Texas Cherokee Alchemy, Mythology and Shamanism at the Women's Warrior Society. Interview with Dr. Sir Clifford Alford, Nakedshaman.net. Co-Presented by PlanetShifter.com Magazine & planetshifter.com

Please download a copy of The Naked Shaman Brochure at the end of this post

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From Email: Howdy Willi,

I leave the donation question up to those who are giving them, but to give you some ideas as to what we am manifesting, we are working on building and staffing 13 Mahakali Temples in the USA and Canada. That means purchasing land, yurts at approximately $20,000 to have fully assembled, five feet tall Kali statues for $1,550.00 each which covers carving from black marble, packing, insuring and shipping, other ritual items, and training and funding priestesses and priests. All of this plus the cost of the land and operating expenses for three years will run about $200,000 per temple. After that, they need to be self-sufficient. Beyond that, all I need is a little for myself to live on. No one is likely to provide all of this, and people do need to get used to talking with the spirits, so I just tell them to pray about it.

I have sweated what seems like the energetic equivalent of blood for the past five years to get my website up to where it is now, and have got it paid for through July of next year. So, when the spirits started warning me about this, and showing me the signs that the internet is getting overloaded, I was NOT happy! What they have shown me is that the internet, though energetic in nature, is a finite creation with limits, and that this crash in needed to give a lot of people a wakeup call as well as to fuel the desire to find a better way. It will be worth it in the end, but it will likely suck big time for several months. You and I will be "meditating" elsewhere during that time. Since my apprentices are all over the world then I will spend my time in the spirit world working with them from there.

I send all of my attunements to people using the Orb of Life Spiritual Gift. I am sending you that as well as one my absolute favorites to try out. Do the Orb of Life first, and then the other one. As to vision-hand, we have a sixteen attunement shamanic process that will make both that and far more possible for you in a matter of days. It's one of the first things you receive when you apprentice. If you are already a Teacher then that just means that you can start using this information, and the attunements, with other people immediately, and that is very, very good.

Have fun, and let me know if you have any questions.

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Interview with Clifford by Willi

You are practicing a Goddess-oriented spirituality: can woman and men practice shamanic arts?

Yes. Women tend to be more innately gifted psychically, but men catch up fast when they get in touch with their own feminine energy. I have both male and female apprentices.

Where and what is the common well or interface for the shamanic powers you know?

While our languages and rituals may be different, the Universal Spiritual Laws that all shamanic traditions work by are the same. So, whatever our outward differences may be, we all do the same basic things in the spirit world.

Do you ingest native substances, such as ayahuasca, to induce spiritual voyages?

There is no need for such things, and using them out of their proper spiritual context is dangerous at best.

Is this (yet another) pre-history phase here on the Planet; what I call the Sustainability Age?

This is a false history phase, but we are in a time of transition when everything that has been hidden has to be revealed. The result will be that we will be able to develop a true history beginning in just a couple of years. However, that time will eventually cease when people who feel like they have to control other people institute laws about things that are none of their business, and manage to force it upon others. The end result has always been war, and the "true history" has actually become whatever the victor uses to whitewash their crimes. Let's hope that in this Golden Age that is coming we can find a better way to settle our differences.

How did your Mother recognize the "calling of the Spirits" in your youth?

Actually, it was my grandmother. This is an excerpt from the course I founded and wrote called Ethereal Herbology and Plant Spirit Medicine:

When I was five years old my younger brother and I spent several months with my maternal grandparents on their farm on the gulf coast of South Texas. Even though I was sick most of the time, it was a magical time for me, and is the reason that I am alive today.

One afternoon, a man came to see my Grandmother. The man had a sick friend whom he was unable to help so he was asking my Grandmother, his Teacher in the Asaga Siddha Marg, to see this person. They talked for some time about the illness and what it was doing to the man, and then her student left.

My grandmother prayed for a while, and then she went out to the pasture to talk with the plants. As she did not know what to use for this man's condition, she needed their guidance. Rubbing her hands together to get her energy flowing, she put them side by side with her palms facing towards a tall weed, and sent some energy to it as she asked if it was the right plant to cure this disease. Being a curious child, and her constant shadow, I did the same thing.

Normally, when a Cherokee Adawehi or medicine person does this, the plant will do what is called "the dance" in that it will shimmer and move towards the hands of the Healer if it is the right plant, or it will move away if it is the wrong plant. If it is the right plant type then you question it to see if it is the only plant you need, or if there is some other kind or if you need another like it but not this particular plant. In this manner, Granny would often be seen wandering all over the pasture getting the plants she needed, but not that day. On that day nothing happened for her, and as she looked around in complete bewilderment, she saw that the plant I was focusing on was dancing for me. That was how she knew that she was to train me, and I have been working with the Plant Spirits for the past forty-six years.

