Naga Initiation at Castle Lake

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Nickki Hill is a woman and very talented photographer from Mount Shasta. I met her a few years ago when I was moving out of the area. It was very important for me to find a person that could keep feeding the nagas since I was leaving. Nickki is who I found and she has been feeding the nagas every New Moon ever since. These images are from Castle Lake where Nickki said she was initiated to the Spirit of the Nagas. This is interesting because the first time Susan taught me how to feed the Nagas was at Castle Lake also in the year 2000. So I am proud to share these beautiful images with you.

Contact:
nleehill@gmail.com

Nickki Hill *studiopsyche*
530.938.3260
714.356.0897cell
www.flickr.com/photos/nickkieyes

Sunlight on Water

We travel a lot and Menton is where I am able to place my hat at the end of the road. During the afternoons in Menton we enjoy walking to Italy and sit on a rock that meets the sea.

It was during this time that I began to practice the mantra of Varuna. Varuna is an ancient God of the Vedas. He was the chief brother of the solar sons of the Sun Goddess Aditya. These twelve Gods as one form and are expressed though the Gayatri Mantra. But each God has his own unique gifts which are expressed though the Twelve Solar Gifts of the Sun Mantras. The twelve Gods were Amsa, Aryaman, Bhaga, Daksa, Dhatr, Indra, Mitra, Ravi, Savitri, Surya, Varuna and Yama.

Varuna was the deity that brought the sunlight to the atmosphere of earth through the elements of wind and water. He was the King of the Nagas. He often depicted as a Blue Being accompanied by a court of Nagas or with a chariot drawn by seven white swans.
It was said that the swans use to be black but though the blessing of Varuna he transformed their color into white as milk. Later on in history he became just the God of the Sea and all the rivers and that is why he is recognized as the Naga King.
Varuna is the deity of the sunsets. The sun that sinks into the horizon and travels to the other side of the world that we do not see.

The outer symbolism of the Hindu archetype system can be very complicated to understand and may take years to study. But I find when I do a spiritual discipline through mantra many inner secrets can be revealed to me.

Varuna mantra can help to purify the emotional body and bring to the surface emotional patterns hidden in the sea of the unconsciousness. I began to do this practice during our meditations as we were sitting at the sea. One day as I was repeating the mantra the inner realities of this practice was revealed to me.

Sunlight was reflecting on the water and the wind was blowing as I repeated Varuna’s mantra:

Om Jala Bimbaya Vidmahe
Nila Purushaya Dhee Mahe
Thanno Varuna Prachodayath

The simple form is Om Vam Varunaya Namaha

I saw the whole sea as the body of Varuna. The sunlight reflections on the waters were shining the light into the unconscious depths of my emotional body. Varuna was shedding light in the areas of myself that I could not see, like the sun that sets in the West.

As I got in touch with the emotional pattern that needed my attention for transformation I took a breath. The emotional pattern was like uncoiling a naga hidden in my belly. I breathed deeper. I allowed the element of wind into my body as the emotional energy began to uncoil and be freed with each passing breath. The wind of Varuna was moving though my body. I allowed this feeling of unconscious pain to be viewed and embraced and taken in deeper at the temple door of my heart. Each breath allowed me to go deeper into my heart - past my fears, past my opinions of right and wrong. I allowed it to be transformed in the center of my heart chakra where the central sun always shines, the throne of the infinite. With each deeper breath the pain began to dissolve like clouds into the clarity of the sky of my mind.

I realized that the very process of sea water evaporating into the sunlight was the transformation of Varuna. The breath of Varuna is the wind. The Sunset aspect of Varuna is the light of consciousness shining on the hidden depths in the water of our emotional body. The coiled nagas represent the negative emotional patterns that are asking for transformation. The air of Varuna’s is our breath and the objective becomes to allow our breath and breathing patterns to move though our body without resisting the uncoiling process of our hidden suffering. The breath brings us to the door of our heart, the great transformer. With each breath we embrace our issues without judgment and without resisting. With each breath our mind becomes clear like clouds parting in the sky. There is an infinite Sun within our heart which is the seat of our True Self. Each breath sent into the heart center dissolves the pain into the spaciousness of the Central Sun in the Heart. Our minds become like cloudless blue skies, no thought, just pure consciousness.

