Temples at Tikal, the ancient Mayan site in Guatemala
New Moon in Capricorn, Jan. 4th, 2011
Happy New Year, Deer Spirit Friends!
I hope you all had wonderful holidays and are well rested and ready to get back to work. We are still integrating the awesome cosmic energies which came through the window opened by the Full Moon in Gemini / Total Lunar Eclipse which fell on the Winter Solstice (the last time this happened was in 1632 A.D.).Winter is the time to go within and meditate, so lets be gentle with ourselves and allow extra time for stillness and integration so we can get clear about the intentions we want to set on this New Moon.
The 2nd Healer2Healer Trip To Guatemala -
During the eclipse, I was standing by the sacred fire on the shores of Lake Peten Itza in northern Guatemala with Mayan elders, fellow healers in our Healer2Healer family and other Unification Maya participants from far and wide. The sky was crystal clear and the Full Moon beamed down from directly overhead in the midst of millions of stars. To say that I was in good company with ideal viewing conditions is an understatement. As the eclipse proceeded we smoked the big hand rolled ceremonial cigars, shared our inspirations and gratitude, and gazed up at the darkening Moon.
The cool night air grew chillier as the eclipse progressed. Intense shakti poured down from the Moon. I could not stand still - my body was twitching with kriyas as my chakras released and expanded. I did countless repetitions of Reiki qi gong, intermittently pausing to stand with my open hands outstretched up towards the dark reddish brown shadow faced Moon. The icy descending shakti was palpable on the palms of my hands.
Tata Pedro talked about his life. Like Hunbatz Men, he is one of the most famous and respected Mayan elders. He spoke of his persecution and incarceration, and the horrors he witnessed during the 30 years of civil war in Guatemala. He thanked us for the Reiki and acupuncture treatments we gave to him and the other Tatas and Nanas, proclaiming that he was pain - free for the first time in years.
Dawn procession into Tikal on the Winter Solstice for final Unification Maya ceremony
I said that it was a great honor to be able to serve them and thanked them for welcoming us into their sacred ceremonies. I thanked the Maya for keeping the day count for 1000's of years and anchoring the Creator's time codes into Mother Earth - if they had not done this, there would be no ascension.
By the time I got to bed, it was 3:30am - we would be leaving at 5:30am for the final ceremony at Tikal......
The 1st Day at Unification Maya
Kristin Reed, Nechama Karp, Alice Kim, Rachel Bunin and I arrived at Belize City Airport late in the afternoon of Dec. 14 and met our driver, Umberto, who drove us due West over the border into Guatemala and on to Gringo Perdido Hotel in El Remate on the shores of beautiful Lake Peten Itza. The trip took a little over 4 hrs. When we arrived it was dark and we were tired and hungry. Thankfully, the cooks had saved a sumptuous dinner for us. The other 10 members of our group would be arriving at various times in the coming week. Many were teachers or students at Pacific College of Oriental Medicine in Manhattan who would come when they had finished their semester. Others had work obligations. We were the lucky ones, for we would be able to attend the sunrise ceremony of the 1st of 7 days of Unification Maya. We got settled in our rooms and went to bed early. The van to the opening ceremony at Uaxactun would be leaving well before dawn. As I went to bed alone in my room, I realized that I would not be able to set my alarm. The clock on my cell phone was deactivated because I had not arranged for international service. Not to worry I thought - surely the others will wake me up.........
Rachel knocked on my door the next morning.....and I emerged from my room into a scene of confusion and frustration. Kristin and Nechama had gotten up first and learned that the van had left without them. I felt guilty and berated myself for not assuming leadership and responsibility for getting myself and the others up on time. Kristin talked to one of the cooks in Spanish and learned that we could walk into El Remate and get a van to Tikal where we might be able to arrange for a ride to Uaxactun which was almost an hour past Tikal. We set out on the road to El Remate having no idea how the day would unfold. We assumed that we would miss the sunrise ceremony but hoped that we would at least be able to catch up with the others and participate in the remaining activities of the day.
Sunrise on Lake Peten Itza. We had a sunrise fire ceremony every morning
As we walked down the road into town, the sun began to peak over the horizon on the far side of the lake. I said "lets circle up and connect with the ceremony at Uaxactun!". As I walked off the road into a clearing, several unseen dogs began to bark loudly....."not good" I thought, and at that moment, a bus came barreling down the road. We instinctively flagged it down and boarded. In a few minutes., we were in town at the spot where the van for Tikal stopped. Luckily, the van pulled up after a few minutes and we were on our way. In 30 min. we arrived at Tikal, the vast ancient Mayan city / temple complex.
