Earth Medicine by Jamie Sams

Sage/Debs

Seventh Moon Monday the 7th

WEDDING SONG

Sing to me, my husband, of days long gone.
Of nights beneath a melon moon with
Firelight flickering gently and
Love's reflection on the tipi walls.

And I will sing to you, Dreamwalker,
Of sun-filled mornings, the call of doves,
My heart awakening with the protection
of your strong arms, greeting the day.

And together we will remember the songs
Of those who rode the wind before us,
As they made their way, gathering the goodness
Of the Earth and returning their love to the land.

For we are all that has ever been and
All that will ever be...
Reflections of that quest for life or
The spirit within the breeze.

And to that end, our lives are blessed
For we will always be...
A part of the Force
That forever exists...
Within infinity.

Sage/Debs

I meant to remind you that the Seventh month is a month of love, affection, intimacy and sexuality, so many of these readings deal thusly.

This moon began the 3rd and will come full the 18th and wane by 8/3.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Seventh Moon Tuesday the 8th

While the river moved over rounded stones and Nighthawk circled in the twilight, the young mother whispered to the child who suckled at her breast.

"You are the blessing that fell from the stars and took root in my heart, Little One. You rested inside my body and I carried you there for nine moons. It gave me joy to carry the burden of such love. I toiled for many hours to give you birth and finally, the Earth Mother's magnetism drew you into your Earthwalk."

"Now that you are here, I want you to know how my heart sings! The love I bear your father is the stuff of dreams. he has walked the path of strength and has been strong enough to share his dreams with me, as well as his tears. I have entwined my heart with his. He has lent me his courage, he has filled my heart with desire, and he respected who I am with all that he is. Together, we have walked many trails and have faced each challenge heart-to-heart."

"In you, I see his courage, his determination, his laughing eyes, and his curiosity. In you, I see my gentleness, my compassion, and my desire to live life with joy. There is love between your parents that fills each day with song, brings lightness to out steps, and is as enduring as Sacred Mountain. I want you to remember that you are--and will forever be--a product of that love."

Sage/Debs

Seventh Moon Wednesday the 9th

GENTLENESS

Gentleness has melted
Many a hardened heart.
Warming away the numbness,
Giving love a brand new start.

Gentleness brings comfort,
Like a soft summer rain.
Cradling each weary child
from the hunger and the pain.

Gentleness smiles upon
Those who try to meet
Every challenge in the path
Without bowing to defeat.

Gentleness comes to nurture those
Who have forgotten how to sing,
And with loving arms encircles
Their lives with healing dreams.

Gentleness walks a Sacred Path
Tenderly through the years,
Comforting every soul in need,
And through caring, dries their tears.

Sage/Debs

Seventh Month 10th day

CONTENTMENT

Contentment comes from an inner serenity that permeates the whole person. The Ancestors spoke of this state of grace and called it "Walking In Beauty". When people are at peace with the world, the inner peace that they carry shines, allowing all who see them to recognize their contentment.

In the modern world where accumulating material things seems to be the standard for contentment, we often see that material success does not bring serenity. Many people discover that vanity is not beauty, jewelry does not indicate a person's worth, and haughtiness does not reflect a person's social rank.

Contentment comes from being at peace with the Self and with all life, honoring one's connections to the whole without judgements.

Contentment is "Cow's Medicine", teaching us to find the joy of being, rather than the joy of having. Where would you find the truth about your personal contentment if you were to make a list of what gives you the joys found in "being"?

Sage/Debs

SEARCHING FOR THE OTHER HALF

The human race is always searching for love, belonging, companionship, approval, touch, and genuine caring. These human desires are present in every race, creed, sexual preference, and gender. For any human to embark upon that quest, there must be the desire for union. The mate that will walk with us through all the up and down cycles of life and will be our trusted companion is often hard to find. My elders called this special person the other half, or the split-apart.

Every relationship teaches us about ourselves if we have the courage to look within, to see how we can learn from others, and how we can heal the parts of our personalities that struggle against union or unity. In the most personal sense of the word, raw creative energy is released when we come into alignment with our other half, our split-apart. This union grants us the potential to do great things because we learn to trust in the power of love.

