The next art selections from Becoming Medicine: Pathways of Initiation into a Living Spirituality, by David R. Kopacz, MD & Joseph Rael (Beautiful Painted Arrow) are both from Joseph.

The first art work is “Blessings for Drinking from Morning Star,” and this one is interesting in that it was a completed painting, which Joseph had a print of, and he dictated to me some additional text which I wrote in my hand on the painting. I’ve always liked the intersection of art and text and this art work is as much a book as it is a painting.

The next art work is “Sacred Offering of the Five-fingered,” and there are five offering pots that spell out the word, “peace.” This piece marks the transition from the chapter “Becoming Visionary” to the chapter “Becoming a Mystic.”

“Since Ancient times in the culture of some of the Pueblo Indian people of North Central New Mexico of the Southwest knew that the Two-leggeds had a Relationship with the stars. They even said that there were people who lived in the Heavens that were related to them.

They would do ceremonies like blessing the water and bringing the light from distant stars, capturing it on the feathers and blessing the waters so that people might drink of the Heavenly places of Divine Presence. Once the Light was captured by a Grandmother in the water of a black pot, they would bless all the plant people of the Wild Places as well as of their gardens.

Through Quantum Entanglement, the Ancient Ones knew that the Stars and them were One.” (Joseph Rael as dictated to David Kopacz)