Strength in Simplicity -- Part 2, Goodbye Reality...

"Ground yourself," Ms. Murphy-D yelled at me, "You'll never be any good to anyone until you're here in the moment. You're work needs to be done here," she continued, "you can't have your head in the clouds unless your feet are on the ground." I did my best to ground myself in preparation for the hands-on massage class session I was about to begin. It was starting to get a bit easier, but coming down to earth and seeing the truth, blemishes and all, wasn't my most favorite thing. I began to feel as if I was sobering up from a 23-year long bout of hedonistic indulgence, and the hangover was shaking me to my core.

Later in the day as I rolled up to Christina's office on my bicycle, right across the street from the downtown park of my old hometown, I thought to myself, "It's nice to be back home." I entered through the unassuming blue front door with a bit of apprehension and was suprised to see all older men and women. For some strange reason I had expected all the participants to be more like me. What a fool I can be at times. Spirit has no particular preference, bankers and jewelry-makers, tai-chi instructors and marriage counselors, all have the divine capacities of the Spirit latent within, and here we had joined together to celebrate those capacities and bring them forth to grow in to a bright, cleansing Light. As we entered the room where we would do our work I felt a wave of calming energy wash over me, and deeply inhaled the aroma of sage as its smoke wafted about.

"Great Serpent, We ask that you show us how to shed the past the way you shed your skin," began our prayer for setting sacred space. We introduced ourselves and began to make an ayni despacho, a living, vibrating gift for Mother Earth made of candies, fruits, nuts, seeds, flowers, and of our prayers and intentions. We wrapped the gift with beautiful rainbow colored yarns, adorned it with feathers and set it aside where it awaited its pyre which would carry our gifts and prayers to the spirits.

Leaving the despacho behind like the skin of the past, we began to drift off, carried in to non-ordinary reality by drumming and the soft voice of Christina. Just as ordinary reality faded-out, so this new landscape faded-in. I was standing in a field of tall, sun-bleached grass, gazing upon rolling hills in the late afternoon. The sun was warm and the air was dry, a stone pathway appeared before me, beckoning me to walk upon its smooth stones, slowly ascending the hill in front of me. As I focused once more on the crest of the hill I made out the silhouette of a large cat, the sun blazing like primordial fire behind this majestic creature. Within seconds I found myself within 10 feet of a fierce lioness, who's eyes warned me to stay where I was. I conveyed my respect and amdiration for her, and with my fear confronted she became like the most tame of housecats. I reached out my arms, and with a soft hand stroked the coarse fur between her eyes. She squinted and purred loudly, I scratched behind her ears. She rolled over and I rubber her belly, her purring began to roar like a gushing waterfall, and then she said, "You have nothing to be afraid of. You have already shown me your courage. Your suffering has not been in vain, of this I assure you. Go into the world, proud and fierce like me." I did not want to leave this joyous encounter, but I did as Lion had instructed and made my way down the sun-baked hill without gazing back, knowing that she would always be with me, reminding me of my strength. Fear can be a road block on the path of Self-realization, but it need not be, and I had been reminded of that truth.

I wiggled my toes and fingers as I came back to reality. There I was sitting on a leather couch surrounded by people I had just met, but whom I was sure I'd known for lifetimes. I felt blessed to have received so much in a little over an hour's time, but this was just the beginning.

Later that night I lay in my bed drifting off to sleep, much like I had drifted into that sun-bleached landscape earlier on. I awoke into a vibrant dream world, I was bedecked in the most extravagant head dress and face paint, standing atop a sub-tropical mountain gazing down at the soft-blue waters lapping on the shore of a palmtree studded white sand beach. The villagers were moving about their daily tasks while the children played in the surf. My queen stood by my side and assured me that I was fulfilling my duties as chief of the Taino people, providing both the physical and spiritual necessities of existence.

In an instant I was standing beside my queen again, but now we were clad in thick bear and caribou skins, standing at the edge of a massive iceflow, watching our tribesmen haul a massive whale from the water below. This whale was to sustain us all through another long winter, what bounty we had we shared. We walked back to our igloo and as we entered, I exited the dream world and found myself in my bed, yawning and stretching, ready to begin a new day, what was beginning to feel like a new life.

I reached school a little early that morning and threw some ingredients in my crock pot so that my soup would be ready by lunchtime. I had become a bit of a spectacle at school already, "the crazy hippy who makes organic soup everyday," and, "Tarzan" were just a few of my endearing names. I just so happened to like the nicknames too, but over the course of the next few weeks I would start hear comments about my Lion-like nature. One day a student said, "You look like a lion," and another teacher said very matter-of-factly, "he IS a lion." To this day I still dance and roar like a lion at all hours of the day and night, I don't want Lion to leave me, so I will respect Her need to be embodied through me, and my desire to experience the spirit world through her.

Coming up in part 3: The cleansing power of Fire, Healing hands and "Could I be a fascist?"