The truth of nature is always teaching us. Varuna’s mantra opens my breath like winds on the water. It opens my heart like sunlight bursting out from a cloudy day. The seven swans of his chariot transformed my soul allowing the freedom of flight.

The Pearl of France

We live five minutes from the Mediterranean Sea in Menton, France. Menton is located at the border where France meets Italy. Menton is known as the Pearl of France. It is surrounded by rock ridges, which are shaped like Dragons. These Dragons are actually ley-lines or magnetic energies that travel through the earth. You could compare the ley-lines to the meridian system of the human body. Menton is like living on a major meridian of the Earth. This particular ley-line system extends from the French Italian Alps to the foothills of Menton where it meets the sea. We can observe lava rock that has taken the shape of dragons reaching into the clear-blue Mediterranean Sea.

This area here is a place of pre-historic caves where clay Goddess figurines were found, dating back to the Neolithic Man. Here the Romans had built temples used to worship the Moon Goddess Diana, Selene and Isis. The temple priestesses watched the full moon rise on the waters of the Sea. The moon’s reflection shining on the water at this special moment created visionary images of moonlight and water where the Moon Goddess would reveal her mystical secrets. Even today at the right time of the year and during the full moon the Moonlight Visions are revealed to those who have the eyes to see.

This is where I live. The Naga Dragon energies of this land are powerful but are dormant and almost forgotton. The Catholic Church of medieval Europe created a dark veil between the spirit of the land and the people.

In the East there exists an image of the Dragon that carries a Pearl. One evening, when I first arrived in Menton I looked up at the full moon to see a Dragon in the form of a cloud. He was holding the moon like a pearl in his mouth.

Every day in the morning I offer a copper bowl of water with small lavender flowers to the elementals. As I do this, I can smell the salt from the sea on my terrace. The sunlight reflects in the water of the copper bowl. The mixture of sunlight, salted air and the faint fragrance of lavender creates the ambience for my communion of prayer and mantra. Subtle signs of nature respond to the Tibetan mantra that I sing:

E ho shuddhey shuddhey: May all karmas past, present and future, created by our misuse of the Element of Space, be purified. I visualize blue light streaming from my heart into infinity.

Yam ho shuddhey shuddhey: May all karmas past, present and future, created by our misuse of the Element of Air, be purified. I visualize green light streaming from my heart into infinity.

Bam ho shuddhey shuddhey: May all karmas past, present and future, created by our misuse of the Element of Water, be purified. I visualize white light stream from my heart into infinity.

Ram ho shuddhey shuddhey: May all karmas past, present and future, created by our misuse of the Element of Fire, be purified. I visualize red light stream from my heart into infinity.

Lam ho shuddhey shuddhey: May all karmas past, present and future, created by our misuse of the Element of Earth, be purified. I visualize golden light stream from my heart into infinity.

E, Yam, Bam, Ram, Lham, shuddhey shanaya swaha
May all the elements of nature also be purified.

A pigeon takes wings into the air and circles around me as I quietly chant. The subtlest winds begin to move the plants that sway mystically to my song. Every morning I greet the day in this way. I am thankful for my friend Rigzin who introduced me to this mantra. My heart is thankful for Lama Kunga who sang this chant with me over the Springs of the Sacramento River. We sang the chant over and over then with our breath we blew into our water bottles and poured the energized water back into the river. I could imagine in my mind the chant traveling down the river out to sea. This is a reality that is unseen or unnoticed by human eyes but it is felt and received in the subtle planes of nature.

I have seen the tangible blessings of making offerings. My girlfriend Susan has made offerings for many more years then myself. When she moved to Portland she began to make Naga Offerings at one of Oregon’s most polluted rivers. A few years later in the place she made her offerings a Water Purification Plant was built and a movement to clean up the river began. Never underestimate what your pure intentions and prayer can do, even when the outer world says otherwise.

