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Hold the Light: Wisdom from Myth, Legend & Fairy-tale 14: Somewhere Over the Rainbow - The Wizard of Oz

3/31/2020

Somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high
There's a land that I heard of
Once in a lullaby

Somewhere over the rainbow
Skies are blue
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true

About five minutes into the 1939 film, Dorothy our herione sings the famous song "Over the Rainbow". She has been trying to get the attention of her aunt & uncle. She has been wanting to tell them a worrying story about her little dog Toto. But this is the time of the Great Depression in America - and times were hard and no one has time to listen to a child's concerns and she is told to get out from under their feet and find someplace - where their isn't any trouble.

Do you suppose there is such a place, Toto? says Dorothy. There must be. It's not a place you can get to by a boat, or a train. It's far, far away. Behind the moon, beyond the rain."
Wizard of Oz

And so the song begins & also Dorothy's adventure - for very soon after an ferocious Tornado sweeps toward the family farm - Dorothy falls & bangs her head - and slips - all at once into a dream. The little house is ripped from its foundations and swept away - to the distant realm of Oz - crushing & killing the Wicked Witch of the East of this place, as it comes into land! A deed that greatly impresses the

the munchkins & Glinda the Good Witch who soon arrives. She tells Dorothy she must go to see the wizard who lives at the Emerald City. But how on earth will she find her way?

It's always best to start at the beginning – Glinda tells her - and all you do is follow the Yellow Brick Road.

Along the way Dorothy and Toto meet the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Lion (all aspects of her inner self if truth be told) and they become friends - and look out for one another - and help each other find what they most need - the treasure of you like - but not the kind that glitters. In the end - it will turn out not to be so much about the destinatiom - but about what happens on te way as is so very often the way.

There are so many ways to interpret the symbolism of the Yellow Brick Road - some say it relates to the gold standard, and to the politics of the day. Some say the Emerald City is a symbol of prosperity. But the author L. Frank Baum denied all such comparisons. The notion of Oz - of Somewhere Over the Rainbow, he writes is utterly transcendent of time and place.

The Rainbow has universal symbolic appeal - representing as it does - the individuation of the self - as Carl Jung might say - the ultimate goal of the mauration process.

The Full Rainbow is a circle; it is a path, a way, ajourney toward individuation. It is like the Medicine Wheel of the Native Americans, for it maps a way of harmony between man and spirit.

THE FULL RAISBO\V--SYMBOL OF INDIVIDUATION
LILLIAN M. RHINEHART. and PAULA ENGELHORN

The Children of the world have been keen to bring this symbol to our attention this year - with their own colourful paintings and drawings. They have stuck them in their windows the world over - for all to see and to be uplifted by.

Be safe - they say - stay home - and in Italy they have added the reassuring,
"Andrà tutto bene" Everything will be Ok.

Setting off on the yellow brick road - the solar path toward consciousness - if you like - is inevitable for all - but oh it seems too soon sometimes – too soon for these dear, sweet souls to live in such uncertainty - and yet children have always had to do it - when times were hard. Many are really afraid – afraid of what we are all afraid of – of losing some one we love - and yet even, in the midst of this - they are guiding & leading us on to a place beyond the crisis - over the rainbow -maybe, like Dorothy & her motley crew of friends - all skipping along with Toto snapping at their heels - like the Fool's dog in the Tarot. Is he trying to alert the young boy to the danger ahead we might ask? Is he trying to get him to turn back? Or is he encouraging his master to go on - never mind if he jumps off the cliff so to speak - perhaps he might just fly! As we all might do!

In the end it's Toto who drags back the curtain revealing the Scary Wizard to be just a kind old man, with gifts & wisdom to share – and showing us, like the children are doing with their rainbows – just what we have been searching for.

It may have taken a Tornado- or a virus!!! It may have ripped the house from under our feet - carried it through a swirling storm to another land - just so we might discover what we already had, the Courage of the Lion - the Straw Man’s Brain and the Tin Man’s beating heart, so strong and full of love.

This is the promise the children are holding out for us - they are still believing - bless them all - in the transformative power of dreams.

The song is an invocation - says Shunyamurtu in his talk about the esoteric meaning of Wizard of Oz and the overriding message of the story he says is,

To dare to dream the highest possible dream - because whatever you dream will become your reality.

So, we say thank you to our children, to the story & the song for reminding us of these things - right now when we are paradoxically so far from home. Let's hope we reap the benefits of experience - like Dorothy and bring it all back with us when it’s time to return.

Glinda: You've always had the power to go back to Kansas.
Dorothy: I have?
Scarecrow: Then why didn't you tell her before?
Glinda: She wouldn't have believed me. She had to learn it for herself.
Scarecrow: What have you learned, Dorothy?
Dorothy: Well, I—I think that it, that — if I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own backyard. Because if it isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with! Is that right?
Glinda: That's all it is!
Scarecrow: But that's so easy! I should've thought of it for you -
Tin Man: I should have felt it in my heart -
Glinda: No, she had to find it out for herself. Now those magic slippers will take you home in two seconds!
just close your eyes and tap your heels together three times. And think to yourself,

'There's no place like home, there's no place like home...'

Much Love
Anne Maria
x x x

Hold the Light/blog published daily during the Crisis @
www.annemariaclarke.net/blog

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Hold the Light: Wisdom from Myth, Legend & Fairy-Tale for Times of Uncertainty & Transformation:13 Dante: In Quest of Paradise

3/30/2020

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Dante: In Quest of Paradise

Yesterday we spoke of Death, of Dying & Surviving – of those who momentarily leave their bodies & return to us with precious tales to tell.
Throughout the ages, many have been graced with such experience – visionaries, shamans, artists & poets the world over like Dante Alighieri, the supreme Italian poet who - in a moment out of time – a moment of divine grace - at the end of his long journey through the depths of hell and purgatory looks back, on the advice of his beloved Beatrice who waits for him at the edge of paradise & guides him to his bliss.

