Cardinal Speaks

Today is the anniversary of my teacher, Drupon’s death. This has got me thinking about the yogis and yoginis among us. Yogis are knowledge holders that do not play by the same rules as traditional society. In monastic communities, they may wear robes, but they may also have long hair in topknots. Some of them…

To kill or not to killThat is the questionYet there is no such thingAs killing just onePoisoning a mouseAlso kills the chipmunkAnd the owlThe means by which A dandelion PerishesAlso flows into the waterOur foodThe air in which we breatheCrop nuisancesInterrupting that perfect yieldYet the soil erodesAlong with the nutrientsWhat is truly invasive?A dandelion?Or the…

I met the elder, Carlos, and his wife, Shaman A, in the Fall of 2011 in a strange series of events. It was a moment where time slowed for a while to create an opening for important connections. The opening of a door. I was seeing a new homeopath for help with some health conditions,…

It was a hot summer day in the mid-western US as I approached a dusty, small town marked by an “unincorporated” sign on its only road. With only a handful of houses and a single church, I pulled into the church parking lot and stared at the simple country house that housed the local pastor.…

They file in at the regular timeDressed in mostly muted colorsTaking their usual seatsQuietlyThey come with their storiesOr the stories of othersWhich are also their storiesThey are the onesWho let the wordsLiveAwakening them from their slumberGhostsIn a seance of the WordWordsBreathe, my dearsFill each crevasse of this spaceThat you are not often allowedTo occupyWe offer…

If you bring a sword to a partyExpect that something will dieIt may not be what you intendedGunshots in the distanceAll beings run farOr into themselvesEerie silenceFills the space that remainsWatchingWaitingFor whom will be condemned nextAnd for whatIn a world where the swordShoved down the throatBrings no enlightenmentCompliance is deathOf spiritThere are no winnersNeither harshNor…

Lady M was like a feral cat. She had lived her life by her own rules with no apology, and she fiercely protected what she wanted in life. I was a threat to that, as we sat across from each other at one of many tables in the local Olive Garden franchise. It had been…

Joy entered my life just after my father had been incarcerated. In addition to my father’s house and possessions, his most recent girlfriend had also taken an interest in the occult. Awash in a plume of cigarette smoke and Nag Champa, my father’s girlfriend was in training to become a psychic. Joy and her flamboyant…

It was a long road that started back when I was a baby; maybe even before then. I wished to be born standing up, with one leg pulled up beside my head, like a Kali statue. When I was finally born too many hours later, my head was misshapen from the tools they used to…

I met Miskwagiizhig at a northern reservation when I traveled there to staff a conference for my workplace. When I walked into the conference room, he was sitting on the floor in the back of the room. Wearing cutoff shorts and an old, faded t-shirt, his hair hung freely down to his waist. His face…