The Path of the Heart
(A Journey back to the Centre)

For all of us who have an interest and an affinity for Shamanic Teachings, Earth Medicine and Spirituality, we need to be reminded at times where this wisdom originated. It is often called the Source of all Religion and is where all modern religions and belief systems originated.

This ancient wisdom dates back over 50,000 years into the early Stone Age. In the mists of time this wisdom has been lost, diluted and in the main forgotten. But fortunately for us in these modern times we have access to this ancient knowledge. This wisdom and knowledge has been kept alive in the campfires of the keepers and caretakers of this knowledge the Native American Indians to be revealed to us all at this time. This knowledge was not written down because it was part of their daily rituals and ceremonies and was handed down from generation to generation in this way.
If we are willing to open up to our personal search for our origin the revelation of the ancient wisdom can show us a way back to the centre. It is the way of the true religion, out of which all the dogmas and separations were born. The primordial religion contains the Whole; for it is primeval language of the Natural.

On this path the seekers will find no Masters or Gurus who will guide and lead them in the usual way. This is "The Path of the Heart", where one will find friends who benefit each other in their solitary journey through the mutual sharing of their discoveries. It is an individual decision whether to walk this path or not. Seekers have to know it has to be walked alone, for only in aloneness will we become free and responsible. In our aloneness we will find our centre of power revealed to us as an empty vessel that is continuously being filled with the creative wealth of the divine. On this path we can find our true and rational position on this earth. This path is our way back to the centre which is our "Cosmic Tree or "earth-sky axis"

In our centre, we are in connection with everything in the All-Oneness. Whoever will travel on this path will have the power of love as a constant companion that stands above all knowledge and is the source of all life. For this reason the Native Americans call it "The Path of the Heart". Once we have experienced this power of love without outer influences or sex we will know with certainty beyond any rational reasoning that aloneness is "All-Oneness." We are one with everything, one with the Whole; we are the whole.

The true power of love comes as a flash like recognition or in a crystal-clear vision that unites our small spirit with the all-encompassing Great Spirit. We can share this love only in our centre, when everything in us is empty and silent and our surrender to nothingness is undisturbed by any expectation. Love is silently present like the centre or the hub of a wheel. It is "I Am," an eternal presence in the complexities of life.

In walking the path back to the centre and in all Shamanic practises it is wise to set two basic rules to begin with: "Have no expectations" and "don't judge and make comparisons." Clinging to the known through comparing them will leave no room for a true inner meeting to happen. Dive into the unknown with the childlike power of innocence and trust so one can open up to the new so it can be experienced as a living experience. Only if we let go of the old and become truly empty can the new enter into us. This is the true surrender. 

To our ancient ancestors true wisdom always presented itself as a circle or in the shape of a wheel, the symbol of the Whole. The Indians called it the "medicine wheel." Medicine meaning power, and wheel meaning spiritual. The healing power of the medicine wheel is in constant connection to the Whole. Whoever allows co-operation with its medicine to occur will always find healing for wounds or sorrows: physical, psychological and spiritual. The "dance of the wheel" will lead us to the magic life, which is an awareness of the oneness of both the visible and the invisible worlds.

Magic is a human experience. We can be aware of it if we allow our intuitive self to act, resulting in the forces of our instincts streaming into us without any effort. We know these powers when we react to dangerous situations with absolute confidence, like jumping out of the way when threatened by oncoming traffic. But we know Magic when it shows us that nothing is done by us alone but everything will be created through us if we realise that we are receivers and not creators. Magic comes to us every night in deep sleep when we become again the growing embryo in the body of the Great Mother. In our dreams our spirit expresses itself in innumerable ways to show us that this presently adopted way of life is only one among many. We encounter magic in our "lightbodies," those swirls of energy called Chakras, which are located within and around our physical bodies. Our magic self makes us aware of our manifold relationships with the world. It shows us where our "four shields are dancing" as it is expressed in the language of the medicine wheel, and finally the magic is simply love.

You cannot learn this magic by method or from an instruction book. You can be given the ingredients of this recipe, but you will have to mix and prepare them in your own way. The twenty sacred powers of the Shamanic Medicine Wheel are the ingredients, as well as the tools and basic structure that all of us can use in our own personal way. By having no expectations and by willing not to judge and compare a wealth of possibilities are open to us. If we do not allow ourselves to become rigid and dogmatic, but be constantly fluid, it can unexpectedly reveal the divine, as we become "dancers within the medicine wheel."

As we dance with and through the wheel it will lead us also to our helpers in the universe, who do not merely accompany us as mute guardian angels but wait for communication. They want to be invited to help us. The medicine wheel will help us find our allies and our personal medicine. This can happen in four different ways, and these are symbolised in the cross that everyone chose to carry in this lifetime to be able to assist the Whole according to our fate.

The journey back to the centre is available and is part of all of us. This way back is the "Path of the Heart"   

 

Sources and Credits:
by Grandfather Peter
(Walk in Balance on the Earth Mother)