Month 1, Week 4, Reflections of Awen

Here, we are asked to reflect upon what we have learned or know of Awen.  In that my journey began before this course, I will share what I have come to know.

I know, that a life of continuous and deepening release is gifted with profound awareness.  In my case, I have become a deep well, and before where I had a healing hand, now I have a gentling one. 

Those who have taken this journey know that there is no exact route, that each of us finds our own way.  It is akin to walking up a mountain - we each seek the vantage point that we feel is best approachable.  Sometimes the direction changes or we have to backtrack, but at the top, we all share the language of our journey so are able to speak to each other as knowers.  Now, with that in mind, there are some encounters that we all share, such as seeking and finding safety, seeking and finding identity, seeking and finding our might and integrity.  From here our next hand- and footholds are possibility and probability, generosity and abundance, togetherness and oneness, a strong hand and an open heart, grace and caring, faith and frith. 

And there is no time frame - for along the way one realizes that there cannot be.  There is no failure, no back-sliding, no wrong; there is only the endeavor.  At every step, as we wind our way towards mountains peak, awareness is bolstered through welcoming, or when we make welcome the Self, or when we return to that which we already are.

Awen is a spiritual journey, the way of the pilgrim.  When I look upon the symbol of Awen, I do not see three rays coming down and three rays going up, but two equal operational modes of divine nature.  Within each of us there is a divine energy that, through self-mastery, through physical and mental purification – by walking through twin fires – the way becomes clear and sure enough to maintain increasingly longer periods of contact, allowing the higher frequencies of Self to imbue us with its divine grace.

We are then asked to "focus on these questions":

-Have you learned any new ways to seek divine inspiration?

**I no longer seek divine inspiration, I allow it.  There is a profound difference.  Often what we seek is not what truly exists; or, that our perception of what we should be seeking is not wholly informed.  When we allow our self to spend time with Self, we begin to see the barriers that exist between the two.  When this insight becomes available we then seek to clear the path, or to find the most direct way.  From experience, less is more; truly, the art of not-doing is very applicable.  Bear in mind though, that not-doing is not doing nothing, but not getting in your own way, or not letting self hinder the journey to Self.   

-What does 'divine inspiration' mean to you?

‘Divine’ is both god-like and prophetic, and ‘inspiration’ is in-spirit. 

‘Divine’ is shining and illuminating for it brings light to all that is dark, it casts wisdom upon obscurity.   That which is divine is the maintainer of the trinity – the three made one, the triple spiral, the three pillars, the Triple Goddess, the Norns and the Muses.

‘Inspiration’ is poetic fury, or that which is made through passion.  Inspiration – in spirit – that which inspires us transports us in breathtaking speed to Self.  Regardless of whether we are ready, or the course has been cleared.  It is the burst of wisdom-knowing that falls upon us and just as quickly is gone, often leaving us feeling lost and suddenly darkened.   

Divine Inspiration then is self inside Self.  In the Havamal, the ‘Sayings of High One’, Woden relates:

Knowing I hung, upon a windy tree, nights all nine,

Spear wounded and given to Wod, self to my Self,

Upon this tree, which no man knows,

From where its roots originate.

(Desmond translation)

Woden’s name means “in wod”, or “in óðr”; explaining that he was divinely inspired, that his mind was aflame with spiritual truth; a condition well know among the tribes of Old Europe.

Likewise, The Book of Leinster (3895-3905) relates the Fourteen Streams of Scholarship:

Fele and innruccus (science and integrity),

Comgne and genelach (history and genealogy),

Immas and dichetal (great knowledge and chanting),

Anamain and brethugud (poetic meter and legal judgment),

Teinm laeda and ler forcetail (breaking open of poems and diligent teaching),

Idna láme and lanamnais (purity of the hand [deeds] and partnership / relationship),

Idna beoil and foglomma (purity of the mouth [speech] and learning).

Here, great knowledge  is that which streams, which flows, which pours not down from above but is a wellspring within.

-What does the Awen add to your life/spiritual practice?

**There is nothing else but Awen / Imbas / Óðr.  It is our animating spark, that which allows us to walk about and experience the world.  Once this thread is cut, the body dies.  There are those who are thread-bare, and those who are intricately woven, but for all of us, the weave exists.  Awen then is the rope to which we hold, the divine umbilicus, the sacred lotus, it is nothing less than remembrance.

Heart in Hand ..

Month 1, Week 3, Moon Path: Seeking Awen

This week is about the inner journey, about going within, about meditation.  There are no specific questions, but a suggested daily meditation.

Having a daily meditation practice for the last 40 years has found me, not so much "striking a balance between opposing forces in our lives", as exploring the ever widening path before me.

Regarding the vista from which I view the world: I reside in meaningful alignment.  The result of my life's work has led me to unconditional presence; meaning, I know that presence can be sustained regardless of the inner or outer storms, regardless of physical or emotional disruption.  Or, as I often relate, "When you feel the world around you is spinning out of control, realize that you are standing in the 'eye', standing at center.  And that is a place of quiet observation."

More and more I describe myself as a 'woods woman', a 'staff bearer', and 'wisdom keeper'.  Perhaps because my every choice in life has led me to this moment, to the very gentleness of divine presence.  The life of this woods woman is filled with silence and solitude, with the exploration of deepness and wounds and trust and imagination and creativity .. 

Walking staff in hand is never tame or domesticated, but fraught with madness and poetry, with vigilance and intensity, with eyes wide open to receive perpetual light.

