Elemental Balancing: AIR: The Rise of the Guardians

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Merry Houston
5 years ago
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1 Elemental Balancing: AIR: The Rise of the Guardians And this, our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything. (William Shakespeare) In our last session we addressed the why s of the creation of our spiritual landscape, and I suggested several reasons why they are an important part of Elemental Balancing. As a reminder: We explore energy and change and our ability to impact that. We develop a deeper relationship to the physical world around us by relating to its energetic reflection. We come to understand the power we have to create and declare what shall be. We hone our personal prowess. We play experiencing the joy of complete abandon and freedom. And in this session we add: We welcome the Guardians of the Four Quarters. Making Belief The Home of our Guardians Our landscapes are the place we imagine our Guardians into being, or the place where they rise up to greet us. It is different for each of us. My experience was that there were a couple of Guardians that I knew from the start what I wanted them to be, and indeed when they presented their selves to me they were as I envisioned them. But there were a couple of Guardians that I did not know what I wanted them to be, and in my landscape they made their selves known to me. What might this be like for you? Have you had a sense when you are in your landscape of being protected or watched over? Of there being another presence or other presences? That is often something that nibbles at the edges of our landscapes before we meet our Guardians there. As you come to know your landscape well you will ever more come to appreciate the Elements in the way they live within it, their natural and energetic powers and personalities that is why we have touched on all of these in the exercises up until now and, as importantly, you will have the opportunity to explore the spiritual inspiration each holds for you. You will come to understand how they transform the world at so many levels. Elemental energy in the landscape that you have created

2 is the spiritual summary of your relationship with the Elements. And most specifically, the aspect of the Elements that you see as wise, protective, allies. Wisdom and time are an important part of your relationship with the Guardian aspect of the Elements. The sense that they know things that you want or need to know, and that you can learn from them and partner with them. You will be meeting your personal Guardians for each of the Elements as we go along. And if you already have your personal Guardians, if you have had some training to this point or have taken this on, use this as an opportunity to get to know them better and to let them get to know you better. Every time I work with someone to mentor them in the process of meeting their Elemental Guardians my bonds with my Guardians deepen and take on greater value. A beautiful and moving part of the initiation in a Wiccan rite is the offering of the Initiate to the Guardians of the Four Quarters. The intent is that the Guardians of each of the Quarters will then know that Initiate from that moment on. That is what you are doing as you go through these exercises. You are deciding what the wisdom of the Elements inspires in you, and you are making yourself known to it. Lack of Information on a Contemporary View of the Guardians We took time as we began the sessions on Elemental Balancing to think of the Elements and the Elementals in a contemporary sense, inspired by their historic representation, but understanding that beyond that they are what they come to mean to us in the here and now. I think we grasp the concept of the Elements and Elementals fairly quickly in a contemporary perspective they are the physical Elements and the energy we associate with them. But I do not think the Guardians are as well represented and discussed in neo-pagan literature. When I have spoken with people who study with non-traditional Wiccan groups or who study as solitaries, they often do not even address the concept of the Guardian. Relationship to the Elements begins and ends with the concept of the Elements and Elemental energy. Which is, of course, powerful as just that? For some of us, that will be all it will ever be, because it is all we need it to be. So why the focus on Elemental Guardians along the Greystone Path? Some might think this is an old-fashioned relationship this relationship with the Guardians. I propose it can be a powerful aspect of contemporary practice, but as with all aspects of what we do it must have meaning in order for it to be complementary to what we do and why we do it. For some of us, our relationship with the Guardians will never be specific as to entity or specific being; it is simply what we honor as the wisdom of each Element. A feeling or an instinct that we feel in relation to each of them. But for others the concept of the Guardian deepens into a distinct relationship where we honor in specific form what we relate to as the wisdom of the Elements. As I have mentioned in other sessions, even when two see it different, there is still an essence, a feeling and an energy that we understand together.

