Wheel of Wonder November 24, 2012

As we begin the new Celtic year, while drawing to a close on the Roman Calendar year, many people are finding themselves dreaming, thinking, or perhaps worrying about "the end of the millenia", in the sense of the expected "shift of reality" on the Winter Solstice of this year.  These ideas are woven into some New Age thinking and into the ending of the Mayan calendar, some seem to carry a certain nervousness about it.  . "The end of the world as we know it" does not inherently mean apocalypse, the death of humanity and such concerns as these, some look at it as more of the end of the old ways of being towards each other (the world as we know it) and our place in the natural order of things; Dominator or Co-Creator.  Whichever way one looks at it, it is an opportunity to reflect on what seems to work and what is no longer working in the structure of Human Civilization.
I've been recently re-reading David Korten's work on  "Empire (the dominator structure; few in charge, many beneath them)" and "Earth Community (the co-creator structure, collaboration for the good of the majority)"  Many believe its time to shift from the former structure, to the latter.  So this week I'll be speaking a bit about "Earth Community" (Korten, "The Great Turning" copyright 2006, People-Centered Development Program). Korten suggests human cooperation is like a forest ecosystem in some respects, this imagery will be with us this week on Wheel of Wonder.  As will new and independent, earth friendly music.  Your invited on the journey!

The picture to the right is called "Cascade Pass" and is by Ed Farrel taken in Washington State, USA

Wheel of Wonder November 4 2012

Some celebrations are designed to honor the dead, and thank them for the knowledge they brought to the living.  In the Spirit of the Day of the Dead, I am thinking about the knowledge of the underworld and the walking of the Labyrinth this week.  Both of these have been symbolic, in many Shamanic cultures, of death of the old way of thinking, to be reborn into the new.
  Some ecstatic experiences, like the channelling of spirits in voodoo, or talking to mediums to settle things with your family and your ancestors, relate directly to contacting that place of awareness where one can communicate with the dead.  Ever sat around a Ouija board trying to talk to spirits?  That is also an attempt to achieve this.

    It is no coincidence that the underworld (not the fiery brimstone one, that seems to me like some religion's idea of scaring folks into obedience) is a recurring theme in the legends of death and rebirth, just like the seed you harvest from the plant that is buried and "returns" from the underworld to serve its life supporting purpose,  the underworld journeys of Shamans, Heroes, and wise ones , like the labyrinth, represent going inside, through your fears, to achieve new knowledge.  These are some of the universal symbols that can be found in nearly all cultures.  In modern neo-pagan beliefs, Earth is considered the element that represents the wisdom of the ancestors, it is the element of the caves, and often of Winter(the death of life before rebirth).

This week I'm going to be mindful of taking a musical journey through the underworld, the labyrinth, reaching the center and returning, to find the true self.  I'm inviting you to listen in on this journey.

The picture to the right is of a place called Deer Cave, in Malaysia, picture by David Darling