Hello beautiful blog followers….I want to give great honor to the beautiful process of my maiden voyage in blog land, and it is time for my new identity. Go to my NEW MellissaeLucia Worpress blog to follow the magic and FUN, and thank you for supporting this platform over the last couple of years. Mellissae Lucia {Melissa Weiss Steele}
http://mellissaelucia.wordpress.com/2011/08/02/painted-in-the-desert-a-travel-essay-and-my-new-name/
insect love in the jungle
Costa Rica has captured my heart, as I suspected it would. Before leaving on this adventure whenever I would say where I was going my shoulders would do this little shimmy and I would get a sly grin on my face. Good signs.
Orosi Valley, Costa Rica
The journey on this land has been both oddly familiar and perplexingly foreign. {I am still writing in the present tense. I did not realize this. The first morning back in the states on the rural Vashon Island i had a dream that I was still in the jungle. A part of me is still coming home}. It is a strange feeling to experience a place on an energetic level that does not translate to the practicalities of language and cultural differences with the human ones. The first time I was consciously aware of this type of experience was when I visited the Hopi lands in Arizona. It was home, and I was different.
My Spanish teacher Isabel
I began this trip in a delightful little village in a coffee growing valley call Orosi. It is the sort of place where people sit on their porches in the evenings and greet their neighbors, they have two sacramental temples, the church and the football {soccer} field, and they adore their children. An arty looking Swiss woman makes real, organic wheat bread and pastries, and you can almost always hear someone playing bouncy latin tunes and reggae-tone. They have natural hot springs, and the locals actually look pretty happy. When I researched Costa Rica, it said they are a unique country, with no standing army, almost the entire population is literate, and they have a very high standard of living for Central America. They have dedicated a large percentage of their land to national parks, and they live what they call “Pura Vida,” literally pure life, meaning life is really, really good. They actually say it on a regular basis.
Patron Saint of Costa Rica-Black Madonna Virgen de los Angeles
The magical synchronicities of the trip are still being absorbed, and I look forward to sharing what I can as I integrate the deep mysteries that came through the ancient ones and the land and stone spirits. As life will do, I was guided to spend a month in the Orosi valley which is 40 minutes from the most important religious site in Costa Rica, which has a BLACK MADONNA! On her feast day, August 2nd, the devout walk 20 miles on their hands and knees to the cathedral in Cartago. I got to see folks doing the final leg of the journey in the church as they slowly made their way up to the little two-inch icon in such a humble fashion. I did not know she existed until I had been there a while, as I do not research my trips extensively. I Intuit where to go, and then show up and am lead to where I am best served. More on the Virgen de los Angeles as it emerges.
Mist Spirits at volcano Irazu, Costa Rica
Volcano Irazu's brilliant lagoon
From the mossy lushness of the Northwest, my heart remembers the magical white horses grazing on the terraced green hills, the huge toads devouring bugs in the evenings, the giant flying cockroaches, the black earth of the volcanos with hot springs on the rivers, coffee coffeee everywhere, the charming “adios” given as a greeting, the American thrift store clothes imported for that real US flava’, running out of vegetables at the grocery store, trying to learn Spanish when I was being deeply initiated by molds and pollens {good luck}, the wild 6.0 earthquake on my 9th birthday {see last blog post}, the abundance of friends available when you stay in hostels, only wearing my backpack about 20 minutes the entire trip, hearing weed wackers buzz regularly as the Tico’s attempted to subjugate the jungle, how light and effervescent the volcanos actually felt, and Lord Aranal the volcano, shrouded in the mist spirits, with the vacation portion of the trip at the fabulous “backpackers resort” http://www.essencearenal.com/ Much love to the jungles I shall return to.
Volcano Aranal the last morning
Hello San Diego! I have returned from the desert and am back to share the gifts of New Mexico’s magical inspirations. I have 3 events here in San Diego the first week of March, and have limited spaces for soul purpose readings that week. Two of the events are at Controversial Bookstore and one is at Chris Brittian’s The Art of You Expressive Arts Studio.
I am thrilled to share my new understanding of my Oracle of Initiation deck with you through what I have learned writing the extended book to accompany the 88 limited edition copies. The book is due out in April before I am off to Central America on a Medicine Walk for 5 months. There a few copies left if you want one of these fierce sacred tools. www.OracleofInitiation.com
Sunday March 6th at 4pm Pacific time I will be interviewed on the influential Beyond Worlds Tarot Tribe radio show. It will be archived if you want to listen at a later date. My website also has a ton of juicy articles about my The Oracle deck, my ritualistic photography work, solo adventures and spiritual transformation and will soon have new videos of the Painted Body work.
