The East of the Medicine Wheel is one of the four moves of the sector of the light. With this teaching, we are stepping into the light.

Before doing that is Thanks for Everything prayer, the most powerful prayer is just simply Thank you. When you pray, just saying 'thank you' is the most powerful prayers of all. And that is pretty much all we need to do. You can pray, give thanks for lots of things, but a simple 'thank you' from the heart covers all creation. And the fact that you are saying thank you for nothing in particular takes a big heart to opens up to that gratitude. It is a wonderful experience just being in thanks. And give thanks for everything, regardless if it has happened or not is the state to be in the north of the Medicine Wheel.

We use the word wish and hope quite a lot. I wish this, I hope that, I hope it stops raining, I wish I get home - but that is in a way feeding an illusion, that is denying ourselves. When we give thanks, say for example: thank you for taking me home safely. We will be taken home safely because giving thanks in advance is to make the present happen. That is the magic, to make the present happen is not wishing or hopping. There is a very subtle difference between I wish I pass my exams, I hope I win the lottery. These are false realities. So it is always good to be at that mind, whenever you are in need of something, whenever you require something.

From being in gratitude in the North, that allows us to move now into the East. We have given thanks and that opens the blockages, and the blockages then are released, our initiation has been completed. Now we are in the East.

The East. The place of eagle, divine love, sun, the morning, new beginnings, new births, new downs, the place of light, of God, grandfather sun, energy, fire, life force, enlightenment.

Lets discuss this word enlightenment, to be in light, enlightenment.

Let's share what you feel or think about: what is enlightenment. Is it a verb or is it a noun? Here we are in the Community Woodland yurt listening to the rain, talking about very sacred things, talking about spirit, talking about the light. But really enlightenment is you. You. When your job is gone, the children are gone, your husband or wife are gone, and all the things you hold dear are gone, what is left? But you? And it is you: you are enlightenment, your very self is the light. It is not an abstract thing away up in the sky, it is not some amazing god statue in the jungle deep in your mind. It is you and me, we are, we are enlightenment, that is light. And everything you said: being in the present, the light, the divine light, speaking from the soul. And it is true is both, the striving and the releasing.

There are two schools of thought in Shaolin kung fu. The closed fist and the open palm.

One school says you have to strive for perfection. Strive strive strive, try try try, discipline, hard work. The other school says, just accept. And both schools were keepers of knowledge. Think of the Chinese sign for bowing, if you watch kung fu movies, before two guys fight they bow to each other: meaning that they honour and respect each other. So Spirit, God, Wakan Tanka Tunkashila, life force, mana, prana, viracocha, many cultures spell the same thing by different names but it is all down to you. It is all about you. You are enlightenment. Whether it is a process, a state of mind, a state of being, it is yourself that you are looking for. It is you finding you. You remembering you, you allowing you, it is you. You are God you are the question and the answer. Enlightenment is a quest to find the love that is you. Enlightenment is a joke. It is the laughter of the cosmos. It is so funny. And that is why laughter makes you feel so good.

We can discuss the aspects of enlightenment. Aspects of it are: Feeling the divine love within, loving yourself, accepting yourself, being in a state of harmony and blessing, oneness with all that we see hear and touch. Sure that is one aspect of it, but at the very heart of it is Great Mystery, we are not suppose to know all the answers all the time, Great Mystery Grandmother holds the key. The womb, the void, you find enlightenment in the middle of the medicine wheel, and in the middle of the medicine wheel: there you are, you! It is you and that is the joke. You are chasing your tail like a dog. The paradox is: everything else is there as well. All things, the beetle, the spider, they are in their spiritual path as well.

What is the whole point? What is the point? What are we evolving into? That is what you are going to find out now. Your question will be answered. You will meet yourself 30 thousand year from now and ask yourself that very question in a shamanic journey we will do soon. There is a divine logic to everything, but the most important thing in our life is you.

If you stood near to a shaman in a bus, you will never ever know he/she is a shaman. They are so unassuming, they just sit very quiet they are very humble.

The dog is more enlightened than we are. It just sits. The cat in the house has more wisdom than we do. As humans we are so busy self reflecting. The cat just gets on with his job of being a cat. It just follows its nature. And that is what it is all about. To follow your nature and your nature is to love. And it is love that is all things. It is the only reality. That is your home as well. But you are going to find that out. Let's take a few moments inside ourselves. If you close your eyes and just go within.

