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mermaidcamp

Keeping current in wellness, in and out of the water

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Archetypes

July 17, 2012

The Power of Myth

I have begun an in-depth study of archetypes with Caroline Myss, a favorite author. She has recorded the lessons and homework for an on line course entitled Sacred Contracts, based on her popular book of the same name. As a home student I have already done a few things out of order, which seems to go along with my choice of the rebel in my core archetype group. I am a teacher, another one of my core archetypes, but this is balanced by the rebel not exactly following any orders ever.  It is fascinating and will eventually make me follow all the sequences in order because I really do want to learn to teach this subject.

The process I am learning is based in part on the kind of Jungian analysis that takes years with a therapist to achieve  big expensive revelations. The archetypes used by Jung, and also made popular by Joseph Campbell, Bill Moyers, and PBS, are similar to the gods in any pantheon. They are primal forces, and active participants in the journey of the soul.  When I was about 40 a friend gave me a book about analysis and archetypes and proclaimed that I am definitely Aphrodite.  With this intro, I read the book and agreed with my friend.  I don’t remember much about the book, but am sure I was not enough involved with the depth of the subject at that time to be able correlate what I read with my life experience.  I just liked the idea that my friend saw me as Aphrodite.

Now as I honestly remember and become familiar with these players on the karmic stage I am struck with how powerful they can be.  I am in the very beginning of an understanding that is changing the way I perceive time, space, and matter.  I feel that I am expanding my way of looking at phenomena.  Usually one needs to look back over time to notice profound change.  This one I am  doing on purpose.  Since the purpose is to discover the purpose of my life, I thought it best to do it on purpose.  I have done similar studies and reading before so I feel appropriately warmed up to the task.  I love being a student, and this subject matter suits me perfectly.

Herbal Bath

July 16, 2012

If your schedule for stress reduction activities will not permit a voyage to a pampering destination, and your budget is one of the reasons you stress, take matters into your own hands. If you own a bathtub you can create a ritual to soothe and treat your mood. Water is the emotional element, and soaking in scented water changes the way you feel quickly. Instead of leaving home to find relaxation, make an herbal bath appointment with yourself.

I have enjoyed studying aromatherapy and using essential oils for years. I even have my own copper still to distill plants, although I have not done that recently. The efficacy of botanical medicine is central to my own self care regime.  Herbal bathing can be meditative, medicinal, or just pleasurable.  If you have the good fortune to harvest herbs from your own or native aromatic plants, all the better. A time observing the beauty and grace of the plant combined with a formal or informal request for healing from the plant creates the setting for ritual.  Roses make a beautiful addition to any bath combo.  This practice does not have to be elaborate, but setting time and attention aside for this can have more positive healing results that you might imagine.

For stimulation you may try mint, rosemary and lemon verbena in combination. A restful bath might have chamomile or melissa.  Your personal preference is all that really matters when you decide to use herbs in your bath. A few drops of essential oil can be dropped into a bath tub, but I like to use sachets of herbs ( fresh or dried) I mix for the occasion.  Using a piece of fabric such as tule in about a 12 inch circle or square, pile the herbs in the center.  Fold the edges together and tie with a ribbon or string. Place the sachet in the tub with all hot water for about 20 minutes to brew before you take your bath.  When you enter the tub adjust the temperature to your liking, keeping the sachet in the tub with you. Disconnect from all your outside responsibilities.  Take 20 minutes completely as a gift to your body.  Soak in fresh energetic scents from the sachet while letting go of everything outside the tub. Most importantly decide what qualities or stress producers you want to cleanse from your life.  Start with 20 minutes of freedom. Find other simple ways to incorporate physical pleasure and mental relaxation into your everyday life. It is worth the effort.

Your God Particle

July 12, 2012

“Everything is determined, the beginning as well as the end, by forces over which we have no control. It is determined for the insect as well as for the star. Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible player.” -Albert Einstein

As you dance do you hear your own tune?   Entheos, or god within, as conceptualized by the ancient Greeks, is a divine power hidden from a person’s nature that allows or motivates that person to do outstanding deeds. Enthusiasm is derived from this Greek word, indicating a divine origin. The sacred eternal artist in you responds to certain internal ideas or feelings that trigger creativity. The art you create can be as mundane as a sandwich for lunch and as grand as a mosaic all over your back porch. It will be years before the theoretical physicists can interpret the findings made about the God particle. Even then, if we are not fluent in the jargon the findings may mean nothing to us.

What will you do today that will outlast you?  What kind of dance would you be doing if you tuned in more to the music?  Do you believe that your own personal creativity is a divine gift in which you must have a certain kind of faith? Do you look for mystery or avoid it?

Mythology

June 13, 2012 — 2 Comments

Each of us is operating inside of a myth.  We hold beliefs that are common to our culture, our friends, and our family.  Some people use icons, art , music, and movement to bring the beliefs into physical existence.  I was first given instruction in Tibetan Buddhist mythology when The Dalai Lama came to Tucson in 1993 to teach patience.  The group of us who would be in a retreat with his holiness were offered a year long training and initiation to the ideas and methods he uses.  This was infinitely helpful, since the Tibetan practices are complicated and follow ancient traditions.  By studying each month and going on retreat once with our teacher, a monk who was also a law professor, we had a very good head start when the time finally came to study with him.

We gathered in a hotel conference room to hear teachings, meditate, and exchange questions and answers with his holiness.  He empowered us all  to Green Tara, emphasizing to us that she was known for her swift action.  We were to visualize her in great detail, having a postcard sized image to follow in our packets.  The really difficult instruction was that the eyes were to be slightly open, gaze fuzzy and unfocused.  I had not done such a visualization that required precision like that before, and found it to be challenging.  Meeting her as I did for the first time when I was 42, I was not very accomplished as a Green Tara visualizer.  The yoga I had done had always involved holding asana poses so long and so precisely that the mind and body required full attention to the task at hand, and therefore rose above distractions.  Sitting still in a room full of people in folding chairs picturing an incarnation of the mother of all Buddhas was a new experience.  I have since had the very good fortune to study with his holiness twice more, once in Zurich in 2005, and again in Tucson a few months later in 2005.  Each time, although he covers the same texts, Shantideva’s Bodhisattva Way of Life, I deepen my understanding and ability to practice.