"...toward the Otherworld I dream, yearning to be free..."
For A New Beginning
In out-of-the-way places of the heart,
Where your thoughts never think to wander,
This beginning has been quietly forming,
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.
For a long time it has watched your desire,
Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,
Noticing how you willed yourself on,
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown..
It watched you play with the seduction of safety
And the gray promises that sameness whispered,
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,
Wondered would you always live like this..
Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream,
A path of plenitude opening before you..
Though your destination is not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life’s desire..
Awaken your spirit to adventure;
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,
For your soul senses the world that awaits you..
In the service of the Queen
One doesn’t suddenly wake up one day and ‘decide’ to become a Shaman. The journey of the poet-seer, the wandering mystic, or the healer is a continuum which ultimately has no beginning or end, but is wholly sourced from the inner and outer world, the sacred and the profane, the spiritual and the sensual.
Even so, the ‘awakening’ of the Shaman, the Awakening of the Warrior Sage is a singular experience. As my spiritual journey has deepened, dramatically, over the past three years, I have had several such awakenings - moments of pristine clarity of the Truth of my existence, my purpose, and the omnipresence of Love in its many forms and expressions on this plane and others.
However, none of these awakenings have been so profoundly humbling as the journey I took recently with the Mother of all plant teachers: Ayahuasca. What follows, below, is an account of my initiation, my journey with the Great Mother.
Beltane 2009
Flickr image by mikescottnz
This year’s Beltane celebration was an important one for me, as it marked the official, outward, community acknowledgement of the invitation of the Mabon, the divine child, into our lives. My wife and I have invited a new One into our family, and though we haven’t yet received an RSVP, we are both feeling deeply connected and ready to welcome this new incarnation into the world.
As my journey into Fatherhood begins, Beltane offers me a time to reflect and meditation especially on the Masculine aspects of this Rite. One of my first and most profound connections with Celtic tradition was with an image of Cernunnos, who is often called the Lord of the Hunt and God of Fertility. This image struck me deeply, as I felt that I was one whose wild and green masculinity had been suppressed for many years. The image of Cernunnos was an invitation to move beyond my own fears and lethargy, to move beyond the comfort I had found in city life, into a more active spirituality that was deeply rooted in Nature, the Wild, and the Green aspects of life on Earth.
Tags • warriorsage, men, beltane, fatherhood, masculine, matthew fox,
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