And he looks back then and sees his whole life and the entire world behind him & he understands – how & for what reason he had first arrived at the Gates of the Inferno at the start of his long quest & he understands the meaning of his journey thus far - in a way that all those who return to us from such experience do. And from their understanding, live re-newed lives.

This is the gift all these souls bring – this opportunity to stand back - if only for a moment - to look at our world – at our own journey’s – our sorrows & joys – and in so doing - create a different world – here, now, on earth. But this is not where Dante began.

"Abandon all hope, ye who enter here."
Dante Alighieri

ThIs the famous line everyone knows from the start of The Divine Comedy – La Divina Commedia. What follows will be Dante’s own story but it will be our story too, personal and also universal - as we have seen with all these tales.

Canto one: Inferno, is the furthest distance from heaven’s bliss & from the insights he gained above – it is the densest frequency within Dante’s cosmology.

I cannot well repeat how there I entered, he tells us,
So full was I of slumber at the moment.
Dante Alighieri

All without warning then it seems to Dante and perhaps to us too - in our own crisis - that we find ourselves similarly lost. We didn't see it coming! Or if we did we ignored the signs. We were sleeping - unconscious - like those surrounding the Sleeping Beauty behind her Hedge of Thorn - and yet somehow a great turning point has been reached - moment in time when all at once our world looks very different and unfamiliar and we struggle to orient ourselves as before.

It is a hard thing to speak of, how wild, harsh and impenetrable that wood was, so that thinking of it recreates the fear. It is scarcely less bitter than death: but, in order to tell of the good that I found there, I must tell of the other things I saw there.
Dante Alighieri

He then tells us tale of all the pitiful sights encountered beyond those gates. But he is not alone – and like so many of our heroes – and many of us too – he has a guide, Virgil his beloved poet from ancient times. And the two of them set forth and Vigil helps him understand how the suffering souls have fallen – how they have come to be as they are.

And the deeper into hell they go the suffering they see is more terrible to behold - until at last they come to depths where Lucifer, the fallen angel resides in the pit of the abyss.

Their tale is far too long to tell here of course – but suffice to say – many lessons are learned & much is understood.

And later, much, much later – at the moment when he looks back from the edge of paradise where we began – only then does he fully know – and even then only fleetingly.

Yet we can say of Dante that in the end he came to understand that everything is in all of us – good & evil and everything inbetween. Whatever we are putting out comes back to us in some way – collectively and individually too as the case may be. And this is how it is.

In Italy right now - we see utterly inspirational scenes of solidarity - of people helping and supporting one another - setting the tone for the rest of Europe to follow. They were the first to come out onto their balconies singing cherished partisan songs like Bella Ciao and clapping on mass for their health and support workers. And their government was the first to create spectacles of national hope - like the Italian Air Force flying over Rome emitting plumes of the red, white and green vapor - colours of their flag to the accompaniment of Pavarotti belting out his rousing Vinc'ero (I will win) and by inference Vinceremo (we will win - we will overcome!)

Such songs have always unified Italians, always held them together through past danger. Yet whilst the crisis has brought out the very best - it has brought the very worst as well. And this is a danger for all of us. As I write – on the 28th March – stories are beginning to emerge of hardships being just too hard to bear in the South of Italy – where people are already poor – and where most are pulling together some are pulling apart. Civil unrest is feared, theft but also profiteering – cashing in –desperate & even malicious crime – violence – and dark forces at both high and low levels - corruption like Dante saw - its perpetraitors paying for their sins deep within his Inferno.

Only time will tell how this present crisis will evolve - which parts of us will rise to the challenge - which parts will come through - and what kind of a world we might all have a the end of it!

Much Love
Anne Maria
x x x

Hold the Light/blog published daily during the Crisis @
www.annemariaclarke.net/blog

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Hold the Light Wisdom from Myth, Legend & Fairy-tale 12: Death, Dying & Surviving

3/29/2020

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Where are we going?
Always Home!

On this journey toward our true home, there will be trails & tribulations - battles to be fought, enemies to be faced - both inner & outer and sometimes we will falter & fall and some of us will not survive. There will be death - and for those left behind, long days of grief & mourning.
The ancients called this - The Land of No Return, when the moon is dark & vanished from the night sky.
Then the world is cast into shadow & and no one knows if the light will ever return. At such times only poetry will do - sacred words & sacred songs, striking into the hearts of all who hear.

Return, oh return!
Oh lovely helper return!
Those that were enemies are no more here,
Return, oh return!
That thou mayest see me, thy sister
Who loves thee.
And comest thou not near me?
Oh beautiful one, return, oh return.
When I see thee not my heart sorrows for thee.
My eyes ever seek thee.
I roam about for thee,
To see thee thee, to see thee,
Thou beautiful loved one'

The Tears of Isis

So we cry out and our tears flow down through the ages and sometimes it seems like they will never cease.
Yet ever it has been told that the souls of our lost dear ones will go on - and that loved ones will be waiting for them -

“Between the last degree of time & the first degree of eternity”
Henry Corban - Mundus Imaginalus

- to guide them to the light - and to carry them home.

Many of us will lose loved ones at this time. Many of them will die alone - many have already died alone. Yet truth be told - we are never really alone - most especially at death's door, as those who have died & returned to us are so keen to share.
What wonderfully reassuring tales they tell of our transition from one dimension to the next - tales surpassing all we could ever hope for - where suddenly, upon leaving our bodies we are set free! Set free from all our pain, from suffering & every misunderstanding - and we are lifted up into a light & a love beyond all description. And we know then that we are truly home.

For those left behind it is important to honour the passing of those who have fallen. It has always been so. Even if we can't be with them. Even then, we must devise ways and means - as human-kind has always done - of making ritual & ceremony - even if only by ourselves - in our own homes - we need to do this - we have forever needed it - this marking of another’s life - this honouring of their souls, of the journey they have taken, their struggles & victories, great and small. Of how we loved them & how they loved us back.

