Trance Posture Update
at the bottom of the page

 

Yo team, 

we can register here for the live stream of the eclipse, from Chile,

if so moved…begins at 10:30am est

https://carnegiescience.edu/events

 

 

When we convene tonight, we will be energetically emerging from the eclipse, where new life and possibilities become available…

 

Remember, at totality, were we in Chile ,
– one can see the stars, and planets,
Venus to the West,
Jupiter and Saturn in the East…

 

Eclipses are thought to have
a resonance for 6 months. 

 

23+ Sagittarius: “Blue-bird of happiness
perched on the Gate of a Little Cottage.”

 

And the Moon’s degree as she heads into the eclipse
(10:30 am est) is 22+ Sagittarius
“The Crown and Torch of the Statue of Liberty-
the necessity to defend democracy from tyranny.”

Great divinatory segue, to pack in our
magic back packs for the next 6 months.

 

The Moon is at the last degree of Sagittarius –
journeying,

Venus at the last degree of Scorpio –
deep inward – to find what we want to bring
into incarnational actuality –
Solstice on into 2021

 

My long-time ally,
radio guest from last Thursday, 

Robinette Kennedy,

will be our guest tonight,
guiding us into a trance posture ritual…

 

She would like us to be familiar
with this drumming before hand

 

Tonight Robinette will guide us
to hold a posture, while she drums…

She will explain…for this journey…
we can all be comfortable, seated,
lying down, pillows, standing…

and chanting…

(in the manner that she will convey)

(circa 15 minutes ish)

She prefers that we know little
about the posture before hand

so as not to constrain actual experience…

(availability v expectation) 

 

We have the two the two Jupiters:

Sagittarius (South Node, Mercury, Sun , Moon)

and Pisces (Neptune), outward to inward…

 

Santa’s wink reveals him as Odin –

one eye looking inward, one outward…

 

 

 

and Tuesday morning we will send
a picture of the pose.

and how to continue to perform this practice…

 

“It is my wish that people have the rest of
the evening and dreamtime overnight
before they have information about the
pose from my point of view.

So, early Tuesday morning I will send you
a standard pose handout for you to
distribute to your Monday night group.”

 

We are game…

Trance Posture

The Bear Spirit Pose

By Robinette Kennedy

           The Bear Spirit Pose is so named because many figurines of this pose (from all over the world, at least 30,000 years old) depict humans who have the head and/or body of a bear. Also, figurines of bears are often shown in this pose.

In all traditional cultures where bears live, people who follow a gathering/hunting or nomadic lifestyle view bears as the most revered of creatures.  Each year in late winter around the Arctic Circle, people hold ceremonies where they imitate the gestures, postures, movements, and sounds of bears. The content of these ceremonies varies and may include putting on a bear mask or wearing the skin of an actual bear while dancing.

In these cultures, people rely on the activities and habits of bears as a survival tool. People observe bears’ schedules and activities as a calendar, a weather vane and a guide for reproductive behaviors.

The purpose of bear rituals is to merge with bears’ healing powers, life ways and nature. Even as far south as ancient Greece, bears were honored in much the same way as the northern European Saami and Lapp tribes cultures still do today. In the 6th century BCE, 35 kilometers north of Athens at a stunningly beautiful place named Brauron, every four years, young girls from Athens who were 5 to 10 years old were brought to Brauron, dressed in saffron-dyed robes, and taught how to dance bear movements as a ritual to honor the memory of a bear spirit associated with Artemis, the guardian spirit of the animals and the forest whose followers had the ability to shape-shift into bears. Today on Crete in a cave on the Akrotiri peninsula near the town of Chania, an annual festival related to bears and the mother of Jesus is still performed on February 2nd. The ritual is named ‘Arkoudiotissa.’ (Holy Bear Mother.)

Many American Indian tribes today see in bears’ yearly habits the ritual phases of spiritual initiation. For example, the first phase of initiation is cut one’s ties to the community and to one’s past identity. This act mirrors a bear’s ability to completely withdraw from the outside world in late autumn and enter a state of deep hibernation.

It used to be believed that while bears are hibernating in their caves or dens for as much as six months at a time, they shut down certain bodily processes such as eating and elimination. Now it is know that bears can place themselves into a state of deep hibernation for any period of time, suddenly spring to consciousness, leave the den in search of food and, a few hours later, return immediately to a state of deep hibernation.

Bears’ ability to place themselves into an apparently unconscious state that resembles shamanic consciousness is what leads many traditional cultures to refer to bears as the powerful shaman/healer of the animal world.

           In 1999, I listened to a vision received by “Robert” through a sacred pose he later learned is associated with the bear spirit.           

Robinette’s rattle quickly became a light. I was aware that big men were supporting me. In my vision, the room filled with men in front of me and women behind me.  I saw an image of a bear. There was a man who was spinning.  He had the rattle in his hand. The bear took a bite out of my face and tore apart my body with his claws. I was left with a funny pointed nose. The bear came back later and finished tearing off my legs. Women came and put a big bearskin over my shoulders.

The spinning man in the middle became the head of a raptor.  A hawk made long wounds on my body. Men standing next to me had snake heads. A huge gray snake coiled around the entire circle and ate me like a chocolate bar.  It embedded its fangs into my chest. I could feel its body going into my body. The snake became a stone arch over my head. Now, sitting here after the vision, I feel a spilling sensation up and down my body, a combination of anxiety and orgasmic energy. I am relaxed, not tired. I am different than I was before this trance began.

Before Robert’s shape-shifting experience brought to him by the bear spirit, he was working as a hospital psychiatrist. Soon after the above vision, Robert respectfully resigned from the hospital staff. He explained that he could no longer offer his patients only pharmaceutical drugs without other options that are genuinely healing. The hospital board asked Robert what he had in mind. He replied, “Lifestyle changes, physical exercise, nutrition, spiritual practices such as meditation, yoga, etc.” Eventually, members of this same hospital board  offered Robert the resources he needed to create a drug-free mind/body/spirit institute where he continues to be the director of services.

The Figurine of the Bear Spirit Pose

Of all the sacred poses that have been found around the world from 30,000 years ago to the present, figurines depicting the Bear Spirit Pose are the most numerous. Humans and bears are shown lying, standing and kneeling in this pose. 34 examples of the pose were found in the Greek Cyclades Islands alone. The attached photograph shows a small figurine (1400 BCE) found in a grave in central Crete (in the 4,000-year-old cemetery of Fourni outside the town of Arkhanes.) It is made of steatite.

When to Perform the Pose

           On or after February 2nd or midway between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox, or when actual bears begin to emerge from their dens, or at any time that you want to connect spiritually with the great shaman/healer of the animal world.

How to Perform the Pose

After opening sacred space and inviting the Spirits, bring the tips of your fingers to touch lightly the palms of the hand, with the thumbs on the outside. Touch the outside of the middle knuckles of each hand together and pull your hands to your torso at the mid section of the body, above the navel.

It is possible to remain standing throughout the entire period of rattling/drumming. Or, you may start out standing or kneeling in the pose, and if you grow tired, you may lie down in a horizontal version of the standing pose. If you prefer to remain standing, but you are too tired to do so without assistance, stay in the pose while leaning back against a tree or stone or wall.

           Tilt the head back slightly and allow the mouth to hang open as much as possible in a relaxed, comfortable position. Close your eyes and listen to rhythm (preferably at approximately three beats per second.)

Recommended Reading

To learn more about bears’ relationship to shamanism:  Rockwell, David. Giving Voice to Bear.

To learn more about the value of awakening humans’ animal nature:  Abram, David. Becoming Animal.