As
a cross-cultural shamanic practitioner, I’ve explored many wisdom streams over
the years of my practice to arrive at my current toolkit. In all my studies,
however, I’ve never heard of a Cosmic Dynamo, something I directly experienced
on the Solstice of 2012. This ancient teaching, revealed to the outside world
for the first time, works with vastly powerful Earth forces to disseminate
blessings to individuals, families, countries, and even the planet.
A
Cosmic Dynamo is the activation of the center of movement of a sacred place,
such as a mountain or a stone circle, through physical human activity,
ceremony, intention, and offerings. As with the power of prayer, the Cosmic
Dynamo allows each tiny human being to have a positive influence on others, by
radiating outward, first personal, then social intentions to the community.
This force is exponentially increased when people join their energy together
with the Earth forces to manifest whatever is on the agenda for that day.
I have
been studying for three years with a brilliant and eloquent Aztec/Toltec
teacher, Sergio Magaña Ocelocoyotl (coyote jaguar). There is no
surprise that he was born with both Castilian and indigenous blood in his veins
because Sergio expertly bridges the modern world with that of his indigenous
teachers. He shares tools that align us with ancient, universal rhythms, which can
evoke deep, positive change in our lives…if
we do the work. He has been teaching in Mexico for over twelve years, and
in the US and Europe since 2010. Sergio has learned from great masters in the
Mexica lineage including Aztec Anubis, Xolotl José Luis Chávez Martínez, keeper of the ancient
Nahuatl wisdom; Xolotl’s wife Alma, teacher of the feminine mysteries—healing
with obsidian tools and the popochcomitl,
or copal burner; and Hugo Nahui, a gifted scholar on stellar events and their
impact on our lives.
I was one of the lucky few who
were able to attend an authentic ceremony in Mexico on
the auspicious date of 12/21/12.
Few also knew that at the Solstice there was a time of no time where the
Universe stood still and opportunity was possible. Picture this…
I am near
the Zocalo (main square) in Mexico City in ceremony officiated by Xolotl and
Alma. It is the eight seconds of no-time at 5:13 a.m. The circle is suddenly
hushed. One hundred people, from all points of the globe, power out to the
universe our big intentions for ourselves, our families, countries and planet,
as the Sixth Sun dawns. A warm, tingly energy pours out from my heart. I feel
hugely expansive and peaceful. Like anything is possible…that perhaps we could
change the world. When the eight seconds are
over, we resume our frenzied dancing as hummingbirds, eagles, and macaws;
miming the expert moves of native celebrants.
When
they’re not leading ceremony, Xolotl and Alma (as well as Sergio) share their Mexica cosmovision
and wisdom with eager students. One of the most memorable concepts that they
both taught was that of this Cosmic Dynamo.
In
one of Alma’s teaching sessions, she described the healing nature of ceremonial
dancing, as we did on the Solstice. Participants place an intention along with a
photo, or other personal item on the altar at the center of the dance. The
movement creates a vortex of energy, and the focus of the dancers’ intentions
sends the healing to its destination, be it personal or planetary. Ceremonial
dancing creates the ollin, the
movement that feeds the Earth chakra (in the case of the Solstice, the Zocalo, an energetic epicenter of Mexico
City) which, in turn, powers the Cosmic Dynamo.
Through
the intricate and beautiful altar that centered our Solstice ceremony, I felt
the group raise a powerful vortex. As it grew more expansive and rose to the
heavens, I felt myself doing the same.
Much later, when I returned to my hotel bed, I fell into dreams of
jaguars and serpents racing through my blood and native dancers executing
perfect hummingbird steps. Upon waking, I realized I was once again a
believer…in the magic and mystery of the universe, something I often lose touch
with, wrapped up in the little day-to-day issues of my life. I also felt I had
an indigenous piece of the “wild” now planted within me that I could access in
the future, when needed. A cure for my often over-civilized modern life. As a
visual artist, I also felt gifted with an abundance of raw, new, archetypal
material.
The Cosmic Dynamo and Cultural
Comparisons
I’ve
spun Tibetan prayer wheels; never quite believing that a simple mechanical
action could actually send supplications into the ether.