To remember is the mythological task of Isis, who after the death of her beloved Osiris, murdered by his jealous brother who cut up his body and scattered it like slices of the moon across the entire realm - cut off all her hair and like a wild bird took to the skies with her sister Nephthys - and together they scoured the land, searching, searching, searching. And wherever they discovered a part, a great temple was erected so that their story would never be forgotten - and at Philae on the very edge of the southern border, where the Nile flows into Nubia they discovered the heart of the beloved - and Isis with her magic breathed life into him once more so that they might be for a moment King and Queen again and then she said her long goodbyes - and many sad songs were sung - and prayers chanted until the time came, near sunset, for the burial.

The Burial of Osiris
In torch-lit procession then, flames flickering against the crimson sky, they made their way with their priestesses down to the banks of the Nile and set sail westwards in a reed boat to the nearby island of Abaton, where the body of their beloved Osiris was to be finally entombed. All were shrouded in the black veils of mourning and there was much weeping and wailing and pitiful lamentation as the image of Philae receded into the distance and was eventually consumed by shadow. Yet the strains of their lament echoed and reverberated throughout until it seemed as though even the very stones were weeping.

By the time they reached their destination the sun had almost set. Slowly and silently they disembarked, their steps making no sound; and, kneeling in the sands with their arms stretched upwards toward the setting sun, they commended the spirit of their beloved to the darkness of the night.

"Great Being of Light," they sang,
"Who has deigned to smile over your creation during the hours of day,
We ask that you place a firm protection around him,
And all your deceased children,
Until their return journey brings them once more,
Into this part of your domain."

And with no more words than these, the late evening sun vanished like a great reddened orb beneath the western horizon.

The coffin was then lowered into the tomb and carried to a shrine at the end of a long tunnel, placed within an enormous marble sarcophagus and tightly sealed. The many coffin-bearers withdrew and the priestesses commenced the final rites.

They sang then the final hymn of sacred mourning, drawing out the strains of its hauntingly beautiful melody & their voices filled the tomb and lingered there long after they had left and locked the vast inner doors behind them, and for a longer time still, even after the approaching tunnel had been filled with rubble and tightly sealed.

Extracts from Breath of Isis & The Little Goddess
Anne Maria Clarke

For those left behind the agony of loss is unspeakable.
At such times we, like the ancients before us, have only our faith to sustain us.
Yet, if we can bear to hear it, when we can bear to hear it - and this may take a very long time indeed and for some may never come to see, to understand - that the darkness is its self transformative, for it is within this hidden realm, this dark phase of the moon, this deep underworld which is both tomb and womb, that the process of regeneration mysteriously takes place, through which the shape of the future is established and given new form.

And maybe this is what is happening in our world right now - and those of us left behind are priveliged indeed yet also honour bound to make our lost loved ones smile down to us.

And when at last the day comes for our own death - for our own return to the light - they will be there - waiting to take us home.

Much Love
Anne Maria
x x x

Hold the Light/blog published daily during the Crisis @
www.annemariaclarke.net/blog

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Hold the Light: Wisdom from Myth, Legend & Fairy - tale for Times of Uncetainty & Transformation 11: The Wounding

3/28/2020

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The Wounding

For fifteen years to the very day, there will be no price to pay.
But on that day when you have no care.
She shall wander alone up a winding stair.
And there in the darkness we shall meet.
My task will almost be complete.
Spinning wheel & silver thread,
She'll be pireced by a spindle & fall down dead.
This shall be your reward oh foolish King.
This shall be the wish of the uninvited guest.
Anne Maria Clarke: Adaptation of The Sleeping Beauty

And with these terrible words the thirteenth fairy gathered her dark robes about her and swept away from the hall like a raging storm.
Everyone was shocked and stunned. The Queen wept bitterly as she rocked the tiny child endlessly back and forth.

But just then the twelfth fairy came forward and whispered to the king and Queen.

Do you not remember I too have a wish to make?
So calm yourselves & hear my words, for soon we must leave your mortal world.

And then, lighter than air the misty blue figure rose high above the new born child and spoke to the entire gathering.

Although it is true what my sister has said,
Beauty will prick her finger yett she'll not fall down dead.
Death will not claim her, so dry your tears,
Instead she will sleep for One Hundred Years.

Remember! Remember! Remember!

The words of the twelfth fairy echoed through the hall as she gradually faded from view with her sisers and was gone.

But what does all this mean? And what in heaven's name could it possibly have to do - or to say - about our current crisis? More than we might ever think or have ever thought!

To penetrate the mystery we must - as with all such tales, think symbolically. The girl at the heart is called Beauty! She does not have a regular name precisely because she is a symbol and not an ordinary girl. She is Beauty!
What happens to her - happens to Beauty within the entire Kingdom - and by inference in our world too.

Other characters are symbols too of course - like the 13th Fairy. The King has not invited her to his daughter's Christening Party - but she turns up anyway & and casts the fateful spell. The King, as we have seen represents the dominant principal in the realm; the rational, logical, matter of factness of the material world. In contrast - the 13th fairy represents the irrational, the repressed - the unconscious with all it's unresolved dimensions. She comes because she has to - because the kingdom has fallen into a state of inbalance that is not sustainable. The masculine - the yang, has overidden the feminine, the lunar, the yin and the soul, without which it is impossible to thrive individually or collectively.

After the Christening Party the King ordered ever last spindle in the land to be sought out and publically burned. He assured his wife that the child was safe. But of course - this was just more of the same short-sightedness that had got them all in trouble in the first place - and inevitably - when Beauty's 16th birthday comes around she somehow finds her wat to the very place - at the top of the old tower - where the 13th fairy is waiting with her spindle - just as it had been foretold.

Come in my dear, whispered the old woman, beckoning the girl toward her.
Do you know what I am doing?
I do not, replied the girl. I have never seen such a contraption before. What is it?
It is a spindle my child, the only one left in the whole land and I am spinning my fine silver thread upon it. Would you like to try?

The princess was fascinated by the strange contraption and was eager to try herself, yet no sooner
had she sat down to spin than she pricked her finger and fell down upon the cold stone floor.

