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Welcome to "The Activate Change Podcast," where transformation is just a conversation away. Join Gabrielli LaChiara, renowned healer and creator of the LaChiara Method, as she guides individuals through powerful healing sessions. Alongside her, Chloë Faith Urban breaks down the frameworks and tools Gabrielli uses to bring deeper understanding to the profound process of healing. The episodes that are healing sessions offer an intimate front-row seat to authentic, raw, and real personal breakthroughs, spiritual healing, and emotional support, allowing you to see yourself in the journeys of others. Experience the power and magic of the LaChiara Method, learn practical tools for self-growth, and unlock your potential to activate change in your own life.
With the LaChiara Method’s deep commitment to collaboration and perpetual learning, some episodes will highlight conversations with other thought leaders, healers, and activists on the path to bringing healing, liberation and true equality to the world.
Whether you're seeking healing, inspiration, or a deeper understanding of yourself, this podcast is your gateway to a more rooted, resilient and radiant YOU.
To experience or learn more about the method go to: https://lachiaramethod.com
Chloe 0:00
Hey there. Chloe, here. Your Podcast co host, with everything so heightened right now, fear, stress, uncertainty, it's clear that self care isn't just nice to have, it's essential. And let's be real, a bubble bath just isn't always going to cut it. We know that when the world feels heavy, tending to your energy is just as important as anything else we do for ourselves. That's why we put together the ultimate self care bundle, a collection of the top five self care practices we use on the daily to clear our energy, boost our vitality and stay resourced in times like these, inside you'll get the golden rule to health, well being and happiness. Yes, it's a game changer, an energetic detox bath recipe that's way more than a bubble bath, a quick immune boost We swear by, and two other powerful tools to reset and recharge when you need it most. If you're feeling drained, overwhelmed or just need a real reset. Grab Your Free bundle at LaChiaramethod.com/podcast-bundle, that link is also in your show notes. We hope these tools support you as much as they've supported us. Now let's get on with the show. Welcome to the activate change podcast where transformation is just a conversation away. Some episodes drop you straight into the healing field itself, where you'll experience raw, unscripted healing sessions, where you're invited into the room with us, an intimate front row seat to emotional release, energetic transformation and profound awakening. All of these sessions are led by Gabrieli LaChiara, renowned healer and creator of the LaChiara Method. Others widen the lens through unfiltered and expansive conversations with thought leaders, healers and change makers, exploring what it really takes to grow, heal and live with integrity, resilience and joy in these unprecedented times. Most of these conversations will be led by me, Chloe faith, urban. I am the co director of the LaChiara Method, and also have a private healing practice of my own. This isn't just a podcast, it's a come as you are, cry if you need to permission to be human kind of space, we're not here to fix you. We're here to walk the wild, wacky, beautiful path of life with you, one messy, magical step at a time. This week's podcast episode is incredibly special to me. I'm honored and overjoyed to share a conversation I had in the fall with one of my beloved mentors, Arrowhawk, also known as James Goodin, a Cherokee elder. I was introduced to by another dear mentor, Melody over New Year's last year, my partner, Melody and I traveled to the Ozarks to visit arrow hawk and his wife Lora, at their beautiful red road to Wellness Center. What unfolded there was life changing in ways that are still integrating the depth of care, compassion and grounded spiritual wisdom that flows through arrow Hawk is undeniable, and the healing that I received from being there was so life changing that I can honestly say there's the me before I went and the me after. As you listen to this conversation, I invite you to go beyond the words, to feel into the energy of the exchange. Let yourself receive the invitation, the presence, the transmission that comes through simply by being in his field. Here's a little more about James before we dive in. James is a retired Army native veteran who served in Vietnam. He returned home forever changed following the native healing of sweat lodges, herbs, diet and ceremony, he was able to get his own healing back on track, wanting to give back to all those who suffer mental and physical problems. His journey took him to working for the state mental hospital and then onto the VA as a surgical technician. Retiring from the VA he was free to set up his dream of a wellness center that would help the body, mind and spirit. Currently, Jim and his wife Laura are the owners of the Red Road to Wellness Center located in the beautiful Ozark Mountains of Missouri. And just a quick note about the recording, we had a few technical hiccups, so you'll hear that this conversation happened over the phone, and the audio isn't quite as crisp as some of the other interviews. There's also a brief break midway through where we had to pause and return to the conversation another day. It may feel a little chopped at moments, but I chose to keep it this way so as not to lose. Lose the nuggets of wisdom that happened around the bumpiness. I hope you feel as touched and nourished as I was in this exchange. Let's dive in.
Chloe 5:15
I am so deeply honored to welcome arrow Hawk to the podcast. Thank you so much for being here with us today,
Arrowhawk 5:26
and thank you for welcoming me. It is minority as well.
