As far back as I can remember I have longed, often painfully, for something that seemed to be missing from myself. Misunderstanding the intensity of this longing, I spent years in the addictive cycle of substitution, constantly searching to feel whole. After a while I grew to despise this longing, blaming it for the dysfunction in my life. Eventually, I had to stop substituting with the addictive fix and feel the pain of my emptiness. It was at this stage in my journey of healing when I came to my first purification lodge led by Fred Wahpepah.
People gathered that beautiful early Summer afternoon at the edge of the fire circle greeting each other with genuine love. The fire crackled, people laughed and I felt something inside myself begin to melt. Inside the lodge the meltdown continued as the native songs struck chords in my heart long neglected. My response was intuitive as if I had sung these songs before. My throat, my spirit, whatever it is that allows me to sing opened up and I joined in. For a moment, before my mind interrupted, I sang in a language both foreign and familiar. A deep longing for spiritual communion awakened within my soul. During our prayers we were as one and my heart overflowed with a wholeness and contentment I’d never known.
All healing takes place in the presence of love. Within the loving presence created by my elder Fred Wahpepah, the Seven Circles community and in the ceremonies that weave so many people together, I experience my own healing with a new ease. I feel tremendous gratitude to Fred and Seven Circles for the spiritual nourishment I am receiving. Instead of a painful emptiness, now I experience my longing as a voice from my soul guiding me to my true life path with passion, purpose and joy.