Keepers Of The Sacred

25/05/2022

ravensagehealing.com

04/05/2022

We're off to NZ Spirit today, look for us next to Tattoo Temple and the chill zone. Hope to see you there! Also heres a picture of two different species of tree entangled

28/03/2022

Schematic representation of Dreaming song lines or “tracks” (parallel lines) and sites (points) across Australia’s lands and seas (from Mowaljarlai 1992). Ancestral characters as animals or plants formed these sites and/or tracks. The spatial connections show one means by which Aboriginal groups were linked across vast areas through ceremonies and knowledge exchange

22/03/2022

An Equinox lesson for all: do not seek perfection or too much of one extreme. Find balance.

Too much light can blind and wither you to what is important and too much darkness can leave you feeling lost and deprived.

The light of the masculine and the dark of the feminine compliment each other and offer great medicine when in harmony and in balance.

Respect and honor both within and without.

17/01/2022

Any interest in a 7 Directions workshop from 9am till 5 pm in Pukekohe this Saturday?

We will cover the 7 directions, the Medicine Wheel and Worlds Tree, upper lower and middle worlds, above, below and within.
This workshop is sharing a model of understanding self, the universe and our place within it. It is a model of holistic wellbeing and a compass to help us navigate our journey home, to the self.

Maximum 7 participants, minimum 4.
Koha/donation.
If there's enough interest, I will create an event or a group message for those who confirm. (Yes I know it is short notice but those who will make it will make it 😁, we will be doing more.)
This will be outdoor in a park/reserve area, so plan accordingly for weather. (It will probably be very sunny and hot!)

Just comment here if you are interested for this workshop on Saturday, and I will make sure to include you in details and confirmation.

11/12/2021

Thank you to everyone that came to the first one day wananga on Traditional Herbalism yesterday, I really enjoyed working with you all, walking through the woods and making some balms. It was a great day!

We didn't even get a chance to make an event for it on the page it filled so quickly!

The rest of the weekends this year are full with other commitments, but I'd be happy to do something on a weekday if there's interest.

After new years we will resume with fortnightly one day wananga. To those who have expressed interest in a 7 Directions workshop day, watch this space, we will have two events coming up, the next in January.

Bright blessings to all!

08/12/2021

Kiaora tatou, with current affairs still preventing or slowing a great deal of our group work, we have decided that we would like to offer some one-day wananga based on the full workshops that we already had planned as well as others. Our organizers are still unable to get together currently, but for now one of us in Pukekohe will offer several one day wananga with the probability that each one can go a little deeper than the last.

These will be small groups of 5 or 6 people and be on a koha basis. Shared lunch.

The first one is already full, but this Saturday we are doing a Traditional Herbalism day where we will start with a nature walk, identifying and discussing common medicinal plants that we spot along the way, (maybe the odd fungi too if we're lucky.) After the walk, we will do the same in a different type of area, followed by going over some preparation processes and making a balm, oil infusion or tincture. Everyone will get a jar of balm or whatever we make to take home.

We will also offer a one day of the 7 Directions, where we will look at the medicine wheel and the worlds tree as invaluable tools for self reflection, diagnosis, healing and holistic wellness as well as a compass and guide on the journey home to the true self.

And we will also offer a smaller workshop on Crafting With Intent, where we will help you to create your own sacred/ceremonial tools. This workshop may need to be for a specific type of tool each time, as with one facilitator it can be hard to help create multiple kinds of sacred tools at a time. These crafts may include medicine staves, wands, shakers, medicine bags and talismans, but are limited only by imagination so if you have something else in mind, feel free to ask. This workshop numbers need to stay 4 or less each time so it will fill very quickly.

We will make the events as interest comes in, but would like to do them fortnightly (with some exception around holidays.) Feel free to message with questions, interest and be sure to mention which workshop you would like to attend. Most will be weekends.

Looking forward to hosting you guys for these smaller events until we can go ahead with planning the full workshops again! Wishing you all brightest of blessings!

