Bi-monthly Card Reading

 This reading is using my upcoming card deck: The Sacred Circle Spirit Animal Oracle. 

 This is a one card reading done on the North American Sacred Circle or Medicine Wheel. The card sits in the center of the circle and represents the Creator or Center Stone, which is said to contain the Void and all of creation—the stars, planets, Animal Kingdom, Plant Kingdom, Mineral Kingdom, etc. This Stone is governed by the Great Spirit and our Highest Self.  It is the place of balance at the heart or center of the Sacred Circle where we can go within ourselves to access the wisdom and guidance needed from every aspect in the cycles of life.  

 Question:  We enter the Full Super Ducks Fly Moon on September 17th and the Autumn Equinox on September 22nd. This year, the Full Moon will also have a partial eclipse. This Moon and the Equinox officially marks our journey with the Moons of the West for 2024. As a Super Full Moon, the Ducks Fly Moon amplifies our emotions, intuitions, and dreams, making it an ideal time for reflecting upon our experience and transforming it into wisdom and deepening spiritual practices. Because this moon ushers in the Autumn Equinox, it brings in the culmination of your experience for the past six months as wisdom and clarity which makes the next few weeks a potent time for clearing out the old and for setting new intentions. intentions.  What is my Soul calling me to do in this context? 

 Card # 23: The Spirit Keeper of the West, Mudjekeewis- Grizzly Bear  

Teaching:   

The powers of the West are best represented by its Spirit Animal—the Grizzly Bear. The Grizzly Bear is the strongest member of the bear family. It is not only strong—it is also intelligent, resourceful, and an excellent problem solver. The Grizzly is the largest of the land carnivores and is strong and fearless It has no enemies, other than man, in the wild and only attacks humans when provoked. The Grizzly is both dynamic and powerful, yet it often chooses to move with slow determination. When it lumbers into view, it brings you the strength and fearlessness to overcome life’s difficulties and the determination not to give up easily. The Grizzly is independent, self-sufficient, and grounded with Earth Energies. It doesn’t like relying on anyone else except during the Salmon Season and encourages you to spend quality time alone to replenish, balance, harmonize, and stabilize all aspects of your life before tackling problems. 

Soul Message:   

Ordinarily, the Grizzly Bear is playful, nurturing, protective, and joyous. As cubs or adults, they love to frolic and play and prove to be amusingly lighthearted. The rest of their time is spent bathing, hunting, eating, or caring for the young. The cubs are usually born in winter and are nurtured by their mother in the womb of the Earth until they emerge in spring. They remain under the protective care of their mother for up to two years before striking out on their own. When Grizzly Bear steps onto your path, it may be urging you to be careful and protective with your family, your loved ones, and yourself. It may also be urging you to protect and nurture your dreams, feelings, or emotions, so that you can keep them safe and secure. 

The Grizzly is also an excellent healer who can help you use body, mind, spirit, and emotions to apply compassionate wisdom and nature to your life or the lives of others. Through compassionate wisdom, the Grizzly can teach you how to pull yourself out of post trauma and keep your negative energies minimized. You can draw on its gentle nature to bring hope to others who are in the throes of insecurity or trauma. With Grizzly’s help, you can bring them the nourishment, strength, and wisdom they need to heal themselves. But Grizzly is also adept at finding and utilizing the proper plants to heal itself and its offspring. If you need wisdom to use the plant people properly, Grizzly is your greatest teacher and ally. 

When the Grizzly Bear hibernates, the amount of fat stored is in direct correlation to the depth and amount of sleep that the Grizzly can achieve during the period of hibernation. The Grizzly rarely sleeps straight through the winter. It wakes up when needed and travels outside its den to secure food for itself and its young. But the longer Grizzly remains tucked in its den, the safer it remains. Grizzly’s survival depends on its ability to go within and access the essential resources it has stored in its body. Through hibernation, Grizzly can also teach you the importance of seeking solace in retreat and meditation. Through meditation, you can enter your Soul’s Sanctuary to find the answers you seek and give birth to beneficial new projects or ideas.

