Several months ago, just prior to a retreat we were facilitating, I was guided to get new rocks for The Power of Our Way Medicine Wheel. With 46 stones in all, I knew I’d be making a trip to a local landscaping company and was thrilled to see endless palettes with every kind of stone you could imagine.
One by one, I gathered the stones that wished to find their way into the sacred home of The Wheel; and become both the foundation and the witness to so much healing and transcendence.
Upon my arrival home, I noticed that one of the prettiest round stones had split into two. I picked it up, the two halves now clearly delineated, yet obviously once a unified whole.
I immediately said, “Oh, this is exactly what it feels like when we incarnate and need to depart from the other world and come into form! It’s like being a stone that splits in two, a part of us now expected to come into the human realm like nothing just 'happened'.” Promptly, I identified the larger of the two as the stone that would represent SOURCE in The Wheel and the smaller of the two became SELF.
As I placed them in their “assigned” places on The Wheel, I could sense the separation was necessary and uncomfortable – almost undesired. Not unlike so many who feel a sense of separation from their Source, or even feel as if they had been abandoned by or taken from their Creator at birth, the stone that split in two became an instantaneous metaphor for so much of the disconnect we as humans seem to walk with.
Did the littler of the two feel “less than” now that it had been broken off from its whole? Did it feel traumatized being severed so abruptly from the Oneness it once felt? Or, was it glad to be a little lighter, and able to go somewhere else for a change, without the rest of itself? Did it feel un-whole or severed from part of its life energy?
The larger of the two didn’t seem to ask the questions. There was just a calm, stable resonance about it. It seemed perfectly fine being less than it had been, as if nothing was really missing. It almost seemed to be smiling.
I chuckled at my interesting metaphysical experience with the stone that split in two, yet understood the significance of the symbolism. I thought of clients who desire a tangible connection and relationship with their Source, a shared desire no matter their religion or spiritual beliefs. I thought about the parts of ourselves we disconnect from, deny, or attempt to bring into submission...or the parts we work hard to muster up.
The Divine Forgetting probably occurs over time, infants still innocent of the conditioning that will later shield them from truth until it is time to remember. The longing for this connection – or reconnection is not uncommon, yet how we experience it varies.
Some pursue POWER through the pursuit of power over others, others through worship, many through service. For some, money is what brings them peace, others intimacy. We go through life seeking and collecting, most of us struggling to let go and give away. We get stuck in old patterns until we find new ones. And on some level, most of us are never quite satisfied, at least not for long.
Either way, odds are, if you are human, there is something, at one point or another that has felt “missing.” Holes are filled up with all sorts of fillers, some healthy and empowering others not so much. The void may be simply sensed, for some it may be clearly identified, or so they believe. The next job, the hope of finding love, the big sale, or the acceptance and approval of another, maybe it is all about just feeling whole, good enough, complete in who we are.
As The Wheel was built, each new rock knew exactly what it was and where it belonged. As long as I listened, I heard. West, North, South, East, Center. Compassion, Divine Empathy, Destiny…one-by-one they introduced themselves to me. No one waivered. Every single one of them knew, absent of any doubt, who they were, and what they represented. But the little Self rock, now a third of its original size still seemed “off.”
Later that day, as I began to pack them up for the big day, a strip of red felt caught my eye. As I picked up the Source and Self stones, I placed them gently against one another, the break so clean they just snuggled back into themselves. I tied the strip of cloth around them, placing them in the box. Self felt whole again, for the time being. I wondered if the next day, when it was time to build The Wheel and I split them into two again if I would still be privy to this interesting conversation.
The next day, as we laid out The Wheel, I shared the story of The Stone That Split in Two as I prepared to place them in their proper places. It opened up a rich discussion amongst the retreat participants and we began exploring the ways we feel connected to this mysterious unseen force of creation, and the ways we seek to go deeper, or for more extended periods of time. One by one, as we walked The Wheel that weekend, the theme of disconnection was quite prevalent. Whether from one’s family, body, spouse or passions, the holes had been exposed. An Intelligence beyond our own had guided us into the spaces and places we needed to travel, wanted to travel, even if upon our commencement, we remained unaware.
Over the course of the weekend, we played and prayed, sang and meditated, and parts of us melted away, the rocks glad to take in the remnants of what was left behind. As I packed up The Wheel, I sensed Self had found its purpose. It understood why it had to be separated from its Source, in the physical at least. And, it was quite content as it stood in the reality if its new awareness.
Self had a REASON for coming into this new existence and in that understanding, it snuggled up to Source and I wrapped the red cloth around it securing them together until the next time. And, as I closed the lid on the box, for a moment, I thought I heard singing. When I got really quiet, I knew. Self was excitedly telling Source about its adventure; all it had learned and how it had changed and grown through its experiences. I smiled and for possibly the first time, I really, really got it, in a way I never had before.
Rev. Anita Pathik Law (Ani) is the founder of The Power of Our Way Community and host of Conscious Dialogues. For several complementary gifts, including a few of Ani’s transformative meditations, visit www.powerofmyway.com/newreality.html and www.divinitymovie.com
To learn more about The Power of Our Way Medicine Wheel, and her upcoming book, Returning to Your Original Intention, inspired by it, visit www.powerofmyway.com/book.html
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Copyright © 2010, Anita Pathik Law
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