S. Kelley Harrell's Blog: Intentional Insights - Ancient Healing, Modern Shamanism, page 106

Wordless Wednesday

Photo by Christopher.Binning

The post Wordless Wednesday appeared first on Soul Intent Arts.

The Weekly Rune – Eihwaz

Eihwaz – Yew – I like to note trends in The Weekly Rune series, as patterns in casts can inform us on a Rune, as much as its meaning. The last time Eihwaz was cast for the week, of note was jarring interaction between Uranus and Pluto. So, of course, this week that same interaction is highlighted again, coming out of its tight November alignment, and ever encouraging change through crisis. Not exactly gentle nudging toward self-hood.

Appropriately, Eihwaz arrives at the end of something.  Of course this dance between Uranus and Pluto doesn’t close until 2015, though picking up the pieces after their latest interlude glides right along with presenting Eihwaz.

The 13th and middle Rune in the Futhark, this stave represents the turning point. As the yew is both sweet and poisonous, so its teaching will either make or break us–likely both. Yes, there has been a wearing down of what we think we want, compared to what we need, over the last few weeks. The deeper consideration is, what will we do with what we’ve learned? How do we move forward having seen our True Selves?

One of the hardest things in life to do is change. We live in a fast-paced culture that demands we keep up to survive. Ironically, we also skate along spiritual paths that require slow steeping in mindful awareness in order for us to affect deep transformation.  How do we accomplish both, when they seem in opposition to each other? How can we change amidst forces that want us to stay the same? Better yet, how do we deal with the guilt of not changing, once we’ve glimpsed our power?

This conflict exacerbates the gap between knowing what we most need, and sacrificing to make sure we have it, that we become it. Such a hinge point is the crux of Eihwaz. It is the mirror image of self we can’t look directly into, yet crave most deeply.

Through Eihwaz we learn that we are not the extremes, but some balanced place between, some point of power we want to attain without realizing we’re already its center.

The post The Weekly Rune – Eihwaz appeared first on Soul Intent Arts.

Celebrate the Small Things – Gratitude

My weekly gratitude post, in the Celebrate the Small Things [ongoing] Blog Hop.

I’m grateful for not to be in a family of shoppers. =)

I’m happy to have had a great holiday with all of my family.

I’m pleased to have some downtime with writing , so I can focus on other creative projects.

I’m thankful for my job.

I’m happy to have a ridiculously resourceful flist on Facebook and Live Journal. They know everything!

What are you grateful for this week? How will you show thanks?

This post is part of VikLit‘s blog hop, Celebrate the Small Things. Participate by following the link and adding your name to the Linky list, then post your gratitude every Friday.  Easiest blog hop ever!

Click here to hop on… the hop, and thanks for coming with me on this journey of self-empowerment.

The post Celebrate the Small Things – Gratitude appeared first on Soul Intent Arts.

Wordless Wednesday

Photo by MRHSfan

The post Wordless Wednesday appeared first on Soul Intent Arts.

Weekly Rune – Hagalaz

Hagalaz – Hail -Most of the time a Rune presents itself to me with its widely accepted meaning front-and-center. However, this Rune speaks more about its ability. Yes, Hagalaz generally implies that change is on the horizon, and it may be one we’ve wanted, one we need, or some hair-raising combination of the two. My insight into this Rune, specifically at this time, is more about its magickal use, which is as a talisman to protect against unwanted influences.

It’s not a coincidence that this time of year, we get inundated with too much info, overdone social engagements, or feel greater stress over daily dramas. I’m also comfortable going on-record in saying that this exaggerated state isn’t because it’s the holiday season. Certainly that addition doesn’t help, though I attribute it more to the fact that in the Northern Hemisphere, we’re still in the Dark Time. Smack in the center, actually, which means we’re raw, our awareness is heightened, and we’re tired. In short, we’re feeling things more deeply right now. We’ve put in a full harvest year, and this has been our natural time to sit back.

However, few of us actually do that. Culturally, we engage this time of year more than any other. As a result, we tend not to take good care of ourselves. Whether that regards interpersonal boundaries, dietary needs, financial limitations, or personal needs, heed the extremes.

With protection in mind, call on all resources focused on personal support and coping skills. Maintain those regularly undertaken, and remember there are unlimited possibly allies at any given time. Hagalaz presents an excellent opportunity to invoke lesser known protectors. If you work with smoky quartz, prayer, herbs, now is the time to bring them more prominently into your living and work space. If you’ve never worked with Runes as such, draw Hagalaz in your space and place it where you can easily see it. Above all, in this hectic holiday season, carve out time for self.

Go into this week knowing that the tension is what it is. Instead of trying to fight it or ward it off, let it be, and focus on fortifying yourself.

