When I retired from my career in public health in March of 2024, I bought myself a harmonium. I learned how to play it, and now every morning begins with playing this lovely instrument and chanting the Holy Names of the Divine. I love the harmonium very much.
I woke up this morning from a dream that had the metaphor of "paying for a harmonium", but the dream wasn't really about the harmonium, it was about the land and the adobe building! It was about recognizing the grace that is all around us.
Dream:
I have commissioned someone to make a harmonium for me. It’s taken longer than anticipated to complete (Gee, that sounds familiar). I have been called to meet with the harmonium maker. To this point I have only been talking to his daughter. In the dream I intuit that the cost of the harmonium is going to be higher than I anticipated. I go to the house and as I enter the door, to get rid of any tension, I say, “I know what this meeting is going to be about.” Then I say, “There is no need to quibble about money.” I begin crying as I say, “How can I quibble over money when God has been so gracious with me”. I am crying deeply, sobbing really, as I sit with him in his living room.
I began to cry again this morning when I wrote down the dream, and I cried throughout the day every time I thought about this statement:
“How can I quibble over money when God has been so gracious with me”.
Please let this sentiment sink in.
Based on the tears that arise, I can tell that this is a soul message, not a mind message. The mind wants to quibble, to compare, to measure tit for tat. The mind wants to know that it will get something back for everything it gives. The rational mind wants to compare, what am I giving and what am I getting. In so many ways, the mind is so base and superficial!
The mind does not grasp the enormity of the gift of life, the gift of each breath, the gift of love in this world. How can it really? To be fully absorbed in the enormity of the gift of life would be to exist in a state of constant bliss.
Yes, it has turned out this adobe building is costing the House of Mica more than anticipated. But, the enormity of the gift compared to the cost can only really be experienced at the soul level. And when we touch just a sliver of that enormity, it opens the heart to tears.
To say that God is gracious is to say that God is showering us with grace in each moment. May we fully and completely take this in.
Which takes me to the second soul message of the day: A gift in the form of an Elk Leg.
I woke up this morning from a dream that had the metaphor of "paying for a harmonium", but the dream wasn't really about the harmonium, it was about the land and the adobe building! It was about recognizing the grace that is all around us.
Dream:
I have commissioned someone to make a harmonium for me. It’s taken longer than anticipated to complete (Gee, that sounds familiar). I have been called to meet with the harmonium maker. To this point I have only been talking to his daughter. In the dream I intuit that the cost of the harmonium is going to be higher than I anticipated. I go to the house and as I enter the door, to get rid of any tension, I say, “I know what this meeting is going to be about.” Then I say, “There is no need to quibble about money.” I begin crying as I say, “How can I quibble over money when God has been so gracious with me”. I am crying deeply, sobbing really, as I sit with him in his living room.
I began to cry again this morning when I wrote down the dream, and I cried throughout the day every time I thought about this statement:
“How can I quibble over money when God has been so gracious with me”.
Please let this sentiment sink in.
Based on the tears that arise, I can tell that this is a soul message, not a mind message. The mind wants to quibble, to compare, to measure tit for tat. The mind wants to know that it will get something back for everything it gives. The rational mind wants to compare, what am I giving and what am I getting. In so many ways, the mind is so base and superficial!
The mind does not grasp the enormity of the gift of life, the gift of each breath, the gift of love in this world. How can it really? To be fully absorbed in the enormity of the gift of life would be to exist in a state of constant bliss.
Yes, it has turned out this adobe building is costing the House of Mica more than anticipated. But, the enormity of the gift compared to the cost can only really be experienced at the soul level. And when we touch just a sliver of that enormity, it opens the heart to tears.
To say that God is gracious is to say that God is showering us with grace in each moment. May we fully and completely take this in.
Which takes me to the second soul message of the day: A gift in the form of an Elk Leg.
To protect the adobe walls from rain and wind, the building was covered with protective tarps. Dirt was placed on the bottom of the tarps to keep them from blowing around. Today, someone found this Elk leg buried under the tarp. I verified with my friend Jake, who hunts Elk, that this is an Elk leg, mostly likely from an older animal.
Best guess is that the Elk was killed by a mountain lion or pack of coyotes and then perhaps a dog found and buried the leg for safe-keeping, to come back to at some point in time. Or maybe the dog put it there for us to find!
When Joseph first had the vision of the peace chambers, he gave circular pieces of Elk bone to the people who were building chambers. My recollection from that time is that the Elk Medicine had something to do with taking a vision from the dream-world, from pre-creation, to creation.
