Everyone who makes a home on Mother Earth walks a Sacred Path. This path is yours to choose and to do with what you want. It is part of your Sacred Space, that which belongs to no one but you. While there are always guides on your Sacred Path to provide you with lessons, directions and counsel, ultimately what you do with that information is of your own free will.
While the basis for this sounds a little like a pitch for selfishness, it differs in that you aren't being encouraged to do what makes you happy at the expense of what's right for the greater good, the greater good in this case being the world in which you live. In walking the Sacred Path you are connected via intangible threads to the great web of life and via that connection you are related to everything that dwells within that web. As a relation you have an obligation to discover your path and to share the lesons you learn for the benefit of yourself and of others.
Parents, teachers, religious leaders, siblings, family members, community leaders, friends, acquaintances, and even enemies have something to teach you, show you, advise you, etc. Each of them has a circle of guides on their own Sacred Paths, and so on. No one gets through this Earth Walk on his or her own, and no one makes it through some or all the paths on the Wheel of Life without the help of others.
If we look a little deeper, we also discover that everything connected to the web of life can teach us something if we open ourselves and our minds to the messages. Animals have medicine to share or lessons to teach us, as do plants, birds, water creatures, insects, reptiles, and anything else that makes a home in or on Mother Earth.
We are all part of the Dream Weave, the great web of life. The things that connect us to this web; our energy, thoughts, intentions, emotions, and other unseen but no less powerful links, bind us to the solid matter in our world. That which can be touched, tasted, heard, seen or otherwise experienced in tangible ways. When we come to accept that we are an integral part of the great web, we can walk our Sacred Path with the knowledge that through our connection with the spiritual self, we can alter the course of our physical self for the betterment of ourselves and of mankind.
The Sacred Path is completely flexible. No one ever walks the same path from birth to death, nor are we expected to. Every time we alter our thought patterns to include a new or different idea, we have altered our path. Every decision we make has the potential to alter our path. Every time we allow ourselves to back down from, or stand up for a principle, we are changing our path. Some call this path 'destiny', but that insinuates that the future, or the outcome is inevitable, that is simply not true. The future is fluid, malleable, and for the most part unseen, therefore, what happens as you walk your Sacred Path can be altered at will to suit your want, beliefs, and your needs. Fate plays no part on the Sacred Path. You alone are responsible for your successes or failures because you always have at least two choices. You can do the right thing or the wrong thing, you can say yes or no. You can wallow in self pity or you can pick up the pieces and move on. You can take responsibility or you can assign blame. the choices you face are endless. It's what you choose to do with them as you follow your own Sacred Path that will ultimately define your Earth Walk.
the softness of the air,
the fragrance of the grass,
speaks to me.
The summit of the mountain,
the thunder of the sky,
speaks to me.
The faintness of the stars,
the trail of the sun,
the strength of fire,
and the life that never goes away,
they speak to me.
And my heart soars.
by Chief Dan George