"All things that have flowered return to their root. This returning to the root has a name: Quiet." Lao-tzu.
Have you ever noticed the relaxed, quiet afterglow that follows making love? All the senses have been stimulated, the endorphins are now rushing through the brain, and the deep sense of satisfaction hums through the aura. This is a "returning to the root". The same is experienced after spirit dance. Everything has built up to a climax and afterward there is a calm within and a connection with Spirit that glows all around us. We also get this effect from drumming circles and meditation. These things nourish our bodies and our souls. On the Wheel of Life, returning to the root would be the point of crossing over to the other side of the Veil of Existence until we reincarnate. This is also the experience that is promoted during the "shaman's death", which is the death of an old way of being and the birth of a new way of being that is actually primordially older than the way that we have just sluffed off. It is a return to the shamanic roots that exist in every culture and every race around the world. It is a connection with Nature and with the Divine, internally and externally.
Some have roots that grow deeper than others. This is not about "my people have been here longer than your people" and it is not about "Our ways are older and better than your ways." This is about working on returning to the root daily. Our personal backgrounds have little to do with our personal potentials. No matter what has forced us to bloom, we each have the capacity to deepen our connections.
Blessed Be
Trent
www.deerhornshamanic.com
2 comments:
Thank you for giving voice to this. It's one of the reasons that I turned to shamanism--or rather, not that I turned "to" something, but instead that I uncovered a more authentic, essential way to be.
When I was leaving Christianity behind, I didn't see it as a death, but it really was leaving behind an old way. I only felt it as reconnecting with "nature, the Divine, internally and externally," as you wrote. I didn't really know what was happening, but I knew I had to surrender to it.
And there's still so much more to learn--and unlearn, in some cases!
Oh yes! The unlearning part can be the most challenging of it all. But at least as we open to discover the parts that were missing, we can insert those into the spaces that are emptying out the old baggage and fill it up with love and compassion and creativity.
Post a Comment