Nurture

I'm back from my annual trip to Chincoteague, a barrier island of the Virginia coast. The neighboring island, Assateague, is uninhabited by humans, but is home to two herds of wild horses. I took this picture last week of a mare and her foal. This trip at the end of summer, before the onslaught of events that fall brings, has become a welcome period of rest for me. It led me to think this week about rest and nurture.

Rest isn't always restorative. The extent to which we restore ourselves during periods of rest is connected to nurture. What leads you to feel held? What around you brings you a sense of support? We know that when we work with spirits we are never really alone. Yet asking for nurture and support is hard for many of us. Sometimes it feels so foreign that it doesn't even come to mind. When is the last time you asked for restoration? When is the last time you sought out your own healing?

It's a hard thing. Our culture pushes us to keep moving, keep doing, keep achieving. The idea of rest seems like something we have to sandwich in between all the other items on our to-do lists. But rest is a necessity, as is support. Sometimes we have to learn to be still before we can sense the support that is available. By slowing down and building relationships with the unseen world, we can shift our understanding of support, nurture, and rest.

Gratitude for the hard stuff

Gratitude has been on my mind, particularly gratitude for the hard stuff. It's easy to stop in the midst of a beautiful landscape and feel awe. It's a lot harder to give thanks for things that are painful, or that dash our plans against the rocks, or that knock us off our center.

One of the great gifts of shamanism in my life is looking for the teaching in any situation. I don't mean from a place of magical thinking, where everything that happens carries some secret message. I mean thinking of life as a perpetual teaching, where every situation contains the potential for learning and growth. Shamanism certainly isn't the only avenue to this mindset, but it's what brought me here. I still get frustrated, I still dig in my heals and ball up my fists and shout "no" in my mind. But after I give myself space for feelings, I can take a breath and ask where the opportunity lies.

This is gratitude for the hard stuff. When it's hard to find the teaching myself, I ask my spirits about it. I look for where I can say "thank you." Sometimes life is really hard. Sometimes gratitude is "thank you for this hard thing, that took me out of the path of something even harder." Sometimes it's "thank you for giving me the strength to get through this." Sometimes it's "thank you for being here with me." Shamanism isn't an easy path, nor is life. We can still take responsibility for how we work with the hard things.

Are there opportunities for gratitude in your life that you aren't seeing?

Intuition and Divination

Do you ever just know something? Do you trust that intuition? I notice that a lot of us have been taught not to trust ourselves, to ignore our intuition. Often we only really come into that knowing after the fact, when something happens and we realize we knew how it would happen all along. I have had a few of those moments myself recently.

Trust in our intuition is important. However, so is discernment. We have to be aware of our own wants, our own biases, and the way our inner voice can convince us that what we want must be certain. Balancing trust and discernment is what makes our intuition useful. Otherwise, we have our head in the clouds without having our feet on the ground.

There is much to be gained from having a strong relationship with compassionate helping spirits. One of the benefits is access to wisdom beyond our human ability. It's important to check our intuition against their wisdom. We don't have to go it alone! We can ask, "what's happening here? What else do I need to know about this?" Through this process, our trust in ourselves grows.

Many of you have heard me say that when we are too close to an issue, it can be hard to get clear answers. I have people I reach out to and ask if they can take a look when that happens. Remember, we don't have to go it alone! Community is an essential part of the work. Our ordinary reality circles keep us grounded and help us check our desires against the bigger picture.

Intuition is a wonderful thing. It's made so much more potent when we are well-practiced with divination. As we head into the time of the year when the sun wanes, I begin to think about deeper questions. It's a good time of year to begin to take stock. What is your soul trying to tell you? What do your help spirits have to say?