Ritual Approach, Small Wild Gods & The Sweetness of Good Language…
The Irish poet John O'Donohue speaks to the importance of ritual approach, an ancient cultural practice shared by many.
The emergence of the sacred, and what we encounter, largely depends on the quality of our approach, and when we step forth with reverent ears, inner spaciousness and an open embrace, beautiful unfoldings might nestle in the palms of our hands.
O’Donohue says, “When our eyes are graced with wonder, the world reveals its wonders to us... So much depends on how we look at things. The quality of our looking determines what we come to see.”
We don’t necessarily need to travel the underworld, ride the cosmic winds, reach the mountain peak or sail the winding rivers to let the wild and sacred into our hearts.
The small gods await our worship just as much as the large.
In the lyrical classic, Letters to a Young Poet, Rilke exclaims:
“If you hold close to nature, to what is simple in it, to the small things people hardly see and which all of a sudden can become great and immeasurable; if you have this love for what is slight, and quite unassumingly, as a servant, seek to win the confidence of what seems poor - then everything will grow easier, more unified and somehow more conciliatory, not perhaps in the intellect, which amazed, remains a step behind, but in your deepest consciousness, watchfulness and knowledge.”
The mythic asks of us, which gods are we serving?
Who are we bending a knee to?
The patch of grass can be as much an altar as the alpine snowy gums, and if we pay attention, we might find our head bowing in the strangest of places.
I recall an encounter with tiny tufts of lime explosions amongst mottled green moss. I’d veered off mountain trail and found myself wandering through a prehistoric rocky grove, the subtle song of these alien plants calling me down for a closer look.
The red vegetative core of these strange creatures looked like microscopic cat tongues lined with yellow-green bristles. Their whiskers rising up like soft morning mist reminded me to pay attention to the small things in nature that people hardly see.
I offered a little prayer, left a pinch of herbs by their side, and now here they are, the small gods of the mountain finding renewed voice through word on a page.
Chewing On The Sweetness of Good Language
Just as the quality of our ritual approach matters, the same idea applies to our words.
American psychologist, James Hillman, says:
“Good language asks to be spoken aloud, mind to mind and heart to heart, by embodied voices that still retain the animal and by tongues that still delight in savoring vowels and the clipped spitting of explosive consonants.”
I often have to coax myself out of silent prayer and into spoken word when by myself out in the wild.
The small gods, old gods, big gods, new gods… all the beings, seen and unseen, are forever lending an ear to what we have to say. We may have the words in our head, but it’s not until spoken out loud that they take on new life.
They find rhythm with the pulse of our tongue.
They’re tempered by the lay of the land.
They ask to be courted; for us to chew on their sweetness.
They find residence in our body as they permeate our surrounds.
Nature loves it when we speak our prayers out loud.
You can feel it in the heart.
I’m thinking about all of this within the context of the path of soul. There’s definitely a link here. But for most things, there most often is, depending on how we contextualize things.
For those that tuned into my latest episode on Birdsong, you’ll have heard me speak to a phrase that I’ve landed on recently…
”Explore the mystery. Awaken your potential.
Reclaim your power. Activate your medicine.”
Exploring the mystery might be obvious.
Particularly in the body of work I offer, it’s typically with the context of nature-based initiatory experiences and non-ordinary/higher states of consciousness.
When we deepen into that exploration, there’s certainly an opportunity there to awaken more of our potential. A greater potential to be someone more, or to do something more.
And when I’m talking about this idea of more-ness, what I’m actually talking about is getting in touch with the deepest essence of ourselves; what we’re capable of, and what it is that we’re here to do, which is tuning into, and enacting our unique individual soul paths.
The more of this potential that we awaken, and the more intimacy we develop with soul, it seems a natural progression for us to reclaim more of our power. And why is that? Well, because soul work is deep work; it strips us of the comfortable.
There’s a descent to the underworld that must be taken. And it’s through meeting these edges, waking the bone pile, and finding the healing and creative essence in these dark and challenging places, that we settle into more empowerment.
Our body takes on new form.
Our behaviours change.
There’s more courage in our hands; in our feet.
The language we speak carries a different texture.
There’s bark on our limbs.
Tufts of fox fur on our scalp.
Moss on our backbone.
A shimmer of wild wisdom in our eyes.
And the more of our potential we awaken; the more intimacy we have with soul; the more reclaim our power… well, the more we can activate our unique gifts and medicines that only we can enact and anchor into this world.
Listening to The Voice of Nature.
The wise one’s might say that we ought to be mindful of our approach, our intentions, our speech. For they can certainly take root and find wing beyond the mere human field of existence. All the gods are listening, after all.
And so it might be wise in return to listen to the voice of nature; to listen to what wants to be spoken through us.
And then we speak.
We let flow the poems that want to flow. We share the stories that ask to be shared. We sing song that wants to be sung. We enact the unique soul path and our original blueprint that is coaxing us forth, into the world.
There’s an opportunity for all of this, and more, at our gatherings:
The Pilgrimage: Shamanic Wilderness Expeditions.
A 4 day / 3 night journey into the heart of the mountains.
A convergence of nature awareness skills, shamanic practice and philosophy, spirituality, mysticism, ceremony, initiation, wilderness immersion and mountain trekking.
If you find resonance with all of these words, it’s worth looking into. And better yet, come and join the epic group of humans that have already been deepening into mountain song, ancient earth wisdom, nature-based initiation, and this rich journey of soul and spirit.
If you’re looking to activate something more within you, let me say this: being around activated people, activates. Energetic transmission.
Spend more time with more people that are already activated and well on the path.
It does us a world of good.