The lesson this week is to, "Consider the concept of balance that is embodied in the Awen. There is a left-leaning line, a right-leaning line, and an upright line. The upright line represents a balancing force between two opposing forces or opposite directions." 

God, or the Primordial First, is that 'upright line', that field beyond more and less, near and far, before and after, self and other, past and future, elsewhere and otherwise.  God, or the Ineffable Entity, occurs when there are no levels, no demarcations, no this or that.  God, or the Absolute, is the home you never left.

Month 1, Week 2, Sun Path: Celebrating Awen

There is no written assignment for this week.  However, there are three self-probing questions that I choose to answer.

Question:  Are there certain seasons that give you more inspiration than others?

**For many years I said that I equally loved both the mountains and ocean.  Then, I lived in Florida.  Now I know I love the mountains more.  Asking me to look within to find if there is a favorite time of year has been a walk through the Wheel.  I love the autumn for its crisp cool air, and winter for its frozen silence.  I love spring for its viriditas, and summer for its rolling heat.

I love Graintuiri and Samhain* for their Love and Legacy, for The Hunt, and the realization and discovery of clan’s potential.  I love Graineiri and Bel Tintean* for their Life and Liberation, for hare hunts, and breaking the bonds of illusion.  Each has its measure of deep richness and healing, so it is difficult for me to identify one above another when all of them are ecstatic.  Each is far more than present but presence.

So to answer the question: No, there is not one season for me that offers more inspiration than another; there is but the current that touches them all.

Question:  Is there a particular High Day that is your favorite?

**Scal Cu, the Tide of Loyalty, that exists during the intercalary days.  The Between tides are held as above ordinary awareness; as liminal periods.  And if this is so, then Scal Cu – the Spirit Dog – is the via negativa of the Wheel itself.  This is Center, Storm’s Calm, the Heart of the Oaks of Avalon – the reason for silence.

Contemplative practices aim for ‘clarity of mind’ or ‘purity of heart’, and both are a touchstones of consciousness.  Scal Cu has one leave this behind, to release the last vestige of conscious presence, to release clinging, to be as The Fool who, looking upwards, steps into nothingness.  Scal Cu is that nothingness of all that is not.  Standing at Zero has its own dialogue – its own phrases, words and alphabet even  - and these must be planted, like the seeds they are, within a circle of rocks and at water’s fall, within the nesting cup of a bird’s nest and beneath fallen trees.  In this way, Spirit Dog takes root in land, sea and sky, and remains ever present; and those who look for it, may find it along their way.

Question:  How does this seasonal inspiration help you to celebrate nature?

**Scal Cu has a unique form of perceptivity, its own communion.  Rather than yielding to its form, one yields to it; and this nothingness is brimming with light and intelligence.  Scal Cu is beyond closer to the heart of all things, but the mysterious place of interpenetration at the heart of all things.  It is here that I celebrate the fullness beyond self-reflection, for there is only self; and, at the least, the reality that intention is what energizes all things when it flows unfettered.

~ ~ ~

(*Alban Elved and Samhain, then Alban Eiler and Beltane.  I grew up with different names for the Tides, names I am comfortable with, so will gradual begin to incorporate the ‘Druid High Days’ of the Black Mountain Druid Order.)

Month 1, Week 1, Earth Path Reflection: Meaning of Awen

Question:  What places in nature inspire you?

**Musty woods filled with lichen and fungus, meandering streams babbling over stone, wild flowers that burst from deep forest mulched earth, the pulse of a clump of soil, the vibrant dialogue of tall grass, a launch of birds from branches narrow, the song of cricket and skitter of lizard, the casual toe print of deer at water’s edge, the coolness of shade and the warmth of sun’s beaming.

Question:  Do you have a favorite outdoor place?

**'Outdoors' is a favorite place.  Away from the dense electromagnetic currents that buzz and bounce within the walls of a house; from refrigerator hum to the flush of air conditioner coil, to the dry air of heaters, to eye-blinding fluorescent lights and brain-numbing television.  Away from the filters that alter natural interaction that interpose between my senses and the sensuous; and those manufactured odors that detract from the budding growth of new vines, the earthy must of deer, or the clean smell of granite at high noon.

Question:  What energies are in balance when you spend time outdoors in nature?

**The sensation of visceral life – when I dwell in a places own psyche.  By releasing into the sentient around me – sloughing the outer husk to return the thread of my being to its primal source – reciprocity becomes spontaneous and intimate.  The rhyme of life unfolds as I open to the slow step of a hunting heron, open to the quiet breath of a fox, open to the tumbling leaf as it caresses my face.  I deliberately seek out such moments, for none other is my true home, then that contemplative center where truth is revealed and all is right in all worlds.

Embark

I embark upon this journey with the Black Mountain Druid Order's free Dedicant Path course.  This decision slowly shaped via an internet meeting with Charlton Hall.  First, exchanging several emails, I noticed the insight and ease of his replies.  I then spent an entire day reviewing the BMDO website.  Then I saw an invitation to their Samhain Ancestral Vigil in my region, and because there is no better way to know someone than to meet them, I made plans to attend.  Additionally, in that I am ever keen on the praxis of self-betterment, I decided to bring their course into my life.  And so I am, with a newly cobbled blog, ready to go there - whether or not I return back again, remains to be seen!

Heart in Hand

I have decided to include within my life tapestry the study of my maternal ancestral folkway.  Not that the study of Celtic mysticism and Druidry is new to me, but that I intend to include it to a greater degree than I have in the past.  This is an experiential endeavor, a personal journey of Heart in Hand.  

May my Mothers Ever Bless me ..