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The mission of the Ojai Medicine Wheel is to bring us back to the Heart of Nature, as to help us Find our MEDICINE, in order that we can find our own Hearts. Pilgrimage and Vision questing are ancient practices that take us out of our daily grind and transport us into the realm of our spirit path. The Medicine Wheel is a circuit of sacred sites and centers around the Ojai Valley, and a network of healers and visionaries on the spiritual path, and has its Heart on a two acre permaculture farm surrounded by avocado and orange groves, and backed by hundreds of thousands of acres of wilderness, a veritable living library.

Monday, January 31, 2011

What happens when you say YES??

It's what happens when you say Yes to that diamond that has been marinating in your deepest inner space for so long that you have almost forgotten it exists, or have almost convinced yourself it's actually just a lump of coal.

It's what happens when you see the light in your deepest moment of darkness and you choose to focus on that tiny glow, believe in it, watch it, feed it tiny twigs and dry grass until it begins to grow.

It's what happens when you actually listen to what is being asked of you and take advantage of all the cards that are stacked in your favor...

If you are like me, you have had moments of resisting the obvious, the easy road, the thing that everyone has been asking you to do, and your heart has been telling you to follow, and for some reason, you just weren't quite ready.

And if you are like me, and having a total moment of self-honesty, I can really see why I wasn't ready.

But I am now.



So, MOMENTUM is what happens the very moment the Wheel of your Destiny begins to turn, and the stars line up behind you and the ancestors prayers from generations ago begin to whisper in your ears and all of a sudden you are not "making thing happen," they are just happening...

When I said YES to the Ojai Medicine Wheel, it was in a moment when I really didn't even quite know what I was saying yes to anymore, but I knew that it was what I had to do.  It was, in a way, like taking my medicine.

Sometimes I prescribe people herbs and they don't take them...for weeks after the initial treatment.  And they come back, and things have shifted, but not much, and we do another treatment and slowly things move...but SLOWLY.  And then one day, they call me up ecstatic saying that things have really dramatically shifted and it's because they decided in a moment of desperation or surrender or illumination to take the medicine that was right in front of them the whole time.  Duh.  Ha!

So this is about taking your medicine, but first and foremost, about FINDING YOUR MEDICINE.  And as we all know, on some level, the best and truest medicine comes from within.  AND it just happens to be reflected all around you, in signs and faces and obstacles and weeds in the cracks of the sidewalk and animals in your backyard. 

It's about stepping onto your own path as a beginner.  Yes, your same path, but with raw, naked, infant eyes whose skin has just shed like the serpent, and they can barely stand the brilliance of the light so they just stare and blink and receive.  It's about vulnerability, allowing ourselves to be held, and a new level of TRUST that is authentic, not as the expert or the observer or the critic or the investigator, but as the devotee.

So then it must also be about DEVOTION.  What are you devoted to?  It goes beyond commitment and accountability and contracts to a place of complete faith…in yourself, in the Divine Mother, in the Great Spirit, and in that inner guidance on what you have come HERE to be.
 
It is with great humility and a childlike excitement that I am introducing the first module of the Medicine Wheel training program, the World of the Serpent.  The sacred Ojai valley is bursting with an early spring in celebration of my decision to say Yes, and I am eager to get out into the wild and holy places that are calling for our attention and adoration.



I am holding space for 10 brave pilgrims who are ready to begin again.  This is not about forgetting what you have learned, and I am not going to be sitting in the place of the “expert.”  This is about genuinely saying Yes to your purpose here, finding your Medicine, and unleashing your core potential so that you can move like the Serpent with the current moment..um…

I am going to be guiding you into your innermost sanctuaries, and into the Living Library of this pristine and noble valley, the “cradle of the new civilization” that the ancients blessed with the name of Ojai.   We will be accessing the divine genetic blueprint that will bring your Mission to the surface, and stoking the essential fire of transformation that will burn away all that is in the way of you living that Destiny.  And we will be learning to navigate this first direction, this first world, the place where we are most deeply rooted, and the place that will set us free:  the World of the Serpent.

This is the beginning of a journey around the Medicine Wheel, and a genuine, old-fashioned, upgraded Quest for the innermost TRUTH.



If this speaks to you, please visit the website for more information, and contact me as soon as possible for an application and to set up an interview.  (eric@ojaimedicinewheel.com)  This is an intimate training for the right group of adventurous spirits, and if you suspect you are one of them, if something inside of you is stirring, I strongly urge you to listen to that voice and take action. 

Because its all about the moment…um. 

This is an opportunity to make a fundamental choice to get out of survival mode, and Clear the Path for Right Relationship, because now more than ever, pardoxically, living our divine potential is a matter of survival...
 
"If you bring forth what is within you, what is within you will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what is within you will destroy you" -- gnostic gospels
 

Sending you sunshine from the sacred valley, whispers of orange blossoms and the glistening rumor of rain's perfume...

It's time to make time...and time to "Find you're Medicine."
 

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Men's Council Fire and King's Day Pilgrimage

 "We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now.
This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.
.."
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Indeed, Now is a powerful time.  The beginning of the year, the beginning of our return towards the sun, the summer, the Light.  The first full moon of the year, and the season of celebrating the Great Work of a simple and courageous man by the name of King. 

From the heart of this Sacred Valley, under the watchful eye of our guardian mountain, Chief Peak, I have been hearing a message loud and clear.  It is a message of Truth, a message of Justice, a message of Activism, and a message of Peace.  

We are being called to march for Change, as our forefathers did nearly 50 years ago.  But this march is not against the system, not to the capital or to city hall.  This is an inner journey, one that asks us to remember the ancient art of pilgrimage, and to take ourselves OUT of the system, back into the embrace of Mother Nature. 

The Chief is sending a message: the Spirit of Chief Peak is calling to the Chief within.  Calling to the King, to the Queen, to that noble and courageous part of us that is ready for radical change, radical transformation, willing to speak up, ready to be a leader and to walk up the mountain beyond our own limitations to find that clear view of the horizon, the new day that is dawning. 

Sunday Night January 16th, at the Ojai Medicine Wheel, I will be hosting a Men's Council Fire for Chiefs and Kings, and those of us who aspire to live up to the legacy left to us by our forefathers.  These fires have grown quickly, and have become a stronghold for those brothers who are committed to walking this path of the Razor's Edge.  Please see the flyer attatched. 


Monday Morning January 17th, in observation the national Holy Day, we will gather at 8:30am and share a simple breakfast.  We will be departing from the Ojai Medicine Wheel at 9am and carrying our prayers for peace, justice, change, up the mountain to one of the most Sacred of sites in the Ojai Valley, Chief Peak.  Along the way, we will meet the indigenous plant spirits that will serve as our guides and offer us medicine, and learn to walk in the beauty way of the Medicine Wheel, such that on our return, our way of moving in the world is not only renewed, but revolutionized.   If you "have a Dream" this is the place and the time to speak it and let it "ring from every mountain side..."  Please see the flyer attatched. 

For anyone interested in doing both, camping and accomodations are available on request.  Spouses and partners are welcome to come Sunday night as well and enjoy the magic of the Ojai valley as the brothers keep the fire. 

I can honestly say that there has been no practice on my spiritual and journey that has proved more immediate and tangible transformation, clarity, and healing than pilgrimage.  It is without a doubt one of the best ways I know to get out of your own way, and let spirit guide and carry you. 

Thank you for the bright light you are in the world, and I look forward to walking up the mountain with those of you who are ready to  speak your Dreams in the presence of the Chief, the King, and the Queen of Nature.