The recognition of your connection with the spirit realm will alter your consciousness; you will become more awake and more aware. The spirit realm is infinite and holistic. It includes the ethereal energies — angels, animal spirits, nature spirits, saints, master teachers (such as Jesus and Buddha), ancestors, gods, and goddesses. The spirits also exist in nature, trees, plants, and all the elements of our natural environment.

There is life beyond what the human eye sees. If you use the eyes of your heart, you can sense it. Rituals and ceremonies assist you with this awareness and honor the spirit lives.

All things have spirits, and the practices of ceremony and ritual require that you recognize this. The rocks, trees, land, birds, animals, fish, air, water, thunder, earth, minerals, crystals, plants, flowers, stars, moons, and planets all have spirits and divine purposes. We are in relationship with all this life. The Lakota term Mitakuye Oyasin means "we are all related."