I definitely agree that there are times when the only information available comes to us direct from Spirit, and of course, we should pass that on!

In your case, you are part of the lineage of your Meditation Master, and have been given the right to pass on those teachings, as have I, by the shaman/medicine people I've studied with. . . so, even though those who work with us may not be able to connect with our indigenous teachers/masters on the physical (all my teachers have passed to the other side camp at this point), we are the living embodiment of the lineage and have direct responsibility to pass this wisdom on.

The ones I have a problem with are those who learn from, and teach others, but have no lineage behind them. They've read a bunch of books, but have no actual hands-on apprenticeship experience. Maybe they've gone to a workshop or two - run by someone who claims to have been divinely inspired, or who has intellectually studied shamanism, but doesn't have the years of practice behind them that this pathway requires to keep people safe and healthy.

I'm sure you've met some of them - that's what Indian people call a "Plastic Shaman". . . . and hey, Indians are political, thanks to all the oppression, damage and dysfunction we've been subjected to . . . so Indian people even call other Indians plastic shaman sometimes, whether they know it to be true or not. Nonetheless, Inidan people have some reasons for even making up that label - so many people come to a ceremony, Sweat Lodge or SunDance, whatever, and after participating once or twice, suddenly think they're qualified to go out and pour a Lodge, or run a SunDance. . . NOT!!

Courses like Michael Harner's are wonderful, and people learn a lot from them. I have two delightful shaman friends that I work with a lot who came through Michael's school, and yet, even they admit that 'something's missing'. Its why they like to work with me.

That intimate connection that comes as a part of studying with someone who has lived, loved, played and prayed within their Native landscape, with the spirits of the place, and the holistic culture of their community is what's missing. There's nothing in the world that compares with that kind of simple, magical wisdom - and magical is the wrong word, because while it seems like magic to modern people, for those elder/teachers, it's just natural. (They're actually puzzled when one thinks what they're doing is incredible.) And until one experiences that connection and the sequence of movement throughout many dimensions that the shaman's influence can influence, there's just no way to describe it.

And, I know that it's not always possible to find a teacher like that. So many of mine are gone that now I work mostly with their Spirits and my other Guides. And I'm SO grateful for the years I was able to spend with them, and the fact that they blessed me and challenged me to continue to spread their teachings/wisdom with all those I teach.

My 89-year-old Swinomish Auntie, Vi Hilbert, was just here to visit. At one point, she asked me, "Well, Robin, did you choose this work or did it choose you?" I laughed and said, "Believe me, nobody in their right mind would choose this work!!" She laughed, too, and said, "Yes, I'm glad Johnny (cousin, shaman/storyteller Johnny Moses) got his work, you got your work, and I got mine!" Me, too, because over the years I've come to understand that EVERYTHING in my life has brought me to exactly this moment, with everything I need to do what I was sent here for. I couldn't do Johnny's job, or Aunti Vi's, or yours, or anyone else's.

Aunti is an amazing teller of the old, old stories, in her Native language and English. She translated the entire Lushootseed language into English and created a dictionary; taught language and NW Native culture at the University of Washington for many years. Just last year, after having two strokes, she worked with a composer at the Seattle Symphony to create a symphony that is a melding of over 300 of our old healing songs. The symphony was presented to the people of Seattle last spring, and it will be in CD form soon, traveling the world for the healing of 9/11, Mother Earth and All Our Relatives. She shared with a group of us here, and her love is so pure and sweet, it filled all our hearts to overflowing.

These are the elders we need to learn from -- and they're leaving one by one!! We need to find them and sit at their feet while we can, because once they're gone, a lot of those old ways will be gone as well. . . 'we are (becoming) the ones we've been waiting for' (Hopi prophecy) - and we're not quite there yet, so every opportunity we get we should take.

Love to all - those who practice these ways, and all who have other ways to sustain them ~ :D