What are the top three principles practiced today by the Texas Cherokee Nation?

We live in balance with Monolah (Mother Earth), we are still matriarchal and have not sold our birthright to the white man's dead nailed god, but maintain our ancient ways. We are still warriors first, and everything else a distant second, and we still have a Women's Warrior Society. We only fight for those things that we love, and never against those things that we hate since doing so causes you to become what you hate. We have never surrendered to the white government, and we never will. We bow to no man, but honor the Creator in all things and above all things. Each Texas Cherokee is an autonomous being, and no other Cherokee has the right to force their way on any other, nor we upon them. Our single greatest law is that we are not to ever do anything to anyone that we may feel the need to apologize for later. Simply put: Do no harm except in the case of self-defense or the defense of another.

How do principles of sustainability mesh with the following practices?

1. Cherokee spirituality - When we live in accordance with our ancient ways then we live in Balance with the rest of Creation. This is sustainability at its best. We not only take from the earth, but we give back to Her as well. And, we always try to leave any place or situation better than it was when we got there.

2. Tibetan Bon Jhankri Shamanism - Tibetan Shamanism has gone through a series of changes as new religions such as the Hindus 10,000 years ago, and the Buddhists 2,600 years ago have come into the area. the Hindus, while patriarchal, tried to assimilate the local traditions into an amalgamation with the other traditions they had adopted from other people. Essentially, the Hindu religion is a vast hodge-podge of other people's traditions loosely woven into the fabric we see today, and it continues to go through an ongoing metamorphosis.

When Buddhism went to Tibet then they murdered every shaman they could get their hands on so that the Bonpo Buddhists became the most readily available excuse for shamanism in Tibet even though their doctrines limited them so they still were/are unable to do a lot of what was needed. These supposedly peaceful people have still been known to act this way towards Bon shamans, and especially if the shaman is a woman. They are kind of like the supposedly peaceful Hopis who have been in a war with the Navajos for over 10,000 years now. Like the Asaga had to do when the Ketowah religion was brought into the Cherokee Tribe, the ancient form of Bon Jhankris went underground to be able to survive. My Teacher, for example, was driven out of Tibet by two groups of people: The Chinese Army, and the Tibetan Buddhists. Because of them he came to this country under political asylum, and so was here to train me. All that I can say to both the Chinese and the Tibetan Buddhists for their evil treatment of my Teacher is a heart-felt "Thank-you!" If they had not done what they did then I would never have known him, and been trained by him.

To help you better understand some of the differences between the Tibetan pre-Hindu, Hindu and Tibetan Buddhist shamanic traditions, see the appendix.

3. Tantra and pre-Hindu Tibetan Bon Jhankri Shamanism –

Pre-Hindu Bon Jhankri shamans have always worshipped Mahakali has the Goddess of the Shamans, and have worked with the ritual dagger called the Phurba for almost 60,000 years. The Phurba is a representative tool and spirit of Mahakala who is known as Shiva by the Hindus and Kwan Yin by the Chinese, and is the consort of Mahakali. Ganesha is their son and the First Shaman as he is the first human to face death and then return to life. The pre-Hindu form of Shamanism is very earthy, and is more often than not done nude than dressed. This is because nudity represents the freedom the Goddess has given us, a life without illusions, and allows us to pull in far more energy than is possible with clothes on. It also makes it easier to hear the spirits, and to do energy work more powerfully.

All of this is true for the worship of Mahakali as well. Much of Kali worship involves doing those things that are different from the teachings of the Vedics concerning what is auspicious. Therefore, Kali worship can involve drinking alcohol, eating some small amount of meat, and possibly sex as sexual energy is what all shamans use in their work. The same is true of all forms of energy work, but many bioenergetic healers are unwilling to admit it. While Shamanism is often a one-on-one process, Tantra involves more than one practitioner, and has its most ancient roots in the worship of Mahakali. Many shamans engage in tantra before doing their more public work, and some tantrikas do healing work and other forms of shamanic activity as well. However, there is one thing that needs to be cleared up here. Tantra is not all about sex. In fact, that is a small part of it.

