The Gentle Touch
Walking along the Crooked Path,
With Knife and Cup, Stang and Staff,
Old Ones walking by my side,
Taking me along, far and wide!
Time to Learn, time to rest,
Trust the Old Gods, they know best!
Finding Knowledge along the way,
Hearing what the Old Ones say!
Heed Their Words, listen hard,
Wisdom found in words of Bard,
Simple things, nothing much,
Yet feel the tingle in gentle touch!
Feeling warm breath from a child,
Seeing beauty in the wild,
Gentle touch of the Mother,
Lying together with your lover,
Sensual meal by candlelight,
Shooting Stars in the Night!
Spending time in good company,
Sharing laughter, You and me!
Moonbeam glinting on the water,
Autmn colours, days become shorter,
A shaft of sunlight in the Mist,
A glimpse of Stag, you get the gist!
Wisdom comes not from a Book,
No matter how hard you care to look,
Knowledge holds dubious value,
Until you know whats true for You!
Only by Doing can we really Be,
Experience begats Wisdom, dont you see?
Live your life with open eyes,
Live beneath wide open Skies!
Take every chance you may get,
Dont live like some coddled pet!
Growth is seldom without strife,
Thats a part of every life!
Call of the Gods, getting Stronger,
You cannot ignore it for much longer!
Let yourself really feel it all,
Summer, Winter, Spring and Fall!
Be open to a sense of Awe,
Follow your heart, live your Lore!
Heed my words I ask of thee,
As you will it, so mote it be!
Suzanne Read
8th November 2010
Welcome once more Seeker, to my musings, my ramblings, I hope you find something that resonates for you!
Today, after writing the above Poem last night, my thoughts swing to how we each individually perceive our experiences, how they effect our 'worldview' and thus affect our 'personal reality' or as a friend put so well, our individual 'Truth'!
We all see and experience the world around us (seen and unseen) through our own individual eyes, our perceptions coloured by our own individual past experiences, filters laid in place by our beliefs and current 'worldview', our own personal take on reality, our own personal 'Truth'. For each one of us this personal Truth, this personal reality is perceived as an absolute, for us this IS our world, our own reality, created by our learnings, our experiences, the hurts and joys that have shaped us as individuals, it is how we understand the world around us, how we make sense of things on a daily basis. It has meaning truly only for ourselves, nothing exists in 'absolute reality' that does not enter our own personal 'Truth' without our own meanings and perceptions being assigned to it.
Yet for each of us, our personal 'Truth' is different, no two individuals can ever have had the same experience set, nor had it affect them in exactly the same way, we may find congruity amongst others who walk a similar Path, find shared experiences that resonate, touch others whose spirits are familiar to us and experience moments (or longer) of absolute true understanding, where empathically we understand exactly the mindset and personal reality of another, but these occurrances are the exception rather than the rule.
For most folks (especially those without an active spiritual path) their personal reality will be very mundane focussed, rooted in the hear and now, they will not feel the touch of those realms beyond the mundane, they will not hear the call of the Old Ones, not because they are unable to, but because they are not currently open minded in that aspect of their life (Im not making a judgement or criticism here, merely looking at how our 'worldview' affects our perceptions)
As children we are unaware of the existance of our own personal 'worldview', we take most things on face value, experiencing everything new with a sense of wonder and awe that as we grow up usually becomes jaded and blase, our experiences colouring our perception and our reality can quickly become so rooted in the mundane that life can become almost meaningless.
For those of us whom have found an active spiritual path (of whatever form) our personal take on reality can be radically different from the mainstream, so much so that others can perceive us as 'weird', 'naiive', 'deluded' or just 'different'! This can manifest itself in various ways, from the odd glance you get from another through to being held up as an objet of ridicule, yet allowing ourselves to become open to other influences, to perceive more than most yet do has its own rewards!
Think back to when you first discovered your personal Path, think back to the sense of wonder and awe, the heartfelt joy you discovered in your connection to all that surrounds you, from those things gross and blatant through to the gentlest whispers, half heard in the night, for most they would have no meaning, but to those who live with an awakened and aware consciousness then we know that there is nothing we experience that does not have meaning on some level! Witchcraft, paganism, spirituality, call it what you will, is not all bangs and whistles, indeed most of the time it is not, yes, you will occassionally experience something transcendant, something that is overwhelming in its power, symbolism and personal meaning, but for most of the time its the smaller simple things we experience that tell us our feet are walking the Path they are meant to be! Im talking of being open to seeing the touch of the Goddess and God in all you experience, from the beauty of a single flower, the power of a storm, the simplicity of a lit candle, the majesty of a stag in the woods, the touch of a moonbeam on your face, the kiss of the wind on bare skin, the smile of an eye, the smell of the woods on an autumn day, all simple things, yet things with meaning if we care to touch upon them!
