Gathering Bones
During the weeks before a ritual circle, I am immersed in the energies of that particular circle’s theme. This month we are exploring the mythos of Bone Womyn, (a mysterious and powerful figure mentioned in the collection of women’s teaching stories by Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Ph.D.). She who gathers bones and breathes life back into them. I am fascinated by the depth of my experience as I focus my full attention on this energy.
There are layers of meaning in every moment as I feel the presence of this circle honoring Bone Womyn as the energies build momentum. We are welcoming the restorative energies Bone Womyn represents, just in time for Spring’s arrival.
As I sit in silence, breathing deeply and opening my senses to this old myth, this Old One, I am guided to delve more deeply into the hidden symbolism buried within the story and what they mean to me. I encourage my curiosity to wander. Researching sources of this myth, its origins and the connections I find with the threads of the story’s underlying messages, I begin my meditation with a
bit of music to welcome Bone Womyn’s Presence…
From my meditation journal….”Sinking into the meditation, I discover a deeper sense of solidity pervading…a solidity and strength that has a newness to it. Perceiving more thoroughly I wonder, is that a strengthening of my confidence I sense there?
Hmmm. Interesting. Bone Womyn moves closer to my inner wisdom’s range with every passing moment, it seems. Deeper awareness. Deepening, deepening. Down into my bones, our bones, I sink. Listening deeply brings such rich rewards. The Ancestors are speaking in their ancestor tongues. If we listen intensely for the wisdom that comes from our bones.
Ancient soul-bones whispering of hidden knowledge. As science develops technology, and the lost is found, archaeology reveals to us. Languages of the Ancients, spoken in symbols, in dreams and inner realms – each in our own tongue. Visions of neurons firing, blazing unknown pathways, fresh patterns, transforming the old ways to recreate anew.
What do you choose? Where are you going? Do you know? To see our future selves, we must stand clear. Move away from the lies buried deep within. Finding our way home. Listening to the mysteries intrinsic to our evolving humanity, to our truth, that voice of our Soul-Bones. Woven from our earth’s minerals, created in our mother’s wombs. Hear the harmony singing in the Bones as we are called home to our whole Selves.”
“Wild Bones”
“The state of affairs in the world today, are of the crazy-making kind. A glimmer of hope was heard to live, when the wild and twisted darkness was called forth into the light of day. Withering when lost again in their nonsensical musings, word-spells of those who use the tricks of the shiny-shine, to look the other way! Listen deeply to the dead, the ancient and the recent. The bones remain behind, singing in the winds of change. Re-minding, re-membering, to see past the mirror, past the shiny-shine, into the depths of reality. The bones sing of forgotten treasure. Learning from that which has past, for those who still live, to serve, to hope, to dare.”
Back from my meditative journey, I am reunited with a more in tune part of my self, the part that remembers our wholeness. The part that is inseparable from nature and its cycles. The part that remembers…I AM Nature. To live in harmony with nature, means to live in harmony with my self, my whole self and all its imperfections. Perfect in its imperfectness. Restoration includes an embracing of the original.
Upon reflection, I am reminded of the words of Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes…”[Bone Womyn] as an archetype is an inimicable and ineffable force which carries a bounty of ideas, images, and particularities for humankind. Archetype exists everywhere and yet is not seeable in the usual sense. What can be seen of it in the dark cannot be seen in daylight.”
Archetypal energies exist in human consciousness as a reminder of the multi-dimensionality of our humanity. Through the exploration of the mysteries of creativity, I have access to a more expansive inner landscape, filled with symbols and fecund with treasure for my artist’s soul.
“Though this site (our inner realms where the “biological meets the psychological”) transmits great psychic wealth, it must be approached with preparation, for one may be tempted to joyously drown in the rapture of one’s time there. Consensual reality may seem less exciting by comparison. In this sense, the deeper layers of psyche can become wobbly ideas and airy presentments. That is not who it’s meant to be. How one is meant to return is wholly washed or dipped in a revivifying and informing water, something which impresses upon our flesh the odor of the sacred.” Clarissa Pinkola Estes, PhD
By plumbing the depths of my own psyche, prepared to meet the demands of the unconscious, and able to integrate the information found there in my daily life, I use my creative expression to weave meaning into my art. Art then becomes an opportunity of transformation for the viewer. All this is accomplished from the drive to recognize the sacred and reveal it to others who are interested in the mystery.
( “Wild Bones” poem by C. Shepard – c2014 – Original Art by C. Shepard )
