Introduction to Path of the Mystic by Ai Gvhdi Waya

I believe that how we live our daily life is our mystical path. We try to work from the heart chakra, that fulcrum between our lower three chakras and those above the heart. Without heart being involved, we will never truly make that quantum leap, that ascension, that transformation from chrysalis to butterfly. That means we must place our mind chatter, our logic, in a place of balance with our emotions, feelings and intuition, or inner knowing, in order to strike the harmony or balance in order to be prepared to make this conscious change from gross physical body into living, radiating spirit that glows from the inside of us outward -- and extends into our everyday life in our everyday world.

How we live our life daily is the real testament of our spirit, which struggles to do the right thing to earn that vaunted transformation. As in no time in our human history have we been given the gift, the self-empowerment to blend our human self with our mystical, heart-centered self.

We are all mystics, whether we know it or not. Our spirit inevitably hungers for communion with God, Great Spirit, or whatever your belief system holds for you. My definition of a mystic comes from my Native American upbringing via my part Eastern Cherokee father. I was raised in a household of stories. My father never said, "Don’t do this" or "Don’t do that." Instead, if he saw me doing something that might hurt me or create pain because I didn’t know any better yet, as a child, he’d tell me or the other siblings a story. And in the story were some seeds of truth mixed with experience.

Sometimes he told us stories about himself, his growing-up years, his years in the Navy during World War II, or stories that had been passed down through familial lineage. These stories had a beginning, middle and end. They weren’t preachy, rather, instructive. it was up to me or my sibling to glean from the story what applied to us, or to a particular situation.

Even though I come from a line of medicine people via my father, the truth is that everyone is struggling to become a mystic -- and is one -- if they would allow themselves to be. It is simply a question of how awake or asleep one’s spirit is; that is all. Mysticism belongs to all two-leggeds and four-leggeds, the Little People and the Winged Ones. There is a flow of life energy that binds us, flows through us and around us, that connects us to one another.

We become more conscious of this magical, mystical "flow," as I term it, the more we move from our lower three chakras into our heart. At this time on Mother Earth we are learning to do just that. lt is an inner, mystical journey we must each take, on our own, without any outer teachers — only our own jaguar or wolf instinctive knowing — as our guide. To make this mystical journey into our heart so we can ascend to the next step in our spiritual evolution, we must make this adventure into our own unique one. No one’s journey will be quite the same. The experiences walked through and hopefully learned from, will not be the same old thing for everyone.

Indeed, the path of the mystic is one of the most exciting journeys we take in a given lifetime — the exploration of our inner self. What lies within us? What jewels? What creativeness? What thoughts? Knowings? Just feeling my way through these questions inevitably excites me. An inner journey is truly one of raw, pure power in its more elemental form. Why? Because you have no guides, no outer teachers, just your own inner knowing, your ability to trust yourself, your instincts, about where you are flowing and going to reach your heart chakra to make that transformation.

From my training I was taught the only teacher was the one inside myself. I was not to rely on, believe in or do what other outer teachers did. Rather, to get into my flow, my heart. I had to move within myself to see who lived there — warts and all. Making the inner journey is like opening Pandora’s Box — you just never know what one is going to find. Sometimes, it’s pretty exciting. Other times, it’s horribly disappointing or sometimes, terrorizing. Whatever we find is ours to own, keep and work through and either shed like the skin of a snake, or add to ourselves like an evolving clay sculpture that is taking on a refined shape — only it’s done from the inside out.

What I am saying is that you are your own best teacher. At best, the stories in this book, which are about my life and its ups and downs, can serve as parables from which you might learn something that you can compare to your own life. Stories are always instructive -- and at their best, can be used to reflect where you are now and, perhaps, where you want to be. If anything, these true accounts of my life are really about following my inner knowing and trusting myself to always move forward on that instinctual level.

Developing a trust of ourselves is the most important thing we can do. When we trust that little, urging voice inside us, in our heart, urging and coaxing us to do this or that, to go this way or that way —even though we’re filled with fear and our head is screaming at us —if we can move through our fear, through the mind chatter and move in sync with that inner voice, then you have stepped onto your own mystical path.

