I began to write two days ago of the struggle I have been experiencing in the simple act of getting up and going to work this wintry week, but I did not want to sound like a whiny, fussy fidget when I can think of others who have it so much worse than I do. But even in this imagining, that old question of “Why suffer?” arises, and I receive more answers in the way of spiritual direction.
At the start of the week, I had grabbed a bunch of CDs off the shelf with the intention of listening to them either to be inspired or to let go of them. The first one I put in on the drive to work was Caroline Myss’s Entering the Castle. Almost immediately I was reminded of why I consider Caroline Myss to be an intimate teacher for me, although I have never met her. The forcefulness of her teaching and the deep insight she holds into the mystical rungs on the ladder of ascension are the reasons why, and I am on my second round of this listening, deepening my practice in the Second Mansion. One phrase of her’s that resonates deeply within me right now, is “God is in the details,” from the Second Mansion, and has become this week’s mantra for my own spiritual soul practice.
So, yes, this past week took all of my stamina and such faith as I could muster simply to get up and go do what must be done. Maybe many of us are having similar moments with the event of Covid, economic struggles, and political upheaval. There is always some kind of struggle, some kind of something that people suffer, and our choice to be present to that suffering or to feel sorry for ourselves and feel victimized by what are simply facts of life.
In the Rune rows, these powers within life itself are pointed out in the second Aett, with Hagalaz (change), Nauthiz (need), and Isa (standstill), and yet the way out of the wintery periods are found in the change of the seasons (Jera), the Mystery of the Norns (Perthro), within the persevering efforts of our own making (Algiz), and finally overcoming with the Victory Rune, Sowelo.
Thus suffering consciously by remaining present to the struggle is always succeeded by some kind of transcendence in a change of our Being. It may not even be a noticeable change, but one of quiet simplicity that gifts us greater stamina and confidence when the next struggle arises. My personal struggle lies with the arthritic pain that comes with barometric changes and the need to go out into the cold and shovel. Like I said, others have greater struggles than mine, but we each have something in our individual lives to overcome that will make us stronger and better people from the doing of it.
Caroline Myss’s work remains power-filled and inspirational to my own efforts. Although she is writing from the Christian Mystic tradition, there is a Universal Mystical experience of the human soul in ascension. I am writing from my deepening acquaintanceship with the Wisdom teachings of my long ago Ancestors. My first book, Rune Play, was written with the intention of showing people how the Runes can become a pathway for their own ascension of Being if they care enough to take up the practice. Teachers are not always “just around the corner,” and a good book with suggested practices and levels of meditation can take us a ways down the trail. The Kindle edition of Rune Play can be purchased here.
In the Northern traditions, Yggdrasil, the Tree of the Nine Worlds, holds the keys to this Universal pathway toward ascension of Being. More tomorrow…