The Grizzly represents knowledge and is a bridge between the Earth and the Cosmos. The Great Bear Constellation, Ursa Major, is comprised of seven of the most easily recognized stars in the Northern Hemisphere. It is thought that the Grizzly travels the Ancient Pathways of the Stars to tap into the wisdom of the Central Sun. But the Grizzly Bear has Lunar symbolism as well, because it can go within, make the long sleep in Winter, and use that time to dream a new and better dream into being. If you open to its magic, Grizzly can lead you into the deep caverns of your Subconscious Soul where you can come into higher alignment with your True Self to manifest the meaning of your Sacred Dreams into the Physical World. 

From Grizzly Bear’s cave,

I enter the Silent Path

Seeking Sacred Dreams    

• Place the haiku somewhere where you can see it and meditate on it for the next two weeks.
• Spend some time in meditation and visualization using the above Haiku for inspiration. Record any insights you receive in your journal or notebook.
• Use the haiku to draw an abstract or literal picture of its meaning and place it somewhere where you can meditate on it daily. Record any thoughts or insights you gain in your journal or notebook.
• Watch a nature series, some YouTube videos or other documentaries on the Grizzly Bear to gain a deeper understanding of this guardian.
• Write down your reflections in a notebook or journal or create a piece of art that reflects your thoughts or feelings about the Grizzly Bear.
• Which messages from what you have learned about this Bear resonate? Which do not? Why? What are the most important messages or lessons and how do they apply to you? Is the message something you should release, incorporate, or celebrate? How can you apply the message positively for the next two weeks? What do you think the outcome will be?
• Show gratitude for the messages received by thanking the Grizzly, the Creator, the North Direction, and Mother earth through prayer, meditation, journeying, or ceremony.
• Join a national or local wildlife foundation like National Wildlife Foundation to protect and serve the wildlife in your area, city, or country.
• Choose one small action that you can do in response to at least one of these messages you received from the Grizzly that you want to apply to your life.  
• Write each one down on a small piece of paper. Roll it up and blow your gratitude, actions and intentions into the papers. Wrap them around a small stick. Place the stick over the flame of a candle. Watch each one burn for a few seconds, putting it out in water before it burns too far.  Let your intentions, thoughts, or actions go with gratitude and no expectations. Then, Run your hands over the flame and draw the energy over your solar plexus, your heart, and your third eye.  
• Prompts: Grizzly Bear is a messenger of the Dream Time. Ask the Grizzly to work with you through your dreams for the next couple of weeks and help you remember any important dreams or dream messages. To prepare you for this, consecrate a glass of water the night before by praying into it, and blowing your intention into it three times with an exhale in the sound of a sigh. Drink ½ of the glass write before you sleep. Keep a journal, notebook, and pen near your bed. If you wake up in the night, write down anything you remember. When you awaken in the morning, drink the other ½ glass with the intention of remembering your dreams. Then, write whatever you remember down. Meditate or reflect upon what you remember and contemplate its meaning. Then, let it go and trust the Universe to fill in any blanks over time. This may take a few tries before you begin remembering but be persistent and keep at it.