Now in that same moment, the King and Queen who had just arrived in the great hall fell instantly to sleep on their thrones. All the guests who had been arriving fell to sleep as they spoke. The servants who were busy preparing the birthday feast fell asleep at their work. The royal horses fell asleep in their stables, the dogs in the yard and even the flies on the walls.

There was not a living thing in the whole palace that remained awake for all that was mortal slipped into a deep and dreamless river of sleep.

....and in that same instant the sun darkened and faded from the skies and a dense forest of cruel thorn encircled the entire palace.

For One Hundred Years, all was lost & hidden from view.

Remember, Remember, Remember.

We all know what happens in the end of course - that eventually these sleepers with Beauty at the heart of their realm will eventually be re-awakened and the story will arrive at it's Happy Ending - but what might it be asking us to remember?

The realm of myth and fairy-tale is full of symbols of longing for the lost soul. The soul that once was and which might one day be re-animated and return.

Such tales speak not only to that which might slumber within the self, but to that which slumbers and is lost within the collective too.

In some ways the Sleeping Court symbolises Western civilisation or perhaps the whole modern world, where the feminine principle has lain under a spell for many centuries.

Some people say we are on the cusp of a paradigm shift - a great change in our collective values - a revalueing of our relationships to each other & to our world. And maybe this is true. We have an incredible opportunity to change right now - in order to do so - we need to ask some interesting questions.

'What is it in us that at a certain moment
suddenly falls asleep?
'Who lies hidden within us?
And who will come at last to awaken
us, what aspect of ourselves?

To give an answer, supposing we had
it, would break the law of the fairy
tale. And perhaps no answer is
necessary. It is enough that we ponder
upon and love the story and ask
ourselves the question.'
P.L.Travers
ALL ABOUT THE SLEEPING BEAUTY

To be continued....
Much Love
Anne Maria Clarke

Hold the Light/blog published daily during the Crisis @
www.annemariaclarke.net/blog
Subscribe to Anne Maria Clarke's YouTube channel
http://www.youtube.com/c/annemariaclarke
More fairy-stories, myths, legends and books by Anne Maria Clarke http://www.archivepublishing.co.uk/T... Books - Transpersonal Psychology. Understanding the Soul - Expanding Consciousness www.annemariaclarke.net http://www.annemariaclarke.net/blog
www.annemariaclarke.net/blog

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Hold the Light: Wisdom from Myth, Legend & Fairy-tale for Times of Uncertainty & Transformation. 10 Magical Helpers

3/27/2020

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Magical Helpers

Joseph Campbell, who brought the idea of the universal mythic journey to popular consciousness famously counselled us to follow our bliss, even in the darkest night, to hold the light, hold the light, even if only in the image of a distant star glittering in the heavens far far away, even if such a star cannot be seen with the naked eye, even if it exists only in memory, hold it never-the-less, dear and close to your heart. For it will guide you, always, always home.

There are many stories from our everyday world where people, hostages kept in darkness and isolation not knowing if they might die from one hour to the next, dear souls in concentration camps like Victor Frankel who refused to relinguish his faith and so survived. Heros every one.

We all expeience such times now & then of finding ourselves suddenly out of our depth, times of vulnerability, of feeling abandoned, lost, betrayed even. Maybe hope has dimmed, faith has been thrown into question and we have sunk down into a lightless depths within ourselves.

In myth, legend and fairy-story such times and such experience have been likeened to the wasteland – where no one can live and nothing can grow.

The grief of Isis knew no bounds when she discovered her beloved Osiris had been murdered and her tears filled the river Nile. It was the same with the Summerian goddess Inanna: the same for our own blessed Virgin for her crucified son. Demeter caused such a winter to come upon the land when Hades stole away her beautiful daughter and she refused to let time turn until she was returned to her.

In the Grail Quest, as we have seen the Wounded King langishes in such a place with his terrible, unhealing wounds endlessly bleeding.
And in fairytales – this is the part of the story where the heroine realises she is all alone, abandoned & prey to the heartlessness of a wicked step - mother or jealous sisters who cast her out from the family home or plot her destruction.

Our sweet Cinderella with her kind heart has such awful siblings as does her predecessor in the Greek myth of Psyche and Eros. The Russian Vassilsa, beautiful by name and beautiful by nature has an evil step- mother too. Snow White is such a child, with her lips as red as blood, skin as white as snow and hair as black as ebony - and the ill- fated brothers in the tragic tale of The Six Swans, cruelly turned to swans and condemed to roam the skies for eternity by their father‘s evil new queen. The real mothers of all these innocent souls having sadly died, leaving them so terribly vulnerable unprotected & unloved.

So they all set off into the wide world, the underworld or the deep dark wood, in search of what has been lost and must keep all their wits about them to just survive.

There are so many heroines and heros, like Frodo in more recent times and Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy, slipping through the back of the wardrobe in their big fur coats, straight into the snowy realms of Narnia where a heartless Queen rules and where it is always winter but where Christmas never ever comes.

But the truth is we are not meant to be destroyed such expeience. No! In myth & fairy-tale these are the places of tasks, of trails and temptations that lead the soul to greater understanding. It is where we might meet our ememies - for sure - but also where mentors or magical helpers might suddenly appear.

Vassilisa has a magic doll bequethed to her by her dying mother who later helps the child to baffle and out wit the witch Baba Yaga who sets her impossible tasks in exchange for the light she has been sent to obtain & like Psyche before her she must sort through heaps and heaps of tiny poppy seeds, but the child is helped by her little doll, as Psyche is assisted by a friendly colony of ants.
Cinderella has her fairy god -mother. There is Gandalf too of course & Dumbledor, Yoda and Virgil, the Roman poet guides Dante through the firey depths of the inferno, through purgatory and to paradise where finally he meets Beartrice his beloved and understands the meaning of all he has seen.

When no one else would help, Demeter is helped by Hecate, with her firey torches, who heard Persephone’s screems as she was dragged into the underworld.

Isis is helped by her sister Nepethys as she searches for Osiris and Inanna by magical servants who delve down into the depths to reclain her when she is lost.

