mermaidcamp
Keeping current in wellness, in and out of the water
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Shape Shirfting
January 24, 2013
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The archetype of shapeshifter is known as an element to build characters for plots in novels. It is also well known in mythology. Shape shifting involves skill navigating between levels of consciousness. It is related to the trickster Coyote in legend, but has less specific goals. In dreams this character can be a savvy guide. Flexibility is the theme and the great talent of the shapeshifter. In therapy or self realization the archetypes can be used to enlighten the eternal aspects of the human story. Another name for this character is spell caster.
My own direct experience with this energy came through a very funny Yaqui friend of mine in Mexico. First he effortlessly got me to wear a medicine bag made of deerskin. I am a very prissy vegetarian and asked him for one with no animal parts. He dangled it and told me it was my medicine but if I didn’t want it…I grabbed it and put it over my head faster than you could say Cachora is your shaman. It was, indeed, my medicine. A few months later he made me turn in my medicine. He freaked me out by attaching a buffalo tooth. When he gave it back with the tooth I was laughing so hard. I remember joking that next I would be wearing an entire coyote head around my neck. He announced that he would be able to be with me at night while I wore the tooth. I do still wear my medicine sometimes, although I have not seen Cachora in years. The medicine fell on the floor, breaking the tooth in two pieces, revealing the center of itself while I was at a hot spring on a personal vision quest. I thought about that buffalo. I thought it was significant, then promptly super glued it back together. My medicine still works and I still think it is funny. It reminds me to check all levels of consciousness before making moves.
Where is My Shadow?
January 22, 2013
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“You don’t just integrate your “shadow.” It’s not an aspect of personality but a mysterious element in the human condition.” – Thomas Moore’s tweet of the day today. @thomasmooreSoul is on twitter, like @Pontifex. They both know Latin, liturgy, and the Holy Ghost. Their twitter streams could not possibly be more different. Thomas Moore tweets a dab of darshan daily to his small following. Nobody tweets crass insulting things to him, like they do to the Pope. It is a quiet, one way stream, like the Tao itself..bringing us closer to the truth every day. The truth is always downhill, and flow always involves removal of obstructions. Today he is tweeting about the much misunderstood Jungian theory of the shadow. Shadow can very well be the prime obstruction to living a happy full life. So, where is this mighty shadow, anyhow?
The shadow is the part of your self, or your society, of which you are unaware. It is hidden by your extreme belief in what you are fed by your ego. The ego is the weakest link to reality, in a way, because it only wants to confirm and uphold status quo as it prefers it. Meditation, contemplation, or artistic endeavors bring perspective needed to see this shadow. It is the reason you are in whatever rut you occupy. The rut is like a bunker maintained by your self image. Like a city with big buildings, no shadow is cast down in the bunker, except maybe at noon for a while. In the “reality bunker” the ego rules and keeps other aspects in the belief system you know as your rut.
With Groundhog Day fast approaching, consider celebration this year by leaving your thought bunker to risk seeing your shadow. How might a gentle reader do such a thing? Silence is the threshold. Meditation is the key. Mandala is the map. Wisdom is the reward. Walking a labyrinth is a wonderful way to begin.
Feminine Archetypes
January 20, 2013
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Hekate at the Crossraods
Toni Wolfe, colleague and lover of Carl Jung, identified 4 feminine archetypes. These cardinal qualities divide feminine characters into power centers, or capabilities. Toni understood when she created this foursome as a guide that no individual is purely one archetype on the stage of life. These are ways of looking at personality and talent, not so different from fairy tales and mythological tales.
Life is circular and the core, or center of the circle, is essentially a seed from which the rest of the circle sprouts. Our DNA, birthplace and time, our circumstances at birth are at the center. We contain unique combinations of archetypal power and symbology, both in waking life and in dreams. We begin in the middle of a complex mandala, and work our way out to the edges of consciousness. Limitations are imposed for our education and edification. Dream images give us hints to our own potential as well as to danger. Fairy, Wise Woman, Lover and Queen existed in most cultures before Toni Wolfe mapped out her quadruple qualities. These can be divided, in turn, into variations on a theme.
