I am very grateful to share that this Friday, November 27, 2009, will be the very first official National Native American Heritage Day. President Obama signed Bill JH Res 40 into law this past summer. A big Migwiitch to Representative Joe Baca, who represents the 43rd Congressional District of California for sponsoring the bill.

If you would like to have a more complete background about Thanksgiving and National Native American Heritage Day from a Native American point of view you can to to www.indiancountrytoday.com.

What will you do to celebrate both Thanksgiving and National Native American Heritage Day?

In Lak `Esh

Through Beauty, Space and Balance School of Feng Shui and Space Clearing, I will be teaching a drum making workshop on Sept 19, 2009 at the Inn at the Rustic Gate in Big Rapids Michigan.

I am so looking forward to the Drum Making, Ceremony and Sacred Tools Sampler Course. The spiritual act of making your own hand drum is an experience that will remain in your memory for years to come. The birthing of this sacred tool brings together the all the divine aspects of ourself (mind, body and spirit). The drum is a 15 inch maple hoop and elk rawhide is used for the drum head and lacing. Attendees also learn how to make their own drum sticks.

In the course we will also be connecting to nature as we make magic wands, smudge feather fan, incense and eco-friendly cleaning solutions. Beauty, Space and Balance School of Feng Shui and Space Clearing is a school where I co-teaching with Deb Swingholm and Minnie Kansman.

Beauty, Space and Balance: Drum Making, Ceremony and Sacred Tools workshop on Sept 18-20 will be a weekend filled with nature connections, connecting the divine aspects of your self through guided meditations, bird watching, fireside drumming circle and scrumptous meals.

Check out Two Feathers page to find out more details about this workshop. I hope to see you there.

http://two-feathers.org/blog/beauty-space-and-balance-certification-courses/drum-making-ceremony-sacred-tools/

Migwiitch, Neshi.

Medicine Wheel Awakening Time Birth Totem

As we walk the Medicine Wheel we are experiencing another Spring. We sense the coming warmth in the breeze and we look forward to sprouting plants. The Spring Equinox is also  known as the Vernal Equinox where we have equal amounts of light and dark. We feel the changing over from female energies (inward expression) to the male energies (outward expression). This also stirs our creative energies as we mirror Mother Earth. As Mother Earth is expanding and growing we too become creative and begin a growth cycle.

From the Medicine Wheel perspective it is the Awakening Time (March 21 – April 19) as we are being influenced by the Spirit of the East and are at one of the cross winds of the Medicine Wheel, north-east. This is the first of three spring cycles and is felt as the growth and illumination time. The Awakening Time brings the energies of speedy growth and change, the promise of rebirth, and dawn. As we walk the Medicine Wheel we may think of this time also as the re-awakening as we experience another spring of our life. I believe this is where we experience the illumination as we move out of the the energies of the North (winter) were we spent time contemplating our life lessons and experiences, we walk into the warming sun of the East (spring).

The Falcon is the Birth Totem for the Awakening Time. People born under this totem like to spread their wings. They are a  hunting bird and like to hunt for new ideas, experiences. They are fearless when they go after what they want. Falcon people are good starters and love the adrenline rush of the new. Their learn experience is how to balance their energies to stay with a project long enough to bring it to fruition.
 
As we welcome the Spirit of the East at the Awakening Time, we may want to awake early and be outside in nature to watch the sunrise at dawn. As we face the place of the Creator, we may be thankful for all that we are, all that we have and make known that our ideas (seeds) that we sowed in the winter are coming to life and sprouting.

Happy Spring Equinox!

Thanks for reading my blog post.

Many Blessings, Neshi.

All Rights Reserved. Copyright, Yvette Neshi Lokotz, March 2009

Beauty Space and Balance advanced feng shui and space clearing course dates are set for 2009. Deb Swingholm, Neshi Lokotz, and Minnie Kansman are the Master teachers for these advanced courses.

The Advanced Space Clearing is scheduled for June 17-22, 2009. This course includes a special Summer Solstice ceremony. The Advanced Feng Shui course is scheduled for September 18-22, 2009. We also have a very special Autumn Equinox ceremony planned for this course.

