“Each day, sitting with an early morning bowl of tea, sensing the collective spirit that is ‘you-us-we,’ drawing strength from the connection, we are energized.” -- Molly Hale

“We are all members of a growing global community of conscious change agents. We need to be realistic about the state the world and then we must use our thoughts and words and other creation principles to feed the vision of the world we want to live in. This exciting work begins by shifting our thoughts and words we use throughout the day. It involves setting an intention to join together with millions of others to put our vision for a healthy, beautiful, vibrant planet into action. Let’s join our hearts together as a unified field working in service to all of life. Many blessings to you as we spiral into a new decade together!” -- Sandra Ingerman

When I let myself sink into awareness, and rest in the many webs of connection that I am part of, a kind of ecstatic peace descends on me. In my heart I feel connected with all people, water molecules, mountain, tree, and stone spirits, everyone meditating at this moment. In this space, I am able to walk my path with love. In this space I am able to transmute thoughts and behaviors and perceptions that are toxic to my sense of connectedness. In this space I feel oneness.

With practice, I have found many ways of entering and experiencing this state of awareness. The more I practice shifting my perceptions, the more I can step from one state to another, as shamans have always done. But, shaman or no, the world we live in and the decade we enter calls for intensive change on our parts. We must “Be the change we want to see in the world” as Mahatma Gandhi said.

We do this together. And the more we believe our connectedness, the easier it is to shift our consciousness, find and focus on the world work we are called to do, and step aside from the despair that comes so easily when we open our eyes to the state of the world.

Finding Connection Through Dreaming

The healer Mandaza from Zimbabwe speaks of three ways of being guided: meditation, vision, and dream. Last fall he advised me to keep asking for “clear sleeping dreams and visions, and messages that do not need interpretation.” Invoking spirit help with this through ritual has let me “see” more clearly in my dreams.

In my dream I was on a group trip. Scenes that reminded me of many old failures passed before my eyes: the cute guy went for someone else. I was slow to get the picture. I bogged down in my “luggage” of stones and books. I was not a leader, not one of the “important” ones. I didn’t shine the way I could. I found the people boring, disconnected, and disappointing.

The trip ended; people dispersed. Then the group members began to return, connecting with each other and having fun. I joined them at long tables. Suddenly it was an animated, engaged time. I watched the jewels in all these ordinary (and formerly “boring”) people come out. I was amazed.

As I wrote about the dream, I saw it was a gift, not a nightmare! In changing my perception within the dream—changing “boring” people into “jewels”—the dream message reminded me that the old stories we tell ourselves remain in our unconscious, influencing how we perceive events in the here and now. My dream brain played out experiences and perceptions I used to have; then the dream spirits drew on the more hopeful and appreciative framework I inhabit now.

Finding Connection Through Stories

Indigenous stories, passed down orally from generation to generation, re-minded people of their connections within the larger world. Spider Grandmother was responsible for spinning the world into being. In a Hopi story her web drew the sun back from its darkness on winter solstice, bringing light back to the people. In another story, she took a web she had spun and laced it with dew. She then threw it into the sky, and the dew became the stars. A Oaxacan rug I have depicts Spider Grandmother as world creator and connector of us all, portraying her with a huge red egg in her belly waiting to be birthed.

Finding Connection Through Whale Consciousness

I have had a long relationship with a whale teacher in what we call ”non-ordinary” reality. I went to this whale to ask how they could help us connect and weave their consciousness with ours. This is what I was told:

“You know we circle the oceans in our migrations. We read the route using echolocation, with each other, the sea floor, and the ocean currents. We know the way, and we weave a web of connection throughout the ocean.

We need you to know how desperate our situation is. It is becoming much harder to survive. The krill (our food chain) are decimated; the less-cold upwelling is changing our environment; the net trawlers are competing with us; and the oil spills are polluting our waters. We need you to know that this is your situation, your oceans, your world as well as ours.

You can bring us light and love. You can be witness to our suffering and demise. You can make the connection and keep it, learning about our plight, seeing us as a part of you.

We are sacrificing ourselves so you can re-member your world and put it back together. Every action helps. Every person’s awareness helps. This is not a time to give up hope. Do not despair.

We feel our existence threatened by changes in global climate, just as you do. Our job is to maintain connection—with each other and with you—and we continue to do that. We offer you this opening into our dimension, our awareness. Please connect your hearts with ours. Please feel the light we weave as we swim and migrate. Please weave your own light. We are one.”

Finding Connection Through Mushroom Behavior

Years ago I heard Paul Stamets talk about a huge (nearly ten square kilometers) contiguous growth of mushroom mycelium in Oregon, possibly the largest organism in the world. Estimated to be 2,200 years old, this one fungus has killed the forest above it many times, and in so doing has built deeper soil layers that allow the growth of ever-larger stands of trees. Though it now has been broken by logging roads, a vision of this mycelium mat enters my consciousness over and over. It reminds me of the possibilities of physical connection, of the connections between all living beings, and of the ways we can extend our own filaments around the earth.

When we are connected to all living beings, we are not alone.