Peter May

Powerful Stuff – Day 384

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Intuition: Star Nectar – Photo: L. Weikel

Powerful Stuff

Sometimes we receive confirmation from the most unexpected sources.

I’ve had occasion to meet and work with alchemist and sonic shaman (my description, not his) Peter May at Amadell a fair number of times over the past year or so.

One of the many fascinating avenues of reality that Peter explores entails working with plants and the elements to create tinctures and balms that facilitate internal balance, stability, and awareness (Windhorse Botanicals). He then works with a variety of universal resonances that are found throughout the natural world and then enhances the effects of these resonances on both the human body as well as our perceptions and states of being through the products he’s created.

While that may sound a bit technical, the proof is in the experience.

Cultivating Intuition

My most recent work with Peter had me focusing on cleansing and dissolving possible calcification of my pineal gland, which is located deep within the center of the brain. Historically, the pineal gland is also associated with (and possibly another name for) the third eye, or center of intuition. Just like almost everything worth having, if you don’t use your abilities you lose them.

With respect to my intuition, I think it’s safe to say that I was never completely cut off from mine. While my intellect was always accorded great priority and value, my intuition was neither vilified nor ridiculed. We (meaning my parents, primarily my mother, and I) may not have discussed it much, but I somehow always knew that there was something intangible but inherent within myself that works in tandem with my intellect.

Most Recent: Star Nectar

As I transitioned from working mainly as an attorney to working mainly as a shamanic practitioner, I’ve both consciously and unconsciously worked to cultivate my intuition. It truly is like a muscle that gets stronger and stronger the more you use it.

Which leads me to the most recent workshop of Peter’s that I attended at Amadell. (You can read the description for it here.) In conjunction with and as a result of the work we did that weekend, I have the small jar of Intuition Star Nectar pictured above, and have been working with it. One of the things I’ve done most often is swirl a small bit of it into my 3rdeye area (the center of the forehead).

A Sign

A day or so before Thanksgiving some wild and powerful winds swept through our area. You may recall I wrote about it here, and spoke of how our front door blew open as I was writing my post.

It turned out that a large ceramic owl I’d had for years blew off the porch that night.

I’m going to just let the image speak for itself. Something tells me this Intuition Star Nectar is pretty powerful stuff! I had to laugh when I saw the owl the next day. I don’t have the ‘heart’ to throw it away, even if it is, by many standards, ‘broken.’

To me, it symbolizes that my intuition is breaking wide open – and it is most definitely and intimately connected to my heart.

Something tells me that’s a good thing.

Owl’s 3rd Eye – Photo: L. Weikel

(T-727)

Poof – Day 181

Posted on by Lisa Weikel 2 Comments
Tree Owl – Photo: L. Weikel

Poof   

So, OK.

You guys, my loyal peeps who’ve been sticking with me through 181 days now (even if you did miss a couple few), know that I’ve wondered what would happen if I found myself in a space where I might be compromised in my ability to honor my 1111 Devotion commitment.

Well, this moment is both a challenge and an affirmation.

The night tonight is exquisitely conducive to cocooning. To sleeping. To dreaming. I’m sitting here in my room, the expansive windows thrown wide open despite the rain cascading from the sky. (I checked: No worries, nothing is coming in through the screens.)

It’s almost as if the cavalcade of sounds, textures, voices and images that we just experienced at the hands of the wizardly alchemist Peter May and his sound dakini, Marina, actually rippled out into and through the rainforest, following us as we wound our way to our room.

Indeed, perhaps our journey to the ululating murmerings of the didgeridoo was a mere appetizer to the evening’s main course.

The one that followed us home.

I can only hope.

My Devotion – My Heart

In the meantime, though, in the race to return to my room so I could write these words, I realized just how close to my heart I hold this devotion. It’s as if this time at the close of every day is time actually spent with my eldest son. Even if I don’t write about him (which in fact I rarely do), even if I write about the most mundane of topics. Even if I write a sentence and call it an evening. No detail about any post that I may write has any bearing whatsoever on the heart of the act itself.