Please visit the Beauty Space and Balance webpage on my website for detailed information about the advanced feng shui and space clearing courses.

Many Blessings, Neshi.

I sit here in my four season porch this morning watching the snow fall, it is so pretty and serene. Winter Solstice is almost here, December 21. I am thinking about this past year and how much I had fun teaching feng shui, space clearing, drum making and Rainbow, 12 Gifts and A Song ascension process. I had a very busy year traveling to different states to teach and teaching from my sanctuary (my home). I reflect on what I know about this time of year and I snuggle in to imagine, to dream, to sow the seeds that will germinate over the coming months.

Ted Andrews, author of Nature Speaks, calls the Winter Solstice the Awakening of the Magician. He states that the Winter Solstice is a time to slow down outer activities, deeper meditations, strong angel contact, intuition, healing, new birth, emotions and dream work.

My thoughts go to the Celtic Ancients and the Native American Medicine Wheel. The Celts called this time of year the Betwixt and Between (where magic occurs). When contemplating the Medicine Wheel, the Winter Solstice (and the Summer Solstice) ride the cross winds of the Wheel. These cross winds are like a switch that brings change – a pause between a change in Nature. When I think about this pause, it feels like the top or bottom of a full breath. When at the top or bottom of a breath it is the time when we are either about to inhale or about to exhale — change.

The Winter Solstices are opportune times to bring completion of what has gone before and to fix intentions for what will come as we plant the seeds that seem to be dormant but are gathering strength to push through the soil in the Spring. The Winter Solstice is the time to go within and sort out what intentions will be brought forth. For me this such an exciting time.

In Kenneth Meadows book, Earth Medicine, the wind is North North West (NNW) on the Medicine Wheel—Renewal Time. The north winds encourage patience and inward growth, a renewal of the mind and body. The north winds also assist to establish intent and purpose. The north is the direction of the mind and things in the mind – knowledge and wisdom.

The Goose is the Birth and Animal Totem for the NNW December 22 through January 19. Those born under the Goose Totem have imaginative minds, a great Dreamer.

In my work with Rainbow, 12 Gifts and A Song, which is an ascension process system, I use numerology. In numerology the new year begins on the Winter Solstic, December 21. So for instance, if you were born on December 22, 1986, your birth year is 1987. The reason the new year begins on the Winter Solstice is because it is the return of the light. The return of the light cleanses the soul and the soul prepares for the new year.

As we prepare to exhale that full breath on December 21, Winter Solstice, we are at the place to begin to dream about the coming year and what we would like to create.

Thank you for reading Between the Beats.

I look forward to connecting with you again. Wishing you a wonderous, magical and joyful Winter Solstice.
Neshi

All Rights Reserved. Copyright, December 2008, Yvette Neshi Lokotz.

It has been a very long time since I wrote a blog article. I have been busy teaching and traveling to teach. I am very happy to be able to sit down and write this post.

I love this time of year — The Autumn Equinox. The weather is more moderate with warm afternoons and cooler nights. It is almost sweatshirt weather during the day. You can just barely feel a coldness at the end of a breeze.

Taking time to clean out closets, the basement and garage feels like we are preparing for the coming winter. The maple trees around our home are beginning to change into their colorful coats and even some are losing their leaves already. Even my teaching schedule is starting to wind down. I am teaching next week a space clearing 6 day certification course, a drum making workshop in the state of New York November 1 and my last drum making workshop in Wisconsin (Aquarian Gardens in New Lisbon)November 8. After that last drum making workshop, I will be snuggling in for the winter as I prepare for the 2009 courses.

I love what Ted Andrews wrote in his book Nature Speak about the Autumn Equinox.  He calls the Autumn Equinox the Beginning the Hero’s Journey.  This is the time of year that is about endings and beginnings.  This is a time of new starts as we clean out the old.  We have a harvest this year.  We had an abundant year of inner work, peace, solitude and joy.