I look forward to supporting you shape-shift and redefine all of the intense turbulence we have been experience to claim our unique brilliance. E-mail me if you have any question, and come play with me and the startling Painted Body Spirit Beings in the deck at any of these events. earthenbody@gmail.com
Art & The Oracle- Explore Creative Shape-Shifting with Melissa Weiss Steele & The Oracle of Initiation.
Tuesday March 1st, 2011 6-9pm $50. All supplies included
Come explore the powerful insights available through using art, imagination and divination. We will be working with the Painted Body ritualistic photography images within Melissa’s original Oracle of Initiation deck to creatively dance with the many energies, inspirations and potentials we each carry when we access the full range of our fierce, shape-shifting abilities.
@ The Art of You Expressive Arts Studio
3060 Adams Ave, San Diego, CA 92116
Shape-Shift your Destiny in 2011 with The Oracle of Initiation
1.Introductory Lecture Thursday March 3rd 7-9pm $25.
2.Workshop Saturday March 5th 1-5pm $60.
@ Controversial Bookstore
3063 University Ave, San Diego, CA 92104
http://controversialbookstore.com/
We each have the powerful ability to choose how we respond to these challenging times. Turbulence becomes a gift when we learn how to navigate and harness the fierce and fluid transformational energies currently available. The Oracle of Initiation divination deck by Melissa Weiss Steele is a magical and inspiring tool, illuminating the dynamic opportunities available through shape-shifting your own shadows and complexities.
Learn how The Oracle can reveal where you are currently at in your own process of awakening; how to redefine previous struggles as the keys to your unique offerings; and where to focus your passions to bring forth these precious gifts to the collective.
Beyond Worlds-Your Tarot Tribe Radio Show
hosted by Donnaleigh de LaRose
Sunday March 6th 2011 7pm Eastern 4pm Pacific
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/beyondworlds
Melissa will be interviewed about the creation of The Oracle if Initiation deck and share how to use this visionary new tool over the air. Host Donaleigh was inspired to created a video about using the Oracle of Initiation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vcp8JM2eYc8
On an Adventure!
Melissa will be leaving the country for 5 months in April 2011 on a personal Medicine Walk. Limited edition decks will still be available {until sold out}, and a selection of certain fine art prints. She will be scheduling readings and Spiritual Initiation Counseling work when she returns in September 2011. There may be a delay in answering inquiries depending on her internet access. When Spirit calls, we may not answer e-mails!
e-mail earthenbody@gmail.com
I am off to one of my all-time favorite places on the earth..Abiquiu. I will be staying at Casa del Sol, the zen-calm retreat center away from the main campus on the Ghost Ranch. Abiquiu is where Georgia O’Keefe spent here last 50 years of her life exploring the land and doing art, as I too love to do. It has rainbow-colored canyons, a lake, and a sense of home I have not felt anywhere else. All of the above ground Painted Body images in the Oracle deck were taken there, and most of the Painted Body collaborations with others. A sacred, sacred place for me. I am bending time and finishing the text to accompany my Oracle of Initiation deck this next week. I just moved, my e-mail is down…a lovely and productive Universal time-out. Send me happy bee energy to finish the project and get it to the editor, and I there may be a snow storm taboot!
59. Expansion from The Oracle of Initiation deck by Melissa Weiss Steele
“This was by far the most inspirational meet-up ever! Melissa, and the images of her Oracle of Initiation deck, evoke the deepest part of your psyche in layers that allow you to become one with your feelings. Her presentations have you hanging on every word and shaking your head in agreement as you come to realize THIS is your place in life. Thank you, Melissa, Asher & Wisdom Moon for the insights presented on a power-filled afternoon!”
Gloria Vinskey, Albuqurque Tarot Meet-Up
“Fabulous! I never thought I might come across another deck and love the purity of it, as I do James Wanless’s Voyager. However, Spunky clear hearted and visionary Melissa and her Oracle of Initiation deck have won me over.”
Early Gardner, Albuquerque Tarot Meet-up
We had a wonderful day divining with The Oracle of Initiation yesterday at the Albuquerque Tarot Meet-Up. I got see some familiar faces from LETS-Land of Enchantment Tarot Symposium held last October in Santa Fe and some new friends as well. This was the last presentation I will be doing on the land of The Oracle’s emergence before I am off to the Ocean and Central America.
During the event we got to consult The Oracle’s wisdom about what our true happiness is as a way to center and focus our intentions and dreams. We also examined what outdated stories we are carrying offers us access to our Rainbows in the Dark, the potential to reframe the initiations we have encountered to find our true power and gifts. Thank you to Margaret & Robert for organizing the group, and Amy & Meekah for being fabulous Guardians while I offered my sacred work. life is good.
