Rosicrucian Beacon Magazine - 2012-09 - AMORC

Medicine Man:Heal Thy Peopleby Frank Isles, FRCThe basic concept behind the Kachinacult is that all things in the world havetwo forms, the visible object and a spiritcounterpart, a dualism that balancesmass and energy.Kachinas are the spirit essence ofeverything in the real world. Theirexistence is inferred from the steam thatrises from food, to the mist rising from aspring on a cold morning, or the cloudwhich forms above a mountain top.As the breath of a dying person departs,it must also join the other mist-beings ina spirit world, the exact counterpart ofthe real world but with different powers.from Hopi Kachinas (1977)by Barton Wrightt THE HEIGHT OF the Great Depression,Jon, a 12 year old Hopi Native American boylay dying in a city hospital in Flagstaff, Arizona.He had been ill on and off for several years, andwith both mother and father deceased, his only remainingfamily were his maternal grandparents now well in theireighties. Despite assistance from a local charity, Jon hadreceived very little modern education and was ill preparedfor the coarse ways and pace of city life. For a month hehad lain mostly alone in the ward. The doctors and nursestending him had been kind but devoid of warmth andemotion; and he sensed painfully that they were not ofhis family, his lineage, his heritage, and he knew as wellthat they knew he would soon be gone.Late one night, as he lay in the dark room hearingthe occasional ambulance siren as it arrived in casualty,he started feeling strangely detached from and disinterestin the affairs of life, in particular the stressful and hurriedways of the hospital and the many noisy city peoplewho came and went every day. Lying there, he could feelthe cold, numbing presence of death creeping up hislegs, and he knew his end was near. With calmness heaccepted his fate and closed his eyes as he drifted off intounconsciousness.Suddenly, he became aware of a presence, and despitethe pitch darkness, standing by his bed and clearly visible,was a tall Kachina dressed in a dancing kilt and sash,carrying a blue feather in his left hand. For years, Jon hadThe Rosicrucian Beacon -- September 201225