In Search of Balance: The Water Spirit Prayer Stick
(To activate your Prayer Stick, please refer to the article,"“Spirit Prayer Sticks, Divine Partners” on the main prayer stick page. This section includes instructions for how to conduct a short prayer ritual for your precious Water Spirit Prayer Stick. Click here.)
In the teaching circle I note the nature of power, one part feminine, the other part masculine. These are not specified to apply to any gender, but to all people. All of us contain these twin powers. All healers benefit from this knowledge in that their aim is to always maintain balance, at least when in healing ceremony or similar aid-giving help to others. By internalizing these principles and working to achieve balance between them, the entirety of humankind will benefit.
Power is recognized in the masculine sense for its energy of good service and its connection with the ground. Feminine power maintains its energetic union with water and in nurturing compassion, both connected with the sky. The masculine then is steadfastness, and the feminine, the flow. Both are necessary to sustain balance for life and for the good of all things.
It may sound easy, but any student of the shamanic way will readily admit that the state of balance, particularly in this age of distraction and titillation, seems nearly impossible. One is constantly pulled aside by the distractions of attempting to achieve fame, fortune and temporal power, and are thus seduced into an uneasy misalignment with one dominant power or the other. Titillation also tempts the attention and demands the energy of thought and action toward one pole or the other.
What to do?
Develop a Prayer Ritual
The best strategy is to initiate a prayer ritual. This can be as simple or elaborate as one chooses, but for brevity, I will discuss a typically simple method.
Begin with lighting a candle. Followed by smudging yourself and all items you’ll be using in the ritual. Then, dip your hands in clean fresh spring water and ritually “cleanse” by touching your wet hands to the top and sides of your head, neck, chest stomach, back, legs and ending with your feet. Declare out loud and in a firm voice that the space where you are sitting or standing is your sacred space where no darkness is allowed. As you say this, imagine in your mind’s eye the shape of an impenetrable orb-shaped shield forming around you and brimming with golden white light. Know this to be your safe and loving space.
With a sheer act of your own will, allow the orb to grow large enough to encase the altar (or special place next to you where you’ve placed all items mentioned here).
At this point some shamans will lift and hold a cherished prayer totem from the altar. This totem is a trusted and loved ally who will accompany the shaman and lend support, direction, focus and, if necessary, additional power during the ceremony. It exists to serve you, and you will need to activate it and make it whole by sharing your breath with it. (To learn about this, please also read Bob's article, “Prayer Sticks, Divine Partners” available on the main Prayer Stick page here.)
The Water Spirit Prayer Stick shown here is just such a totem. Its energy is decidedly feminine, a good starting place when one is out of balance, regardless of gender. Hold it close and stay open for its subtle influence even if you may think you are not receiving any. Relax in the moment and notice the flow of thoughts in your mind and heart. You will know which thoughts ring true.
You are now ready to encounter your other allies and/or the divine presence (what I know as Spirit or Mother/Father, but which you may refer to as the divine one or any of your choice). You will be seeking their help to ameliorate the distractions and titillations you are suffering from.
A Shamanic Perspective:
Even if you are not familiar enough with shamanism to recognize the presence of helpers like guides, spirit animals or similar sources of benevolent caretakers and have not yet established mutual admiration and dedicated friendship with them, simply pick up the Prayer Stick and “call in” any or all helpers with a sincere and earnest request for help. Your beckoning will serve as a prayer for help from strong and trusted friends.
Focus on deep breaths and long exhalations until you are relaxed and calm, then allow your mind to open. There are allies all around you all the time and they will connect with your thought stream and your heart center. Then begin observing your thoughts and trust what comes. You will soon enter the flow.
This is where you will learn to speak from your heart and to communicate with a far greater divine presence than you’ve ever imagined. You will have crossed the boundary of the limited reality material world into the non-material world of Greater Reality, cosmic realms known to many indigenous peoples as the Upper World.
Summary of Regaining Balance with the Water Spirit Prayer Stick
Once you learn to comfortably conduct such a ritual, you will never again need fear being out of balance while coming to realize the expanded nature of the universe, that loving realm where energy, frequency, vibration, and breath allows you to pull back the lustrous curtain and join with the All That Is.
You began with candlelight, smoke and water to protect and cleanse yourself of negative energies while burnishing the body and soul, then you held the Water Spirit Prayer Stick to establish the sacred space where you will interact with your allies and the divine presence. You will experience a large measure of progress toward your goal of regaining equilibrium amid the glorious union of water and the ground, the feminine and the masculine in perfect balance.
Aho & Namaste,
Bob
*DISCLAIMERS:
All information in this website is provided for educational and informational purposes only. The ideas and information expressed here are not intended to and cannot be used to diagnose, prescribe, treat, cure or prevent any disease. None of the information contained here has been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Also, please be advised that some products offered on the site contains small beads and other materials that could present a choking hazard to young children. Adult supervision is required.