Chloe 5:32
I have had such the honor and privilege to be on your land and experience time with you there in the Ozarks, and I can honestly say that it feels like there was my life before that time and my life after that time, and how much transformation and healing and love and laughter was shared in that time with you was really transformative, and I'm honored to be able to share just a bit of your your wisdom and presence with our audience and community. So I'm forever grateful for our relationship and for your mentorship and guidance, and very much, very much looking forward to this conversation and this journey together today, I'm I'm wondering if you wanted to start with any sort of prayer, to open the space together, to just land us in this in this energy. I know this will be a conversation I know also just the nature of being around you is very much of like letting Spirit lead and finding our way in and through this journey together. So I'm curious if you would want to land us in that way.
Arrowhawk 6:50
Well, you say a prayer, you know, a small prayer to our creator for allowing us to be on this planet today, enjoying the air, water, all these things that surround us, I just thank that creator for so much and bringing you and other people here to fulfill my mission, I hope you say, when you say a prayer to the Creator, it's, it's, you have to be, you know. You have to be in the heart and the mind together, and the result is always a beautiful thing. Any prayer that we say, we use our heart and our mind, it means something. You know, it's not just words. You know, there's an energy going out with it. Best I can say about opening up with a prayer.
Chloe 7:59
So resident, so resonant for me and and, you know, something that I've known but felt like it was just re, re inspired and reawakened in me, is that I would say, you know, being with you for me to feel the presence, to feel the the that deep like faith I hear in that when you're saying that of what it is to to be in prayer space, to live from the heart and and to have a deeper faith in something greater than just our human form and just what's happening in just this 2d 3d dimensional reality of physical life. And I'm curious to hear from you, and you really take this however you want to go with any of my questions, but I am, I am curious. What is it to hold faith in this time for you to to hold all that we're sitting with as a human species at this time. I mean, in so many ways, a lot of people are saying, Oh, my goodness, this is like the worst of the worst. And yet, I know, especially for indigenous peoples and many peoples all over the world. You know, genocide and horrific wars have been happening forever, and I'm curious how you feel like faith and connection to spirit, how it influences, or how we can hold that in times of deep challenge like it seems like we're facing here, at least in the United States, at this time. I'm curious, but what you have to share about that?
Arrowhawk 9:47
Well, you know, we you started off with the faith, my belief is strong. You know, you put those two together and you come up with knowing. It so the sacred Trinity, again, the three, you know, mind, body, spirit, you know. So that that's the beginning of it. The question was, how does that work with me?
Chloe 10:20
How does that? How does that influence you? And also, how do we, you know, those of us that are here and that are on the planet at this time, how does having faith and how does awakening to that sacred Trinity in our own selves? How does that actually support holding devastation and war and challenges and all that we're facing and looking at, particularly in this country, but also the world right now.
Arrowhawk 10:50
You know, I've always been a person of very few words. I can say a whole lot in just a few words, and my word is connection. When humanity loses connection to the earth, everybody around them, you become isolated. And become isolated, you build a shell, and the shell bounces off other shells, and pretty soon you have this chaos. The Native people have been dealing with this stuff for years and years, you know, it's no new thing. There was, there was differences among the tribes. It was differences, you know, it's a humanity thing. You got more than me. I want it, you know, or whatever the the illusion of scarcity brings, yes, how I deal with this present, and then I try to pass that on to people. Hey, you know, we're human. We do it, we make mistakes, we we pick ourselves up, we learn from it, we do it again. You know, shame on me. That's that's what I'm from with and, you know, and doesn't matter, where are you at it. And what I mean by that is, I don't care what color your skin is, what your blood is, we're all human, and that's where we kind of start. Your connection between the human, the earth, divine, you know, if it's everything comes in threes, kind of a while. If that helps to answer your question, it does. But, you know, it's got a lot of heart there. When you have heart, then you have the rest, you know, yeah, it all flows together, right?
Chloe 12:27
Yeah, yeah. Absolutely.
Arrowhawk 12:31
Without Rain, the river wouldn't flow, right?
Chloe 12:34
Without Rain, the river wouldn't flow. So true.
Arrowhawk 12:37
You got to have the lightning and the thunder and, you know, those things to promote. You know what? You know, hey, where we at will we do it. What can we do for each other? Not can what we can take from each other? You know, I get this 40 acres down here in the Ozarks, and, you know, it's, it's sure it says my name on the paper, but it doesn't belong to me. It belongs to the earth, and I belong to the earth. So everybody comes here can walk on land that it's like their land. You have that feeling, you know, and there is an energy that put on this property that welcomes people of open heart and open to to to healing and open to listening.
Chloe 13:29
That's such a powerful reminder. And I think that there's so much that's designed in this world to keep us disconnected and just Yes, that the simple words of like, wow, connection, right, connection, connection to earth, connection to each other, connection to our heart, connection to divine, connection to spirit.
Arrowhawk 13:54
And how do you get your The next word is, how do you get your connection? Yes, that is through ceremony. Yeah, you can, you can get a cup of coffee and and ask that coffee to do the best can for you water or whatever. And that's the ceremony in itself. And you're recognizing the beauty in that and respect for that. Ceremony can be done at any moment. So, you know, of course, there's ceremonies that we do, you know, for like the sweat lodge and things like that. You know, OC Am I, which helps bring people back. You know, it helped 1000s of clients down in Florida with with drug problems. And, you know, self esteem, and that's where it all was. It had no self. That ceremony brought him back to that. They brought him back to themselves and connection.
