CABAN

Tzolk’in Date: 9 Caban-Ruler is Red. Blocker is Yellow. Gatekeeper is Neptune.

Meaning or common usage: Earthquake, earth force, season, thought, incense

Associated Qualities: Synchronicity, galactic alignment, Earth Keeper, in resonance with Mother Earth, meticulous, intelligent, introspective

Be in Nature, stay in harmony with Nature, it is you…Learn of Nature, then understand yourself.”…  Grandmother Pa’Ris’Ha

Are you in resonance with the Mother Earth? Caban is the day to give this some consideration.

Grandmother Pa’Ris’Ha is the obvious example to me of the power and character of Caban. She has often shared thrilling and intriguing stories of her early life in the Appalachian mountains with her own grandmother. They traveled on foot over the ancient pathways, assisting the backwoods folks who had all manner of ailments. They used what they found in the mountains for their cures– everything from maggots to leeches to roots and wildflowers. They lived the “old ways,” honoring all the gifts of nature.  For instance, when her Grandmother sought a crystal, she went to a cave where she knew they were located and SAT until a crystal “did give-away,” when in its own good time, it dropped onto the ground from the cave wall.  She did not hack it off with a hammer or churn the ground with a bulldozer.

But Grandmother also went to the Himilayas and studied in a Buddhist monastery where no other woman had been permitted. As her http://www.parishaonline.com states: Pa’Ris’Ha has been acknowledged as a Tibetan reincarnation of TARA, a Bodhisattva Buddha, by Rinpoche Kalu and a Bhutanese Rinpoche, T’sering Wangdi. His Holiness of Bhutan ordered a Stupa built for her (symbol of enlightenment, these holy monuments are designed with deep symbolism and sacred geometry – Filled with Buddhist relics, and other holy objects, stupas emanate blessings and peace) and has declared her director of his Dharma Center in the U.S. The Dharma center is located at Friendship Village in east central Ohio.

Grandmother has also told stories of time spent living with the Hopi, undergoing shamanic initiations as well as simply sharing their lifestyle and their lives. One of the stories entailed being tucked into the shape of a “cannonball” in a hole in the ground capped with a rock for several weeks. Many people would consider this experience downright impossible.  But during that time Grandmother said she experienced a total ecstatic sense of being “at one” with the Mother Earth. Aho!

I’ll never forget what I saw during one of my first trips with Grandmother to the “homelands” of the Cherokee in North Carolina. We drove to a place in the forest where we could park our cars near a beautiful rushing stream. When Pa’Ris’Ha got out of her car, hundreds of butterflies surrounded her.  They didn’t flock around anyone else, though there were plenty of others there.  Only her.

She has taught us that in all of nature, in every tree and every cloud, in the winds, in tornadoes and lightening, and in the Mother herself, there is an intelligence with which we can communicate. I have no doubt it is true and I appreciate the times I’ve walked with Parisha and seen her practice this art of communication and its been amazing. She is a consummate Earth  Keeper. She is a paradigmatic representation of the virtues of Caban!  (But then…..I could probably say that about her in regard to every day of the Tzolk’in!)

Many folks have had times when they have felt as if they were truly in communion with Nature. May we all pursue this goal with ever more vigor! The goal is our destiny….to be Earth Keepers.

The Earth Mother is calling.

Elizabeth/Du’Tsu/Spring Frog