Journal

As I wonder what wants to be written, perhaps it is only this.

 

Carry on across that river you are crossing, with the ever changing rush of the stream. The water at times cascading, at others only murmuring past you. 

 

You can only ever truly see one step ahead, and that is all you have to do. Take that one step with certainty, without slipping or falling, and trust that eventually you will make it to the other side. One stepping stone at a time.

 

The river looks ever different, as does the shore. From every new vantage point, something else may reveal itself, something you might not have glimpsed before. Whether danger or opportunity, or even one disguised as the other, you must only concern yourself with your next footing.

 

From there all might seem different again. As you are crossing, salmon may leap and sunlight will sparkle on the surface. Suddenly a quieting, or a subtle mist, a kingfisher’s flash of blue, a deer come to drink. All are signs and allies, and all is exactly as it should be.

 

Even in the most precarious of situations, cease all longing for the shore, or even for the journey beyond and simply sense the beauty of where you are.

When we open Sacred Space and enter the mythic field, there seems to be a trembling of reality. A thrumming sensation that signals us that something remarkable can happen here. Doors of our perception, that may otherwise remain closed, are opened and another form of experience becomes possible. The very shape of our awareness alters.

 

Within our ordinary reality we suddenly find entry to the Otherworld, a place where the imaginal lives. Shamanic or indigenous cultures might refer to this place as the dreamtime, where Spirit moves. It is a place that strongly feels other to our conscious, critical mind and daytime reality, yet strangely familiar all the same.

 

It is here, where Gods and creatures dwell, that we are granted an encounter. A meeting that recalls for us our wild nature perhaps, or our divine essence.  A moment when the veil is lifted from our intellectual way of understanding and the ideas of unconditional love, death and rebirth or even justified rage, become personally felt and recognised experiences.

 

These experiences, constellating mythic figures, usually begin very small. Then, once we surrender, the impressions unfold into essence with great clarity. It may not look like much from the outside, but the meaning we find is deeply profound.

 

You might explore how Neptune's quest for oneness unfolds in your life, or where Shiva's revered and feared destruction might be welcome. You could find how Kuan Yin's light filled grace teaches presence differently from the Cailleach, who would show presence by slowing down to ice and stone. Regardless of your intended encounter, the impressions come in with great precision and sometimes considerable surprise. The Gods can be fickle like that.

 

One of the interesting aspects of Sacred Constellations however, is to explore how these archetypal energies may present themselves differently through each and every one of us. Your pursuit of oneness might look different from mine and your presence might be grace to my stone. Some differences might be as stark as day and night, some might be beautifully subtle. Another light falling on the same diamond, highlighting a different facet of the whole.

Anyone who has ever experienced a systemic- or family constellation, knows how remarkable those encounters are. Magically, the field holds unconscious knowledge and when people step in, it emerges. 

 

Through thought, emotion and physical sensation, information of the systemic field reveals itself one layer at a time. It arrives as intuitive knowing.

 

Similarly a sacred constellation is an entering of the mythic field. We step into the energies present and remarkably we feel and know in our bodies, what myth has to teach us on a very personal level.

 

Systemic constellations are generally held because something is broken and harmony needs to be restored. Hurts need to be felt, wrongs admitted and balance refound. And quite rightly so.

 

A sacred constellation however, is simply a discovery. It's a gift of inspiration, a nourishing teaching, where we explore the nature of deities, heroes and creatures alike. 

 

Stepping into the mythic field offers us an embodied experience of that nature and allows us to recognise where in our lives it is already active. Or where we might wake up to something new, yet ancient, and expand our inner reach.

 

What we feel within a constellation turns symbolic knowledge to something familiar and tangible in our everyday lives. 

 

The gifts we find become sacred threads in our inner worlds. Threads that weave a richer, ever more colourful tapestry.

 

The Sacred Feminine has many faces. Countless myths and temples alike are adorned with the image of the Goddess in her many guises. She moves through the world with the variety and beauty of flowers: one as enchanting as the scent of night flowering jasmine, another as ruthless as flesh eating orchids.

 

When we first start to search for the Goddess, we may encounter a superficial layer, where all are reduced to Moon Goddesses or boxed into the archetypal triad of maiden, mother and crone. Although these symbolisms are valuable, they barely scratch the surface of the unique individuality each Goddess holds.

 

One of her many faces is the Roman Goddess Juno. Generally recalled as the Goddess of marriage, pregnancy and childbirth, she could easily be ordered into the mother archetype and that would be that. However, in closer relationship with Juno, what she truly reveals is not patronage of marriage and family, but the gift of sacred commitment and devotion.

 

Commitment to that which naturally aligns with you. That which your deepest self knows is your True North. Juno teaches that when we discern what belongs, we find our destiny. From there, we move with calm certainty, because we know where to be of service.

 

Juno calls us to find our gift, for ourselves, for our relationships and for our communities. She offers direction, so that we too can express our own unique individuality.

If the Gods had one thing to say to us today, it might be how they delight in our attention. 

 

In a world that is becoming ever more superficial and materialistic, where our minds are continuously being filled with noise, many of us have lost our relationship with the Sacred. 

 

We may even have forgotten entirely that it was once the way to have the Gods walk with us through life. To have them witness our joys and sorrows. To receive their counsel and honour them in return.

 

To feel them as our allies and to walk the earth in their stead.

 

Yet, once we seek to reconnect, we could be surprised to find that the Gods are right there waiting. The temple doors, of which there are a great many, are wide open and what we find there is a warm welcome.

 

When we do approach such a sacred encounter, we may find that the Gods are not only waiting, but in fact seeking to return us more fully, not just to ourselves but to the world at large. 