I have witnessed the blessings of rains and a balancing of the elements of the enviroment take place after I have made pure offerings in an area. What is a pure offering? A pure offering is one that you does not ask anything for yourself but asks only for the blessing of all sentient beings to be healed and given to the Buddhas. I never ask for rain or snow or weather changes. It not about what I think should be done. I just make my offering and give my gratitude to those beings in nature that are behind the scenes. I ask for their enlightenment and their own evolution. I believe there are even Elemental Buddhas and Wise Ones in these Nature Kingdoms who can guide the course of Nature with compassion.

Do not look for signs or wonders when you are offering - just offer with a pure heart. Do not expect anything in return. But through the course of time you will see changes in how you offer and what happen when you offer. This practice takes time and dedication and non-attachment to results. I have been so blessed with the inner knowledge of this work. I can never express the gratitude to the ones who taught me and the invisible ones who guide me. We make offerings to bless this world. Continue your offerings to continue the blessings!

The Blessings of the Nagas

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My friend Susan introduced the Naga Practice to me in the year 2000. I remember one of the experiences that happened at the source waters of the Sacramento River in Mt. Shasta. We performed the practice of using mudra, mantra and offering but we also included offering the Naga Beings to the Buddhas and the Bodisattvas.

This is an important part of working with the Naga energies or any beings of nature because the Enlightened Ones have the compassion and the power to remove the suffering of the sentient beings. The invisible spirits of nature absorb not only the negativity of human thoughts and emotions but also the toxins of our enviroment. One needs the proctection of the Enlightened Ones as we do this work and it is an important part to remember when doing offerings of any kind.

This particular day of offering milk and honey into the river I had a vision of Kuan Yin with her vase as she was pouring the water of compassion onto all those who come into her Presence. But there was another feature of this vision, which was different from the way she is usually portrayed. Salmon were swimming upstream, returning into Kuan Yins vase as she was pouring the healing waters.

This vision had a deeper meaning. We are all being asked at this time on Earth to return to our own Source; this was symbolic for returning to the source of the river of life. The salmon make their way back to their breeding grounds, going against the very currents of the river. This image perfectly represents the reality of the soul that is being asked to go against the many, outer currents of this world to return to our Inner Source, where the stillness of the inner heart of compassion can be cultivated. These worldly currents are the currents of glamour and illusion.

When we practice this outer offering that we have commited to do each New Moon, we do this for more than ourselves. The outer offering is our prayer, our mudra and mantra. But our inner offering is the commitment of cleansing the emotional waters of our own life, our negative patterns that create toxic emotions that we need to purifie to live healthy and happy lives and as we do this it effects the world around us --- first like a ripple, then like a wave. It has taken years of offerings to the Nagas to give me this deeper understanding. I have traveled the World and offered in many places, both in the Far East and the Sacred Places of Europe. I realize this work is not for everyone: it is an ancient tradition almost forgotton. But I thank each one of you for holding this practice every new moon and for your commitment to do this work. May your efforts be blessed and may our waters be purifed.

Thank you
Raylene

Hina Nagashi

I have had a great interest in the Hina Doll tradition of Japan. The day of March 3 each year the Japanese girls celebrate Hina-matsun, the Doll Festival. When I visited Japan a few years ago it was during Hina-matsun. I was impressed by the beautiful Hina doll displays of the Emperor and Empress. I saw different styles of dolls - some very simply made of paper and more elaborate dolls complete with their stately court, food and flower offerings.

Andreas wanted to gift me with my own Hina Dolls that I later on packed carefully and brought to France. A few days ago I set up my dolls; I arranged flowers, cooked rice and sake around my doll display. But I decided to research what were the roots of the Doll Festival of Japan. What I found lead me into familiar territory.

The tradition began in the Heian period of Japan. It grew out of a tradition called Hina-nagashi that translates into Doll Floating. Small dolls would be fashioned of straw and placed in a little boat. The dolls would absorb the bad spirits that the person might carry. The boat would then be placed in a river to carry the dolls out to sea and free the person of all their bad luck.

The Shrine Shimogamo in Kyoto still celebrates this day, which is called Nagashibina. They float the dolls on the two rivers Takano and Kamo. But rather then leaving the dolls in the water they collect them and burn the dolls back at their temple because so many Hina boats were caught in the fisherman’s nets.

