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Deepening
Your Craft
By Mut Danu
Often the word "deepening" seems to go best with fire gazing and introspective winter months. But late summer, especially the month of August, also invites us to deepen our spiritual practices. The first rush of swimming lessons and barbeques has passed and there is still one long month of summer before the back-to-school and work flurry of activity begins. This is the perfect moment to get down and deep with your Craft…
For me this deepening of practice has become an annual retreat. Every year I spend several weeks of summer vacation in an old house that stands in the heart of a medieval village. Life unwinds very slowly there with no phone, internet or television. The center of the village is noisy, but in a different way from "everyday life"… the air resounds with swallows whistling and babies crying before lunch, with people bustling in the open air market just outside the door and the gritty roar of the neighbor's ancient Vespa scooter that has lost its tailpipe. There are quiet times as well; hikes among tumbled rocks and over hills where the air is perfumed with wild sage, thyme, lavender and fennel. There's a hearty feeling of getting away from it all.
I've always got a book in my sack and long afternoons to read and meditate under old parasol pines. The voice of the hot, dry southern wind invites profound meditation (sitting up to keep from going beyond meditating and into napping). It's time to pause from the outwardly directed activities of teaching, priestessing and doing for others in order to go very deeply inside-- inside the caverns of the Goddess, further and further down, in search of hidden sources to tap which can then be brought back up for regular use.
You can do it, too. This year give yourself a personal retreat and use the rest of summer to move deeper into one aspect of your Craft. Whether it's turning off the phone and computer at home or reserving a private cottage in the woods, find a way to get away from your daily routine. One wonderful way to do it is by going camping. Living outdoors for a few weeks or even a few days, changes our perspective on life and even the way that our brains function. The radical difference in the images that we see, of star studded skies and the web of creation, of the decomposition and transformation going on all around, all serve to imprint us with deep messages that are difficult to translate into words, but that become souvenirs to bring back with us into 'real time'. If you don't choose to camp, then just go for a change of scenery and one that gets you out into nature and away from social obligations as much as possible.
The most difficult part of planning your retreat might be narrowing down what you want to study to just one thing! Choose something that you'd love to do more, but that you have a hard time focusing on normally because of outside obligations. If you are sharing your vacation time with partner, kids, friends and family, send them off on their own quests so that you can have a block of free time alone. There is no reason why our partners and children cannot 'deepen' their lives as well, so encourage them to pick their projects before setting off. You should take time to do some groundwork too.
Spend some time thinking about your subject, any art supplies or journals, or other props that you might need. Plan, gather your supplies together, then once you begin your deepening process, let go of any idea of schedules or lists. Bring yourself to the door, then just get into the experience. This year, I want to go deeper into divination, specifically a certain tarot deck that speaks differently than the others do. The images come from Etruscan vase and tomb paintings and I've found that finding the story and conducting thread takes the deep concentration that I only get during my retreats. I'm bringing a fun unrelated book, the Etruscan tarot deck, red clay to sculpt or finger paint with and I'm just going to let the rest of the experience evolve on its own.
Read, Meditate, Ritual. With every new study, or for deepening an already established practice, try it. Let your child self pick a fun-to-read book before you leave, or a couple of books… maybe something serious and scholarly, then something fun when you finally decide to let go. Sometimes the book in my sack has nothing to do with the study planned, but if I've chosen well, all sorts of connections will spring up between the thoughts written in the book and the deepening process. Throughout your Deepening, keep a journal. Some days the pages may be full, but on others the end of the day will be a white page and it's no big deal. The only rule I keep is to make a daily rendezvous with the process of going deeper.
Regardless of the 'fun' book, it will be a good idea to bring a book that has some exercises to get you in the mood to get deep. Many people have bookshelves that groan heavier each year as their magickal library grows. You may not need to go farther than your own bookshelves for ideas as you re-read an old favorite and this time from a new place in life.
Though reading and meditation seem to come as easily as breathing for some, integrating it all into ritual takes some effort. Since it is vacation it's best to find a name other than "work" for what we are doing. How about calling ritual making something different… like 'the dance', or 'the discovery', or 'talking with the Goddess?'
You'll have chosen the subject before you go on retreat and you may even have gathered ideas and props that you'll need during the process. Leave the ritual to be discovered during your time alone. Let your conversations with Goddess and your spiritual allies be your guides.
To keep your deepening fresh, keep it spontaneous. Don't ruin it by planning too much, and don't be surprised or dismayed if upon beginning your retreat, you find yourself going in a completely different direction. Take those desires to deepen in heretofore unhinted directions as signs that you have opened a door to a new place in your understanding of the Craft.
Bon Voyage!
-Mut Danu, Lammas 2007
Mut Danu is a High Priestess of The Apple Branch, a Dianic Tradition
editor of The Goddess Eye: "joyous, alive, woman-centered news for the post-patriarchal world"
Every week, The Goddess Eye looks around the internet bringing you news of women and men who are working at manifesting the world that already exists in our hearts.
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Email : mout_danu@yahoo.com
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