Poetry Forum

THE HAIKU JAPANESE STYLE POEMS

Pipe Journey

Boozhoo
I really wanted to write and share with all of you more about myself and the path I am on. Why is that? Well- for one because I felt a pull to do so and I often follow my heart. As part of my endeavours to always bring you the best I have a Shamanic Poetry Contest located at Shamanic Poetry Click Here

In one form or another I have walked this path all of my life. I had aunts and grandmothers in my childhood who spent a lot of time teaching me about the gifts of the soul and spirit, vibrations, colour, candles, incense, spells, word magic, heart magic, earth magic, spirits, dreams, visioning, Mother Earth, geomancy (the placement of the physical in relation to the spiritual in creating sacred spaces), meditation, and on and on.

However it was when I attended my first Sweat Lodge at the age of 24 that I knew that I was finally where I belonged, I was home. In the many years that have followed I have grown a great deal into the human being I am today. The path I have walked has been marked with many tests and hardships, but my light, though at times seemingly faint, has in fact grown. I have become a Being of Light and that is growing stronger everyday.

I carry a Pawagun and my Pawagun Mido is a beautiful female spirit, my balance. Pawagun (pwagun) is Ojibwa for Pipe and Mido means spirit. My tests and my awakening, the journey I took to walk with Pipe is powerful for me and was all pure spirit. In short what I can relate this to is that just like us as spirit beings we are spirit first (the same with Pawagun), then two people are woken up to each other and in their desire for one another and for new life they conceive a child, into which enters a spirit. I had to be woken up to my Pawagun Mido, this took many years of teachings, learning about myself and the 7 sacred lodges within (other spirits would call these chakras or sacred fires). These lodges needed to be fully opened and I was tested for this through my ability to see energies and describe them with my eyes closed for my teachers (sponsors).

Then when the time was deemed right another Pawagun Ninae (Pipe Man/Brother) brought me on a Sacred Pipe Journey where I was woken up to my Pawagun Mido Kwe ( Pipe Spirit Woman). Then the Pipestone I had was taken by another Medicine Man/Shaman and while he fasted for four days and nights he carved the pipe with only the tools from the old ways, flint-stone drills, sand and deer hide, bear grease, heated mishomisuk (grandfathers) stones we call grandfathers, water, fire, earth, air, and beeswax are just some of the elements employed throughout those four days. Then he took his grandfather pipe and performed an awakening of my pipe with his own. On the fourth day of my pipe's making, and though I did not know at the time I was pulled to begin working on my Pipe stem. I finished my stem the same day he finished the pipe.

He came back from the bush with my pipe and we did ceremony. At this ceremony I took my pipe vows, at this kind of ceremony there has to be at least two other pipe carriers in order for me to take those vows. At my Ceremony there were 7 pipes present, including a Heyoka Pipe (from the contrary society of the Lakota Nation).

There is of course much more to the story, many dimensions and levels and as experienced by others involved, I have recalled to you here as much of those experiences as possible so that I might add to the Pawagun Mido her rightful honour and respect. I love this walk I am on. My people were right though when they said that there would be moments of great testing in the loneliness that I would sometimes experience on this path as a PawagunNinae (Pipe man). The tests come when I am at my most vulnerable, when I am by myself and no one else is around. That is the truest place of testing and growth. It is there that all of the way that I have been living can be summoned and called on to meet the moment. I feel the eyes of my ancestors on me, my Pawagun Mido Kwe comes and spends time with me, I pour out my energies on behalf of others in ceremony and I am rewarded with the blessing of new medicine(s), I grow and receive new spirit teachings, I dream and intuit, and I ask only for the Odamin (the reward of that sacred medicine heart).

4 Major Developments of a Relationship

My postings for these sets of teachings will be given a special site all of their own. A website that is currently under development. But to keep some interest The 4 key developments are acquaintance's, Companion, Friend and then Lover. Each one of these each have four major dynamics that help toward the movement and then development of each. Such as the ability to recognize a special mutual attraction at the level of acquaintance. Three other dynamics help further this level of being and knowing toward the next stage of companion. That is all I will explain for now...Soon very soon. For now I would love to hear what each of you think about what makes each one of these developments important...Especially at a spirit level.

Thanks For Being Here

First I want to really thank you for being here and part of this blog. I am "Stand-Up Medicine Bear" that is my spirit name. For you Ojibwa speaking that is Naunibwin Mshkiki Mukwa. It has many levels of meaning and of being. A book could be written on the subject of meanings of spirit names. I am Wabanowin, a solitary Pipe Carrier and medicine person. Many Wabanowin were and are followers of the Hereditary Mide Teachings but no longer follow after teachers of that society, oh yes we still highly respect them but our teachers now are mainly the spirits. Yes many words here that some will know and that will be a complete mystery to many others while yet still others will have their own understanding of the meaning of these medicine societies and their teachings. It is not my place to claim that my way of knowing and of being and of living this path is the better way, the right way or the true path. It is my path and that is good enough, that is the strength of the teachings that I follow. This Blog is just beginning. I have a link to another Blog on Medicine Wheels and Mind Maps but have yet to post a teaching there. In the future there will be much I desire to share with you all, it is a long story and filled with many teachings and stories of Ceremony, dreams, and even hardship. I do not seek pity, that is something only the Creator truly knows how to bring in a way that remains filled with love and dignity. I will do my best to refrain from drawing conclusions for you from what I share. One of the sets of teachings I am anxious to bring here soon are all about relationships. There are the 4 Major Developments and the dynamics that belong in each and then there are the Seven Major Adjustments. As we will explore these together we will soon begin to see how these actually have relevance to every aspect of all of our relationships whether they be with a significant other, ourself, the many facets of creation, the business world and even the relationship between corporate entities can benifit from these. That is about it for now. I look forward to sharing more with you in the very near future.
M'gwech

Shaman

Coming Soon Articles on Shamanism and some very cool sites that deal with all sorts of spiritual matters in the realm of Occult and Shamanic studies. There will also be much more about me. I have lived the way of the Shaman all my life and am a trained Pipe Carrier. I am an Ojibway from N. Ontario. As well as training in the secret societies of medicine people I am University Educated with a degree in Religious Studies and major in Historiography and Historical Methods. For now maybe check out a pretty cool site for further studies and resources of an Occult and Metaphysical nature.
Click here to visit Isis Books & Gifts

From the Home Page of Isis Books scroll down some and on the left side look for Native and World link, click and then look for the CD Way of Life by Lakota Thunder. It is an awesome collection of Lakota Big Drum songs. Although I am Ojibway my very first teachers on this path are Lakota and I sat with the Champion of Champions Big Drum "Medicine Hoop" from S. Dakota, that was my first family, ok so yeah that was awhile ago, old school for sure.