3 Guardians tend to be noted in passing in neo-pagan literature. I have some personal thoughts why that might be. In traditional Wicca the working of magic is aligned with our Guardians. Our relationship with them is to partner with the Element they represent, deciding when we do our magic and our workings what Element we want to be aligned with. And we are then specifically in alignment with that Guardian, who we believe will provide us with inspiration, knowledge and guidance. The relationship is personal, and varies from person to person. So the neo-pagan author is faced with how to present them, how to capture who/what they are when there is no set definition or experience of coming to know them and being with them. When we did our sessions capturing what our sense of the whatever-is-greater or the Fifth Element might be, we were touching on something deeply spiritual. Remember how challenging it was? Even if it was not specifically spiritual, it was still specifically mysterious and unknowable. Specifically mysterious? There s an interesting Simultaneous Holding for us, isn t it? We noted then that the concepts of the Divine and of Mystery are often mentioned in passing, or not at all, in our readings and studies. While these aspects of who we are as spiritual and energetic beings are difficult to capture in words, without coming to our personal view of them we might feel alone, if not lonely, on the spiritual and energetic level. We will be limited if we lack deep connection with the energies we choose to align with. We will have the sense that we accomplish great things in alignment with aspects of the wider energy available to us, but we may feel frustrated by lack of specifics on how we might do that. Consider our exercises regarding what has moved and inspired us in life (we are the sum of our parts) and the times we aligned with others to accomplish things which truly mattered to us and which could not be done solo (we are greater by our alignment with others). This is the area of aligning with and being greater for our expanding beyond ourselves which in part defines our relationship with the Elemental Guardians. I bemoan the fact they are often missing from neo-pagan writing, but I understand it. They tend to come across as kind of an Elemental guardian angel. Some books do let us know that early forms of Wicca believed that the Guardians existed in actuality in the long distant past. That they were a race of greater wisdom than we who were aligned with the God and Goddess and represented them. An in-between relationship with the God and the Goddess. In a sense this is understandable, because if we see the gods as Mystery and a little bit, if not immensely, difficult to know in the true sense we can use our knowledge of the Elements to relate to them. We know the Elements in our physical world and at the energetic level. We can then explore what is between the two between the physical and the Mystery - between the tangible and the intangible. This is the place the Guardians exist. It is where they fulfill their purpose. My first priest and priestess taught that the Guardians had existed in reality at some point. As a race of giants on the earth who became in their enlightenment eternal spiritual entities not of this world. With all due respect for my teachers, I could not go there. It felt a bit Atlantean to me kind of crop circle, Bermuda Triangle, aliens-builtthe-pyramids. But I listened to them with respect. I use this example for Seekers, as we do want to listen to everything shared with us, but we also then determine what of it

4 feels like personal truth to us. I came to my own relationship with the Guardians. I knew for sure they existed; I met each one. But I did not have the same sense of their history as my priest and priestess did. You will see different opinions in your research and study about where they came from, who they are, if they have always been here and what is their purpose. As well, you will find that they are not mentioned at all. Endlessly the Seeker chants, I will decide what it is for me. Whether your Guardians present their selves as aspects of your wiser self, as your deeper and instinctual knowing of each of the Elements, as deities, as spirits of some kind, as entities of some kind or in some other form is part of the aspect of Air that controls them. They rise up from the landscape you have created, as they truly rise up from within you. Guardians from the Traditional Wiccan Perspective While I have already proposed that they will become whatever you personally need of them, I would like to share what they are to someone who has studied them from a traditional Wiccan perspective. Because that is how they are for me, I am sure you will understand my need to share them from my perspective. And as our Season of the Seeker program is the prerequisite for those of you who will go on to the Season of the Dedicant Wiccan-specific series, I felt it important to include that perspective here. But don t worry if you are exploring a different path; I hope to make it clear what they might be for those who are not considering them within the traditional Wiccan context. The following paragraphs capture who they are within the Wiccan spiritual view. Guardians as traditional Wiccans perceive them represent the essence of the Element that is self-aware. When we work with the power of any Element we align ourselves with the Guardian of that Element who will serve as our protector. They are the sentient aspect of their Element. They know they exist, and they know their selves in relationship to the other Elements. Generally, they are seen as male. That is because they are seen as in partnership with the Goddess and therefore her complement. The God in traditional Wicca is very much the representation of humanity. He lives and dies and understands what it is like to be human. As humans, we relate to him, and therefore we relate with him as he relates to the Goddess. That dynamic explains the Guardians as male. They have that same role. Whether they are in human or animal form, whether we experience them as deities, entities or whatever they become for us, you may find if you are pursuing study of traditional Wicca that they rise up as male, because the logic of that fits into the cosmology we celebrate. For those of you who know you are called to the Wiccan path, I suggest you visit the part of the Flow of the Rite series that I did on YouTube on the Guardians. It goes into a little bit more regarding them. The link to that is: For those of us in a traditional partnership with the Guardians they are seen as aligned to whatever our concept of the Divine is, specifically the Wiccan Goddess. Here is where the concept of the Guardians may be confusing or distancing for those who are