But now we had another challenge - how to get to Uaxactun! Kristin talked to the driver in Spanish and learned that there was no regularly scheduled transport to Uaxactun that morning. She asked him if we could could hire him to take us there. He hesitated, saying that he had a route to keep and could not deviate from it. Kristin told him that we would be willing to pay him whatever he wanted if he would take us. He said that he would have to get permission and walked over to the Tikal Park office to consult his superior. He returned and told us that he had gotten the OK, but wanted $50 U.S. We tried to haggle but he held fast. We gave him the money and gratefully embarked on a hair - raising journey. The driver careened down the bumpy dirt road to Uaxactun at break - neck speed. When we arrived , another car full of Unification Maya people was pulling up. We greeted them and they told us that the Mayan elders and other participants who had arrived before dawn had been mysteriously denied entrance by the Tikal gate - keepers! IT HAD TAKEN HOURS TO GET CLEARANCE TO ENTER AND THE CEREMONY HAD NOT STARTED YET!! Dumb luck had redeemed us and I silently thanked Creator and our ancestors, guides and angels (not to mention Kristin's fluent Spanish!). Their overwhelming loving support and guidance had been obvious on our magical inaugural journey to Lake Atitlan in August and they had come through once again. Tears of blissful gratitude streamed down my cheeks as we walked up to the ceremonial site.
Tats and Nanas in ceremony (Chus is wearing the solid red bandana)
Uaxcatun is a small Mayan village located deep in the jungle. It is over 8000 yrs old and predates the Tikal complex. The ceremony was being held in the midst of a small grouping of pyramids which is oriented to the solstices and equinoxes. As we walked into the site, I spotted Chus Ixim Toj and his British wife Louise and greeted them with hearty hugs. Chus is the elder who gave us classes in Mayan cosmology, calendar and healing on our first trip in August. They were making final preparations for the fire ceremony with the other elders. We watched as the elders lit the candles of the 4 directions.....and that was how our adventure began.......
Geordie standing in the inner circle for the day count at Yaxha (photo taken by Mila Brener)
The 7 days of Unification Maya Ceremonies
Unification Maya was organized 7 years ago by Mayan elders in conjunction with Anne Lossing, the founder of Project Ix Canaan (Ix Canaan means "guardians of the rainforest"). It consists of 7 days of ceremonies at 7 sacred sites.
The Tatas and Nanas (male & female ritual leaders) first pour sugar on the fire altar to make a circle divided in 4 sections by a cross. Then small discs of incense are placed on top of the sugar. Next, 4 brightly colored large candles are placed on the points of the 4 cardinal directions and 2 are placed in the middle for earth & sky. Then many small candles are placed on top of the discs in-between the big candles. The ceremony begins when the candles for the directions are lit. The Tatas and Nanas stand in the inner circle in 4 groups on the cardinal points.
The ceremonies last for 2 - 3 hours. During the ceremony, the Tatas speak on various topics, sharing informative and inspiring messages with the participants in the outer circle. Most of the ceremony is devoted to the day count. Each of the 20 Nahuals (day signs) of the Tzolkin (sacred 260 day cycle) is honored 13 times as copal is offered into the fire. Singing, dancing, flute playing, rattling and drumming are often part of the ceremonies.
Deer Spirit made several auspicious appearances during the week of ceremonies. One night, I attended a talk given by one of the Tatas, Armando Cruz Sanchez, a teacher of Toltec wisdom. When he began to share about his experiences living with the Huichol tribe of Mexico, I became very excited because they have always been my favorite tribe. Deer is their main totem and I first learned about Huichol deer medicine in an article in Shaman's Drum magazine in the early 80's. You can't just go and hang out with the Huichol. They live so far up in the mountains that its very hard to get there and they have gatekeepers who test you before they let you into their villages. Armando gained their approval after several days of probing questions and observation of his behavior. He said that one night while he was standing by a fire with one of their shamans, he saw the flames leap into the shaman's heart chakra, then smoke from the fire billowed up to form a huge deer head!
Later that night, I wandered over to a table where a young Mexican woman was selling souvenirs to tourists. I had no intention of buying anything - most of the stuff was standard trinkets that you see in all the shops. But one item immediately caught my eye as I approached. It was a small beaded box with a hinged lid. The tiny beading formed images that I recognized as Huichol style iconography - a deer, a peyote button, father fire etc. I bought the beautiful box without hesitation. After the last ceremony on the Winter Solstice, I took some ashes from the sacred fire by the lake where we had our sunrise ceremonies and placed them in the box. It now rests on my altar at home.
The next day I rose before dawn and went to the daily sunrise fire ceremony. After the ceremony we had breakfast and then got in the van to go to Yaxha for the 5th day of ceremony. The Nahual of the day was Kej and the animal totem was Deer. Yaxha is a large site with many pyramids and as we entered, I felt the ancestors and nature spirits welcoming us. As we walked towards the ceremonial site, we heard the guttural lion-like roar of howler monkeys high up in the trees. The site was very activated that day and many magical things happened during the ceremony. After the Tatas lit the candles of the directions, 100's of bees came in to eat the sugar. Bees hold mother earth's fertility goddess energy (they are matriarchal). This was the Divine Mother's way of coming in and blessing us. When the bees left, they brought our prayers with them and seeded them in all the flowers. Next, butterflies came in and danced around the fire as hawks circled overhead. It was a stunningly beautiful festival of nature spirits!