27. Gathering; 46. Reliance; 3 Instinct from The Oracle of Initiation
2010 was incredible. I felt optimistic about this year like I had never experienced. I felt all of the work and dedication I had been putting into my life was truly grounding, and it was TRUE! I am so grateful for all the beautiful friendships, family connections and co-conspirators dancing this crazy TRUST WALK of a life with me. Blessings to all….and 2011 is already shaping up to be extraordinary.
I am finishing the book for My Oracle of Initiation deck, and am thrilled about the caliber of contributors I have offering their insights into the cards. I will be off to the West Coast to teach in March & April and then down to Central America for 5 months this spring/summer. Thank you for all the ways you each touched my life, making this a sparkly, juicy, DY-NO-MITE year. Here is my top ten list of the rock star brilliant things that occurred…
1. I published my first edition of my Oracle of Initiation Deck!!
Boy was this an experience. Almost four years into the project, I went into the zone and in 13 days time I designed, graphically set up and wrote the text for the first edition of 88 decks. Thanks to MaryBeth for all her amazing help in this crazy, madcap caper of Oracular joy.
2. Joyful success during the West Coast Oracle tour
Spring 2010 I took the show on the road and taught with The Oracle of Initiation on the west coast. It was the business success I had been palpating for years, and it finally landed. I can feel things YEARS before they manifest, so it very cool when they materialize on the earth plane. I met amazing people, had a BLAST doing what I love and came home feeling empowered and proud of offering my sacred gifts. I want to thank everyone who showed up to my workshops and lectures in San Diego, especially Lisa, Trevahr, Jade and Xana for being my fabulous Guardians. I look forward to this springs tour, go to the event section at www.OracleofInitiation.com for the locations of the groovy gatherings with The Oracle in March and April.
I also want to thank one special client who has been a dream to work with. We met at Esalen during my tour and she has moved mountains within herself during our time together. It is such a gift to have a receiver for your work. I love yah IVP in Paris.
3. I won a year of free dance at EmbodyDance Santa Fe’s 10th anniversary party!
I magnetized my raffle tickets, energetically twinkled the little girl who was drawing the winner, and then put my hands out, palms up, to receive, and they called my name!!!! May abundance shower down upon you in the ways that feed and serve you best. They have for me. And much love to the beautiful dance community here in Santa Fe.
4. The Bachelorette & Amma & New Visions of Relationships
I am both a romantic and a cheese-ball. Its true, I enjoy watching the Bachelor and Bachelorette. Part of it is psychological voyeurism, but the main attraction is the idea of true love. I know, I know, it rarely works out on that show, but I have always carried a torch for great romantic unions. Because of the struggles I see so many contemporary people having {me included} with finding suitable mates, I am refocusing my work towards why this is happening. I have been interviewing men about their perspectives on what has happened with relationship over the last decades.
Men are my main subject at this time because my work has previously been with women’s empowerment, and I am wondering where the men are at. Thank you to all the lovely men who allowed me to peek inside their psyches and share their ideas on women, love and commitment. May we all evolve beyond the Madman version of gender roles and expectation. I am bringing Amma into this because my heart was blown open when I saw her for the first time this spring, and I believe energetic expansion may be the pathway to reclaiming the sacred within our intimate relationships. I will keep you posted on what I learn.
5. My Painted Body ritualistic photography work
This was a bang up year for my Painted Body ritualistic photography work. I had some fabulous shoots in Abiquiu and my first collaboration outside of New Mexico in Joshua Tree. It is such a primal joy to share my relationship with the land through initiating others into their unique brilliance. I shall miss the arid desert lands when I dance by the sea, but will always return to one of my true loves, magical, magical New Mexico.
6. Eating Coconut Ice Cream
For 10 years I did not get ice cream because of a lactose intolerance and the sugar. And then it came, the crazy-good coconut milk ice creams sweetened with agave. Lord have mercy. I have died and gone to heaven. HEAVEN. God and Goddess are good.
7. Yraceburu EarthWisdom-Family of my HEART
I have had a very good year with the family of my heart, Yraceburu EarthWisdom. In July I was initiated during The Otter Ways Women and Girls Rights of Passage weekend in Las Vegas, NM. I was then a Guardian at the incredible Grandmothers Summit Celebrating Turtle Island honoring our Elders and Wisdom Keepers this October . The Dream Circles have also been very juicy for the women to reclaim the ancient visioning ways. It is good to find your family. Very very good.
