Am I Honoring or Borrowing?

The difference between honor and borrowing is relationship. Borrowing takes without assent, context, or return. Honor asks permission, learns history, and gives back. The heart knows the difference by the feeling in the hands: one snatches, the other offers.

Start with intention. Before you adopt any practice—runes, songs, smudging, drums—ask, “Why this? For what healing? For whom?” If the answer is novelty or display, set it down. If the answer is healing and kinship, proceed slowly. Learn from sources within the tradition when possible. Pay for teachings when asked; credit your teachers when you speak. Relationship has receipts.

Prefer what your hands can make and your voice can carry. A candle you light daily with a whispered blessing may honor more than a stack of objects with no story. If you hold an item from another people’s worship, ask: Was this sold with consent? Is it meant for public use? If the answer is uncertain, choose abstention or seek guidance.

Create a practice of reciprocity: for every teaching you receive, return something measurable—time, labor, advocacy, funds—to the communities who keep that teaching alive. If you cannot find a direct doorway, support local efforts that protect land, language, or elders. Reciprocity cleans the hands.

When corrected, open your palms. Defensiveness is a mask for fear; curiosity is a bridge. Say, “Thank you for trusting me with that correction.” Then adjust. Honor is not error-free; it is responsive.

Remember that you have ancestors too. Ask them for a practice you can carry without harm: a blessing over bread, a winter song, a way of welcoming guests. Grow from your own root system even as you stand in respect beneath another’s tree. In this way, the forest remains diverse and whole, and you walk through it as a good guest whose presence leaves more life than you found.

Links:

https://akumedia.akulfhednar.com – Main Website

https://akulfhednar.org – Shaman’s Website

https://akulfhednar.org/newsletter – Newsletter

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S2E206 – The Council of Elders

S2E206 – The Council of Elders

In every person lives a council of elders—inner voices that remember what matters when the world gets loud. When decision fatigue frays judgment, convene them.

Begin by drawing five empty chairs on a page. Name them: The Healer (care), The Keeper (boundaries), The Maker (creativity), The Scout (curiosity), The Anchor (values). Under each, write one sentence of advice for your current dilemma. Read them aloud. You will hear balance emerge.

Second, hold a talking stick—a pen will do. For five minutes, only the elder whose chair you point to may speak in writing. Rotate through the council. This slows the anxious chorus and gives wisdom the floor.

Third, ask the Anchor to choose a compass word for the day—one verb that would make you proud tonight (tend, build, listen). Put it where you can see it. Decisions simplify around a single verb.

Fourth, appoint an external elder—a living guide or a long‑gone one from a book or lineage. Write a short letter and answer it from their perspective. Borrowed calm is still calm.

Fifth, close the council by thanking each voice and blowing out a candle. Action follows ceremony; choose one next step that honors three chairs at once.

Your life is not a committee meeting; it is a village with elders who care for you. When you convene them, you remember you already know the way home.

Today’s show sponsored by Zeal Pet Foods.

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Be well my friends,

Main Website-https://akumedia.akulfhednar.com

Shaman’s Website – https://akulfhednar.com

Newsletter Subscribe – https://akulfhednar.com/newsletter

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S2E205 – The Stone and the Storm

S2E205 – The Stone and the Storm

Some days are stone and some are storm. This episode is for the anxious who brace for impact and the numb who cannot feel the rain. We practice becoming a trustworthy rock without turning to stone.

First, choose a pocket stone—smooth, palm‑sized. Hold it and name three qualities you need today (steady, kind, clear). As you breathe 4‑4, imagine the stone absorbing the spin.

Second, write a “storm plan” with two columns: If wind rises (agitation), If flood comes (overwhelm). Under each, list three actions: walk, call, eat, ground, or stop. Plans shrink panic by pre‑choosing kindness.

Third, practice rock‑posture: hips heavy, spine tall, jaw soft, gaze level. Set a timer for five minutes; hold posture while doing one small task. The body remembers competence through shape.

Fourth, when emotions slam, press the stone to your sternum and name what is happening in simple weather words: “Wind,” “Rain,” “Thunder.” Labeling reduces fear without denying the sky.

Fifth, find a human harbor—one person or place you can go wet and unjudged. Ask for a phrase you can borrow on hard days: “You’re not failing; you’re weathering.”

Finally, end with gratitude for both stone and storm. Storms water the valley; stones hold the hill. You are allowed to be both: strong enough to stand, soft enough to feel.

Today’s show sponsored by Aiper Garden.

Aiper Garden has fresh offers today.

Learn more: https://shorturl.at/cZr6d?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=Q4_aff_aiper-garden

Be well my friends,

Main Website-https://akumedia.akulfhednar.com

Shaman’s Website – https://akulfhednar.org

Newsletter Subscribe – https://akulfhednar.org/newsletter

Tags: aiper-garden, deals

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