There are also foods that are cooked and served on this special day such as small crackers seasoned with soy sauce, amasake, a rice drink and clam soup. The clam soup is a symbolic food to peacefully unite a couple. Clamshells fit together very closely. But also only the original two shells fit together, which make a perfect match so the drink of this soup was used a blessing for couples.

What I found interesting in this tradition is that both the words Nagashibina and Hina-nagashi contain the word Naga. The origins of this tradition utilized the use of rivers and the sea, the kingdom of the Nagas. Nagashibina was a cleansing ritual of one’s negativity. They used the element of water that is symbolic of cleansing the emotions. The straw dolls acted as an offering to the Nagas. The ancient shamanic traditions often fashioned dolls or offerings formed of barley flour to transfer evil spirits out of the body of a person. My research of the Hina-nagashi tradition confirmed for me the emotional cleansing that can be brought about by making Naga offerings. This is an ancient tradition that has roots in many different cultures around the world.

(research source Wikipedia)

International Nagas

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I just got back into Europe and we were having a workshop in Belgium. We were on our second day of mantra practice and I slipped into visionary states. I began to have visions of how the Nagas/dragons manifest in different forms around the world.

I saw Kannon Sama, the Goddess of Compassion in Japan riding a great dragon in the sky. This image came to my mind as an ink painting that had been given to me by a Japanese girlfriend. The great power of the dragon is well known in the East. But this image represented power combined with compassion of Kannon Sama. The image makes me reflect that power should always be coupled with compassion otherwise it can be misused.


The next image appeared before my mind’s eye. I saw the shape of a dragon that appeared as the cracks in the cement in the walls of a building in Java. This building went though major destruction after Java’s big earthquake. The dragons and nagas are well known to shake their tail and the earth begins to tremble. They are the rulers of the earthquakes. I now reflect on the intense stress that this earth absorbs from the thoughts, emotions and actions of humankind. The build-up of this negativity needs to be released by nature sooner or later.

When I first saw a satellite image of the tidal wave that hit Thailand I noticed an image of an angry dragon in the image of the waves with an open mouth. Many countries of the East make offerings to the Nagas and Dragon spirits of the land, but as western materialism took over in these countries, the consideration for the Earth became less important and the Naga Spirits began to react.

Then Naga Queens of India manifested before my eyes as beautiful females whose lower bodies were the tails of a snake. My friend Jacquelyn shortly thereafter wrote to me and mentioned that she had just started a practice of Mandarava the Spiritual Consort of the Buddhist Master Padmasambhava who brought Buddhism to Tibet. Mandarava was a Princess of India She told me that one of the spiritual titles of Mandarava was the Queen of the Nagas and that there were stories of how she liberated the nagas, bringing them to enlightenment.

I paused and reflected about my own discoveries about the inner nagas representing the liberation of our negative feelings within emotional body. Was this the truth behind some of the stories of the Enlightened Ones who have had command of the Naga realm? Have they transformed their lower emotions to such a degree that the nagas within nature also have become liberated though their enlightened process?

My vision then drifted to the Temples of Bali where sacred spring water is gathered and believed to bless one with different virtues if one prays, make offerings and bathe in the water. The stone images of nagas were used as waterspouts from which fresh spring water streamed, to be collected in sacred pools for bathing. That summer I had visited and bathed in these pools and made many offerings in Bali’s sacred waters. It was a summer of a great emotional cleansing and the beginning of great transformation.

In vision I then saw the ancient Initiates of Egypt, those who wore the cobra crown. The serpent wisdom really is the pathway of the central channel as it traveled though the different chakras in the human body. Those who deserved to wear the cobra crown had been crowned with the wisdom of those sacred initiations.

