Equinox, September 23, 2013
Happy Equinox, everybody!
For me this year, this Equinox is a time of coming into a new kind of balance with a whole new me that is configured in a whole different way than ever before. I suspect that many of you may be experiencing a similar sort of process of exploring how to get your outer world to be a better match and expression of your True, Expanded, Multi-dimensional Soul Selves.
I accompanied a woman I met recently (in a very magical, synchronistic manner) to a special location near here where she was studying rock art. I felt called to "sing" the place. Afterwards she told me I sounded like a singer she had heard perform recently.
Two days after that - a week ago now - I looked Mari Boine up on the internet and discovered that that kind of singing, that started coming through me after my trip to Alaska in 1994, is called jojk or yoik and is a spiritual practice of the Sami people, a migratory tribe who herd reindeer in the far northern parts of Noway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. Some say that yoiking sounds similar to some kinds of the Native American chanting.
Happy Equinox, everybody!
For me this year, this Equinox is a time of coming into a new kind of balance with a whole new me that is configured in a whole different way than ever before. I suspect that many of you may be experiencing a similar sort of process of exploring how to get your outer world to be a better match and expression of your True, Expanded, Multi-dimensional Soul Selves.
I accompanied a woman I met recently (in a very magical, synchronistic manner) to a special location near here where she was studying rock art. I felt called to "sing" the place. Afterwards she told me I sounded like a singer she had heard perform recently.
Two days after that - a week ago now - I looked Mari Boine up on the internet and discovered that that kind of singing, that started coming through me after my trip to Alaska in 1994, is called jojk or yoik and is a spiritual practice of the Sami people, a migratory tribe who herd reindeer in the far northern parts of Noway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. Some say that yoiking sounds similar to some kinds of the Native American chanting.
I first started yoiking (having no conscious understanding at all of what it was I was feeling compelled to do) when I became part of a spiritual "family" in Olympia, WA. At that time I also started composing what I have discovered are now referred to as yoik songs.
Yoiking was the most amazing experience because right from the beginning, I "knew" intuitively how to do it and was also aware of there being very definite rules as to how and when it was to be created and shared. For almost 20 years now I haven't known anyone else who did the same sort of thing or who understood what I was feeling so deeply called to do.
Through the years many people have asked me if I had Native American ancestry and I knew that I didn't. I have felt for a long time, however, that I have an indigenous soul. I felt very comfortable during my recent travels among peoples who live simpler lives and live closer to the earth.
My physical body has mostly Scandinavian ancestry and I had always thought of myself as 100% Caucasian. I always felt a bit uncomfortable that so much of the music that flows through me felt like it was coming from a more indigenous source.
So I am very grateful and very relieved to know that somewhere back there in my genetic pool there was most likely an infusion of blood from a very ancient indigenous people who lived close to the Earth, constantly traveling in harmony with the Earth and her creatures and her seasons.
I feel incredibly blessed and much more whole having discovered and reconnected with these Ancestors of mine. This experience reconfirms that I can trust whatever comes through me from my heart and soul and inner knowing, even if my mind has no clue or rational explanation as to why it feels so "right".
Yoiking was the most amazing experience because right from the beginning, I "knew" intuitively how to do it and was also aware of there being very definite rules as to how and when it was to be created and shared. For almost 20 years now I haven't known anyone else who did the same sort of thing or who understood what I was feeling so deeply called to do.
Through the years many people have asked me if I had Native American ancestry and I knew that I didn't. I have felt for a long time, however, that I have an indigenous soul. I felt very comfortable during my recent travels among peoples who live simpler lives and live closer to the earth.
My physical body has mostly Scandinavian ancestry and I had always thought of myself as 100% Caucasian. I always felt a bit uncomfortable that so much of the music that flows through me felt like it was coming from a more indigenous source.
So I am very grateful and very relieved to know that somewhere back there in my genetic pool there was most likely an infusion of blood from a very ancient indigenous people who lived close to the Earth, constantly traveling in harmony with the Earth and her creatures and her seasons.
I feel incredibly blessed and much more whole having discovered and reconnected with these Ancestors of mine. This experience reconfirms that I can trust whatever comes through me from my heart and soul and inner knowing, even if my mind has no clue or rational explanation as to why it feels so "right".
I know that a few of you may be interested in learning more about the yoiking, so here's a bit of info about it: http://www.utexas.edu/courses/sami/diehtu/giella/music/yoiksunna.htm
Have a wonderful spring or fall!
Namaste,
Leslie