Chloe 14:52
Yes, just such a it's like simple words and yet, such a powerful thing to sit. With and be with, like, wow. What is it to be in ceremony together in a circle being held and guided in in ceremony to reconnect with ourselves? I'm curious, you mentioned the sweat lodge ceremonies and and also working with addiction. I'm curious to hear the sweat lodge, in and of itself is, you know, I learned some about it when I was there and in lodge with you and hearing about how that all works. But I'm curious for you to share a little bit more about the ceremony itself, how will it connect people back to themselves, and then, what's the sort of the arc healing journey after that? How does that integrate and actually move deep in a deeper way, and deeper healing to help people? Yes, with addiction, because I want to hear more about that too. But also, I know there's plenty of people that are just struggling, or not even struggling, with themselves deeper, and I'm curious how that sweat lodge ceremony, how that helps With connecting ourselves back to ourselves.
Arrowhawk 16:17
Wow, okay, yeah, you was when I came back from Vietnam in 1971 I was back about, oh, let me see, maybe six months, and I heard about a sweat lodge. And so I said, I'm going to try that, because, you know, I had these issues from, you know, guilt and all that stuff from, from Vietnam, and so I attended that, and there was a Lakota ceremony, and it really scared me, a warrior, I just come back from, from a place that, you know, not easy to come back from. And so I thought I was tough, but, you know, it showed me. Ceremony showed me who I really was. You know, you're human. You're a warrior as well, but also human. And like I said, it scared me so much that I stayed away from it for about a year, maybe two years. I had to get my stuff together, you know, I guess so I had to go back. Affected me so much. I got to do this again. So I went back. And I was a man on the Missouri River that was doing lodges, you know, but once a week, and so I started fire tending for him, and got me introduced to the No, not just the fear of the lodge, but the respect of the lodge. And it started my path. I thought, wow. And so I firetended For many years, and then one day, the fire tender. I mean, I'm sorry the poor didn't show up and they asked me to pour. And I thought, or I'm just a bartender, but you know, the divine. I didn't know, what am I going to say, you know, and so I didn't have to worry about it. Divine was right there with me, and I knew the power of the Divine, you know, by being going last door of every Lodge. You know, being a bartender, I always went in on the last door and got that feeling. And man, it was so great. And then they asked me before, and it's that scared me again. But make a long story short, that's, that's where I got my start. And, you know, it was people I had said word to them that brought cheers to their eyes and and, you know, what were you? How did you know this? And, you know, and I'm going, I don't, you know, I only do what I'm led to say in there, you know, it's not me talking, you know, and and I've kept that all these years, you know, like doing this for over 30 years now, and it hasn't changed. So the same, you know, it's that, the love that you feel in that life. Sure, it's intimidating at first, but by the time your lodge is over, you you're you feel your love, you feel yourself, you feel your connection. And that's what happened to the folks in Florida that rehab. Were very fancy rehab. There's some Hollywood people there. Can't mention any names, but they got affected by that Lodge. I see them on TV every so often. They go, huh? Yeah, still doing good. You got off that alcohol. Most of them had alcohol issues. Anyway. I just know it works, and it works for anybody. It doesn't matter if you're an Indian native, what blood you are, or where you come. You got two legs, you walk, you eat, you breathe, come in the lodge. You know I like you. Chloe, I didn't know you heard, you know of you, and you know I told about you, and came here, I met you, and I saw the energy in you that you know you're you're a healer, you're you. You do what you see you're going to do, and I'll. A divine to proceed with that. You know, you're that in connection, and I see that people are you? Wow, that's cool.
Chloe 20:10
So thank you so much for sharing that. And you know, just listening is actually it's like moving me to tears in that that remember, the remembering of that feeling, and also that it's not just a remembering. It's a, it's a it's something that I've taken with me, and that, you know, those four or five days after the lodge and we spoke, I mean, we were together day in and day out, you know, all together there, and being able to be in conversation about that arc after, of like you're in the lodge, and then it's those days after, as it integrates. I was going through so much of so many different of my life, and it felt like there was some that was having to fluff off or detox away or melt away, that was blocking me from being in my true self. But also, then there was all this stuff that felt like I was waking up to or actually realizing, or was it remembering? Was it calling in? Maybe it was both to keep happening all at the same time, but it was such an incredibly powerful journey. So it's, it's the lodge itself, and then it continues. Can you speak about that, that continuation, and those, those the four days after, but then what's actually happening? What have you seen happen over the over that arc of time?
Arrowhawk 21:39
Well, the the largest, I like to purchase it as Hotel California. Sometimes you can check out, but you can never leave. It stays with you. The clients down south, you know, any minute comes here. They say, Well, where can I find the logic, you know, they went to Missouri. I say, Well, I don't know, but, you know, you check out and find a good, good, reputable person that's in the helping people, not, not showing off. Then, then, then you got the right one. I says, but you'll always have this with you. This will never leave you. So that's, that's that, that aspect of it, and then it, when you in particular, it opened up a lot of doors that you even shut.
