woman on the edge of reality

“I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year ‘give me a light that I may tread softly into the unknown’.  And he replied.  ‘Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God.  That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way’.  So I went forth and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night.  And he led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East.”

These were the words written by Minnie Louise Haskins that were read by King George VI during his Christmas day broadcast in 1939, just at the start of WWII.

Over the last few days I’ve spent quite a bit of time sorting out and going through my ‘memory boxes’.  Memory boxes are where I store all sorts of things, such as special birthday cards, postcards and other memorabilia which keys me straight back into a particular moment in time with clarity and immediacy.

During my reminising I came across a card with these words on it – it was something I bought at a time of great need and it seemed important that I share it with you now.

While I was in town today I was reminded very sharply of how many synchronicities happen in our lives; you know those incidents that we would like to pass off as coincidence, but find hard to do when we examine them in more detail.

I was talking with an acquantance I know just a little and when I asked what she was going to do with her afternoon off, she began to tell me some of her life story.  She was going to meet her brother she said.  They had been separated as very young children when they were all put into care.  Although she had tried over the years to find him, her search had been frustrating and eventually she had given up, trusting that he would call her one day.

That day, was just four months ago and now they are making up for lost time and enjoying being re-united.  But that isn’t really a synchronicity is it?  Some of the synchronicities are:-

1. They both worked for the same company with just 18 months between their tenures
2. One of his best friends is also one of her friends too
3. He worked on the redevelopment of her place of work while she was working there

The fact that she lives in West Dorset and he lives in East Dorset makes it all the more difficult to see how just these three incidents could come about.  Isn’t life wonderful!

I have just spent the most fascinating day at the Mount Haemus Lectures with OBOD, which took place at the Medieval Hall in Salisbury’s Cathedral Close.  The whole day was a revelation and gave me the opportunity to dip my toe very gently into the world of the Druid’s.

A conversation with the friend I went with though, did convince me that this world isn’t for me, although I have been invited to a grove meeting.  I was informed that I’m too ‘urban’ for the mud and cold and let’s face it, my shoes wouldn’t take it.  When I mentioned my pink, rose covered wellies, the look I received showed me that they’d probably be even less welcome.

Anyway, of the four lectures that took place, two in particular grabbed my attention fully and completely.  The first was a discourse on Ethics in Celtic and European Mythology and the second was Professor Roland Rotherhams extremly amusing look at Working With Animals – in the sense of the totem.

It got me thinking that I had spent years studying philosophy at school and university and was still no closer to the question of how ethics change through the course of history.  The conclusion that I think Brendan reached was that the ethics of the celtic period may not be appropriate in today’s, but they were relevant in that time and place.  He likened them to virtues and I found myself wondering if the ‘constant virtues’ he talked about were also those that are highly valued today.

As for Roland … well what can I say?  After a trip through crocodilopolis – the ancient egyptian ‘chip shop’ the lecture descended rapidly into laughter.  He was one of the funniest speakers I’ve heard in a long time, but also one of the most sincere …. I’ll definitely be off to listen to him again.

I also picked up a few books and a CD – the most interesting book is called Shroom – A Clutural History of The Magic Mushroom by Andy Letcher ……. Hum …. should be interesting as it grabbed my attention because it reminded me of the Carlos Castenada work I did way back in the 1980′s.

A couple of years ago, my dream was to be able to have a job that allowed me to work between 10.00 and 2.00, with a long lunch break!  Well it’s not quite there, but almost as close as it could be.  I can work wherever I happen to be in the world just as long as I have access to the Internet to deal with emails etc…  I spend most mornings at home sorting out orders, replying to emails and admin tasks and then I have most afternoons free to do as I wish.

I’ve been thinking a lot about how all this came about and I realise that my dream was in fact a powerful message to the universe that this was how I wanted my life to be.  In fact I was indulging in a spot of ‘cosmic ordering’.  Have you come across it yet?  If you haven’t you could try a couple of books out about it – I can highly recommend it as it has obviously worked for me.

Linda