Actions  

• As we contemplate the Gifts of the Grizzly Bear at the time of Autrumn in the West and we enter the Ducks Fly Moon on September 17 and the Equinox on September 22, 
• It is a good time to call upon the Grizzly to help you with healing anything that needs to be healed—mentally, physically, emotionally, or spiritually.
• Use introspection and reflection to identify and let go of anything that no longer serves and to expound upon what brings you joy and bounty.
• Take time to explore plants or herbs and learn about their medicinal properties. Start with two or three herbs or plants that grow naturally close to your home. 
• Make an herb garden with them, cultivate them, and learn to use them for culinary and/or medicinal purposes.
• Take some nature photographs of plants and flowers in your region. Identify, categorize, and catalogue them. Keep track of their culinary and medicinal uses.
• Plant some bulbs like daffodils that will hibernate through the winter and bloom again in spring. Place an intention in each bulb or seed you plant for something that you want to bring to full bloom by Spring. Keep track of your progress and the progress of the bulbs to see what you can bring to fruition.
• Write your intentions down and create a mandala for them that you can meditate upon between the Fall and Spring Equinox. 
• Intentions: Ask Buffalo to thunder into your Life with its special gifts when you are ready to: 1) Increase your strength to work through the issues during difficult times, by letting go of your emotional baggage and stepping into the truth of whatever you wish to be;  2) Roam unchartered territory and liberate yourself from any constraints you might have in achieving your goals; 3)Follow the natural flow to find the balance between the spiritual and the material and manifest abundance and prosperity at the best possible moment with the best possible outcome; and 4) Call upon the practice of the Give-away to release and detach from something that is perceived as important to you that will benefit others and empower you to embrace the many forms of Death as portals to evolution and rebirth.
• Journey (You can drum or play some meditative music prior to taking this journey and/or record the journey ahead of time using your voice): Begin by breathing deeply in through your nostrils—expanding your lower abdomen, diaphragm, and lungs. Take at least 3 deep breaths and on the last breath, imagine yourself inside a red tiger’s eye crystal. In the center of the crystal, you can feel magical vibrations from Mother Earth as she enfolds you in her protective womb. Here, Mudjekeewis can bring you the grounding and qualities that will lead you to the den of spiritual stability and protection. Breathe in through your nose for a count of 7, hold for 2, then exhale love out through your mouth for a count of 6. Repeat this pattern for one minute to anchor your physical being to both the Earth and Spiritual Worlds. Take 3 more deep breaths, and You find yourself in a desert landscape with sand and limestone plateaus of swirling layers much like the tiger’s eye crystal. You step out of the crystal and ascend to the top of the nearest plateau. Once you get to the top, you can see the sky and land for miles around you. The sun shines brightly upon your face. You take your shoes off and bask in the warmth of the sandstone layers. A breeze stirs the Juniper and mesquite trees scattered across the top of the plateau and caresses your face. You hear the voices and songs of the ancestors as they celebrate the gifts of the Earth Element in ceremony. You see them singing and dancing around a twilight fire on the top of the plateau.  You join in. After the dance, a feast of maize, squash, beans, and deer is presented. Then, you all gather around the fire, and the storytellers tell stories of the ancestors to the drumbeat of the Grizzly Bear. Boom…Boom…it puts you in touch with the heartbeat of the Earth Mother. Boom…Boom…boom…and you find yourself inside a cave, a den of a Great Grizzly Bear. It is swaying back and forth, lumbering to the deep resonant beat of the Earth. The Grizzly Bear beckons to you, and you allow yourself to come into resonance with the Earth Mother. You feel her through your feet, in your cells, and in your bones. As you feel the pulse throughout your being, you hear the silent call of the Great Grizzly Bear as it ambles out of the cave to greet you. You see a sigil with the sun, moon, and stars around its neck. The Grizzly kneels before you and you grab the strap of the sigil to climb onto its back. The Grizzly takes you into its den to bequeath you with the gift of one of its crystals from the ceiling to aid you with your own healing process. You give the bear and the crystal your gratitude. Then the Bear turns translucent, and you begin to see star patterns on its coat. It exits the cave and begins to ascend to the stars. You approach the Path of the Milky way and follow it to the stars where Mudjekeewis dwells. He greets you with his staff of abundance and harvest. He lays his hands on your head and blesses you. You acknowledge his gifts with gratitude. Mudjekeewis embraces you and sends you and the Grizzly home. As you get close to the Earth, you notice that the Grizzly is becoming more substantial. It sets you down in front of its cave. And you alight from its back. You look into its eyes with love and appreciation for its many gifts. It lumbers back into its cave, and you find yourself back in front of the fire as the storytellers finish telling their tales. You have honored Mudjekeewis, the Earth Mother and its ambassador—the Grizzly Bear. They ask you to remember to honor the Earth Mother and the Cosmos as the Great Grizzly Bear does.
• As the night fades into the first glimpses of dawn, the tiger’s eye appears and takes you inside, so you can travel back to the present where you step out of the crystal and return to your body grounding yourself deep into the heart of Mother Earth. Slowly move your fingers, followed by your toes, and your neck. Yawn or stretch and come fully back into the present. 
• Repeat this journey as often as needed.