Medicine Wheel North: The Way of the Seer

Dreaming a New Dream

As I continue my discussion on “cleaning up our rivers” as a metaphor for clearing out and releasing the energetic imprints of painful, traumatic and destructive stories of our past that keep us stuck in victim and blaming patterns and projecting them onto the world around us, this week we step into the direction of the North. In the Inca tradition, the North is the way of the Seer. The animal associated with the West is the Hummingbird.

To be a seer is to walk softly on the earth and dream destiny. We tend to think that dreamtime is confined to the domain of sleep. We think of dreaming during the day as daydreaming or fantasizing. We don’t realize that we are dreaming our world into being every day, all day long, but this is for the most part unconscious. We are not aware of the dreams we are dreaming. When we master the art of dreaming awake, with the eyes open, we can stop going through our lives unconsciously.

For this shift to happen, the “stillness in flight” of the hummingbird is required. In psychoanalysis we learn that all parts of a dream in nighttime are parts of us and the unconscious has chosen these images to get us in touch with those parts of us. These images are understood symbolically. We can apply the same process to our waking dreams. Symbols are everywhere and everything that we experience can be understood as mirroring parts of us. When we perceive reality this way, we understand that we are already dreaming our world into being. Basically, at the level of the Seer, we see the world symbolically. We see the higher meaning, the spiritual meaning, the hidden meaning in the events of our lives.

The most challenging aspect of this way of thinking is that we look around at our lives and realize that we have created it, albeit often unconsciously, but we created it just the same. The universe mirrors back to us the condition of our dreaming. So, when life isn’t working for us, the most effective solutions isn’t to change careers, our spouse or partner, our exercise routine, or our community, but to purify our dreaming. When we change our dream, our career or relationship comes into balance. Now, that doesn’t mean that we stay in an abusive relationship or in an unfulfilling job, but it does mean that we don’t leave a relationship or a job, wounded, angry or blaming it for victimizing us. We rid ourselves of the unproductive stories and let the world show up to mirror the new dream. If we leave, we are not running away from something. We’re running toward something, something that mirrors the new dream.

Wherever we go, there we are. We bring our beliefs, our mental states and our emotions into every circumstance and the universe responds by meeting our expectations. The practices of the Seer that help us change the dream are beginner’s mind, living consequently, transparency, and integrity.

The Seer sees with the heart and is our ability to perceive the invisible world of energy and spirit. The power animal that we work with in the Way of the Seer is the Hummingbird. Hummingbird’s quality is stillness in flight. With Hummingbird we go beyond our thoughts. We take every belief about the nature of reality and throw it into the fire. Then we are free to reinvent ourselves and the world. We go beyond thinking about how to solve problems and enter into the stillness of our own souls where we craft a vision of what we want our world to be. At the level of Hummingbird, we recognize that all life is symbolic, and we step into living the symbolic life.

Hummingbird represents the courage required to embark on an epic journey. Hummingbirds migrate over the ocean, traveling every year from Brazil to Canada. At first glance, the hummingbird would not seem suited for such a flight over the ocean. Yet, it responds to an ancestral call to embark on this epic journey. It responds to the call each year in the same way the salmon return upstream to the site where they were spawned. When we embark upon an epic journey, it is important to connect to the energy of the Hummingbird. Once touched by the energy of this archetype or force of nature, we are propelled on our own epic journey that eventually leads us back to our source, where our spirit was spawned. From that place, we can drink deeply from the nectar of our soul.

Hummingbird helps us embark on our journeys despite tremendous odds. When there isn’t enough time, money or know how for what we are attempting, hummingbird can provide the courage and the guidance necessary for success.

From the perspective of hummingbird, we understand that every thought is an affirmation that reinforces an unconscious mental model about the nature of reality. So, we must reflect on our lives. Do you like your life? What about your life would you like to change? What are the thoughts and beliefs that are creating your life? When we stop identifying with our thoughts, the ego dissolves because it stems from the belief that I think, therefore I am. We need to take every single belief we have about the nature of our reality and fling it into the fire.

