CRAZYWELL POOL

Crazywell Pool on Dartmoor today, and the open moor further on. Crazywell - now that's a good name for what some of us are, 'cos you'll never be well if you're what the world calls sane. And it's what we do also, we help people become well in crazy ways. 

 

And then when you're up on the open moor on your own in that big silence, you can lie down on the big heart of Mother Earth, your true mother, and give her all the stuff that has built up that bothers you, she has all the healing you will ever need.

THE REUNION OF THE SOUL AND THE BODY

The Reunion of the Soul and the Body is the name of William Blake's etching (below). It vividly portrays the beauty and ecstasy and sensuality that can be experienced, for example, in so-called Trance Dance, when the Spirits embody us.

The separation of Body and Soul began in ancient Greek times, and Medieval Christianity furthered this process They banned dancing in churches, because it gave people their own connection to Spirit, it gave them too much of their own power. The Body and its desires became demonised. The Body is at best 'lesser', a mere vehicle for something more important.

This is why Blake created this etching. And it is why Shamanism, with its foundation in our belonging to the natural world, and belonging therefore to the Body, is exactly the kind of cultural remedy needed for this ancestral soul-loss. Or could be.

The methods of Core Shamanism go half-way there, inasmuch as we are introduced to animal helpers. That is a major shot across the bows of our historical religious conditioning, which we are part of, whether ot not we believe in it. But it doesn't go far enough. It doesn't go in for the kill. Remember it was created by an American academic, and the body was safely excluded.

There may have been some wisdom in that at the time, because many people really are afraid of that animal, out-of-control power of the body. It can seem like a dark, primitive thing, instead of the path to Spirit that it truly is. It can seem threatening, and that is because it is indeed threatening, to the safe, civilised personality that is an inevitable part of being part of a large society: let's not diss it too much, many people would have a psychological breakdown without it. It is where we start.

I am also talking about the return of the Dionysian element. We need both the rationality and control of the Apollonian, and the raw, bodily surrender of the Dionysian. I think we have an odd relationship with the Dionysian in our Shamanism: we can over-value it, at the expense of the Apollonian, and yet not take it far enough, not dare fully surrender to it.

The Dionysian is there when Shamans in Siberia dance their encounters with the Spiritworld. It is only partially there, for the most part, when we do our lying down journeys. That does not mean a lot of value does not occur. But that full-on spirit encounter via the body needs reclaiming. I don't entirely know how. For some, it is easy. For others, it is incremental. Myself and Emma Edgington will be exploring this at our event in Snowdonia in June: http://shamanicfreestate.blogspot.com/2021/12/embodying-spirits.html

 

YOUR FRIEND LONELINESS

I was walking above the spectacular Teign Gorge last week (see photo, along with some tree roots from Venford reservoir), when I was gripped by a feeling of loneliness. After a minute or two, I thought I don't have to accept this painful feeling uncritically. The answer isn't necessarily to be around more people, and it certainly isn't the answer to put the sticking plaster of a relationship over it.

No, it's telling me something: stay with it, disidentify. Some people happily live as hermits. I could see how accepted as it is, loneliness can corrode you, it can eventually kill you, probably along with a load of self-medication along the way.

Loneliness is a feeling of lack of connection. We have a profound need to be connected, and life can seem not worth living without it. Having others around can be a superficial way of doing this. That is why being around others can be a lonely place, if they are satisfied with a level of connection that you are not.

The real connection that loneliness asks of us is with ourselves and therefore with Spirit and the whole universe. We are the whole universe. You can imagine your spirit helpers saying why are you feeling lonely? Have you forgotten about us? We are always here around you, wanting to connect, we love you, the universe loves you. This is what you will return to when you die.

So loneliness is our friend, if we rise to her challenge. Being on our own is often the time when we can connect most deeply to Spirit.