An Urban Shaman's Prayers

pstrongSpiritual Centers of New York: Momma Donna and the WTC/strong/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby PNN Staff/p pbUrban Shaman's Prayer/bbr /br / By Donna Henes/p pMore than a week after the blasts there are still immense clouds of smokebr / coming from lower Manhattan. I keep looking for the towers which I used to bebr / able to see from my window. I cannot compute that they are not there. Lastbr / night the sky was crystal blue, the buildings were lit with thousands ofbr / twinkling lights and backlit with a billowing mass of white smoke. It wasbr / breathtakingly (can I say?) beautiful. What happens when so many souls leavebr / their bodies at once? The glow from their combined spirits was electrifying.br / May it purify our intentions and power our resolve for peace./p p/pPbTowering Eternal/bbr /br / by Donna Henes, Urban Shaman/p pI have had a very long ritual relationship with the World Trade Center. Forbr / more than two decades it has served as my own personal/public shrine, anbr / urban Stonehenge for an urban shaman./p pThe Port Authority of New York and New Jersey along with the Lower Manhattanbr / Cultural Council have sponsored 18 of my 26 Vernal Equinox celebrations, Eggsbr / on End: Standing on Ceremony. Tens of thousands of people, a great many ofbr / them from the offices upstairs, and many more who were tourists frombr / everywhere coming to get a bird's eye view of America, participated in thesebr / cosmic rituals./p pOn each of those occasions the crowd has stood up 360 eggs on the blackbr / marble circular shrine in the center of the Trade Center's vast circularbr / plaza. Altogether we have balanced 6480 eggs in the shadow of those twobr / towering spires, close to the number of the presumed dead./p pI wonder about the fates of all of the building staff people whose names Ibr / never knew who have helped to set up and facilitate our public seasonalbr / ceremonies over the years the guards, the sound guys, the helpers withbr / ladders and brooms, the woman with the key to the bathroom. I pray that theybr / are all safe. And I pray for the thousands of people in those buildings whobr / have added their soulful energy to our celebrations over the years. /p pI bless them all, I bless us all, alive and dead, ancestor and antecedent,br / with eggs, with seeds, with sanctity, and with solemn promises that theirbr / tragic loss will propel us to build the sort of world where people don't blowbr / each other up. Shall we do this in their names./p pThe last event at the World Trade Center was Keeping the Fires Burning Forbr / Peace: A Summer Solstice Sunrise to Sunset Vigil for Peace on the Planet,br / 1999. An intrepid few souls showed up in the rain for the 5:07 AM Dawnbr / Dedication. /p pWe laid out concentric circles of mirrors on the paved ground. In the center,br / sat the same large circular mirror that serves as our altar at drummingbr / circles. It stood for the year. Surrounding it were 8 medium-sized mirrorsbr / which marked the equinox, solstice, cross-quarter day spokes of the annualbr / wheel. Then smaller and smaller mirrors represented the 13 moonths of thebr / year, and its 365 days. The outermost ring was a collection of 2001 dime-sizebr / crystals in anticipation of the new millennium. This modern medicine wheelbr / stayed in place all day, reflecting and absorbing the potent solar energy ofbr / the longest day of the year. /p pAnother group gathered 3:49 AM to chant for peace and inscribe their messagesbr / of hope on my day-glo orange Streams of Conscience. A crowd gathered for thebr / Sunset Ceremony at 8:25 PM when once again we joined together to chant forbr / peace. At the end of the day, everyone took home one of the small crystals asbr / a sun-filled talisman to help remember the light when times are dark. I carrybr / one in my amulet bag./p pOn several occasions we celebrated the Winter Solstice on the urban beachbr / which was created from the gravel, dirt and sand that had been blasted andbr / dug out from the Manhattan bedrock to create the foundations for the Worldbr / Trade Center. On the bank of the Hudson River, we built our fire and playedbr / our drums on the guts of the Twins that towered over our heads as we chantedbr / and danced. /p pThe 1986 Reverence to Her Winter Solstice Ceremony was broadcast live viabr / satellite as part of an international radio solstice simulcast. Thebr / aborigines of Australia began the ritual around the world with a chant thatbr / traveled westward with live feeds from India, Africa, Europe, the Unitedbr / States and Hawaii, making a circle of earth spirit song around the globe. Webr / were the east coast U.S. representatives to this communion of rejoicing. /p pAbout 250 of us gathered beneath the Twin Towers in the middle of the nightbr / to Chant for Peace. WNYC Radio had a mobile satellite dish there at the site.br / It recorded our chant, sent the feed straight down Chambers Street to thebr / Municipal Building and up to the roof where a golden angel sits on high. Shebr / is the satellite up-link for New York City./p pThis civic guardian seraphim sent our songs, our drums for peace out intobr / orbit. They have been circling Earth and trancemitting signals for peace everbr / since. Chants for Peace * Chance for Peace was and still is to my knowledgebr / the only peace message in space. /p pIn loving memory of those two mythic megaliths and in the names of all whobr / died, of all who suffered, of all who helped, of all who continue to heal,br / let us chant for peace./p pxxMama Donnabr /br / Mama Donna's Tea Garden Healing Haven/p pDear Mama Donna,/p pYou do not know me but last year at 20 March I was visiting my sister in Newbr / York and I saw your egg ceremony at the World Trade Center. I still thinkbr / about it very often and I realize reading your book that I would also love tobr / do the same in Holland at the 2o March next year. But I do not know what thebr / times are of the equinox and now I have to go about prayer! Whether you havebr / a special prayer or just wait on the will of heaven!! I hope you have thebr / time to send some information. Thank you so very much for giving me newbr / thoughts about life. /p pBig hug, br /br / Ilona van der Veit/p pDear Mama Donna,/p pEvery time I eat an artificial tic tac I think of your egg ceremony at thebr / World Trade Center and smile. May Allah bless you and your family.br / En sha' a-llah. If it please Allah./p pIsi Ali Musawwir Muhammad/p pContact:/p pMama Donna's Tea Garden Healing Havenbr / PO Box 380403br /br / Exotic Brooklyn, NY 11238-0403br /br / phone/fax 718-857-2247br /br / email a href="mailto:CityShaman@aol.com"CityShaman@aol.com/abr /br / web a href="http://www.DonnaHenes.com" title="www.DonnaHenes.com"www.DonnaHenes.com/a (under construction)br /br / /p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p