Rising into My Destiny – Sister Jaguar’s Journey
A Prayer by Sister Jaguar – Sister Judy Bisignano
A Healing Plant Ceremony in Sister Jaguar’s Journey
I never intended to coauthor the book, Sister Jaguar’s Journey with Sandra Morse, my friend and mentor who suggested I participate in a shamanic (healing) plant ceremony in the Amazon jungle. I sat at river’s edge and waited for my friends who were hiking the rainforest. That’s when I spotted the black jaguar.
The shaman explained that the jaguar has a powerful spirit that purifies and renews life. When the native Achuar people see a jaguar, they know immediately that radical change is coming. In the spirit world, seeing a jaguar can trigger immediate healing within a person.
I wanted my experience of seeing the jaguar to imprint my soul forever. I started to write. My thoughts quickly reached my heart, then poured onto notepaper. The result is Prayers from the Rainforest.
Since first seeing the jaguar, then visiting the Achuar several times, my daily spiritual practice has taken a huge detour from the emptiness I experienced for decades as a Catholic nun. I no longer observe nature; I am a fundamental part of it. Spirituality doesn’t just happen; I am a willing participant in its process. God is not some remote entity outside of me; I am an integral part of her creation story.
May your prayerful journey take you to the center of your soul as well as the outermost edges of the cosmos.
All My Relations, Sister Jaguar
Rising into My Destiny – Opening Prayer:
When soft rays of light ascend over the trees, it is always as if for the first time. Clarity of purpose rises with the advent of a new day. Dawn beckons with the invitation to begin anew, to see things in fresh ways. “Yesterday is past,” it whispers. “You have only today and all its possibilities.”
I join the Achuar by beginning each day anchored in stillness, taking nothing for granted; open to whatever the coming day’s gifts may be. It is the beginning of a new day and a new dream
The morning silence is interrupted as Pachamama yawns in a new day. It draws from me a quiet prayer that leans on the presence of hope and requests that I seek her throughout the day. It all starts with the morning, the fertile soil that helps me realize my destiny to leave this world more whole and holy by day’s end.
Introduction:
Dreams are the language of God spoken through the soul of Pachamama. Dreams allow me to recognize the immensity of life’s possibilities. They allow me to articulate a personal legacy within local and global communities. Dreams allow me to identify and bring my unconscious thoughts into this present moment of ordinary reality.
Pachamama has chosen a life path, a destiny, for me. She desires that I achieve my destiny–my destination–before leaving this Earth. I become aware of my destiny by having the courage to confront my dreams. When I tend to my dreams, desires and destiny, Pachamama conspires to help me achieve them. My dreams are realized because they reflect her intentions for the planet. What I need comes easily because Pachamama moves freely through me.
When I communicate in and through my dreams, I perceive the world through the soul of Pachamama. I overlap my story with her story. The goal is to have one dream-one story-written in identical handwriting. Pachamama becomes the context through which I continue to write her creation story as well as my own personal story. To achieve my destiny is to fulfill my dreams, to live with integrity, to be whole and holy, to live in communion with Pachamama.
Reflection:
The Achuar believe there is a dream dreaming them. Because they relate to Pachamama through the intimacy of their dreams and hearts, they have a sense of being known by her, understood by her and loved by her. All people, those in the South and those in the North, are part of this dream; part of this vision.
If there is a dream dreaming me, it is Pachamama’s vision of me. She is doing the dreaming. And if I have a sense of being part of that dream, it is my heart’s vision of her. I am doing the dreaming. My seeing Pachamama, then, is really my awareness of her seeing me.
I no longer see myself as attempting to control nature. I recognize my place in the natural world.
Thus, I partner with the wide scope of goodness, wherever it appears.
I commit to sustaining and sharing the gifts of creation.
I am a single link in a collective rise of consciousness that benefits all creation.
Hence, I recognize that the universe and life on Earth, including me, are in a continuous state of transformation.
I know that I am a thinking, loving being. I have the wisdom and courage to shift my mode of consciousness, to wake up to a new dream for creation.
Therefore, I have a sense of being known by God, understood by God, loved by God. I am part of her and she is part of me.
So, I look to fulfill Pachamama’s dreams as her dreams, too, look to fulfill me.
I know where and how to find Arutum, godly energy, that allows me to perform miracles in her name and on her behalf.
Closing Prayer:
Pachamama, I ask: How can I immerse myself in you? You tell me: I must listen to and with my heart. My heart knows all things because it comes from you and will one day return to you. My heart has held the plan for my destiny for all eternity. The more I fulfill my destiny, the more I fulfill my dream and your dream for the world.
Pachamama, you tell me no heart suffers when it searches for its dream, Closing Prayer:
Pachamama, I ask: How can I immerse myself in you? You tell me: I must listen to and with my heart. My heart knows all things because it comes from you and will one day return to you. My heart has held the plan for my destiny for all eternity. The more I fulfill my destiny, the more I fulfill my dream and your dream for the world.
Pachamama, you tell me no heart suffers when it searches for its dream, that is, its destiny, because every second of the search is an encounter with you and eternity. I discover new things along the way I would never have seen had I not taken risks on your behalf.
You tell me to:
Quiet myself.
Listen.
Breathe slowly and deeply.
Sleep soundly.
Dream and remember my dreams.
Pachamama, when I awake from my dreams, I feel my heart beating in synchronicity with yours. I know contentment and peace. I see things in fresh new ways.
Thank you for dreaming me into being. In doing so, I am certain you know me, understand me and love me. As I lean into you in the presence of hope, I have the wisdom, courage and grace to leave this world a better place by day’s end and by life’s end.
I seek wisdom to these questions:
What is Pachamama’s dream for herself? And what is her dream for me?
What dreams do I have that I want Pachamama to help me fulfill? Are my dreams for me the same as her dreams for me?
What would it take for me to know and embrace the dream-the destiny-that Pachamama has for me? How would my life change? Am I ready for these changes?
The Achuar and Pachamama are in continuous conversation with each other. As I listen, what thoughts and words are exchanged between them? How can I participate in their conversation?
The Achuar go for hours consumed by the stillness of nature. They do not need words to communicate with Pachamama or with each other. How is this possible? How can this be possible for me?
What can I do to encourage creative, peaceful dreams for myself and the planet? How can I remember these dreams when I awake?
Nothing is more beautiful than the loveliness of the forest before sunrise. ~ George Washington Carver
You do not have to understand the totality of the rainforest. All you have to do is recognize that one simple leaf represents a moment in time that Pachamama took millions of years to create. Then you will know her marvelous creation! ~ Anonymous.
Learn more about Sister Jaguar and her book Sister Jaguar’s Journey here.
About the Author
Sister Jaguar’s Journey on Amazon: www.amazon.com/Sister-Jaguars-Journey-Bisignano-Sandra/dp/0990968812
Website: http://www.sisterjaguarsjourney.com/
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