Chloe 22:30
Yeah, sure did,
Arrowhawk 22:33
yeah, kind of slams them open sometimes, you know? And that's when the realization hits you. Oh, okay, yes, now I can deal with this. Yeah, I either eat it or don't, you know, if it serves me, I keep it. If it doesn't, then I need to to trickle it away. Yeah, I'll have to be mean about it. But sometimes you have to get firm with yourself and things, you know, take that step Elijah's got, it's got, you you know, it's gonna carry you through that step. And you know, like said, being being around, you know, people that help other people, it's always good, you know, because, you know, we're I used to have people come here. I called it have a gathering once a year. And I called it gathering of the Eagles, which means that help people need help, sometimes themselves, and so come here once a year, we'll get together, we'll share our medicines. We'll get in the lodge. We'll all rejuvenate. We're done. We go back out into the world. And how I figured that out was I had a woman that said, My I'm boss at this at the correctional facility, and all my people tell me to come down here and do logic, because when they come back, I'm a different person. It helps you. So they tell me to come down here and do and do sweat. Okay? So yeah, it does. A lot of avenues in it, in that medicine, in that in that ceremony. You know, ceremony is a medicine, and
Chloe 24:13
so resonating with the gathering of eagles and the importance in our work, Gabriele and I talk about, like, the importance of healing, the healers, and how easy it is as someone who's in a helping profession, whether it's a healing profession or profession, might be the wrong word, but you know that someone is here to be helping on the planet in some way, shape or form, in service of others, and how Intense that can be, and the propensity for utter burnout and depletion and running ourselves raw and ragged, and not resourcing and and how important that is to support the healers and helpers of this world. That's such a deeply shared mission that I'm so moved. Hear you speak about this gathering of eagles and the importance of that. And I want to go back to this piece around the ceremony can be done at any moment. So we have the lodge, and, yes, the lodge and a ceremony like that can be one of those tectonic plate shifters that is really deeply transformative and restorative and helps us. You know, it's a real it's a bigger ritual and ceremony. And then there are the smaller ceremonies that can be done with intention, anytime that we can create those in our lives and weave that into our daily life as a reminder, as a as a connector, as a resourcing, reminder to be in in communion and connection, bring us back to connection. Can you speak a little bit more about that as healers and helpers, like, how? How can we weave that consciousness? So yes, we might be able to go out and do a bigger ceremony or a sweat. And then, how do we actually weave these smaller ceremonies into our lives in a way that helps us sustain that deeper, reset and refuel that might come from the bigger experiences.
Arrowhawk 26:10
Another word reminders. Each ceremony is a reminder of who you are, what you're doing and where you're going. There's a simplicity in nature, yet there's a intricacy in nature. You know, like birds, they fly, they do this, they do that, they build nests that are round, okay, where's that come from? So it all boils down to that reminder. You know, we're connected. We go out and help people doing that daily ceremony, whatever, no matter what it is, long as you know you can't you consider it a sacred thing, a thing you do to honor all things. We're just one little green of sand on the beach, but without us, the beach wouldn't be there, right? The sand would be gone, right? Because we're the sand. That makes any sense to you or not, but that's, that's one of my little analogies. They come to me in many, many ways, you know, and some of the greatest people ever walked the planet, they were well aware of those, and they used them. They were always divinely given. Where'd you get that? At source? What's source all around you? The guy do is know it's there, therefore your ceremony all interconnected, my dear, all interconnected, simple but yet intricate. The tree roots touch each other all the way to the end of the forest as above, so below, all these words of wisdom that's been given to us, we just need to take the time to to examine it, see where it leads you to, because It's your your path, your journey. And beautiful thing. Everyone has their own journey that respect there has to be there. You can't say that I'm better than you. You can say you're better than me, but you know you can say that doesn't mean I have to listen to it, because I know who I am, but I respect you for you, always reciprocal, you know, like the engine, one piston, next one next to the next one. In a divine order of timing, timing is important too. We think it is anyway. But you know, in divine timing is an option.
Chloe 29:03
I'm being reminded of something that we talked about over, you know, one of our many meals, and in the way in which you were speaking about this. Can't remember exactly how you put it, but almost there's the source, and we're each plugging in into our own unique way, but it's all plugging into the same thing, and I see that almost like different facets of the same source energy.
Chloe 29:35
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Arrowhawk 30:35
You know our divine our divineness loves humor as well, you know, yes, and that's, that's a good part of learning and sharing messages is, you know, with a little bit of humor in there, and it kind of feels better than like this is, if you don't listen to me, you're gonna go to hell and damnation. Sorry, no, don't work that way with me. Yeah, my Cherokee blood says, no, no, there ain't no such thing. So, you know,
Chloe 31:07
I feel like there's so many people right now because of the way the world is and the devastation and suffering and in this particular country, a lot is crumbling and and I feel like there's so many people that feel like being joyful or playful or humorous or tapping into that energy, they feel guilty for it, or like they shouldn't, or like we need to stay really serious and really in tune with the suffering. And yet I found in certainly spending time with you that that humor and joy and laughter is part of the medicine, and I'm curious for you to speak about that medicine of joy and laughter and play.