And who can forget the wonderously uplifting moments in Tolkien's Legendarium, moments when the hero's have given everything they could possibly give - where they are spent & battle weary, gravely wounded too very often. When it seems as if the battle is over, the tale is at an end and all hope is lost - it is then, quite miraculously it seems - that Tolkien's Eagles suddenly appear. It happens in Lord of the Rings when Frodo & Sam are rescued from Mordor & after the final battle in the Hobbit, when the wounded Bilbo cries out....

“The Eagles are coming! The Eagles are coming!”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King

And they are lifted up then from the fray & carried to Rivendell - to the safety & healing of it's gentle halls.

The Eagles are a symbol of Grace - as are all these magical helpers.
Divine intervention if you like.
that can't ever be predicted - can't ever be relied upon
- yet sometines - in our hour of greatest need - is there for us.

Much Love
Anne Maria
x x x

Hold the Light/blog published daily during the Crisis @
www.annemariaclarke.net http://www.annemariaclarke.net/blog
Subscribe to Anne Maria Clarke's YouTube channel
http://www.youtube.com/c/annemariaclarke
More fairy-stories, myths, legends and books by Anne Maria Clarke http://www.archivepublishing.co.uk/T... Books - Transpersonal Psychology. Understanding the Soul - Expanding Consciousness www.annemariaclarke.net http://www.annemariaclarke.net/blog

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Hold the Light: Wisdom from Myth,Legend & Fairytale: Healing the Wounded King: Coming Soon

3/27/2020

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Healing the Wounded King

Coming Soon

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Hold the Light: Wisdom from Myth, Legend & Fairytale 9) The Wounded King

3/27/2020

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The Wounded King

The land and the king are one! And if the King is sick he can no longer be allowed to rule! This ancient & outmoded belief – held across cultures for thousands & thousands of years – may seem archaic & irrelevant. Yet if we look symbolically we will immediately see how – on a much deeper level of health – just how absolutely relevant and pertinent for our times such a notion might still be.

Our Kings represent & embody our dominant values
They uphold the status quo. A good king will enable his kingdom to flourish and thrive. He will protect and honour all. He will create and maintain order and dispense blessings and fertility. Tolkien’s Aragorn is such a king.

But if the king falls into shadow -
– even whist he may have started off with good intentions - he will become a tyrant – a bully. Or he may become weak like Tolkien’s King of Gondor who falls under the spell of the evil trickster. Then the kingdom will fall to ruin.

In pre – patriarchal times, the fertility of the land was nurtured by the Goddess and her priestesses and even in King Arthur's post-Roman Briton, the new king upon accession must visit and receive the blessing and sanction of the Maidens of the Wells who communed with the spirits of the earth and in so doing maintained the health of the land.
The Grail legends tell that for many years all went well – until an evil king raped one of the Maidens & stole the power for himself.

The soul of the Land was damaged, the King fell ill and a veil of enchantment lay over it from that moment onward.

So, if ever there was a time to talk about the Wounded/Shadow King - it’s now! For surely now might be a moment for healing to occur. No one on planet earth could have envisioned such a dramatic shut down of our former way of life. And all over the globe people must be wondering at just how miraculously nature is thriving and coming back to life amidst our crisis. The Chinese character for crisis means opportunity too doesn’t it! And that’s what we’ve got right now – a crisis embodying the greatest opportunity ever to review just where we want to be & what values we truly want to uphold.

While writing - I am reminded of the beautiful passages from Irish mythology from the story of the gods giving over the custodianship of the land to the Celts who arrived in Ireland from across the sea with no where to live.

"Help us oh land that has drawn us to your shores: help us! Show us the noble fellowship of your trees: we will be comrades to them. Show us the shining companies of your rivers: we will put a blessing on every fish that swims in them. Show us thy hero-hearted mountains: we will light fires of rejoicing for them. Oh, land help us: help us!"

Song of the Children of Mil

We have all been given the custodianship of our planet - and yet slowly we have slipped - bit by bit over the last four thousand years into a collective set of behaviours which are simply not sustainable - and yet even in the face of catastrophes brought about in consequence of our ways, we have either gone into outright denial - or simply not believed it could really be so true - and we have all gone on flying around - driving our cars - clamouring for fracked energy, 5G and all the rest even at the risk of irrevocably damaging the earth’s magnetic field and our own precious health for generations to come.

But while ever we sanction these old Wounded King's in all the most powerful positions on earth – while ever we buy into their Dogma & Creed (for that is surely what it is) we will just keep on and on creating the same old world - and bolstering up the same old multi-national companies that have us all at their mercy - pharmaceutical and otherwise! And we will help them go on - trying to get it all back to normal - when what is really needed is a whole new normal. We need to root these old kings out from every corner of our crazy world.

We need call out them out!

The Emperor has no clothes folks!
The Emperor has no clothes!

Cease the Day!

much Love
Anne Maria
x x x

Hold the Light/blog published daily during the Crisis @
www.annemariaclarke.net http://www.annemariaclarke.net/blog

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Hold the Light Wisdom from Myth, Legend & Fairy-tale 8.Friends & Helpers

3/26/2020

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Friends & Helpers: The Fellowship of the Ring

“You enter the forest
at the darkest point,
where there is no path.
Joseph Campbell, The Hero's Journey:

Though in many ways we must all set off on the Quest alone, like the knights of Holy Grail – and though to some extent we must nurse our hurts - in self - isolation maybe - the stories tell that we will find friends, companions and helpers along our way. Foes too, villians & tricksters – as our hero’s discover, those posing as friends like the boy who robbed Santiago in the Alchemist. But here we will focus upon true friendship and upon helpers who appear – as if by magic to share our journey - wherever it might lead.

When Frodo first set out from the Shire he did so with only his faithful Sam beside him. Though he had resolved to go alone - his friend insisted.

And later, not so very far along the road, Merry & Pippin join him. They had known all along he intended to go and had determined follow.

