Shared Values of Mesa Life
A Shamanic Way of Life
Simply, a shamanic way of life means that at the heart of this community, Mother Earth is honored. Held with respect and gratitude for her gifts, we receive the bounty of Her ancestral waters, the rains and snows, the rivers, lakes, streams and wetlands, the ancient mountains that watch over us and protect us. We show her our gratitude by honoring the trees and plants, animals, soil, stone, Father Sun and Grandmother Moon.
We acknowledge the wisdom of the ancestors as they guide, help and teach us their ways through our individual and collective prayers. We build our lives upon the Great Mother and She provides everything we need. We honor the unseen world that animates this physical expression. Balance in the world is our goal.
This is our celebration in daily life and seasonally, as individuals in our own traditions and by participating in the offerings of various traditions that visit. We demonstrate a way of reciprocating with all our relations as we strive to follow the “original instructions” which will sustain life for many generations to come.
Importance of Fire
In traditions around the world, fire has been at the center. We see Fire as an elemental energy that brings forth movement, animating everything. Fire is the heart and it connects everything, weaving the world together. Fire opens our hearts.
Fire brings light to the darkness and warmth to the cold. We are certain, in these times, this principal has deep wisdom for all of us. Fire is the heart.
Offerings and Ceremonies
As human beings we’ve been gifted with the mind and with the heart. Alignment with each other in the Mesa Life Project is paramount. Our shared value and commitment is for the mind to serve the heart. We acknowledge and value the act of gratitude as a way to maintain harmony and balance. Through offerings and ceremonies we are able to collectively demonstrate this.
Making offerings reminds humans of our primordial connection to the natural world. They produce a blessing which re-balances all our relations and rights the imbalances that cause conflict and disease. While at key times we host ceremonies and rituals to make offerings and honor the seasons and directions, the sacred places, the animals, plants and all beings. We feel the land sings a song of harmony because of this. We are grateful!
Purposeful Living Heals
Each person in the world has his or her place on this wheel of life. Purpose in one’s life is a law of nature; a primordial response to life. Whether the gift is the actual act of healing another person, healing a community, a relationship, healing the earth, teaching and living by example, being parents or kids, having the ability to make shelter, tools, websites or grow food, and all the myriad other ways our gifts can be expressed, we honor and rejoice and support each person and their purpose on the wheel of life.
We value an individuals’ talent to heal in various ways, including physical symptoms, spiritual disconnection, lack of vision, not knowing one’s life purpose, fear and longing for a life not lived well, relationship problems, to name only a few. We see many of the ailments today as a symptom of disconnect. We value connection and want to share the healing that our people can bring as well as the land.
The Consultorio is the first building to be built on the Mesa Life land. We built it first, at the center of the community, because we value the gift of healing it brings to all who come here, by virtue of its being. It is a place for consultation and healing. The Consultorio represents the circle and the healing of our people, our culture and society at large. It is the manifestation of our vision and action of living in right relationship to the world. Coming to the Mesa Life Project Consultorio will reconnect you to a life you were meant to live, to your birthright. See the story ››
A great loss in modern times is caused by transmigration. For generations we have been bereft of homelands. Here, at Mesa Life, we offer to you ways to connect to the land, eat, breath and sleep this place. Some say you must birth children and die here, too.
Eventually, your soul connection to land will connect one to the greater picture of living a sustainable and regenerative life.
And one day, you will wake up and belong!
Personal Connection to the Land
This land is alive. Knowing this is a value to us. We know that the ancestors, the spirit of the plants and animals, the waters and the earth are all speaking. All life has something to say; one feels it when you step on to this place. This is the livingness of the world.
For some, this deep connection moves one to know it is home. It is called “soul” connection where the land is a part of you and you a part of the land. Just like the ancestors of old, the Ute who lived here before; one may feel a very strong connection to this ancestry even if there is not a blood-line connection. The indigenous people call this “indigenous heart”.
