My grandpa gave me my first shotgun, and taught me how to use it.  He both hunted and fished, and did well in terms of bringing home the game would coach us to never kill unless we ate our kill.  When squirrel hunting he would keep moving yet sit me down at the base of a tree and tell me to be very quiet and to look with “soft eyes”.  used to tell me to look at the patterns not the form.  The healthy eye constantly moves, and the puritans called this the the “shifty eyed”.  We all are indigenous here.

  Native eyes or the natural (natures way) is both and.  Light and dark, balanced in the spiral of change.  When I look too critically with hard eyes, my heart hardens and the poisons of resentment start to build.  The Toltec wisdom of transformation – witnessing rather than judging.  Aliveness is change is movement.   Embracing change is the healthy eye – shifting back and forth with ease and grace.  The Deer look with soft eyes.  It is said the fawn’s gaze can melt even the hardest heart.  In hard times the tendency is to stiffen up or “man up” – stiffen.  I have learned to soften my gaze in the mirror, to where I can see the beauty in me and reflect that back to  you.  I listen to my shadow (dark bundle), for I know it’s containment is fruitless folly.  The red road and 12 steps illuminates the path, helping me to see through the surface to the true essence.  When unmindful, I am apt to unleash this beast in me that will destroy all attemps to contol, tame my wild nature.  This is natures teachings balance between light and dark.  The wild man and woman are our true base animal nature, and can be ascended by learning to contain my appetites and let things cook in

“Indian time”, the way my Grandma cooked.  Air feeds Fire, and cooking and passion are dynamic.  Sexual energy transformed into noble passions – the passion of “Zorba”- the fire bird of the east –  unleashed.  Learning and enjoying the pleasures of life – touch, hugs and intimacy.  I first look in the mirror and like that person. 

I am learning to bring the sacred to what I cook and add lots of spices to create the finest and most lovingly prepared food.  Through silence, prayer and meditation, we ascend to the highest.  The silence and dream-time is where we listen.  Trust is earned by raising from the ashes above the crude and rude and learn the wisdom of the deer – patience, prudence and .. elegance.