Arrowhawk 31:54
Yes, and you know, as you were speaking about the turmoil and the chaos and suffering in the world, you know that is all from disconnection, you know, and and the illusion of guilt. Because, you know, we're brought up in a, I guess, an upbringing of, you know, if you do this, this happens. If you do that, this happens. But no consequences are one thing and but, but telling people, you know things that we quite don't understand, that that leads to a lot of guilt. And when you have chaos, you have guilt, and you have anger and you have all sorts of negative energy. I can use an example of the native people. You know when, when our lives changed? You know, we didn't, we didn't have a guilt. We had a suffering. And the people that did that, they had the guilt. And we have overcome that, that that suffering by, you know, adapting, moving into the society, that it's present, and still holding our traditions. That's, that's the other piece. Most people have lost their traditions and luster. You know, connection is a is a ceremony in itself. And you know, you get up in the morning, you breathe, think the air and all that. And you know that's a ceremony in itself. And that's you do that every day, you'll have your connection. If, if we could all focus on, let's see. I have a I have a 30, add six, if I can take out 10 people, okay. On the other hand, I have a garden hole, and I can plant 10 rows of potatoes and share it with my neighbor. Because you're connecting to the earth. You're not connecting to anything with a rifle, I think, but you talk about the Earth, you have a connection. And then, much rather, plant 10 rows of potatoes. So when you think about getting angry with people, just think about planting a garden.
Chloe 34:12
I love that redirection. Yes, well, yeah.
Arrowhawk 34:16
Well, I mean, you know, it's a it's a positive way of and the earth loves it. And then you're paying attention to the earth and say, Oh, well, you know, if I keep throwing my trash around, I won't have any place to grow garden anymore. So it all, it all works out. You know, the native people were kind of the cleansers of the earth at the time. You know, they they used everything. Didn't waste much. Their trash pits were bones and things that they never could use, and they covered them up, you know, and they moved on down the whenever the flies got too bad, they moved on out in the creek. And I wish you know, so they were kind of like stewards of the earth. And so we had that same choice, you know, the answer to all that stuff, those who want to rule, control and dominate, but you don't have to buy. Into that, you know. You know, as Native people have been looking at that domination for a long time, and I choose to look, not to look at it, you know, I'm don't dominate me. I'm free. I'm free, and everybody else is too. Everybody's free in this country. But I'm getting off on a tangent there, I better quit.
Chloe 35:26
No, I know I appreciate it. Appreciate it. You you cut out for like a one second of that, speaking about domination, but what I'm hearing you say is that even in, even in a society where domination is, is, in a lot of ways, leading, leading, or is, you know, huge, prevalent all over the place that you're saying there is, there is a way to be free, even if there's domination all around I'm So curious, because in I know, in a western mind, a lot of people might be like, Well, what do you mean? What do you mean? How could you say that we're all free if we're being dominated? And I'm curious if part of what you mean by that is, is how we where we plug in and and how we relate to the domination, and how we relate to the earth and and community plugging into a different station than the domination, is that part of the freedom?
Arrowhawk 36:30
Well, you know, in between the earth and in the sky, there's a lot of space, and so you're all in that space no matter what's going on around you. And that's one way to look at Freedom. Everybody's confined in under the in this air, right? We without it, we wouldn't live. So we are dominated by the air. You can look at it in that, in that respect, and see, well, there's a beauty in that. But somebody tell me what I can do, what I can't do, that's a different story. Then we have to look at why we can't do that, and why is it not good we look seven generations down the road in our decisions, we would, we would see that what we need to do, what we don't need to do, how's it going to affect our future? You know, in Domination, you can still do that. You can still live your live your truth. Everybody has that choice. So everybody has that so I say everybody has that freedom. You know, choices of freedom.
Chloe 37:37
I would love talking with you, because you say it so simply, and yet I feel like it's such a profound shift in consciousness to look at the world that way. I feel like there's so so many of us are living in the victim mentality, or like I don't, I don't have a choice. What do you mean? What do you mean? I have a choice to be in freedom when there's domination, you know, and and to feel the opening that comes in, at least in my consciousness, to say, Wait, what? Okay, freedom. What does freedom look like? What does that mean? How do we plug into that energy of freedom, even, even when there's domination or power over happening out in the world and or in our families and communities, and we're seeing horrific things happening. But there is also the energy or pulse of freedom there as well.