When we learn to trust ourselves and our mates, divine union is at hand. The lessons may be many, the road may be long, but the human need for union is always eternal.

The Great Mystery reminds us that this kind of union is not a lost dream, but is a tangible reality. This dream of true love is given as a blessing to those who are willing to seek for their other half, never denying their desire for union, and never losing sight of the heart's goal.

Sage/Debs

SEventh Moon Saturday the 12th

LOVER'S QUEST

Blue thunder, night rain,
With echoes from the pyramids to
Bring me home again.

Within these magic mountains,
A part of me remains,
While another part goes searching
for a lover without a name.

Through misty realms of other dreams
His memory is my quest.
His arms so strong, his heart so bold,
Would bring me to my rest.

And though I hear within my mind
War cries before the ancient flames,
I hear the murmurs of love songs too,
As I sing Dreamwalkers name.

But can it be our paths shall meet,
Only to cross and go on alone?
Or is it that our spirits are bound,
And our hearts, each other's homes.

Sage/Debs

Seventh Moon Sunday the 13th

THE BLESSINGS OF HUMAN TOUCH

The Great Mystery took the breath of life and blew it into every part of Creation. The spirits of the two-leggeds, the human beings...were given free will and intellect so that they could learn about the tangible world in their own unique ways.

The Maker of All Things put the Eternal Flame of Love inside the human beings, and that flame created a deep longing in them. This longing for union and for love was coupled with the blessing of human touch, sensuality, sexuality, and physical sensation.

This gift of love contains the blessings of procreation, physical communication, nurturing, pleasure, and sensual touch. Physical love is a sacred part of being human and carries with it the reflection of Divine Union. To abuse this gift of love is to dishonor the Creator's intent. To shame another in this intimate way or misuse one's desire for coupling through force, is to defile the blessing of human touch and union.

The Ancient Ones understood that this misuse of sacred, fertile union could bring scarcity and hard times to anyone who broke the guidelines of "respect, trust, and intimacy".

Sage/Debs

Seventh Moon Day 14

LOVES ALL THINGS

Mother, show me how to love
Beyond my human fear.
Teach me all the joys of life
Beyond the veil of tears.

Let me find the pleasure of
A lover's gentle hands.
Let me know the wisdom of
Respect without demands.

Oh, Keeper of Forgiveness,
Teach me how to see
Beyond the judgments,
Supporting human dignity.

I will learn your Medicine
Of Mother, lover, friend,
Teaching others how to love
And broken hearts to mend.

Loves All Things, The Clan Mother of the Seventh Moon Cycle, reminds us that love is a many-faceted jewel that gives humans the strength they need to meet the challenges of life. Cherishing one another, and working through all of the barriers we have created that keep us from loving unconditionally, is a lifetime's work.
When we show our willingness to stretch and go to the next level of life's dance with others, we grow. This act of cooperation-the equal desire to grow in unity- is the foundation for unbridled creation. Desire is the first step of Creation. If we desire and imagine a loving environment, we invite it to manifest in our lives.

Sage/Debs

Seventh Moon Day 15

HEART DRUM

When we have made our desire for union known by reclaiming our passion for life, the drums of our hearts call out to others. When we find joy in the commonplace, meeting each day with genuine excitement, others are drawn to us. The gift of a positive point of view is a sure magnet that creates a curiosity in others who want to discover that kind of happiness. The heart drum is playing a melody that cannot be denied when there is a lightness in our steps and a twinkle in our eyes.

The Ancestors called this state of being "Walking in Beauty". When a person walks through life in this joyous manner, he or she has found union within the Self and can share that love with others. That person's heart drum will call to others who can recognize the spirit of the happy heart's song.

When we are down, we can change our hearts' sad melody by viewing things to admire and appreciate about our lives. By changing our viewpoints to gratitude, we will not draw negative people to us. Our heart drum cannot call sad or miserable souls to us when it is full of praise.

