Our Light in the World

I knew it was the night for me to do Fire Ceremony. It was Dec 26^th, the night for the New Moon of Cold Meat. This is about careful husbanding of resources, being quiet within, and at peace with what is.  You could think of it as a moon for appreciating enough-ness, a moon for releasing acquisitiveness, greed, or scarcity thinking.

On the morning of the 26th, I journalled and prayed, asking to be in harmony with the earth, and to bring a small portion of healing, or at least a tiny bit of re-enchantment, to our precious jewel-planet.  In the afternoon I cleared away the snow from the fire pit. As night arrived, I gathered my supplies into a basket... and then the sludge arrived.

You know the stuff? You’re all set to do something that you know is important, that will make a positive difference in some way, that will fan the flame of goodness on the planet and then...maybe you won’t after all!   All kinds of valid-sounding reasons arise for not carrying out your vision – or at least not just now. Distractions pop up. Necessary components to your intent are suddenly unavailable. Obstacles accumulate until you can’t imagine going forward.
Sound familiar? What to do?

On Dec 26th my obstacles were a wordless heaviness, a formless lethargy that smothered my energy and blunted my intentions. I was fresh from a class about being well prepared for ceremony, spiritually as well as physically. Now, it was clear to me that all my preparations were insufficient, paltry, almost as bad as none at all. How ironic – I was about to do New Moon Ceremony around the Blessing of Enough-ness and I was all tangled up in Scarcity’s Shadow!   What to do? - I found my answer in the past...

Once upon a time I went to Grace Cathedral in San Francisco to train as a Labyrinth Facilitator with Lauren Artress - I felt like I was on a magical, mystical journey. Actually, I was on a magical, mystical, and mythical journey, although like most of us, I couldn’t see that while I was in the middle of it!

On returning home, I prepared for my first of three practice labyrinth events with great care. Months before my training even, I had a troupe of enthusiastic participants, waiting and ready.  But then as the time drew near for my first workshop, a strange thing began to happen. One by one, they regretfully cancelled –unexpected family visitors arriving from afar, a court date, job interviews, all events out of their control – until only a handful remained. Perplexed, disappointed and unsure, I consulted my labyrinth mentor – what should I do? What was going on?

“Ahh”, my mentor explained to me, “You and the labyrinth at your cathedral are a powerful new doorway into the world for the Spirit. And whenever that happens, the forces of Darkness awaken, ready to oppose the Light. So what to do? – sit with your labyrinth in prayer and ask if you should go forward. The labyrinth wants a minion – ten people. If your answer is ‘yes’, all will be taken care of.”

For some reason that I can’t explain, what she told me felt utterly true. So I did as she suggested, and I did get my ‘yes’... all kinds of new people inexplicably began to sign up. Even the day of the workshop, a friend who previously told me the labyrinth was outside his box, showed up. When I asked, astonished “What are you doing here?”, he replied “I was told to be here.”  In the end there were twelve people, and the labyrinth got it’s minyon.
 

And this week with my new moon ceremony? I remembered that time with my first labyrinth workshop. I remembered there are forces of darkness that don’t want an earth that is healed, people in harmony with earth and each other. The darkness doesn’t want our precious jewel-planet re-enchanted. As for me – what I don’t want... is to be shanghaied by darkness!

I gathered up my tools and supplies. I went out into the deep night and began the ceremony. With the fog and snow all around, I tended the fire, and offered my prayers and thanks to Creator and Earth for this amazing world we all get to live in.

What could this mean for you? The next time you’re about to undertake an action of kindness, of goodness, of healing work in the world, and then find yourself doubting the worth or authenticity of your intentions – remember about the Dark and do it anyway. Check in with the part of yourself that wants to bring Light into the world. Remember we each have the chance to make a difference, and it really does matter. What you do makes a difference.

And go ahead - thumb your nose at the Dark! Be a warrior of the Light, be an Envoy of Goodness, be a Bearer of Hope.
Walk in the glory of the Light, my friends – you are not alone!


ps- About those magical, mystical, mythic journeys? You’re on one all the time – imagine if you lived in that Truth wholly!