By SkyFox, FireWork manager

A wise shaman once shared: “When I was a boy I admired my grandfather. He was a powerful shaman. 

One day when he felt I was old enough to understand, he told me, ‘José, there are two types of power that one can acquire.  One type is used for your own personal reasons.  The other is used for the benefit of your people.  You can walk the road to the first type of power or the second.  But let me tell you this:  the second road is the road to happiness.’

“Since  my grandfather was a very wise man, I took his advice, and I have stayed on the second road.  Whenever the gods give me something, I immediately pass it on for the use of my people.”*

In our modern times, it is so very easy to become distracted by the first road. It calls to us in every form of mass media messaging. We are encouraged to be fearful and to acquire all that we can to fend off impending doom, to bolster our egos, to prove our worth to the world. These gentle words from José Benítez Sánchez remind us that we are richly blessed by the gods every day and have personal wealth in abundance to share that is needed by our communities. Sometimes that wealth comes in the form of money; other times, it is in the form of skills, talents, abilities, capacities.

I invite you to enter the year 2013 with a commitment to yourself to walk the path of happiness. The Sacred Fire Community regularly recruits volunteers for open positions. We need your gifts and talents. Please contact me, SkyFox, to find out more.

Interested? Check out some of our current volunteer openings here, and take a step through the doorway of Sacred Fire by deepening your participation in your community.”

*Quote taken from Plant Spirit Medicine, Eliot Cowan, p 21.

Find out more about the Keys to Deep Community. Read about the Sacred Fire Community’s Lifeways Programs.

Do you stand for the sacredness of life? Take our Stand for Sacredness.

Read more Fire Stories.

Community volunteers working (and playing) with volunteers from the Sacred Fire Foundation, one of our sister organizations. PHOTO CREDIT: Brian Spielmann