Sunday, May 24, 2020

 

*Message: Be prepared to defend truth and justice for all.

 

      Each Friday before the Soulful Seniors convene, I draw a "meditation" card to symbolize a spiritual direction for the week. This week, I drew the Knight of Butterflies from "The Star That Never Walks Around" Native American tarot deck.  As we confront our individual issues during this covid-19 isolation, let us also consider the thought to be given to the forces that created Covid-19. What impacts our decisions from this pivotal point?

 

     In the Native American tradition, the earth is sacred. The animals and plants must be protected, revered, and mindfully used by humans. The four directions are invoked during special events, like the Medicine Wheel Ceremony, to bring about healing for the tribe and all of mankind.

 

      I would like to invoke the four directions to set the stage for healing the planet.

 

Direction of the East: Season: Spring, Tarot card suit: Swords or Butterflies

 

     OBSTACLE: l. Destruction of the Environment

 

     Examples: Cutting down the jungle, eating wild animals not meant for human consumption, burning fossil fuels, jet travel.

 

      These are just a few of the factors suggested as "carriers" of the coronavirus. As we change our planetary environment, viruses such as Covid-19 can be introduced more effectively into our lives, as our immune systems are depleted. I would like to focus on "jet travel", as it is one that directly effects most of us in our daily lives.

 

Global travel presents a challenge in this covid-19 world. For the past 50 years, travel to all parts of the world has "sky-rocketed", as we crowd our planes to reach our continental destinations. Consider that whenever we travel, we bring our diseases with us. Just as the colonizers of the New World brought smallpox to the Native Americans, we exchange germs as we go to all parts of the globe. We have not acquired the immunity needed to visit or live in diverse environments. We can take pills to prevent malaria when traveling to Africa, but can we stop Covid-19 from leaving China on a jet plane?

 

Direction of the South: Season: Summer, Tarot Suit: Wands

 

     OBSTACLE: 2. Economic Instability

 

     Over the past 30 years, we have shifted to a global economy. This has intensified the impact of the Covid-19 virus, as we scramble to manufacture masks, gloves, and ventilators, no longer primarily made in this country. Can it be that as something becomes expanded, it becomes more chaotic?  We have evolved from tribal units. While we reach out to other nations, the immediate community must be preserved. How can we balance globalism and patriotism in this modern climate of international rogue piratry that characterizes our times? What is the cost of continuing to "wait for the cure" instead of "flattening the curve"? What is the economic balance?

 

Direction of the West: Season: Autumn, Tarot suit: Cups

 

     OBSTACLE: 3. Technological Revolution

 

      Over the past 20 years, technology has exploded in the form of changes such as home computers, cell phones, I-phones, electronic accountability in the workplace, and cell phone towers. These influences have created a potential threat in what now is being considered: the effects of electromagnetic contamination on our immune systems and the planet. Just as our immune systems are not suited to global travel, how are our bodies assimilating this new form of pollution? Should we tread more carefully as we continue to shift into this Brave New World? When will Big Brother no longer be just watching but dominating every aspect of our lives?

 

Direction of the North: Winter, Tarot Suit: Pentacles

 

     OBSTACLE 4. Pharmacological Dominance

 

      We have reached the season of nuclear winter.  In the Native American tradition, herbs and plants have always been used for healing by the Shamans. In our modern world, this has been distorted in what is now control by the pharmaceutical companies.

 

     We wait anxiously for the vaccine as the antidote for all of our suffering, instead of walking in the Wisdom Path: eating in harmony with the seasons, community bonding, seasonal ceremonies, and ritual practice. These aspects were woven into the lives of the tribes people and contributed to their physical, mental, and spiritual well-being.

 

     As I shelter in place during this pandemic, I have begun to eat whole, home prepared meals, take daily walks for exercise and Vitamin D replenishment, meditate, and write on Sundays for "the different drummer."  It has created a rhythm to my days that is transformational.  My digestion has calmed, my nerves have softened, my sleep has deepened.  Can this healing routine be "the silver bullet" or "the star that never walks around"?  When the vaccine is ready, what will we be injecting into our bodies?

 

      As we leave our "sweat lodges", and emerge into the covid-19 world, how can we integrate modern medicine and indigenous healing practices? Let us all proceed with mindful contemplation.

 

For more information, contact Donna Graves at thedifferentdrummerblog@gmail.com