The Stormy Crescendo of Transformation

Photo courtesy of Salvatore Vuono/freedigitalphotos.net

The majesty of a storm — the rumble of thunder, splash of lightening, and giant drops of rain trigger my hyperawareness. Those vibrations and sights call to me. The whispers, the shouts, the bright flashes are passionate bursts that resonate deep within me. As I move to the chaotic rhythm, the rain draws near. The skies open; the land is drenched and so am I.  Rebirth comes with each downpour. A natural baptism washes away the grime of my regrets and sorrows.

The storm rages, and I continue to dance with the majesty.  I move within the tempest riding each wild wave as the torrents rushes from the sky, the thunder intensifies, and the sky is lit with forks of lightening. So caught up in the wild dance, the storm’s crescendo surprises me. After the peak, the gentle tapering of this frenetic song leaves me empty. I seek the silence within to soothe my tatters.

The sudden tumultuous onset of the storm reminds me of life challenges. They grasp me unaware, obscure my vision, and fill me with the seeming discord of the flash and tumble. Only when I rest in my quiet place, am I able to bring clarity to the tumult and be like the storm — I dance with the challenge and move through it to the crescendo of transformation and the peace in the tapering.

Reminding myself that even during the torrential downpour I have a choice is the first awareness. My interpretation of the storm gives it meaning. I can choose to live with the fear and the uncertainty while struggling against the impending stormy challenge. Or, I can choose to engage the storm while knowing that a storm is just a storm and I quite capable of meeting this stormy challenge.

After the storm passes the water will recede and the debris will need to be gathered. This is my time of patience waiting. Time to plan how I will recover from the challenge and takes steps for lessening the impact of future stormy moments. This is a time of potential transformation. That radical shift into transformation is only possible when I mindfully seek ways to incorporate the external, the debris and the altered landscapes, into my internal world.

Ever since I was young, I have loved the passion that resides in the storm. Enjoyed standing outside as the heavens graced us with the wild, wicked dance. Intuitively knowing that when the storm had passed, the world would be brighter, cleaner, calmer. So, I think of my life challenges and know the same is true of them. My world is brighter, cleaner, calmer only when I meet the challenge and engage in my own after storm of transformation.

Meeting the stormy challenge of transformation,

Vanessa

www.healingwillow.com   

A Mystical, Magical Moment

As a young child growing up Catholic, celebration of Mass was mystical, magical experience. My earliest memories of those Masses were when I was three or four. Listening to the priest chant in Latin, I felt the energy of the words resonate in my spirit, my heart, my mind, and even in my body. I remember chanting the Latin prayers in tandem with the priest. 

During one of those times, one of my sisters, I am not sure which one, jabbed me in the side. I was jerked out of that magical, mystical, peace-filled space. Now, almost 50 years later, I still have a full body memory of that time. Even now the memory has the potential to push all of my senses into hyperawareness. I see, hear, smell, taste, and feel that experience.

Starhawk wrote in one of her books magic is the art of changing consciousness at will. The above memory is of a time that I was drawn unaware into the magic of the moment and then unceremoniously pulled into the mundane. It was only when I was not longer in the magic that I recognized the mystical, magical moment.

I ask myself how can I invite the mystical magic — the source of limitless possibility — into my mundane life? How can the mystical energy of magic shift me from the ordinary into the extraordinary? How can I regularly and intuitively shift my consciousness at will to this place of wonder?

Each time I step into nature, I listen with the ears of my heart. This multi-sensory way of experiencing necessitates that I am in the moment. I am fully awake, fully aware, and vibrantly alive. During my initial forays into nature, I would ask myself how I was experiencing with all of my senses the flight of a bird or the gentle sway of the flower in the breeze. Now, through practice, the full body listening has become an intuitive response when I am in nature.

Connecting with nature is easy; engaging with humans, not so much. There is a rhythm in nature that makes connection simple. The nature dance resonates with me, and I resonate with it. For me, the dance with humans is synthetic and has a plastic feel. In order to sense the magic and connect with the ordinary, I must dive below the synthetic and connect with the natural, the Sacred strand that is present in all. This connection is possible through my belief in each person’s mystical connection to others, the Sacred, and all of creation.

As I remember that time of magic so many years ago, I move within the dialogue of listening and speaking. I dance within the understanding that lies underneath the mundane and is present in the extraordinary world of mystical magic.

What magic reveals it self to you today? 

