I had a very real dream recently in which I was going to be leading
a Sweatlodge. It is about 14 years since I have done so, but it is in
my mind and heart again, quite strongly. The dream lodge was what could
be called ‘New Age’. The lodge itself was an inflatable, and no-one
quite knew what they were doing. I was happy with that, because I knew
it would work, because I knew what I was doing, even if not many others
did. And people were coming in naked: I had reservations, I didn’t want
others to feel pressured to be naked. But it also says that people were
being real, open, genuine, spontaneous.
Then it all started to go
wrong. The native teacher who used to come to my house turned up for
the lodge, and took ages blessing and smudging everyone while the stones
grew cold; and a pupil of his who can be quite rigid about what is
respectful and what isn’t also turned up and would barely talk to me,
and then the firekeeper got into a power struggle with me and wouldn’t
talk about the stones: it is also about my own power.
So it brought up my unsurenesses around this Traditional vs New Age debate that you see so often on Facebook. I think the term New Age is now often used as an automatic derogatory. When what people are really trying to do is find their own way.
The teacher who used to come and stay with me was very good at what he did, he was a great source of wisdom about traditional ways. But he was very dismissive about the shamanism that we are trying to build here and particularly about the ‘New Age’. And that put me in something of a quandary, because I still have great respect for who he was and what he had to say.
So this dream was showing me the way out of that quandary, by being so real, and by having so much that was genuine and helpful going on in this ‘New Age’ situation. It is saying that I need to reject that aspect of the native teacher friend of mine that was not open or tolerant to how people actually are. Because if you are not open to that, if you can’t grasp after the good in people…… I do not need to elaborate. I need to purge this in a thoroughgoing way.
And you sometimes see native Elders being quoted, as though that is the last word on a subject. Well it isn’t. Here is my theory. What we have in the West is an upsurge of the individual and his/her own unique spirit, finding its way outside of a traditional framework. It has its strengths and its weaknesses. But it can be hard for those who only know a traditional framework to understand. And they can judge it unfairly. And that means Elders. I think this is potentially a very interesting area for discussion. Which includes my observation that those of us who do take a 'traditional' stance are often fantasists who are hiding from themselves; it becomes an identity that is rigid and intolerant, and we see the results on Facebook.
So take the beauty and depth of what they have to offer. But do not be afraid to translate and run with it in your own way. Keep your own authority.
So it brought up my unsurenesses around this Traditional vs New Age debate that you see so often on Facebook. I think the term New Age is now often used as an automatic derogatory. When what people are really trying to do is find their own way.
The teacher who used to come and stay with me was very good at what he did, he was a great source of wisdom about traditional ways. But he was very dismissive about the shamanism that we are trying to build here and particularly about the ‘New Age’. And that put me in something of a quandary, because I still have great respect for who he was and what he had to say.
So this dream was showing me the way out of that quandary, by being so real, and by having so much that was genuine and helpful going on in this ‘New Age’ situation. It is saying that I need to reject that aspect of the native teacher friend of mine that was not open or tolerant to how people actually are. Because if you are not open to that, if you can’t grasp after the good in people…… I do not need to elaborate. I need to purge this in a thoroughgoing way.
And you sometimes see native Elders being quoted, as though that is the last word on a subject. Well it isn’t. Here is my theory. What we have in the West is an upsurge of the individual and his/her own unique spirit, finding its way outside of a traditional framework. It has its strengths and its weaknesses. But it can be hard for those who only know a traditional framework to understand. And they can judge it unfairly. And that means Elders. I think this is potentially a very interesting area for discussion. Which includes my observation that those of us who do take a 'traditional' stance are often fantasists who are hiding from themselves; it becomes an identity that is rigid and intolerant, and we see the results on Facebook.
So take the beauty and depth of what they have to offer. But do not be afraid to translate and run with it in your own way. Keep your own authority.
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