Entering the Wheel
by Ananaia O'Leary
As human beings living on planet Earth, we are called to dance with the rhythms of Sun
& Season. The cycles of Beginning, Growth, Release repeat again ... and again ... and
again in macrocosm & microcosm within and around us. We can either make a conscious
choice to join this dance ~ moving in time to the Earth's pulse, or we can set ourselves
swimming against the currents of Creation ~ in a vain attempt to force our way to harmony.
We are called to a partnership with Nature, not dominion over it. At the Heart of
Nature is the in-born understanding of Balance ~ in the Soul of Humanity is the in-born
impulse to Evolution & the expression of Free Will. How can we harmonize these 2
distinct drives? How can we build a partnership that unites Free Will &
Evolution to Natural Balance?
We begin by listening ...
by tuning in ... by making a conscious choice, a conscious commitment to seek Balance
within our own Being and to align ourselves with the rhythm of Mother Earth.
Look to the turning of the Seasons as a template ... within this mandala-in-motion is the
key to the foundational rhythm of existence on this planet. By observing the cycle of the
Wheel of the Year, we can begin to understand ...
In the rhythm of Earth, each End leads to a new Beginning, and in the crystalline pause
between the exhalation & the inhalation is infinite possibility. In many indigenous
traditions the completion of the harvest marked the ending of the year. In Old Europe the
final harvest was celebrated on October 31st. (This holiday survives in our culture,
without its sacred context, as Halloween.)
This is the moment when the Old Year is dying and the New Year has not yet begun ~
the "pause between" when the limitations of mind & habit are unbound ...
when we can pierce the veils of illusion which separates us from All That Is.
Here we enter the Wheel
of the Year ... here we step into the living mandala of rhythm and cycle. As you approach
this sacred time, observe the ebb & flow of your breath ... tuning to that moment of
stillness at the end of exhalation.
Meditate upon that moment. Feel that moment in the cells of your body.
Mind-merge with that moment. Take a walk on a tree-lined street or deep in the
woods, and listen for that moment in the rustle of a falling leaf. Look skyward, and
see that moment in the wheeling wings of a southbound flock. Feel the Mother's exhalation
... Her cycle ending ... the Earth moving toward stillness. Breathe deeply ...
exhale ... and pause .......... you have begun the Dance.
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