Neptune's Dolphins

 

Because modern life is decidedly unmagical, the Gods (and Nature) have been banished to the nether regions. Meanwhile, magic itself has been devalued. But magic connects people to the invisible world. As real as the material world, this other world is inhabited by Ancestors, Gods, and Other Beings. Without this connection, people are lonely and miserable.

 

Hollenbery notes that people are connected to the sky and rooted to the earth. Whether they recognize it or not, humans do live in the ebb and flow of nature. Once people allow themselves to feel this, they will be in alignment with all the worlds. For she notes that the “soul exists in the deep, in the space behind, around and within our physical body. We are informed by information coming through us from beyond us: our Ancestors” (and other Beings).

 

Trauma shuts people off from their bodies. Furthermore, it comes between people and their relations with the Cosmos. Since people have become frozen and hopeless, they are disassociated from themselves and Nature. Hollenbery suggests that people look at the Elements to learn how to embody their bodies.

 

The Elements can be a guide to healing trauma. Air is clear thinking. For that, a person needs clean living spaces. Fire notices how “yes” and “no” feel in the body. Learn to say both clearly. Water allows the emotions to flow. It also shows where a person is stuck. Earth provides each person with what they need. Earth nourishes the body.

 

To be re-enchanted, a person must have the courage to embrace pleasure. To reclaim magic, they must allow themselves to sit with the unknown. A person needs to hold a space where something can unfold. Then, they can enter the mysteries of life and allow themselves to be surprised.

 

To reclaim magic, Hollenbery lists “medicines” to take, and their results. She urges to people to gently explore each to reclaim their magic. The end result is a shift towards pleasure and wonder.

 

Medicines:

 

Slow: the Medicine of Slowing: Sensitivity

Body: the Medicine of Embodying: Embodiment

Depth: the Medicine of Deepening: Presence

Relationship: the Medicine of Relations: Nourishment

Pleasure: the Medicine of Sensing: Fulfilment

Power: the Medicine of Empowering: Powerfulness

Potency: the Medicine of Aliveness: Potential

Hollenbery gives “technologies” to use to “enter the realm of potency and pleasure in the Universe of Deliciousness.” These practices will integrate the person. She writes “Synthesizing their (the person’s) polarities, they will establish for the person the neutral middle path of Truth.”

 

Technologies:

 

Imagination: The muscle of the soul. Free it.

Attention: Here is now. Be in the moment. Cultivate attention.

Receptivity: Receive the aliveness of the Universe. Be receptive.

Acceptance: Include of who we are. Be whole. Allow yourself to experience it all.

Appreciation: Fuel. Open up to the bounty of life. Be appreciative.

Creative active participation: Take responsibility for the self. Participate actively in the world.

Breathing: Contact with the body, and integrate the soul, mind, and body. Breathe.

Christian Valters Paintner in “Earth: Our Original Monastery” suggests for keeping wonder alive, the daily practice of the Examen (Note 1). Ask yourself two questions at the end of the day. “What has been the most life giving? What has been the most life draining? Where were the moments you felt arid and dry? Where did you feel the fullness of greening.” This keeps wonder alive.

 

Valters Paintner’s focus is what St. Hildegard called “viriditas” – the greening power of nature for spiritual growth. People engage with this living force to be close to the Gods (God). Being connected to the greenest of Life integrates a person to be a part of the Ecology of the Cosmos. (Note 2.)

 

Notes:

Note 1. Examen, developed by St. Ignatius of Loyola, is a Catholic practice. For the Polytheist, it can be used for self-reflection of their daily life. Express gratitude for the day, celebrate victories and understand failures. Then anticipate the next day, asking yourself how to honor the Gifts from the Gods.

 

This can be thought of as the PAR Method. Prepare intentionally for your day. Act by living through action in the present moment. Reflect and grow in awareness and insight. (from the Monk Manual planning system by Steven Lawson.)

 

Note 2. “Ariditas” according to St. Hildegard is separation from God.

In “Birthing the Holy,” Christian Valters Paintner shows how a person can have a sacred retreat in their daily lives. To engage the Holy, a person needs to have two main elements – time and space. Emphasizing this, she writes in her on-line “Monk Manifesto:” “I commit to find moments each for silence and solitude to make space for another Voice to be heard.”

 

Paintner says that people hold inner multitudes. According to her, inner conflict arises when people refuse to make space for the multiplicity that they contain. Referring to this multiplicity as archetypes, she matches them to the various Titles of Mary, the Mother of God. (Note 1) For Paintner, each of the names of Mary is something for a person to encounter and experience. (The Names of Mary Mother of God: https://neptunesdolphins.wordpress.com/2022/08/10/the-names-of-mary-mother-of-god-a-polytheistic-view/)

 

My Polytheistic antennae perked up. Then I realized that the Gods match the inner multitude of myself during my encounters with Them. For that to happen, I prepare for my journey to Them by retreating to the quiet of my in-between place. There, my multiplicity reaches out to Them.

 

Before starting a sacred journey, I ask for support. I call upon my Ancestors and Holy Beings that I feel close to. For me, it is the Squirrels, Who are more than squirrels. Since Paintner is Roman Catholic, she says to call upon the “Communion of Saints and Cloud of Witnesses.” (Note 2) She also suggests saying the many names of Mary, the Mother of Christ. As a Polytheist, I ask the Ancestors of the Heart and Place, and Heroes (such as the Divine Julius and Hercules).

 

Asking for support can be done in various ways depending on the person. I write. However, other people employ sitting in silence, creating art, dancing, playing music of simply using gestures. Each activity prepares us and transports us to the liminal spaces and times.

 

While we wait for the Call to journey, we listen and reflect on the Holy Powers. Jung said, “If you put yourself into the icon, the icon will speak to you.” As we step into the unknown, we let go of controlling the encounter. When we crossover the threshold, we give our consent to the invitation of the Gods to enter the Sacred. To navigate the Unknown, we do divination.

 

Then we wait and incubate the Holy. What does this mean? By welcoming what we have been given by the Gods, we practice hospitality. We now have their seeds to attend to in our fertile soil. Through dreamtime, meditation, dance, and other holy arts, we tend to the moments of unfolding and ripening of these seeds. Of course, divination will guide us in the spiritual alchemy that is occurring.

 

As Paintner points out in “Birthing the Holy,” we are given expression to the Sacred through co-creating. Relying on the Divine Graces, we can give birth to a new dream. Our inner mystic takes us to where we need to go, and to what we need to do. We co-create with the Divine Energy that flows through us. In the end, we aid the ecosystem of the community of humans, Gods, and Others.

 

During this alchemy, we must remember that things do not unfold linearly but in circles and spirals. Since we are engaging in mythic time, many things do happen simultaneously. While this is occurring, we do our daily devotions. This is how the Gods sustain us.

 

Notes:

Note 1. While Roman Catholic, Paintner sees meditation on the Titles of Mary to be embracing the Sacred Feminine during meditation.

Note 2. The “Cloud of Witnesses” are all of the believers who have gone before including those of the Old Testament.

 

Source:

“Birthing the Holy” by Christine Valters Paintner, Sorin Books, 2022