Be a Money Shaman

by Keith Varnum

“You’ve got to have something to eat and a little love in your life, before you can hold still for any damn body’s sermon on how to behave.” Sound advice from Billy Holiday, one of the most soulful jazz singers of the 1950s.

Say What, Billie?

Billie is wisely suggesting that personal abundance is necessary for social and spiritual advancement. It helps to have a car that works and a little money in your pocket to do what you came here to Earth to do. You’ve got to feel good about yourself and allow yourself to be loved before you can share love with others—in whatever form that takes.

You First!

Native shamans teach, ”Take care of yourself first, so that you can then take care of others.” You’ve got to give yourself enough love, money and health, in order to have enough to share with others. You’ve got to be allowing love, abundance and vitality to be flowing into and through you, in order for it to be flowing out from you.

The Sage Skies of United

I’m reminded of this universal principle every time I fly in an airplane. This simple wisdom is loudly announced on the public address system before every take off: “In case of an emergency, put your oxygen mask on yourself first—before you put it on your child or another person.”

If we don’t give ourselves sufficient material and emotional support in life, we won’t have sufficient outer and inner resources to accomplish our soul design and destiny. Making sure that you stay in Universal Supply and Support is the most certain way to insure you can successfully help others and the planet.

It’s not “selfish” to take care of yourself first. It’s wise and loving to do so!

Open to Mana

A central way to insure that you have enough wherewithal to share with others, is to open to the space, or energy state, Hawaiians call “Mana.” “Mana” means pure energy, Spirit, right from the Source.

The ancient Hawaiians taught a magical skill, or space, that many of us easily overlook in our modern society. This connection is the key to creating the results we want in our lives—and determines the difference between short-term fixes and long term results. I opened to this ancient Hawaiian gift of “Mana” with the help of my Kahuna teacher in Hawaii.

Most of the time, when we try to mani-fest what we want in life, we use our minds—and naturally so because that’s what we learned from our families, schooling and society. But when we mani-fest from our mind only, we miss the crucial ingredient that all creation comes from. That’s the “Mana” that the Hawaiians so grace-fully remind us to draw on.

So how can you access this Mana-festing energy? If not from the mind, then from where? There’s a place where the key to our “Mana” resides. And that space lies within your Heart.

Mana-Festing

You could also express the Hawaiian “Mana” as meaning pure power, creative energy. intention. “Fest” comes from a Latin word meaning festival, feast, celebration. So, our word “manifest” means to create a festival of pure intention from the Heart.

Abundance is a Way of Living

True abundance goes far beyond the art of sourcing money. We usually consider abundance to be material wealth. Yes, and it also means emotional well-being and spiritual fulfillment. And the ability to fully experience—and share—love and joy. True fortune is the art of knowing how to live.

While today we associate abundance with money and material gain, it’s enlightening to take a look at the origin of the words we use to describe having a lot of money. In their origins all have meanings that address quality of life in broader terms. Abundance derives from a Latin word meaning “to overflow.” Prosperity comes from a Latin word “to be fortunate, flourishing, happy.” Wealth stems from an Old English word meaning “well or well-being.” Rich originates from the Old English “rice” meaning “strong, powerful.”

Therefore, true affluence means “flowing happy, healthy power.” Or, one could say, “the power to Mana-fest from the Heart.”

Deeper Aspects of Abundance

Abundance has been understood in a variety of distinct ways in different cultures. In modern Western society, we typically measure abundance in terms of the money and objects we possess. We think that those who possess the most are the most free and powerful individuals and that they therefore enjoy the most abundant lifestyle. Yet for Plato, Aristotle and the Roman Stoic philosophers, the most free and powerful individuals were those who could be happy with the fewest things. While our culture values those who earn and hoard the most, among certain tribes in New Guinea and many other native peoples, the most valued members of society were those who give away the most.

Abundance is an Attitude

In lacking money, we too often think that a lack of money is our only problem.

Money can give us the time to appreciate the most important things in life more fully, but not the spirit of innocence and wonder necessary to do so. Money can give us the time to develop our gifts and talents, but not the courage and motivation to do so.

Money can give us the capacity to make a difference in the lives of others, but not the desire to do so. Money can give us the time to develop and nurture our relationships, but not the wisdom and caring necessary to do so.

Abundance is a State of Being

Here are three modest suggestions on ways you can cultivate true abundance in your life.

1. Recognize the inner and outer forces that conspire to make you believe in scarcity and thus to feel lack. Being aware of these factors will help you to overcome their influence over you. Learn ways to release the emotional power of these programmed beliefs and feelings have over you.

2. Foster a spirit of abundance in your life, celebrating the gift of life with joy and thanksgiving. As you focus your thoughts and actions on things that bring a feeling of connection with all life, you move with the flow of the Tao—the Eternal Way. You allow blessings to come to you from the “overflow” of an abundant spirit—not from a place of craving, needing or struggle. To come from lack can only bring lack. When you come from the spirit of abundance, you attract ever greater abundance.

3. Exude prosperity! Become a liberating and empowering force in the lives of those with whom you interact. Help others see—not by preaching, but by example—that we all live in an abundant world and that they as well can free themselves from lack consciousness.

You are your most valuable resource. To be a Money Shaman, find the inner clarity and strength to allow your natural abilities and talents to shine through. To open to Money Magic, cultivate your inner Mana until the overflow of goodness in your life inundates all memories of need, want or lack.

Drawing from the wisdom of native and ancient spiritual traditions, Keith Varnum shares his 30 years of practical success as an author, personal coach, acupuncturist, filmmaker, radio host, restaurateur, vision quest guide and international seminar leader with “The Dream Workshops”. Keith helps people get the love, money, and health they want with his F-r-e-e Prosperity Ezine, F-r-e-e Abundance Tape and F-r-e-e Coaching at http://www.TheDream.com