TAO/MITAKUWE OYAS'IN VOL. 9 August/September 2007 Issue) Denean Official Website

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TAO/MITAKUWE OYAS'IN Vol. 9

(August-September 2007 Issue)

Contents:

From Denean: Walk In Balance

Affirmation Prayer

This Month's Featured Song: "Walk In Balance"

Current News & Announcements:

Walk In Balance

We are all facing the changes our Earth Mother is going through.

We are also faced with the fact that many of those changes have been brought on by the thoughtless acts of humanity.

This gives rise to strong desires/fears about saving her...and ourselves.

What I am proposing here is that in our efforts as a spiritual and environmental community,

we move our focus from the idea of "saving the world" to one of simply living the truth of what is right...a place

of calm centeredness and balance. Let our actions to help our planet come from this place.

It is not a matter of us...and nature. We are part of nature

This means aligning with and embracing that which teaches us the way of the Receptive.

To align with our Earth Mother, we must pattern ourselves after her. By doing so, we then will learn to walk in balance upon her back.

So what are the attributes of The Receptive?

Let's look to the teachings of Hexagram 2 (The Receptive) from the I Ching:

She is yielding and gentle. She is persevering and devoted to what is right.

She nourishes all things, giving them beauty and spendor...she brings things to birth.

For human affairs this indicates action in conformity with the situation. With an attitude of acceptance,

one must let oneself be led, learning from the situation what is demanded, and then following what it suggests.

We must learn how to follow...and what to follow.

Many try to set themselves up as leaders without understanding that they must first learn to follow...to serve.

A true leader is not concerned with being a "leader"...she simply follows what is right and by doing so, her true nature is self-evident.

Thus, one leads by following...following what is right.

The Tao Te Ching also teaches us the way of the Receptive:

Live simply.

Do not compare or compete.

Be like water, nourishing everything without trying.

Have without possessing.

Act without expectation.

Lead without trying to control.

Judge nothing.

Accept everything...just the way it is.

If we would do but one of these completely, we would transform our lives.

We would begin to understand what it means to live in harmony with Nature.

Because we would then understand that we are nature.

We would live in the awareness of our own true nature.

It has been there all along.

So just what does it mean to walk in balance?

Well, I look at balance more as a verb. It is the action of always moving toward a state of balance.

In the I Ching, Hexagram 63 represents balance. All of the yin lines and all of the yang lines are in their

proper place. Yet, it is for this very reason that the guidance given is that of caution. For anything that is already in

a perfect state of balance will go out of balance with any degree of movement.

Therefore, rather than looking at balance as a destination point, view moving toward balance as the "way of being" to maintain.

Hone the skills of awareness of what moves you toward balance versus what moves you away from balance.

Don't worry about a destination of "balance". Just focus on always moving in the direction of balance.

A beloved spirit friend puts it this way:

"For that person who wishes to correct the course to balance the forces in one's life...

that person must learn to remain forever in that coarse of correction...balancing."

(Wakinyan Wanbli)

Walk In Balance (Lyrics)

From: Fire Prayer

We must learn to walk in balance

Sacred steps to take

Weaving peace and understanding

Through all that we create.

A tapestry of love and light

Finest threads of gold

Sacred flame ever burning bright

Through all that we behold.

When we learn to walk in balance

The healing will take place

The healing of this earth our mother

The healing of the human race.

A tapestry of love and light

Finest threads of gold

Sacred flame ever burning bright

Through all that we behold.

When we learn to walk in balance...

Written by Denean

Sit for a moment, close your eyes...and simply breathe...

The following will be our Affirmation Prayer.

Find some quiet time to create inner ”sacred space“ for yourself.

Soft music can help…"Passage to the Earth Mother" (from Fire Prayer) perhaps, if you already have it.

Calm your mind, relax your body, and connect your being to God as you understand it.

I encourage you to daily read this slowly, speaking it out loud if you can.

Allow spaces of silence between each phrase of affirmation, accepting with

humility and faith that the word you speak is taking place now.

AFFIRMATION PRAYER

My breath is God's breath...God breathing me.

In this awareness, I center myself in this moment...Now...

For now is all there is.

The duration of life is in the time it takes to breath a single breath.

Now is all there is. All else is illusion.

Letting all past fall away...

Letting all concern over the future dissipate into it's nothingness...

I accept life.

Here I find what is right...what is true.

Here I find balance...I become the act of balancing.

As God is breathing me, she is in this very moment weaving within me

a tapestry of clear understanding and knowing of

the way of the Receptive...

She is connecting within the deepest places of my consciousness, the surrender within my own will

to the acceptance of "what is"...

to an abiding unconditional attitude of non-judgment

and to the constant faith in this surrender.

This sacred tapestry of love and light is the fiber and fabric of my being...

and it is now crystalizing and manifesting in my experience

"Walking in Balance"...

It is so!

Amen.

Mitakuwe Oyas'in

(We are all related)

This Issue's Featured Song:

From FIRE PRAYER

This song will be available for listening until the next newsletter issue

(approx. October 1, 2007)

Click here for lyrics to Walk In Balance

Though I recorded "Walk In Balance" with instrumentation, Spriit has guided me to perform it a capello in most situations...in a prayerful space. I have used this song countless time as the opening song to "set the tone" in public gatherings. Since the theme of this newsletter revolves around this song, I decided to add a video clip of the a capello version for you to enjoy. Just click on the link below:

Current News & Announcements

I just recently returned from a visit to Tennessee and Kentucky (my home state) where I sang for my nephew's wedding and visited family and friends I had not seen for quite a long time. I also visited with some dear friends in Nashville as well...one who happens to receive this newsletter. Thank you Carol, for picking me up at the airport at 2:00 am in the morning after crazy flight delays and lost luggage!

Although my visit centered around the wedding, it was also an important time for me with my mother. There was much healing that went on between us. I am so thankful for the blessings and guidance of Spirit at this time in my life.

In Lakota, the word "Tunkasila" means Grandfather, but it also means "all that came before". May we always remember those who came before us, the life they have lived, and the spiral we danced upon to come into existence upon this earth.

Click Here To Check Out Denean's Music

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