Sage/Debs

Seventh Moon Day 16

TRUSTED FRIEND

You touched my heart
and it sang....
of a song long forgotten.

You spoke to me of dreams,
and I allowed you to know
a part of me that was painfully shy.

You opened a window to my soul,
allowing me to be myself,
and the wind came to cleanse
my fear of intimacy
with the fragrance of cedar.

Your walking stick left tracks across
the trails I follow in my dreams,
And now--
I am reaching beyond that memory,
into the distance of future,
Wondering when....
the leaves will change,
and when you will return.

Sage/Debs

Seventh Month day 17

LANDSCAPE OF THE HEART

The landscape of the heart varies from person to person.

Some hearts thrive on conquest, meeting their love of life through the challenges they overcome. The boldness of this kind of heart may contain a landscape fraught with the sheer granite fronts of mountain peaks, high above the timberline.

Other hearts thrive on gentleness and may reflect a landscape of soft wild flowers, covering a green meadow that slopes to a calm pond.

Some hearts paint the picture of wastelands, because life has been a struggle with many burdens to bear.

Wild hearts may mirror the passion of a tropical storm or the fiery eruption of volcanoes on an island that represents their independent nature.

Passive and bored hearts can sketch a horizon with nothing more than a line to define the difference between earth and a colorless sky.

The broken heart is like a shattered mirror, each piece bearing a different picture of some form of lost or unrequited love. This heart represents the unmended suffering of humankind.

Every human being feels this kind of fragmentation at one time or another. We encounter this shattering of the heart's landscape when we lose loved ones through death, when we come to the end of a friendship, when we love without having that love returned, when we experience rejection or abandonment of any kind. When we experience this kind of pain, our next step is in learning how to heal it.

LOVES ALL THINGS, CLAN MOTHER OF THE SEVENTH MOON CYCLE, reminds us that our personal healing defines our ability to be sensitive in all situations. Once we heal our hurt and anger toward others, we must cross the bridge of forgiving ourselves as well. Has your refusal to forgive Self, or another, shattered the landscape of "your" heart?

Sage/Debs

Seventh Moon Day 18

Savage Passion

Buried deep within the heart of every human is a savage, wanton passion for life. To love and be loved, to go beyond survival and to embrace life to it's fullest.--these are the primal drives of the heart that allow us to continue, even in the face of all opposition. These feelings have become suppressed in so many humans that the passion of primal, loving instinct has almost come to extinction in many sophisticated nations. Some call this passion animalistic. The Ancestors called it the Force behind Divine Creation. Today's pilgrims on life's road can choose to give it another name--Love.

Loves All Things, the Clan Mother of the Seventh Moon, shows us the pitfalls of losing the wanton, savage passion for life. She reminds us that complacency has replaced our love of life every time we believe that our lives cannot be improved.

We forget how many times we have compromised parts of our personal aspirations and dreams. By not loving ourselves enough to keep the dream alive, we have lost trust in our personal abilities, rejecting our tenacity and strength.

When our dreams are whittled away, the raw passion of creative force disappears in fragments, mirroring every part of our life dreams that we have denied.

It may be time to love yourself enough to reclaim those lost parts of your dream and to reawaken your savage, wanton passion for life.

Sage/Debs

Seventh Moon day 19

THE GIFTED ONES

A person who can take the ordinary and iluminate it, invoking deep feelings in others, is often called a creative genuis. The Ancestors call those who carry that talent "the Gifted Ones". These are the human beings whose hearts are open to the flow of the inspired mystery of Creation.

Once a person's heart is opened and they discover the wonder of life, the creative flow is available. As long as the heart stays open, it is filled to overflowing, because the constant river of Creation flows through that person's entire being. They can then create from pure joy, and with practice, they can hone their skills to make masterpieces of their lives and anything they choose to create. Some call this state being in love. It is being in love, but not necessarily with another person. It is being in love with the aliveness of being a human being on this wonderful planet, grasping and claiming the potential joy in every act of life.

Is it time for you to open your heart and fall in love with being human?