All people have both male and female archetypes, anima and animus. These might be thought of as north and south, visible and invisible, cardinal points that must also be balanced in the fully realized being. No individual is completely masculine or feminine, good or evil, right or wrong. Tyrants represent an imbalance, a shadow or hidden quality of power, a failure to employ wisdom. Wisdom was historically embodied in the Titan goddess Hekate, guardian of the crossroads. She has three faces, looking in three directions. She carries, along with three torches, a key, a rope, and a knife. She meets you at the crossroads of life and has the power to both assist and punish humans. If she didn’t have three heads, a polecat and a pack of hounds she would resemble the Virgin of Guadalupe, and have similar intercessional powers. Her ancient symbol is a wheel with three parts.
Hekate’s Wheel
Mintha, Green Goddess
January 18, 2013
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Persephone stomps on Mintha
Mintha, Greek goddess of the mint plant is a fertile herbal mother. Stewing, growing, and drinking mint can cause euphoric uplift. Soothing, aiding digestion of food and intuition, mint tea opens the senses and the mind. Bathing or washing with mint stimulates the skin and the circulation. The high notes of these aromas evaporate quickly. The use of mint in aromatherapy is widespread and well accepted. Peppermint oil is used for everything from headache cure to memory tonic. In the middle east, especially Morocco, mint tea is the beverage of choice for all occasions.
Growing mint is easy. I grow several varieties, with the most dominant ones winning out and taking over the space. A source of moisture is all they need to spread like crazy underground. To harvest it, cut it and hang your bundles in a dry dark place until dry. I store mine in brown paper bags once dry because I have too much to use jars. I harvest mass amounts throughout the year. In the summer we drink it every day for the cooling qualities. Mints mix very well with other herbs and fruits to create flavor layers in tea.
Mintha, the water nymph of myth, had an affair with Haides, god of the underworld, pissing off Persephone, his wife. In an all too common scenario in Greek mythology, angry wife takes revenge on the nymph, in this case by by stomping on her. She turns into the mint plant so that every time Persephone steps on her the aroma of mint wafts all over the angry queen. So whether you want to uplift your spirits or annoy an angry queen, the goddess Mintha is the tool for the job.
Fortuna, Roman Goddess of Abundance
January 17, 2013
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The Romans had a pantheon similar to the Greeks. Fortuna represents wealth, commercial success, and abundance of all kinds. She is intimate with the infinite source of wealth, and acts as a conduit, bringing it to life on earth. Lakshmi is busy doing the same thing for the Hindu pantheon. In America, unfortunately, the Puritans have directly linked wealth to purity of behavior (as described by them). This narrow view of abundance is a vicious cycle of a bummer drag. They arrived in Plymouth Colony and were greeted by sophisticated and generous souls. Since the hospitable tribes did not read the Bible the Puritan fathers decided it would be fine to totally rip them off for everything they had. Things have gone downhill from that point.
As a priestess of Fortuna, you are required to make friends with money. She is the power behind all propitious events. It is possible to procure her guidance through meditation. You can ask questions with your dominant hand doing the writing, then pass the pen to Fortuna in your non dominant hand and let her answer. The handwriting may be very bad, but let it go. You are the only one who will read and interpret it. If you really wonder about your fate, your fortune, your lot in life, ask. Ask deeply, and you will find the answer. Oracles did some gas inhaling at you will not need in this exercise, but the concept is the same. Ask and you shall receive. Knock and the door will open. Same deal. Don’t allow some Puritan nerd from the past to rob you of your right to know. Be still, know. The truth will set you free….a whole lot freer than Salem during the witch trials, anyhow. Speak to Fortuna. She has something to tell you.