8. Tarot World FUN
Boy was this a fun year for Tarot community events. I got to go to The Readers Studio in NYC in April meeting delightful folks. The 2nd photo below is of Mary K. Geer, a prolific researcher and writer on Tarot and divination, Joanna Powell Colbert of the fabulous Gaian Tarot and Marilyn Shannon a crystal ball expert. We were all headed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to the secret back room to see ancient Tarot decks with Robert Place. Good stuff, thanks Sasha Graham-cool Tarot chick-for setting it all up. I also got to meet J. Jordan Hoggard of his magical Mystereum Tarot, being released any moment by Schiffer!!
The Oracle was also a cover girl, having 3 limited edition covers for Marcus Katz’s Tarosophist Tarot Professionals magazine.
And then…here in Santa Fe over Halloween weekend, we had LETS- Land of Enchantment Tarot Symposium!!!! So way way cooool. I was the opening speaker, and all the other presentation were top-notch. If you would like to see the story of how my Oracle deck was created, you may watch this 55 minute video with images of where my ideas and influences come from.
http://vivu.tv/portal/archive.jsp?flow=397-654-7677&id=1291578442700
If you read this Blog in the future, I believe the video is only cataloged for 9 months {August 2011 it dies}. Thanks Carrie Paris, Margaret Letzkus and Robert Hahn for organizing such a worthwhile event…watch out for next year.
9. The photo album revealing My Destiny from my Mother
My mom hit it out of the ballpark this Christmas. When I opened my presents from her she had complied a photo album of my life from zero to twenty-five. The astounding thing about this was SHE FOUND NEW PHOTOS I HAD NEVER SEEN…and through this surprising new vision of my life, my DESTINY was mirrored back to me. I have to explain why new photos are so special. I am obviously a photography nut. Its part of what I do. But I have always had this energetic connection to images, I feel the depths in them, I draw on the energetic signatures and travel through them for memories and connections. They are alive to me. So at 42 to have my mother bust out some new representations of my story, my myth shocked me. I KNOW all of the family photos, so I thought. Re-visioning is so great, that’s what my Oracle deck is about, reclaiming the power and gifts in the challenges and misperceptions. And then I was able to see all the threads, all the tendrils to who I have become…SINCE I WAS AN INFANT. I am working on a video to share these connections, be patient, its a technology upgrade in me…i-movie…I am giving my mother BIG LOVE {no-not the polygamy folks people!} for all her work feeding those negatives she has drug around for 40 years into her Wolverine machine to bust out one of the best physical gifts I may have ever gotten.
10 Azul my LOVE
I am an animal person. I had cats for 28 years straight, and then I moved to New Mexico. I need animal love, and Azul my roomie has been a light in my life. I thank her for all the joy, delight and holding of the space she offers. She is a Angel.
Rest in Peace Beautiful Julie Rivers, I honor your radiance and see you glowing in Chochiti canyon.
And Santo Nino, Eshu, Ellegua, Poppa Legba, Thank you for opening the doors and gateways to my destiny this year, and I appreciate all your support as a messenger and a scribe. And the abundance rocks. love yah….and Ogun, Shango, Oshun, Yemaya and beloved Obi, Obatala who has my head. Much respect.
Final words of wisdom…
I am in LOVE with this newest set of photographs taken here on the land in New Mexico. The Painted Body ritualistic photography series has been one of the great loves of my life, as is the powerful earth here in the land of enchantment.
It is not an easy place to live. The desert is like The Dark Mother wielding her sword, “we shall cut this away NOW!” You do not marinate in your process here as you might in a more watery or relaxing place. Because of three very intense years here, and a need for more juiciness mixed with a deep inner-knowing that I am to learn Spanish, I am leaving. Look for me teaching and divining on the west coast this spring after I finish the book that accompanies my Oracle of Initiation deck.
I do not know if I will return to this lover, the land, or if my wandering shall call me elsewhere, but I do know I have been blessed beyond reason with my creative & spiritual relationship to this place.
So on this windy day in Abiquiu I started my goodbyes. It was rough. And it was beautiful. This canyon may be my favorite place on the planet. I am so irrationally happy and at peace there. Something happens in a place where one is so happy. I look more alive, more beautiful in any photographs you will see of me there. I am fully me.
I will ask for love and faith as I step away from a home that has met me in ways I never knew possible, and may or may not be my daily dance partner in the future. We shall see. They say when New Mexico claims you, you will always be back. At least I am humble enough to realize I don’t really know where my path shall lead.
Blessings to the land, The Painted Body series, and my Oracle of Initiation deck that all emerged here.