5 learning about our path and collecting brief or indefinite snippets of information from neo-pagan resources. They are not our partners or our buddies in the sense of cronyism. They are not our best buds at the Elemental level. Their alignment is seen as with the Divine, and especially with the Goddess who is seen as the force of Love and Unity. What we all aspire to. That is, you might say, where their loyalty is. What they stand with. What they are partnered with - the Goddess, the immensity of Mystery. Their role is with the human folk who align with them in a respectful and spiritual way. The attitude we must have as the practitioner is of our work being aligned with our Greater Will, with Love, with Harmony, with Unity with the Goddess. They assist us in achieving that. Their interest is in the whole, so they are not our patron saints or our guardian angels as perceived by other religions. Their interest is not directly in us; it is at a higher level. If we enter our work with no consideration of Higher Will and the good of our work, we generally do not find our Guardians. When we enter this as a spiritual practice, our Guardians find their way to us. This is not a partnership where our Guardians accept direction and do what we request. Traditional Wiccans will do our work stating, An it harms none and to the higher, greater Will or something similar; and we believe that our Guardians partner with us when it comes to achieving that goal. If our work is in keeping with the pure nature of our Will, and we will discuss that when we come to Fire, our Guardians are our partners. When we work our magics, do prayer or spell work, whatever we do when we seek to transform ourselves or something else, when we do it in respect of honoring the greater, higher Will, our Guardians see that our work is well done. This concept of the Guardians has to do with Right Living, something that will be explored in Season of the Dedicant for those of you who will go on to that. You might want to revisit what we addressed in the session on the Classical Guardians to appreciate the source of this concept of the Guardians. Additionally, we would honor that the specifics of the traditional Wiccan Guardian are heavily influenced by the concept of the Noble Eightfold Path in the Buddhist tradition. They are our innate wisdom and higher consciousness focused on attaining a life well lived. Where Does That Leave the Non-Traditional Practitioner? I am not intending to declare what the Guardians are for me are what they are for you. I think you know me well enough by now to know Anni doesn t go there. How I perceive of them is not the only possibility. I felt it was important, though, in light of who I am and to honor those of you exploring a traditional practice what they might be from that perspective. They are however they fit best into your sense of deity and cosmology. They are equally powerful outside of a specifically spiritual experience of them. If you are not seeking a spiritual partnership with the Guardians, where might that leave you? What concept of the Guardians might you entertain? The concept exists in many different experiences guardian angels, someone who watches over, the wise ancestor we call upon, animal spirits that may attend us, our innate inner knowing and so on. They take the form of Wisdom, no matter the source. They are powerful archetypes of