Remember, you have to find the answers, that is the whole point. And that is the beauty, you find the answers for yourself. So just close your eyes and just listen to the rain or to the sun . Find in your body where the magic is still alive, the magical flame. Where is the magic in your body? Drink eat all this energy you feel in your body, open your vision to see the magic alive inside the body as a fire, as a light, as a spirit. Feel the inner light, see the inner light. The inner light is that magical energy being alive that is you. Is the you who brought you to here and now, through the rain and the storm or the sun, it is the you that kept your head above the water when you had no money, it is the you that brought you through life when the husband or wife left you, and the kids went away from you, that magical essence inside you, the very force of life inside you that stops you killing yourself, that stops you running away, that stops you doing crazy things like robbing banks or killing people. The real you, the magical energy is still alive in your body even when you are at the point of suicide, that magical energy is still there. It is that magical energy that gets you through the worse that life throws at you. It is real, so begin to nurture that magical essence. Accept it friends, encourage it, flame it, relight your whole body, feel it inside you, spirit inside you, connect with it, touch it taste it, smell it, be in all of you oneself, the divine sparkle.

Shamanic Journey

I invite you to focus your intention to journey into the space going far far away in the solar system where you exist 30 thousand years from now as a beam of light, focus your intention to journey to a place where you are 30 thousand years from now as an enlightened being. I invite you to see the sun raise on the horizon, the sun, a little sliver of light, the dawn of a new day, as the sun raises, the first ray of the red light comes through, and as the sun raises, you raise with the sun, open your heart, friends, allow the golden light of the sun to lift you up into the sky as the sun raises in the East. Feeling your own sacred soul, your own sacred spirit, as the sun calls you towards its heart. You get closer and closer to the sun, the sun sing you home, back home again. As you get closer to the sun you feel the awesome love, until there is nothing but light all around you but a warm love and the magical essence inside is filled with the same feeling, because your love is stronger than hate, your love is stronger than anger, your love is stronger than sadness and; your love is stronger than fear, know this friend you are the very essence of love and your love is stronger than any negative energy. Accept the love you got from spirit, just accept, know when to accept, know when to strive, accept your destine, aim for a better life. All these paradoxes to be mastered. You are God, God is you. You are everything and you are nothing, you are space, you are the stars.

Nothing really matters but everything is sacred. Are you strong enough to hold these paradoxes as truths? Nothing really matters, everything is sacred. You are the light, you are the darkness, you are evil, you are divine.

My prayer:

And the teachings continue...

Students got talking to O sensei, O sensei in Japanese means great teacher. And the students are telling the O sensei:  You must detach from the material world allow nothing to affect you, have no attachment to anything or anyone. You must ignore the pain, your mind must drive to the highest ideals. And O sensei said: How can I turn my back on my fellow human beings when I feel such love? And O sensei said: love is not something that ignores pain or fear in others or yourself, love is what makes us who we are. Love will not allow me to pass by the beggars on the street. Compassion is love made manifest. Love does not allow you to ignore your fellow human being, that is love, that is the power of love, and that is the lesson of the east. You cannot ignore what is going on around you. If your child is drowning you don't think. You jump in the river without thinking, you don't think how am I going to rescue this child, love does not allow you to do that. Love makes you jump in the river and rescue the child, you don't start thinking where there is a boat where there is a rubber ring, or where there is a branch that I need. That is the thing with the east, Love makes you become part of life again, been happy with whom you are, been happy with life, regardless of what is happening all around us.

Those O sensei messages: love does not allow us to ignore the peals of our fellow creatures. I learned that lesson when I was 15 doing karate aikido, boxing, etc. And I never forgot that by a Japanese instructor. That is how I try to live my life. Sometimes is easier, sometimes it is not. But that is why we are here on this Earth, that is the whole point. The whole point it is to love. And that in itself is the question and the answer. There is no greater love than you laying down your life for your fellow man. Your mind won't understand it, your mind cannot understand what enlightenment is. But as the famous poet John Lennon said 'love is the answer'. Ghandi said it, Jesus said it, all the great teachers said it. And love is the one thing that can heal the world at this time, the only thing. And you spiritual warrior, you are here to love. When you allow love to shine from your heart it ripples like the waves of the pond across all existence, across the earth, across the cosmos. Love is balance. And that is what shamanism is all about, love and balance, man and woman, in love, love balances the extremes. The Navaho word for love is 'K'e' (it promotes respect, solidarity, compassion and cooperation so that people may live in harmony), and they saw it in everyone, everything, love as a light. It is not a cliche it is a reality. It is the only reality. And I would like us to leave in spirit of love today. Because love is what brought you here three months ago. Love guided you to this very place. And love looks after you. Let's call God love. Love just wants you to be happy, that is all, love just wants you to grow and who am I to question love?