I wrote this on facebook in response to others appreciation of the work: “The vibrant blue Pendelton blanket crown looks incredible with the stark-white canyon walls and equally arresting turquoise sky. There is a lushness to the primary colors vibrating off of the rugged, fraying African mudcloth. Cool man…life is beautiful…”
My sister Coleen and I met the call of the Red Earth together through my Painted Body ritualistic photography process here in New Mexico. Enjoy Coleen’s first hand account of this transformative, fierce and joyful experience:
By Coleen Renee
Red Earth calls…
Primal stirrings…
Awakening self I do not recognize.
Oh.
It’s you! Yes, I…I remember now.
Take my hand, let’s play, walk, sing, dance, scream, laugh, sleep, pray, be…
United.
I’ve missed you.
I love being in nature in my altogetherness. The obvious vulnerability and the strength felt while standing in that vulnerability brings an aliveness and freedom one must experience to understand. It’s perhaps a bit like the first time you say, “I love you” to someone. You’re not quite sure how it will land, but you feel the power of owning and expressing it.
When I was invited to participate in the Painted Body work with Shaman/Artist/Healer, Melissa Weiss Steele, I said yes without hesitation. Being naked in nature is almost always a “yes” for me. Of course the Painted Body work offered something very different. I have seen the growth of Melissa’s work over the years and heard many stories of her adventures. I felt profoundly honored to be asked to participate with Melissa as my guide and witness.
We headed up a canyon in Abiquiu, New Mexico on a warm sunny afternoon in November. Being a very pale woman of Irish descent with “bad” knees, I worried a bit about surviving the harsh sun and making the trek into and out of the canyon. Melissa let me set the pace. Toting a gallon of water I headed in with Melissa’s guidance.
I was not prepared for the intensity of the place: immediately sacred, challenging and very aware of me. Having been here many times, Melissa had become quite accustomed to the energies and gave me several helpful suggestions as I worked to acclimate to the intense energy moving through me. I finally found my center by both grounding into the earth and lifting my heart to the heavens while leaning against a dark red earthen wall.
More in sync with the land and its energies, we continued into the canyon. We had set our intentions as we drove to the canyon entrance. I sought guidance for my work and the courage to walk my path fully. The Land Spirits offered me teachings and gifts in great abundance. I took in all that I could at the time and weeks later am finding new revelations from my experiences.
Deer chose the spot for the actual Painted Body work in the late afternoon. As I disrobed, that familiar sense of strength and vulnerability infused me. To remove the barriers between nature and myself is an act of trust that, for me, is always rewarded with a delightful communion of spirits.
The sensations of being painted – coolness of the paint, texture of the brushes – made me acutely aware of my skin and before I knew it moved me beyond it. While my skin was being covered I slowly became more and more naked to myself. Parts I had never experienced began to surface. These unexperienced parts of me intrigued and even thrilled me. I slipped into my animal self – and sight, sound, smell, touch and even taste became attuned and merged. My Western thinking mind no longer had control of me. I was free of ideas of who I was suppose to be. I walked across the land without a thought to my feet. I brandished a stick for the pure delight of it. I laughed. I prowled. I rolled in the beautiful red, red earth and was embraced by the Mother and reborn. I danced. I played with Sun, Earth, Vegetation, Melissa, shadows – exploring whatever called to me there in the safety of the canyon and with Melissa as sacred witness.
As the sun moved beyond the canyon and shadows fell my new experiences merged within my more familiar self, now changed forever – now changed for better. I vibrate differently. I am more assured of my path and feel the courage to walk it pumping through me. I dressed once more in my clothes but the Painted Body still covers me – it has become part of my new skin even after many weeks of bathing.
The next morning on the way to the airport, Melissa pulls off the road to show me some of the slides from the photos she took in the canyon. Part of me doesn’t want to see them for fear they may rob my experience somehow. But I am pleased to find how wonderful it is to recognize myself in a picture looking just like I felt at the time of the photo. How rarely it happens in our culture to have one’s insides and outsides matching. How delightful to have a visceral experience accurately captured – a true mirror of the naked self in the Painted Body. I feel so grateful for this profoundly beautiful and deeply precious experience. Thank you Melissa!
Quero Apache lineage carrier Maria Yraceburu reminds us 90% of what our culture tells us is wrong, and it is time to reclaim the truth. As thirty-five of us gathered from across the nation in Northern New Mexico for the first annual Grandmothers Summit we witnessed each others power and claimed our unity as transformative wisdom keepers; we reclaimed the truth. It is time for the women to guide humanity into our true birthright of love, beauty and integrated power. This is what the Grandmothers Summit was all about.
