The Commencement of Community
When I watch the video of Chaco Canyon it brings a certain quality of Intent within me. It reminds me of a word I use in my ceremonial efforts which I call ‘The Commencement”. It involves the preparation of my Intent.
The Natives who entered the ceremonial rooms at the Chaco Canyon site had something very “gathered” about them. They knew the energy accumulated within the entire mass of structure spread across that desert in New Mexico. Even though the separate buildings were miles apart, each were integral parts of one whole, one entire statement, one entire summoning of solar and lunar energies of movement.
In other words, these ancient Natives there knew they were able to use the energy gathered by Ones much more attuned to such forces than they were. They had a link to the cosmos, just knowing the detail involved in the sites’ construction. In a certain way, this knowledge bestowed Personal Power unto them to use, at least in their prayers, their pot-making and ceremonial breaking and I am sure many, many other facets of their daily lives.
The magnitude of my ceremonial preparations are, of course, a drop in the celestial bucket as compared to the almost unimaginable effort put into the Chaco Canyon construction. Yet, within my own capabilities, I attempt impeccability in “leaving no stone unturned” in my own efforts at ceremony.
When I post my directional totem staffs, they are placed exactly in magnetic directional coordinates drawn from my fathers’ compass he used in WW II. The feathers and beads adorning each staff were ceremoniously gathered or carved on the full moon. The tree branches they were made from were collected in the same fashion. i.e., I had ceremoniously cleansed myself and emitted prayers and dance before each effort involved with the staffs. The colored cotton cloths which adorn the staffs represent the flora, fauna, the six directions, earth and plant people, the sky and sun, moon and night. These “robes” I constructed myself on textile knitting machines and dyed myself in small testing vats in the textile testing lab I controlled. I cut, braided and tied each piece of fabric whorled strips which I fastened to the staffs on alternate full moons. I kept myself totally cleansed with herbs and spices during all parts of the processes involved. I was impeccable about this.
I used this same effort in planting seeds, culturing, harvesting, drying and storing of the medicinals, flowers and herbs I use in my Ring of Power. This potpourri-looking stuff is what I scatter in the ring, which I draw each ceremonial Commencement, around my area of fire, display and dance.
Do you see the connection here, the comparison? These preparations give my ceremonial fire the power it has. The massive effort put into the Chaco Canyon ceremonial construction was shared by each participant in whatever spiritual exercise performed. These folk had Silent Knowledge of forces much, much greater than anything they could attempt to mentally grasp or even imagine. You see, it wasn’t WHAT they did, but HOW they did it. The detail of their effort, carried from generation to generation, manifest as something which I have not the words for at this time of writing. They KNEW the feeling of the blood which coursed through their ancestors veins.
This is the only way I have of description until I actually visit Chaco Canyon and see for myself, feel for myself, if that is humanly possible for me.
What this writing is all about is, of course, preparation. I was asked to describe my efforts at ceremonial fire. As I do with my Robes and Staffs, I collect my kindling and logs the same way. My initial fire-lighting is from one candle which I ceremoniously make each wintertime right after the Yule season. My kindling bundles are cut and tied the winter before each retreat and stored in my Ojibwa, my Shamans’ cave near my firepit. The list of all which I do would surely fill a book, but you get the point, I am sure.
You see, the actual fire is a small thing, in its’ essence. I start with large logs and within a few hours I have a small crackling, smoking Being which I give offerings to, smudge to, laugh and cry with, dance and pray around. The fire could be a large candle out in the garage, also, if that is all the ceremonial participant can do. But the energy of my fire is within the energy of that little candle flame, just like the energy of sites like Chaco Canyon are within my fire and anyones’ fire who Intends to open that wonderful Crack in the World.
If we each here on Soma, as a community, cannot venture out to physically visit the other, we have many other means of connection, as we all know if we get our creative juices flowing in that direction.
Let us commence at this. Two Feathers
