S. Kelley Harrell's Blog: Intentional Insights - Ancient Healing, Modern Shamanism, page 74
October 8, 2015
The Dead Time – An NC Haunt – Wilmington’s Old North Inn
In 2012, I compiled them, along with a few new stories, in Real Wyrd: A Modern Shaman’s Roots in the Middle World. Without question, the posts that get the most traffic on Intentional Insights are the ones in my Dead Time series. I’ve written it since the inception of this blog in 2004, and it has many fans. I’ve noticed, though, that despite its reception, I still get asked to shared new scary stuff on my blog every Samhain.
Well, I’m not writing new creepy content this year, for several reasons. The main reason I’ve chosen not to cultivate further my experiences with the paranormal is because they seem to have been largely misunderstood. I get requests all the time to accompany folks on their ghost-hunting sojourns, and for the most part, I turn them down. I’ve had brushes with the dead and unhappy discarnate since my childhood, and I’m really not interested in intentionally pursuing it for fun. Mainly because it’s not fun. It’s not a thrill-seeking reality TV spot for me. As an empath, I feel the experiences of those energies, and I have all I can manage feeling through my own life.
Likewise, working with the unquiet dead and immortal isn’t a tourist attraction. I had high hopes of shows like Medium and The Ghost Whisperer elevating the awareness of true paranormal work. Maybe it has, though it’s also recreated it as a primetime side show available to anyone with a Ouija board and a voice recorder. Don’t go there. Just don’t, and don’t invite me too, either.
The paranormal jaunts I do take are work. I work with the dead as a service. As a deathwalker, a psychopomp, I have made a commitment to release life forces that seek such, and to help them move on to their next destinies. For me, it’s not respectful to treat those experiences like middle school pranks, so I share stories that shed a very different light on what goes bump in the night. Yes, they’re scary stories. They’re also encounters of universal suffering and deep healing.
If you’re interested in learning more about how to help the dead, or learning to walk between worlds with authority and skill, I’d love to talk about those. Otherwise, I’m keeping my thrill-seeking to my healing practice, and staying between the lines of my own wild life.
That said, last year on Candid Slice my friend and I shared a hair-raising experience had at The Old North Inn, in Wilmington, NC. In the spirit of maintaining paranormal integrity, let’s just say I have no desire to go back. This story is the first of several I’ll be sharing on Tuesdays and Thursdays, through Samhain’s astrological observation, 7 November.
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October 6, 2015
Honoring The Dead Time
Every year I honor The Dead Time by posting some of my creepier accounts mucking about in the Middle World. In 2012, I compiled them, along with a few new stories, in Real Wyrd: A Modern Shaman’s Roots in the Middle World. To our Western European Pagan forebearers, Samhain (the observation that became Halloween) marked the beginning of the Dead Time. At harvest’s end when the sunlight was in short supply, it was a natural time of thanksgiving. On a practical level, it was appropriate to cull what must be stored for sustenance during winter, what must be seed for the next planting season. Spiritually, it was the time of honoring the spirit world—deities, Nature spirits, and the recently deceased. Closing the year, along with celebrations of successful harvest, so were the dead honored. A place-setting was laid at the celebratory table for those who had died that year, and food was left for them. I would imagine that ages ago, when resources were scarce, the gratitude expressed for the dead at year’s end was heartfelt and sincere, as was the enjoyment of the celebratory feast. These were the last decadent celebrations of the year, heralding the bleak winter ahead.
Samhain is commonly called The Witches’ New Year, though in some Old North traditions, it marks only the year’s end. The new year didn’t begin until several weeks later, at Winter Solstice. Just as harvest closed the year in autumn, the return of sunlight at Solstice brought hope for the new year, as well as affirmed survival of the harsh cold. The time between these holy observations was the Dead Time, a space outside mundane time and perception, the mystical birth of the notion that the veil between worlds thins. I don’t experience a veil anytime, though this final harvest our psyche seems a bit more raw, more receptive to things we would otherwise filter out.
