"O where will I get a gude sailor,
To take my helm in hand,
Till I get up to the tall top-mast,
To see if I can spy land?"
____ 'The Ballad of Sir Patrick Spens, ' Scots folk song
The art of spiritual navigation is one that few are taught in our era. If we are fortunate enough to have a spiritual director or advisor as companion along our way, then we receive expert guidance when difficulties arise. A sensitive adviser does not attempt to solve our problems but makes suggestions and give resourceful clues.
The chief aid to our personal exploration is our own spiritual practice. In our meditation, in our prayerful listening, in our silent attunement, we derive a good deal of navigation information. Most of this is likely to go unnoticed if we do not record and correlate it. Like any explorer to an unknown realm, we need to know the contours of the land, its flora and fauna, its friendly and hostile inhabitants. The mapping of our spiritual progress will certainly not be straightforward or easy to record. We will have to be alert to subtle changes and correspondences between what we experience and what seems to be true for us. Like the navigator who steers his ship through the fog, we have to sound the waters ahead of us and proceed slowly, always acknowledging that though we cannot see the stars, they still shine above us.
We each have an in-built aid to spiritual navigation in our dreams. In those nocturnal journeys, we visit new zones, and landscapes, encounter archetypal and mythic beings who speak directly to us, often in pun-laden language. Our mapping of the otherworldly shore is based on a set of sequential explorations and recognitions that grow in confidence and trust as we take our spiritual voyage.
"Begin to note and map your spiritual navigation journey using a diary, chart, and/or set of pictures which you can refer and add regularly."
[From: The Celtic Spirit by Caitlin Matthews]
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