USING THE LUNAR CYCLES TO EXPAND AWARENESS

[Here's an essay I'm working on.  The smoke from the wildfires in the Cascades is heavy in Yakima today, and I'm not functioning at 100%.  I post more later.]

Human awareness becomes atrophied in ways similar to the muscles.  Yogis know that as the muscles atrophy, beginning in the early twenties, the Mental Body loses its elasticity, and is gradually disengaged from the Physical Body, and hence from the Ethereal Bodies.  Asana and pranayama practices serve to maintain the connectivity between and among the energy bodies.

A Shaman works with these energies, as well as energies which extend throughout the universe.  As a Shaman works, the element of Time becomes more and more important.  There are various aspects of Time, which I’ve come to call the Tattwas.  I know there are other definitions of this word, but as I see it, the tattwas are similar to the ‘changes’ which are the basis of the texts of the I Ching.  A Shaman ‘knows’ the tattwas via the Energy Field Awareness, and through the intelligence of the Medicine Energies in his work space.

Often, a Shaman is working on things which might be called ‘ineffable’.  There is a certain part of his consciousness, or awareness, which must be trained to hold these projects apart from the activities of daily living, like a file on a computer.

In the beginning, it was my Allies which held these higher levels of awareness for me, as they initiated me into the awareness of the Shaman. 

Perhaps the most helpful thing for me, in learning this art, was the influence of the changes of the tattwas as the moon went through its cycles.  This awareness is held mostly in the physical body, if it is charged properly with the Mental Body and the Ethereal Bodies.  The Medicine Energies also hold this awareness.

There is a very satisfying feeling which comes from the physical understanding that the tattwa has changed during a day.  Some things must not be undertaken under certain circumstances.  The mental awareness which guides us during a normal daily experience reacts much too quickly, and most often with force; this can be disastrous when dealing with the forces of the higher consciousness.  During Shamanic treatments, the soul of the subject can be stretched out over many past lives.  Losing the connection with the tattwa can result in psychic pain and destruction.

Through the process of tuning in to the phases of the moon, the Shaman can learn to hold awareness open and active through a very subtle series of changes.

The moon goes from New to Full in two weeks.  Two weeks later, it’s New again.  These two weeks go by interminably slowly, until all of a sudden, they’re gone.  It takes many repetitions of this cycle before it begins to become a bodily awareness.  The Shaman pays very close attention to the awareness of the body.  It is easily influenced by the societal world.  The Shaman keeps his body more or less removed from society, in order to protect this bodily awareness.  Fortunately, techniques from yoga are very effective in smoothing out the body after social contact.