The Phases
West
The West direction to me is the beginning, the direction which allowed me to pray for a new life in the moment when I hit rock bottom and faced who I am and where my addiction had led me. I had to pray and change my behavior. With prayer came change and a chance to have a new attitude and be ready to live, not embracing failure with drugs and drinking.
When this happens for you, no one will see it as it's occurring within you. The spirit to the West will know what’s in your heart and how to guide you through this journey.
NORTH
North is red, the direction of healing. With this direction we picture snow covered earth. This is a period of time where our prayers are working and the momentum of our lives has begun to change direction. This change that our heart goes through heals the spirit and our lives. When we drink, it goes against our nature, it kills our spirit and our dreams. With prayer we will heal and begin the steps to a new vision that is our life. Alcohol and drugs wash away our spirit and our identity of who we are as people. The road back to our family and our lives may takes time and patience.
East
East is yellow, the direction of the future. It’s the direction where we live our prayers. As we pray for a new, sober life, the main thing is to recognize when our dreams and prayers start to come back to us. Living in sobriety we can build on the ability to be in the right place at the right time. Our prayers are powerful and with consistency in our lives we have a better chance to have a good future. We must learn to protect ourselves and our prayers and be vigilant of the wrong people and things that will throw us off our path. The term red road can be interpreted as the road of our hearts. In truth, it’s the road of our prayers. Have a direction and a destination with your prayers, never losing sight of where you don’t want to return to.
SOUTH
The South direction is white, where the spirits come from to help us stay on the Red Road, listening to our prayers and supporting us on our journey. We need to hold reverence in our hearts for our prayers and for ourselves - not polluting our sacred bodies with drugs and alcohol. We will be tested on this path looking for sobriety but we must not turn our backs on the prayers we put in play. Just because we stopped the behavior that brought us to this point in our lives, it doesn't mean we walk away scott free. It takes time to let that old way of life come to an end. Past decisions and actions may take some time to slowly fade away. Believe in yourself and your prayers, the spiritual path ahead of you is worth the effort.