The day count began and I dozed off into dreaming.....but soon I was awoken by the sound of someone calling my name. It was Chus, inviting me to come and stand with the Tatas and Nanas in the inner circle! What an honor! He introduced me as a healer and ceremonial leader from NYC and I joined his group as he began the day count for the Nahual Iq, the spirit of the wind. There was no wind that day, but when Chus started the day count and invoked the wind spirit, it came right into the fire and the flames swirled up in the air with a big whoosh!! After the ceremonies, some of us went up on top of the big pyramid overlooking the ceremony and I made 2 videos which are now posted on Youtube. In the 1st video I talk about the events of the day and in the 2nd, I interview Chus. Here are the links - 1st Video, 2nd Video
Standing - Mila Brener RMT, KRMT, Edwin Alvarez LAc, Storm Morales LAc, Mark Keubel LAc, Rik Lim RMT, LMT, Sitting - Nechama Karp RMT, Rachel Bunin ADS, Reiki 1, Geordie Numata RMT, KRMT, VH, ADS, Kristin Reed RMT, Tom Nash LAc Reiki 1, Alice Kim LMT Reiki 2, Tom Gentile Reiki 2, Carol Anne Fitzgerald, LAc Reiki 1
The Healer2Healer Clinics
The 2nd week of our trip was spent providing free Reiki / acupuncture clinics at 2 sites - El Remate and Antigua. The 1st clinic was held at Project Ix Canaan in El Remate. 13 healers served at this clinic (see pic above), then we split up into 2 teams. Nechama, Edwin, Kristin, Mark and I stayed in El Remate and the rest went to Antigua. The tally for treatments given at both sites is 488 - 127 in El Remate and 361 in Antigua.
My team was assisted by a wonderful local woman named Gabrielle. We hired her to translate at the intake table and she did a great job which freed us up to concentrate more on the treatments. Nechama also helped with the intake process and has volunteered to file the records of the treatments in the Healer2Healer databank. At the beginning of each clinic, I smudged and blessed the 3 rooms and we formed a circle and stated our intentions for the day. We called in all our ancestors guides and angels, asked to be guided by divine love and wisdom, asked for effortless and fluid teamwork and to have all the people who could benefit from our treatments to come to the clinic. Our team meshed beautifully and we provided healing for a wide range of conditions, some of them quite serious. We treated all ages - from young children to grandmas and grandpas. One of the perks of holding 4 consecutive clinics was seeing some of the patients getting better as they came back for 2nd and 3rd treatments. I had a chance to do a taped interview with Anne Lossing, who founded Project Ix Canaan 15 yrs ago and she expressed her gratitude for the healing we provided. She also made it clear that she hoped we could come back on a regular basis.
The larger team went to Antigua, which is a much bigger town than the small village of El Remate.
One of the highlights for the Antigua group was the classes they gave to 5 indigenous women in Reiki 1 and Chinese medicine techniques. Here is an excerpt from an email from Rik Lim (creator of Healer2Healer) describing the classes -
"The training classes to the Q'anil women's group were pre-arranged months before the trip,
via Maria who lead the ceremonial fires in August. Maria recommended this group in particular
because they have formed a women's cooperative in Quiche. This group heard about the treatments we did in August and that these treatments were good for what they needed, namely to address emotional trauma due to the 35 years of civil war with its genocide and resulting infertility and stress.
I spent weeks on countless emails from Sept. to up until we left New York trying to get this group together and the supplies needed for them. One major problem was getting them to Antigua. The original plan was to teach near Lake Atitlan, but because of low number of H2H participants we could not go to the Lake. So, they had to mobilize and find their own food and lodging in Antigua just to attend these classes in December. Their sacrifice was great because of the holidays and the families that need them and are concerned about them.
Once their attendance was confirmed, we planned to give them very basic training in Reiki, cupping, moxa, NADA (ear acupuncture), and TuiNa (Chinese therapeutic massage). With intense planning and preparation, we were able to give them training in all the above, except NADA because we simply ran out of ear needles due to the unexpected volume of patients that increased after each day of clinic.
We were able to teach them to their satisfaction because of the translation services provided by Gail (who lives in Antigua) and who was a patient the first day and decided to return for subsequent days and lend us her massage table and massage chair. Additionally, another patient, David from Brazil, supplemented Mila Brener's Reiki training with techniques he knows as a Reiki practitioner."
Rik told me that shortly after the Reiki 1 class, the women went right into the clinic and gave Reiki treatments!
All in all, our 2nd Healer2Healer trip was a big success and a wonderful life enhancing adventure which we will never forget. We accomplished all our core objectives - learning and sharing with indigenous wisdom keepers, providing free treatment for under - served indigenous communities, leaving them with skills they can practice to maintain personal wellness and serve others, and last but not least, having lots of fun!
One of the biggest blessings of the trip was when the Tatas and Nanas accepted our offer to give them treatments. On 3 nights, we gave them Reiki and acupuncture treatments which they were very grateful for. They had given us so much and It was wonderful to be able to give back to them!