18/08/2021

Here in Aotearoa New Zealand, we have entered into yet another lockdown after a good stretch since the last one. This can be frustrating and triggering for many of us, especially those of us who follow a non-mainstream path. Some of us rely on festivals, events, workshops and run our own businesses traveling for work and are classed as non essential. Some of us are gypsy souls who don't live in one place for extended periods of time.
I would just like to pause for a moment and reflect on a few potentially positive things about such times, the positivity depending on how we choose to use this time.
For me, it is a time to appreciate my family and those who are with me at this time, even the ones who aren't easy to be around and the lessons of cooperation, unconditional love, tolerance and kindness that come with being in close quarters with anyone for extended periods of time.
It is also a time for me to take care of my personal space, my environment both inside and out. A time to w**d my garden, both literally and metaphorically, as well as a time to prepare for the busy season ahead.
Wishing you all bright blessings, strength and the benefits that come with being still.

-Jordan

08/08/2021

01/07/2021

There are many teachers out there who simply teach what they were taught, who were never taught to question, how to think for themselves or about the importance of the lineage of the knowledge they teach.
Even real knowledge means NOTHING without the means to APPLY it.

09/04/2021

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=5250614691676598&id=903880839683360&sfnsn=mo

Right now there are Tibetan Buddhist monks in a temple in the Himalayas endlessly reciting mantras for the cessation of your suffering and for the flourishing of your happiness.

Someone you haven't met yet is already dreaming of adoring you.

Someone is writing a book that you will read in the next two years that will change how you look at life.

Nuns in the Alps are in endless vigil, praying for the Holy Spirit to alight the hearts of all of God's children.

A farmer is looking at his organic crops and whispering, "nourish them”.

Someone wants to kiss you, to hold you, to make tea for you.

Someone is willing to lend you money, wants to know what your favorite food is, and treat you to a movie.

Someone in your orbit has something immensely valuable to give you — for free.

Something is being invented this year that will change how your generation lives, communicates, heals and passes on.

The next great song is being rehearsed.

Thousands of people are in yoga classes right now intentionally sending light out from their heart chakras and wrapping it around the earth.

Millions of children are assuming that everything is amazing and will always be that way.

Someone is in profound pain, and a few months from now, they'll be thriving like never before. From where they are, they just can't see it .

Someone has recently cracked open their joyous, genuine nature because they did the hard work of hauling years of oppression off of their psyche — this luminous juju is floating in the ether, and is accessible to you.

Someone just this second wished for world peace, in earnest.

Someone is dedicating their days to protecting your civil liberties and clean drinking water.

Someone is regaining their sanity.

Someone is coming back from the dead.

Someone is genuinely forgiving the seemingly unforgivable.
Someone is curing the incurable.

You. Me. Some. One. Now.

– Mary Standing Otter

Image: Cree - Ojibway artist Simone McLeod

04/03/2021

"When we (people from Andean Culture and Priest Shaman) speak about Shamanism, we are dealing with the deep inner self-transformation.

It has nothing to do with hopping, taking the famous sacred herbs, or dressing up as pseudo aboriginal people...
A "deep inner self-transformation" can be realized only- as C.G. Jung used to say- by making "conscious the unconscious, otherwise the unconscious will guide your life and you will call it fate."
- Eduardo Muscara -

09/02/2021

For those who were present at the 7 Directions Workshop, here are a few images that you may find helpful. (Apart from the tree/wheel, these are not my images, and there are a few differences in placements/associations,) They should still be good models, provided you remember some of the points we made about regional and slight cultural variations. The one's I shared with you all are the ones that I was taught growing up, if you have any questions, please feel free to message. If you were at the workshop and would like photos from my sketchbook I am happy to oblige.

