HeatherAsh Amara - The Toltec Path of Transformation: Embracing the Four Elements of Change

The Toltec Path of Transformation

Embracing the Four Elements of Change

HeatherAsh Amara

Copyright 2012

by HeatherAsh Amara

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this work in any form whatsoever, without permission in writing from the publisher, except for brief passages in connection with a review.

This is a revised and expanded edition of The Four Elements of Change, 2010 CreateSpace

Cover design by Kathryn Sky-Peck

Cover art by Damaratskaya Alena/shutterstock.com

Hierophant Publishing

8301 Broadway, Suite 219

San Antonio, TX 78209

888-800-4240

www.hierophantpublishing.com

If you are unable to order this book from your local bookseller, you may order directly from the publisher.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012942550

ISBN 978-0-9818771-9-8

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Printed on acid-free paper in the United States

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May these words help all beings balance mind, spirit, emotions, and body and return to their authentic, divine center.

Introduction
Four New Allies

Chapter 1
Remodeling Your Inner House

Chapter 2
A New Dream, a New Path

Chapter 3
Air: The Art of Clear Perception

Chapter 4
Fire: The Art of Cleaning

Chapter 5
Water: The Art of Opening

Chapter 6
Earth: The Art of Nourishing

Chapter 7
The Fifth Element: Beyond Structure

by Vicki Noble

The four elements have been recognized and honored for many thousands of years, as can be seen in art and archaeological artifacts from the ancient civilizations of the Americas, Old Europe, Africa, the Middle East, China, India, and Tibet. There are probably as many ways of conceptualizing the four elements as there are different peoples around the world, yet the basic structure remains fundamentally the same. Calling in the water, wind, earth, and fire grounds us in physical reality while opening us in a sacred way.

Regardless of origin, pictorial representations from different cultures share a structure consisting of four sacred or holy beings arranged in the cardinal directions around a central figure or symbol. Some of the earliest Navaho sand paintings on record bear an uncanny resemblance, for example, to ceramic plates that are thousands of years old excavated from sites on the other side of the world in Iran. Similarly, a Navaho sand painting created at a museum in the Southwest in the 1950s depicts Whirling Rainbow People from Windway not at all unlike the Tibetan Buddhist concept of dakinis (female beings who fly through space) who, when invoked from the four cardinal directions and the center, come whirling in like vases of energy.

In the European tradition, the East represents the element of air and the dawning of consciousness; the Southern lands of the equator suggest fire and noonday passion; the Western ocean points to water and the nostalgic feelings aroused by the sunset; while in the North we see the earth element in the cold regions of the Arctic at midwinter. When Karen Vogel and I made the Motherpeace tarot cards in the late 1970s, we were working with this exact system. Modern shamans call in the directions in rituals celebrated on holidays, marking the days of the seasonal calendar that correspond to the same cardinal directions and their intermediary cross-quarter days.

The special gift of this book is the unique synthesis that HeatherAsh is able to make by blending everything she has learned about the elements over the course of her life as a Western spiritual seeker. Speaking directly to her peers, HeatherAsh translates the ancient system into a tool for these faster, more secular times in which we live, offering modern people a way of transforming their lives and releasing the obstacles that block their way to serenity and well-being. She offers advice and encouragement every step of the way, sharing stories from her own experience and observations from her work with students, grounding the teachings in the day-to-day struggles of real people in today's world.

HeatherAsh's approach offers an accessible path in these urgent times. The simplicity of it makes it possible for people to use the method in spite of being overwhelmed by other obligations. Imagine, if each of us could find his or her way back to the center of our own being with the help of the healing power of elements, we might generate peace and love on this planet! May it be so for every reader of this book, and may the principles and practices of the four directions be alive and well in our lives once more.

Blessed Be.

My gratitude goes out to the many people who have supported me over the years.

First, to my parents, Jerry and Maggie Gaudet, and to my sister, Christy, who held such a strong container for a childhood of adventure and travel. I love you.

Many blessings to my teachers and guides over the years: Vicki Noble, Cerridwen Fallingstar, Peggy Dylan, Ana Forrest, and don Miguel Ruiz. Don Miguel, I am so grateful for all of your teachings, deep wisdom, and friendship. Deep gratitude to my friend Gini Gentry for your amazing cheerleading and love and helping me find my own path.

To my first circle sisters, Autumn Labbe-Renault, Isis Ward, Saurin Shine, Sana Banks, Heather Wahanik, Aimee Carroll: Yes!

To all friendspast, present, and futurefor being teachers and inspirations, especially my favorite family and kids, Autumn, Craig, Rowan, Kyra, and Nash Labbe-Renault; Jesikah Maria Ross, Thom Sterling, the Normal family, and WEF.

Thanks and praise to the original Toltec Center board and teachers in Berkeley, California, including Ruth Masterson, Jordan King, Eleanor Mahood, Storm Florez, Francis Hayhurst, Kevin Flores, Audrey Lehman, Kim Christensen, Michele Murphy, Rachel Ohliger, and Dakini Kalhoff.

To my first Toltec family for being such beautiful mirrors, especially Larry Andrews, Ted and Peggy Raess, Chuck and Tink Cowgill, Francis Puerto-Hayhurst, Allan Hardman, Jules J. Frank, Ed Fox, Siri Gian Singh Khalsa, Stephen Collector, Rita Rivera, Gary van Warmerdam, Leo van Warmerdam, Barbara Simon, Niki Orrietas, Roberto Paez, Gae Buckley, Sheri Rosenthal, and Stephanie Bureau; Lee McCormick and all the family of The Ranch and Spirit Recovery; and many others: Que tu sol sea brillante.

Gratitude to the incredible team at Toci Austin and Global: Diana Adkins, River Menks, Nikko Bivens, Shiila Safer, Amy Zielinski, Mary Eck, Laura Toups, and so many more, past and present. You know who you are, and I am grateful. And to my fellow dreamers and creators at Wisdom University: Will Taegel, Judith Yost, Jim Garrison, Teresa Collins, and Bob Meyer. Thank you for teaching and sparking me in so many beautiful ways as we co-create conscious community.

Blessings to Randy Davila and the Hierophant Publishing staff for bringing this book back into publication for the second time. Randy, you are a wonderful role model, and I feel very blessed to be playing in this dream with you.

To T for your friendship, giggles, and our ongoing adventures and explorations, both in the kitchen and out in nature. To Stephen Seigel for being such an amazing dream wrangler, friend, and support over all these years. And a high five to Miguel Ruiz Jr. for your upcoming book and many more collaborations.

Overflowing gratitude to Raven Smith for your immense heart, love, and deep support. Dearest one, thank you for sharing your light and inspiring and catalysing me in so many ways.