Spring Break, Tornadoes and Healing

It's Spring Break, here in British Columbia. That means that my grand- daughter Bree and her friend Ash are coming for TWO nights and THREE days!

The weather here is changing...warm and sunny, very cold at night. Hard frosts, something this gardening zone sees rarely so late in the year. Plants seem confused...is it time to unfurl our leaves to the warm sun, or should we keep tightly budded and closed, they ask as I walk by on my evening rounds. Closed, I counsel, better safe than sorry...wait a week or two.

And then I think of Shaman Maggie, once again battling strong winds...in Missouri this time. When the hurricanes ripped through, she lived in Florida...and felt the effects of all of them. It was a very intense time for her; now I think about how she may be having to stand strong all over again. I haven't heard from her, and that is unusual...

Shaman Maggie moved to Missouri to begin work on her mission...that of the Life Healing Community (http://www.shamanelder.com/lifehealingcommunity.html). She moved just after her computer crashed and the hurricanes ripped through with all the devastation left behind. The time was right...17 acres in Winona, MO became the home of the Life Healing Community. A sense of urgency that pervades many of us during our daily lives moved Maggie directly once more into the path of the Winds of Change, in January...the coldest month of the year in many areas. It is said faith moves mountains; this is the essence of Shaman Maggie.

Through setting up a new home, counseling students in both Reiki and Shamanism, losing her dog Grizzy, and forming a close relationship with the Land that is the home of LHC, as it is fondly called, Maggie has truly lived the life of a Shaman. She has stood strong, as a warrior might, and has shown us all the value of living a life a different way. She is one of the greatest inspirations of my life to me.

So even if I feel concern for her and anxious for her well-being, I intuitively know she will be ok, lending a hand once again to the devastation left behind by the huge tornado Wind. She is a healer, first and foremost, after all.

And in the next three days, I will teach some of the same things I am being taught about the belief system to Bree and Ash. Like most children, my words will linger for a moment in their consciousness, and then pass on...but that's alright.

They are closer to re-membering the old ways than I am. They will store any information I give them until the time is right to bring a memory to the light of day.

Shaman Maggie has been an inspiration to me. My hope is that I will be an inspiration to these two wonderful girls who are raring to experience life and what it holds for them.

And as all kids, they will do it their way. But a grandparent who has some Shamanistic wisdom might temper the storm of puberty heading their way.

I believe it will.