This initiates a new consciousness—a consciousness where we begin to see the hidden inner meanings in an outer event—how the outer mirrors the inner. We begin to see how an event that happens in time and space—positive or negative—can be a reflection of an image in the unconscious—in our own unconscious—or in our soul’s condition. We begin to see how the inner and outer are a unity and how we are dreaming our world.

For example, I see an image of an egg in the background of a painting that I am doing. I resist bringing the egg into the painting and decide not to include that particular image that I saw hiding in the background in the painting. Later that day, I go for a walk. About 3 blocks into my walk, I come across a large duck egg on the sidewalk, right in the middle of my path. Certainly, a synchronicity, given my meeting of the egg in my painting just a few hours before. It is as if the universe wanted me to reflect further on why I resisted the egg. An egg represents the potential for new life, something new to be born, something new to be fertilized and brought into manifestation. What was I resisting birthing or bringing into consciousness? In this case the egg I come across on the sidewalk was my teacher. It was as if the spirit was saying, “you need to include that egg in your painting. But more than that. The painting is just a mirror of my soul. It was actually saying “you need to embrace what wants to come into life through you. So, to honor that message, I go back, and I put the egg in the painting. But it doesn’t stop there. I must now watch for the way new opportunities and new ideas that show up and paint them into my life.

A client gets very upset about drivers who continually cut her off in traffic on her way to work. Since her reactions seemed to be an over-reaction, I wondered how this event might be a message from her soul. I asked her, “I wonder how you cut yourself off from doing what you want to do? Or how do you need to exercise you own aggression to do what your soul is calling you to do? How does this event mirror what is happening in your unconscious. What is Spirit trying to get you to pay attention to? How do you cut yourself off from living your life? How do you get in the way of yourself? If this were a nighttime dream, she would have had no difficulty thinking of it as a message from the soul. But the unconscious also shows up in the outer world as a dream that we are creating. The Seer knows this. This is the gift and the consciousness of the hummingbird—to see outer events as part of our soul’s journey. We use the Seer to see what is hidden because that is what we’re dreaming into being.

In the medicine wheel west, we develop a relationship with the Seer. We increase our abilities to see the invisible world of energy and spirit that is behind all manifest forms. We increase our abilities to see with the heart, so see from the soul’s perspective. From this perception, the things that happen to us are not just literal, objective events (serpent consciousness), nor are they just emotions, thoughts and stories (jaguar consciousness). The events of our lives are symbolic of our soul’s journey. From this perspective, we begin to read the signs of our lives as message from the soul. We begin to see the mythic, the archetypal, the symbolic meaning playing out in our lives. At the level of hummingbird, we recognize that all life is symbolic. At this transpersonal level, we discover the stories of the soul that need healing and also the longings of the soul that call for manifestation.

We hear the hidden messages. At this level I see that a broken ankle is a warning that I’m going down the wrong path or that I’m not paying attention to something that I need to pay attention to. I might understand my sudden desire to get a new pair of shoes as my soul needing a new container or a new expression. I might understand my stomach problems as something in life that I’m having a hard time digesting or maybe I’m eating something, taking in something that isn’t good for me. I might understand my feeling of being disconnected from my partner as some part of me that I’m disconnected from.

At this level, we sense that we’re all on a journey of growth and healing and purpose and the external world mirrors something going on inside us. When we have difficulties, whether they are with a partner, a profession, or something else, and ignore the situation from the outside and look at it from within with a kind of relative exclusion of the outer situation, the exclusion is comparable to the alchemical process. This forces the situation into the vessel for the purpose of introversion, where it may be understood as a drama playing out inside us. As this level we have moved into the mythic. We see the myth this is playing out inside us. We see what is happening as our soul’s story. The players are irrelevant. The universe has provided them as a mirror. The way of the Seer helps us find and dream the life that the soul longs to live.

By myth, I do not mean falsehood! A myth may or may not be based on historical facts but in essence it is truer than history or fact. Myth is an archetypal tale that portrays eternal realities. As the highest form of symbolism, myth reaches after some transcendent reality that reasoned thought cannot attain. It isn’t that myth is irrational, rather it is nonrational. Reality is infinitely greater than human rational conception. When divine [transpersonal] truth falls on human imagination, myth is born” and “far from being less true or factual, myth puts us in touch with Reality in a more intimate way than by knowing what is merely true or factual.”  Therefore, to regard something as myth is to acknowledge a higher truth and a deeper reality than could be otherwise expressed. This is the path of the Seer.