Arrowhawk 38:31
Yeah, you can look at freedom as being a great big wheel, right? And it's our freedom around this wheel, and we have little spokes, and we're the center, and our little spokes go out. So all these different levels of freedom, I'm free to do this, I'm free to do that, I'm free to do this, you know, and so kind of like the medicine wheels, power circle. And so we look at, we can look at freedom in that, in that respect, and still be under the thumb, you know, so to speak. I mean, you know, we want to, I want to treat people as human beings, because that's what we are. And you know all of our deities, you know, all of our great, great teachers, all have been very understanding, and this is how you do it. You know, it doesn't say this is the way. It says you're through the way I do things. All you got to do is just follow what I do. If it feels good, do it. But like I said, where we go back to freedom again? I mean, I guess doing that feeling would be efficient to go in a tank or something. I guess there's a freedom in that,
Chloe 39:44
right, right? I am curious you spoke to the medicine wheel. I also am feeling to bring in the feather medicine that you do. I have the profound fortune of being on your massage. Able and receiving, receiving from you, and it was so incredibly powerful. And was able to be in the room to witness you working with others. And I'm, I'm curious for you to share about that work. You know what it is, and also how it impacts people, and why you feel like that's an important part of your mission on the planet,
Arrowhawk 40:24
yeah, yeah, the feather medicine kind of came to me by me being in a place that a man from Mexico was doing some work on a lady, and I just happened to be there, and I had heard about feather work, you know, feather medicine down south and then up in the South Dakota up there, the tribes up there that use them. And so felt like, you know, might be interesting. So did a lot of checking in on how they used them in different techniques, and different feathers do different things. And so I thought, okay, if I'm supposed to do this medicine, and then I need to have tools. And so woodpecker is a really, really good tool. And so I said, I need, I need some woodpecker feathers. And went to a powwow sitting there, and a lady walks up and hands me an envelope and says, I'm supposed to give these to you. And she walks away, and in that envelope was a bunch of woodpecker feathers. Well, that's how I knew that there was, there's something there. I better, I better pay attention. You know, you know, you get that little thing, you better, better pay attention. It's always worked, you know, if you try to question it, you know, don't question it too much. You need to get the spiritual two by four, so to speak. But, but getting back to getting getting back to the work, there's a bit of humor for you, the woodpecker. Let's start with that one. Like I said, it it pecks on the tree, and then as it pecks, it breaks through the bark, and it gets the insect, or whatever's after, and you the result. See a bunch of holes in a tree, but, but in the medicine, the woodpecker breaks up things in the body. It's like it's pecking the wood, and that's made mainly the main medicine of that. And sleep with the feather to move that energy out after you break it up. And then the hawk feathers, or tail feathers, they drain water. You know, when it rains, the water falls off the back of the tail, and so we use those as to drain things from the body. The different hawks have different sparrow hawk is fast, the red tail is helps with the beauty and training. Anyway, many, many different birds do different things to in this work. And then you're guided by the way you were taught, you know, you were shown. And then you and then you work with it. I was shown to hold the feathers a certain way. And one day I was working, and then my hand just turned down. I didn't I didn't move it. I could feel it being moved. And I went with it, and it seemed to work a lot quicker and more effective. And I went, thank you. It was divinely given. It's not me that's doing anything. I'm just like a hollow bones. Whatever is happening is happening. You know, by My Spirit, by by the Divine Healing, that that space that we all live in I was talking about, that is the divine. And, you know, and we're all living in the Divine. So, wow, what a concept, huh? Yeah. So, so we draw into it, you know? And that's what the native people, they understood nature. They understood the birds. It's hard to really describe. Well, you know, you'd be somewhere meditating, and all sudden you get this, Oh, wow. I could have had a v8 you know, or something like that revelation. And that's the Divine is working with your higher self. As the ancient teachers always said, you know, the Divine is within you and around you. So when you understand that and accept it, I think, therefore you're on your path accepting and because, well, I'm not worthy of that boy. What do you mean? Worthy? You just stand there and hold the feathers and ask for healing for this person. You know, I think that unworthiness is, what do you call those illusions? Yeah. Because we're not. All of us are worthy. You know, getting into that down and realizing it and accepting it, that's the two things that hold people back. Well, why do I deserve it? Now you were born. Okay, let's start there. Food is given to you. Why they didn't have to. Could let you sit on in the crib, you know, but no, so you must be worthy of something, right? Okay? And you're allowed to breathe, you're allowed to learn, you're allowed to think, you're allowed to voice your opinions. So readiness is, I guess, a concept in the individual. And really does not mean you got ego the size of the train. It just means that you know who you are and understand that, and everybody else has got the same space in their head, you know, and around them, and, you know, allowing that, if it's all about part of that being present in the moment with whoever you're working with, or whatever you're doing.
Chloe 46:07
So beautiful. There's so so many different layers here that I'm hearing, but I loved experiencing and feeling the different energies of the different feathers, and I didn't know 100% like you hadn't. We hadn't gone through and you hadn't told me every single feather and what it did, but to feel the different energies that were being offered in and to feel how my body and energy field was responding was so powerful and like the invitation that was there that I could feel coming through the feathers, coming through you, coming through that space. And what it what it awakened or opened in me, or what was ready to clear or drain out of my body. It was such a incredible dance, and so unexpected. What came up for me, at least like it always fascinates me when you have for me, someone who's done a lot of healing work in my life and had many, many sessions for many, many different people. It was, it's so incredible to me that sitting there with the feathers, with you, with the people that were in the room, that that particular piece came up for me, and I'm really loving you, actually explaining the different offerings that come with the different energies of each of the feathers, I will say, probably the thing that was, I mean, there's so many things for me, so healing to me and be in conversation with you, it's kind of ridiculous, but there's something I just want to acknowledge and honor in you, as how much you really See the humanness in every single person, and the gifts that are there, and that there was confusion in me, quite honestly, about being a white woman who does healing work in the world and and to come and to be so enveloped with love and welcoming and and to feel so seen by you, it felt like it opened something in me, not that I wanted permission or needed permission, but I guess I sort of felt like that, that I I was confused by my own relationship with the healer self of me being in the body that I'm in. And I'm curious for you to talk a little bit about like, what it is to especially being in a white body and being so disconnected from my cultural roots, you know, not living on the land of my ancestors, like so many of us here, aren't connected in that way to the earth and to our ancestors And to the culture of our ancestors, and yet, here, there's your people and the indigenous people that have been here for 1000s of years and are still here holding those ancient ways. What is it for us as white people, to honor, to hold to respect, to support you all in that and also, what is it for us to connect in with our own spiritual selves?
