Irritations

Irritations

"I went to the hill and I got it.
I sat on a knoll and I sought it.
And if I would get it, I would leave it.
Since I did not get it, I took it with me.
[A thorn in the foot.]
    ____ Scots Gaelic riddle

    There is no surefire way to avoid irritations, no magic formula that will ease them out of our way. They arrive without warning to plague us, and we have to get on and deal with them. Some of the tiresomeness can be alleviated, however,iIf we see many of our irritations as reminders of neglected areas of our live.  The laws of cause and effect set in train a whole series of actions; similarly, undone actions have effects upon our lives. The things we neglect return to plague us: from the overdue car service, to the dental examination we keep meaning to have; from our failure to reply to an important letter, to the long silence we have meted out to a close relative. Breakdowns, aching jaws, lost opportunities, aggrieved friends, and irate family members suddenly loom large in our schedule, nearly overturning everything we had planned.

   The universe has its own way of getting our attention and making us attend to what is important. Sometimes little irritations that go untended become larger ones. A thorn in the foot can be removed, but if gangrene sets in, the whole leg may have to be removed. The little irritations may bite and worry us, but they certainly do not take kindly to compromise or neglect.

"Review the irritations that you have currently; trace back their root cause, where possible, and find any connections between your negligence and their arrival. Act swiftly and appropriately if particular irritations seem to recur frequently."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

The Language of Birds

The Language of Birds

"Birds.....now represent the continued presence of the past..... [which is] evoked by the singing, whistling and calling that fell into millions of ancestral ears and there left images that we all inherit."
   ___ Jacquetta Hawkes, "A Land"


   The Celtic peoples held birds in high esteem, as the mouthpieces of Spirit. Their flight and calls were widely used in divination. The term 'language of birds' is used to mean the secret knowledge that runs beneath the web of words; it implies an almost magical intelligence that does not depend upon the help of any kind of human communication system. It is innate, subtle, coded knowledge that we can somehow understand.

  The idea of the unchanging song of the birds singing in our ears as well as the ears of our ancestors conjures a potent image of the continuation of life - an inheritance so subtle that we must immerse ourselves in the sound birdcall in order to enter into its richness. The oracular calling of birds speaks directly to our hearts, bypassing our minds; it is a mode of divination that both we and our ancestors had to learn - an unchanging language of meaning.

   The little songbirds who make the sweetest song, the crows and ravens whose raucous call is most vocal, the estuary and marsh birds with their lonesome sound, the hawks and owls shrieking and signaling - all have their own language and special symbolism, essential elements of our living world.

   If we wish to understand the flight and calling of birds, we must listen, near dawn or in the late afternoon, to their song; and listening, enter a place of stillness within in order to comprehend their message to us.

"Listen to the singing of birds today, at dawn or twilight. Meditate with a clear mind and listen to what you are told."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Let's not forget the birds who have been silenced in the

ongoing Gulf disaster and in other other areas affected

by oil drilling around the world.

S.

Appropriate Prayer

Appropriate Prayer

"Hear my faith-cry for them who are more thine than mine. Give each of them what is best for each. I cannot tell what it is. But thou knowest."
   ___ Alistair MacLean, "Hebridean Altars"


   This carefully worded prayer by a Scots minister is a good all-purpose appeal that does not overbalance the scales one way or the other; it neither neglects to remember those in need nor sets out to bring satisfaction to the pray-er.  All too often our prayers are upped in favor of our own envisioned goals for others, rather than merely bringing their needs to divine attention.

   When our words are combined with strong intentions,we make a magic that we cannot begin to realize. Intentions are the pathways of desire, and when words travel along them, they go as spirit messengers to their source. If we frame closely worded requests with a particular end in sight, we cease to pray-ers and become sorcerers instead.

  If someone is indeed dying, for example, it is not helpful to him to offer prayers for his full recovery to health. This might only lengthen a life that he is ready to leave. We might more appropriately pray for his general well-being and comfort. And prayers for someone's harm - appeals such as, "I wish she'd drop dead" or "I hope he chokes on it" - follow the same pathways as our other prayers (and just as effectively as many have found to their cost).

   Our prayers should not harm the world; nor should they attempt to tie up the threads of other beings and their soul-circuits for our own solace or satisfaction.

"Examine for harmful content any prayers, words, and intentions that you have uttered this day. Ask your spiritual allies to neutralize or defuse any inappropriate prayers that have passed your lips. Create a general (and harmless) prayer for common needs."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Making Love With Life

Making Love With Life]

"How can we make love?
It is making us ---
Every second,
Every minute,
Every hour."    
   ____ Carole Bruce, "The Beloved Sequence"


   Life embraces living in a playful creative process in which we are not the controlling agency, but rather a beloved partner. Once we glimpse the action of love in our lives, we can never again live with disrespect, complaint, or displeasure. The yeast of love bubbles up through our hardening crust, leaving little holes filled with life-giving air, escape route to the heart of ecstasy.

