CHANGING A MILLION YEARS OF TOLTEC SHAMANIC TRADITION
The Toltec shamanic tradition was designed to not only map the way through the unknown, but also to utilize it as a growth mechanism. It originated directly from Mother to help preserve the masculine grid in all its integrity.
She knew that power-mongers would attempt to disrupt these grids (lines of light that tell groups of beings how to live) and the information that flows along them. For this reason the shamanic way was given as the impeccable way to work with power. It provided a way to harness energy and increase perception by turning the unknown into the known through experience.
In the summer of 2006, after a year and a half of cosmic ascension which saw the cosmos move through higher and higher frequency bands, the unknown was successfully turned into the known. What had been the primary purpose of the Toltec path no longer existed—nine-tenths of its tenets and philosophy became obsolete as the unknown ceased to be.
The external source of power and perception (external opposition) had necessitated an external form of warriorship which was masculine in nature and was therefore part of the masculine grid. The new form of warriorship is internal, since there is nothing external to protect against, nor are there exterior portions of the unknown.
Because the new creation studies the known, the unknown has taken on a new meaning; it now tells us how the known should be applied and expanded. This is why the Toltec way has to be rewritten as we study the new feminine warriorship.
The Toltec Shamanic Practices
Toltec shamanic practices used in everyday life to develop the tools of discernment were based on the four directions. As the directions themselves have reversed in nature, so too the practices and tools the Toltec Shamans need have altered:
1. Combing the Shadows
This practice is similar to scanning a landscape, except you are scanning the landscape of your life. The goal is to find any areas creating a tension of some sort in your body or emotions. If your stomach feels like ‘a knot’ when you are at work, the next thing to determine is the cause.
2. Cultivating Mindlessness
You comb the individuals at your work, using the process of asking questions and obtaining symbols. Cultivating mindlessness gives you the ability to quickly access the symbols you need. If combing the individuals does not show you what produces the stress, go through each of your projects or work areas. It may be a location where something could fall on you, in which case the symbol may be a hammer or a weight of some sort. When you cannot narrow it down any further, ask for another symbol, and so on.
Fear of failure brings thought into our work. The truth is, however, that mindlessness and automatic work produce fewer errors. It is the warrior’s new way to stretch mindlessness further and further into all areas of his or her life.
3. Developing Your Symbolic Language
Let us suppose you want to know why there’s a tightening in your stomach when you are around the boss at work. The image might be a red flag, which means ‘danger’. You ask “Is my job in danger?” Then you may see a fish, which means “no”. If you see a repeat of the red flag, it means ‘yes’. If you ask whether your boss is in danger of losing his job, you again will get a symbol for a yes or a no.
A good place to start cultivating this language of symbols is to learn the symbol that will be used for your yes or no. It may be a circle for yes and a circle with a line through for no. The symbols will be specific for you: a red hand may mean you’ve caught someone red-handed. A nutcracker may mean you’ve cracked the nut, or solved the problem. If you don’t understand the symbol, ask for another. Become familiar with a body of symbols and use common sense. Feel what the symbol represents to you at that moment.
4. Pulsing the Emotions
The final practice for the cultivation of the tools of discernment is the stimulating of the new 12 pairs of emotions. The expanse and clarity of the images received will increase as the negative and positive aspects of the emotions pulse more strongly.
The Tools of Discernment
The more the four practices are incorporated into life, the greater the skill at wielding the tools of discernment. Working and thinking with the emptiness of mind should become a way of life.
Not only do the symbols on the inner screen of our minds speak to us, but so does everything in our environment. Failure to understand its language is the most aggravated form of illiteracy. All of our book learning doesn’t compensate for being illiterate when it comes to reading life.
1. Feeling the tension within the bodies (South)
Sweating, nausea, a tight throat or stomach, itchy spots—all these signal that something needs to be examined. Using the tools we’ve been given, we identify a problem. Let’s say it is connected with our job. What do we do in a situation where we have uncovered that our boss intends to fire us?
First, we must remember how our bodies feel when we’re at work. Do we feel wonderfully at peace and at home? If not, our boss may just be one step ahead of us in the sorting process where opposite energies now repel. We may want to immediately send out resumes and quit before we’re fired.
If we love our work and everyone there and feel at home in the environment, we may want to sit down with the boss to ask how we can make ourselves indispensable. We then re-create our job accordingly.
In order to take in the responses of our bodies and emotions, we slow our pace a bit and use extra time to receive guidance through our symbols. The physical responses are a gift of this Creation–they will definitely be guiding you now, even if they didn’t before.
2. Imaging symbols (West)
The best way to begin using this gift is to initially work in pairs. One asks the question, while the other gets the images. Although we must be able to do both functions ourselves, this allows us a familiarity with the symbols and the process. No analysis should be done until after the process is complete in terms of the ultimate message of the symbols. If you are the one asking the questions, do just enough silent deduction to direct the questions where the symbols lead.
The one whose turn it is to get the images speaks about nothing else, keeping the screen of his mind blank. Even if you are talented at getting information in other psychic ways, don’t use them. This is not just an alternative way to receive information, it is the new way of thinking.
3. Interpreting the symbols (East)
Up to this point, the information is going to be fully dependable. Make absolutely sure that your interpretation is equally unbiased by double-checking the responses. If you got a white ribbon when you asked if someone was guilty of something, ask “Does this stand for innocence?” If you see the ribbon again, you’ve interpreted it correctly.
An example of how we interpret meaning according to what we want it to be occurred in one of my classes. A young man wanted to know whether to move to Arizona or not. The person he was working with saw an ox-drawn wagon in a canyon surrounded by red rocks reminiscent of the Southwest area. The young man interpreted it to mean that because the wagon was heavily laden, that he had a lot of supplies and was well prepared. He thought the high rock walls of the canyon meant it was safe.
Because he did not want to hear the truth, I did not bother to explain that a vehicle traveling by land means a change in general awareness. The fact that it was an ox-drawn wagon versus a train meant that change (which is why he wanted to go), would come in a slow burdensome way. He would be bringing his old baggage with him, impeding progress. The rock walls on either side of him indicated he had narrow vision about the whole move.
4. Discerning whether action or change is needed (North)
It is from this wonderful inner guidance system that our life strategies are formed. In determining what changes are needed and how to implement them, emotions become our guiding light. The practice of pulsing our emotions has made us very sensitive to their presence. The ripple of joy or the whisper of inspiration will tell us which change is best and most life enhancing. In this way our plans come from our inner core, our most authentic parts, and we create our future through the heart.
The more we incorporate the four practices into our life, the greater our skill in wielding the tools of discernment. Working and thinking with emptiness of mind should become a way of life.
Excerpted from Ring of Truth