Maria Yraceburu
The Grandmothers Gathering has emerged out of The Sisters of Honua Dream Seed Council that carries a vision of women’s groups worldwide dreaming the new reality together. Future Grandmothers Gatherings will be designed to address the main issues the women in the local councils have been dealing with through that year. This is the way we shall change the world.
Two weeks before the Grandmothers Summit I had a dream.
A group of Yraceburu EarthWisdom women had gathered in a classroom. I shared a dream I had experienced where I had a glowing white X “written” on my abdomen. I asked the group if any of them had had a similar experience and most of them raised their hands as yes. Later I looked at a post-it with lines drawn on it and colored in with multiple highlighter pens. After seeing this image I also knew that the X on my belly was rainbow colored.
When I asked Maria about this dream she said it is a sign we have become Universal. We are reclaiming our expansive star-seed lineage and transforming into the carriers of the new paradigm of peace and cooperation. Maria Yraceburu has said that as we all walk into these changing times the women will lead the way over the Rainbow Bridge into the 5th World of harmony, they will reach out and take the children’s hands, and the children will bring the men along.
Guardian Deni Halterman with Yolanda Martinez
Guardians Janet Elk & Melissa Weiss Steele {moi}
I was honored to be one of the Guardians at this event, and it allowed me a view of the process that was unique and fascinating. To be consciously tracking the energies, supporting the teachers and creating the container that allowed the event to be welcoming and cohesive was a rewarding position. Flow is our job. The Guardian allows the teacher to focus on offering her gifts because the Guardian is managing the practical logistics as well as tracking the energetic dynamics. The Guardian is to intuitively “see through the eyes” of the presenter so her needs are graciously met. To be able to anticipate what the presenter actually needs instead of what your own projections may be is a valuable skill to cultivate.
During our Guardianship training with Maria Yraceburu she spoke of the crucial balance between giving and receiving. Many women have never experienced the support a dedicated Guardian can offer while they are working in the world. To be able to rely on the Guardians presence is a gift we all need to cultivate. Because Maria was raised by her Apache Grandfather, Juan Ten Bears, within the web of extended-family connections she has an innate understanding of Native cultural behaviors. She explained during our training that to truly be in harmony one must know how to both give and receive. Many of us over-give, while receiving is a challenge. Maria shared that as a newcomer to a Native community you may be observed to see how well you receive. This shows them how authentic your giving is, because if you can receive you are in balance. This is an essential piece for many of us to truly be resilient and sustainable in our work and relationships, to learn how to be taken care of as well as care take. Thank you Vanessa, Max and Serena for allowing me to be your Guardian; Janet and Deni my fellow Guardians for a beautiful experience of harmonious team-work; and the entire gathering for allowing me to both give and receive. It was an honor.
Vallecitas Retreat Center
I would like to share a little taste of each of the presenters at this year’s event…a little snapshot of the gifts we received during this potent week. There are links to all of the presenters websites at http://www.sistersofhonua.org/ if you want to learn more about their work and other events, pilgrimages and local Dream Councils you may host.
Vanessa Kay & Yolanda Martinez
Vanessa Kay Bayesmana grew up in the Pueblo culture of Trinidad, Colorado. She is a Biologist working in Dark Field Microscopy and analyzes blood to find optimal health and wellness in individuals. She currently works in partnership with the Shipibo Indians of Peru to sustain rainforest culture and harvest sacred herbs honorably. Vanessa is a delightful woman. The room lights up when she smiles, and she carries her wisdom with a gentleness and warmth that immediately puts one at ease. Her offering to the group was both a process of witnessing each other’s current transformations and the nourishment of botanical spa treatments. It was a lovely way to begin the program through bonding with a partner and pampering ourselves through her deep relationship to the sacred herbs.
Melinda Allec on the left
Melinda Allec is an Energy Medicine Practitioner and artist whose training with Alberto Villoldo lead her to being initiated in the Holy Mountains of Peru by the Q’ero, descendents of the Inka High Shamans. Through Melinda’s own personal transformation she has become a valued guide in supporting others in releasing suffering and struggle in their own lives. Melinda has depth in her eyes. She holds her light and her dark, offering each of us a change to embrace our own complexities. Her presentation was a mix of modalities that she has developed to reach the un-integrated parts of ourselves and reclaim our wholeness. The work was both intimate and intense, a powerful taste of the gifts she now carries.
