With the latest International Climate Report in place, we now know that climate change is a definitive reality and that there are ways to keep things at bay. Also, we are told that there are certain changes that are irreversible, like losing species that have graced Gaia for a long time.
On a brighter note, it appears that growing numbers of humans worldwide have started to take inventory of their state of consciousness and spiritual lives. The idea of looking within reveals a new frontier, and now millions of people worldwide are meditating.
As we are navigating through these greatly accelerated times of global change, this might come in handy with the way we'll be able to stay focused and strong. As we experience changes in the weather, we are simultaneously changing the way we see and have to make adjustments in how we exist on planet Earth.
This is good news, and we are beginning to see new streams of consciousness expressed on select television shows, social media in the increasing amount of spiritual awareness sites, as well as the multitude of YouTube videos. The Internet is a world wide web with a technical pathway where one can inquire on a variety of consciousness-, spirituality-, and environment-related subjects. And finally when mainstream media begins to stir, it will become a new star and will champion the support of an awakening that is as necessary for the successful and healthy continuation of life on Earth as it is timely. Granted, many of these shows are a watered-down level of how deep we truly need to go, but they are a start.
This gives us at least some hope that whatever challenges we may encounter, as a collective we can discover a sustainable solution and act upon it. Should our balance of problems and solutions be serendipitous with natural flow, we will be in harmony with Gaia.
Tree of Knowledge
I've been asking myself how we can accelerate the process of positive and healthy change for our humanity as well as Gaia, and the term raising Consciousness seems to offer an excellent place to start.
Consciousness is an ancient term and has always been a part of our human existence. And while it appears that we are in the process of rediscovering it as an integral part of our reality, in actuality, we are just reinventing the wheel.
Regardless of how much or how little the concern for Consciousness has grown in the hearts and awareness of the masses, it has always existed as part of our evolution. And most of us will agree that our graceful survival as a species will largely depend on it.
Unfortunately, the Western mind and world at large seem to have denied the essential role of “Consciousness,” this age-old connection to the Universe, the key ingredient throughout human evolution. They have placed it into the category of a rare and isolated human experience, reserved for secret societies, mystical groups, and the chosen few: the saints who seek strange experiences and visions while meditating for extended periods of time on isolated mountaintops, and the spiritual weirdos and lunatics. But nothing could be further from the truth.
The ancients and tribal cultures in particular have for millennia lived an awareness that is our innate birthright. They have spoken about this most essential connection to the cosmos and to spirit and kept it at the heart of their spiritual practices and lives. They have continuously, since the beginning of humankind, lived in close relationship with the earth and used rituals, methods, and tools to build, increase, and maintain their awareness in Consciousness. In the Western context however, these practices have largely been kept a secret, reserved for those who choose to live an ascetic life away from the world. Often, such individuals are marginalized by society. But if we pay attention, we find that these tools are still available at all times to us in the form of dream work, fasting, drumming, and other shamanic/spiritual practices, and that they allow us to connect deeper with the fundamental energies that drive and support us. Sometimes these rituals might even involve the ingestion of today's criminalized, Consciousness-enhancing plant teachers that have the potential to help us to expand our awareness, our spiritual connection, and our enlightenment as well as physical healing. While these ancient practices are here for us to tap in to for support in our evolution as a species, the majority of the world follows well-guided, rehearsed, repeated, and dogmatic religious practices, which foster the dependence on religious institutions, formulae, and the powers that be, as well as creating great separation within humanity. Meanwhile, the ancient indigenous rituals provide us with a profound experience of knowing to be an integral part of the Universe and of being deeply interconnected, interrelated, and interdependent with all of Life. This offers us a vast and tremendous view of the seemingly unlimited landscape of Consciousness.
