My Last Initiation
Mellissa Seaman
I never know what to expect when my Tlish Diyan mama mentor Maria Yraceburu calls me to ceremony. This time, it was a gathering devoted to Vision keeping, a women’s dreaming circle. What I didn’t know, even though she’d kinda hinted at it, was that it would also be a major initiation for me personally.
We had been engaging in so many prayers, sitting in a wide circle, twenty or so women sitting on the ground, unconsciously rocking their bodies to the sound of Maria’s drum. Listening to the old stories, the songs, the voices of the Ancestors. Our dreams and visions were weaving together, and we were listening and sharing.
And then Maria had me lay in the center of the circle. “Just relax,” she said as she did some things in the space that I cannot speak of, because we do not speak of the details of ritual of this type.
We had been engaging in so many prayers, sitting in a wide circle, twenty or so women sitting on the ground, unconsciously rocking their bodies to the sound of Maria’s drum. Listening to the old stories, the songs, the voices of the Ancestors. Our dreams and visions were weaving together, and we were listening and sharing.
And then Maria had me lay in the center of the circle. “Just relax,” she said as she did some things in the space that I cannot speak of, because we do not speak of the details of ritual of this type.
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But what I can share with you, is that I found myself flying as a hawk above that circle. I could feel my talons as I released the branch I was on, and then the momentary drop before I spread my wings and beat them, rising up into the currents circling above the land. My hawk eye could see the circle of women below, my body looking strange laying in the middle on Maria’s blanket.
I can also tell you that when Maria called me back, I arrived in a body that was lighter, less constricted. I landed back with a throat that felt different. A deeper voice resonated through me when I spoke. I felt different - and simultaneously - MORE “me.
I can also tell you that when Maria called me back, I arrived in a body that was lighter, less constricted. I landed back with a throat that felt different. A deeper voice resonated through me when I spoke. I felt different - and simultaneously - MORE “me.
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She called me by a new name. Whereas before she had called me Grey Deer…when I arrived, sobbing and integrating into this new way of seeing, new way of speaking, she called me Truth Speaker. In her own language of origin, and then in English. Truth Speaker.
I slept for 16 hours after that and when I woke up, I was still this new one that was still me, but more of Me. This is what I’ve learned Initiation really is - an accelerated release of what is NOT me, and a swift powerful embodiment of what I AM.
You can learn more about Maria Yraceburu, who is a ceremonialist, healer, and storyteller of traditional ways she learned from growing up with her grandfather who was a Holy One on the reservation in Arizona where she spent her young years. Her grandfather charged her to carry these teachings on, and she has.
And I’m telling you this story, because I know I’m not the only Truth Speaker.
And I know that there’s not just one Truth, anyway.
We each have a Truth to share.
And I want to support you to Speak your Truth - not just as a friend, a parent, a community member…
But also as a Teacher, an Oracle, a Broadcaster of wisdom.
Here’s to your Truth,
Mellissa
I slept for 16 hours after that and when I woke up, I was still this new one that was still me, but more of Me. This is what I’ve learned Initiation really is - an accelerated release of what is NOT me, and a swift powerful embodiment of what I AM.
You can learn more about Maria Yraceburu, who is a ceremonialist, healer, and storyteller of traditional ways she learned from growing up with her grandfather who was a Holy One on the reservation in Arizona where she spent her young years. Her grandfather charged her to carry these teachings on, and she has.
And I’m telling you this story, because I know I’m not the only Truth Speaker.
And I know that there’s not just one Truth, anyway.
We each have a Truth to share.
And I want to support you to Speak your Truth - not just as a friend, a parent, a community member…
But also as a Teacher, an Oracle, a Broadcaster of wisdom.
Here’s to your Truth,
Mellissa