Joseph Rael: An Earth Teacher for Our Times

Re-awakening our connection with nature

“We have fallen out of rhythm. To get back into rhythm we have to remember that we have to go back to the heartbeat of Mother Earth and Father Sky.”

Joseph Rael, known as Beautiful Painted Arrow, is a Native American shaman. Originally from the Southern Ute Reservation, Rael went to live in Picuris near Taos, NM, when he was 7 years old.

He was known to have visions and when he was 12, he started assisting the village holy man.

As a growing young man, Rael learned respect for the land and how to work with plants.

“At Picuris, our home was the ‘loving self-place’ and homegrown food from our vegetable gardens, fruit trees, wild berries and roots were all composed of the energies of this loving-self place…The food that we harvested and that we ate was spiritual food for the sustenance of the Infinite Self.”

Rael also developed a respect for language, which led him to go on to earn a bachelor’s and a master’s degree. He worked in the field of social work until he was 45, and then decided to contribute to society differently.

In 1983, Rael had a vision of building a Peace Chamber, a round structure for conducting ceremonies. Now there are over 70 chambers around the world, constructed with his guidance. This website (link) lists the current locations.

I learned about the Watersong Peace Chamber located in Saxapahaw, North Carolina about six years ago. It took some time, but I eventually went to check it out and have since attended several ceremonies and gatherings at the chamber.

The structure is white, round, and was constructed with quartz crystal between the outer and inner walls.

To see a picture of the Watersong Peace Chamber, you can visit their website: link.

Nature Teachings

In addition to working with people around the world to build Peace Chambers, Rael teaches children how to connect with the land. I watched a video of him drumming and showing school children how to integrate Earth and Sky energy into their bodies.

He says that the right leg is for the Earth, and the left leg is for the Sky. So, he chants as he dances and shifts his weight from leg to leg.

“That’s what I did with the kids today, I connected them to the Earth and Sky. And that’s what all teachers have to do, K-12, okay. The sooner we do that — first, second, third, fourth grade, then it doesn’t matter what you teach them after that, because that’s not what we’re here for. We are here to evolve.”

Rael teaches people how to work with nature. He sings to the plants. In one video (‘Part 1’ below), Rael pats a squash while it is on the vine, while he sings and dances.

He says that by interacting with our food while it is growing, we share our vibration with the plant, and then the plant is happy to become food for us. Being ingested by a human is a plant’s nirvana, Rael says.

“Gardening is a sacred journey. And when we dance to the plants, and we sing to the plants from this sacred altar…we are singing to ourselves because we are what we eat. We are the land, we are the sky. And when we are the sky we are not only [the planets], we are all the galaxies dancing with us inside of this little patch of place of the altar…You are in the garden of eden, you are in the garden of life.”

In most Medium articles I read, the objective is to distill a body of wisdom for readers and then provide some practices they can employ to improve themselves. I do this often in my articles.

In this case, however, I think it is important for each person to simply consider their relationship to nature. If you feel inspired, watch the videos below and discern for yourself what you think Rael is communicating.

For those interested in further reading, I include a list of his books below.

Part 1: Joseph Rael Beautiful Painted Arrow Teachings

Part 2: Joseph Rael Beautiful Painted Arrow Teachings

Further Reading — Select Joseph Rael Books

This is a list of the books I own. Rael has others available which you can check out on his site. I have found these to be enlightening. He also includes beautiful images of his artwork, which is healing itself!

These are all great. If I were going to choose only one, I would choose Sound. This book is so deep and has beautiful images of Rael’s artwork. It may take some time to get through and would be an excellent choice for contemplative reading practice.

• ‘Sound’
• ‘Ceremonies of the Living Spirit’
• ‘Being & Vibration’
• ‘Walking With the Cosmic Dancer’
• ‘Beautiful Painted Arrow Visionary Art Cards’

To know more about him and his works, you may visit his website Beautiful Painted Arrow.

Thank you for reading.

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