07/02/2021

Huge thanks to all those who attended and supported us in our 7 Directions workshop. We really enjoyed sharing and connecting with each of you. You all brought beautiful energy, acceptance, understanding and unity forward as we all are on the same journey, finding our way back home, to our true authentic selves.
As a team, facilitating this workshop was a first for us and I feel that each of you helped make it a great workshop. We as facilitators learned a lot, and moving forward, will fine tune some aspects of presentation and make a few adjustments to improve.
Thank you to each and every one of you for making it a great event. We hope to see you all again!
Many Blessings

-Jordan
Keepers of the Sacred

02/02/2021

“Make no mistake.
Enlightenment is a destructive process. It has nothing to do with becoming better or being happier. Enlightenment is the crumbling away of untruth. It’s seeing through the facade of pretense. It’s the complete eradication of everything we imagined to be true.”
-Adyashanti-

20/12/2020

This Page is to keep people informed about the events and gatherings and other great things we have in the works, as we learn, grow, share and broaden our consciousness and understandings together.
You can expect to see events from us popping up, info about where you may be able to find us at other events, and a little insight into some of our backgrounds.
Follow/like this page and watch this space for all sorts of great workshops in the future! First workshop will be in February, updates coming soon.
Nga mihi ki a koutou!

17/12/2020

Medicine

From a North American First Nations perspective the term"Medicine" is very different and much deeper in meaning than it is in English.

Medicine, as I understand it is the power, the mana, the resonant frequency and energy created or demonstrated by a person, object, event, act, natural phenomenon and often refers to not only a physical effect, but also, mystical, spiritual or emotional effects as well.

In my language the word "Mshkiike" is one word that we loosely translate to mean "Medicine." But if we translate it more accurately it comes from "Miskwe Aakiin" which is a Power of the Earth and refers to the Holistic medicinal value of all things on the earth. But there are many words to describe different types of medicine, and not all of it is earthly as we also have connection to the Star People and the Spirit world.

Medicine can often be an object with a particularly strong ability to affect your wellbeing or that of others, and can be good medicine or bad medicine, often depending on how it is used. A prayer or incantation, a herb or plant, a crystal or other stone or mineral, a feather, a shell, or just about anything can be Medicine. Some much more potent than others.
Living a life of integrity or "walking the red road" as we call it sometimes, living life according to the 7 sacred laws, or 7 grandfather teachings, (love, respect, humility, bravery, honesty, truth and wisdom) will grant a level of spiritual medicine to you, and a life of depravity and wrongful deed will strip that medicine from you.

Every person is born with an aptitude and gift of certain medicine that exists in their very soul.

A person's feelings, experiences and culture or religion may even contribute to or change the good or bad nature of a medicine.

The Medicine Wheel, is a very commonly known symbol of Native American medicine but it is so much more than just a symbol, and it represents so much more than the common explanation of "the four winds," or the four seasons, or totally false "four races of man" (there is no such thing as 'race,' that theory was disproved in the early 1900's by a black anthropologist, and though his skin color discredited him at the time, modern anthropologists verify his research, that all differences between people of different ethnicities are superficial and do not meet the definition of race.)
Some people may be familiar with the four aspects of holistic health or even the four stages of life represented in the medicine wheel, but not many are familiar with the Wheel as a tool for teaching and for healing.
It shows us how to look at our health and wellbeing in a holistic way, and opens the doorway to True healing. It helps us to find the source(s) of dis-ease and pain, negative psychological reactions and behaviors and allows us to return to that source, and deal with a problem that may stem from a completely different place than we realize.

I say "True healing" because there is no magick bullet that will cure your dis-eases, no "healer" is more than a mediator or facilitator of your healing, you have to heal yourself. When you break a bone, the doctor cannot heal that bone, the bone will heal itself, but the doctor facilitates the healing process by setting the bone in the correct position to heal correctly, you facilitate that healing further by following the instructions of the doctor and wearing the cast to immobilize that bone to prevent further injury and allowing the bone to heal. You have to practice self care and mindfulness of that injury in order for true healing, correct healing to take place.
If that broken bone goes untreated, it will still heal, but it will heal crooked, it will cause damage to other areas, it will take longer to heal, and if you seek treatment too late, it will have to be re-broken in order to facilitate true healing.
The same goes for any dis-ease, any injury to any aspect of our health and wellness, be it mental, physical,emotional or spiritual.

When we look at the medicine wheel, we can use it to look at anything that works in a cycle and requires balance. It provides a holistic model that helps restore and maintain balance and awareness.

There are models frequently used with the medicine wheel to represent the systems and functions of the bodies, stages of life and so much more, but it is a tool that can be applied to almost anything.