There is purpose behind this Act of Power.

I write because I love.

And the love I feel is eternal, expansive, and holds the utmost healing power.

I hope each and every one of you, whether reading this or not, in some way feels the essence of what I felt (and feel) tonight. Whether it was a wisp of a sense, a warm sense, a rustle of your hair. I dropped by. I sent you love. I blew you a kiss. I thought about you.

And because you happen to be reading this at this very moment, know that that thought, that love, is coming to you yet again.

That was my dream earlier. May it continue to manifest.

Photo: L. Weikel

(T-930)

Welcome to Amadell – Day 178

Posted on by Lisa Weikel Leave a comment
Arriving in NC – Photo: L. Weikel

Welcome to Amadell        

It’s said that if you want to get to know a place, it is helpful to connect with the land that you’re visiting: ideally skin to skin, or bare feet to grass, whatever way you can find to make direct connection with the land you are visiting.

I learned about this decades ago, when one of my earliest teachers recommended walking barefoot in a new country or area I might be visiting, particularly if I’d flown in an airplane to get there.

Earthing

Some might say you are simply connecting with the electrons produced by the Earth and synchronizing your energy with that of the land where you find yourself: the energy of that particular place. Indeed, studies have shown that ‘earthing’ or ‘grounding’ can literally improve our physical, psychological, and emotional health. I dare say our spiritual self, too, improves exponentially when we reconnect with Mother Earth.

Another practice which sort of goes hand-in-hand with making a physical connection with the land you’re visiting is a favorite activity of mine: speaking directly to the Spirits of the Land on which you’re standing. Nature spirits are everywhere, and it is always polite to speak to and ask permission of the spirits of the land to enter that place.

Gestures of Friendliness and Gratitude

It’s also helpful to make a gesture of friendliness and gratitude to the spirits of a particular place for their anticipated hospitality. It’s helpful, too, to make an offering – a piece of candy or chocolate, a cookie, etc. is often appreciated. Native North Americans often offer a pinch of tobacco or cornmeal.

And if you’ve forgotten to bring a snack or traditional offering, your gift can be as simple as a couple strands of your own hair. Using your breath to imbue your hair (or any of the other gifts) with you heartfelt gratitude for being welcomed to that place and then placing it on the earth with a spirit of generosity and appreciation is all it takes to make a spiritual connection to the spirits of the land.

Amadell

I arrived today at a magical place: Amadell. Amadell is a spiritual and nature sanctuary in the Appalachians (Smoky Mountains) of western North Carolina.

Not only did I have the chance this afternoon to connect directly with the land here at Amadell by laying my spine directly on her surface, I was given a particularly magical opportunity to connect with the spirits of this land by listening to the voices of some of the land’s inhabitants.

Listening to a May Apple serenade – Photo: L. Kraujalis

Connecting with the Song of May Apple

Specifically, because I happen to be lucky enough to be here at the same time that Peter May is, I lay with my back on the earth and actually listened to the songs of May Apple, Ramp, and other plants growing abundantly upon the mountainside.

What an exquisitely intimate and grounding experience.

To say I feel welcomed and at home here wouldn’t do justice to the magical sense that I’m filled with at the moment.

Peter May – Photo: L. Weikel

Peter May and The Sonic Apothecary

Peter May is many things, ranging from a musician, an alchemist, a wisdom-keeper to a plant whisperer – and you can read more about him at The Sonic Apothecary. Working with technology that picks up on the electrical signals emitted by plants and translates them into musical tones, Peter makes communication with the elemental world more accessible. If you visit his site, you can also hear a sample of the songs of various plants.

As a result of my experiences this afternoon, I am feeling an intimacy with the land and the spirits that live here that feels healing and creative. I feel nurtured and nourished. I feel connected and welcomed.

Of course, the human caretakers of this land, the Kraujalises, make me feel this way also. I am filled with gratitude for their generous friendship.

(T-933)

**I should note that I have photos that I wanted to include in this post – but alas, the perils of being on a mountain include sort of cranky internet service that gets stuck uploading photos. I’ll keep trying, but…