Fire, Water, Earth and Air are the 4 elements that make up the universe, both for Europeans and Native Americans. It is an ancient way of understanding the world that we share. Isn't that wonderful? Old ways like this live in our viscera, even though we may have forgotten them. It just takes a bit of smudge and honouring of the Elements for that ancient thing to awaken in us.
I
like the Elements because they are concrete, they are close to
experience. They are not the abstractions that we have got used to. You
want to understand the universe? Here are the equations, but you won't
understand them. And even if you do, your senses will not be invited in
to share in the knowing.
But even Fire, Water, Earth and Air are, to a degree, abstractions. Abstraction has its place, for it can reveal underlying principles.
All the same, I prefer to say Sun, Rain, Soil and Wind. You can feel them, taste them, smell them, even as you are reading this. Everything is to be found in allowing ourselves to be drawn, with gratitude, into that sensory experience of the world. You don't need books or teachers or spirit guides. That is all this thing we call shamanism is: allowing the spirit to incarnate through its delight in the natural world. And you can do it in a city.
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