“You can trust us to stick to you through thick and thin – to the bitter end. And you can trust us to keep any secret of yours – closer than you keep it yourself. But you cannot trust us to let you face trouble alone, and go off without a word. We are your friends, Frodo.

Later at Rivendell when Frodo bravely offers to take the Ring to Mordor, others eagerly step forward to join him, men, dwarves and even elves. (Gandalf too - for few tales exist without a wise, magical guide of some sort - but that’s a story for another day.)

Frodo of course will always carry the greater burden - as we will if we become ill or care for a sick loved one alone. We can feel terribly isolated.
At such times the comfort and companionship of others - even at a remote distance - is life -saving.

Countries around the world have closed their borders, billions are in lockdown in their homes - we are more cut off and separate than ever before and yet paradoxically we are closer than ever.

In the UK over 400 thousand people voluntered to help injust one day & in Italy & Spain, people have gone out onto their balconies to join in mass applause for those on the front line as it were, for those who are putting themselves at risk in order to help others and for all those everywhere – seen & unseen - offering support and lifting each other’s spirits - in the midst of grave danger.

So it is for Frodo too - and whilst the way ahead is perilous indeed, his faithful companions are by his side throughout – even when times get really hard and weaker souls have fallen by the wayside, his friends are with him to the bitter end.

Even when Frodo can’t take another step, when he can hardly breathe & the thought of the beloved Shire is but a dim memory he can hardly recall.
Even then Sam is still there – gently coaxing him along, reminding him of what’s true and real & taking him to some safe place in the future, when the Ring is destroyed and peace is restored to the whole of Middle Earth.

“Sam: I wonder if we'll ever be put into songs or tales.
I wonder if people will ever say, 'Let's hear about Frodo and the Ring.' And they'll say 'Yes, that's one of my favourite stories. Frodo was really courageous, wasn't he, Dad?' 'Yes, my boy, the most famousest of hobbits. And that's saying a lot.'

And Frodo rallying to support his friend and to show his great love, adds -

Frodo: You've left out one of the chief characters - Samwise the Brave. I want to hear more about Sam. Frodo wouldn't have got far without Sam.

Sam: Now Mr. Frodo, you shouldn't make fun; I was being serious.

Frodo: So was I.”

― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Two Towers

Much Love
Anne Maria
x x x
Hold the Light/blog published daily during the Crisis @
www.annemariaclarke.net http://www.annemariaclarke.net/blog

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More fairy-stories, myths, legends and books by Anne Maria Clarke http://www.archivepublishing.co.uk/T... Books - Transpersonal Psychology. Understanding the Soul - Expanding Consciousness www.annemariaclarke.net http://www.annemariaclarke.net/blog

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Hold the Light: Wisdom from Myth, Legend & Fairy Tale: 7 The Alchemist

3/24/2020

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Day 7 First day of UK Lockdown
The Alchemist: How will you re -act?

THE HERO sets forth from the ordinary world - he will face obstacles and trials along his way and the greatest of these is fear.
***
In Paulo Coelho’s classic ‘Rights of Passage’ tale we are told the story of Santiago, a simple shepherd boy from Andalucía in the south of South of Spain. We hear of his dream to travel to Egypt in quest of treasure – and how he sets off on a boat to Tangier in Morocco, full of youthful hope and courage.
But very soon – as happens upon such adventures – he faces an obstacle that threatens everything - for not long after he has arrived in Northern Africa – he is tricked by a boy who offers friendship and guidance – but robs him of all the money he got from selling his sheep.
Santiago then wishes he had never set forth.

"He wept because God was unfair, and because this was the way God repaid those who believed in their dreams.

Fear is so dangerous because amongst other things - it leads to despondency - to giving up before we have properly begun. So many perfectly promising adventures stop here.
Santiago had been so afraid of letting go of his sheep – of everything he knew – his security and all the rest – he had doubted himself – his capacity for his quest – even the validity of his dream but he had gone for it anyway – now he felt like a fool, a stranger in a strange land where he couldn’t even speak the language – and he was very afraid. And for a while he gave into it, slumping in a dejected heap at the wayside.

"When I had my sheep, I was happy, and I made those around me happy. People saw me coming and welcomed me, he thought. But now I'm sad and alone. I'm going to become bitter and distrustful of people because one person betrayed me. I'm going to hate those who have found their treasure because I never found mine. "

Many of us are afraid right now! For no one knows how our global crisis will pan out - if we will suffer personal loss - if we will have enough food, enough money and crucially, we do not know how we will collectively behave if times get really hard? Yet Coelho in his wisdom counsels us never to give in to our fears. For if we do, he writes,

“... you won't be able to talk to your heart.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

Right now as I look around my world I see the vast majority of people holding on - amidst all the suffering and uncertainty - of not collapsing into fear. I see that something wonderful is being born right in front of our eyes - people are embracing each other - opening up and being kind, so much more than even a week ago.

“When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

Some people have even started to say - they don’t want the old world back - they want to go on, like Santiago eventually does, to risk the upset and all that that involves in the hope of arriving at someplace new - some place hitherto undreamed of - where there might be more of this openness, this kindness and generosity of heart. It's effects are powerful.

No matter what he does, every person on earth plays a central role in the history of the world. And normally he doesn't know it.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

A long path lay ahead for Santiago with many twists & turns - as well it might be for us -
Yet in following his heart he eventually finds his true love – a beautiful, wise girl called Fatima & eventually too - the treasure he has sought, curiously just beneath his feet - right back where he started in Andalucía where the story began.

So often we have to go away from what we know don't we? Often we are forced by circumstance as we are right now. Other times we respond as Santiago did. We just know it’s time to change – in order to learn what really counts.
Much Love
Anne Maria
x x x

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Hold the Light: Wisdom from Myth,Legend & Fairytale 6: Down the Rabbit Hole

3/24/2020

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Down the Rabbit Hole: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Anne Maria Clarke

Upside down and inside out...what kind of a mixed-up world is this! Stuff & nonsense you might proclaim, for even the characters declare ...We are all mad here! It's not Once upon a Time in the normal way of understanding and not really like a dream ----even though that's supposed to be what it is. So, what is then, this famous Victorian inspired Wonderland that still somehow manages to fascinate us?
It's been portrayed in numerous ways, all of which shed light. My own fantasy adaptation would be to portray it as a retelling by client in a psychotherapy session....called Alice on the Couch .....or some such name, for in following the rabbit and falling down the hole our heroine is most certainly brought into direct contact with her unconscious.

