by Michael Stocker | Aug 16, 2017 | Ceremony
My name is Kevin. I have been one of the firemen in the Seven Circles community for a few years now. In these years, and also having had previous experience in community, I have realized that being a man in community is hard work. Wood runs and preparation for...
by Michael Stocker | Aug 16, 2017 | Ceremony
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...
by Michael Stocker | Aug 16, 2017 | Ceremony
I am finding something that is both difficult and delightful about getting older; as I look back into the past, I have a longer distance to view. It is hard to believe that it was only ten years ago that I was as reckless as I was – with my self assured confidence...
by Michael Stocker | Aug 16, 2017 | Ceremony
I was at a Tipi meeting at Redwind (San Luis Obispo, California) when I heard for the second time that year about the all White-man Sundance in Ashland Oregon, and that Wallace Black Elk was the intercessor. In the meeting this white guy had given a woman some cedar...
by Michael Stocker | Aug 16, 2017 | Ceremony
The original cultures did not have an economy based on acquisition, rather their lifeways were based on giving and receiving. Much in the way that the fruit tree receives nourishment from the earth, and then gives her fruit to the animals, who then return the gift...
by Michael Stocker | Aug 16, 2017 | Ceremony
We humans are gathering animals. We gather around common experiences. We build relationships by communicating our perspectives to each other. Communicating about common themes forms the threads of ‘community.’ In order for community to exist, we have to weave these...
by Michael Stocker | Aug 16, 2017 | Ceremony
Of the many homes in my neighborhood, perhaps the most dynamic are the homes in the dead maple tree in my back yard. Over the years Acorn Woodpeckers have progressively excavated more holes to bring their children into the world. This is particularly a blessing...
by Michael Stocker | Aug 16, 2017 | Ceremony
To All My Relatives : Time has come up for me to go up on the hill. We got to Vision Quest camp around 5:00pm, on Saturday May 3, 2003. All Vision Questers and Supporters had to gather at the Yurt to do their Walutas and to get ready for next morning. Outside was...
by Michael Stocker | Aug 14, 2017 | Places
Healing in Paradise I am writing this from the Kona Coast, on the big island of Hawai’i, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. While I was traveling to these little islands across a 2000 mile expanse of open ocean I couldn’t stop thinking that the first people to arrive...
by Michael Stocker | Jul 16, 2017 | Ceremony
There are many paths to the Creator. We call our spiritual path the “Red Road.” The sacred pipe is acknowledged. There are different views on the pipe; this one is mine. When we walk behind the pipe, we have our priorities in order. The sacred pipe...