Lynda Yraceburu
Lynda Yraceburu is world renowned as a lineage carrier and practitioner of the lost Gypsy Healing Art of Vas Pesh-HandWalking. She is also an earth spirit photographer capturing the spirit within the natural world. Vas-Pesh is an ancient system the Romani Gypsy people cultivated to care for themselves as they lived their nomadic lifestyle. Working with the hands was potent, quick and extremely effective. Lynda now carries this simple yet mighty modality through her own workshops and healing practice. Lynda is also a powerful storyteller and her examples of life-changing sessions with the Vas-Pesh work were truly inspiring.
The Mellissae-honey bees {Mellissa Seaman on the left}
Mellissa Seaman is a Shamanic Priestess and co-founder of Avalon Springs, a hot springs retreat center with organic gardens and ecovillage in Northern California. Mellissa shared with us her deep feminine wisdom through her YoniSpeak channeled messages. If you have a chance to go see her do this, GO. I was struck by how irreverent and playful the messages were at times, reminding us that we have signed up for a grand game of duality on earth to experience embodiment fully. We’ve chosen to feel the whole spectrum from isolation to love, suffering to bliss, and through the messages in the channeling we could step out of the limiting stories and witness the fascinating process. Wisdom when delivered with compassionate humor is a great gift. I was enthralled. I asked a question about releasing my constricting sense of duty and the reply was when feeling trapped in the illusion to think of how children call poop Doodi. Hysterical. My favorite line from the presentation was “Feeling is F@#*ing Healing.” Feel, and it shall set you free. Love it.
Serena Poisson
Serena Poisson has been involved with self-growth and mediation for the past 26 years. She has trained with eleven Reiki Masters and teaches at The Nine Gates Mystery School. Through her initiation into Hawaiian sacred traditions she teaches the forgiveness and release process of Ho’o Ho’o Pono Pono. Serena is a delight. She is a gorgeous silver haired Elder who openly carries the joy and magic of the path she has been lead to. She offered us a taste of The Ho’o Ho’o Pono Pono method and the Aka cords that we all create as we move through the world. We did an experiential exercise with the Aka cords that showed how bound-up we can be by the conscious and unconscious ties we create energetically with others. We now have a prayer that releases these unwanted cords and allows us to move more freely in our own energetic fields.
Thanks Melinda for the group pic!
Yolanda Martinez is an award-winning performer, drum maker and painter. She is a magnetic singer and storyteller, enchanting the room with tales of her southern New Mexico upbringing as a magical child singing to the land and her animal companions. Through The Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers who have been traveling around the world with the massive Mother Drum Yolanda has been called to be the keeper of two primordial and fierce sacred staffs reunifying the feminine and masculine. One staff has a glistening black obsidian arrowhead as the masculine, and the other has a chalky white stalagmite as the feminine energy. When these two sacred items were uncloaked the entire room stood still and took a deep breath in. The elemental power of those two ceremonial pieces is almost unfathomable. Some things have a power that words cannot convey.
Hillary Raimo
Hillary Raimo is a psychic intuitive, ordained spiritual counselor and nondenominational minister. She currently teaches Reiki, Dreaming, Energy Medicine and Creative Arts. Hillary hosts her own radio show: Matters for Mind, Body & Spirit on Achieve Radio and leads pilgrimages to sacred sites across the globe. Hillary carries her power in a way that is both concentrated and expansive. She teaches women how to access their own potency and live as grounded dreamers. Hillary shared a process of claiming a new vision of sisterhood that is based on respect, trust and deep honoring through unpacking our old stories and creating a shamanic spirit doll to embody the new potential. I was deeply honored to have Hillary use my Oracle of Initiation divination cards within her process as a way for sisters to see both the shadow and light within their own relationship to female solidarity.
Max Dashu
Max Dashu founded the Suppresses Histories Archives in1970 to research and document cross-culturally the true history of women. She has dedicated herself to living as a free woman and has amassed a catalog of fifteen thousand images of women’s true lineage as powerful co-creators of civilization. She teaches on-line courses through the medicine of these powerful ancient images helping to break the cultural spells of women’s disempowerment. She is currently completing a multi-volume sourcebook on women in European folk religion and the legacies of the witch-hunts. Max is a spitfire. She is an early feminist maverick supporting women breaking out of cultural restrictions and illusions. Her lecture on the suppression of women’s power was fascinating, and the slide show could have lasted for hours. During her lecture I carried one of her incredible Female Icons posters around for the group to see. It was amazing to see the fascination, awe and respect in each woman’s eyes as she encountered these ancient images of feminine power.
Max Dashu's incredible Female Icons poster. wow.