As we begin the Hero’s Journey, I am planning gardens for the next growing season. I am planning my courses for 2009 and setting dates.I will continue to teach certification courses in Interior Alignment™ (instinctive feng shui and space clearing), guiding Rainbow, 12 Gifts and A Song™ ascension groups, teaching sacred geometry,drum making, Medicine Wheel Feng Shui and Space Clearing™, Beauty Space and Balance Advanced Space Clearing, and holding the Sacred Space Fellowship August 2009.

Thanks for reading Between the Beats.

Blessed Autumn Equinox,
Neshi

All Rights Reserved. Yvette Neshi Lokotz, Copyright September 2008.

Hot August days and nights brings to mind the old adage Dog Days of Summer. Now, I don’t know about you but I never really knew what that meant other than it is hot outside. I never really knew what dogs had to do with this saying much less if it could be linked to ascension work.

In my studies of sacred geometry, 12 strand DNA, and soul clearing for Rainbow, 12 Gifts and A Song, I found that in Egypt when the planet Sirus comes up over the horizon in July that marks the “new year”.  According to the book, The Sirus Mystery, the Egyptian New Year was when the Nile flooded bringing fertile soil to the region. It also meant brought warmer weather.

The planet Sirius is known as the Dog Star by many people including the Dogon Tribe in Africa. I am not entirely sure how the Dog Star was brought into English language and Western culture. The Dog Days of Summer relate to the Dog Star, planet Sirius. Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky.

In Anne Brewer’s book, Power of 12, she states that Beings from the planet Sirius and the Pleiades brought the 12 strand DNA to planet Earth. As Being from Planet Earth we share our history with both Sirius and the Plaides. At first I was not sure if I believed this information. But, then if we are all truly connected through out the Universe then why couldn’t our 12 strand DNA information come from somewhere else.

It isn’t all that far fetched as most Americans attribute their genetic DNA from other continents, like Europe. As I studied 12 strand DNA material and also went through the process of reconnecting my 10 strands into my eneretic bodies 5 years ago, I realized that this is another creation story. A galatic creation story.

This past winter I found a picture in a local newspaper from Fort McCoy. The fort has many hundreds of acres of land. They placed motion cameras out in the “wild”.  A few winters ago the cameras photographed a wolf pack. Since we are in the Dog Days of Summer, I thought it would be nice to share a cool winter scene along with a look at wolves.  Enjoy.

Two Wolves at night

Blessings, Neshi.

All Rights Reserved. Copyright, Yvette Neshi Lokotz, August 2008.

At the Great Lakes Retreat held at Olivet College in July, I presented the first class on Medicine Wheel Feng Shui and Space Clearing. This was a overview class that laid out the basics.

I covered the characteristics of the four directions of the Medicine Wheel using my Potwatomi culture and also drawing from my Interior Alignment training. Since we had a short 2 hours to cover the information, I felt like I was a stone thrown to skip on a lake. I could only hit so many hit spots within the material I brought with me.

I laid a Medicine Wheel drawing over a drawing of my property and home to show how the areas of the Medicine Wheel effect the different areas of my property. Using the compass directions to locate east, south, west and north to lay the medicine down. My drive way (mouth of life force of the property) lays in the southeast as well as the front door of my home. The energies of the east are air, new beginnings, birth, spring, male, and yellow.

As we walked the Medicine Wheel in a clockwise fashion, we walk to toward the south. The energies of the South carry abundance, fast growth, youth, water, summer, female and black. Walking toward the West energies we come to adulthood, harvest, fire, male and red. The energies of the North are about completion, elderly, death, rebirth, earth, female and white.

I had so much fun showing how the Medicine Wheel energies line up with different parts of my property. We also talked about the similiarities to Chinese feng shui. In Medicine Wheel Feng Shui we still have life force energy or chi moving in a clockwise fashion through a space, we still have clutter effecting the flow of the life force energy, we still have to balance the nature elements, we still have the mouth of chi or life force energy, and we still have the balancing of male/female energies (yin/yang). The major differences are between the use of the 5 element theory (air, water, wood earth, metal) and 4 element (air, water, fire and earth), locating how the energetic map (bagua or Medicine Wheel) is laid over a property, and the qualities of the four directions rather than the guas of the bagua.