True Tantra is about 20% sexual activity, and the rest is breathwork, meditation, Rishi Yoga and study. In the United States of America sex is used to sell everything, and yet it is the single most threatening thing to patriarchal society! That is why most people here get stuck in the sexual arena with Tantra. However, the real power in Tantra is in the area of using sexual union to achieve balance and attain a continuous state of Bliss in your life. When everything else is done right, though, then the woman can often experience from 48 to 72 hours of continuous spontaneous orgasms and the man can achieve orgasms rthat are full bodied and last up to fifteen minutes straight. However, that does not become possible unless they both are willing to face, and make peace with, their Shadows or dark side of their personality and ego. The same is true for the Shaman, and that is why so many people in this country just go half way, and avoid the deeper and more powerful exercises and understanding of Tantra. In Mahakali Tantra, working with your Shadow is about 40% of our activities, and that brings a lot of personal healing and a balance of both your feminine and masculine energies coupled with a right understanding of how it all works after having stripped away the patriarchal myths and outright lies that were used to control people and enslave their minds.

True Shamanism, whether singular in tantric practice or with a sexual partner, involves learning to think in a different way, and to experience the world with far less illusion than the average person. It also involves being firmly grounded in Universal Spiritual Law, which is a lot more than just the unbalanced view of the Law of Attraction most people waste their time with, and also involves learning your way around the spirit world. The spirit world can be a dangerous place, and you can't even begin to master it by taking some stupid weekend shamanism course. That is why we have an apprenticeship process that involves working with both the spirits and a human form Teacher.

You stated: "There is no problem in this world that cannot be solved if people will listen to the Spirits of Nature." How do we do this?

We do this by learning to think and act in a different way, and by learning to trust in the spirits of Nature. That is what the Apprenticeship Process is all about. While people who go through it learn a lot of neat things to do, the main part of it is actually about helping them to remember who they really are, and often involves dragging up their crap and shoving it in their faces for a good an close examination of what they believe and what those beliefs are based upon. A spiritual Teacher is not here to be your friend. While most of my apprentices love me in the beginning they sometimes hate me along the way as well. But, if they stick with it then the results are well worth it for me. When they come around after experiencing this with their own apprentices then we get to be friends in the end.

Unfortunately, most people lead very toxic lifestyles wearing clothing that poisons the body, eating fast foods and taking lots of pharmaceuticals, drinking alcohol excessively and smoking tobacco casually which abuses the most sacred herb in North America. And, most people avoid the sun like the Plague, and rarely go outside for anything except in a car and then back into a building. There is no such thing as getting back to nature. You are a part of it right now, and need to be involved with all aspects of it. That is why training with an experienced Shaman is so valuable. We can help you get over what you have been doing to yourself, and show you how to do the same for other people. A spiritual teacher also helps you transmute your negative karma, protects you while you learn your way around the spirit world, and helps you make the alliances you need in the various other realms and dimensions around the earth. Visit, for example, the Hell Realm, the Realm of Fire or the Realm of Hungry Ghosts alone, and if you accidentally manage to live through the experience then you will know why you need a human form Teacher to help protect and guide you.

People who want to apprentice are welcome to apply for it through our website at www.NakedShaman.net, but need to be aware that we turn away more than we accept. However, when possible, when we turn someone down then we try to recommend someone to whom they can go who will be better for them than we are. That recommendation will never be to one of the organizations in this country who runs quicky weekend shamanism courses, but will always be to a Teacher who can work with you one on one. If you are accepted by us then we will ask that you donate an amount every month to help pay for what you are receiving, and then will provide you with more than you could ever likely hope to pay for unless you are very wealthy indeed! We serve our apprentices well so that they can do the same for the rest of the world.

If you don't want to actually become a Shaman then take some of our courses. For example, we are having a two for one sale for the month of October on both our courses and course packages. Take something from us, and we will advise you concerning its use for the next three years by e-mail to help you get the most possible out of it. In the process, we will do all that we can to help you learn to think differently about life, and to work better with both energy and the spirits.

Perhaps I am naive, but isn't healing best facilitated by direct communication and contact?

Thanks to fundamentalist religions that have systematically hunted down and murdered the shamans of the world there just aren't enough of us to go around right now. So, do you have a better way for the world at large to get in touch with us? If you do then I would very much like to hear it.

How do you conduct your investigations and provide your remedies via the internet or telephone?