Joseph gave me one of the Elk bone rings and I carried it with love. I think it was during the Sand Hill Crane Dance at the Birdsong Peace Chamber in PA that this Elk Bone Ring disappeared. Prior to going into the Sweat Lodge, I placed the Elk Bone Ring on the mound/altar. When I came out, it was nowhere to be found. We had groups of people searching for it, but it was gone. I guess it has finally come back to me in a new form!
I told Elisa about finding the Elk leg and she immediately said, "You should listen to Joseph's recording of the Elk Dreamer Song. Which I did. Several times.
Elk Dreamer Medicine is about our capacity to have experiences and reflect upon them. Developmentally, as individuals and as a species, this is monumental. Having the capacity to experience and reflect is at the center of learning. It is pretty much a prerequisite for the evolution of a species.
Reflect on this please: when we are meditating or dancing or chanting our mind is present. Thoughts are occurring. But when we are lucky or aligned or when spirit is gifting us, the mind disappears for a split of a second. Generally speaking, we miss it. We are not paying close enough attention to glean that which arises when the mind is silent. But, when the mind becomes silent, and we are attending to it, something appears that fully cleanses our consciousness. Joseph would say it happens in an instant, between the slices of light.
The visionary's role is to be in reflection so that what arises in the silence between thoughts can be recalled, so that it can recognized.
To be a visionary is to live in the space of Elk Medicine which allows us to glimpse that which is between thoughts, that which is from beyond the beyond, from eternity. This experience has the power and purity to cleanse us and awaken us. And when we have a true vision, it comes with a power behind it that will carry it into manifestation.
The Elk Dreamer Medicine is similar to the insight: "God is so gracious to me". It is to recognize the vast truth that lives between the thoughts of the busy mind. Beyond comparing and quibbling, grace has given us a gift so vast that if we recognize it, there is only a fully open heart. There are joyous tears of love and gratitude.
Here is a practice:
As you listen to Joseph sing the Elk Dreamer Song (click start on the audio file below), picture a blank slate. Beyond the thoughts that may arise, pay attention for something to appear on that blank slate that arises from the space between the thoughts. This practice strengthens our visionary capacity.
Best guess is that the Elk was killed by a mountain lion or pack of coyotes and then perhaps a dog found and buried the leg for safe-keeping, to come back to at some point in time. Or maybe the dog put it there for us to find!
When Joseph first had the vision of the peace chambers, he gave circular pieces of Elk bone to the people who were building chambers. My recollection from that time is that the Elk Medicine had something to do with taking a vision from the dream-world, from pre-creation, to creation.
Joseph gave me one of the Elk bone rings and I carried it with love. I think it was during the Sand Hill Crane Dance at the Birdsong Peace Chamber in PA that this Elk Bone Ring disappeared. Prior to going into the Sweat Lodge, I placed the Elk Bone Ring on the mound/altar. When I came out, it was nowhere to be found. We had groups of people searching for it, but it was gone. I guess it has finally come back to me in a new form!
I told Elisa about finding the Elk leg and she immediately said, "You should listen to Joseph's recording of the Elk Dreamer Song. Which I did. Several times.
Elk Dreamer Medicine is about our capacity to have experiences and reflect upon them. Developmentally, as individuals and as a species, this is monumental. Having the capacity to experience and reflect is at the center of learning. It is pretty much a prerequisite for the evolution of a species.
Reflect on this please: when we are meditating or dancing or chanting our mind is present. Thoughts are occurring. But when we are lucky or aligned or when spirit is gifting us, the mind disappears for a split of a second. Generally speaking, we miss it. We are not paying close enough attention to glean that which arises when the mind is silent. But, when the mind becomes silent, and we are attending to it, something appears that fully cleanses our consciousness. Joseph would say it happens in an instant, between the slices of light.
The visionary's role is to be in reflection so that what arises in the silence between thoughts can be recalled, so that it can recognized.
To be a visionary is to live in the space of Elk Medicine which allows us to glimpse that which is between thoughts, that which is from beyond the beyond, from eternity. This experience has the power and purity to cleanse us and awaken us. And when we have a true vision, it comes with a power behind it that will carry it into manifestation.
The Elk Dreamer Medicine is similar to the insight: "God is so gracious to me". It is to recognize the vast truth that lives between the thoughts of the busy mind. Beyond comparing and quibbling, grace has given us a gift so vast that if we recognize it, there is only a fully open heart. There are joyous tears of love and gratitude.
Here is a practice:
As you listen to Joseph sing the Elk Dreamer Song (click start on the audio file below), picture a blank slate. Beyond the thoughts that may arise, pay attention for something to appear on that blank slate that arises from the space between the thoughts. This practice strengthens our visionary capacity.
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