Arrowhawk 49:07
Let's start at the beginning again. Color. Color is optional. The color of the skin is optional. But the divine doesn't care what color you are, you know, whether you're white, black, green, yellow, it doesn't, doesn't matter. First of all, that's my take on it and worthiness. You know, some a lot of the the white folks did know a lot of things that went on in Europe and over here. You know, is always conquering and pillaging and killing and all that stuff. So a lot of guilt came with the people that came, you know, a lot of that stuff. That's why the persecutors are persecuted. Became the persecutors. But getting to what you were saying, but doing the work, doing spiritual work, are. Doing medicine work is is totally you. It doesn't matter where you come from, what color you are. You know, when you feel that you can help someone, are you? Then that's a sign if you just go around live saying, Oh, I just have a hamburger instead. You know, that's you're not supposed to do it. But if you feel it, you know, then you know there's a, there's something going on, and whole population that can't do that. So there's a, there's those that do feel that, and those are the ones that are called to help other people and the respect of just being one of those that, you know, hey, may sound crazy, but I want to help people. Why is it crazy? It's not you that is your calling. And it's like some guy can, can cut wood and make, make cabinet, beautiful stuff. That's, that's, that's what he did right, that was his calling. And so there's no difference in his calling than our calling, and you just understand that. And your worthiness comes with that knowing. You know that the knowing brings a lot of questions and doubts up front, where you can deal with them and toss them to the side, you know, do I need this in my life? No, okay, bye. Do I need this in my life? Yes, okay, we'll hang on to that one and same. When I'm working with people with feathers, I have a you've ever been in an operating room, they have all their I was a tech for a while, a long time, and they laid out instruments, and then they worked with what they needed. Hand me a pair of scissors, whatever. They can't render all the names, but anyway, the same with the feather. You you go, you look at them, and okay, that one feels like I should use this okay. And so it's all by divineness. I mean, of course, you know what woodpeckers are going to do. You know what this one's going to do, but the rest of it that might be hummingbird feathers sitting there. Well, this person needs some joy. Okay, what is? What is Hummingbird joy and movement? You know, if you're if you're sad, then you're not moving. Become stagnant. So bring a little joy into your life, and hey, you'll start moving around. Let's go dance, or let's go do this, you know, I think you, you ski a lot, right? There's a joy, yeah? It's just kind of like that, you know. And you just have to, you know, don't come from the go, come from heart, like, I guarantee it, yeah, every culture, I don't care. You know, every culture had their own way of bathing, you know, in the water, and they also heated rocks to cleanse themselves before battle or before this, before that. So every culture has has their own ceremonies. And, you know, I'm lucky to be close to where I don't know the ceremonies here, say, a guy that's Irish, he has to go all the way over to Island, understand his old ceremonies, you know, if he wants to do that, or you could, you know, you know what I'm saying. And so in native ceremonies are handy. And everybody has a ceremonial background, yeah, you know, way back and, you know, Uncle John, Uncle Joe, way, way, way back there. So, you know, in church, they go to Sunday. Everybody goes a Sunday, right? That's a ceremony going to church.
