Convergence

Another photo from Iceland! We saw a lot of waterfalls on this trip, but I never got tired of them. Each one was different, and had its own qualities. Some trickled slowly down mountainsides, and some rushed and fell hundreds of feet. This waterfall is called Goðafoss, and is an extraordinary semicircle of rushing water.

What strikes me about this picture is the idea of convergence, of all of this water coming together and thundering into the same basin. There are times in our lives when we struggle, and times when things come together. Sometimes this convergence even seems effortless. I try and stay attuned to what paths open up and what doors seem closed, taking these as hints from the spirits about which direction to go. I am often astounded at what avenues become available when I pay attention.

I received a teaching today from a lovely human teacher about the individual divine paths each of us has in our lives, for the purpose of healing the world. These paths are unique to us, and no one can do our unique work for us (lest you think this is some new age nonsense, the teaching comes from a mystical lineage founded 500 years ago). In giving myself the space to consider what has opened up for me in my life, the road can seem to twist and turn, but it does lead in a direction--towards what end, I can't guess!

I wonder, have you felt yourself being guided in a particular direction? Is there a pull, a whisper, that you can't ignore?

 Sometimes, I think, we ignore these things for too long. We convince ourselves that this is not the way, or that the path will be too hard, or that making big shifts in our lives is impossible.

Building on the idea of responsibility from last month, what is our responsibility to do what we are here to do? If we each have a unique role in healing the world, what happens when we don't fulfill it?

Presence

I have been thinking a lot about witnessing and presence. In what ways do we witness others? It what ways are we seen?

Others, of course, is not limited to humans in our shamanic worldview. The picture above is a state park in Vermont where I watched the total solar eclipse last year. I was immediately taken with the mountains when we arrived. They seemed to circle around the hill where people had gathered, holding and supporting the group. Too often, we fail to stop and notice what is around us, and who is there to support us.

How many times have you felt held by nature? How often to do really feel the support of your helping spirits? It's hard, in our busy society, to stop and notice. And since our relationships with our spirits are based on reciprocity--how often do you hold space with nature? How often to you join with your spirits to witness someone else, in all of their joy and grief?

It's a beautiful thing to be in awe of nature, but with our shamanic skills, we can take it a step further, and be in relationship, even for a few moments. There is so much power in this witnessing.

See if, in the heat of summer, you can take a few moments and stop and be with what is around you. Do you feel seen? Do you really see?

Responsibility

Last month, I wrote about presence. This month, what is on my heart is the connected idea of responsibility.

In architecture, an arch is a far more powerful structure than a doorway with right angles. The roundness of the shape allows the blocks to lean on each other and support each other, allowing the archway to hold far more than any of the blocks could on their own. So it is with a circle. The members of the circle, together, hold the space. The power of the circle is far stronger than the power of each of the individuals. I was taught that every circle we form continues in nonordinary reality after the circle is opened and the people disperse.

It does not take significant experience to participate in holding the circle in this way. What it does take is responsibility. We have a responsibility to hold our attention, our intention, and our compassion in circle--we do this for the benefit of the people next to us, and not for ourselves. When we are able to take responsibility for supporting the people next to us, we have to trust that they are also supporting us.

I am fascinated (and saddened) by two opposing forces in our culture today: what I call "toxic individuality" and what I will call "toxic passenger-ship" (I just made that up!). In toxic individuality, we see spiritual teachings as being for ourselves, and only for our own development, rather than to help our communities. Excessive individuality causes us to lose our sense of responsibility for each other. In toxic passenger-ship, we expect our development to happen to us, rather than recognizing the essential relationship between ourselves, our teacher(s), and our compassionate helping spirits. In this passenger-ship, we lose the sense of responsibility for ourselves.

I say all of this with great compassion. Our culture's disconnection from the spiritual world has caused our collective to develop these unhealthy coping mechanisms in order to survive a society that lacks essential reciprocal relationship. It can be difficult, even painful, to begin to see how we have collectively abdicated our responsibility. But I have never been promised by my own teachers that spiritual progression would be easy, and I do not promise that to anyone I teach. The work will sometimes be difficult, and will sometimes bring up things in ourselves we would rather not face. That is the work. In order to stand fully in our power, in order to take responsibility, we must recognize where we have given our power away. Taking responsibility is reclaiming power. That, too, is the work.