Dearly Beloved...

"Dearly Beloved, we gather here together to get through this thing called life." According to Prince, “As I wrote it, ‘Let’s Go Crazy’ was about God and the de-elevation of sin." Like so many artists before him, Prince found a way to bring messages from the divine via his unique voice and lived experience. With this first introductory piece, I hope to bring something that also presents such an ideal. I don't have to worry about what the music studios will or will not play, hell no one may ever even read this - nonetheless, it's an outlet and a road to travel - one I hope you may travel with me.

I was an odd kid, growing up in the Piedmont foothills of North Carolina, I would pray to the moon, whispering secrets of desired freedom out into the night air as I gazed at its fullness. The way its light streamed through the massive cedar that was in the backyard - it provided a lantern, a beacon of hope - an escape. I was NOT like those around me - I wanted to study in Paris or at Oxford and I would stay in a book or off into my imagination for hours. I loved the smell of books, still do - I have an incredible home library. The world I found within the books and in my imagination stretched so far beyond my Gen X life and poverty. The land there; however, has a way of holding onto you - keeping you in its embrace like kin. Even now, after years of being gone and barely ever visiting, the land is still there as it whispers in my dreams - the lingering threshold of grief now that nearly everyone I remember as a child who were elders - they've joined the land of the ancestors.

That which is brought to my mind, what I conjure in my remembrance, is love through resilience, silence even through immense suffering, and perseverance. During this time of year as we stand at a threshold between Winter and Spring, and even larger, at the precipice of the collapse of what was the United States, there is opportunity for new seeds to be planted and grow. Despite my Southern Baptist upbringing, I've found a rich spiritual tapestry that supports me in this walk - as I journeyed to discover what "Threshold" means for me with the Callieach and Brigid (Bride) something interesting was revealed in this collision course of fire and ice. Thresholds are the land of Sacred Goodbyes - that place of stillness where we shed tears for what has passed, celebrate the lessons and the triumphs and look forward to something new that we are just getting a glimpse of, not dissimilar to the four of cups in tarot. In the Rider-Waite deck, we see a young man (The Magician in fact) sitting under a tree with his arms crossed, deep in contemplation and meditation looking at the three of cups before him. In the threshold where he finds himself, he sits silently celebrating what has been, and prepares to receive what is to come in the clouds above him. If you're a cloud scryer like me, you revel in the significance of that symbolism.

The sky, the tree, and the earth below in the four of cups card all hold sacred significance for the Magician, the Practitioner on the path of destiny. On that path, we all should afford ourselves these moments of remembrance, triumph, celebration, and stillness in the Land of Sacred Goodbyes.

I'm not one to use divination tools in some attempt to predict the future. Instead, I see those tools as self-development mechanisms that insist that I embody the divine within the human experience richly and fully. I'm not going to waste my time trying to predict election outcomes or whether or not I'll win the lottery. To me, I won that lottery at birth with who I incarnated to be - someone perfectly imperfect yet willing to unconditionally love myself and others regardless of circumstances. I find it fascinating that there are individuals who believe unconditional love, empathy, and compassion are weaknesses to be mocked or even exploited. It is undeniably true that those with these qualities must have and maintain incredible boundary structures, dear reader, that's what is known as growth, and more than likely, it came through initiation.

What is intitation anyways? The dictionary tells us that initiation is when something begins - how can a new cycle begin without an old one ending I ask? As the old cycle is falling away and the new one comes into view, what is that land pray tell? It's The Threshold, The Land of Sacred Goodbyes. That's what seasonal shifts are especially those as significant as Imbolc - as life begins to return to the land as it lay in stillness and death during winter we see the first signs of life with snow crocus poking its colors through the snow. What's poking it's head through the snow for you?

Winter the direction of North in the wheel of the year per the Celtic system and the northern traditions in general speak of a time of battle - a season so deadly if not prepared for properly or if the harvest has been poor in the Autumn prior. The sustainment of the hearth, warmth, family, and community was what sustained my Northern European ancestors.

For me, as I reside in Southern California with its unique and wonderous definition of Winter with the sea and the desert. It calls me to deep contemplation, rest, and self-realization. In a world that would wish to define me - I chose not to participate - nothing is set until it is set by me. I challenge you to find your Sacred Goodbyes in this time of the Threshold now and welcome what is to come - plant seeds of joy as that will be what grows to fruition to feed you in the days, months, and even years to come.

I close with The Guest House by Rumi -

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
As an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

Thanks for reading - the yellow brick road leads us not to Oz, but to something much greater and most importantly REAL.