Step One Step Two Step Three   Step One This is a true story and one that is very close to my heart. This is the story of a modern day journey to a destination that is still in the realm of the unknown. The journey began, or this particular part of it began, in a sweat lodge. This particular lodge was unusual because I was sitting in the North, normally in the Lodge I attended the women went in first and the men followed, since we enter from the east and go around sunwise, the women are in the North and some of the West, the men in some of the West and the South. This particular day the Water-Pourer asked me to sit in the North and asked someone else to bring in stones, as fire-keeper I brought in the stones,but this day he wanted me in the lodge and he wanted me in the North. The Lodge was strong and as the smells of cedar and sage mingled with the smell of the hot rocks and the steam, my whole being seemed to smile and I could feel the connection to all the native ancestors in my family, they seemed to be there smiling with me. I usually close my eyes before the flap is closed and pray for the lodge, my brothers and sisters in the lodge, Mother Earth who so freely gives of herself here and what ever else comes through at the time. I open my eyes again after the flap closes to see the rocks. This day the rocks were brilliant and smiling, I remembered each one, remembered when I had prayed for permission to gather rocks, remembered when each particular rock smiled at me to be noticed and agreed to come along to join us in this sacred work. The spirit calling song began and I could feel the lodge begin to fill in a whole different way. Then suddenly I felt someone alongside me and I turned and saw an oriental man seated next to me. Hmmm, I hadn't smudged an oriental man, and I thought I had smudged everyone who had entered the lodge. I realized I was seeing a spirit and it was looking intently at me. I mentally greeted him and asked if he had something to say to me. He said," Yes, learn Johrei, you need to learn Johrei." I agreed that I would learn Johrei and then asked him if he liked the Lodge. He answered, "yes this is a beautiful ceremony." He smiled or perhaps I only felt him smile and then he was gone. I don't remember too much else about that particular lodge because my mind filled with the wonder of what had happened and my body went through the rest of the ceremony singing the prayers and feeling the love that flowed from the earth, the sky, the four directions, the rocks and my lodge brothers and sisters. This was the first step. to be continued Step #2 For the next few days the events in the Lodge played over and over again in my mind, as I tried to put together a plan of action. I had given a request, a suggestion, but I knew that spirits couldn't interfere with my free will and therefore their messages came as suggestions and not orders. I had turned my life over to Spirit and this was a call. Johrei, I had received it a few times and I remembered the first time very vividly. It was at a Healing Arts Festival and a wonderful, magical time it was. We did Lodges every day and as fire keeper I was very busy but the second day I wandered by to see a demonstration of Polarity Therapy and met one of the People who were offering Johrei. She asked if I would like to receive Johrei and I gladly said yes and thanked her. The women explained that we would sit on chairs facing each other and begin with a prayer to ask for permission to receive Johrei and end with a prayer of thanksgiving. She said she would channel first to one side of by body and then ask me to turn around and she would do the other side. The channeling was seemingly uneventful and there was a minor sensation of energy being received and we closed the session with the prayer of thanksgiving. When we finished this prayer I saw an amazing thing I watched as the energy from this prayer went shooting up in a purplish silvery white, shimmering series of waves going higher and higher to connect with a very high realm. It was a special time, the festival had created through the combined energy of the participants and facilitators, an alternate reality of high spiritual vibration and seeing energy was not shocking. I, thought to myself, Johrei, it sure seems to have a strong connection very high up, I'll learn to give Johrei. I called the the women I had recieved it from and told her I would like to learn Johrei. She told me she would talk to the Johrei Center in Boston and ask about the availability of classes. She also said that they required that one have recieved Johrei 15-20 times before taking classes. I told her I wanted to learn Johrei so we made a schedule, and met at the Dowsers Hall in Danville, where she worked, and twice a week and I recieved Johrei from her. The people at the Johrei Center in Boston were very cooperative and we set a schedule for me to take classes. The first time down I went with Sedora, the women who introduced me to Johrei. I have to say I went down with a little bit or maybe a lot of an atitude, I was native and part of some very powerful medicine going on where we lived. So