– Contact Kelley for a personalized Rune Reading.

 

 

The post Weekly Rune – Hagalaz appeared first on Soul Intent Arts.

Truly, Deeply Shifting

I sent out my monthly newsletter the other day, and have had such a great response to it that I’d like to share part of it here. Go gently into the holidays.

Over the last year I’ve been sitting back, watching lots of dramas play out. Groups splintering, belief paths diverging, relationships ending, jobs disappearing. We’re all familiar with the big ones–the world economy diving, governments crumbling–or at least their integrity is taking a nose dive. As I observe these patterns coming to ends, I’m reminded of the optimism and excitement that was rampant at this time last year. Remember? Winter Solstice 2012? It had a certain ring, an air of mystery. Even if you didn’t buy into the prophecy proclamations, propaganda made it impossible to escape the finality of it marking an end. To some, it was The End of a way of consciousness as we’ve known it.

At that point, there seemed to be moot acceptance that certain systems would fall–the “bad” ones, the inhumane, unhealthy, hateful, harmful ones. Yet, a year later, we’re confused as to the sweeping personal dramas, the inability for rote patterning to quench deep desire. Some of the closings aren’t terribly dramatic. I’ve had a lot of people report that they just can’t go through the motions of everyday as they used to. Their daily routine no longer fits. The rituals they’ve followed to get ready for work for fifteen years suddenly constrict. The desire for a new shiny elusive something won’t abate. In particular, many express feeling conflicted about how to approach the holidays, because lifelong traditions feel foreign, yet no new way reveals itself. Old patterns aren’t working, but new ones aren’t coming.

If we bought into the shift of the last year as bringing the end of systems, then that includes personal ones. Our cherished darlings must break, not just our foes and conflicts. Our habits, even if they aren’t overtly harmful or threatening, have to go if they don’t support our greater joy. I don’t think that means that our relationships will end, or our belief system have to change. I think it means the end of systems, finding comfort in the fact that for now and the foreseeable future, there is no system, on any level.

Our challenge at this time is to stay dynamic. If what worked yesterday isn’t working today, so it is. Find a new way. And if tomorrow, none of the above fulfills, there will be another approach. For years I’ve called this era a “hinge time,” because we are at the turning point of treasured Piscean systems giving way to sustainable, organic Aquarian communities.

Center is shifting, constantly.Our job isn’t to try to find it, but to shift with it.

I wish you strong bearings this holiday season.

Dream well,

~SKH

The post Truly, Deeply Shifting appeared first on Soul Intent Arts.

Celebrate the Small Things – Gratitude

My weekly gratitude post, in the Celebrate the Small Things [ongoing] Blog Hop.

I’m grateful for a whirlwind 3 months of travel and fun with family, friends, and new spirit allies!

I’m grateful for my wonderfully, supportive partner.

I’m pleased to have finished up a project at work.

I’m thankful that I have options.

I’m thrilled to engage in powerful dialogue with those blazing amazing spiritual paths, even when our dialogue isn’t the same.

I’m relieved to have finished up a big design project this week.

I’m happy to have seen all of my family, all in one place, this weekend!

What are you grateful for this week? How will you show thanks?

This post is part of VikLit‘s blog hop, Celebrate the Small Things. Participate by following the link and adding your name to the Linky list, then post your gratitude every Friday.  Easiest blog hop ever!

Click here to hop on… the hop, and thanks for coming with me on this journey of self-empowerment.

Photo credit: Shermeee / Foter.com / CC BY

The post Celebrate the Small Things – Gratitude appeared first on Soul Intent Arts.

Thursday Betwixt – Working with Ancestor Allies

The introductory segué into the Betwixt series has focused on lesser realized spiritual allies that assist us along our path.  In this post, my focus is on the ancestors, and how in the western world working with them is a bit different than that of indigenous cultures.

A topic that comes up often in regard to spiritual counsel is the ancestors–those of our family line who have lived fully, persevered through the experience of the form, then moved on to anchor the wisdom of that formed experience into guidance for their earthly successors. However when we in the west talk about working with ancestors, generally a great deal of healing must come first.

In shamanistic cultures, emphasis on dying well goes into how one lives, which is to say, people who live with an eye toward the unseen, die without as much (or any?) baggage. They tend not to take the unresolved affairs of life into their deathwalk. Of course this is a very simplified view and by no means categorical. Regardless of culture, people engaging a foot in both worlds tend not to sit on trauma. Their soul retrievals are done immediately after wounding; thus, they don’t carry etheric scars into the afterlife. As a result, healing doesn’t have to be done after death, to ensure them as ancestral allies.