Inspired by the Romantics & and most certainly an inspirer of later Surrealists, writing in ways and about issues that Freud & the entire psychoanalytic movement would later bring its collective focus to bare upon, Alice’s adventure was ground-breakingly mesmerizing.
Those who populate her tale are closely related to those characters who surround Alice in her everyday life, though writ large and exposed in ways normally hidden. And yet children do have a way don't they of looking straight through an adults carefully managed persona to a more stripped down, undisguised version.

Alice has Carroll's eyes of course and all that this brings into the mix. Yet we will take Alice as we find her, for the purposes of our investigations and see what is to be seen. One thing is clear - Wonderland is very different from the world up top and as Alice proceeds through the pages of her story she undergoes experiences that will be utterly life changing, albeit a little discombobulating!!!!

I knew who I was this morning, she declares at one point, but Iv'e changed a few times since then.
I have a friend, herself a therapist who says - "everybody needs a good breakdown - sometime or other" - a deep journey of discovery, an adventure if you like - much like those we've looked at over these last months - much like the journey we are collectively undertaking right now in 2020. For have we all not just tumbled - Down the Rabbit Hole? In the end says my friend - such experiences "make us fit to be let out!" Fit to be let out, in the sense of having grown up, somehow, through experience - often bitter & painful, always disorienting - - somehow we achieve a new maturity - a psychological & emotional maturity which makes us more responsible human beings - in the fullest sense.
Bruno Bettelheim famously wrote of fairy stories,

Each tale is a magic mirror reflecting aspects of ourselves and the steps required for our transformation.

Carl Jung called this process individuation.
This involves (in summary of course) the integration of unconscious content into the conscious personality resulting in a movement toward what Jung called the true personality.
And the very best way we can discover and begin this life long process is to take heed of this material as it comes into our lives through dreams, through imagination & and through pondering the symbols of myth & fairy-tale.

These symbols stem from the psyche: they speak from & to the spirit and are in fact the vehicles of communication between the deeper depths of our spiritual life and this relatively thin layer of consciousness by which we govern our daylight existences.
Joseph Campbell – Pathways to Bliss

The surprizing news is that the unconscious does not only contain that which is repressed & shameful & dark & wounded but also, as Jung maintained the beautiful, soulful, unrealized potentials which if brought to light and integrated can result in a significant transformation.

By the end of her adventure Alice will discover much to aid her on her way. Her curiosity will lead her to ask many questions, and to come to terms with not knowing or of getting ridiculous answers that make no sense. There will be times when it will all be far too much - and she will stamp her feet a cry - and end up in a great pool of her own tears, as well we might.

“I wish I hadn't cried so much!” said Alice, as she swam about, I shall be punished for it now, I suppose, by being drowned in my own tears !”

The Mad Hatter will infuriate her - but then the Cheshire Cat will make her smile - as bizarre as it is! And she will rally her spirits, pick herself up & carry on.
And little by little she will change - from a little girl lost to a plucky young woman with a great capacity for uncertainty & transformation- after all, she has survived much, changing size several times over and even nursed a rather odd baby which kept morphing into a pig and back again. She will make friends & allies along the way - discover how to do Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast and even take on the indomitable Red Queen. She will dare to stand up and be counted - to challenge the ruthless "Off with Their Heads! policy which has the entire court quivering with fear. She will force this mad Queen to treat her with a modicum of curtesy before finally realizing it's all just a figment of her imagination!

You're nothing but a pack of cards!”
she boldly asserts and takes her leave back to the everyday world.

And in saying so, the spell is instantly broken - she has achieved lucidity! Autonomy! Freedom of sorts - and as such - is fit to be let out! To begin her adult life.
We can learn much from Alice & her particular adventure at this moment in time but perhaps of significance is simply that - in getting turned upside down & inside out & back to front - in falling through our own particular Rabbit Hole - whatever that might be - we will, God willing, all come out stronger in the end!
Much Love,
Anne Maria
x x x

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Hold the Light: Wisdom from Myth, Legend & Fairytale to guide & support us through Uncertainty & Transformation

3/22/2020

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The QUEST for the HOLY GRAIL
5: Leaving the Familiar World

We have lost the past,the present is bleak, we are in a wasteland. T.S. Eliot

This is where all longing starts and from where the great internal journey begins. We make literal journeys, physical journeys but we make internal journeys as well and the two are often very closely related to one another. And the great internal journey is the search for paradise lost. The universal theme pre-figured in myth and spiritual teaching across space and time.

THE GRAIL QUEST - storytelling

So listen, says the story, O listen and you shall hear of how and for what reason was destroyed the rich realm of Logres, which is the land of the soul.

Since the raping of the muses of the wells, since the striking of the fatal blow – the land has dried up and turned to waste –(the mysterious castle of the Rich Fisherman has vanished and paths to the Courts of Joy therein are lost beyond recall.
Now in Camelot, the wizard Merlin cries out that a King lays terribly wounded in that hidden domain and will never be cured until a knight, foremost amongst those seated at the round table has done mighty deeds of arms, of bounty and of nobility and only when he has asked, what one does and whom one serves with the Grail, will the King be cured and the enchantments fall which are at present in the land of Britain.
Well there were many who set forth on this quest, striking out into the forest, one here and one there and each vowed never to rest until the King was healed of his wounds and the wasteland restored to the full. But of the many brave knights who took up willingly this most high and holy challenge, three alone were destined to succeed.
***
To quest is to question and the quintessential question of the Grail Quest is this - What ails thee?
It is a pertinent question for all of us. For just a few weeks into our current global crisis we see clearly that our skies are clearer, that dolphins have come closer to our shorelines and in Italy, the Venetian canals have shoals of fish and the waters of the lagoon are blue once more.
It is incumbent upon us all it seems - to ask again this question of the Wounded Kings who rule us – Wounded Kings still upholding and still promoting an outmoded paradigm.
What ails thee? We might aptly ask,
What ails thee?
For only then, the story tells, will the enchantments fall which are at present our lands.
Quest for the Grail: Adapted by Anne Maria Clarke

What we call the beginning is often the end.
And to make an end is to make a beginning
The end is where we start from.

