Many of you perhaps were not yet born during the era of the Vietnam war and the protests of the later 1960’s, early 1970’s. I was a young man at that time and I remember it well. At that time there were Black Power protests, massive civil rights protests and skirmishes, La Raza protests, Native American protest’s, women’s rights protests and masses of civil unrest. Now perhaps that seems long ago but the fact is the current astrology is repeating that era almost exactly. For details you can consult an astrologer, which I am not. Suffice it to say that civil unrest, protests of all kinds are on the rise again. Expect them to get much more prominent in public affairs. So in a way, there is nothing new going on here. Regarding Native American affairs, there has been a long trail of broken treaties involving the Army Corps of Engineers who built dams to create reservoirs that encroached on their sovereign lands over a long period of time. So this business of an oil pipeline, The Dakota Access, is not just a one off event but the last straw in a series of insults that have been hundreds of years in the making.
Many people are not informed about the way the pipeline was okayed by the feds. A couple of years ago federal laws were passed that required environmental studies to be done on any long pipelines. I do not know the details here so I cannot say the exact length the pipeline has to be to set these studies in motion. The pipeline in the vicinity of Standing Rock is definitely a long one so the feds themselves circumvented their own laws by creatively chopping the pipeline up into many short segments so that the environmental studies did not have to be done. Outrageous! No?
The Standing Rock protests have gathered together many tribes who in the past have not been cooperative with one another and has given them something powerful to rally around and this is a good thing for Native Americans. Not only that but it has attracted attention from people of all walks of life and throughout the world so the eyes of the world are on this evolving event and hundreds of thousands of people have been giving it their attention and their moral support. This comes at a time when a new administration is about to take over, one that is even less sympathetic than the current one. Thus the protest is ratcheting up to a violent climax that could very well involve injuries and perhaps deaths igniting an even further conflict.
Now this is where things become complicated. Some people may not find solace in what I am about to say. First of all I support the protest for all the same reasons others are supporting it. It is an illegal power move by big oil, banks, and certain sectors of government to further the fossil fuel agenda at the risk of land and citizens. I am sworn to non-violence if at all possible just so you know where I stand.
Here is the good news: Native Americans know how to pray and they can have a great influence and can be a great inspiration for others who join them in these protests. Not only to they have the eyes of the world on them but they have the moral high ground. Joining them are the ancestors, the poderios, the ayudantes, and many allies from the other side. This is their power.
Here is the mixed news: The issue has become deeply emotional for a huge number of people and because of the current astrology many people are seeing this as a way to redress a long list of grievances and past insults. There are some Native people that would like nothing more than a chance to redress the wrongs committed by their perceived enemy. Not only that but there are many non Native mature soul people who have become romantically involved with the whole Standing Rock protest and some of them are also spoiling for a fight, like poking a maddened bull with a stick. These kinds of events involving many people of different perspective and motives tend to be very messy to lead and manage because there is always a kind of spontaneity that goes along with crisis. Sometimes there are rogue police that do something unplanned and sometimes there are rogue protesters that go farther than their leaders would have wished.
Remote Healing
Each month, around the new and full moons, Jose, Lena or Anna leads a remote shamanic healing session. These approximately 30 minute sessions are designed to be experienced in a quiet, safe place free from distraction. Even if you cannot join live they can be very powerful, and always include a good clearing and beautiful icaros. Recording access is included for a short time afterwards. See the product description for dates and times.
In any case this protest is hurtling headlong into very dangerous territory and it would behoove all to take a step back and think things through thoroughly, both protestors and police. Is the violence waiting to happen worth it? Is it going to accomplish something constructive other than create martyrs for a cause? Are there any other ways to negotiate this conflict that have not been tried? You get the idea. All avenues must be examined or people are going to die, be maimed for life, or perhaps end up in prison for many years. What is left of police reputation and political careers will be lost as well. In other words what I am saying here is that this just could not end well. That does not mean the people should not protest. But they need to be very disciplined about how they protest to get maximum power and effectiveness. There is no room for mistakes made by emotional outbursts, especially considering that law enforcement has been known to plant spies and rabble rousers who seek to discredit the protestors.
