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Sustaining Healing Traditions

“Huichol Marakame healing, Nahua weather workers’ healing, Plant Spirit Medicine…these traditions were gifted us by Sacred Fire to be transplanted, to take root and bear fruit for many generations of our people. What will it take for these ancient medicines to survive in the strange soil of our culture? How can they flourish?” Eliot Cowan

“It will take dedication and people patient and with an eye for the future,
to dedicate their lives to the ‘change they wish to see in the world'” ~Ghandi

Mind and Heart
We tend to get lost, drifting in our mind and thinking, as also we forget how to listen to our heart, which holds our knowing and wisdom. The heart knows the path that resonates with us; it knows the next step we should take. It’s always present, but it's hard for us to hear when we’re so busy in the mind. Sacred Fire helps us to discover this energy of heart again.

Connection
There are still many people on the planet that live in a sense of communication with the world around them; they experience being part of it. When we are lost in the mind, we lose that sense of being connected, and it's replaced with the sense of being individual and separate. We often feel disconnected from each other, from nature, from our inner spirit. Fire is a connective energy, connecting us to others, to the living world, to spirit, to our path…even to the timeless place within.

Transformation
Internally, the energy of Fire transforms our dry old logs, the places we are stuck, into warmth and light.

A Story of A Great Shaman

Deanna: “In 1997, Gary and I were spending time with a friend training with me who had a certain special connection to the fire. Because we knew the fire liked cigars and chocolate (and so did we), we purchased those and sat down at a small table with a lit candle at one of our favorite restaurants in Cuernavaca, Mexico. We huddled around each other, speaking softly so we wouldn't draw attention to ourselves. In an uncanny moment, we heard a voice very different from the one we had been talking with. Grandfather Fire came through our friend, a gringo, giving unforgettable deep wisdom. It was the beginning of a long adventure.”

Don Lupe’s Vision

Little did we know that twenty years before, don Lupe Gonzales Rios, a well-known artist, shaman and later teacher for Deanna, who lived on his rancho near Tepic, Mexico had a vision that Tatewari (Huichol for Grandfather Fire) would reappear in a gringo’s body in the near future. Don Lupe met the gringo and affirmed his vision to be true. Since then, Grandfather Fire has become our teacher and the guiding force for our lives, through connecting to our own heart voice and bringing forth healing for our people.

It is said by the Huichol people that Tatewari returns in a form in which the people can hear Him when humans have lost their way, the world is declining and harmony and balance need to be restored. It is said that now is the time we’ve been waiting for; He has come to the people of the west to help restore the balance needed for our culture to survive. He brings light to the darkness, warmth in the cold, connection, transformation, deep healing and community.

For the complete story about Grandfather Fire, go to www.keepsthefire.org. For upcoming Grandfather Fires, visit www.sacredfirecommunity.org