   The British mystic and poet Thomas Traherne wrote, "Place yourself in the midst of the world as if you were alone, and meditate upon all the services which it doth unto you." This is a good place from which to experience the world as lover. It helps us turn round our self-centered view of life and shows us receptive areas wherein we engage most deeply with life. If we make a practice of coming from this place - from the sense of world as lover - our core instincts will be kindled and we will know how to respond to our lover without rehearsal or preparation.

   Making love with life is a revolutionary way of living, because it involves our loving reciprocation rather our defensive, self-shielding mechanisms. We must abandon those mechanisms, letting go of our personal control and defensiveness when we are with the lover so that love's creative and liberating influence can be free to work. Although this is a playful way of living, it is also seriously intent, insightful and intuitive.

"How does life make love with you? How do you make love with life?"
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Conspiring with the Descendants

Conspiring with the Descendants

"Thou shalt be in league with the being of the future, and the generations to come after shall be at peace with thee."
   __ Joanna Macy, "World as Lover, World as Self" 

   In what way can be in league with the beings of the future, or conspire with them? Meditate upon your parents, sense them as though they stood behind you. Now visualize their parents behind them, and theirs behind them. Go back as far as you can from knowledge, and beyond that imagine the lines going back as far as you like. Be aware of all the good things you have inherited from your ancestors. Now come forward from past times to your own time, aware of the tributaries of blood that flow into the river of your own veins. Now visualize your descendants in from of you, and their children and their children. Go as far forward in time as you like, imagining future generations. Be aware of all that you bequeath them. Expand your meditation to include all the beings of the future - the many different species of life forms. What is their expectation of you? What can you do to bring peace between you?

   Many people live their lives in fear of an all-powerful deity who they believe will zap them for bad behavior; they are like children who tiptoe around a cranky parent for fear of arousing his temper. How would it be if instead we lived our lives envisioning our descendants, the beings (of every species) of the future? How would it be if we regulated our decisions and life-style with them in mind? Instead of living fearfully or distrustfully, instead of trying to cut corners and steal a march on our forebears, how about living with our descendants in mind?

"What most practical wisdom from your own life would be you bequeath to your descendants?  Try the meditation suggested above."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Ancestral Bequests

Ancestral Bequests

"Alienated ancestors gather, drawing close
To our bicker and complaints, to knock at aggrieved hearts
Their plaint to our ears is 'restore, restore."
   ___ Caitlin Matthews, "Avebury Easter"


   We have many ancestral inheritances that contribute to our condition. Some are genetic and highly visible; others are not so obvious but are still part of the ancestal bequest - the unfinished business that members of our ancestral family have put off until it comes seeping out in our own lives.

   Many deep, atavistic, or unwelcome urges that have lain dormant within our family line are activated when we reach a certain age or condition of maturity - when we are trying hard to put our life on that right track to purposefully avoid legacies of failure, fear, anger, or control. There often comes a point when we have to consciously decide not to buy into the negativity of past scenarios and expectations but to turn towards the illumination of the heart.

  The ancestral bequest can be cleared when we stand back and look into the issues that have been haunting our family line. The ability to recognize ancestral failures and expectations for what they are is exceedingly helpful. With that ability, we can acknowledge that our ancestors, like us, were vulnerable, frightened, and attached to their unfinished business. It is not our part to blame them, but rather, in our amending, to leave out hatred and revenge; it is not our part to recreate spirals of exclusion, but rather to pray for the ancestors to be released and to attend to our own lives with the help of our spiritual allies.

"Looking into your recent family history, what issues show signs of being ancestral bequests rather than personal problems?"
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Following Our Path

Following Our Path

"Whence do you come and whither do your journey?"
"I journey on my own errand."
         ____ Pwyll, Prince of Dyfed, from "The Mabinogion"


   When Pwyll (POO'ilh) first encounters, and is questioned by his future wife, Rhiannon (Hree-ANN'on), he gives her a polite but noncommittal answer as to his identity and purpose.

   It is not wise, after all, to disclose too much about yourself upon any first meeting, unless you have a clear idea of the other person's intentions. As it turns out, Pwyll and Rhiannon are traveling the same road, for she has come from the underworld at the express purpose of marrying him. Discovering and following our own path is something that is our personal business; it is not something that one person can do for another. We each have to make our own contract with Spirit, rather than existing as an unwitting signatory to someone else's previously drawn-up contract. We have to read all the fine print before we sign, learning everything we can about the obligations and commitments before showing our hand. Spontaneous response and heartfelt enthusiasm are not good bases for decision making.

   When we search for our spiritual path, we need to reassess, consolidate, and recommit our spiritual focus - and check contractual details. It is all right to change course as we seek the best way to Spirit; it is equally all right to stay where we are - as long as we realize that compromising our truth is dangerous.

"If you are oriented on your path by a set of rules not of your making, or coasting along with a contract you have not fully consented to, ask yourself what strongly held beliefs that course is ignoring or causing you to change or diminish."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]