Tag: Prophecy

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Art Indigenous Knowledge

Channeling Indigenous Teachings

Channel

Channeling: to be inspired by, (of a person) serve as a medium for (a spirit).

It comes from the Latin root word for reed. A reed was used as a channel, to allow things to flow from one place to another.

When I start painting, I tap into a flow of energy that is coming from one place and being directed into the canvas. I use many techniques to allow this energy to flow out … such as dripping paint, spraying it with a spray bottle, scraping with a card, moving it with my fingers across the canvas, turning the canvas… tapping into the energy and allowing it to flow from my hands onto the canvas.

Channel Flow

I am the channel for the flow of energy that is around me.

Recently my ancestors have been coming through heavily. The paintings showing up are based on the connection to my Anishinaabe heritage.

This image represents the Seven Generation Prophecy, along with transmuting the energy of the children lost at the residential boarding schools, and balancing the feminine and masculine energies within each of us.

When I paint, I can feel the energy of these experiences… I can feel the story they want to tell. It has been a powerful experience and I am so excited for the energy that wants to be shared!

This painting represents my Sundance experience. I feel as though there are still a few things that need to be added to this painting but this image has been speaking to me for a while. The man in the middle represents the dancer, we had sage wrapped in red cloth around our wrists and ankles, as well as a hoop that we carried. The middle of the circle was a tree with our prayer flags tied to it. This tree was a Y shape and represented duality coming together. We danced in a circle and a dragonfly pattern, sending our prayers out into the ether through each movement and breath.

Channel

The next painting shows the Fancy Shaw Dance, and energy of the pow wow. The energy and current that flows from dancing in circles with intention and prayer. This one is also unfinished at the moment, but I am really happy with the story thats showing up.

The energy I feel from these paintings is so intense…. I am honored to be in their presence.

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Existence Most Popular

The Middle Way

With all that’s happening in this world, I know many may feel as though they are suffering, and yet others feel a sense of centeredness that they may have never felt before.

You might ask how that can be? If we are all living in the same world… how can some of us feel as though we might not be able to make it, while others seem so bright and cheery.

I feel like the answer is within, as with all things.  Personally, I am not sad, nor suffering… I have no fear of what the future brings because I know that no matter what, I am that I am… and all is as it shall be.

I am that I am…

I am what I think… I am what I focus on… I am what I put my energy into. Life IS what I make of it. MY perception shapes my experiences.

So how does this relate to the middle way… well if you think about all the options of ways to respond or even sometimes react to situations… we always have choices. This or that, left or right, up or down… most times we even have more than just two options to choose from.

Imagine a ball in your hand, with rays shooting out from the center in 360 degrees. Each ray is a different perspective to the experience. Now imagine you area of and know each perspective… you can then grasp how each perspective is just as valid as the others because each ray is necessary in making up the whole of the ball.

energy_ball

Seeing it this way helps in realizing that… every ray is interconnected, no matter how different they might be, they are all apart of the ball.

Now what!?

Well…once I realized this, I was able to see myself clearer… I was able to get that the middle way is in this realization. The way of self awareness, self knowledge. Standing in my center, because that’s the only perspective that I will ever know with 100% of my being.

This ties directly into the Ojibwe teachings that all roads shine light and lead to better awareness of each person’s own journey.

This moment in history aligns with many native prophecies, where The New People, and the young generations will start asking questions, start seeing, and start listening to all of their relations and realizing we are all connected.

That’s what I feel is vital about going back to our elders and learning the traditional ways… those roads are roads that will lift us up and out of this suffering, and back to our center… our inter-connectedness with all of existence.

Mitákuye Oyás’iŋ (All Are Related)

We are one part of the whole, but our part is most vital…. Being who we are to the best of our ability. Knowing thyself allows others to know themselves more clearly…its a ripple effect.

But it all begins with the middle way, the drop into the unknown… letting go of fear and knowing I am that I am….and that is exactly what I should be. I couldn’t be anything other than myself.

I am reminded of a quote from one of my favorite movies, I Heart Huckabees…. “how am I not myself?

Migwetch & Gizaagin <3
Raine dawn