The appearance of the curled dragon on the mound of San Michel in Northern France then appeared before my eyes. I had visited this sacred pilgrimage a few years before. San Michel is an ancient city build on a hill in the middle of sandy wetlands. The medieval builders boasted that they had the help of Saint Michael had who had conquered and killed the dragon of the land. But as I walked the pathway into the medieval city I found that the power of the green dragon still could be seen in the land as his scales became mossy rocks that spiraled around the villages’ walls. When I arrived in the cathedral in the crypt of the Black Madonna I found a rock-shaped yoni that most likely was used by medieval women as a fertility stone. When I finally arrived to the top of the castle walls I could look out and see wet sands surrounding the mound of San Michele. The sand mixed with water created serpentine shapes that shimmered silvery in the afternoon’s sunlight. However, beware of walking out in the sand! The ever-present quicksand of which the local signs warn you in three different languages just might swallow you up. The nagas and dragons still ruled the land of San Michel; they had not been killed, just tamed a little.

In my vision I then saw the rainbow serpent, Quetzacoatle, in the sky that settled at the feet of Our Lady Guadalupe of Mexico. Quetzacoatle is known as the winged serpent in the Aztec pantheon. He was the god of civilization and learning. He was a mythical prince that became an avatar for Mexico. Our Lady Guadalupe is known in Mexico as an aspect of the Black Virgin. But her origins are even older then the introduction of Christianity in Mexico. Her true origin was that of an Aztec Earth Goddess.

I have a friend Rigzin in whom many cultural currents have blended. He is steeped in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition and also had experience with Native American and Aztec spirituality. He had his own reflections of who the God Quetzacoatle might have been. He said that Quetzacoatle was a Naga who had the obtained rainbow body. Rainbow body is found in the Tibetan tradition. Rainbow body happens when a spiritual adept masters the very elements of his physical body. Then, upon the death of his body he or she is capable of transforming it into rainbow light. There are stories of Tibetan Masters who have manifested Rainbow Body, leaving behind just a few fingernails and a little hair.

My inner vision then showed me the great Amazon River in South America. I realized that South America had its own legends and rituals of working with the Nagas that were a part of their cultures. A few of those traditions involved the digesting of hallucinogenic plants that grew deep in the jungle. I saw the Naga Spirits that were crawling though jungle vines that wrapped around the trees. They could be dangerous to humans since their medicine revealed the dark inner mysteries of the unconscious mind and not everyone was ready to face their inner shadows so quickly.

In the last part of the vision the Naga Spirits revealed to me the lessons of attachment. They showed images of a python that was squeezing the life out of its prey. I realize that human attachment to one’s desire can be like a giant python. We become so attached to what or who we desire, that we can literally squeeze the life force from love in a relationship or the energy from a situation.

Then the last image I saw was the Caduceus staff with two entwined winged serpents that is used as a symbol by the medical profession. This is an ancient symbol for healing. This symbolic shape is found in the double helix that forms the DNA.The healing of the Nagas is both inner and outer. The inner healing is the transformation of our negative emotions that might poison others and ourselves - into wisdom and loving-kindness. The healing of the outer Nagas is the recognition that we are not separate from the water we drink, the air we breathe, the earth that we are nourished by through our food or the fire that warms us. The Nagas, being the Lords of both the water and the ley-lines of the earth, need our compassion in a world that has forgotten how to treat nature with respect. May we be able to transform ourselves inside and work together to honor Mother Earth on the outside.

Inner and outer Nagas

When we are performing the Naga offerings what is the deeper symbolic meaning of what we are really doing? The reflection of nature is an outpouring of the inner state of humanity. This is a reality if we understand it or not.

The dragon energy lives in the 4 elements ... earth, water, air and also fire. The Naga energy lives in the underground streams, the water ways and oceans. The element of water is the symbolic reflection of our emotional body.

The dragon-lines, the ley-lines, of this earth are the reflection of the two main channels of our kundalini system in our bodies. Now for most of humanity these channels are not recognized and not activated. The Naga system of the earth reflects the nadi system of the central channel of our bodies. When the spiritual energy of the kundalini is activated, we go though an emotional clearing in our own nadi or (naga system). The unprocessed imprints of our emotions from the traumas of our lives and also past lives begin to be cleared. When the earth is clearing the naga system it may look like flooding or earthquakes.

The Christian Church represented these lower parts of ourselves as the evil serpent in the tree of life. But the east has a more healthy attitude about these unprocessed lower energies.