We shall not cease from exploratin,
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.

T.S.Eliot - The Wasteland

Much Love
Anne Maria
x x x
Coming Soon: Healing The Wounded King

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Hold the Light: Wisdom from Myth, Legend & Fairy Tale to Support us Through Uncertainty & Transformation 4 Inanna: Accepting the Call - Anne Maria Clarke

3/21/2020

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Inanna: Queen of Heaven
Accepting the Call

In the depths of the night she heard a calling, a calling that would not cease - emanting from far beneath the earth. And suddenly she knew what she must do.

I‘ve been thinking about the ancient Sumerian Goddess Inanna who descended into the underworld & and was required – much as we are right now – to let go of all the trappings and unecessary adornments of her life as she descends, step by step into the depths below. This is the Night Sea Journey, mythologically speaking – reflected in the path of the Darkening Moon – which from time to time we might be called upon to embark.
There are numerous tales telling & retelling this familiar tale – yet somehow this particular version – rooted as it is in much earlier matriarchal times, has something unique to offer – some way of explaining, by way of symbol – just what it might mean to be called to let go of what is known & familiar.
I have an artist friend who has created a beautifully illustrated adaptation of this tale. Her writing of it co-incided with the death of her husband. Yet somehow the story – supported and guided her through the long months of grief and loss until at last she was ready to come back to us – to make her ascent, like Inanna, rising from darkness and returning to the light.
This is the hope – the hope we must all hold through the coming months – and the promise that in the end,
All will be well.
Yet for now let’s take a moment to peer into the mystery of Inanna’s tale to see what it might mean for us collectively to let go of the world as we knew it to be.
Much Love
Anne Maria
x x x

Inanna descends into the Underworld

It is said that three times Inanna hears a whisper in her sleep. A whisper that is a cry of loss and pain, arising from her sister deep below the earth. She rises from her bed then and adorned in all her royal splendour sets forth - down into the shadowy depths of the underworld. Seven steps await her and seven barred gates.
And at each gate she knocks and cries out to the gatekeeper
"Open the gates to the underworld!"
“I am Inanna, Queen of Heaven and I have come seeking wisdom from my sister.”
And the gate was slowly opened, and Inanna passed through.
But at each barred gate and in order to proceed, part of her worldly attire was asked of her – first her crown of glittering stars, then her rainbow necklace, her golden bracelets, silken robe, soft sandals, golden girdle & mitre of power, until finally at the seventh gate she was totally naked and vulnerable. Only then was she brought before her sister – Queen of the Night. Only then does she begin to understan the nature of the calling......to be continued
adapted by Anne Maria Clarke

The journey she decides to undertake to the underworld, explains my friend Eleanor, requires enormous courage and perseverance. Bit by bit her identity is dismantled as she descends into ever-increasing darkness. She undergoes the loss of everything she holds dear. However, nothing is wasted, rather it is re-formed. In the darkness of the chaotic matrix where everything is possible she is dissolved into a state of complete unknowing. This is the stage at which transformation can take place. Just as the caterpillar dissolves in the chrysalis and emerges totally transformed as a butterfly, so the old Inanna returns from the underworld with a new consciousness.
Eleanor Allitt: Daring to Discover - Inanna, Her Descent into the Underworld
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Eleanor-Allitt/e/B004L5BQOY/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1

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Hold the Light: Wisdom from Myth, Legend & Fairytale to Support & Guide us through Uncertainty & Transformation - 3: The Hero’s Journey – Refusing The Call - Anne Maria Clarke

3/20/2020

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The Hero's Journey - 3 Refusing the Call

“Frodo: I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.
Gandalf: So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings

Our myths tell us that all of our hero's are reluctant at first - all refuse the call when first it arrives seemingly out of the blue - and who can blame them - or us - for to set forth upon the quest inevitable leads to the transformation of our known world and on such an adventure, few would willingly set forth - and very often - as is now so - we have very little choice but to take a deep, deep breath - trust and accept the challenge
Sending you much love, who ever you are and wherever you might be.
Anne Maria
x x x
March 20th 2020

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Hold the Light: Inspirational Words from Myth, Legend & Fairytale 2 The Hero’s Journey – The Call

3/19/2020

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The Hero’s Journey – The Call

Throughout time and across cultures, in all the stories told around campfires, painted in caves, sung by troubadours, imagined by warrior thanes, and experienced by Hobbits chasing dwarves to face dragons, there exists but one overarching narrative: that of the Hero’s Journey. It is the great story, the mono-myth that is told over and over again, from the Legend of the Holy Grail to Star Wars.

It is the story of the protagonist leaving the safety and comfort of the known to journey to unknown lands, where he or she will invariably encounter dragons, trolls, wizards, wicked step-mothers, and all manner of perilous creatures.

Along the way, helpers arrive, companions for the journey, fellow travellers, the likes of which we would never meet but for the journey.

THE HOBBIT

Gandalf: I am looking for someone to share in an adventure that I am arranging, and it’s very difficult to find anyone.
Bilbo: I should think so—in these parts! We are plain quiet folk and have no use for adventures. Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner! I can’t think what anybody sees in them …

But it seems dear friends we are all right now approaching unchartered territory due to the coronavirus and must face its global impact willing or not!

You’ll have a tale or two to tell when you come back, says Gandalf
Bilbo: You can promise that I’ll come back?”
Gandalf: No. And if you do, you will not be the same.

And so it goes with adventures doesn't it!

I wish you all well on your way send you much love.

Anne Maria
x x x