Crossroad Teachings
The Magician at the Crossroads
At a crossroads on a woodland path behind the high-school, I slowly turned and faced the directions, grounding myself in the space. One view (south-west) looked onto a metal Quonset hut surrounded with chain link fence. The opposite view was of tall guardian trees at the edge of the pathway leading down into the ravine. It is an unseasonably warm day and the slant of the sunlight through the trees is almost luxurious.
My final turn toward the human structure filled my heart with grief. So much focused will energy was used to create this separate area while the other three pathways and quadrants are Nature’s.
I ask, “Who am I to connect with here?”
The Magician.
“What do you have to say?”
Look at the ratio, 3 to 1. Nature is, despite appearances, still in charge, still dominant. That viewpoint must be felt and accessed. Presence apart from the direct involvement in the human realm is vital – for perspective, to receive the ‘other’, to be respectfully and humbly with Nature, and to counter the increasingly frantic static in the human arena.
It takes magicianship to step away and enter into the other realms. You do not have to live in one or the other realm; in fact, it is the agile awareness of when, how, and where to shift – mostly from the human world, to Nature’s bedroom.
A magician feels that tug and responds. A magician knows how to listen, witness, breathe-with, and let his/her heart be im-pressed with the currents of wisdom and change. A magician knows how to distinguish between the personal and the other, and to hold both gently. A magician honours what has shifted in the interchange, and does not discard it casually or doubt its reality.
Nature needs magicians of all kinds. She will teach them, when they hear and feel the call and answer with their feet, their hearts, their opened minds and altered vision.