Navigating the Mysteries - Finding authenticity and the way to a more loving world.
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The apology-redress process contributed to an ongoing wider reflection on the meaning of “right-relationship” and has given me another opportunity to practice letting go (letting die, killing off!) ways in which I am not in right-relationship with aspects of myself, others and the world. The timing is perfect! Read on to find out why!
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I’m feeling. . . . I can’t seem to settle on one word! Each time I try to name an emotion, another pops up, clamouring to be heard! Perhaps “chaotic” would contain the multitude!
The image of a pin ball machine comes to mind! Like that small silver ball, I’ve been thrust, spinning into an arena, crashing into targets, that chime and flash at my passing. I wonder how many points this propelled trajectory will generate!
The last few weeks, with the hustle and bustle of high-season travel, much reading, rich conversations, shared meals and time with family and friends have expanded me. Even the usually quiet streets of Muxia are filled to overflowing with thousands of visitors, street bands, stalls, circus acts, local produce and the smoky aroma of gilled sardines. This weekend, we celebrate the annual medieval festival.
There is a part of me that wants to retract. My old way of being in the world would name this feeling as overwhelm and I’d run in the opposite direction, seeking solitude whilst also quietly sighing over the unfulfilled longing to immerse myself and enjoy the extravagance of the experiences. I would start to consolidate and bring order to my experiences seeking to still the chaos and restore a sense of control.
And there will be a time for this, but timing is everything and now is not the right time! I have made a commitment to a spiritual life and that demands that I allow the seeds that have been set to swell and mature!
I must enter the unknow and the new.
Like that pin-ball careering across the board, I’m temporarily caught between two targets, both clamouring for my attention with all the usual bells and whistles! One is named Surfing the Edge of Chaos* and the other Right Relationship.
While the days remain warm and long, my intention is to play in the surf of what feels like chaos, enjoying its creative energy, finding balance as I ride its waves, that I might enter right relationship with the myriad things that wash up on my shores.
This idea of right relationship fascinates and challenges me, and I will write more on it over the coming days as my practice and reflections ripen.
For now, I’ll return to my first use of the phrase in relation to the International Days.
“Let’s shift our focus, away from chaos and suffering to those who are working for greater equity, inclusion, community, the restoration of right-relationships and a more loving world.”
Consider joining me for the next New Moon gathering on 16 August, where, together, we can review, reset and revive right-relationships within ourselves, each other and the world around us.
(The phrase Surfing the Edge of Chaos comes from one of the books I’m reading –
Surfing the Edge of Chaos: The Laws of Nature and the New Laws of Business by Richard T Pascale, Mark Millemann and Linda Gioja)
Inanna’s story and the August New Moon.
“My life-long love affair with Understanding is taking me on a fascinating, heart-led journey!”
Those few words written on the About page of my website make a succinct summary of my life!
Although the heart-waters may be superficially choppy, I love their rhythms, their still depths and expansiveness!
Before we begin the story of Inanna, may I set the context and explain why I mention this story now, at the time of the August New Moon.
I can look back over my life and trace the golden thread. It continues to direct the path of cumulative experiences that build upon one another, to enrich my understanding. Perhaps something of my journey will resonate with you or pique your interest. If not, as always, please, pass by what you do not love!
As a social worker, identifying the rhythms, the repeating patterns in my clients’ lives was key; without recognising them, how might positive change be introduced?
Alexander John Shaia’s journey of Quadratos called me in because it provides a map for the recurring psychospiritual patterns in our individual and communal lives. His work became my primary map for many years.
Similarly, sacred geometry appeals with its form, beauty and pattern that offer profound understanding of the connections between ourselves and the cosmos.
As I move into greater understanding of these and other mystical arts, I find a much-needed communion between the arts and sciences that feels right and leaves me wanting more!
How could I resist then, “a misunderstood language, lost in the mists of time from it’s origins in Ancient Mesopotamia 6,000 years ago.”(Pam Gregory).