I left Vermont for Boston with my hat, some cloths and my drum. I had developed a habit of singing prayers as I drove along and sang most of the way to Boston. We arrived too early and Sedora suggested we go out and get some dinner. We went back out into the traffic and now it was getting to be rush hour and the traffic was, non stop. We waited and waited the flow was endless and no one cared to let us out of the side street we were on. I looked up and down Mass Ave, the street we were trying to get onto, and realized it would take a miracle to cross in front of one lane of traffic and merge with the second. So, I began to pray and the miracle happened, traffic halted and for about 1 min everyone seemed frozen and we crossed one lane, between cars stopped for I couldn't tell what reason other than creator stopping them so we could continue our journey, and into a hole in the lane going in the direction we wanted. As soon as we got into the lane everyone was off again at high speed bumper to bumper. We'd come to a traffic light and wait through two or three changes before we could reach it and pass through. Ah, the joys of city rush hour traffic! W e arrived where Sedora wanted to go after about 35-40 minutes. Sedora went in to shop and I stayed out in the car in the parking lot to drum and sing prayers. I wondered as I called to the Four directions and the Great ones who dwell there, if I would feel them as strongly as I do in Vermont.-- No question, they were as strong, called from the back of a car in an asphalt parking lot in Boston as they are called from the fields and woods of Vermont. I finished a series of prayers and still Sedora hadn't returned and I began to be concerned about getting to the class I was taking on time. I didn't want to meet these people for the first time and show up for my first class late. Finally after what seemed forever, Sedora came out of the store with packages of food laughing and smiling and I knew it would be alright but it was 15 minutes away from my meeting time and it had taken us 40 to get here. But off we went and I picked up my drum and began some prayers. Instantly the road cleared around us and we were alone for a few bloks in front and a few blocks behind. We sped on through the middle of traffic, all the lights were green and the space we were in stayed with us until we arrived at the Johrei center. When we arrived at the Center, 5 minutes early, Sedora looked at me and asked how I had done that. I told her I hadn't, Spirit had done that. I had asked for help and had gotten it. Spirit was heavily supportive of me learning Johrei. I had arrived to learn and it was obvious Spirit was here with me! This was the end of Part Two and Part Three was to begin on the other side of the door in front of me.   Step #3 The Johrei Center was upstairs in an old house on a side street. The place was clean, neat and orderly and highly energized. It felt good but I was nervous. I was on a path and was very centered in that path. I was wondering if this spiritual form was going to ask me to do or accept something that was unacceptable to remain true to my path. The women I had come with told me that when we arrived the custom was to go to the Altar and say of prayer of thanks to Spirit for getting us safely here and a prayer is usually said when leaving asking to guided home safely. That suggestion resonated strongly with me and I did it joyfully and my nervousness eased a bit. I was introduced to Susan, who was running the Center, and she suggested we get started with the first class. Two other women came in to join us and I felt an immediate affinity to both of them but had to say at the beginning that I already had a path and was here not in search of a path but at the suggestion of the Oriental Gentleman I met in the Lodge. I was to learn this Gentleman was and is Mokichi Okada called with honor and respect by the followers of his teachings, Meishu-Sama. The class progressed and I found I couldn't disagree with any of the teachings and was told it was not necessary that I agree with them but they needed to explain them to me because I might need them at a later date. As the class drew to a close I said in passing that Gail and Marilyn ( the other two women there) both seemed very familiar. Gail quietly said that Meishu-Sama taught that all johrei members had been together and worked together before. He said that long ago before the beginning of this "Age of Darkness" when we were about to descend into the darkness many Spirits were drawn together by Kannon( Kwan Lin) and a pledge was made. These Spirits pledged that when the World was to begin its entry back into the Light, they would join together once again and help with this process. Upon hearing these words the feelings of that time and the pledge came rolling through me goosebumps came all over me and I began to cry, not out of sadness but out of relief and joy. Many questions were answered at that moment. This was my wakeup call! Do you who read this get the goosebumps perhaps this is a wakeup call for you as well! Thank you Spirit Thank You Kannon Thank You Meishu-Sama wrw