There is no such thing as time or distance in the spirit world, and no illusion, while this physical world is nothing but illusion. Because of this you can often learn more about what you really need to know without lots of direct contact. The whole purpose of healing is help the body remember what it is to be healthy, and to help the person grow spiritually. Do these two things and the person, and their body, will be healed. Further healing is not necessarily a cure. Have a cure without spiritual growth and healing, and the disease will often return in the same or a different way. While direct contact is much more pleasant, and is often easier for people to accept, it can also cause you to become too familiar with a problem so that you get blinded by the "obvious" and miss the real situation. Conversely, being with someone physically allows for a greater degree of spontaneous action.

The bottom line here that you have to trust the spirits. I am often asked what the greatest lesson is that I have learned over the years, and the answer is always the same: "Stay out of the way, and do what you are told!" Keep your personality out of the way, and do whatever the spirits tell you to do. Nothing more, and nothing less. That was also the hardest lesson to learn as well.

Describe your healing process as you bring a trauma victim back to health?

I examine the energy of the person, do what I can to relieve their initial discomfort, and then acquaint them with the fact that this trauma happened because they attracted it into their life for the purpose of learning some lessons and so are not really a victim at all. Then we work with the spirits, stones, feathers, herbs and energy to help them learn the lesson quickly, gain understanding, make the needed changes in their lifestyles and spiritual practices, do whatever ritual work we are led to do, help then heal, and then to either experience a cure or be deathwalked as needed. Sometimes even death, but with dignity and greater ease and comfort, is a part of the healing process for both them and their families.

As no two people are exactly alike, and can't be worked with exactly the same, this is a hard question to give a simple, straight-forward answer for so this will have to do. Suffice it to say that if you come to me for help then it will be what the spirits say you need. Or, they will tell me that there is someone better to do this work for you, and I will pass that information and a referral on to you.

Are modern shaman's helping to create new mythologies? If so, can you give us some examples?

Many people are leaving the organized religions and returning to more primal ways in touch with the earth. This is due in part to the fact that ALL traditions are dying, and that includes the Native traditions. This is resulting in a great amount of chaos as many people try to hang onto what either has died or is dying now. People can either adjust, or they can die with their pet traditions. In the very near future we will be at the place Mahakali brings the world at the end of every Cycle of Ages when the traditions truly are all dead. Typically, that is around 35 years after the end of a Cycle. They are dead in the spirit world, but it takes time for it to finish playing out in the physical world. When that happens, then new tribes and new traditions will begin to form. It is because of this that we deathwalked the Asage Medicine Society five years ago. Matriarchy, like Patriarchy, is a tradition of the past, and now it is time for a less dualistic reality in which we are all One and equal. The old ways have to die to make way for the new. Things will get harder before they get better, but it will really be something great to see in the end.

Are you seeing any shifts away from traditional religion to a more Nature-based view?

While they are a bit more patriarchal than I care for, I would recommend you read a series of books called the Ringing Cedar Series of which the first is entitled "Anastasia". This is just one of many such movements on the earth today that are doing exactly that.

Do you believe in a God? If so, please describe this process and benefit.

There is one ultimate Deity whom we know as The Original Mind who resides at the center of the multi-verse, and Who created only one thing: The Divine Feminine who has birthed all of the rest of Creation into being. Both Monolah and Mahakali were created by the Divine Feminine, and they in turn created us. We are a part of the energy of the Original Mind, and are expressions of it just like the energies we know as Goddesses, Gods, Devis, Angels, Guides or whatever, and are representations of its various aspects. We are One with the Creator, and are a part of it in this form, and when we leave this world of illusion behind then we know this beyond a shadow of a doubt! And, as we learn to walk in that knowing here and now then everything is possible. What greater benefit could we have than that?

For those of you who feel like you have to call "God/Goddess" by a particular name, guess what? The Original Mind couldn't care less what you call it, and neither does the Divine Feminine. Any acknowledgment of It's existence, and your being a part of it, will do.

Are your power animal and spirit guides the same as mine? Is this rite or awakening experience different for each person?

While the mechanics of the experience are essentially the same, each person has their own. However, if you and I both have Dragon Wolves as Guardian Animals, they may be different entities and yet they share a collective consciousness. If we work with them enough then we will share in that collective as well.

Artists may go through many initiations on their alchemic journey. Please us about some of your key learnings, wing busters and transitions.

I had my first vision quest at the age of eight years old in the scrub oak thicket in the pasture behind my grandmother's house. Throughout most of those four days and nights I had asthma, and would have died if the spirit of my grandmother and the gray wolf who was my guardian animal then had not been there with me. I received a vision then that is only now being fulfilled, and another one that terrified me so much that I prayed to die that was fulfilled five years ago.

