|
SHAPESHIFTING INTO HIGHER CONSCIOUSNESS
Heal and Transform Yourself and Our World with Ancient Shamanic and Modern Methods
Llyn Roberts
(O-Books, 2010 Release)
Excerpted
from Chapter Four:
Shapeshifting with Nature
Of the many
aboriginal groups that John Perkins and I have worked with the Maya, whose prophesies are in the public eye due to the popluarization
of the Maya Calendar, are masters of cosmic awareness. There's a plethora of literature out about 2012 and the Mayan Calendar.
Several resources are listed at the back of this book. Yet sometimes less focused on is the Maya's deep attunement with
the earth. The lands of ancient Guatemala have endured earthquakes and volcanic eruptions spanning centuries. Because of this,
when visiting sacred sites and walking through the jungle in Tikal, Maya Elders ask that we pay as much attention to the pyramids
that are submerged, as those we see. There are also hidden spiritual structures beneath Lake Atitlan. These, we learn, influence
human consciousness and also affect the waters. We're told that boating in the late afternoon can be treacherous as the
lake's energy field then becomes apparent, its vortex causing the winds to pick up and the waters to become choppy.
This level of resonance to the earth's unseen energies characterizes all shamanic groups. Yet the Maya uniquely
view the earth as a living body with a spinal column not unlike our own. From their perspective, along this spine of the earth
are mountains reminiscent of vertebrae and energy centers like the chakras of the human body. According to the Maya peoples
we've worked with, as the earth has a spinal column, it also has a heart. In attuning to the earth's heart we harmonize
with our planet and come back into balance.
These times of monumental change urge that we heal our fragmentation
with nature. Each native group we know espouses that we are one with every beat and pulse of the earth, yet we of the modern
world have all but lost this wisdom. In Siberia, where the word "saman" originated, Tuvans drum to attune to the
rhythms of the earth and universe. The drumming rituals of many original peoples more than symbolize union with the heartbeat
of the earth and universe; research proves that drumming reconnects us with our deeper selves by inducing relaxing alpha and
theta patterns in the brain. These restoratve brain waves are deemed undetectable in close to half the U.S population. It's
imperative now, more than ever, to honor our connection with life. This supports us through changing times and encourages
a healthier foundation for living together on this planet. In resonating with the heartbeat of the earth, we come into tune
with the life force that pulses through everything, and each of us. Throughout this chapter, drawing from myriad traditions,
we'll focus on ways to do this.
HARMONIZING WITH THE EARTH
Before going further one might question
the wisdom of aligning with the heart of a planet which seems unpredictable and unstable now, more than ever. Unprecedented
fires, earthquakes, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, and weather changes appear the norm. Public Radio and major
television news channels refer to the "50 year storm cycle" concurrent with a "global axis shift". That
the earth's magnetic poles can shift location has been scientifically debated until this millennium. Though axis shifts
are chronicled throughout indigenous lore and are part of the Mayan and other predictions for this time. We might desire that
the earth be static and unwaivering, yet, she's alive, energetic, and evolving. Indigenous prophesies tell us that she
is shapeshifting, as are we. In joining with the consciousness of our planetary mother, they say we can make peace with, and
many say we can even shape, her changing rhythms. Aligning with our planet gains us trust and fluidity. Oneness with the earth
brings us into oneness with ourselves, which can ease our movement through perilous times.
Resonance with the
earth tangibly benefits animals who can detect sutble changes in the earth. Rabbits and deer have been known to flee the area
of an upcoming earthquake epicenter. Elephants have been observed to run to higher ground and low nesting birds fly to higher
sites when tsunamis are approaching. Untapped by most, this sensitivity to slight precursors of change that animals display
is also a human facility. It's our nature to sense delicate shifts in the earth. Largely unappreciated, people have been
known to predict terrestrial events years in advance and even across great distances. In 2003 following visions of massive
storms engulfing Florida, I suggested that friends sell their home and leave the state. My friends took me seriously, yet
they'd endured 25 years of hurricanes in Florida, so how bad could it be? What ensued was one of the Sunshine State's
worst hurricane seasons in history. Similarly, in 2008 I spent two months on an island in the Puget Sound. One June afternoon
when gazing out to the bay, a wind suddenly squalled. The air gusted through my window and as it touched my face, I knew the
Southeast would see rough hurricanes that year. Thousands of miles from those regions and months from prime season, how could
I know that?
We think that animals preceive faint shifts in the earth because of heightened faculties. They have
a honed sense of sight, smell, touch, taste and hearing. But beyond the evident, instincts are at play which we can't
interpret. These come from an animal's inborn attunement to nature. Humans, too, can awaken this. In their predictions
of this time period, alive for centuries, the sages and Elders of diverse cultures say the human species is ripe for a leap
of consciousness. As we confront our survival, chaos may be a catalyst for our awakening. In ancient Tibet, "extraordinary"
capacities like precognition, telepathy, healing, yogic control over the respiratory system and heart rate, were accepted
conditions of human nature awakened by conscious focus. Although such qualities have been rarely displayed by individuals
through the human history were acculuturated to, humanness includes such abilities, as well as gifts not yet tapped. Our higher
aptitude now pressures to surface. Our experience, and what shamanic peoples the world over teach, is that we're inseparable
from the elements. We can attune to stone, earth, sky, wind and water. In experiencing oneness we gain wisdom, power, and
energy. As with animals who pick up on subtle signals from the earth, human beings can also know things that are otherwise
impossible to know. Attuning this way is energizing and stirs a fresh outlook of ourselves and our world.
By tuning
into the earth, knowing her heart as our own and awakening to nature's pulses, we resonate with forces which push us now
to evolve and grow. The time is ripe to expose our own latent talents, and so, rouse confidence to find our way through changing
times.
Llyn Roberts, holds a master's degree in Tibetan Buddhist and Western Psychology, is trained
in numerous western psychic and body-mind healing modalities and was a psychotherapist for the acclaimed Buddhist-inspired
therapeutic community Windhorse (aka Maitri Psychological Services). She has undergone extensive training in traditional Quechua healing arts and has been initiated by Tibetan, Quechua and Siberian
shamans and elders. Llyn has designed and facilitated sacred journeys with shamanic indigenous groups living in remote regions
of the Amazon basin, the Siberian steppes, high Andes and in the ancient lands of Central America's Maya. She served as
adjunct faculty at Union Graduate School and teaches Shamanic Reiki, as well as advanced Shamanic Healing and Shapeshifting
events, at the Omega and Esalen Institutes, and at Rowe Conference Center with John Perkins — with whom she has worked
for thirteen years. Roberts directed the Dream Change/Omega Institute Gathering of Indigenous Shamans and Wisdom Keepers for
many years.
| | |
|  |
|