Caught in the Web
Ultimately it appears to me that the “renegade” versions of paths to greater Consciousness traditionally seem more universal and all accepting. They afford us a greater-encompassing worldview and connection to the larger reality, one that considers all sentient beings, all peoples bound into a living “Web of Life” and Consciousness which is eternal and infinite. With every thought, feeling, and action being an integral part of the Web, we directly influence how it vibrates, contracts, expands, and ever changes. In this ancient cosmology, all beings and all that is are intimately connected. To know and see all that is as an important part of the whole, and us not just at the mercy of the Gods but rather as an individualized reflection of the “One” provides us a precious gift and opportunity: to become instrumental in the creation of our reality, hopefully conscious cocreators for our planetary existence as well as aware guardians for our planet.
Cusp
Curandura
It is quite remarkable to see that it is often our indigenous brothers and sisters who have kept the connection between this world and the Spirit World alive through their way of living closer to the earth and through their rituals. But the old Shamans are slowly vanishing, and they are now facing, just as the Western world, a reality that does not harmonize with the same ancient Gaian rhythm. We now all have to become “shamans” in our own right and find new ways of working and approaching reality together. And if we add play and joy to the mix, evolution is inevitable.
Of course, greater Consciousness can be developed and reached by following many paths or spiritual traditions as long as the path is tread upon with honesty, humility, and our interconnectedness in heart and mind.
This new path that wants to emerge worldwide includes all peoples and traditions—indigenous as well as Western—and all religions. It is nondenominational, nongenerational, nongender, and nonracial, and its development lies in our own hands.
Many feel a continuous and all-pervasive revolution happening, which we wish will transcend all differences and move our evolution forward.
There is no earthly authority that has a patent on it.
With this, we are free to develop and attain a higher understanding of it by ourselves. If need be, we can utilize the help of age-old practices—prayers, meditations, sacred shamanic journeys, sacred medicines, simple personal interactions with nature, being in silence, fasting, singing, chanting, making art, simply loving, and being of service to others.
This revolution begins at home in the intimacy of our own bodies, minds, and hearts, and luckily there is no middleman or institution needed to achieve it. As long as we are willing to listen inside with abandon to the individualized voice of “Source Energy” that is as eternal and infinite as our spirits, we will grow.
As an artist, my personal path to Consciousness has led me on a magical journey of discovering the ways through expressing in form and color. But whether we are actual artists or not, we still remain cocreators of the divine, all instrumental in changing and creating our world and reality one step, one person, and one day at a time. So it is paramount that we are becoming conscious of our great power and importance in this game of life and of how we are influencing and shaping reality every second of our existence. This is no longer a dress rehearsal. We all have to show up.
La Chacruna
Lysergic Summer Dream
Alien Ascension
Snake Egg
Snake Helix
With this awareness comes responsibility and the need to be present and conscious of our actions at every moment. The world and all life within it, us included, lie in our own hands and depend on it.
Having Consciousness means holding this responsibility with absolute respect for all life and existence. We hold the powerful and precious tool for transformation in our own hands and hearts, one loving thought and action at a time.
Each individual's gift and contribution to the whole will vary but has equal importance. Mine, as a visionary painter, lies in making visible the more subtle and intuitive states of our existence by encoding them in my work and thereby producing symbols and maps that reflect Consciousness. These symbols and otherworldly blueprints, now manifested on canvas, have become part of the human field and thereby directly shape our world, reality, and culture. Further, I like to use art as a portal for spirit-communication and as a conscientious tool for manifesting spiritual, physical healing and transformation.
My work is an attempt to show spirit as the one universal force beyond the confines of cultural and religious differences.
Gayatri
I feel that we all need to become artists with our gifts and talents, as we are all called to raise our Consciousness and awareness. As the light dawns upon our Consciousness, we learn to embrace our Oneness as a global human family—our interconnectedness, interrelatedness, and interdependence with Nature and all that is.
Through this, we have a real chance to heal and transform the planet's existing state of woundedness and the opportunity to create a reality as beautiful, healthy, and strong as our imagination can fly.
Let's do it! The “divine intervention” that many of the “awakened ones” have been waiting for might come in the form of each and every one of us individually and all of us together finally taking charge. The world is a better place because you are in it.
Hawk Medicine