Chloe 53:36
I really, really appreciate it, and that's been part of my own journey. And, you know, Melody, who's a dear, a dear friend, who introduced us, actually, and she, she took me and my partner to Ireland to be on our ancestral land and be in the sacred sites of our actual ancestors. And I can't even begin to tell you how, how transformative and powerful that was, to actually be on the land of my ancestors, who had done sacred ceremony on that land for 1000s of years, and to feel the ancestors of the land and be like, Oh my gosh. These are these are literally my ancestors. It was different, such a different feeling, and such a hugely transformative time in my life to feel that reconnection right back to the source of of my own spiritual and ritualistic roots. Yeah, you felt your connection. There you go. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yep, you found it. That's That's great. You know you felt it. So, yeah, yeah, powerful. That's a great opportunity to do that. You know, wow. I know, what a gift, what a gift, what a gift melody is too. What a beautiful human to go, to go with, and to come to you with, just such a such a beautiful gift, gift of a human and. My life, for sure, it is so wild, how fast these things go. But I really want to hear specifically about the center that you have and your work with addiction and whatever you want to share about it
Arrowhawk 55:16
I started the center as a place for for me to get rid of my guilt from Vietnam and heal from the Agent Orange, and all those things I was exposed to. I had other vets that came in the lodges. See the first person that came here was using alcohol too much, and so we worked with it. And you know, in ceremony, sweat lodge is really because you're so distracted. Sweat lodge de distracts you speak like takes you away from that, into into your into another place, and in there you can say that I want to be rid of this problem. I don't need it in my life. And and when you're in ceremony, it's like you're speaking your truth, and you know, let's, let's make sure you own up to it, because if you decide to relapse or go back to it, then there might be a consequence, most likely there will be, and don't let that Be the deterrent. Let your own self, your Higher Self, your worthiness, gets you out of that. But if you do happen to fail, you might get sick from doing it again, and you then, there's your there's your wake up call again. Okay, now get back on the path. I found that work with so many people that I was going around the country doing lodges, you know, just helping people with friend of mine, he was dealt in perfumes, oils and things, and I would put it in the water and pour Lodge. And the herbal plant medicine is really good in the lodge. But I was asked to go to Florida, and I went down there, I was asked to go to rehab and start my program, and so I did, and it works so well with young adults middle age. The big thing about addiction is that they've lost themselves. They're seeking, looking, and the answer is always within themselves. I always told them the answer in the mirror Lodge, they would come out lodging. This is the highest I've ever been. This is the most at peace you've ever been. You can call it high, call it what you want, but you're totally at peace. You're feeling good about yourself right now. Keep that. There's your answer. It's in yourself. And I would do a Saturday, have little cards. You could pick a card and it was a totem of animal or whatever. And so I needed that today, because this is how I feel. Then they would come and do Lodge, bring that totem with him, work on it. So the sweat lodge is so important. And the way I help people with addiction now, there's a lot of other ways, you know, find out this to be very effective. I came back from Vietnam, not not on heroin or anything, but I kind of had an addiction going on to wanting to get away from life and and so I went to sweat lodge and stop that behavior real quick. I never did like alcohol anyway, and so alcohol wasn't an issue, but it kept me straight. I figured, well, if it keeps me straight, it'll help other people, and it does. I don't advertise the medicine, you know, because you know it's, it's, if you know someone that needs to help, you know, sure, we'll talk about it. And people are guided to come here. Like melody brought you here, you know, I didn't know who he was in the world, you know. And then bang, here you are. Oh, cool, you know. And it's just, just how it works. It's a beautiful thing, you know, hang out our shingles as well. I'm here on Tuesdays and Thursdays now, four o'clock. He had to be here, you know? Nah, no. It's like, okay, good talk. Give us a call. You know? It keeps it personal, and it keeps it like at the rehab I had, there was movie stars that sat next to me and lived and they could. They come out of there, and they went back to what they were doing, and they did well. So you know, and like I said, it doesn't care addiction. Don't care who you are, rich, poor. Doesn't matter where you come from. Addiction is addiction, same with sweat lodge. It doesn't care who you are, but it will help you, that's and then, you know, the center, you know, as you just grown from that, you know, I was down there, we had a program done it for seven years, and I had a person helping me out down there, and you got this center started up here, and got some donations for cabins. And it's just amazing that came from that, you know, couple Russian boys that were here for one was just six months. I wasn't here for a year, because they, you know, that is loved it here, and they're out there in the world now being responsible people, and their folks donated cabins so we could have help other people. And so it's grown by nation, you know, and that's, that's how we work. And you know, when it does that, when it grows like that through donations, you know, it's, there's a divine presence there that's working and helping. You know, sure, I wanted to have 10 cabins right away. Oh no, no, you'll start with one, then you'll get two without being patient. And you know, you know, and try to save the world. Well, the world will come when it's time.
Chloe 1:01:37
Oh my gosh, that's a lesson in and of itself, isn't
Arrowhawk 1:01:40
it? Yes, it is,
Chloe 1:01:44
especially for those who of us who are wanting to help and and shift and change the world. And it's like, oh, right, but we have to do it also in in divine timing and listening and patience and all of that.
Arrowhawk 1:02:00
Indeed, indeed, sister,
Chloe 1:02:03
yeah, well, I, I could go on and on. I, I just so adore talking to you, and I'm so grateful, so grateful for you coming and sharing this time with me and sharing your wisdom and love and humor with our audience.
Arrowhawk 1:02:23
It's an honor for me to have this opportunity to speak to you and whoever's listening and know and hopefully they will, they will read a little easier and smile more.
Chloe 1:02:41
Thank you so much for being a part of the activate change community. If you want even more amazing content, head over to LaChiaramethod.com and while you're there, be sure to join our email list so you don't miss a thing. You'll get instant access to our Ultimate Self Care Bundle to clear your energy, boost your vitality and feed your soul, plus exclusive content, special invites to live events and personal updates we don't share anywhere else. We're so grateful to be on this journey with you. See you next time,
Chloe 1:03:15
Saying A huge thank you to Aly Halpert, the incredible musician and songwriter behind the songs featured in this podcast. To hear more of Aly's work, visit allyhalpert.com you'll also find the link in our show notes.