Magickal Correspondences
June 17, 2008
by Jeffrey Pierce
The only word that can begin to sum up the last couple of months is... wow.
If you made a list of every category in my life and wrote down what defined each column, every one of those area has been completely and utterly transformed since I last wrote.
But then, the world is changing too. And that's really what this installment of Magickal Correspondences is about. Well, mostly. There are definitely some parallels between the two.
As ironic (or purely unbelievable) as it may seem, I don't talk a lot about the more mystical aspects of my path. Mostly, it's just that I don't enjoy being in the spotlight. I'm more than happy to teach, even in front of crowds, but that's not "about me;" the entire focus is on those who have come to learn. It's the giving of a gift, not the boosting of my own ego, that I enjoy.
But in doing so, I'm afraid that I've neglected the bigger picture.
I've mentioned a time or two in the pages of Old Ways that I was dream taught, beginning at age three or four and continuing for the much of the next decade. There have been a couple of articles, scattered here and there, where I commented that I was born remembering many of my past lives and what existence was like before coming into this incarnation.
What I usually keep to myself are the prophesies that have been spoken over me by numerous cultures (African, Native American, Judaeo-Christian) or the dreams that I've had since I was a child. Or my own abilities and precognition. Dreams about things to come. Dreams about my life ahead. Dreams about people I would meet and events that would take place, many of them still decades away. To date, all of them have come true.
When Briana and I met and had our first cup of coffee together, one of the things we almost immediately discovered is that we had been given the same dreams. We hold the same glimpses of the future, feel the same draws and callings in our personal paths, and where there are blanks in one of our visions, the other holds the remaining pieces.
Life has fallen rapidly into place – and while that may seem to be an idyllic concept, the extraordinarily rapid growth has been challenging, manifesting on physical, spiritual, and emotional levels. There have been broken bones and stitches, tears and healing, and simply a massive amount of personal transformation and awakening to all of the potential we hold, not only as human beings, but as individuals and a couple. While we have our handfasting set for this coming Saturday (June 21), Briana and I were legally married in an intimate ceremony on April 30, held in a century-old greenhouse at a local historic site. The following week, we'll be going on our honeymoon across the American southwest, visiting a number of sacred sites and embarking on a sort of joint visionquest together.
And then I'll be devoting myself to the spiritual community full-time.
After nine years, I've walked away from my job as a PC Application and Technology Specialist with the State of Oregon to step out in faith and embrace the dreams that I've been given since I was a child. If I've learned anything over the course of my path, when Spirit opens a door, it's always a good idea to walk through it. My calling isn't to sit in a cubicle, but to be a teacher, leader, and guide in the spiritual community. Old Ways will return to being a weekly publication in a few days. Blogs will post regularly. In addition to seeking out Web and graphic design clients (something that I have both skill and professional experience in doing), I'll be making my living offering shamanic guidance and healing as well as spiritual guidance and instruction. Bri will be selling amazing holistic soaps, oils and salves and I'll be marketing my photography as well as putting significant effort into finding a publishing house for at least two of my five completed novels. We have enough saved up to financially survive until the first of August. From there, we're trusting Spirit will open the necessary doors - and both of us are willing to put in a tremendous amount of effort to make insure our endeavors are successful.
In addition to it resonating with my own path and honoring the dreams and visions that I've been given, offering guidance and instruction to those who seek it is something that I truly believe is truly needed, today and on the road ahead. People are discovering that their own lessons are accelerating, that their own abilities are being turned up beyond their ability to understand and cope with them, and that there simply isn't anyone available to offer assistance with those things.
Until now.
I've been learning limitless compassion and unconditional love. I've learned how to work with my own lessons when they begin appearing so rapidly that each day it feels like my internal code has been completely rewritten. In addition to teaching students for fifteen years, I've been comforting, guiding, and lending perspective to friends, family, students, and spiritual explorers for almost two decades. This is my calling - and I'm honored that I've gone through all of the transformation that I've experienced on my own path in order to be the wounded healer, to have walked a mile in your shoes, and well-trained to take your hand, pick you up, and help you discover not only how to walk again, but how to fly.
And now, on to your mail.
First of all, let me apologize for lack of responses to your email. My access to the Internet has been sporadic (at best) which is why emails aren't regularly being answered. When we finally had Internet installed in our home (which turned out to be more of an ordeal than a service) we discovered that our wireless router blew in the move. While it may not seem like much of an inconvenience, the logistics and dynamics of our home make it extremely difficult to connect directly to the modem without being mobbed by one (or more) of our four kids, an amazingly friendly dog, or my unbelievably laid back cat. That particular issue still is finally solved (I'll blog about it in the near future, it was a simple but pretty cool solution), and I've been blessed with an actual office in which I can see clients and write Old Ways.