17/12/2020

Protecting Culture

We as People, and Indigenous People, need to be aware that the jealous guarding of our cultures put them at risk of being lost. It is indeed our duty to protect the truth of the teachings of our ancestors and to honor those teachings. As protectors of those teachings, we have a responsibility to share with all those who genuinely seek to learn, not just with "our own people," we are all of the natural world, some of us are just distanced from it through colonization of our minds, regardless of where we are from or who our ancestors are. We are all of the earth and of the stars, and constantly separating ourselves from others and refusing to share with those who want to learn because they "aren't one of us" is what creates and holds space for the pretenders that pervert and manipulate and abuse our cultures and teachings to suit them. Cultural appropriation and cultural commodification are born of separatism and elitism, not of sharing.
The measurement of blood quantum and using it to further separate people is another contributing factor towards the loss of culture.
So instead of rejecting those "outsiders" who seek to learn our ways, I feel that we are responsible for welcoming and guiding people and allowing them the opportunity to learn things the right way, rather than turning people away, so that they end up learning the watered down and perverted versions and misinterpretations that are readily available.

17/12/2020

Are unity and culture at odds?

I often hear it asked (usually when someone has been made aware that they are offending people through cultural appropriation, unintentionally) "how can we truly have unity and sharing when culture divides us?"

To me, the answer is quite simple...

Think of the universe as a great sphere made up of infinite smaller spheres. Each of these smaller spheres generate the energy required to "fill" the larger sphere and hold it together. Every living thing is one of these smaller spheres. An individuated aspect of the greater sphere. The boundary of individuation of each sphere is what gives it identity, what represents each sphere's consciousness, the consciousness of each make up the collective consciousness that is the great sphere that is the universe.
So that division is a part of what creates the many verses of the song that is the "uni-verse."
Cultural identity strengthens the individual and gives strength to the whole. Individuation and division are not the same. Culture does not divide us, or at least it shouldn't. It should unify us in our indivituation to better serve the collective.
Each and every culture is an identifier built up over time through interpretation of the collective. This is a beautiful thing and each hold the very same truths at their core. The interpretation of the ego the self serving lower aspect of humanity has lost access to what those core truths are over eons of being drawn apart, but at the same time, the consciousness of the individual has been evolving. Through that evolution and understanding, the individual evolution better serves the collective to evolve. So you see, the individuation is an integral part of the evolution of the collective, like the ebb and flow of a great universal tide. He tai timu, he tai ope, he tai roa, he tai nui- an incoming tide, an outgoing tide, a long tide, a great tide.
Such is the evolution of consciousness.
The world is not perfect, but it is okay not to be. It is all a part of the tide, coming and going as we grow and evolve.

Culture is identity, my culture is shared with those of common ancestry that developed the culture over eons. It is our way and our understanding and preservation of the core truths as we needed and still need to look at things, it has been growing and evolving in its own time from generation to generation just as every other culture has. When one person or one small group take it upon themselves to change a culture, the culture is perverted further from the core truths and its natural evolution. History has shown us through conquest and forcing cultural change upon others what happens in these cases and it has proven to be resoundingly harmful.
Unity is what feeds evolution and benefits the collective, unity does not mean becoming one another, it is simply accepting and embracing one another, being to being and culture to culture. You are you and that is beautiful, and a part of what gives me my own beautiful identity.
We should be open, giving and sharing with one another while maintaining our individual and collective identities, and not taking the pieces of one identity our ego likes while leaving behind the other aspects that define it. This absolutely does NOT mean that we cannot learn from one another and share cultural wisdom, we should do this. We need to do this! But it must be done with respect to the identities of others and all those who came before us.

17/12/2020

Men's Mental Health and Depression

Depression and anxiety are huge issues in today's world and Men, particularly young men account for absurdly high su***de and depression statistics.
I want to talk about that, and some different views on depression and anxiety from a spiritual perspective that just might help a few people.

• Firstly, I want you to visualize a seed. Dormant in the light, if given light and love and a blanket and nice dry warm conditions, it will never grow. A seed will only wake and grow and reach the light and its potential when it is plunged into darkness, darkness is the beginning for that seed, not the end. The darkness challenges that seed to break out of it's shell and reach and climb upwards to ascend beyond it's former boundaries. Within it's comfort zone, inside it's shell, it will not grow, Only exist.