Western culture doesn’t generally embrace living with an eye toward preparing the consciousness for death. We are more likely to experience soul loss that sustains over a long period of time, and isn’t resolved prior to death. When we die carrying those traumas, that life force has to go somewhere. Where it goes is to the living. Our wounds in death are carried on, in the formed experience of our successors.

As our culture doesn’t readily teach skills to release the drama of our own lives, it scarcely embraces the concept of amassed trauma passed to us from our ancestors, let alone how to heal it. Because of this, in order to work with our ancestors as allies, we first have to ensure their wellbeing. We must heal the troubled legacy they have left at our feet.

For some that can be easily done. For others, it may be more involved, and require help of someone who sees the dynamic more objectively. You don’t have to be a shaman to do this work. You don’t have to want to develop intuitive abilities.  This kind of release work can be done purely to release any dynamics held onto by your ancestors–physical, emotional, psychological, or spiritual–so that you, in turn are free of these dynamics, as well.

However best suits your spiritual practice:

Call in your spiritual allies and allow them stand with you.
Call in your ancestors, and tell them of your intention to release them of anything impeding the fulfillment of their souls’ desires. Express to them your desire to embody their wisdom, and your gratitude for their experience. You do not have to relive their experience for it to release. Honor any shadow components of it, and from the firmest place that you can, show them compassion.
Allow your allies to do whatever healing work is appropriate for your ancestors, for you, and for any life force between you.
When that work is done, allow it to move through your body. Note any sensations, thoughts, memories, or awareness that comes.
Thank your ancestors.
Thank your guides.
Thank you.

When we give attention to releasing the suffering of those who came before us, we clear the space more appropriately to address our own. Healing them doesn’t mean that we are suddenly free of affliction. It means that what afflictions we are faced with are ours, and not the result of thousands of years of amassed trauma.  From helping our ancestors shift from suffering into release, we gain allies in the work our own lives require. We become ready to realize that relationship and embrace the insight of our lineage.

Know that in taking responsibility for the healing of your own ancestral line, you bring healing to us all.

The post Thursday Betwixt – Working with Ancestor Allies appeared first on Soul Intent Arts.

Wordless Wednesday

Photo by Stephen Rees

The post Wordless Wednesday appeared first on Soul Intent Arts.

Wanna-Blessed-Be

“Bunch of wanna-blessed-be’s. Nowadays every girl with a henna tattoo and a spice rack thinks she’s a sister to the dark ones.” – Willow, Buffy the Vampire Slayer

I love that quote. It speaks to every judgment that can be made, one Pagan to another, that there is a right and wrong way to “do” Paganism, and that we all think we’re better for our way. Not to mention how it characterizes non-Pagans…

I’ve been mostly sitting back and watching the upheaval around public Pagan figures publicly questioning their Pagan paths over the last year, starting with Star Foster, and now Teo Bishop. There may have been a Facebook status or two, though for the most part, I’ve been silent, taking it all in.

Public personas aside, I’ve been seeing a lot of Pagan-bashing within the Pagan community, of late. I’ve received it, as I’m sure many who remain actively engaged with the wider world audience, have.

I’d like to say it’s disturbing. I’d even like to say it’s in direct opposition to all the things that make the Pagan path… Pagan. Mostly, though, what’s foremost in my mind is that it’s familiar.

Many of us weren’t born into a Pagan tradition; rather, we found one, after having been organized into a mainstream religion. And most of us who fall into that category have very clear reasons for why we left that confining spiritual path. While many don’t tend a particular flavor of Paganism, we gravitate to its freer pastures, its open landscape of possibility and connection.

The freedom to do just that is what made Paganism so accessible. Why, then, would any Pagan give grief to someone seeking out a more defined path, even if that path is defined by the strictures of a different religion?

Is it that neat and tidy for some, that it all fits perfectly into a single container, never to spill across the borders of other perspectives? Maybe. Apparently. I don’t think that’s the rub, though. I think it’s human nature to go off-road now and then, and frankly, to observe how others are faring in their adventure. Getting stuck in the mire of judging their religious choices is another thing, entirely.

As animists, we work the personal experience through the observation of and connection with all things around us, including other people. It isn’t about what spiritual path we’re on, or that anyone else is on. What matters is how well we’re working the tenets of whatever path we choose, perhaps particularly as Pagans. How true to our spiritual convictions can we be if we’re comparing ourselves to others? When we begin to personalize what everybody else is doing, how present are we in tending our own process?

Observe. Form opinions, then lay them at the altar of the ego, and move on. Ultimately it isn’t about being Pagan, another spiritual path, or some threatening, unidentifiable tract between. It’s about being a compassionate human.

Originally published at PaganSquare.

The post Wanna-Blessed-Be appeared first on Soul Intent Arts.