Let me tell you a story – please sit back and relax.
Once, not so long ago, there was a troubled man. Things didn’t feel right in the world and in his life. And when some young men in the tribe were stepping forward for initiation into manhood, he realised he’d never taken this step. It was agreed with the elders that he, too, could be initiated, though he was thirty years older.
So, after some preparations, the ritual started in the women’s lodge. After tumultuous drumming outside, each man was dragged away from his mother – for him a kind woman had taken on her being. The ritual holders accompanied him to the edge of the forest and he made his way in to spend time alone in the forest twilight and in the dark. For a long time, he listened to the sounds of the Earth and its creatures and felt the spirit of the trees; eventually, he slept.
In the pre-dawn, he woke and quietly moved through the grey shapes of the trees until he found where to sit. In the silence, then the growing-loud clamour of the dawn birds as colour returned, he sat quiet. Then he felt moved to ask his ancestors for their blessing. At first, he perceived a puzzled silence. At last, the answer to his request came strongly into his mind – “No!” Nothing more.
The ritual continued and, at last, the men were welcomed back to the village and given food after their fasting. They took an oath to serve and protect the tribe. It was glorious.
But the answer the man had received was heavy in his heart. He sought out the shaman who agreed to sit with him in his yurt. The man poured out his story. The shaman sat and consulted those in the other world. Then he laughed and clapped his hand on the man’s back.
“Of course your ancestors said no! They don’t understand what you’re doing. They were never initiated into manhood, didn’t learn all the things that you have about the Earth and our inter-relationships. They can’t offer you a blessing. No, you are the pioneer. The truth is – they need your blessing!”
Later the shaman sat with him outside and told him of all the souls in the other world clamouring to become embodied at this time. He said, “This is a special time, right now. Things are changing and will change dramatically. For whatever reason, those in the spirit world want to experience this time, these changes.”
Whose story is this? What if it were mine, from a few years back at dance camp in Oxfordshire… I don’t suppose that would be credible. If it’s just a fable, is there any meaning in it – something to inspire me, or you, in this troubled time? My head is still trying to puzzle it out; though when I listen with my heart, a path through the thickets is calling me.
Simon McIntosh