Now that you’ve met the medicine man you know there is nothing I can teach you. ~ Wanagi Hokshila, Oglala Sioux Holy Man

© Elenaray

The wisdom elders of our society are those who, in their youth, were just like us. They were warriors of freedom seeking vision and guidance from an unnatural existence rooted in greed and power. They danced, and drummed, and chanted, and sweat, and quested, and journeyed, and explored. They questioned the answers, tested everything, rejected certain things and followed their own vision of truth and beauty.

Like many other people, as a young woman I sought out elders and wisdom teachers who could help me to understand the mysteries of life so I could find the answers to the questions I had. Some of the teachers I met were charlatans, nothing more than self-important imposters claiming to hold the keys to the kingdom. As an intuitive I quickly walked away from these self-proclaimed gurus. I have been blessed to find a few real teachers, elders who have been committed to spirit from an early age, just as I had been.

As I said, there is nothing I can teach, I can only guide you and hold a mirror in front of you so that you may see your own reflection within it. ~ Nayeli Citlali

It was frustrating as hell to have the three most spiritual and grounded people I will ever know tell me there is nothing that they could teach me just as Wanagi Hokshila, Nayeli, and Alejandro told me. I wanted answers but what they taught me was much more valuable. The only true teacher we have is the master that resides at the center of consciousness within ourselves. When we sit in silence the teacher within us emerges.

I have come to find that these elders are empty mirrors and reflect nothingness or emptiness. What I saw swirling within each of them was a pool of emptiness; the reminder of what lies beyond the reality of form. Sitting in the presence of an elder allows us to be moved from our minds and into the center of our being, free from the collective consciousness and into a place beyond time. In these moments, it feels as though every cell within the body swirls and pulsates causing the body to vibrate and align with a resonate and harmonic frequency in the universe; the frequency of true knowing. The heart center expands as we breathe deeply into the center of our being, into the center of consciousness within ourselves and we realize through the heart and not the mind that we are one with all things, no longer separate or containing an identity.

Others I know who have had similar experiences say that they were dizzy, or altered, or pushed into heightened states of awareness. It feels as though, through silence, volumes of knowledge are downloaded into our entire being bringing us gently and gracefully into a state of pure knowing. “What did you to us?” we ask them. They smile and sit in silence while we anxiously await their answer. And when they realize that we are becoming impatient they say with a deep sigh from such a state of profound peace and serenity, “I didn’t do anything. I simply aligned with the beauty of the universe so that you are able to see your own beauty within it.”

In the presence of a true elder they become like a portal, a gateway to the universe, to a place where all things are possible. “I have not shown you anything,” they say. “I have simply held the mirror in front of you so that you could see the incredible image that you are reflected back to you.” The greatest gift that we can give to our elders it to hold the mirror of the universe in front of those who are seeking and willing to look into it so that they could see the incredible image of the beauty that they are within nothingness as the reminder for their own emptiness in this great web of consciousness, this womb of creation.

Our wisdom elders are the ultimate empty mirrors, so pure and connected with spirit through their own lifetime of seeking freedom and knowledge of the infinite mysteries that they have no reflection at all, only the ability to reflect the nothingness of the universe to us. Because of this, we must honor them, give them gratitude, and care for them as they prepare themselves for their journey that allows them the beauty of moving from life in form to life as spirit; their eternal dance through infinity.

Keep dancing!