This week, I’m guest posting over at Essence of Wild, on the Gaian Tarot and Becoming Native to our Place.
Essence of Wild is the home of Jackie and Jason, and their wonderful Barefoot Breathing e-course.
Green and Barefoot Blessings!
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From the category archives:
Spiritual Practice
“Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.”
— Rumi
This Valentine’s Day, let’s consider the multiplicity of ways that we open our hearts. How fortunate we are, to have so many opportunities to love.
Love for one’s self.
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Love for friends.
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Love for our mates.
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Love for our children.
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Love for our animals.
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Love for our Place.
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Love for family.
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Love for community.
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Love for our creative passions.
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Love for our work.
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Love for our planet.
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Love for the Great Mystery.
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“Even after all this time, the sun never says to the earth ‘You owe me.’
Look what happens with a love like that. It lights up the whole sky.”
- Hafiz
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I am thrilled that my first-ever Gaian Soul Retreat, coming up this September on beautiful Whidbey Island, is already 2/3 full. I set my intention for a group of lovely, amazing women to join me, and boy howdy, have they ever!
But there’s still room for more . . . perhaps you might be the next one to join us. (Click on the image above to watch the wind spirits play with my hair!)
Come, drink deeply with us from the sacred well of Nature, Spirit, Creativity and Community!
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I love singing this love song to the Goddess Brigid during Her season of Imbolc / Candlemas / Winter-Turning-to-Spring. It brings me quickly into Her presence, like nothing else.
My friend Helen Farias, founder of The Beltane Papers, wrote the first two verses of this song and set it to the traditional Irish tune “Bridget O’Malley” in the early 1990′s. She died, much too young, in 1994. I hummed and sang it to myself for many years, then asked Craig to record it a couple of years ago. He did, and added another two verses, and the sweetest mandolin.
This year, I decided I wanted to make it into a slideshow/video. I asked my friend Cate Kerr, photographer extraordinaire, if I could use some of her nature photos for the video. Then I went back through my old photos of my journey to Avalon in September 2005 with Mara Freeman, and pulled out the ones that reminded me of Brigid during that pilgrimage. I especially remember standing with a circle of women around the Holy Thorn (now, sadly gone) on Wearyall Hill in Glastonbury, and singing to Brigid, the Tor in the distance.
I added two images from the Gaian Tarot, the Four of Water (featuring Chalice Well), and the Seven of Fire, an image many people associate with Brigid at the Forge. In the center, I added John Duncan’s famous 1913 painting of the Coming of Bride.
I hope you love it as much as we do.
Dedicated to our beloved Brigid,
Radiant Flame of Gold,
the Summoner of Spring.
(You can download a copy of the song here.)
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In my Gaian Soul Practices classes, I send out an email every day with a journaling prompt. The folks in the current class are preparing to dedicate themselves to their own True Paths at Candlemas / Imbolc next week, so this week’s journal prompts are in preparation for that.
This morning’s question was: What is it I am meant to do in this lifetime?
Even though I am already pretty certain of the answer to that question, I think it never hurts to go back to it on a regular basis, to get in touch with the refinements to our soul’s calling as we age and grow.
(One woman in the class, Maria, answered this question on her own blog this morning.)
We can journal in response to these questions, of course, without pulling a tarot or oracle card. But pulling a card often sparks us in such delightful, unexpected ways!
In answer to my question, I pulled . . . The Hermit. And I had to laugh, because I am spending a lot of time writing and making art in my journal these days, and teaching the folks in my classes to do the same. Journaling (with words, art and photography) is one of the core Gaian Soul Practices.
And my Gaian Hermit, of course, is writing in his nature journal, listening to birdsong, and turning his inner eye to the unseen world.
Here is what I wrote in my own journal this morning:
“I am meant to have times of retreat and getting away from the world, in order to connect with who I am truly am, with my Muse, my Goddess, and my own deep desires, so that I can come back and hold up a metaphorical lamp for others, to light the way for them.
I am Teacher and Healer and Artist. I have much to share. Others follow and learn from me.
As I follow and learn from others.
Still, that time alone, with journal and pen and paper, is crucial — critical — to hearing my own inner voice and the voice of Spirit.
Blessed be for time alone. Blessed be for time with others.”
Here’s what I wrote about the Hermit in the Gaian Tarot companion book:
The Hermit retreats from the company of others to replenish his soul in solitude as he communes with the natural world. He listens to the calls of birds as he writes and sketches in his journal at twilight time. He ponders his own mortality, and the gifts and challenges of aging.
His guardian is the Barred Owl, who sees keenly in the darkness and embodies silent wisdom. From the sacred smoke of burning sage, visions rise of spirit animals. The Loon, with its primal eerie call, leads the Hermit into the waters of his dreams and ancestral memories. Wolf, the moon’s ally, reminds the Hermit that he is part of a pack or tribe, even when he spends time apart from it. The Merlin is a magical, shapeshifting raptor who shares its name with the Wise Old Man of Arthurian legend. All three are teachers of the Hermit’s soul.
When you get this card in a reading . . .
Your spirit is crying out for a time of sacred solitude. You need to withdraw from the world to focus on your inner life and spirituality. Perhaps you have been wounded in the “wars of the world,” or perhaps you are fatigued and empty from putting out so much energy, especially if you are a caregiver. Your well is empty and it needs to be filled.
Take some time out for a retreat. Go away to the mountains or the sea, by yourself, without partner or friends. Spend time outside in nature, observing the changes in your environment day by day. Your inner wisdom and sense of well-being will grow effortlessly the more time you spend outside. When you once again enter community life, others will be drawn to the light they see inside you and may come to you for guidance. For part of your purpose is to share what you’ve learned with others.
Affirmation
I retreat from the world in order to refresh my spirit.
What does the Hermit say to you, dear Readers?
And . . . what card do you pull in answer to the question: What is it I am meant to do in this lifetime?
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