The darkest time of the year, the Dead Time brought the depths of winter, from which there was no assurance of spring. Not only was physical survival of the dark winter a challenge, it also tested sanity and stamina. Worry that there wouldn’t be enough resources to last until spring pervaded life, thus, spiritual observation.
We don’t approach Samhain or The Dead Time the same as our ancestors. We don’t generally live in fear that the light won’t return (although it’s something to think about), that we won’t be fed, or that we won’t have the opportunity to manifest our desires. We do however, acknowledge Seasonal Affective Disorder, a cyclic form of depression that many experience in winter, while other socially and economically beleaguered spirits cope with the holiday blues. We deal with the anxiety of coping worn our families in more intimate quarters than usual. In light of these modern trends, The Dead Time is still a naturally provocative passage.
As time, itself, seems to suspend between Samhain and Winter Solstice, giving us natural pause to hibernate and reflect on what we’re finished with and can leave behind, what we most want to carry forward and grow, we can still experience death and rebirth as our elders did. Hold these observations in mind as you approach the next waning of the sun and the procession to the Dead Time. Enjoy the solitude of shadow, and know the light will soon warm!
Over the next few weeks I will share some of the more popular past blogs, featuring moving personal stories about the afterlife, unnerving experiences with troubled spirits, and how trauma from past souls imprints the present.
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October 5, 2015
The Weekly Rune – Thurisaz
Liminal urges test our gifts this week.
Gebo remains the half-month rune through 13 October. Read right to left is Gebo, then Thurisaz.
Following is a summary of The Weekly Rune. Read the full runecast. Likewise, sign up to get all the details for my new year-long Intensive Reclaiming the Runes – Putting the ‘Elder’ Back in Futhark. This Intensive is focused on teaching the story of the runes in as full a context as possible, and instructing on how to work with them as a personal tool for growth, and a facilitator of gaining insight for others.
Telling a more authentic story of the self has been the theme of this year. Having made great strides re-inventing ourselves and sharing that with others, this week we refine some budding insight about self.
As Gebo indicates a gift in that process of sharing our new selves with the world, this week the balance of “a gift for a gift” takes on a more personal tone. Sometimes it’s not so easy to recognize a gift as being such, and this week that may be the case.
Thurisaz is the third rune in the first aett. In order to really appreciate its power, examine its predecessors–Fehu and Uruz. As they are fire and ice, they created our Galaxy. In terms of the ordering of these staves, anything that comes immediately after them must be pretty powerful, too. Worth noting, the first two runes dwell in the strata of the unconscious mind. The rune that follows Thurisaz is Ansuz, which means breath–the conscious mind. So what exactly happens between the unconscious and conscious minds ?
Imagine driving down the road, and for a split second, the solution to a niggly long-annoying dilemma flits through awareness. Of course, while driving all senses are focused on staying between the lines, so while the realization dawns that the solution breezed through, the actual solution, itself, is still just out of grasp. I call these microthoughts, and that’s exactly what Thurisaz is. It hits hard, though messily. The awareness is there that revolution is coming, though the exact form it’s going to take remains a mystery.
This week, what feels like an internal challenge to our newly found happy is actually a deep urge to refine it.
The gift of refining our happiness is just that, though it’s wrapped in camouflage.Mindfulness, breathing, and good life skills must call the shots this week, not because it’s going to be a rough haul, but because we have to stop ourselves from making it one.
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October 2, 2015
Celebrate the Small Things – Gratitude
My weekly gratitude post, in the Celebrate the Small Things [ongoing] Blog Hop.
I’m grateful for slow progress on my next book.
I’m grateful to have coping skills.
I’m happy to be past the tension of the eclipse.
I’m grateful for payment plans.
What are you grateful for this week? How will you show thanks? Who is grateful for you? I am!
This post is part of Lexa Cain’s blog hop, Celebrate the Small Things, along with her co-hostesses L.G. Keltner and Tonja Drecker. 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, and thanks for coming with me on this journey of self-empowerment and collective awareness.
The post Celebrate the Small Things – Gratitude appeared first on Soul Intent Arts - Intentional Insights.
September 28, 2015
The Weekly Rune – Mannaz
The gift of companionship greets us this week.
