“… a perfect harmony between the nine levels of evolution has hardly manifested as a reality in most of us. After this significant shift of the ages that we have been through, there is still a lot for us to absorb. In order to strengthen our work to create a civilization based on unity consciousness… the ninth wave will need to be fully integrated into our being.” Carl Johan Calleman *
This presentation of The Nine Directions is founded on my own nearly 47 year-long study of ancient, historical and contemporary practices that are already familiar to many who have explored their own Spiritual path.
The “Prime Directive” upon which they are based was issued millennia ago, in ancient Greece. According to Pythagoras, inscribed on the lintel above the inner Temple of Apollo at Delphi, was the aphorism, “Man, know thyself and thou shalt know the Universe and the Gods.” For me the Journey of the Nine Directions has come to embody my adherence to that “Directive.”
Writers, philosophers and sages down through the ages have echoed the conviction that the search for Self is best done internally. Much of the current Spiritual But Not Religious (SBNR) community also accepts this basic tenet. Contemporary authors and thinkers such as the Dalai Lama, Eckhart Tolle, Deepak Chopra, Marianne Williamson, Gary Zukav, the late Wayne W. Dyer and a host of others have explored diverse concepts such as the role of consciousness, inner peace, the mind/body connection, the power of thought, the law of attraction, and the nature of reality, each recognizing the Self as the core operative element in their teachings.
Historically, American Indian traditions have recognized Seven Directions. As I have come to understand them (The East, South, West, North, Mother Earth, Father Sun and Creator), each is acknowledged in their Medicine Wheel practices as energies that are both external and internal to us.
To those Sacred Seven, I have added two additional directions, All My Relations and The Void. I have done so because, when taken as a whole, these Directions seem to me to reflect as complete a set of metaphors that I know of as comprising, for want of a better word, the Ascended Man. They represent both external Spiritual forces we can call upon for assistance, and inner capacities which are parts of Humankind’s birthright, our Spiritual DNA.
In short, when we truly accept all facets of ourselves and what they mean, we move further to consciously merging with that “God” which indwells each of us. In knowing who we are, acknowledging it openly and behaving as that unified personage, we not only bring spiritual values into the daily life and work but also accept total responsibility as the Self-aware Creator of that life.
In my own daily life and conscious Spiritual practice I draw upon those metaphors for the light they shine on my own effort to “know myself.“ Together, they represent who and what I really am and how I would like to behave. I have come to this conclusion, in part, through my understanding of the Medicine Wheel. As an outlier, from the “Awopaho” tribe of the South Bronx, I certainly do NOT claim a Native Indian’s authority on the practice, but as one of my most respected teachers is fond of saying, we are All the Medicine Wheel.
In Gratitude and the ONE Heart,
Johnny Mirehiel
_____________________________________________________________________
* Carl Johan Calleman, Solving the Greatest Mystery of Our Time: The Mayan Calendar.