6 the higher self, the aspect of us that is wise and knows better or best. When our Guardians rise from our landscape it can as much be an aspect of our wiser selves as it can be a spiritual entity. It is the place where pure instinct is knowledge. It is especially the understanding of one thing, everything, in relation to everything else. The Rise of the Guardians All of the Seekers I have worked with over time have met their Guardians. Sometimes they have risen up in the landscape they created, and sometimes they simply want them to be something and therefore they became that. It is an act of magic and manifestation to create them as we want and need them to be. We declare it is so. But first, we must give thought to what they might be for us personally. There is no need at this point in your journey along the Greystone Path to have that answer at hand. The need is to hold thoughts of what they might be or of what they might already be as you explore Elemental Balancing. How will you meet them if you have not already? I encourage you to provide a home for them in your landscape (it will be your exercise for this session, so more will follow on this). One of my teachers, when I asked how I would know them, said that at some point in my journey within my landscape I would come eye to eye with them. That literally they would make their selves known to me (in the end, I believe, it is their choice to do so) by making eye contact with me. Often, that is what happens. For my Guardians of Water and Earth indeed they simply rose from the landscape and our eyes met. I personally think what happens before that is equally important, though. Be aware when you spend time in the home you create for them in your landscape what you feel of what surrounds you as sentient, as aware and watching you. If you have a small moment of being creeped-out by the feeling of being watched, realize that YOU have created everything that surrounds you. There is nothing in your landscape that should bring you discomfort, because it is all of you. We call our Guardians the Watchers out of respect, because they do not come and go. They are always with us. In the moments we reach out to them as well as all the other moments of our lives. When you feel those first stirrings of their presence in your landscape, even before you see them, let yourself be surrounded by their energy and their quiet dignity. Remember, they are aligned with the Goddess; they are the wisdom born from the concept of Love and Unity. They will make their selves known to you in the just-right time. The more we come to understand all the aspects of any of the Elements we work with, the more the Guardian of that Element materializes in whatever way we need them to. They are and I can promise you this the good in everything referenced in the quote that began this session. Pathworking Exercise

7 In your landscape, think about the work you have been doing with your correspondences where you have captured a sense of the various landscapes that might be described as Air. And go to a place in your landscape that matches that. Yes, Air is ever present, and it weaves through every aspect of this world and the other. However, determine a place that when you go there you are acutely aware you are in the presence of the energy of Air. Don t go there with specific expectations; just be fully and completely in the Element of Air. I will tell you where that place is for me. I originally thought if I were going to create the place where I would be embraced by the energy of Air it was going to be something high, where there is a broad vista, where Air moves around me and I feel it coming and going. And I set off to high places, disappointed I didn t find the energy I was looking for there. Then one day, coming back down from one of the mountains I had created in my landscape and rather dejectedly plodding across a wide open plain I suddenly realized I was surrounded by the Element of Air. The thing about Air is you do not see it; you only see its impact on things. And as I was coming across this field of tall grasses I saw the grasses moving as Air moved over them. I was taken away by a true, sudden and intimate connection with the Element of Air. Seekers have found something similar in the high places, they have found it standing at the edge of a cliff, listening to the echoes inside a cave, standing at the ocean s edge and listening to the sounds of the surf. It is not going to be the same feeling for each one of us. Go on a search! Intentionally try to find a powerful source of Air in your landscape. Try placing some of the landscapes you have captured in your correspondence list within your spiritual landscape. See if Air feels particularly present there for you. Go into that place, I would suggest without expectation except to experience it. I totally stressed myself out by deciding it was going to be something and then going in, and it wasn t what it needed to be. When I let myself literally fly with the experience, there it was plain as day me, standing in that field. I still feel it that powerfully today when I go into my landscape. Create within your landscape a place you go to where you are completely lost in the sense of Air. It is a place you want to be able to return to. While you may experience aspects of Air all throughout your landscape, make it be so that there is a place you go to that you will recognize its pattern, know it intimately and know what changes and returns to it. And simply experience it to the fullest. The second part of your exercise has to do with the correspondences you have been collecting. Visit the list that you have been putting together of the Virtues of Air. Note a half a dozen or so of those Virtues that you would look to as a sense of the higher wisdom of the Element. For now, simply note them to yourself in some way. The Virtues that you find the most inspirational, the most powerful

8 and the wisest are going to be the aspects of the Guardian of Air as it chooses to present itself to you. Signpost: We are still working in the land of Air the ability to envision and make something manifest. We may realize that it rises within us; we may feel it presents itself to us. We are working on strengthening our intuition, our appreciation for the moment and our going with the flow. We release connection, in a way, to the heaviness of the physical world to explore further, at the purely energetic level, the power of the Elements; and we come to know their wisdom. This is a matter of choice. If we wish it to be, it will be. If we choose to work that magic, it will be a powerful learning experience.

Elemental Balancing: AIR: The Witches Pyramid To Know

Elemental Balancing: AIR: The Witches Pyramid To Know Be a first rate version of yourself, not a second rate version of someone else. (Judy Garland, actor and singer) The Witches Pyramid We mentioned the