Walking With Cosmic Dancer

Author, Elizabeth Marlow

• There was a time, not that long ago, yet reaching into the mists of pre-history when the indigenous peoples of this world lived in intimate friendship with the Great Mystery. They experienced all things as their relatives within the vast web of creation, each possessing life, and consciousness. When modern European philosophy, religion, economics, and armies conquered these hallowed grounds, this life-affirming knowledge of the sacredness of all creation was lost. Given this tragic and troubling sequence in our history, it is nothing short of astonishing that any remaining keepers of the ancient wisdom would step forth bearing gifts for the descendants of those who had silenced them. Joseph Rael—Beautiful Painted Arrow—is such a person. His teachings, practices, and the quality of his presence are a shining light in the darkness of western scientism and alienation. Elizabeth Marlow, in writing about her studies and travels with this remarkable man, has done us a great service by inviting us deep into the beauty of the ancient wisdom. A masterful storyteller and spiritual teacher in her own right, she has offered us what we may have missed in our spiritual seeking—a deep and loving connection with the present moment, seen and experienced at a depth in which the interconnectedness and sacredness of all creation can be known, and the Great Mystery once again befriended.”James C. Nourse, Ph.D., L.Ac., psychologist, acupuncturist, and author of Simple Spirituality: Finding Your Own Way and Opening the Aloha Mind: Healing Self, Healing the World With Ho’oponopono.

• How can I embrace the challenges life presents to find the gifts it brings?
  How do I recognize the miraculous in the ordinary?
  How can I experience Divine Presence more often?“ Insights into these profound questions of consciousness and intuition are beautifully described in Elizabeth Marlow’s Walking with Cosmic Dancer where she shares her decade-long experience as a student and co-teacher with Joseph Rael (Beautiful Painted Arrow), a Pueblo Indian, mystic, and visionary. We see through Elizabeth’s eyes innumerable instances where Joseph consistently recognizes the holiness in each moment, knowing how to listen to the world, both around us and within us, in ways that heal, inspire and reveal a world more personal, and at the same time more cosmic than we have imagined. Joseph’s humble attitude, “I just work here”, reveals him to be a remarkable representative of the cosmic knowledge of the Native American tradition and the human potential that results from seeing life through metaphors, enlightening our self-imposed limitations and unrealized potentials.” Rob Pennington, PhD

• “The power of the Thunder Callers is the power which flows not from achievement or standing, but from innocence and willingness to be aware of promptings from Spirit. When Joseph conducts the ceremony to call the Thunder Beings, it is not an arbitrary decision made by Joseph in isolation. This is a calling and a willingness to hear and follow the calling—Joseph’s part is the orchestration of the human ceremonial “making the way passable.” Living immersed in the world of Spirit enables one to feel these callings to come into a relationship with the forces that are empowered to create events, to enter the creative process with them. It is really a science, if you will if you understand the workings of the subtle realms, whereas if you don’t, it seems like magic. To one who regards the Spiritual as the primary reality of life, all experiences, and all phenomena are sacred. When you are friends with the forces of nature, you can work with these forces to get things done together. “ ~Jesua