Maria Yraceburu is an author, ceremonialist and 13th generation bundle carrier for her Quero Apache Snake Clan lineage. She grew up in the White Mountain Apache reservation in Eastern Arizona traditionally trained by her Grandfather, Juan Ten Bears.
Maria Yraceburu
Maria is a force of nature. The first time I met her five years ago at a Horse Dance Ceremony I was struck by how intense and kind she was. Here was this petite woman with a huge knife dangling off her belt and a radiant smile. To watch Maria in action, storytelling, offering initiations, speaking of the true realities, doing the pipe ceremony and making relations is to watch a woman deeply embodied in her power. She carries her lineage with great honor. May we all find our own inner essence as she has and live from that place.
Melissa, Joy & Stacey
Sister Stacey Robyn of Go Gratitude also did a masterful job of honoring Maria’s tireless work and dedication to all our transformation. She finally got to call Maria forth with a whip of the feathered talking stick {one of Maria’s signature moves} and lead Maria around as we all offered words of tribute to her work in the world. Thanks again Maria, we love you.
shamanic spirit doll
On the Novembers New Moon we step into the Apache New Year of Birthing a New Reality. The old paradigm of isolation and solo-work is over, it is time to live our true lineage, together. I am grateful to call this community my family, and look forward to meeting more of you on this journey of emergence.
My Oracle of Initiation cards-Conduit & Naivety during Hillary's presentation- thanks Melinda
Kwahu Abeja, Eagle Prayer HoneyBee
Oracle of Initiation Courage card with the materials for a shamanic spirit doll
Katherine in the Aspens
Petra is a DreamTime place. It is a magical and cloistered city tucked away in the desert cliffs of Jordan. The first time I saw an image of the huge temple facade peeking though a slender opening in the canyon walls I was stunned. I have yearned to walk through that portal into that otherworldly place since that day. I had no idea that through moving to New Mexico I was entering the same landscape as “a rose-red city half as old as time.”
Petra
Like Petra, New Mexico is an enchanted and mysterious place. It has its own hidden canyons, caves and tunnels. I have made it my work to enter these worlds and dance with the energies. The Painted Body ritualistic photography series emerged from these explorations in graffiti strewn tunnels and waterways. Now I am sharing these adventures with other brave souls, and we are embracing our fierceness and joy through these initiatory photo shoots.
Margi Halfon is a complex and magnetic person. She has her own deep cloistered parts, and is also a sparkly and engaging spirit. She and her partner Sean Tebor’s vision is to weave together yoga, dance and Tarot creating a community gathering place where Santa Fean’s can explore and embody their own juicy vitality.
Margi entered this Painted Body Process from a place of surrender and awe. She had recently gone through some intense personal shifts and was ready to meet the earth and herself through this collaborative ceremonial process. Throughout the journey she kept pointing out how much the land reminded her of Petra. She had been fortunate enough to visit as a younger woman when she lived in Israel. I had not shared with her yet that I pulled some of my own Oracle of Initiation divination cards and The Stargate deck by James F. Jereb before we met. Both of our ‘Masters of the Stargate’ cards were Egyptian. I found the parallels between her recognition of Petra similarities to this place and each of our connection through the cards to Sekhmet and Re incredible. The world NEVER ceases to amaze me.
Margi and I in a Petra-like portal created by the camera...life is so fascinating
As we wound our way back into my secret cathedral in the stones I was aware of what a gift I have been given by having such a sacred place for my soul. Margi illuminated how rare it is to have a relationship that feeds and nurtures me so deeply. It really is my hidden sacred temple. It is home. The feelings of love, joy, peace and belonging I experience there is what I have always dreamed of. This knowing of my connection to the land is part of the wisdom I share when I take people on these initiatory journeys; a gateway into their own re-enchantment with the Earth Mother.
During the Painted Body process different people need different things. At times the Painted Body shoots have been very shamanic and intense, at other times playful and inquisitive, but always potent and visceral. It really calls forth what transformation that person needs at that time. The process always offers a doorway into delight and wonder through engaging with the raw natural world. The exposure of the nudity, the sensuality of the paints and the soil, the freedom of flowing through the ritualistic container that we create all offer an opening into ones true essence. That really is our work, to reclaim our own inner knowing and engage with life from that innate radiance. We are all creative, passionate, powerful people when we release old programs and constrictions connecting to our pure potential.
Margi met this place of pure potential. She embodied her regalness, her reserve, her exuberance, her vulnerability and her unbridled joy. She danced her own rhythms, she touched her own depths, and the canyon, camera and I witnessed her majestic Spirit. It was an honor to share this experience with her. Life is beautiful. Thank You.
Melissa Weiss Steele's Blog 