In the latter part, I saw myself raised up over my Elders and then killing them, and taking them to the spirit world to live. This happened when I was elevated to be the Dragon Priest over the Asaga, and the spirits told us to the Deathwalk the medicine society as we were the past and had to make way for the new that was to come. We did what we were told to do, and in the months leading up to that ritual then most of my Elders left me behind as they crossed over the spirit world, and my body smelled like it was rotting in an open grave.

The first part of my vision was of people who either saw me, heard me, or touched me, or read something that I had written, saw a picture of me, or heard a recording of my voice received the healing and empowerment that they needed. Some of my Elders despised me for that vision even more than for the second part. They thought that I was arrogant, but my grandmother just said that it was good for me to be able to dream big dreams, and that dream is coming true!

Thanks to a process a Teacher of mine is taking me through, people have told me that they visit my website briefly everyday because they get the healing they need when they do. One lady said that she feels the energy of the Oneness Blessing flow to her, and another receives the Sai Maa Blessing whenever she sees the logo on the first page! Other people call my Sanskrit name, Shiva Kalidasa, three times when they need help and can't contact me directly, and the energy they need comes to them for their healing or that of their loved ones. This does not happen because i am a great soul, but because I am willing to stay out of the way, and allow the spirits to operate through me as they see fit. By reading these words now you are receiving the Oneness Blessing the Sai Maa Blessing the Super-Consciousness Diksha and the Mahakali Bliss Diksha as well as any other kind of healing that you need that is capable of flowing through me. And, as that energy is flowing through me to you then it is further healing and empowering me as well! As of last week, a ventral hernia that I had for twenty-one years has healed, and it used to be fourteen inches long!

My apprentices are being empowered to do this as well. To me, that is the best part!

May your lives be filled with Bliss!

The Naked Shaman Bio –

The Naked Shaman is the official public forum of Naturopathic and Shamanic Services, Inc. which is a 501(c)3 Native American Religious Association dedicated to advancing Goddess-oriented spirituality in the world, and assisting both women and men in receiving healing from the abuses of patriarchy, bringing empowerment to all people, and helping the inhabitants of Mother Earth learn to live in Balance with both themselves and all of the rest of Creation.

Naturopathic and Shamanic Services, Inc. was founded by Dr. Sir Clifford Alford, Th.D, DD, MH, S/RMT, in May of 1995 in Tahlequah, OK for the purpose of protecting and reviving indigenous matriarchal shamanic traditions of the Cherokee Tribe and other similar traditions worldwide. Clifford began his training in Cherokee Medicine and Shamanism at the age of five when his grandmother, a Texas Cherokee Medicine Woman, recognized the calling of the Spirits on his life. Clifford apprenticed with her for fourteen years, and with other Asaga Adawehi (Spiritual leaders and Shamans) for another 11 years. During most of this time, all forms of Native American spirituality were illegal so most of his training and experience was gained in secret until the law was changed in August of 1978. Clifford is a member of the Texas Cherokee Nation, one of only three Native nations that have never surrendered to the United States Government, and so still has its heritage intact.

Clifford has continuously studied a variety of traditions worldwide that are in line with the principals of Cherokee Medicine with special emphasis being given to the study of Tantra and pre-Hindu Tibetan Bon Jhankri Shamanism. Within this framework, Clifford has led the revival of Mahakali Tantra, and the introduction of it here in the United States of America, and is a Reiki Grand Master as well as a Mahakali Tantra Grand Master Teacher. As is done in the Asaga Cherokee tradition, and in Tantra, Clifford works nude because of the power and clarity of vision that it brings. The same is true for all of our apprentices, and you are encouraged to do the same if you work with us, or to wear only loose natural fiber clothing that does not restrict the body in any way.

Clifford is also a Vajra Master in gTummo Mao-Shan, and is pursuing the Mahakala Initiation in Sathya gTummo under the tutelage of the great Indonesian gTummo Master, Dharmasatya Sarvayudhavisarada (Hari Andri Winarso), who is the Founder of Ivanath International.

Here is what we know: There is no problem in this world that cannot be solved if people will listen to the Spirits of Nature. Nor is there any disease that cannot be overcome if people will only seek the highest good of all. If you need help then know that we and our apprentices are here to assist you using methods that have been proven by countless people for over sixty thousand years. We are available to help you, train you, and empower you in every way possible. And, we are available to speak on any subject related to the work we do, and to teach seminars either here in Tulsa, OK or at your location. Contact us today!

Connections –

Dr. Sir Clifford Alford, Th.D, DD, MH, S/RMT
cliffordalford at sbcglobal.net
Nakedshaman.net