A very special, "Thank you!" goes out to all of you who dropped me even a short note to let me know you were thinking about me. Sandy's was pretty typical. "No need to respond. Just checking in and letting all know I'm thinking about you; sending prayers and good thoughts." It's always a treat for me to hear from old friends, including Hawk, a person I'm always thrilled to see when they tumble into my inbox, and Mel (who has been with me on this journey for long enough that I've lost track of when they first began to walk beside me).
An emailer who requested to remain anonymous (we'll call her Apple), wrote in to with questions about some changes in her own path. Apple has always been very sensitive to the flow of energy around her, including the energies of the people who enter her world. After detailing this process, she writes, "but lately I've been having other stuff happening. I feel as if I'm caught in the middle of a tempest." Her connection to natural energies has leapt off the scale. Not only have her dreams become incredibly vivid, but she's being taught in the Dreamtime as well. "Is this what it's always like?" she writes. "Or am I just so new that I don't have skills I need to deal with this?"
Apple is discovering something that many of us are experience. Things are changing. The rules are being rewritten. Magick is losing some of its subtlety and becoming much more dynamic. Prophecies are coming to life. We have ringside seats to massive shifts and changes in our world and the reality we've embraced to this point. There are many folks around the world who are experiencing this - and a number of legends and prophecies that speak to this sort of "awakening" take place. That's one of the key reasons why I'm embarking on the latest chapter in my life and openly and eagerly embracing the challenges before me.
To answer Apple's question, things haven't been like this in the civilized world for a very long time. For that reason, to my knowledge at least, no one has been teaching the skills necessary "to deal with this." I've been doubling my own studies and practice to keep pace with the changes and plan on teaching the skills offline. After they've been mirrored by students and I see how various people interact with and experience those energies and employ the techniques that I teach, I'll have what I need to refine them and share the teaching with all of you here via Old Ways. The approaches are a little more indigenous than some of the polished ceremonies many of us are used to and rely heavily on very primitive symbolism and a holistic approach, rather than snapshots of raised and directed energy.
Erica wrote in with a very thoughtful email (thank you for the kind words about the site) and asked, "Any suggestions as to willing teachers in my area?" The process of finding a teacher isn't something that I can offer any insight into. It just sort of happens. There's an old saying, "When the student is ready, the teacher will come." Very few of us have the opportunity to study, especially one-on-one, with an incarnated teacher. Our instruction comes in the form of books and web sites, through movies and music, and via the people and events who help us shape our world. While I can't offer you any insight, I can offer you some encouragement. The lessons you need will unfold before you. Just keep your eyes, ears, and mind as wide open as possible and the instruction will come your way as fast as you can process it.
There is a need out there for readily available teachers. I'm giving strong consideration to offering telephone guidance and instruction and have been looking at the logistics necessary to offer such things online via a video conferencing service such as Skype. While I can't be everywhere at once, I'm going to double or triple my efforts to blaze the trail that awaits before us all.
Obviously, there are some changes ahead. While I'll be charging a very small fee for guidance and instruction, Old Ways (including The First Cycle) will remain free of charge. My thinking is that it's important that I earn your trust and confidence by what I freely give and how I live my own path. If you need to entrust yourself or your path to my guidance and care beyond what I provide to the community, you'll already know that I will have your best interests in mind because of the daily example that I set. It may seem an odd paradigm for our world, but it's one that I believe is important to manifest if you're offering such services.
That's about it from this end. I have some changes to the site coming up (mostly logistical things) and blogs should start posting again this week, before a break while Bri and I are on the road. Briana will be adding her voices as well here in the very near future, writing about herbalism and the lessons she's uncovering on her own spiritual path.
And for those of you who wish to support our endeavors, either through donations or through purchasing goods and services that we'll be offering, I'll be providing details on that in the very near future. In the bigger scheme of things, we are putting ourselves in your hands.
And that's it for now. I anticipate new articles coming the end of this month and I'm devoting time (now that I have some) to catching up The First Cycle. If all goes well, we'll be caught up before you know it and blazing new trails and exploring new material together.
As always, may these words find you and yours well and truly blessed. Blessed be.
In peace and light,
Jeffrey Pierce
www.oldways.com
subscribe to rss feed