Amarjah's Musing -Myth, Mysticism & Meaning
Pivot Point_
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At seventeen I thought I only had one decision to make in life - choose a college major and all the rest would fall into place. However, I have found that seventeen arrives several more times in life - a marriage, a divorce, stepkids, lovers, careers, jobs, passions. The pivot point of life's directions - the round station of the old train terminus in Savannah - the revolving door of the Trump Tower in NYC.
One of my spiritual teachers told me that the New Age had made it almost impossible to teach any real spiritual initiates. I heartily disagreed as it had opened the doors for so many into exploring the extraordinary. Wishful thinking perhaps - after a number of years teaching at a renown New Age Center I grew tired of teaching spiritual wannabes - those who thought sitting in a weekend class was going to enlighten them. My background was deeper, but not so many of the wannabes wanted to do the self work to transform themselves. There is no magic pill.
Finding A Teacher
My midlife crisis came early - a lover who was slowly drinking himself to death, a job that no longer provided any satisfaction, migraine headaches on a regular basis, and a job physical that revealed my lifestyle made me approximately 12 years older than my chronological age. Change - another turn in the spiral - another pivot point.
As I wrote in the Inspiration for Transformative Meditation, a medical crisis that opened the doors of perception lead me to make rapid changes. Within 3 months I had arranged for a job transfer knowing that I would quit within the year, looked at alternative lifestyles, and finally explored the paranormal that I had tried to bury for so long.
Fortunately, deep within the Bible Belt, there was a small group of spiritual seekers known as the Quest Society. I became public the first time by reading at their psychic fair. Featured on television, I wondered how that revelation would change my life, but to my surprise - it didn't.
Smokey III
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The Horse Farm
I fulfilled a dream by having my own horse farm in the rural farm lands of South Carolina- involving far more work than I ever imagined. Yet, for the first time I had time for pets - horses, barn cats, turtles, and a stray goat that arrived on my doorstep to peer in the window... and to that I added Smokey III. The responsibilities kept me busy from 5 am to midnight, but for a time it was a dream come true. I had finally found my place.
The Drum
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Smokey and I had just come in from a ride...still in my boots and smelling of horse when I heard a drum. The next house from mine was more than a mile away. I opened the sliding glass doors to the pasture, but I couldn't hear it outside. Puzzled, I looked at Smokey who had one ear cocked at something in the den. As we entered he whined as we both heard the drum beating loudly there. After a while, there was a song, barely audible.
I glanced to see if Smokey III had noticed. The black dog was staring intently at the fireplace where a distortion, sort of like the heat waves you see on the highway, was forming a shape. Not quite knowing what to do, I joined in the singing of the repetitive song I heard. As I finished, the drumming stopped, the song disappeared as did the figure the energy waves had made. I shrugged and went about my chores.
However, the appearance of this figure began a daily appearance. The dog and I would do a circle dance, sing whatever song was presented, and gradually just accept that there was an active ghost in my house. Then, a vision was given to me... a deerskin dress, a dance to be done under the moonlight in the pasture, and an honoring of my ancestors. (It was not until many years later that I uncovered a Cherokee g-g- grandmother.)
Ceremonial Initiation
Deerskin Dress
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I performed the ceremony as described - alone, dressed in a heavy deerskin dress I had made when gifted with my neighbor's deer skins. Though my voice is not strong, I sang the song the ghost had taught me. So, there in my back pasture in the moonlight with the Arabian and Thoroughbred looking on as my witnesses, I began the dance as I had seen it in my vision. The 1990's were full of wannabe's and this dance and ceremony either seemed to be too sacred to share with anyone or too silly for me to risk exposure. At least I was true to my self in having the courage to attempt it.
Transition
I waited expectantly for the ghost teacher to arrive the next day. He did, but without a drum or a song. He smiled at me...his face now familiar, but I sensed a shift in energy.
"I won't be seeing you again," he said softly.
"What do you mean?"
"You're going to get a teacher in the physical."
"What do you mean? I like you, " I protested. He smiled and his form started to disappear. "Wait! Wait! I don't even know your name."
"Black Elk," he replied and disappeared.
Black Elk's Great Circle
Every journey begins with a single step. Contact us today at amarjah@gmail.com.
Many circle the mountain examining the various paths without ever making the climb. We offer seminars, consultations, and support networks in the spiritual quest for awakening. We are not affiliated with organized religions as the truth is the same when viewed from the mountain summit regardless of the path to reach it.
Theevolution of consciousness has brought us here - to remind of us of who we are and our purpose here. We are seekers who embrace skepticism, acceptance and the strength in unity. We are greater than the sum of the parts in a greater spiritual work.
“What the teacher is, is more important than what he teaches.” Soren Kierkegaard
Namasté = the light of the divine within me honors the light of the divine within you.