Blending Waters

Today, Donna and I took part in a ceremony known by the practioners as the "blending of the waters," where members of the group share their journeying in life and over the planet by pouring water collected during their trips into a single chalice. Much of the water-pouring was symbolic, though some brought actual water from afar (being aware of the ritual before their departures). All shared what the made their trips special to them.

This little ceremony's theme was a good followup to my last journal entry were I wrote about life's journey as inspired by  reading Shirley MacLaine's, The Camino (you can read my review of it here). I even contributed a bit to the ceremony with a bottle of water from Oxford, Mississippi.

That little vessel of water was meaningful for my family because it symoblized our sons' passage out of childhood. They literally went right out of high school to the University with no break, and embarked on a study of the Mandarin Chinese language that lead them to a two month stay in China the next year. That year, and the one following, revealed an astonishing maturity in them that makes them such fine young men today. They are still growing, of course, as is their mother and I, pursuing the Great Journey, but I thank our spirit guides for this affirmation of being on the right track.

Of course, all journeying is not physical travel--probably the most important journeys are accomplished inside our own skins. Even in these, there are twists and turns, restarts, and doubts about our destination. In navigating our spiritual way, which has its own perils, I think we need to hear the voice of the "road" that wants to lead us the right way, take heart from our companions, and listen to our guides.

I've tried to do this in my work here, which is built on my story-writing that I've mentioned so much, and especially with my developing novel. I mentioned before how I had lost my way on it, but then I found an inspiration to keep me going from a methodology for novel-writing called the "snowflake" method by Randy Ingermanson. It provided me with some writing discipline that pulled me in from the wilderness and put me back on track. So I've proceeded with the creative work and hope in the near future to create a page on my website dedicated to the new novel ("Dentville").

So I take from all this that we are all on our journeys, taking meaning from the journey itself while being encouraged by those we love and by our guides, if we're sensitive to them.

Here's hoping you are. Let's go.