Back in the Saddle

After not doing much of anything spiritual for a month, I attended shamanic circle on Friday. It was really great to be engaging spiritually again, and I had two interesting and productive journeys.

First, we did a group journey on travel and transitions (those being common themes for the 5 people present this week). When I arrived in my usual starting location -- a clearing behind a river and in front of a large tree, a most unexpected figure stepped out from behind the tree: The Wild God, a green man figure with antlers. I haven't worked with him in ages, but apparently he is still interested in me. As we walked further into the woods, he began to talk.

In winter, I am Lord of the Animals; in summer, Lord of the Vegetation. But in each aspect I carry the other within me. So too do you carry all of your identities within you, no matter what you are engaged with. You would do well to remind yourself of them. Not only do you carry your past identities, but also future.

He then suggested that I allow the sound of the drumming to vibrate through me and carry away anything not belonging to me. So I spent the last five minutes or so lying in a forest in the Underworld, letting the drumming from the physical world flow through me. It was quite healing.

The second journey of the evening was individual. I have recently started taking a writing class, and have been struggling for sometime with the proper role of writing in my life. Do I even want to write anymore, or is it just a leftover dream that no longer resonates for me? Does it matter if I am never published? What do I actually need from writing? So I journeyed on that question. Though it was an interesting and fruitful journey, I didn't receive much in the way of productive advice. I was led to an animal ally who is interested in assisting me though, and she suggested that a good first step would be to set up my creativity altar again. I am in the process of doing so. The first step was clearing all of the junk off of the space that it was previously in!