I awoke one morning, with a cry of longing in my heart for Grandmother Twyla – a name I didn’t recall ever having heard before. This was more than two decades ago, a time of tremendous change for me which challenged me to my core. That cry sent me on a search for this person, who soon became an important teacher for me. I found her in New York State at her home and teaching center on the Cattaraugus Reservation, where she was leader of the Wolf Clan Teaching Lodge. Meeting this small and potent elder was like coming home for me. I feel blessed to have spent time with Grandmother Twyla Hurd Nitsch prior to her passing in 2007. Below are some of my favorite memories of this beautiful and masterful soul.
One of her names is Yehwehnode which means She Whose Voice Rides the Wind. Gram, as she liked to be called was the embodiment of all that the name Grandmother implies, from nurturing older woman, to strong and wise spiritual leader as the Native American term implies. Gram was direct, she didn’t shy from saying it like it was; if you asked her a question or for guidance, she answered honestly, simply and precisely. She was equally at home in her kitchen helping her assistants to make a meal, leading a dance and chant in her round house, or teaching. She lived a life which included great hardship and great love; and carried a positive, kind and indomitable spirit. She was strongly connected to the life of planet Earth, and told us to always remember our planetary mother in everything we do physically and spiritually. I love her, and I still feel her active presence in our world, guiding the Wolf Clan Teaching Lodge and continuing her support for what is true and loving in our world.
While visiting Gram the first time, my two year old daughter and I were dancing in a circle, hand in hand with many others inside the round house. We were voicing a chant for the spirit of the wolves, and as I looked at my daughter across the circle, there were two spirit wolves dancing with us, both slightly in front of and between Gram and my little one. This was a vision of great clarity and dimension, and it seemed to me the wolves were smiling and thoroughly enjoying our dancing chant. One of Gram’s names is “Two Wolves” because she has two spirit wolves that are with her. I can confirm that!
Almost as important to me as the personal guidance and perspective which Gram gave to my life, my next favorite teaching from her is what she called “The Within the Within the Within”. This term refers to an inner space within each person where we can go and feel truly private and safe. There our own personal spirit and the Great Spirit can abide together. Within this space we can rest, release the influences of the world around, recharge and tune ourselves to our inner truth. It is a place where we can listen to our inner voice and find guidance and clear perspective. She introduced us to this place within to help prepare us to handle the stresses caused by the Earth changes she foresaw, and which we are beginning to experience now. She said when things get too chaotic in the outer world we could enter this inner space. Below are instructions for finding this place for yourself. I am not an official teacher of the Wolf Clan Teaching Lodge, so if you want to you can contact them at www.wolfclanteachinglodge.org for official instructions and information about their Councils, events, teaching and membership.
The Within the Within the Within:
- To create a doorway to your Within the Within the Within you place the back of one hand in the palm of the other. Then lift your thumbs and connect the tips of them to make a triangle opening (see photo).
- Place this doorway over your solar plexus, located in the upper belly area within the arch of your rib cage.
- Center your awareness within that door and feel yourself drawn into an inner space. You might feel like it is a very warm and cozy private cave.
- Retreat into this inner space, allowing it to surround you and your energy field fully.
- Relax…Be…Rest…Meditate…Feel your inner peace…Let wisdom come to you if needed. Let yourself be cleansed of the stresses and confusion of the outer world and life.
- When you are ready to return to the outer world, release the doorway of your hands and allow yourself to be drawn back into your outer experience. However, you can allow a small part of you to stay within this inner space if that feels right. I find this can provide a sense of inner strength and balance at the core of yourself.
Thank you, Grandmother Twyla, and thank you Mother Earth for the gift of our Within the Within the Within! May we find peace and strength there to ride the waves of change on Earth with grace and love.