Southland
Let's not kid ourselves. When people hear the word California, they imagine what Southern California offers with neat lines of solo palm trees (whom John Updike once described as "isolate, like psychopaths"), action movies, celebrities behaving badly and rollerblading, lots of rollerblading. Most Bay Areans recoil at the slightest mention of the second-largest city in the U.S. and fall over themselves in worshipping the largest (but that's another blogpost). It's a mixed case of good old-fashioned jealousy and a struggle for water rights. But for me ...
I like L.A.
Or I should say I like L.A. in small doses. Earlier in March, Mauricio and I drove down the coast to spend a few nights in a hippie cottage (named "StoryBook") in Topanga Canyon, a forested enclave fifteen minutes outside of Santa Monica where you couldn't hear a moving car if you tried. Over three days, we rented bikes on the boardwalk of Venice Beach, dined at House of Pies in Silver Lake and rented bikes again at Griffith Park. Inescapably, we did a lot of driving.
Whenever you leave L.A. you always feel a bit more fabulous than when you arrived. This is one of the the medicines of the South in Shamanic Action. Much of the South's character is alliterative: place of spirit, soul, sin, sociability and sun. Working with the directions in Shamanic Action assumes that the practitioner is from the Northern Hemisphere (most of the landmass of Earth is in the Northern half and thus many of the native traditions from which I allude are of a northern latitude). It's important to define what we mean by South here to avoid confusion. "The South" in a country like Chile, for instance, has a vastly different connotation; that of being a land of cold snows and rough seas close to Antartica. The "Global South" in geopolitical terms is a consortium of poor, indebted countries whose economies and populations are on the rise. Likewise, you fair reader, likely from Boston or San Francisco, probably think of "the South" as conservative, backwards and trigger-happy. That reference point I would tag as the "American Political South."
The Shamanic South is a different beast that does, however, bleed into geography in certain discernible instances. On top of warmth and generosity, the South is also known as a place of dying and death. Think of most of the cultural programming that deals with death and the occult. HBO's "Six Feet Under" could only take place in a city like Los Angeles, just like "True Blood" has its rural Louisiana and Anne Rice all but holds court in New Orleans. Think of Faulkner's Mississippi. Even the zombies of the "Walking Dead" besiege Atlanta.
If all else fails in my pop-culture argument, follow the demographics. There's a reason why senior citizens flock to places like Florida and Arizona and why Fort Lauderdale and Palm Springs have become a magnet for older gay men. The southern sunshine is not just a balm for arthritic bones. Something else is at work.
I'm not trying to be macabre but with death comes a certain hilarity, inevitability and letting go. This is the true power of the South.
Do you need more fun, sociability, warmth and abundance in your life? The best remedy is to take a trip down south. For many people, this is not feasible, but the powers of the directions can be accessed by a knowledge of rudimentary geography in your private quarters. Find the Southern corner of your bedroom of living room. Start to make a little shrine of warm colored trinkets, especially candles and minerals. Is there a shop for semi-precious stones in your neighborhood? If so, pick up some amber (note: Amber is not a true mineral but a fossilized resin), red jasper and/or citrine. Also pick up some cinnamon sticks which you can burn in a small bowl of sand or salt. Pick up some incense or sage that you can also burn safely.
Develop a prayer or meditation that welcomes the spirits of the South. Light the candles and/or cinnamon sticks and incense and ask for guidance in your sex and/or social life. Hold the stones in your hand and welcome in their warm-colored strength. Repeat the meditation and just sit like that for ten minutes every morning for a week. Face south and sit cross-legged while you do this. What do you see when you let your mind go?
It works. It really does. There are so many powers here on Earth that are ready to work with you. And you don't have to live south of the Mason-Dixon line to become more of a party-goer.
I like L.A.
Or I should say I like L.A. in small doses. Earlier in March, Mauricio and I drove down the coast to spend a few nights in a hippie cottage (named "StoryBook") in Topanga Canyon, a forested enclave fifteen minutes outside of Santa Monica where you couldn't hear a moving car if you tried. Over three days, we rented bikes on the boardwalk of Venice Beach, dined at House of Pies in Silver Lake and rented bikes again at Griffith Park. Inescapably, we did a lot of driving.
Whenever you leave L.A. you always feel a bit more fabulous than when you arrived. This is one of the the medicines of the South in Shamanic Action. Much of the South's character is alliterative: place of spirit, soul, sin, sociability and sun. Working with the directions in Shamanic Action assumes that the practitioner is from the Northern Hemisphere (most of the landmass of Earth is in the Northern half and thus many of the native traditions from which I allude are of a northern latitude). It's important to define what we mean by South here to avoid confusion. "The South" in a country like Chile, for instance, has a vastly different connotation; that of being a land of cold snows and rough seas close to Antartica. The "Global South" in geopolitical terms is a consortium of poor, indebted countries whose economies and populations are on the rise. Likewise, you fair reader, likely from Boston or San Francisco, probably think of "the South" as conservative, backwards and trigger-happy. That reference point I would tag as the "American Political South."
The Shamanic South is a different beast that does, however, bleed into geography in certain discernible instances. On top of warmth and generosity, the South is also known as a place of dying and death. Think of most of the cultural programming that deals with death and the occult. HBO's "Six Feet Under" could only take place in a city like Los Angeles, just like "True Blood" has its rural Louisiana and Anne Rice all but holds court in New Orleans. Think of Faulkner's Mississippi. Even the zombies of the "Walking Dead" besiege Atlanta.
If all else fails in my pop-culture argument, follow the demographics. There's a reason why senior citizens flock to places like Florida and Arizona and why Fort Lauderdale and Palm Springs have become a magnet for older gay men. The southern sunshine is not just a balm for arthritic bones. Something else is at work.
I'm not trying to be macabre but with death comes a certain hilarity, inevitability and letting go. This is the true power of the South.
Do you need more fun, sociability, warmth and abundance in your life? The best remedy is to take a trip down south. For many people, this is not feasible, but the powers of the directions can be accessed by a knowledge of rudimentary geography in your private quarters. Find the Southern corner of your bedroom of living room. Start to make a little shrine of warm colored trinkets, especially candles and minerals. Is there a shop for semi-precious stones in your neighborhood? If so, pick up some amber (note: Amber is not a true mineral but a fossilized resin), red jasper and/or citrine. Also pick up some cinnamon sticks which you can burn in a small bowl of sand or salt. Pick up some incense or sage that you can also burn safely.
Develop a prayer or meditation that welcomes the spirits of the South. Light the candles and/or cinnamon sticks and incense and ask for guidance in your sex and/or social life. Hold the stones in your hand and welcome in their warm-colored strength. Repeat the meditation and just sit like that for ten minutes every morning for a week. Face south and sit cross-legged while you do this. What do you see when you let your mind go?
It works. It really does. There are so many powers here on Earth that are ready to work with you. And you don't have to live south of the Mason-Dixon line to become more of a party-goer.
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