I'm not advocating abandoning yourself to unlimited beliefs in every concept you are brought into touch with, nor abandoning your intellect or scepticism, but if you truly allow yourself to Be, grounded in your own personal reality, your individual Truth and in Realism, experiencing all that surrounds you with wide open eyes, then you will perceive much more than most!
Personally I find myself an open minded skeptic, I do not easily believe in things I have not experienced, yet my own experiences, the places and things I have touched, my connection to other realms and to the Old Ones teaches me that they do exist, even if others do not perceive them or believe in them. I try to live my life with wide open eyes, alowing myself to be open to all the influences (seen and unseen) that I come across, sometimes they resonate within and I find myself delving deeper, sometimes they leave me cold and I leave well alone, which is how it should be! Following your own Crooked Path is very much a personal journey, it has to have personal meaning for yourself, what others think or believe really should have no influence on yourself unless you find it also has personal meaning for you aswell!
Only by allowing ourselves to be open to what is around us, to feel and see what is really there (on all levels) and to 'Be' who and what we really are can we truly grow. Knowledge is fairly easy to gain, there are books aplenty on almost every aspect of our life and craft, yet book knowledge in itself does not make one wise. Only through personal experience can we commute knowledge into wisdom, without hands on experience, without knowing exactly how something works for us as individuals and what it means to us personally, then knowledge is nothing more than theory. Personal experience allows us to truly feel and assign true meaning to anything we have learnt, allows us to garner its truth and beauty and thus to integrate it into our personal Truth, making it a part of ourselves and our own personal wisdom.
For most of us this is something we acchieve for some of the time (myself included), for the rest of the time we are focussed on too many other things, work, family, mundane life all impact upon how much we can focus our intent, yet for some it is a state of being that they have acchieved, their focus is firm and their Path impacts every second of their day. They are able to see the hand of the Old Ones in everything around them, something the rest of us would love to do but have not yet attained!
In an ideal world, those of whom are attuned and awakened (at whatever level they perceive) would be eternally free to follow that which pulls us, having time and energy to do so at any moment, but in the current world we live, with its distractions and the way we are forced to live, conforming with societal norms in order to provide food and lodgings for ourselves and our loved ones, many of us find ourselves limited in what we can acchieve, yet yearn to do more, but even by spending nothing more than a few moments each day being totally aware, we can increase our sense of connection and our participation in the All around us! Lighting a candle and some incense, spending time reading something spiritual, meditating or even writing a journal or blog (and thus spending your energy on spiritual matters and really thinking and working through your thoughts and intent) are all good and simple ways to honour the Old Ones on a daily basis if you are unable to do more at any given point!
It is Our intent, our focus, our commitment that is of the utmost importance on our individual Paths, the Old Ones understand all that pulls upon us, the myriad distractions we are forced to deal with, in fact you could argue that sometimes They have placed them in your way to test your resolve and see whether you have the will and commitment to overcome them, sometimes on your own, and sometimes with a little prodding (or perhaps more than a little, the cosmic 4by2 comes to mind here)!
Sometimes life can seem to become derrailled, both on the mundane and spiritual levels, personal and familial disasters occur that seem to have nothing to do with our Paths but do take our focus away from where we wish it to be, but listen deeper, look harder, at some level there will be a reason, it may be a lesson you needed to learn, a change required in your direction, a trial you needed to face, a sabbatical you need to take, or perhaps it is time for you to be melted once again in the forge, annealled into something new and stronger (as Nietsche said 'What does not kill me, makes me stronger')
As I once wrote many moons ago............
'Always remember, no matter how far along the Path you travel, from the valleys of ignorance to the peaks of enlightenment, around the next corner will be another steep and rocky path for you to follow! Sometimes you may need to sit and rest by cool waters, other times you may slip down the path, loosing your footing, other times you will stride firmly onwards and upwards, but remember to always do so with an open heart and mind, for the day you close your mind, believing you know all you need to know is the day you may aswell fall upon your sword and remove to the Otherworld, for from that day forth you will be dead inside!'
Thanks for reading, I hope you found something of interest!
Dark Dreams
Suzanne
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