Hello friends, kin and fellow path keepers!
Life has been full these past months, with new offerings from a deep cauldron of creative impulse. I have spent a significant amount of time in ritual and ceremony during this most recent eclipse season and moon cycle.
The fellow sojourners in our solar system: the planets, our sun, moon, and the stars, have been revealing to us our inner strengths, areas in our lives that need attention, and the way forward in Love.
As you may have read in my past newsletters, I have been in shift in my personal practices, weaving deep practices of Nordic animist magic into the gift of Ayurveda, the timeless and sacred Indian medicine which has healed so many of my beloveds. I have found a pathway of connection through my Nordic ancestry, to practices of northern European herbal medicine, mysticism, and magic, which has enlivened and unbounded my bookish tendencies to confirm, affirm, and scientifically validate the medicine I offer and practice.
Ah, my life story has been one of spiritual blessing and abundance, but not without great personal effort. For those of you unfamiliar with my story, let me share a bit of that with you today, in the form of poem. So fun! An ancient Nordic practice, poetry and riddles.
I come from broken family, yet my family is whole.
Baptized three times, I am but my children have yet to be.
Having sunk to the bottom of the well, into the sediment there,
I rise transformed, in bliss.
Who am I?
This question, “Who am I?” is a question each of us must ask ourselves, over and over and over again.
Regardless of your religious affiliation, your personal world view, your status or your profession, simply asking the question may reveal endless further questions: who are my parents? Where is my family from? Why do we do things that way? Who or what has shaped my worldview? How did I come to believe what I believe? Why did I choose that school? This profession, or that job? What parts of me have I hidden from myself and others? Will I ever be ___ (fill in the blank)?
Anyone who has read or studied the Torah or the Old Testament or attended Sunday School may recognize the answer in the question, “Who am I?” from the story of Moses and the burning bush. After speaking of His deep and endless compassion for the people of Israel, giving instruction to Moses that Moses was to lead the Israelites out of Egyptian captivity and into the land “flowing with milk and honey,” Moses asked (in Exodus 3:13-14):
“Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”
God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”
The voice spoke out of the burning bush which did not burn and said, “I am that I am.”
I have a dear Jewish friend who has elucidated another translation of the Hebrew for God’s answer: “I will be what I will be.”
Which reminds me of the mantra, “Om Bhu, Bhuva, Svaha” – the beginning of the Gayatri mantra. Meditate on the Gayatri and hear the primordial sound, from which all creation has sprung (Om or Aum), the beginning with no end, who has created the Earth (Bhu), the consciousness of that materialization, the life force and supreme Consciousness (Bhuva) which continues to create, and which is all pervading and good (Svaha). Meditate on the Gayatri to experience profound insight, protection, and upliftment. Gayatri Herself is the embodiment of all goddesses, through Her three aspects,protector of life-force or the five pranas as Savitri, protector of speech as Sarasvati, and the intellect in totality as Gayatri – which when concentrated perceives the effulgence, or the light that radiates in all things.
The peace which surpasses understanding has come to humanity through our collective and varied, colorful, cultural myths, stories, prayers and songs. The two wisdom stories invoked here are only two of endless variety.
Sri Ramana Maharshi, an Indian saint, revered as a great sage, a Bhagavan considered to be an avatar of Shiva, taught from his seat on the sacred Mount Arunachala in India. He taught that the first thought is the “I-thought.” To know oneself, ask the question, “Who am I?” When a thought arises, in answer to this question, inquire further, “to whom does this thought arise?” and in this way, follow the path from self to Self. Who or what is this capital-S Self? This is your eternal Spirit, the spark of the Divine that illuminates your mind and gives you life, it is the Life Breath that breathes you.
Do you choose to breathe? No, thankfully, or you would die as soon as you fell asleep. The autonomic nervous system keeps you breathing, but what keeps the autonomic nervous system functioning? Beyond the two-way pathway that is the vagus nerve sending information back and forth between the brain and the major organs, which wanders throughout the entire body (vagus means “wandering” in Latin), between the information super highway that is the vagus nerve and the release of neurotransmitters that impact tissues, functions and systems throughout the body simultaneously, there may be something a little more, well, ineffable – effulgent – that keeps the whole system running. Follow that effulgence to its Source. This is the power of prayer and mantra.
When I was in Sunday school as a child, we would sing, “This little Light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.”
My friends, this is the season to let the Light shine.
This autumn season, it may be time for some internal self-purification, to polish up the reflection of your inner light. It may be time to peer under the veil of illusion and see your connection to all things, including those things or apparitions which are no longer bodied – for example, your ancestors. Turn back to them, acknowledge your great grandparents, your great-greats or your great-great-greats. Without them, you wouldn’t be here. And that is the practice and point of the many traditions passed down in this season, including Halloween and Day of the Dead. We may put masks on for fun, but have you tried stripping yours off, to find the real you?
And, be mindful – be prayerful – as you go. Invoke prayerful protection, for your best and highest outcome. There are many reasons to invoke protection. Just look around at the world, your world, our world, today. I won’t go into the headlines; you’ve probably read too many of them already. Try time-limiting yourself on your scrolling if you’re feeling sick about the world. Or try wailing, or keening.
We’re embarking on the next leg of this human journey together, at this junction between seasons, as we approach a presidential election in the United States that many expect to be tumultuous.
If you’re needing support, if you are intuiting that it is time to purify your mind and body, and you recognize that you are in need of spiritual protection and some clearing in the lineage or in your mental and physical body and physical space, I’m here for that.
If you are needing support to stay in your center, to be a stand for the best and highest outcome for yourself, your family, and your community, I’m here for that.
If you simply aren’t feeling right, if you’re lacking energy, motivation, or find yourself paralyzed by despair or fear, if have a frightening diagnosis, but know deep down that while you have a diagnosis youaren’t a diagnosis – and you recognize that the only way out is through, I’m here for that.
I can help you weave a new pattern, a new waft on the warp of your life, helping you understand and work with your ancestry, your genetic predispositions, and the body you inhabit – to return you to your most capable, your strongest, your most lit up, your most radiant, your most powerful self.
I’m here for that.
Reach out, anytime.
Sending big love and deep bows this autumn season.
Heather
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