I can’t wait to teach this course again and to use Medicine Wheel feng shui with my next client.

Blessings, Neshi.

All Rights Reserved. Copyright, Yvette Neshi Lokotz, August 2008.

As the New Moon Solar Eclipse comes and goes today, leaving behind the energy of going from darkness to light and from old to new, I too feel a sense of completion.

I returned home from a week of teaching at the annual Great Lakes Retreat in Olivet Michigan. I taught a drum making workshop, I also taught a single session about Medicine Wheel Feng Shui and Space Clearing – Harmonizing, and also presented a lecture about my Medicine Dress. I love to teach, to share information and be a witness to others spiritual growth.

I have actually been off line for a month to six weeks. As I prepared for the Beauty Space and Balance Advance Space Clearing course which I co-taught with Deb Swingholm and Minnie Kansman in June, I took a week to finish preparations for the Great Lakes Retreat travel and course material. I had held energetic space for both teaching venues for almost a year and now that both are completed, I feel a huge sense of personal completion. Today, I am cleaning off my desk (yes, I can finally see the top of my desk) feeling like I should be doing something, much like when I finished my Masters degree course. After a few years of juggling a full time job, family, and an accelerated Master’s degree course, I had lots of time to myself when I completed the degree — time on my hands.

This sense of completion reminds of the journey through the Medicine Wheel. I began both teaching projects in the Eastern portion of the Wheel where birth and new beginnings occure. As the projects began to come together, building energy, I walked the Wheel through the south and young adulthood. As I moved the teaching projects to the West energies and experiencing the abundance of the south with the sense of harvest from the west energies, the courses came to fruition and completion. As I file away notes and copies of course information, I feel the energies of the North and dormancy as we begin to gathering energies to begin germinating seeds for the next teaching dates for both Beauty Space and Balance and also the Great Lake Retreat for 2009.

Its good to be home and turning my energy towards the upcoming Feng Shui and Space Clearing certification courses I am teaching in September, turning my enery toward the short story I am writing about the Drum Mother for a new book called The Wisdom We Gained, and also spending time with my family.

I am looking forward to writing blog posts both for Two Feathers and Where Energy Flows.

Migwiitch for reading Between the Beats. Blessings, Neshi.

All Rights Reserved. Copyright, Yvette Neshi Lokotz, August 2008.

Beauty Space and Balance, an Exploration of Advance Space Clearing course that I co-taught with Minnie Kansman and Deb Swingholm concluded on June 23. This course was an amazing experience of sharing information, joy and connection to our work of space clearing.

Our students were able to experience space clearing tools that they may not have used before, we led several guided meditations (syncro-alignments) to deepen our connection to our spirit guides and space clearing tools. Our intention was to assist students to become more confident in their space clearing skills. Our students completed a practicum with real clients. From comments from the students we achieved our goals.

Through out the course we referred to our work as Interior Alignment (feng shui and space clearing) practitioners to honor our space clearing roots. We also honored our teacher and mentor Denise Linn as we shared with our students our humble beginnings as practitioners. We shared with them how we built our individual practices, how we prepared our clients, our tools and our selves for a space clearing.

One of the students contacted me last week to share with me that she had her first space clearing client since the completion of Beauty Space and Balance. She shared that how she prepares for a clearing and the effectiveness of her work has improved and most importantly she felt energized after the clearing was completed rather than feeling tired and exhausted. She noticed that the house she space cleared sparkled and her clients were very grateful for her work.

I love teaching but what most touches my heart is when a student or a client shares with me their success due to the information I shared with them.

Minnie, Deb and I have begun to plan 2009 Beauty Space and Balance course we can’t wait to teach together again.

Blessings, Neshi.

All Rights Reserved. Copyright, Yvette Neshi Lokotz, July 2008.