People should try never to contaminate their protests with a lot of outside agendas like for example a referendum on the elections. A protest should be as clean as possible. This is why many of the protests so well managed by Mahatma Gandhi were very effective. He made sure they were single pointed and focused and his followers were very disciplined much of the time.
In the sixties there were many such events and some were constructive and some were simply not. Massive crowds of people poured into the streets and marched and put an end to the Vietnam War. That was good thing and it was for the most part nonviolent. On the other hand there were many skirmishes over other turf like People’s Park in Berkeley, California, an issue that became a flash point and deeply symbolic of the kinds of conflicts that were going on between the establishment and the common people. It was a way for a lot of people with various grievances to act out and for police to bash in a number of heads of people they had no respect for. Was it worth it? Was it worth the injuries and the cost to people’s well-being. Who Knows? In the end they did not pave over People’s Park, a mild symbolic victory in a troubled time. Unfortunately it became an unkempt park where many drug deals were transacted. I wonder if the people blinded by the police or those who sustained major head injuries that changed their lives forever thought it was worth the pitched battles in the streets.
I am not saying that Standing Rock is People’s Park because it is an international type event and it does involve criminal federal actions. What I am saying is that these are the kinds of events that are fueled by heavy emotion and get out of control easily and damage is done. There are heavy consequences. This is no game and no place for personal vengeance and expressions of violence from either side. Mobs are extremely dangerous, yes, even more so mobs of police who are often made up of younger souls and who are following management decisions of higher ups, also younger souls. These younger souls would never admit it but they are deeply afraid of what the protesters represent and their potential power. They are afraid that these tactics could spread to other issues and their whole way of life could come tumbling down in the process. They are often blinded by their fear and they just react, often violently and then try to cover up their mistakes for the sake of public opinion. One must understand their fear just as a person is better off when they understand the behavior of a mother bear that feels her cubs are threatened. Better to not engage violently. Better to find other ways.
In the end there is no simple or single answer to these inconvenient questions. Sometimes a violent clash is the spark that begins a revolution that changes a way of life. Perhaps many will see this event that way. More likely it is just one of the events that marks the beginning of a long turbulent upheaval that will involve millions of people in massive movements over many years, trying to shape the future of their dreams. Welcome to the paradigm shift. How will you choose to participate?
It is my sincere desire that because of the power of this protest that the pipeline either be rerouted or preferably dismantled because it is not needed. The demand for fossil fuels is going down. The demand for alternative fuels is going up. That is the future. The native peoples wishes should be heard. This pipeline is not necessary.
What you can do
There is a simple but very effective shamanic technique that anyone can do. Visualize the area of protest at Standing Rock, the land there, the Missouri River that faces having a pipeline drilled underneath it. Now visualize a giant octahedron over and under the entire region. It is a four-sided pyramid pointing up and another pyramid pointing down with their bases together about ground level. Visualize it outlined in electric blue color and filled with beautiful golden light of the highest frequency. This is highly stabilizing and calming to the entire region and all the living beings there. It can only greatly help.
Many blessings, Jose
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José Stevens
José Luis Stevens, PhD is the president and co-founder (with wife Lena) of Power Path Seminars, an international school and consulting firm dedicated to the study and application of shamanism and indigenous wisdom to business and everyday life. José completed a ten-year apprenticeship with a Huichol (Wixarika) Maracame (Huichol shaman) in the Sierras of Central Mexico. In addition, he is studying with Shipibo shamans in the Peruvian Amazon and with Paqos (shamans) in the Andes in Peru. In 1983 he completed his doctoral dissertation at the California Institute of Integral Studies focusing on the interface between shamanism and western psychological counseling. Since then, he has studied cross-cultural shamanism around the world to distill the core elements of shamanic healing and practice. He is the author of twenty books and numerous articles including Encounters With Power, Awaken The Inner Shaman, The Power Path, Secrets of Shamanism, Transforming Your Dragons and How To Pray The Shaman’s Way.
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