TM February 2012

Despite the fact that I missed this past weekend's lunar ritual (cold weather + not feeling well = stay home and sleep) I thought I'd post something anyway - I've been trying to write this post for a while now, but it never really came together. I figure now is as good a time as any. Also, I give anyone reading this fair warning: I am 'sensitive' to and work with various energies that exist in our world. I listen to my intuition and consider myself to be a spiritual person. If you don't believe in such things I will probably sound crazy to you. Don't worry about it though - it's a good kind of crazy ;)

When I first discovered Spira, one of the things I found most intriguing about it was it's use of archetypes in connecting to the divine. I've never really known why, but I've always hesitated to work specifically with a named god or goddess. The archetypes were a way for me to work with deity without having to jump into working with specifics. Instead of jumping in, I've been slowly easing my way towards it. I feel kind of like I've hit a block for the last 6 months or so - my Pantheon project is edging me closer than I'm comfortable with. It's strange though, because in all my experiences so far with the divine in our rituals, it's felt like coming home. Like remembering something I'd forgotten. But still I hesitate. And I procrastinate.


For a while now, I've known which archetype I resonate most strongly with. I finally came to a full realization of it at our yule ritual. We had a wisdom honouring that really brought it home to me that I do have a deeper connection to wisdom than I thought.

We had a discussion on what wisdom is to us and I was really surprised with some of the responses. To me, wisdom is a very practical thing, and the thought of it being unattainable or akin to an uphill journey never crossed my mind at all. The leader of the discussion seemed to have an understanding closer to my own - she said that wisdom is like the no nonsense grandmother who sits you down for a cup of tea when you're upset and lets you talk through your problem with her until you arrive at your own solution. I like this description of it, but it still doesn't really explain what wisdom is, or how to get to it.

Wisdom is hard to define. The simplest way I can think to describe it is as an awareness. An awareness that usually comes from experience.

The best description I've found was from a book I discovered as a teenager. It describes a word used by the Navajo that means beauty - 'the beauty that comes from being in harmony with the universe...aligned with the 'fitness of things'.*

There is also a celtic word that translates as 'Truth'. Their Truth is less true/false, and more of a relationship with life. Similarly, wisdom is also that relationship, that ability to be 'aligned with the fitness of things'.

Wisdom is in your relationship to everything else. It is your ability to feel your connection in the web. It takes understanding and awareness. It takes self-knowledge and compassion. It takes patience and courage and a willingness to face the truth about things. It also takes intuitiveness and an ability to flow with the current of the universe.

As hard as it is to describe, that connection is something I've always known. The tiny nagging details of daily life and the bustle of the city make me much less aware of it, but if I reach and pay attention, it's always there.

Wisdom. Just waiting for me to find it again.


* The book that I'm quoting from is 'Yearning for the Wind' by Tom Cowan. One of my most favourite books ever!