Stone Wisdom, Stone Memories

For me, the sense of smell can churn up an emotional response and memory faster than any of the other senses. My garden does that. As each plant comes into season, I have a response--a memory. Gardens are a great opportunity to work with the ancestors. Slipping back in time and listening beyond the here and now are easy if the senses are involved. I'm reminded that this year, 2009, is a mineral year in the Dagara medicine. The Dagara medicine is an indigenous medicine practiced by the tribes in Burkina Faso, West Africa.

The element is determined by the last digit in the number sequence of the year. A nine represents mineral energy. In Dagara medicine this is a year of RE-MEMBERING—going back to the original place within our limbs our very DNA back to the place of inception in the universe. It is the year to bring forward our molecular memory in story form in order to move us purposefully into the future. Working with Dagara mineral medicine is about connecting ALL THAT IS essentially bringing into being the wisdom of the ancestors.

Mineral is about communicating. It’s about the ability to translate things, the ability to converse. It has a lot to do with social connections. In the indigenous world mineral clans are the storytellers, the great communicators. They remind individuals of all the memory stored in the bones and the importance of minerals to the health and well-being of the human body. Mineral clan people are also recognized as stone people—not that they are stone but because the stone is seen as the one that stores information. (Visit Sobonfu Some's website for more information.)

Anastasia's description of the Russian Dolmens, from the Ringing Cedar series, rings true here as well as other stone structures that invite visitors to hear the wisdom-the story. I've discovered that every place I've lived has stone with messages--whether grains of sand or mountain tops all reveal the love that we are if we but listen, smell, taste, see, and feel.