With an intriguing new map in my hand, shuddering to shake off the fear of disapproving voices from my past, I made the first tentative step on my journey with astrology. Carl Gustav Jung offered reassurance when I discovered that astrology provided the inspiration for his psychological theories of synchronicity and archetypes and that he used it extensively to help diagnose his patients. Jung’s work has also guided and led me to rich insights and understanding. His theories inspire much of my ongoing work.
Then I remembered that astrology and its foundation in Hermetic philosophy (as above, so below) was taught in monasteries, ecclesiastical colleges and was part of the medical curriculum until the 1600’s. In those days, even the papacy had an astrologer.
My first astrological reading offered me a reframe of my life journey that profoundly resonated with me, released me from long-held self-judgement and shame and showed me in a fresh way the direction that my life can purposefully move, if I actively, consciously engage with it.
Opening a previously unheard dialogue between my inner scientist and artist, the idea that our reality on earth reflects the cosmos and that the symbolism and geometry of the astrological patterns can be translated to have meaning in the lives of individuals both resonates and fascinates.
Like the Magi of old and the pilgrims along the Camino de Santiago, I too am being guided by the stars.
As we approach the August New Moon, Venus has called for my attention.
The ancient Sumerian myth of Inanna, Queen of Heaven, first recorded about 2000 BEC, mirrors the journey of Venus, as she disappears from sight on her orbit between the earth and the sun. This year, Venus’ disappearance correlates with the New Moon.
Archetypically representing the sacred feminine, Venus disappeared from the western night skies around August 6. She will remain hidden for about 2 weeks, then re-emerge as a bright morning star in the East on August 21. The myth tells a life-death-rebirth transformational story.
Just as I find it helpful to consider the seasons as a metaphor for my spiritual formation, I find it helpful to consider the ways that the symbolism and movement of the planets might also offer inspiration and a framework to support to my journey.
The myth of Inanna first came to me as I was consciously engaged in my own individuation process, as I prepared to walk my first Camino pilgrimage in 2019. The story has become a part of me, returning regularly to remind and teach me. As soon as I heard “Inanna”, I had to hear more!
In the myth, Inanna, Queen of Heaven, beautiful in the evening sky, hears the call of the Great Below and chooses to abandon heaven and earth to travel to the underworld. She seeks to reclaim lost parts of herself long buried in the underworld, and to restore the relationship with her sister, Ereshkigal, Queen of that hidden realm.
Inanna is taken through seven gates, stripped of her outer raiment’s, the ways she has identified herself, to appear naked and bowed low before her sister. On meeting Inanna, Ereshkigal, recently bereaved by the death of her husband and full with child is enraged. She fixes the stare of hatred on Inanna and Inanna is struck dead.
Her body remains in the underworld for 3 days, until, alerted by Inanna’s protective companion, Enki, God of wisdom, sends living waters and plants to revive her.
During this time, Ereshkigal writhes in the agony of childbirth, reflecting upon the death of her husband and the trauma that banished and locked her in the underworld. As her pain is seen and heard by the living waters and plants sent to revive Inanna, she births a new life.
Profoundly changed by her experience, Inanna attempts to leave the underworld, some spirits clinging to her skirts. She is granted permission to leave only on agreement that someone be sent to take her place. After a circuitous story, Inanna sends her consort who had gleefully taken her throne, showing no concern for his Queen, during her absence.
Astrologically, Mars, archetype of the sacred masculine and Inanna’s consort, will disappear from view, taking his symbolic journey to the underworld between October and December this year. To reconnect with deeper intimacy and true mutuality, internally and in outer relationships, both feminine and masculine need to complete their own deep inner work.
As we approach the 16 August New Moon, I have taken my own journey to the underworld, asking – which aspects of myself do I need to let die?
Which aspects of myself have been long buried, due to trauma, abandonment or hurt that I need to face and reclaim.
What needs to be restored in my relationships, both inner and outer.
I will share some reflections on this phase of my journey in the next blog.
Sources: Heather Ensworth – Astrologer and psychotherapist (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSJC0gf64NY)
Uncursing the Dark: Treasures from the Underworld. Betty De Shong Meador