Sage/Debs

Seventh Moon day 20

PUPPY LOVE

Loves All Things, Clan Mother of the Seventh Moon Cycle, reminds us that some of the greatest romances found in legends were between passionate adolescents. The sensitivity it takes to handle a situation with delicacy is the adult's responsibility. It is already very painful for young people to grow up in this modern culture without adults using jaded callousness to stamp out heartfelt innocence and loving expression. Is it time for you to remember the special feelings that you encountered during your fist love?

Sage/Debs

Seventh Moon day 21

PARENTING WITH LOVE

Our parents make the sacrifice
Of providing through the years
Tending their precious offspring,
through the joys and tears.

Being caring and generous
And then having to be stern,
Giving all the guidelines
Of the lessons to be learned.

The bumps and the illnesses,
The vigils through the night,
Endearing hugs of innocence,
Giving parents such delight.

Then finding the balance,
During the rebellious teens,
By teaching common sense,
Yet allowing them their dreams.

Parenting children with love
Is a test of hopes and fears,
Yet produces a rare treasure
That we can respect and revere.

Sage/Debs

Seventh Moon day 22

THE COLD VACUUM OF REJECTION

Any time that one human being forms a bond with another there are energy lines that connect the two. Seers are aware of these "golden filaments" that go from one person to another. These lines of energy are connected through the heart and navel areas of the body. Although most people are not aware of the energetic connections, they can be felt as emotions.

When a person cares for another and is rejected, it can be devastating. The energy lines act like a giant rubber band, and when cut at one end, they recoil, slamming into the other person's body. There can be actual physical pain when the energy lines implode into a person's belly. A vacuum is created when feelings are only present on one side of a relationship.

The examples throughout history of people dying of a broken heart are applicable here. Energy lines have recoiled, wrapping themselves tightly inside the physical body, disallowing the life force to flow. In some instances, the rejection can be healed naturally over time. In other instances, physical illness may follow. In all cases, the healing process requires tenderness and compassion, untangling the life force from the imploded lines of energy. The depth of caring involved determines the rejection's impact and ability to wound.

"Knowing this, can we learn to use compassion, communication, and sensitivity when we deal with others who care for us, instead of using the cut-and-run tactics that reek of cowardice?"

Sage/Debs

Seventh Moon day 23

ABUSE OR LOVE

In matrilineal Native American Tribes, a woman could tear a marriage blanket, leave it outside the lodge with her husband's clothing and hunting gear, and the relationship would be over. No questions, no community property, no divorce courts, and no worries about further abuse.

Today, things are more complex. The custody of children, the monetary support, the home, and the fears of not being emotionally supported by friends or family have taken their tolls.

Abuse of any kind, toward any family member, is a common, but unacceptable illness in our world. The courage to change those situations is found when people love themselves enough to say, "NO More". The fear of future consequences must be balanced with the understanding that unless the pattern of "allowing abuse" is changed, nothing gets healed. The understanding needed is that one's own person (and possibly others) are at risk every time an abuser is allowed to continue the behavior.

Every human being needs to realize that they are worthy of love, dignity, and an abuse-free life. To settle for less is to harbor the feelings of self-rejection, self-hatred, and unrelenting denial. The ability to love the Self is "earned" every time a person makes a decision to break the pattern of abuse.

Are you willing to love yourself enough to say no to abusive behavior toward yourself or at the hands of another?

If your life is abuse free, are you willing to be thankful for that blessing, serving as a healing example of courage for others?

Folks, this one touched me deeply. I lived for over 23 yrs with an abusive man, on and off yes, but he controlled my life, made my heart and mind a living hell. He never hit me but the mental and emotional wounds will forever leave scars. Am I loveable, can another love me, am I good enough to be loved? All foolish questions to some, but the ones abused, those people wonder in the dark alone...I am free and yes I would be an example for the good, the betterment of those abused in any way.

Sage/Debs

Seventh Moon day 24

LOVE AND ENDEARMENTS

The preparation for the wedding was underway as all the Tribal Members perpared food for the feast, cleared the Ceremonial Circle, and donned their finest regalia. It was a joyous time because the couple, which would jump the fire together, were loved by everyone.

