The Divine Marriage on Beltane

"One dark night,
fired with love's urgent longings
- ah, the sheer grace! -
I went out unseen,my house being now all stilled.
In darkness,and secure,
by the ladder,disguised,
- ah, the sheer grace! - 
in darkness and concealment,
my house being now all stilled.
 

On that glad night,
in secret,for no one saw me,
 nor did I look at anything,
with no other light or guide
 than the one that burned in my heart. 

This guided me
 more surely than the light of the noon
 to where he was awaiting me
- him I knew so well - 
there in a place where no one appeared.
 

O guiding night! 
O night more lovely than the dawn!


When the breeze blew from the turret,
as I parted his hair,
it wounded my neck
 with its gentle hand,
suspending all my senses.I abandoned and forgot myself,
laying my face on my Beloved; 
all things ceased; I went out from myself  leaving my cares
 forgotten among the lilies."

~St. John of the Cross~

 It's bound to happen that we will all be disappointed in love. We want everything from our lovers; to listen to our darkest secrets, to comfort us when we're hurt, to treat us like a god or goddess and on and on. And there's nothing wrong with wanting that quality of love, the problem is, that our human partners can't always love us the way we want and when we want it. I know for myself that I have made assumptions about love that have cost me dearly. Through therapy, dream-work, spiritual practice, studies of world mythologies and having romantic relationships I finally met my true soul-mate. He is the divine lover within myself. 

Some may consider me strange, narcissistic, vain or delusional. I don't follow any organized religion, consider myself "born again" or believe in a new-age philosophy. The relationship with the inner lover has been written about, sung about, and portrayed through every medium you can think of for centuries. Our romantic relationships on the external realm are shaped by our relationships on the inner realm. Each of us must find our own divine lover in our own individual way, but we can learn from others how they have found soulful love.

 Today is Beltane, and many of you either celebrate it or have learned what Beltane represents.  My eWitch sisters have written some wonderful posts about Beltane. Today the joining of the May Queen and the Green Man are being re-enacted as they have from earlier times. The song I've quoted above called "The Dark Night of the Soul" was written by St. John of the Cross expressing "divine union of the love from God." When I first heard this song performed by Loreena McKennitt I though it was the most beautiful and perfect song for any type of love. You don't have to be a Christian or worship  a similar path to know this divine love St. John sings of. It's the acceptance and willingness to surrender yourself to God however you know her/him that makes the difference. 

 In alchemy the masculine principle; the sun king marries the feminine principle; the moon queen in a sacred marriage for wholeness and harmony. In psychological terms; a man's inner feminine queen is known as an "Anima" and for a woman her inner king is known as the "Animus." Anima and Animus stem from the word; "animate", to bring alive with spirit and soul.  King Arthur and Guinevere, Isis and Osiris, Psyche and Eros, Father Sky and Earth Mother, the Yin/Yang are all representations of the God and Goddess uniting for wholeness in a sacred marriage.

So while I may not be jumping over a Beltane fire with a lover today, I will let myself be loved and honored as every May Queen deserves from my divine soul-mate. How are you going to celebrate Beltane?

Please check out the video of Loreena McKennitt singing "The Dark Night of the Soul."

As Above, So Below...

I have trouble with the whole idea of "Earth Day" which seems to only honor the earth one day or week of the year. I feel the same way about Valentine's Day and how wrapped up our culture gets lost in romantic love and expressions as opposed to loving deeply each day. I'm not saying that everyone only recognizes and appreciates the earth on a certain day. I think the intention of Earth Day is wonderful, it's just that most people either feel too overwhelmed, confused, or hopeless to know where to start to help our earth and how to make it last.

The phrase, "As Above so below, As within so without," comes to mind when I think about where we are as a culture and how that impacts the earth. The expression of "As above, so below..." originated in ancient Egypt and became a major principle for alchemists and magicians. Today, many of us who believe or practice magic still believe in that truth. I don't interpret that belief to mean we're responsible for everything we experience because we created the thoughts or fears inside us first. It's ignorant and cruel to use that way of thinking when people experience tragedy. How I interpret the alchemists philosophy is that what we are experiencing internally influences how we view the external. What does this say for us then?

Most of us don't know how to properly nurture, protect, or love ourselves. So how can anyone expect then that we know how to heal and take care of the earth ? We all could start with a little more compassion for ourselves and others. With compassion we can learn greater acceptance, kindness and wisdom. There's a difference between being selfish in an unhealthy way as opposed to having self-love in beneficial ways. Most of the time we're not conscious of the millions of internal voices that constantly berate, criticize or make ourselves feel horrible. If we could slow down and hear what we're saying to ourselves, we'd be appalled. We don't talk to the people we love this way, so why do we treat ourselves so horribly?

One of the easiest ways to love ourselves more is to connect with nature because nature gives so much back to us. I'm not talking only about going outside, for walks, hikes, camping etc...Each moment of the day we're interacting with all the elements of Earth. For example, we breathe in oxygen, we drink water, we eat the food that came from the earth, we take medicine and vitamins that are all derivatives of what is found on the earth and on and on. We just forget how much we rely on nature and she on us. I believe then if we really want to make a difference to help the earth, we start small. Notice the next time you drink water how it tastes and imagine where did it originate from. When you eat, think of how it started in the earth and how the wind, rain, and the sun shaped it. These are just tiny examples of how much we depend on and the earth. I don't want to sound like those angry and pessimistic people who preach about how much we've destroyed the earth and we're all heading for a cataclysmic end if we don't do this or that.

We humans have the capability to change for the greater good as well as we have the power to destroy. We've just forgotten who we really are and what gifts we can bring to the world. Meditate upon your passions and what brings you the greatest joy in life that doesn't depend on how much it costs or looks. That's where you start to focus on change, real change for the earth. Help the earth because you want to and not because it's the "right thing to do" or if you don't do anything you'll feel guilty. Those lessons never helped us as children in any valuable way. It's not going to start now that we're adults. Children are great teachers in the way that they receive so much from nature in the simplest of ways. To have that joy, enthusiasm and appreciation for all the gifts that the earth gives us can help us to heal old wounds. We can then help to restore and renew the earth where she needs it most.

I'll end this post with one of my favorite poems; "Wild Geese" by Mary Oliver


You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.

Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.

Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting--
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.