I’ve
walked labyrinths, where physical movement took me on both an inner and outer
journey to a still center. But it was always a solo process. Never for the
community. Imagine going into a labyrinth with intentions and having them
radiate to the world upon the out-spiraling!
In
Wiccan rituals, I’ve joined and led groups in setting a healing intention;
raising a cone of power and sending the energy off to a person, community, or
the planet. Anchoring and amplifying
the power through a vibrational epicenter of the Earth takes this to a very
different level. When you create a Cosmic
Dynamo you’re activating an Earth chakra. You’re invoking it to work with
you. In the case of the Solstice, we
activated a sacred, ceremonial site. When that Earth chakra is a mountain, what’s
activated is the mountain’s heart: its cave. We also activate our own inner
cave (chicomostoc) or shadow, in this
system, transforming the unknown, the enemy into our Higher Self—the hero who
is ready to help the collective. We have within us a portal to a place of
great power.
How to Move a Mountain
The bus emerged from the diesel-fumed
crush of the city. Closer and closer we sped toward a snow-capped mountain.
After our lesson on activating Earth chakras, I was eager to put theory into practice.
But the mountain we were approaching was puffing out white clouds like a steam
engine! I recognized it as one of the
two sacred volcanoes of Mexico City – Popocatepetl. This Earth chakra already seemed quite
active without any human assistance! Would we be working here? My palms started
to sweat…
The
heart of a mountain (and any organism) is the center of its movement. According to Xolotl, “In our (Nahuatl)
cosmovision, everything has a (vibrational) center. Therefore when we activate
sacred things, when we activate the sacred mountains, what we offer is directed
to all.”
A thin bowl of a moon hung slightly over
the horizon, echoing the shape of the volcanic crater where we would perform
ceremony. An arduous climb up a steep, slippery, shale-covered slope turned the
group not inward, but outward toward helping each other as physical limitations
were keenly felt. At the summit, we were truly humble warriors, bonded closely
with the volcano Cuicuilco. The equally hair-raising and steep descent into the
cave in the caldera brought new sensations: cold, pervasive dampness, but also
the feeling of being in the sacred womb of the Earth mother, where we could
almost hear her breathing.
Just like at the Zocalo, the altar was
strewn with offerings including flowers and sacred sweets called tzoalli, made
from chocolate, amaranth, tequila, honey, and other delicious ingredients. The tzoalli were arranged in a wheel, representing
movement (ollin) and became the
center of the Cosmic Dynamo. The
ceremony in the cave was quick, because of the extreme discomfort of the
location, but, as many later realized, most effective.
~
Upon
my return home, I assimilated all the work we did and realized that my personal
growing pains simply mirrored those of Mother Earth. The angst of this
awareness wrenched my heart and made me feel a powerful, yet tender
responsibility for both her and myself. We are birthing our new selves for this
new era, as we agonize together with the contractions, like Inanna comforting
Ereshkigel in the underworld—stepping into our darkness, forsaking our outer self-centered
trappings of beauty or security or being the superstar lone wolf…because it is
called for. Not knowing whether we’ll be dismembered by the process, or whether—like
Osiris—we’ll be missing a part of ourselves when the journey is over; but
knowing that surely we will be transformed. All the while we are being forged and tempered
into swords of better discernment, in the cave, in our chicomostoc, our cauldron of transformation. Grappling with our
shadow. Stepping into our portal to great power.
It’s
time to seize our inner swords. To become better stewards of both our
shadow…and the planet. We are being called… This is what’s next.
Sergio
says, “We persist…in wanting to remain exactly the same, regardless of the
perpetual movement and unaware of all the changes that occur on a constant
basis…”, and that as humans, we have an inherent tendency to fall into
weakness: “the part that in this eternal renewal process prevents us from
gaining access to a new idea of ourselves and to its manifestation.”
~
“The
human experience is constant change,” says Xolotl. To remain aware, “we need to
create our own change regularly to
counteract our separation from our pure essence.”
Ometeotl. (And so it is!)
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