 

Working with the Gods, it is only natural that we ask ourselves how we should understand them. What indeed are they to us?

 

We could look at them as mythic figures who show us how to live through story and metaphor. Taking us to another realm of magic and imagination, they can become our companions and shape our lives through the tales we encounter and share through time.

 

Equally we could see them as archetypal energies, emerging from our collective unconscious realms. Here we might look upon them as mirrors of the deepest patterns of the human psyche, experiencing them as forces that move through us and shape our inner worlds from within.

 

Furthermore it could also be said that the Gods are truly individual sacred beings, existing beyond the human realm, autonomous and alive in their own right. Presences that may choose to meet us across a threshold between worlds, powerful but elusive.

 

Finally we could ask whether the Great Mystery of life and Divinity is so radiant and incomprehensible to the human mind that we simply cannot look upon it. Whether, in order to be met, it must fragment.

 

In the same way light disperses into colours our eyes can behold when passing through a prism, so the Infinite may become knowable through many distinct forms, each carrying a quality of the whole.

 

Sacred Constellations holds and honours all those different ways of exploring. Regardless of belief or conviction, it offers a way to follow our passion and curiosity about the Gods in an embodied way.

 

To feel what these Deities have to offer to you personally. How they move through you and affect your life. How you can awaken and cultivate relationship with all these many flavours of Divinity. 

 

I prayed to the North for wisdom

And the North said

Child, be like the hawk

Fly high, see the magic of life

Spirit communes this way

 

I prayed to the East for direction

And the East said

Child, dive into the water

Be clear and pure

Be a priestess this way

 

I prayed to the South for connection

And the South said

Child, be a friend of many

Braid bonds of trust and joy

And love will come this way

 

I prayed to the West for a holy space

And the West said

Child, walk the spiral road

Let it take you to the upper world

And healing will come this way

 

I prayed to the great Mother for shelter

And the Mother said

Child, surrender to my arms

Be a sister to your brothers

And innocence will come this way

 

I prayed to the Great Mystery for blessing

And the Great Mystery said

Child, you are cherished by the Universe

Have faith in your prayers

And all will come to you this way

 

A prayer by Ariane - 2018

More than anything, Sacred Constellations explores the Sacred Feminine and the Sacred Masculine. By meeting the Gods and Goddesses in their many guises, we are ever widening our understanding of how these two sacred principles move through us and the world we inhabit.

 

One of the archetypal faces of the Sacred Masculine is that of the King. Sitting on his throne at the midpoint between heaven and earth, he is the keeper of the cosmic balance. As steward and guardian of the land and people, he must rule with the highest integrity. Judging from wisdom, he must weigh others as he has weighed himself. Only when he moves from truth and honour can the balance be kept and the land flourish.

 

Looking to myth, we can see Saturn firmly holding these kingly qualities: maturity, responsibility and accountability. As lord of karma, as he is often referred to by modern astrologers, he understands the laws of consequence.

 

Arthurian legend is another example of a true king being called by fate and divine will to hold the balance of life. With Arthur as the centre of harmony, Camelot flourishes. When the king is wounded by corruption and betrayal, the balance is lost and the kingdom disintegrates from the inside out.

 

Looking at our modern world and culture in crisis, we could say that equally we have lost sincere and just rule at the heart of society. The grail we seek is the restoration of integrity, to have power placed in the hands of those who lead by example as stewards and guardians of sacred balance.

 

It’s a widely accepted thought that healing comes from within, and that the outer world is a reflection of our inner worlds. Sacred Constellations is an invitation to illuminate the inner archetypal world and restore the balance within. To embody our inner kingship, so that eventually the outer world may follow.

One of the most direct and personal ways for the Gods to call us is through our nighttime dreams. Known as Epic or Grand dreams, they are the type of dream that is unusually vivid and stays with us for many years if not a lifetime.

Separate from our regular processing and symbolic dreams, these dreams are different. Unmistakably otherworldly, they are a falling into a mythic place, the realm of sacred archetypal energy. This is an accounting of such a dream

 

I look into a mirror and an unfamiliar young woman gazes back at me.
There is an extraordinary radiance to her appearance. Her skin is a rich, glowing sepia, her hair an abundance of bleached plaits, piled high on the top of her head and cascading down her back.
I am her, and she is well pleased with herself.

Confidently, she strides out of her chambers toward a rectangular opening filled with golden light and passes through.
She emerges onto what seems to be a high platform on a very large stone structure and looks down into an arid valley.
There are many people below, going about their work, which appears to be mostly construction.
We are in a hot climate, and the light has an unfamiliar yellow softness.

Then an enormous cow appears from the heavens and with a thunderous thud, sets down her hooves. I see only one of them, for it is nearly as large as the structure I'm standing on.
There is an immense sense of power thrumming through the moment and I can feel it in my entire being.

 

Now initially I didn’t know it was the Goddess Hathor who had entered my dream, but I knew something extraordinary had happened. There was a strong feeling and a sacred knowing that this encounter was an invitation and a blessing. In the years that followed, our paths crossed several more times, often through synchronicities. By remaining open and curious I have learned much and my relationship with Hathor is ever deepening. One of her gifts has been the birthing of Sacred Constellations which has allowed me to encounter many more deities and enriched my life in ways i wouldn't have imagined. 

 

If you have an Epic dream, know that it is rare and meaningful. Its arrival is undeniably an invitation. It’s a call to heed, an invitation to step across a threshold, into a deeper relationship with what comes calling and ultimately a deeper relationship with yourself.