Pulling Gnosis from a Shell

In Sophia and the Classroom Called Earth, I wrote about how our path to Conscious, Gnosis or Knowledge is obscured by life events. The song "Pulling Mussels (from a Shell)" by Squeeze keeps running through my mind, but instead of singing, "pulling mussels from a shell", I am singing, "pulling Gnosis from a shell" because that is what it feels like at times.

It's like there is a mussel shell, closed tightly, with all the information bundled up in it. How do I pull the information from the shell?

Over the past year, I have talked to an intuitive counselor, not exactly on this subject, but about my own path. She revealed to me some truths that, at times, I still have a challenge assimilating.

She introduced me to my guides. I have two. One guide I met in a dream before I ever searched for counsel. He is a tall brown skinned warrior with black hair and a straight nose. His body is strong. He stands a head taller than me. He is my stabilizing force. In the dream, he challenged the question, "When are you going to embrace your heritage?" It took about two years before I discovered that African ancestry courses my blood.

My other guide is my great grandmother who I felt a strong bond, though I have not met on this Earth. It is from her lineage that my African ancestry comes. I have one photo of her taken with my grandfather when he was about four. He stands next to the seated woman with her arm around him. Her large hand with wedding band keeps him close. Neither of them smiles. Her mouth is turned slightly downward, but when I look at the photo, I am sure that I see her smiling. It is hard to tell what race she is.

She lived in North Carolina in a little town named Chadbourn. They were farm workers, though eventually, probably after my great grandmother's death, my great grandfather ran a roadside store and restaurant.

This is what my counselor had to say about her: "And she carries the wisdom of the sacred pipe. Okay. It's the sacred pipe, uh, the peace pipe, uh, Buffalo Calf Woman? Um, she's connected to White Buffalo Calf Woman, her energy."

This is the part that I have challenges assimilating.

White Buffalo Calf Woman manifested herself to the Lakota Indians of what is now South Dakota about 2000 years ago. As not to rehash the story, a beautiful rendition can be found here: White Buffalo Calf Woman at Goddess Gift

I didn't know any of this when my counselor revealed it to me. I went home and, as always, did my research. I felt disbelief. I returned to my counselor and challenged her statement saying and asking, "I am having a tough time digesting this. Having my great grandmother, with this energy, as my spirit guide would be for the Native Americans equivalent to a Christian saying that their guides have Jesus' energy. If she is indeed connected to White Buffalo Calf Woman and was born to this Earth and manifested as a human, how could she not know during her lifetime that she was indeed connected to White Buffalo Calf Woman?"

As I write this, I still feel challenged in my belief and at the same time, I don't want to dishonor any Native American beliefs as well as dishonor my own great grandmother.

My counselor's response was, "But dear, who are you?"

This is when I came to know what a harsh classroom the Earth really is, and I often feel that I'm pulling Gnosis from a shell.