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| "old masks" (2020) |
“Light is the left hand of darkness
and darkness the right hand of light."
― Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness
It's almost the Summer Solstice, the time of Fullness and Bright Light. So a "Ritual of Endarkenment" seems a bit out of place.......yet this occurred to me as a good "prelude" to the Solstice. From the Darkness we can often find the means to become much "lighter" as we discard "old masks". Without Darkness there would be no generative Light. From "Endarkenment" can arise "Enlightenment".
So I remembered this Meditation I wrote, way back when.............
RITUAL OF ENDARKENMENT
Close your eyes, and see a cord
a shining umbilical cord at your naval
that goes down,
into the dreaming Earth.
Into the darkness, the silence, follow,
that luminous cord,
un-becoming,
un-knowing
As you descend into the warm darkness
remove your garments
remove, one by one
remove your masks.
One by one, take them off
feel the heavy weight of each as
you let it fall, as you descend.
Let each mask fall away, but
take a moment to see it before it falls
into the Earth, into the darkness.
Take off the mask of competence,
the mask of your accomplishments.
what does that mask look like?
Take off the child's mask, the little one
laughing with delight, the child crying helplessly in an empty room.
Take it off with tenderness.
The masks of relationship, the masks you wear with others,
the mask of the lover, the mate, the parent,
the mask of conflict, the mask of the warrior,
the mask of affiliation, of responsibility, of duty:
take each one off, hold it in your hand, let it go,
into the darkness, see them fall,
the question "who am I?"
falling like a feather with them.
And take off the mask of your age
the accumulated years that whisper
I'm just a kid, I'm middle aged, I'm old, I must, I can't,
I will I should it's too late, I can't.........
take them all off, let go, feel the weight leave you.
The masks of your parents that you also learned to wear,
their fears and dreams in the shape of your face,
remove them with respect and pity, and descend
to the last masks, the shadow masks
the masks you do not look at, but cling to,
see them in your hands - and let them go,
into the darkness, into the dreaming Earth.
Rest, and wait.
Ask for the dreams
the unborn ones
that wait to be born in you
empty and held in the womb of the Earth
invite them to come, in time to come,
the guidance and inspiration that will infuse your new year.
Make that prayer into the darkness,
feel it like a pulse among roots, that deep umbilical
holding you safe. Rest, and know you are loved,
held, a seed, a child, a hope, a potential.
Begin to ascend at last.
As you rise, see the masks you've discarded -
one by one, take them in your hands.
Perhaps some you no longer need;
some you will examine more closely in the future.
Perhaps some you will discard, and
some you will wear more lightly. Feel their weight.
And as you emerge from the earth
into the sunlit world, feel that unbroken cord, shining,
unseen, holding you to your origin.
And always, always generous.
(1998)
(1998)