 The hummingbird is the symbol of the great traveler and at this level of perception, we recognize that each of us has a unique journey to take. We become more aware of our spiritual nature and the unique gifts that we can employ to dream a better, more beautiful world. Hummingbird is a profoundly creative state; ideas that eluded us in our ordinary waking hours now appear to us symbolically. At this level we “know” without having to think through the answers. At this level, we can use visualization to direct our intent to organize the world. The imagery we create—the dream we allow ourselves to paint in our mind’s eye—is accompanied by the certainty that it will be so, along with the delight of knowing that the vision we’re creating will have a life of its own. Just as the painter approaches the canvas with an idea of what image he wants to create but then gives in to the serendipitous discovery that a very different picture is coming forth from his brush, we can enjoy the excitement of watching our dream unfold on its own way, in its own time, surprising and delighting us. At the level of hummingbird, we don’t live in Chronos time (chronological time) but in Kairos time (in the fullness of time.)

Hummingbird is one of the organizing principles of the universe. Planed as seeds in each of our chakras, the archetypes grow and evolve based on our relationship with them. Hummingbird is installed in the 3^rd chakra but is also linked to the sixth chakra or the “third eye” which is located in the middle of the forehead. An awakened third eye allows the shaman to know who he is. It gives him knowledge of the past and future and allows him to envision alternative destinies. All the desires of one with an awakened third eye come true, and if a number of healers hold the same vision, it comes through for the planet.

The language of hummingbird is image, music, poetry, and dreams. It is the realm of myth, where the soul can experience itself on a sacred journey. In the domain of the mythic, we are all like hummingbird, on a grand voyage, yearning to drink only from the nectar of life.

As the soul level, things are what they truly are: an expression of the soul. At the level of hummingbird, we listen below the surface and hear their hidden messages.

In my own journey, I was taken to a place called, “The Place of the Hummingbirds.”

I traveled to the Underworld to visit with Huascar, the guide and guardian of the Underworld. We came to a pool of water surrounded by beautiful vegetation. I noticed many hummingbirds. Huascar told me “This is the Place of the Hummingbirds.” I looked into the pool, which was crystal clear. Mist rose from the pool, and Huascar told me that the mist rising from the pool is the wisdom of the hummingbird. He instructed me to visit this place regularly and that I would learn to read the mist rising from the pool.

Suddenly I heard these words, “Look deep within the pool that is inside you and you will find the wisdom of the universe.” I’m thinking, “I don’t know whether these words come from Huascar, the pool, or the hummingbirds.”

It is as if Huascar heard my thoughts and answered “It doesn’t matter because they are all one. Energy of the one is continually exchanging itself with the energy of the other.”

I thought “But then how does one distinguish between them?”

Again, as if hearing my thoughts, he answered “There is no distinction. It is the human mind, the ego that has the need to separate.” As I continued to meditate on this image, I saw mist rising. The mist took various forms. (Journal, 5-6-12).

Here is a guided journey to the Place of the Hummingbirds to ask the hummingbirds what you need to know in order to step into the way of the seer and dream your best life.

Journey to the Place of the Hummingbirds

Share your experience in the chat.

Disclaimer:

The content provided in this newsletter and any accompanying blogs or articles, including ideas, suggestions, techniques, and other materials, is for educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any condition or disease. The content is provided only as general information and is not medical or psychological advice. You understand that this newsletter is not intended as a substitute for consultation with a licensed professional. Please consult with your own physician, mental health specialist, or spiritual advisor for matters related to emotional health, mental health, or spiritual concerns.

Any information, stories, examples, or testimonials presented in this newsletter or in the comments or chats do not constitute a warranty, guarantee, or prediction regarding the outcome of an individual using such material contained herein for any particular purpose or issue.  While all materials and links and other resources are posted in good faith, the accuracy, validity, effectiveness, completeness, or usefulness of any information herein, as with any publication, cannot be guaranteed. The use of this newsletter implies your acceptance of this disclaimer.