Our modern human world! Wow what a few years this has been, a world where humankind can even consider a practice such as fracking. Brexit, Climate Emergency, while during a global pandemic, here in the UK there is outrage about what holidays we can take!
Daily spiritual practice and meditation grounds me in all this, and creates a sacred container for me to meet the world in the way I wish to – as a deeper connection to my own truth. Here, I open up to claim my own personal sovereignty, as a part of this great and beautiful earth. I recommit to my way of Ahimsa: to do no harm in my daily actions.
As I stumble and fall in this, I come back to the holding of this way. My growing experiences with an animistic worldview support me in this. We live in a more than human world!
In a recent meditation, as I closed and honoured the altar to the ancestors, a phrase came to me:
“Empowered Insignificance”
I immediately connected to this and a smile came from the center of my body. I have since explored this, and found meaning in these simple words for myself. They support me in finding my own way, and are a contribution to everyday life.
Without doubt, and whatever my own self-importance may have to say, I am quite insignificant in the vastness of the universe, and yet the paradox in this is that it is incomplete without me. Here I am – empowered in my Insignificance.
I live in Scotland, and here we have a lot of wild open spaces – this I feel is one of the reasons why Scotland has been the birthplace of a number of inventions: we have space to breathe and allow deeper intuitions to emerge. The land shapes us and however much we try, we cannot shape the land, for nature is way more powerful than us. Chernobyl in Russia shows us this: after the nuclear disaster in 1986, in a short time nature reclaimed what is hers anyway.
Just up the way from me in a glen is a spot where I stop sometimes at night. If it is clear, it is possible to see the milky way across the great dark sky. This puts me in perspective of my place in the whole amazing universe, I stand empowered, yet quite insignificant.
I am not talking about self-worth here, as this is a different personal journey we each can take, if we wish to claim our power in a society I see seeking to disempower each of us. This is more about our place within the whole. As a student of bees, they know this wisdom.
This brings me to the next insight. The wisdom of nature is greater than the collective of humanity, nature supports life where so often, humanity’s collective ways do not, all too often looking to economic growth and shortcuts over life enhancing ways. And yet, we humans are part of nature and this great vast eco system, and an essential part, with a specific role to play as guardians.
I believe that our own wellbeing is connected to our own connection to the earth.. How are we doing if this is so? I am open to the idea that organisations such as Greenpeace, Extinction Rebellion and even the recent virus are answers to prayers spoken over many years, for new ways and a return to treating the earth with respect. Here in Scotland we are in a government-declared “climate emergency”, that seems to have been lost in the insanity of Brexit, and more recently the response to the Pandemic.
I love the Earth, and somehow intuitively have always known I am a part of this vast eco-system. This understanding causes deep pain and joy, as I seek ways to live my love.
This is why I am a Druid, and work with Shamanic Methods and deepen into Animism as a way in the world, to be learning how to be in a sustainable, respectful and honouring relationship with the being I love so much. It shows me how I can step towards this, and as I do, it brings me to this place of empowered insignificance.
I was once told to not use the word love for the earth, but I know of no other for what is in my heart. It is this that excited me so much about Anima Monday as a way to express and offer experiences with Animism in the hope to inspire and open others to this.
Empowered insignificance brings a great freedom to me. As I know there is very little I can do, I had better do something, and each day I seek to be kind and hold hope.
In my personality I am like a nettle in many ways, a bit of a sting, yet full off nourishment. I guess I am tired, and have to work hard to keep the hope shining and focused with the pulls of modern day living, as I seek to be true to this. The life I live sustains this for me, and I plan for more space to express my insignificance in an empowered way.
Today, it was honouring the plants I share my life with, in the garden I am a guardian of, as I centered myself beyond the smallness and self-importance of my mind, and out into the vast body of the land that surrounds me.
I am insignificant, and yet with this wisdom now embodied within me, I am empowered to seek ways to contribute to the whole in a life enhancing way.
The bees teach me about the web of life and how interconnected we are. One authentic act of self-forgetting here in Scotland, will ripple out into the world in a blessed way.
Today, as part of this, I am empowered in my insignificance, yet know I can touch the world in a beautiful empowered and gentle way.
anima monday 