Kenaz remains the half-month rune through 28 September, at which point Gebo moves to the fore. Read right to left is Kenaz above, Gebo below, then Mannaz.
Following is a summary of The Weekly Rune. Read the full runecast.
Telling a more authentic story of the self has been the theme of this year. Having had deep realization of success and its celebration last week, we move into sharing that with others, and finding common ground in personal narrative.
As Kenaz has brought relief and revelation in some area over the past couple of weeks, Gebo indicates a gift in that process. In Old Norse culture, gifts were perhaps more meaningful and engaged than they are in modern western culture. Gift-giving was an exchange. It wasn’t a singularly offered favor or expectation. As such the mantra, “a gift for a gift” is significant. Balance is a factor in this rune.
That spirit is represented by Gebo for the next two weeks (and some change). Be attentive to what you give, and to reciprocate in kind. Likewise, don’t expect a response. Welcome when there is one, and realize it isn’t required.
Mannaz colors this exchange in an interesting way. This stave represents Mannus, the son of Tuisto (Tyr), who went forward to create one of the three Germanic tribes. Mannaz embodies a survivor spirit, sort of the first generation after massive disaster. Thus, it carries a sense of pride, triumph, and humility. It also spreads seeds of community, the need for joining, and doing so with groups other than our immediate community.
Look to a gift of community this week. Likewise, expect to be a gift to community this week. In the spirit of a gift for a gift, as you gain support in an area, stay aware of what you bring, what you can give. It is this state of reciprocity that underscores the power of this time. That power is your strongest ally.
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September 21, 2015
The Weekly Rune – Berkano
Honoring the need for closure is the ley this week.
Kenaz remains the half-month rune through 28 September. Read right to left is Kenaz, then Berkano.
Following is a summary of The Weekly Rune. Read the full runecast.
Telling a more authentic story of the self has been the theme of this year. Last week, Kenaz indicated challenges in finding Fehu’s wealth. This week we birth it into being, and sit with the changes, challenges, and celebration of that closure.
We discussed that Kenaz means “torch,” as well as “boil,” or “blemish,” indicating a slow burn that constantly begs for relief. While we have clues if not utter clarity on the blessings Fehu brought, it can be challenging to take the requisite time to celebrate them.
Berkano is the midwifery stave, though she’s much more than that. She’s intent on celebrating the birth of a fabulous project. Think about that for a second. How often do we actually just sit with our successes? Most common is the urge to look back and be critical over what we didn’t do that we should’ve, how we could have done it better. Likewise, we jet onto the next thing, without really holding space for the lifeforce we’ve created or to replenish ourselves.
Berkano is often considered a ‘mama’ rune, but I call shenanigans on that. Mothers, especially new ones, are terrible at being in the moment, not because they don’t want to be, but because their sense of the birth moment is so distorted by fatigue, stress, excitement, fear, fatigue… They also have a hard time emotionally detaching from their children. In shamanic cultures, past a certain age, mothers aren’t the soul caretakers of their children, not because they can’t do it, but because they shouldn’t do it. There’s a reason the emphasis is on the midwife, rather than on the mom. Berkano calls for an elegant detachment from the event, dynamic, or experience, such that it can be facilitated to some closure.
After all, initiation that never culminates in conjoined effort and wisdom is just crisis.
Don’t underestimate that niggly irritation Kenaz brings to the need to celebrate successes, this week. The idea of hidden light and illuminating what it hides becomes paramount by week’s end. On the 27, we have the second SuperMoon, which just happens to also be a blood moon, beaming during a total lunar eclipse. Now is the time to look at what’s come from hard work and embodiment, love it hard, then bless it on its path.
Sit with Kenaz to learn exactly what attention needs to be paid, this week. Bring it through to completion, and see it for what it is.
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Celebrate the Small Things – Gratitude
My weekly gratitude post, in the Celebrate the Small Things [ongoing] Blog Hop.
I’m grateful for the blast had at That Board Gaming Thing!
I’m grateful for a respectful and informative discussion on the educational panel–Many Paths, One Spirit at Central NC Pagan Pride.
