Monday, September 26, 2011

Temperance/Nine of Wands reversed. Temperance connects with Sagittarius (“I seek,” philosophic, adventurous, blundering) Fire (hot/separates and dry/shapes, and spontaneous, impulsive, energetic change), Samekh (the tent post), and the Path between Yesod (the place where patterns and images emerge that may manifest into the physical world of action and outer reality) and Tiphareth (the hub of the creation process where energies harmonize and focus to illuminate and clarify), and it is one of the Major Arcana cards that presents one form of balance.  Temperance is about maintaining the balance of extremes, and that can only be accomplished if we are able to integrate those extremes.  This balance is not written in stone, and requires diligence to maintain the always-fluctuating synergy.  The Nine of Wands (Moon, feelings and emotions, illusion, imagination, in Sagittarius, “I seek,” philosophic, fun-loving, adventurous, blundering) in an upright position represents defense, feeling the need to protect or to hold things together despite difficult odds.  Since my Nine of Wands is reversed, today I won’t feel as if I am on guard all by myself.  These two cards together have a nice, balanced feel, but again, this is not balance that happens through surrender, but rather through awareness and the application of skills. 

My Thoth card is The Fool reversed. The Fool corresponds with Air (hot/separates and wet/adapts, and challenges that tend to require the use of the intellect to solve), Uranus (technology, science, radical change), Aleph (the head, youthful learning) and the Path between Chokmah (male in the electric sense, dynamic energy and the origin of vital force and polarity) and Kether (the source; limitless possibility). In an upright position, The Fool represents creation, birth, and new beginnings of all kinds, along with optimism, and the potential to manifest wisdom if circumstances continue to align themselves properly.  Since my Fool card is reversed today, I need to pay particular attention to my ideas.  Today is not a day for jumping forward with the assumption that things will work; instead, I need to assess, to look before I leap.

My Legacy card is Judgement, flavored by The Hermit. Judgement corresponds with Fire (hot/separates and dry/shapes, and spontaneous, impulsive and energetic change), Pluto (power, metamorphosis, cycles of dying and becoming), Shin (fang), and the Path between Malkuth (the physical world of action and physical, outer reality) and Hod (provides analysis and communication) and it usually tells of an opportunity to validate the good stuff and get rid of the stuff I don’t need any more.  This process is not a comfortable one but the end result is a clear slate and a lighter load. The Hermit, which corresponds with Earth (cold/binds and dry/shapes, and material, practical and stable energy that is slow to change), Virgo (“I serve,” practical, analytical, work and service oriented, orderly), Yod (open hand, touch), and the Path between Tiphareth (the hub of the creation process where energies harmonize and focus to illuminate and clarify) and Chesed (the place where forms and structure are stabilized and nurtured), is about looking within for answers, and it pairs nicely with the Judgement card today, although this one is not comfortable either.  The Hermit’s message to me is that the journey is the goal, not the destination, and he is telling me that today just might be a good day to see clearly within myself, and maybe get rid of a bit of clutter.

My 6-digit date number is 10, the number of completion of manifestation or effect, which reduces further to the number 1, beginnings, potential and position.  Perfect.

My horoscopes: “A lot of activity could take place in your neighborhood today, Sagittarius. If you live in a major city, perhaps a movie or news event is being filmed nearby and the crowds are gathering. Don't be too shy to go out and see what's going on. If you don't live in a city, this could be something more innocuous. Either way, expect some excitement.”

And: “Peace and harmony is the regularly scheduled program for the day, but there is a good chance that this signal might be intercepted by a warring force with strong opinions and vindictive tendencies. Hold on to your hat, and make sure you have your actions well aligned with your soul, or else you are apt to be thrown into the fire of a battle that has nothing to do with you.”

My Shadowscapes card is the Nine of Pentacles again. Third time.  The last time this one appeared, I said, “Balancing spiritual needs with the requirements of the physical realms takes focus and the imposition of Will.”  Today, I am not being asked to balance these two realms in a passive manner, for Temperance is part of my day as well.  As I impose my Will upon the realms, I must also commune with them, because each of the extremes, the weightiest of the physical manifestations and the purest of the spiritual ones, has a lesson for me.  I can’t truly balance them unless I diligently present myself to experience the heavy weight of the physical, and until I allow myself to see the delicate beauty of the spiritual. 

I attended my first shamanic fire ceremony last night.  Where to begin.  

The setup was perfect: everyone sitting in a circle, with the fire pit (a huge brass pot, filled with candles) in the center of the markings in the wood floor depicting the cardinal directions.  Before beginning, the process of the ceremony was explained, including the sigil process that Tara would be using during the ceremony.  Jason began evoking the four winds beginning with the South, and as soon as the first word came out of his mouth, my brow chakra opened so quickly that I got dizzy.  I was glad to be sitting.

