Happy Winter Solstice (Dec.20-23)

The High Priestess says:

"This is the night of the solstice, the longest night of the year. Now darkness triumphs; and yet, gives way and changes into light. The breath of nature is suspended: all waits while within the Cauldron, the Dark King is transformed into the Infant Light. We watch for the coming of dawn, when the Great Mother again gives birth to the Divine Child Sun, who is bringer of hope and the promise of summer. This is the stillness behind motion, when time itself stops; the center is also the circumference of all. We are awake in the night. We turn the Wheel to bring the light. We call the sun from the womb of night. Blessed Be!"

- Quote from "The Spiral Dance" by Starhawk

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YOU Are A Player in the Living Grail Myth

Through Ariel Spilsbury

A Turn of the Wheel Message 

Wintrer Solstice

Although the Grail myth emerged in the 12th century, it was as if it were written for the times we live in now, to illuminate a dark passage through the Wasteland, as it was called in the myth which is presently called the global environmental crisis. Against all odds and appearances, as we recognize as a species that we are not only Players in this Grail myth, but actually are creating and re-scripting it as a living myth, the new myth of the Greening of Gaia, we wrest our power back from feelings of helplessness and despair at the destruction we witness around us. In fact, we each have lead roles in the creation of this new living myth. Ask yourself in this moment, (and perhaps take time to meditate on this) "WHAT IS MY ROLE in the creation of this living myth? And how can I bring more of my powerful, mythic presence to playing this role?" One way is to ask a simple but pivotal question of the suffering Grail King that the player in the Grail myth Parsival failed to ask. "King, what ails thee?" It is because the King is wounded that Gaia suffers and thus the feminine is ailing. We must ask of the masculine aspect of ourselves that is suffering, what can be done to alleviate that suffering? Through this simple compassionate act, we begin to heal the male wound and allow his natural beneficent generosity to activate the Grail to respond as it is innately intended, as the munificent outpicturing of Love as the Horn of Plenty, Love as the Great Awakener, Love as the flourishing, restored Earth.

 

To make the Grail myth into a living myth we would be served to first recognize that the Grail is not an object, rather a symbol for the experience of enlightened consciousness. Then the "quest" for the Grail can be seen in a greatly expanded light! The Grail can also be seen as a symbol of a neutral third force between any dualistic pair of opposites...the Grail being the reconciling third force and thus a potent symbol for Non-dual awareness, Unity Consciousness!

 

Myth can be looked at as something other than a story from the past. Living myth, alive as a present moment unfoldment, implies the embodiment of our most expanded, Archetypal selves. This myth recognizes that we are the Players and the Played in a much greater Divine Game, and so we choose to be vigilant for clues being offered to play that mythic Greater Game with joy and daring, in a life that becomes filled with breathtaking and inexplicable meaning! As Martin Shaw so eloquently speaks about living myth, "Reconsecrating our place in the true holiness of existence is no indulgence, no poetic whimsy, but the only card worth playing in an increasingly hostile game on Earth."

The path of the living myth of the Grail is the path of reclaiming our true identity as radiant love. You, the heroes and heroines of this living myth are discovering on the journey that the Grail can only be attained, not by striving and seeking, but rather by choosing love, healing love, stripped of all egoic desire, discovering a love that burns as a fire that has become a radiant blessing to all in its sphere, like the light of the sun and moon. In the process of offering this radiant blessing, we naturally begin to embody and live the Knights' code: "In service, we set ourselves free!"

The Grail is always activated and pouring forth it's blessings, so it is ours to discover what may appear to block our access to the innate gifts of living as the Grail of Unity Consciousness. The answer is miraculously simple. As we choose to LIVE in open hearted, unconditional Love, our DNA begins to transform from a tightly wound spiral to a coherent light ladder that can be dimensionally ascended and descended. (Please note that this is not New Age whoo whoo. Check this research out on Heartmath) The visionary art work of William Blake called "Jacob's Ladder" depicts this journey of embodiment. 

In the single, daily, moment by moment choice to live in Divine Love, "We move into a state of coherent consciousness which is the key to communication between dimensions and across scales. An open heart is the doorway to the higher coherence and ratio necessary to send energy up or down the harmonic series from the higher organizational dimensions to the DNA".*(Thank you Dan Winters) And thus the transformation of our DNA happens through exposure to a greater quanta of Divine Light frequency, entering our nervous system to activate what the Maya call "the Love Song in the Blood," Rosa Mystica, that through this expanded vibration flowing in our blood, we are transmuted in Grace, into the ecstatic frequency of Unity Consciousness. And the good news is, we sustain this frequency by engaging with ecstatic process of all kinds, activating and sustaining our own body/Grail as a vessel, light repository in which the Divine can then dance us, freely, ecstatically in daily life! Transmutation through ecstasy! You might want to notice what activates the blue fire of ecstatic process in you. That might be dancing, love making, singing, cooking, creative pursuits, walking, listening to music, whatever makes you feel tingly and alive with joy and delight! When engaged with those ecstatic processes, remember to bring full consciousness to the potential for transmutation held within them and their innate intention to clear your neural circuitry and body/psyche as an empty, clear vessel, to activate YOUR BODY AS THE GRAIL!

Will you step in as a Player in the living Grail myth? To do so simply requires you to continually choose to live in unconditional love, and to stay awake: listening, feeling, sensing the Divine impulses and clues that are constantly guiding us to play our mythic part, like single brush strokes completing a masterful, finished painting, that no single Player could have possibly imagined alone. Herman Hesse called this living myth, The Glass Bead Game: the game of the Gods, and the journey to playing it begins with the recognition that such a stunningly awakening and mind-blowing possibility actually exists. Consider recognizing that and saying YES to the fact that there is a much bigger game than your ego wants to admit is possible! The rest is the unfolding mystery of a life lived in awe and gratitude for the Grail of Unity consciousness pouring forth from the Horn of Plenty, all that is needed for your life's journey to be magically memorable, utterly awe inspiring, and for your heart's desires to be fulfilled beyond any measure. All that's required for that is for you to commit to stepping onto the mythic path as a Player in a Living myth.        

Grail blessings for your Winter Solstice,

Sanctuary of the Open Heart