Finally the time arrived as the couple approached the fire together. The Holy Man smiled as he recognized the love that these two held for one another and for their community. Endearing words of appreciation for the support of their families were spoken by the bride and groom. Then, each took their turns at speaking to the other, expressing their enduring promises of union. Together, they jumped the fire, bringing the Eternal Flame of Love that dwelt in each other as one.

When he returned to his lodge late that night, the Holy Man reflected on the events of the day. In his pensive mood, one memory kept on returning to his thoughts. No other couple had ever done what this one had done today. They spoke of the individual terms of endearment and the usual promises of commitment and devotion. Their eyes had glowed with the love they held for one another. What was it that made this couple seem so different?

Suddenly realization came to the Wise One like a flash of desert lightning! This couple pledged the Medicine contained in their love for one another to the community, sharing with all the People the magnitude of their love.

Sage/Debs

Seventh Moon day 25

DESIRE FOR A LASTING LOVE

Is there a love so enduring
It can pass the tests of years?
Is there a heart so forgiving,
It can heal beyond the tears?
Can there be a lover who
Is willing to embrace
The trials and the passion
With an equal grace?

Every heart has these questions,
Every Human feels these fears.
Respect, trust, and intimacy,
Wanting a love we can revere.
Will it be a lasting love?
Or will it fade with the years?
That potential lies within us,
If our hearts will persevere.

Every human being is given the opportunity to learn and to grow through relationships. These relationships begin with the Self, then expand to include a mate, a family. From there, the circles of relationship grow to include friends, co-workers, all human beings, nature, the planet, and the universe. The key to all these growth processes is found in the willingness to be flexible and grow. Love will last as long as it is intended with unrelenting care. It may grow a different way from it's first intent, but it will grow.

"How is the Eternal Flame of Love being nurtured in your heart today?"

Sage/Debs

Seventh Moon day 26

BALANCING OUR SEXUALITY

To deny one's sexuality or to become a slave to it's physical pleasure is imbalance.

In the Native American way of life, we understand that we are of the Earth. We are given human bodies and eternal spirits so that we can experience the balance between the two.

If all human beings were to deny the drive to procreate, the human species would become extinct. If all human beings were to deny the need to be touched, to be hugged, or to be pleasured sexually, we would become hard hearted robots. On the other hand, if all humans were to become slaves to the physical senses and sexuality, we would never be free enough to discover the unlimited worlds of our infinite spirits.

Discovering the pleasures of physicality and spirituality by bringing both into balance allows humankind to experience heaven and Earth inside of the human form. To love the truth of being human is to see that human beings were created in wholeness and perfection. The Great Mystery did not make any mistakes when humankind was created. If we learn the balancing acts of being human, without judgements, we can have it all.

Sage/Debs

Seventh Moon Day 27

SEDUCTION OF THE SENSES

Relationships that are based on mutual trust, respect, and intimacy are enduring. All human beings have the potential to find and develope these types of relationships, if they are wiling to work through their own shortcomings and allow others to do the same.

In the beginning of any relationship, the use of discernment is necessary. In today's world, many people have learned how to be seducers. To seduce another's senses by saying what one thinks the other wants to hear is an act of dishonesty. To behave one way in order to attain another's trust, while denying one's true intent is an act of cowardice. These tragic misuses of human potential defy explanation. The ultimate lessons of allowing ourselves to be seduced by our senses, or our longings to be accepted, admired, or loved, are often painful.

Honesty in all relationships begins within. If we are loving towards ourselves, using self-respect, self-trust, and honest intimacy, by examining our intents, discerning these traits (or lack there of) in others becomes an easy task.

Is it time to examine whether you have been seduced or have been the seducer through your lack of honesty with the Self?

Sage/Debs

SEEKING HARMONY

What we do to others we do to ourselves and as we pluck a strand in the Web of Life it vibrates through the entire Web. All is One and to be in harmony with All we must balance the heart and mind with focus.