Brian began smudging each of us individually, as Kelli slowly lit all of the many candles in the fire pit, timing the process so that the last candle was lit as Jason finished calling the final quarter, the East.  Before Tara struck her drumhead for the first time, I could feel the amazing energy gathering, hovering and waiting for the moment it could come alive.

At the first “tak” of the drum, the entire room began to vibrate!  The air was actually thick and heavy with vibrations, pulses and throbs that were more enticing than the most delicious glass of wine, the creamiest and richest chocolate cake, or my pillow on the rainiest of Saturday mornings.  The moment that we all began to use our instruments to shake, rattle and roll, the rhythms took control of the ceremony.

Soon, we were all standing, our bodies moving; then we were prancing and jumping and stamping around the circle, with the force and power of the rhythm, augmented by our instruments and our footsteps and our voices, beginning to build and build and BUILD! The candles in the fire pit danced and jumped along with us, and our energy fields, awake and throbbing and fully “on,” streamed behind us as we moved until a huge, powerful cone of power began to materialize, comprised of the energy fields of all of us in the room and the ever-present rhythm. 

One by one, the participants took their moments to enter the circle and kneel before the fire pit, in order to offer whatever it was that they wanted to leave behind as fuel for the fire.  The rest of us doubled our efforts, moving faster, shouting louder, rattling with more strength, in support of the participant seeking transformation before the flames.  Brian joined Tara at the drums, and then Jason briefly took his turn drumming, holding the level of power steady so that Tara could have her time at the fire pit.

I waited to take my turn before the fire until my energy field was at its peak.  My chakras were totally open, my muscles were singing, and my energy field pulsed with a power that actually made the room fade away.  For a while the room surrounding me and all of its occupants went away; all there was for me was the feeling of the floor under my feet, the heat and noise and light of my own energy field, the sound of the instrument I was playing, the movement and effort of my muscles, and the rhythm of the drums.  My physical senses had become passive, secondary to my inner senses, to the messages of my chakras and my subtle body.  What an amazing, empowering experience this is!! 

I took my turn before the flames, gathering my purpose and feeding it into the fire.  My words are my own, and I choose to Be Silent, in order to create the optimum environment for the transformation I desire.  This is difficult, especially for me, but I feel it is the right thing to do.

Once I left the fire pit and inserted myself back into the torrent of energy circling the room, I made several more circuits, and then I sat back down.  My body swayed and convulsed as the rhythms continued, and perspiration poured out of my pores, wetting my hair and my shirt.  I closed my eyes and continued to play my instrument, allowing the rhythms to bring me into a trance.  And then it happened.  There, within me, deep in my core, a spark flared.  It became a flame, small at first but flaring, dancing a bit and then growing brighter.  Soon I could hear the crackle of the flame, and feel its HEAT.  I was burning up, glowing with the yellowy-orange light of the fire; the flames grew until they consumed my core, my subtle body, and then the layers of my aura.  Finally, this fire ran out of fuel, and it quickly faded away, just as the drums built to a final mind-blowing peak, and then were silent.

Everything went still and silent; all I could hear was my own labored breathing.  Gradually, I became aware of the pants and gasps of others, and I opened my eyes.  Everyone had sat down around the circle at some point during my trance, and we all took several moments to ease our way back into the mundane world. 

One by one, the participants left for their homes.  It took a bit of time before I felt grounded in the physical world enough to walk to my car.

I look back on the ceremony, and much of it seems like a dream.  Except for that time when I became the rhythm, when I became the cone of power that we all built together, when I seemed to turn inside out, with my chakras and subtle body becoming my main “self” and my physical body becoming ethereal and unnecessary; that part I can remember with amazing clarity.

I am told that I can expect to be tested this week regarding whatever I offered to the fire.  I am bracing myself, because I am absolutely certain that a test will come.  I took one of the candle stubs from the fire pit and placed it on my altar this morning and asked my Gods for their support; hopefully my Gods will be with me as I move forward.

The PBT is performing our New Moon Reiki Share this evening; I think I really do need this one.

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3 comments:

  1. My Dear N ...

    What a wonderful, moving account of your experiences last night. I'm so so glad to finally have had a chance to share that space with you!

    We'll talk more tonight before / after the Share, I'm sure.

    Much Love ... Tara

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  2. Oh, N.... I am SO happy to hear that you have finally experienced this ceremony! It sounds as amazing as I remember it being. And as a former servant of that fire, it warms my heart to know that the PBT were there to support this experience for you. My only wish is that I could have been there physically to share space with you like that.

    much love to you, Phil <3

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  3. Thank you for chronicling the ceremony - it was great to have this down as a memory, and inspiring to read your experience of it!

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