Vanessa

www.healingwillow

Perception Is Everything. 

Really?

Yesterday as I snapped pictures as I walked. I was determined to capture images of the gosling I have been watching for weeks. These goslings were not longer cuddly and cute. They had grown into that pre-teen gawky gangling. Although they were older, the younglings were still protected by their parents. In fact, those parents directed a hiss or two toward me.

Even though the goslings were in an awkward phase and had lost their cuddly cuteness, I was aware of their beauty. The down invite me to touch, but I respected the hissing parents and did not! A bit further down the path still deep in my reflection of their beauty, I spoke with another walker. Her comment? “I now understand the term ugly duckling.” I marveled at how the two of us could look at the same thing and perceive such different images. One saw beauty, another ugliness.

Her words weighed heavily on me as I walked. I thought about the times that I saw only the ugly. I envisioned the goslings and my mind’s eye was drawn to their awkwardly endearing waddle. Not only was beauty in the eye of the beholder, but, with conscious effort, I could transform the ugly into beauty. It was all about my perception.

Today I watched a family of geese prepare to cross a busy street. In just a day the goslings had grown ever larger. Today I saw an elegance in the elders and the younglings. Even in this gawky unevenness there existed an amazing symmetry. In that symmetry I saw beauty and natural rhythm.

The woman’s comment about the goslings call me to search for the beauty hidden amid life’s ugliness. I peer deeply into the many facets of my life. I seek the parts I name as ugly. I search beyond the veneer of the uncomely for the beauty within. As I rest in the silence, allow it to encircle me, I feel the shift flowing deep into the marrow of my spiritual bones. I am drawn to the beauty in the unevenness, the gawky, the ugly. I hear the music, feel it’s rhythm. And I dance.

Within this dance I discover not rough edges or song out of sync. Instead, I find the path that flows around those edges, and I am led by the song unknown. This path leads to my awakened awareness of non-traditional beauty that is often accompanied by roughly hewn features. I feel the elegant beauty existing untapped in the rawness of our innate nature.

Perception is everything, but I choose how I perceive. My perception can and does shift. In those moments when I engage my hyperawareness, beauty is revealed.

Shift your perception. Where does beauty exist where before there was seemingly none?

Into a New Way of Seeing, Vanessa

www.healingwillow.com

Celebrating Mother

Sunday is Mother’s Day. Maybe it was the late Easter, the early Kentucky Derby, or the Winter turned Summer sans Spring, but Mother’s Day snuck up on me. I am at the age where I no longer have a mother or a grandmother with which to celebrate. I have a son who celebrates with me. This year as I celebrate with my son, I celebrate my self.

I am a Mother but no longer a middle generation. So, I asked myself, how do I blend the three aspects of the Celtic Trinity into my life? How am I Mother, Maiden, and Wise Woman? As Mother’s Day approaches, how can I celebrate the dance of these three unique but united parts of myself?

Maiden: the glorious, playful child of grace. It is through her eyes that I see the wonder and awe in the world. Nothing is impossible; all is probable. She is the dancer of improvisation. Her dance is one of discovery. The word can’t is not in her vocabulary.

Mother: the great nurturer and understander-setter of boundaries. Her dance is one of intentional choreography. She dances within the boundaries and teaches others to dance within theirs. She encourage the gentle nudging of the boundaries outward. You can is her mantra.

Wise Woman: crone, wisdom bringer, and story keeper. Her dance is effortless and without thought. So in the moment, she intuitive moves gracefully from step to step. Her dance connects her to the Divine, to others, to all of creation, and to the greater world. Lovingly and gently she gives and accepts. She is the great connector and wisdom sharer. Compassion is her mien.

Mother’s Day is Sunday. As I celebrate the Mother within, I am challenged to embrace the childlike wonder of the Maiden. I bring her curious daring and energy of all possible into my dance. I gently reach out to caress the gnarled hand of the Wise Woman. She brings wisdom wrapped in courage and understanding to my dance.

The Crone’s wisdom weaves gently into my Mother and my Maiden energy. The grounded nurturing of the Mother is blended with the impetuous and curious daring of the Maiden. I am not one, not two, or not even three. All exist within me separate yet woven tightly into the tapestry of Me. My dance is improvised, choreographed, and intuited all at once. I gloriously embrace my inherent feminine power and dance into transformation.

How do you weave the power of your feminine being in all your interactions wit yourself and the world? 

Gracefully Dancing, Vanessa

www.healingwillow.com