt cast down from the sky. It can purify and transform – and it can annihilate. Fire represents your life force, the spark of life within you, and also the pure white light within you. The Spirit of Fire invites you to take some risks and face your fears. We often are reacting to situations because of preconditioned responses based on our self-generating definition of self. Every time you change an old habit – even changing to a different breakfast food – it helps you begin to step out of a limiting definition of self. Purification by fire creates transformation. Take care to keep your energy in balance. Fire that burns too brightly, burns out …. but a fire that’s left to smolder, dies.
The Journey: When you first awaken in the morning, focus on the emerging sunlight. Imagine that you are breathing in that light. Gaze unblinkingly into a candle flame and focus your awareness on the inner flame within you. By doing this, you’re activating the Spirit of Fire that dwells within you and around you. Imagine yourself to be a single candle flame, a campfire, a forest fire, electricity, lightening, the sun, and stars. Affirm this: May the light of the sun illuminate my heart, that my heart may illuminate the world.
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SACRED MOUNTAIN: Be still, and take the time to move into the silent place within yourself. Locate your inner source of power. Meditate. Wait. Do not move forward until it feels right. Surrender to stillness. Do not take action. If you observe, rather than react, you claim your power.
Your Native Spirit Wants You to Know: From the vantage point of the sacred mountain, your power grows. In silence you’ll find your sacred witness. It is the dwelling place of your soul. In peace, seek and discover your truth. Move past the bustle and clatter of life into sweet quietude. If you’re in pain, don’t lash out; go into it until you find the source so that it can be healed. Resist the temptation to indulge in feelings of stress, urgency, and emergency. Your power is born in silence. This peace gives birth to your serenity. Seek solitude to listen to the voice of your higher self and awaken your inner wisdom.
The Journey: Travel to the peaks of hallowed mountains, and if you can’t do this in person, travel in your meditation. Imagine yourself atop a high peak; you can see the world in all directions. Give thanks and offerings to mountains, whenever you encounter them. The Spirit of the Mountain will deeply appreciate your gift.
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