Avalon

In the Summer country of western England, the Glastonbury Tor rises from the heather green quilt of the plain. An ancient and magnetic place, centuries have carved away the clay and limestone layers of the Tor, but not the sandstone at the top. Glastonbury is said to be the location of Avalon, the legendary lake and island country from which Arthur received his sword Excalibur and to which he was brought after his mortal wounding, where the once and future king heals and waits. Avalon is a land of apples. Indeed, the trees and orchards here draw more than water into their fruit. Two sacred springs - one red, one white - emanate from the base of the Tor. The water from these springs carries the song of the land out of the earth, rich in mineral, and charged with the clarity and potency of centuries of reverence. The red spring is fed from the Chalice Well, so named as it is said to be where Joseph of Arimathea brought and buried the cup from which Jesus drank at the Last Supper.

On November 2nd, my partner, Adria, and I met at the Chalice Well to bless the rings we would offer each other in the ceremony of our union. From the Well we walked to the Red Spring, to the White Spring, and then to the Tor. One of our guides, aptly named Tor, led us through the paired oaks at the base of the hill and then to the entrance of the arcane labyrinth that wreaths the Tor. “This is a place of powerful magic,” he said, “and in choosing this place you make your intention and commitment known to the many realms.” We entered, and began to ascend. As we walked each other toward the top, the sky began to change. Early November sunshine gave way to the elemental grey of the isle. At the top of the Tor stands the remnant of the second church of St. Michael, a bell tower built of sandstone in the 14th century. It was within the walls of the this tower that we held our ceremony.

Our other guide, Kristen, priestess and student of the stars, began with an acknowledgement of our journey and the influence of the heavens. She fastened our hands with a ribbon, which had held three circled and interlinked willow branches, gifted by the Tor on the way up. As the wind blew through and around us, we exchanged our vows and our rings. With hands fastened, we drank the cider of Avalonian apples from a crystal chalice. Our guide Tor followed with the slicing of an apple, longitudinally to reveal not only the heart-shape the core makes in cross-section, but the representation of the dagger (stem) and the chalice (fruit). He sliced the apple again, transversely, revealing the arrangement of the seeds as a five-pointed star. We shared the apple, and offered it to the four directions. Into his conch shell he blew a sound into the wind pronouncing and proclaiming our marriage across the land.

A light rain began to fall as we descended back down the Tor. Through the labyrinth again, taking care to exit with as much intention as we entered. At the sentinel oaks at the base of the hill, we took time to reflect before stepping through the gate. Once again in the mortal world, we continue to walk each other onward home.

In With the New

I have spent much of the past two months preparing the space for my new office home. Toward the end of last year, I learned that I would have to relocate owing to the irresistible drive of Portland landlords to create more residential space for the growing city. I didn't want to move, but as Mick Jagger has eloquently reminded us - you can't always get what you want. 

I have observed that when one door closes, another opens. Sometimes it might be a window, or a crawl space, or an airplane hangar, but in any event, there is always a Way for movement to translate forward. All paths lead exactly here, and now, and the choice we have - especially during the time of year when Resolutions are in fashion - is how to proceed. The trials and tribulations, the stresses and strains, the joys and ecstasy of living in this modern and irrational world all afford us a constant opportunity to create an experience. For me, I want to and will create a space in which voices are heard, healing is deep, and the Hygge is strong. 

As we step into this New Year, what if the resolute question could be reframed to something utterly simple, and yet truly profound: what kind of experience you are allowing yourself to create in this life?

A Conscious Imperative

"Collective human consciousness and life on our planet are intrinsically connected...as the old consciousness dissolves, there are bound to be synchronistic geographic and climatic natural upheavals in many parts of the planet, some of which we are witnessing now." --Eckhart Tolle
 

It has been snowing ash in Portland. For the past few days, stepping outside to afternoon temperatures near 100 degrees, into a haze thick and grey has been akin to stepping into a sauna that is burning campfire wood with the flue closed. Instead of the cloudless blue of summer, or the cool grey overcast of the rest of the year, the sky has taken on a white density. Folks walk around with bandannas and face masks, there are minimal bikers on the road, and few people are outside. It feels more like fallout than school season. As the West burns, the Gulf of Mexico floods, and the eastern seaboard braces for increasingly strong hurricanes. 

We are now in the Anthropocene, the time when humans are aware of and can objectively measure the extent to which their activities have an impact on the planet. The brilliant human intelligence that has led to the technology and development of modernity has also served to amplify the destructive capability that unconsciousness has on life. On an individual level, allowing the ego to drive thought and action leads to fear, greed, and the desire for power. The ego is fueled by attachment to form - because it cannot feel, it must have. At the root of this is the false premise that humans are somehow separate from or even superior to Nature. Humans, like all of the other life on this planet are of Nature. Viewed from this perspective, the health and sanity of our individual thoughts and actions contributes to the health and sanity of our collective thoughts and actions. 

The intrinsic connection Mr. Tolle refers to is how the state of collective human consciousness is being reflected in the material world it inhabits. As the quantitative impact of humanity continues to increase, it is more important than ever to look at the quality of this impact. What are our thoughts and actions doing to ourselves, each other, and the environment?

One of my yoga teachers recently shared that the current darkness and perceived chaos happening in the world is not necessarily the darkness of the tomb; that instead it could be the darkness of the womb. An opportunity - and at this stage an imperative -  for humanity to birth itself out of the darkness it has created from living unconsciously.