I'm so delighted to be moving to Glastonbury.
Born in Staffordshire, and after living and travelling in London, Brighton, Suffolk and abroad - I now feel like I am returning to an even deeper sense of home, in myself, and in my favourite place on Earth.
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| The Glastonbury Tercentennial Labyrinth, in the churchyard of St John the Baptist |
I feel this way, so sure of my home and my direction, essentially because it was my inner voice that guided me to this point. In a time of great change a strong song broke out of my heart and called me to Glastonbury. I knew it was my soul speaking to me. I had known the message was there for years, but it was only through sitting and listening deeply that I finally accepted the call.
This spiral inward journey of the heart is like walking the labyrinth, or as the psychologist Carl Jung put it, 'circumabulating the Self'. Our sensitive and feeling hearts seem to spiral around our souls, perhaps in order to appreciate all the unique and mysterious aspects of who and what we are, as they emerge.
Glastonbury has a deep resonance with my inner being. I have experienced many wonderful memories in fair Avalon - thoughts, feelings and images all filled with rich soulfulness. Through another turn on the labyrinth of the soft, awakened heart, I was able to detect the frequency of where to return to for the next part of my life's wandering path.
I like to write in italics for my more poetic musings... bear with me, and you may wish to experience this blog as nourishment for your own spiritual meditation.
The heart is an intelligent instrument, breathe into it with the spirit of care and acceptance, and listen to the music of the soul.
The heart's labyrinth spirals around the soul, is a continual journey. This spiral path is not a maze, rather it is a subtle quiet meaningfulness that keeps on unravelling, there are no dead ends. Pay attention as you unravel and weave the threads to reveal the beauty and meaning of the tapestry that the Soul rejoices in.
A maze is more like the split-off thinking mind we all suffer with occasionally. Truly thoughts and feelings are both of the heart, yet to avoid pain it's common to try to block out the feelings and so the thoughts are misunderstood, not properly processed...
This is like only having half the message, half the truth of the soul, and so it leads you somewhere only to hit a dead end. If you don't use your intuition and walk to the left in a maze, then you will hit dead ends until you eventually feel your way out.
The labyrinth is the golden path within the maze, yet to stay on it we must trust our inner guidance. Don't worry if you take a seemingly wrong turn, and need to reverse... Just follow your intuition and it will all become clear.
The intuitive feeling of the heart is needed to guide you in your reality. The heart gives intelligent and meaningful depth to the surface of the thought. When thought and emotion meet imagination is born, and becomes your guiding vision.
When the heart, thoughts and imagination connect as one, fully-integrated, there my friend, you have a whole possibility for experiencing your own soul. Work with it. Enquire. Process it with gentleness.
Simply being with the heart means you can accept all within you, eliminate resistance, and allow your inner wisdom to process all your life's challenges and requirements for meaning.
Meaningfulness may be the essence of living a good life.
Meaningfulness arises at the cross over of all your threads of awareness - groups of thoughts, emotions, images and energy.
Meaning is the distillation of divine substance from the currents of energy and consciousness within you.
Without meaning there is only a raw, chaotic, oozing mess. Presence becomes the cauldron and teh container for this mixture. Through attending it with deep time, deep presence, deep understanding and allowing the mess to mature, like brewing an alchemical potion, then the mess-age becomes clear. The substance of meaning is procured.
In my own awareness there are flashes of insight when the inner substance becomes pure and transparent. Other times, perhaps clear patches, bubbles and sweet smells and simmering sounds that all seem to indicate that the alchemical potion within me is brewing well. The mixture is always teaming with new sensory information and mysterious spirits that arise, keep tending the pot with curiousity and gentleness, and even when 'the plot thickens' you'll know which ingredients to add to it, to work with what you have.
Meaning is essential to living well, to experiencing the richness and mystical quality of simply being alive. In many ways I intend to work alchemically with the landscape in Glastonbury, in the way that I work with the images and symbols in the Tarot. Walking the labyrinth, ascending the steps of the ancient tor, drinking from the pure water of the healing springs - the landscape is rich with myth and meaning in Glastonbury.
I pulled the strength card from the Tarot deck. I love the image of vulnerability and gentleness holding the power of the lion. With deep presence and connecting soul to soul, we human beings need not fight one another, or wage war with forces capable of causing death, pain and killing our innocence. Mahatma Gandhi showed that by being powerful in our gentleness great change can occur; our power lies in our love, in our inner divine beauty and compassion. If we put our energy and awareness onto cultivating love as a kind of sacred balance then the forces that would seek to work against us, and through us, will be diminished. There is no need to act loving if it is not authentic, but by being deeply aware of the gift of life, by paying attention to the mysterious beauty of our inner worlds we can become more loving naturally, and love others too.
The strength card offers a reflection that I'll carry with me in Glastonbury. It will require great strength to begin a business, set up a home, build community and face my inner demons, but it is with the gentleness presented here in this image that I'll encounter these changes and challenges as they arise. Strength can be applied in many ways, and I choose to apply it through manifesting the most simplest, purest actions of kindness to myself and others. This is how Tarot informs my spiritual practice, and affirms my life path, and it's with sensitivity and self awareness that I share this gift with you. Thank you for honouring my journey and allowing me to honour yours.
[Image kindly provided through creative commons 0 licence, source location: link.]
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