I’m grateful to have visited with family, albeit briefly.
I’m happy for my lover’s birthday! Yay solar return, Rob!
What are you grateful for this week? How will you show thanks? Who is grateful for you? I am!
This post is part of Lexa Cain’s blog hop, Celebrate the Small Things, along with her co-hostesses L.G. Keltner and Tonja Drecker. 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, and thanks for coming with me on this journey of self-empowerment and collective awareness.
The post Celebrate the Small Things – Gratitude appeared first on Soul Intent Arts - Intentional Insights.
September 18, 2015
Celebrate the Small Things – Gratitude
My weekly gratitude post, in the Celebrate the Small Things [ongoing] Blog Hop.
I’m grateful for That Board Gaming Thing!
I’m grateful and incredibly humbled to have known George Ward. He was a wonderful inspiration, and he set my mind on a better track, for life.
I’m grateful for fun with my family.
I’m thrilled to have a good start on creating the Runes Intensive, after it being delayed 6 months.
What are you grateful for this week? How will you show thanks? Who is grateful for you? I am!
This post is part of Lexa Cain’s blog hop, Celebrate the Small Things, along with her co-hostesses L.G. Keltner and Tonja Drecker. 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, and thanks for coming with me on this journey of self-empowerment and collective awareness.
The post Celebrate the Small Things – Gratitude appeared first on Soul Intent Arts - Intentional Insights.
September 14, 2015
The Weekly Rune – Fehu
Obscured riches are discovered this week.
Kenaz remains the half-month rune through 28 September. Read right to left is Kenaz, then Fehu.
Following is a summary of The Weekly Rune. Read the full runecast.
Telling a more authentic story of the self has been the theme of this year. Last week, Tiwaz brought a take-no-prisoners attitude to reclaiming primal authenticity. This week Fehu indicates payoff from that attitude, though Kenaz might make it tricky to identify.
Kenaz means “torch,” and modern discussions of it render it to inspiration that gnaws until it’s expressed. Romantic enough, yes? The meaning also encompasses fire that is small, but irritating. Some meanings of it specifically point to “boil,” or “blemish,” the kind that burns inflamed and constantly begs for relief. Connecting the tension of seductive muse to that of a painful zit–not so romantic.
Nonetheless, the idea of hidden light and illuminating what it hides is prominent this month. What is telling about stepping into harvest season with Kenaz this year is that it’s accompanied by some interesting night light, as in eclipses, with two SuperMoons.
Really, though, all you have to do is listen to Fehu. The intuitive stave for the week, this rune is all about wealth. It indicates “cattle,” though our modern day currency is, of course, money. Fehu also points to what brings us wealth. It has us question how we think about it, the work we do to earn it, what we do to tend it once we have it, how we hold onto and spend it. Aligned with the primal fire of creative force, this rune underscores what we do, and how we get and maintain the stuff that enables us to do it.
The influence of Kenaz indicates this wealth won’t just be hard to identify, it will be subtle. It will be the slow burn that can’t possibly benefit. The fleeting inspiration that prior, just wouldn’t form into art. It’s the known micro thought that bursts to the fore with lucid revelation.
Expect surprise in the wealth you know expressing itself with new worth. This week is all about the secret sursy.
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September 11, 2015
Celebrate the Small Things – Gratitude
My weekly gratitude post, in the Celebrate the Small Things [ongoing] Blog Hop.
I’m grateful for a healed portal infection, and for increased range and strength, not so much for the unrelenting pain. :\
I’m grateful for my lovely family.
I’m thrilled to have had great sessions at the Dancing Moon. Join me there next month!
I’m thankful for a quickly passing cold (allergies?).
What are you grateful for this week? How will you show thanks? Who is grateful for you? I am!
This post is part of Lexa Cain’s blog hop, Celebrate the Small Things, along with her co-hostesses L.G. Keltner and Tonja Drecker. 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, and thanks for coming with me on this journey of self-empowerment and collective awareness.
The post Celebrate the Small Things – Gratitude appeared first on Soul Intent Arts - Intentional Insights.
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