Being a mystic isn’t easy. It’s challenging in every way. Saying you are a mystic is saying that you are on an inner journey deep into the subconscious well of yourself in search of your own, unique truth— whatever that might be. And walking a mystic’s path means listening to inner teachers and guides; not outer ones. Once you get into your flow -- and you will know that you are in it by the synchronicity of events that seem to keep popping up on an everyday basis -- you will feel different. That does not mean you feel superior to anyone; but being in that mystical flow will give you a new level of self-confidence and self-esteem.

When you are in your flow, your life will work for you. When you re out of that mystical flow, you will encounter all kinds of walls, blockages and the inability to make things work -- no matter whether it’s in your personal life, your career or your goals and dreams.

I had three outer teachers in my Native American journey. First, there was my father. He gave me stories to live my life by and permission to live my own story and share it with whomever I chose. My second teacher, who wishes to remain anonymous, was a Western Cherokee medicine man. I call him Sam, although that’s not his real name. He gave me a precious gift and one that I’d like to pass on to each of you. When I met him, he took one look at me and said: "Go home. Each day, meditate. Keep a journal. Do this for a year. At the end of that year, come back and see me.

1 did. In that year I managed to meditate each day -- and only missed about twenty days out of the year when I simply couldn’t do it because of life’s demands. In that year I "blew open" on a deep, deep internal level. Sam had knowingly guided me to place me on my inner, mystical path to my heart. I didn’t know it at the time, but looking back on it, there’s no question of his gift to me. As with all traditional Native American medicine people who are truly in touch with their personal power, Sam did not disempower me; rather, through his order for me to go home and claim myself, start my inner journey to true selfhood, he empowered me. I find few outer teachers today who are doing that for people who come to them seeking answers.

My third teacher, Oh Shinnah Fast Wolf, an Apache/Mohawk medicine woman, put me in touch with the Rock Nation and I allowed myself to move into my own genetic knowing of the Stone People, who opened up yet another world within me. She too, empowered me. She was a wonderful teacher, warts and all.

The real joke here is: We all have the answers, but we’re looking in the wrong place. We defer and give our power away to other frail human beings, who are struggling just as much as we are — only they might not look like they are! And in doing so, we disempower ourselves in the process. Part of being a mystic on the path is learning discernment. That means that every person, situation and thing you encounter outside and inside yourself is your teacher. We need to learn what we’re being taught. We need to listen -- at the same time. We need to sift through what is being said and run it past our heart, our inner knowing, or voice. If it feels good and right to us, we can take it and make it ours. If it does not, we need to learn to trust what we know without being able to prove it, and release it because it’s not a truth or piece of information that will serve us and empower us to remain on our own mystical path and process.

The parents in our lives are frail human beings who do their best to help us grow from newborn to adult. They probably weren’t perfect in their job as parents, but that didn’t mean they didn’t try their best for us. When moving on the mystical path one needs to learn from the environment we chose, as a spiritual being, while growing up. That does not mean we drag it around like "woundology" for the rest of our lives. To be a mystic means to learn from and through our parents — and then get on with life. Bless them, love them and honor them for what they gave each of us.

There is another "parent" in our life and from my Native American viewpoint, she is the most overlooked and underutilized. She is our Mother Earth -- our true, real mother from which our heart is automatically connected with at birth. Unfortunately many people sever this umbilical cord with her for many different reasons. It is important to re-establish that connection if you are to be on a mystical path. She has always fed us, nurtured us and can support us in our goal to take our inner journey. To simply go and sit by a tree and meditate is doing it. Or finding a spot that seems particularly energetic and invigorating and positive to you is another way. Working with Mother Earth is a wonderful way to reconnect. It is the way I went. It’s not the only way but one of many.

In the "old days" mystics who wanted to become mystical went to a monastery or into some deep, hidden place in the mountains away from everyday life in order to achieve enlightenment. Nowadays this process is available to each of us in our "real time" lives. We don’t need to go to a monastery in the Himalayas to reach our enlightenment. No, we just need to take half an hour each day and devote ourselves to being quiet and listening to our inner voice — whether we do that in nature in concert with Mother Earth, in a room in our homes or wherever. The most important thing is to do it. Be disciplined about it. It says that you feel worthy of your inner goal to step onto your mystical path.

I wish you an exciting, fulfilling inner journey into selfhood and transformation -- the path of the mystic.

Would you like to know more about Path of the Mystic?

Read an excerpt shamanism Part 1 from the book and see pictures of Avi Gvhdi Waya at the time she acquired her Jaguar Medicine.

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