There is a story of the great Tibetan master Padmasambhava who was meditating by a lake.
The Naga Goddess Lhu who lived in the lake kept disturbing Padmasambhava's meditation. He went to battle with the Naga Goddess and used all his magical powers and force to try to kill her, but everyday Padmasambhava grew weaker and weaker. Finally the Naga rose out of the lake with a look of wisdom in her eye and said, "You can't kill me". All of a sudden Padmasambhava understood the Naga's teaching: to try to kill the naga energy was like killing your own sexual and emotional process. It was at that point Padmasambhava understood the power of acceptance.

We also have the story of the Shakyamuni Buddha who was in a deep meditation under the bodhi tree. When it began to rain the Naga king and his subjects rose out of the earth and sheltered the Buddha from the rain.

This story is speaking about Buddha clearing his nadi system. He most likely was sitting in alignment with the ley-lines of the earth. This is why there are sacred places on pilgrimage routes all over the world. What makes them sacred is the ley-line electrical serpent energies. When we approach these places with the right frame of mind and meditation we can also be initiated.

The Buddhist texts refer to a the lifetime before Buddha's last rebirth when he lived in the Naga realm to receive hidden teachings. Some texts say that before any buddha can have higher enlightenment and enpowerments they need to take a rebirth in the Naga Realm for teachings. A tantric text talks about Maitreya Buddha, the future Buddha, living in the Tushita Heavens where he is studying the Naga teachings in a Naga Tree.

The old texts are shrouded in many mysteries, but maybe what was really being said in the above stories is: as we travel though the different spiritual enpowerments our final steps to a full awakening is the integration of our emotional bodies (the Naga realms0 with our awakening. This cannot be done though force or negation but though acceptance and transforming the emotional wounds we all carry in the process of being human.

When we fearlessly look at the wounding of our emotional bodies and allow ourselves to clear the traumatic in prints of our past, then we are touching our inner nagas. One way we clear our emotions is through our breath. We can do this though rebirthing techniques. yogic prana yama, or just mindfully watching our breathing rise and fall.

The first thing we want to do when we come across our emotional traumas is to stop. Therefore, we must allow ourselves to feel and watch our breathing, making sure we do not stop breathing. When we stop breathing we stop the process of feeling our negative emotion. You can feel this though the uncomfortable sensations that are held in the belly.

But if we allow ourselves to fully feel, to fully breathe we can begin to clear the stuck energies and let them rise into the spiritual center of our spacious heart. The heart is the great transformer of these energies. But we need to go deep into our spiritual heart. The outer regions of the heart chakra are our personal likes and dislikes, the way we armour ourselves from the harsh experiences of this world.

But deeper in the very center of our spiritual heart is the throne of God and that throne is spaciousness. When we allow though our breath to transform the stuck emotional energies though the personal heart, then we can be liberated from our past imprints. We can become free. When this happens it can feel like clean air or wind blowing though a hollow reed. What this air is the chi becoming unstuck.

It can also feel like a great serpentine power taking wings of flight. This is the meaning of the icon images of flying dragons, Buddha with the umbrella of cobras, and the medical image of two winged serpents around a staff.

This the true meaning of the outer Naga offerings we are performing each dark new moon. During the naga dark moon we offer our milk. We are asking to uncover our emotional wounds from the darkness of our subconscious. As the moon grows there is the possbility for our emotional wounds to be revealed. Our breath of life is a path to our liberation. When we liberate ourselves, we liberate others. It is an organic process.

Nagas folklore warn us not to let a naga breathe on us since we would fall sick. Their breath is poisonous. When we look at all the toxins we are throwing into our water at this point in time it is just the mirror reflection of humanity's emotional toxins we have not cleared as a collective.

The poisonous breath of our inner naga is our own emotional toxins (or stuck chi) that have not been cleaned and released. It is through deep breathing we can allow the wounded serpent to take wings of liberation. I have also found in the process of my own emotional healing that by practicing sit ups and crunches everyday the hidden locked up emotions in my belly can be released. When I finish my exercises, I allow my breath to clear what has come up in the process.

We are all in this process each new moon as we offer our milk and honey to the Naga Realms. May we allow the serpent take take wings of liberation. May we all be healed.