In saying that, while it is in darkness, it does not know that it has the potential to become a great tree or a fruitful plant, it just grows beyond the darkness, even though, at times it may need a little help or encouragement, or nurturing.

I have suffered greatly in the darkness, dealt with depression and anxiety for most of my life, and while I have learned how to cope and to recognize it, the knowledge that growth often comes from how I deal with the darkness offers me some peace.

Yesterday I shared a teaching once given to me by an Elder, about how depression and anxiety can often (not always, but often) be a sign that the person experiencing them has a purpose in life and gifts from Spirit and that depression is often a symptom of not living in a way that allows these gifts to manifest or even a blockage somewhere that could be mental, physical, emotional, social or spiritual in origin. Sometimes that person suffering just needs a little help or a new tool to work through that blockage, and when they do, that seed in darkness will break down the walls of it's shell, and sprout new growth, working towards becoming that mighty tree or fruitful plant.

A lot of the source of depression in men these days comes from social conditioning telling us that we don't feel or are less emotional than women. That is simply not true, emotion is an equal part of health for men and women. We as men are offered less space to feel and less outlets to cope with those feelings. Often we learn to 'tough it out' or sedate emotions or to Express them through anger instead of allowing the water within us to flow through tears.
I can count the number of tears I have cried as an adult. Not the number of times I have cried, but every single tear I can count on my fingers. I always felt like it was a sign of weakness and vulnerability and being vulnerable is not the place of men, is it?
Really, allowing one's self to be vulnerable shows much more strength than sedating emotion out of fear of judgement. Aakdewin, or bravery is often seen as a masculine trait, so why, men, do we not use bravery to overcome the fear of judgement when its appropriate to be vulnerable?
What happens to water that doesnt move? Think of a swamp. That's what happens when water doesnt move. It becomes stagnant and full of parasites, leeches, mosquito larvae, scum and drinking that water will only make you sick. Our bodies are predominantly water, and when we dont sweat, cry, urinate and put good clean water into ourselves, we become as stagnant as the swamp. Parasites get in and we become sick, physically, mentally, emotionally, socially and spiritually. Illnesses and dis-eases can manifest in any aspect of our health.
Often, a man will hold back the tears, and use alcohol to sedate his pain, so not only is the emotion not being dealt with, the old water not flowing through tears, but he is also putting the dirty water of alcohol into his system instead of something clean. This of course is not going to help, and years of doing this is going to be massively detrimental.

So, talk about it. Dont sedate it, feel it and let the water flow if it wants to. Work it out, don't tough it out. Explore holistic reasons for that emotional or mental reaction. Know that when depression and anxiety are present, your mind alone cannot be trusted, you need someone that knows you to know what's going on.

17/12/2020

The path of the mystic, the shaman those who walk in more than one world and transcend the veil are transcending more than that. They arent found in temples on high nor in cathedrals. They do not wear the robe or the cloth of God. They rise with the sun and move both in light and darkness. They walk a path of balance and duality. They are not men or women, not human or spirit, not good or evil, they are not above or below. They are all things, that they may understand properly the workings of all things. They seek not perfection neither inwardly nor outwardly, yet they walk the straight and narrow in a wild and wide berth. They are humble and proud, they are balance and the grey area in between is their home.
They must be as free and wild as the beings they work with and yet be fully aware and consciously walk, be it in blindness or perfect vision.
They are a rare breed and early on in life will wonder where or if they truly belong anywhere. The truth is they belong everywhere, so nowhere is where they feel at home.
They can find peace in solitude and will seek it regularly, not to be antisocial, no. To connect deeper with themselves, the spirits and the Earth and moon and stars.
They love deeper than most yet often appear aloof and distant, to those that dont walk their paths, they seem contrary. Sometimes they appear eccentric or disconnected from the physical, and thats a price of walking in more worlds than one.
Their path is known by many names and Shaman is just an umbrella that others know them by. They walk a nameless path for this path is different for each yet so much the same for all.

-Jordan Chapman